Zodin began to sweat as he sat in the sun watching the performer juggle fire. Almost half an hour as past, the the younger fellow had brought in quite the loot. He decided to quit for the day and pack up, apologizing to the crowed of 4 who stood around him watching. Zodin decided he might as well leave too, and proceeded to get up from the crate. He stretched his back and arranged his clothes so they were comfortable again. Moments later, after coming to the realization that he wasn't distracting his mind anymore, the words of his mysterious source had resurfaced from his subconscious. "Follow the patterns..." Zodin mumbled through his dry lips. Without a clear destination in mind he started to wander.

Zodin started to think of all the places in which he should start looking. He unintentionally started to think out loud as he wandered the sstreets of the coast lined town. "I've already deducted that the avatar would be somewhere in the Fire nation, since the previous avatar was of Earth origin. Where in the fire nation exactly, is hard to say. If only I could have some sort of connection in the fire nation, that way I could at least of some stable ground and a lead if I did enter the fire nation." Zodin realized he was talking out loud when he past a small crowed of boys who were kicking a ball in the street. The ball had rolled of the "field" and hit the side of Zodin's leg. Zodin hesitated when deciding if he should kick the ball back...He decided not to, and continued walking.

"I guess I will never find a lead or someone who can act as my connection to the world of underground information unless I actually travel to the fire nation." Zodin pondered some more on the topic. Zodin was no bounty hunter, but he did know how to squeeze information out of people, one or another. "It's decided, I leave for the fire nation at the break of dawn. Low sunlight, low foot traffic, and anybody who is awake, will be too tired to bother with me." Feeling accomplished with his basic plan, he walked towards the inn for a reservation. "It's getting cluody, might as well wasted the day at the bar."

Chit Zai relaxed his stance a little bit. He found Masaru attempting a friendly conversation with the unknown interloper, which was not wise considering their circumstances. They are already under attack, this could easily be a trap of some kind. Chit zai decided to play along for now, but to be on guard. He spoke up as he was prompted by the avatar. "I am kumo, master of this dojo." There was the slightest pause as Chit Zai examined the young woman's face. "What can we do for you?"

Jalika could appreciate deception, but when executed so poorly. The pause was evident, the younger man had obviously made that name up on the spot. Still, she didn't react. She bowed when the "master of this dojo" introduced himself. She held her hands in the Fire Nation tradition when she bowed low, and she allowed her head to dip a little bit as she hesitated to come up, as if lowering her head had put her off balance by blood rushing to it.

"Greetings, Sifu," she said to him, with a giggle, as if amused at herself.

She had suspicions about the two. The obvious deception was just the icing on the cake, with that strange spiritual aura that the younger man had. He could be an agent of the forces that were freezing the world. Or he could be something else.

The older man asked what she wanted, and she laughed as she deflected the question, "So... the smoke," she gestured wildly at the smoke that had brought her here, "Was you? Fire Bending?"

"Uh..." He didn't know what to say to the woman. He didn't know if she was some sort of spy or something, and even telling her that they were the ones firebending could put them in jeopardy. He was losing focus, unraveling. He had to stop himself before it got worse.

He took a slow breath and began to clear his mind. Masaru's eyes closed as the world around him began to slow down to a near pause. He was well aware of how his avatar state could be triggered, even while knowing only one element, but he didn't want to keep spiraling into uncertainty to eventually reach that level of stress. His mind began to clear, no longer plagued with the thoughts of what could go wrong. His mind was being cleansed, and he only hoped that the woman and anybody nearby weren't sensitive to spiritual energy. He knew that he was risking their position to Iluq's agents, but he needed a clear head.

Masaru's eyes opened just as slowly as they closed. He instantly smiled at the woman and shook his head. "Nope! Wasn't us." He replied rather quickly.

------

The woman rose from the water and glided across it as she neared one of the beaches on ember island. Well on her way to the island, she encountered two people who she believed might be able to lead her to the avatar. They stood out among others she had seen, especially the one with the eye patch.

Stepping onto the sands, the woman dried herself off using her waterbending, and slowly approached the duo.

"You should definately go with the man, earth woman." She spoke out loudly but calmly to the woman. "The avatar will need all the help he can get, and I need a challenge." A wild smirk appeared on her face as she rapidly approached them, ready to attack.

Erok felt his heart drop as the woman's voice cut maliciously through the air. Immediately, he knew the best chance of success in his mission depended on finding the Avatar, now.

"Go and hide," Erok muttered under his breath to Mai, too low for the mystery water bending woman to hear, "And lay low. I'm going to find him, then we'll escape. Good luck."

This enemy was an unknown quantity. If she was another water bending master, a direct confrontation could take too long. As Erok turned and fired a plume of steam to give Mai some cover so she could earth bend into a better hiding spot, he surrounded himself with multiple spheres of ice and ran towards the plume of smoke. Once again, choices were being made beyond Erok's control; he needed to find the Avatar and his teacher, to better the odds of their escape.

Chit Zai was growing frustrated with the woman before them; She clearly knew more than she was leading on, and it was wearing on his patience. However, he was starting to believe his initial was response was wrong. There is no way this woman is working for Iluq, only those whom are truly malicious would make ties with such a monster, this woman seemed all too peaceful. Chit Zai took in a deep breath, exhaled, and scanned their surroundings once more: things were about to get worse. He could see two water benders fast approaching from the city, and he knew without a doubt they were the ones that had given him so much trouble in the city. They were no ordinary benders.
Without hesitation, Chit Zai demanded "Look! you're either for us or against us, so help me get the Avatar to the western shore now or stop the games and attack already."

Without waiting for a response, Chit zai began moving the index and middle finger of both his hands through the air in circular motions. The enemy was still a long way off, but if he got just the right charge to it, he might be able to put them down long enough to get away. The air crackled around his hands, and the static build up was palpable. Still, he continued to motion in the air until the built up charge threatened to tear his body apart. All at once he pointed his fingers at the attacking waterbenders, and a bolt of lightning escaped either hand; it was an incredible force, plenty of power and speed, but his aim was off centre enough that he wasn't even sure if he made contact. The blast, however, kicked up a screen of dust which hopefully would serve them well in their retreat.

The glasses of a few bottles banged lightly in the low populated pub. Zodin was only two drinks in when he started rethinking his choice. It may have been overcast out, and there weren't many people outside, but that was enough to convince Zodin that it would be better outside, rather drinking away the day inside. Zodin pondered the idea of what it would be like if he drank every time one of his leads on the avatar went cold, he figured he'd have been an alcoholic by now. Zodin decided he didn't want to go down that road, so he paid for his drink and left.

The twin doors swung back into place behind Zodin as he stood there looking up at the sky in front of the local watering hole. He started to map out a rout he can take to enter the fire nation, a rout in which he could avoid suspicion and not be stopped by fire nation patrol. The closest island would be ember island, but it was across a large body of water, so he would need a boat captain who is brave enough to cross over nations with the risk of being stopped by the fire nation.

Zodin started working out the possibilities of getting caught, finding a boatman, and finding a lead as to where the avatar might be. Everything seemed possible, so he pursued it, heading for the docs where he could convince, maybe bribe, a boatman to sail across the body of water.

Mai hadn't had time to to respond before the mysterious woman arrived, and at that point her training kicked in. She knew there was probably no chance of her winning this fight, especially since her opponent had the advantage of surprise in this case, and she doubted a hiding spot would last her very long here. Her only real option was to follow Erok, it seemed.

The sudden steam interrupted her thoughts as she was cloaked in an obscuring cloud. This was exactly what she needed. She couldn't see where Erok was going so she was just going to have to trust her gut and hope she'd meet up with him again before they left the island. She quickly struck a stance, one foot hitting the sandy beach hard, the other turning as she bent a crumbly, sand statue of herself in front of her, the second movement propelling her away from the water woman and trying to keep the steam between her and her opponent as she fled the beach, watching out in the hopes that she'd see Erok on the way to the town.

She chose this moment to be arrogant and wait for a response from the two people she was chasing. It was a horrible decision that allowed the man to create cover and escape. She cursed the heat of the island and how dry it was considering that they were on an island.

Quickly, the woman shot her arms out in front of her, moving them out to her sides to bend the steam out of her view. The thing she didn't enjoy about steam was that it was as thin as water could get aside from pulling water from the air itself. The steam only moved and shifted around so much, but still not enough to help her. However, she could see a figure standing in the steam, and decided to charge in, launching a strike at the figure only for her hand to exit out the other side of what she believed to be a body.

For the slightest moment, she was shocked. That moment left her just as quick as it came as she realized that the figure she just launched her hand through was made out of sand.

By the time the steam dissipated, the Earth Kingdom woman and the Waterbending man were just leaving her line of sight. Grunting in frustration, she chased after them, refusing to let them get away.

Erok could feel the heat of his attackers gaze burning into the back of his head. Thinking himself lucky that he was not recognized, Erok raised his armoured mask from a pouch hidden under his clothes and quickly attached it securely to his face. He couldn't afford even the slightest chance that his being alive was noticed after all this time.

Erok was relived to see Mai keeping pace with him, albeit a few dozen feet away. Drawing near, he lifted his mask briefly and made eye contact, and tried to keep his voice down low enough so he wouldn't be heard by the Water Tribe woman.

"Steam wouldn't have delayed the woman for long, can you give her some obstacles to trip over? Anything I do with water while running likely won't hold her for long, and I don't think we have time to stand and fight!"

Mai nodded her assent when she heard Erok's plan, fluidly turning around and stopping for a brief moment, a few strong movements ending in a strong forward push with her whole body, raising a stone wall between them and the waterbending woman, the force of its rise sanding a blast of abrasive sand in her direction, which should at least temporarily slow her down, and she wouldn't be able to bend away a dust-cloud like she could steam.

Behind the wall, Mai used the small amount of time she hoped she had to strike a wide stance, turning herself and slamming down her heel to raise a set of low stone archways, hoping they would catch the woman unaware when she made it past the wall. Afterwards she sprang forwards once again, hoping to catch up with Erok.

Jalika nodded, with her crooked smile and unsteady demeanor. She reached into her silk robe as the "master of this dojo" began to bend lightning. From a pocket, she produced a handful of powder, and she dropped it into the air, and then blew a mighty gust to send it flying in a stream to the east.

"C'mon then, Avatar 'Li'," she said to the young man with a giggle. She gestured for him to walk in front, as they began at a trot to move west.

She felt a vibration in the air through her bare scalp, and knew a projectile was incoming. Something cold, she could feel. She stumbled forward, tripping and falling to her left side as her right arm swung up wildly. It bent the air in an arc, redirecting a spike of ice that the approaching benders had sent their direction. The entire set of movements looked quite accidental, and she didn't acknowledge the defensive move as she collected herself clumsily from the ground and pushed Masaru in the small of the back, urging him forward.

"Go, go, what are you waiting for?"

They were a notch or two above her usual catches, she was going to give them that, but nothing more. A low grunt could be heard as she covered her face from the flying sand, but still having a few particles land on her eyes. In little time, she removed the sand from her eyes and began her ascent over the wall, only to be met with several archways when she reached the other side. It was slowing her down, but she was going to catch up to them and bring them back to Iluq, that she was absolutely sure of. The woman continued her chase, becoming more and more annoyed with every tactic they used.

----

Masaru looked at Chit Zai with alert and surprise. He didn't understand why his master was telling this woman that he was the avatar, and if she were to be a spy or assassin, she could have ended them right then and there. He could only watch as Chit Zai prepared a lightning attack for the waterbenders who had been chasing them. The woman that was standing before them displayed an ability that Masaru could only recognize as airbending. She had used her bending to move some sort of powder into a stream. He didn't understand what it did, maybe lead their pursuers to believe that it was that way they were moving.

He couldn't dwell on it was long as he would have liked to, as in a single and fluid motion, the airbender woman pushed away an ice spike and pushed himself forward. He could feel a hand push the small of his back, forcing him to stumble forward. Upon hearing her words, urging him to continue moving.

Marasu continued to stumble forward, trying his best to transition into a run. It didn't work as well as he had hoped, but he did keep on moving.

The young man looked back at his teacher and the woman who had seemingly stumbled into him. He wasn't sure what her stance was, but she didn't seem to be after him. "Come on Sifu!" He said to Chit Zai, refusing to stop moving.

Zodin was well on his way to ember island, the sailboat traveling much faster than he'd previously expected. Zodin watched as the island's silhouette came into existence , before long Zodin could make out the finer details on the island. One of Zodin's first deductions of the island, was that there was smoke coming from multiple areas. Having never been to the fire nation, Zodin assumed the must have been normal. The boat abruptly stopped when it met the with the sandy beach of ember island.

Zodin took only a single step on the beach when he had realised something was wrong. The air buzzed ever so slightly, with Zodin's heightened senses he could feel something in the air that made his hairs stand on end. "Electricity maybe? That would mean there is an advanced fire bender lightning bending..." Going with his gut, he assumed the worst possible scenario. He scanned the area, noticing a small cloud of dust coming from the tree line. "Odd. I'm down wind, so if the dust came from the beach,I would have noticed someone or something." Zodin whispered. "There's only so many things that could have possibly happened, but I can't rule out that this may be normal in the fire nation..." Zodin took it upon himself to investigate. It started off in a light jog through the trees shortly after paying the boatman. Zodin gained some perspective on the situation when he saw a stone wall in the midst of the trees, "Earth benders." Zodin continued to jog towards the town

Erok had just noticed that storm clouds were beginning to gather at a mild distance, just as he and Mai came upon the town. He knew that they'd have to lose their persuer in between the buildings, but his mask and Mai's eyepatch and Earth kingdom clothing were too noticeable out in the open.

"We gotta lose her soon! Let's cut through here and keep an eye on the streets!"

Leaping over a pile of garbage stacked up in front of the side door to a bar, Erok paused only for Mai to catch up before pulling her inside, through the crowd within, and out again. Taking sharp turns to throw off the Water woman, Erok knew she would have a harder time tracking them among the crowds trying to escape the cool outdoors. So, in and out of buildings they went, trying not to shove people to the ground in the process.

Just when Erok thought they had evaded their foe, as he and Mai rounded another corner, they nearly smashed into a boy running in the opposite direction, and the Air Nomad he was with. Erok immediately recognized Chit's description of the Avatar included in previous messages, and prayed silently that this wasn't a twin or a look-alike.

"Avatar! I hate to be the bringer of bad tidings, but we need to get off the island," Erok rushed his greeting, "Illuq has sent someone very problematic after you today. Where is Chit Zai?"

Mai leapt over the various obstacles in their path, following Erok since he knew who they were looking for. Occasionally she would throw up obstacles designed to seal off the route to follow them, forcing the woman behind them to take hopefully longer detours or deal with a stone wall in her path. When Erok stopped in front of the Avatar she pulled up short, facing away from the two to keep an eye out behind them in case the waterbender caught up too fast, resulting in her not getting a good look at the Avatar, or him at her.

“Erok, I might have a plan but it means anyone looking is gonna miss us, your contact included.”

Masaru continued to run. unsure is Chit Zai was behind him or not. He had no time, as the water bender who were chasing them were once again on their trail.

He neared the town, seeing that people were starting to fill up the streets. The Harvest festival was still ongoing, but it moved from people's houses to out in the open, now that the air was much cooler than it was earlier in the day. He weaved about, trying to keep anyone off of his tail. However, just as he was about to turn a corner, a man ran into the young Avatar. The man was much taller than he was, and had a distinct water nation appearance to him.

Quickly, he took several steps back. He could have been another person after him. He had called him out as the avatar, spoke about a problematic person, and asked by his master by name. Saying it was suspicious was an understatement, and Masaru took several more steps away.

However, another person caught his attention, who faced away from them. He could see her green Earth Kingdom clothing, and believed that the two of them were on his side, with her talking about a contact, which Chit Zai had brought up before.

The young man let his guard down just slightly, still unsure whether to trust them or not.

Erok swore silently to himeslf. Without Chit nearby to verify who he was, the Avatar could run away any second. There was also the issue of this strange woman behind him. Perhaps another teacher?

Motioning for the Avatar to be calm and still, Erok looked around at the swirling crowd that grew around them. An ample distraction, and almost perfect cover, although temporary.

"Masaru," Erok kept his voice lowered, cautious even in the din of the approaching masses, "my name is Erok. I'm the one your master, Chit Zai, was expecting today. We foolishly relied on his being with you in order to make introductions..."

Erok sighed heavily when he saw that Masaru continued to eye him and his companion uncertainty. He looked the way they came, then to the girl.

"Mai, we are going to need to wait for Chit. Keep your plan ready to go just in case, we should be safe for a moment."

Erok turned back to Masaru, almost pleading.

"Can you lead us to your master? He can explain the rest and verify who I am. There is someone approaching quickly, and while I'd fight to defend you, our escape would be faster with Chit's aid."

Zodin's jog, quickly turned into a sprint the moment he laid eyes on someone in a blue uniform running towards the town. Zodin bobbed under low hanging branches, and weaved his way through the thick trees, making his way closer the the person as he went. He'd done something like this during his training, running as fast as he could through a forest where all the trees were in close proximity, so naturally it was difficult to catch up.

Through the thick of the forest, he could see buildings emerging, he thought it was probably the village. The trees seemed to become thinner, along with becoming less abundant, until eventually they stopped all together. He could feel the terrain change the exact moment he placed his foot on the rocky surface of the village. Zodin looked for the blue uniform again, without the trees impairing his view, he could see clearly that she was a water bender.

After examining the situation a little bit, he noticed her jumping over things and moving around things that were out of place. A rock wall here, boxes in the middle of heavy traffic areas. "She's chasing someone..." Zodin realized. He lit up like a light when his mind raced to all the possible people the water bender could be chasing. "A source of information? A rebel? A Spy?...The avatar?" Zodin thought out loud, only to have his attention interrupted with the mass of people that seemingly came out of nowhere. He looked around quickly to see where the Water bender went, only catching a glimpse of the robes from around a corner. He darted in that direction, moving carefully through the crowed so to not harm anyone in the process of his running. The last thing he needed was a civilian making a scene.

Mai nodded assent, scanning the throngs of people for anyone that seemed like a potential threat. If all went to plan this would be over with quickly and they could get off the island, but it seemed like the plan was already falling apart, in which case they needed some way to lay low until Chit found them.

“We're spending too much time in the open, Erok. These crowds won't last forever and we aren't exactly inconspicuous.”

She continued looking around for potential escape routes and hiding places before spotting something and turning around to face the Avatar, finally.

“There's a book store over there, the shelves could hide us from onlookers outside, and there's a rooftop sitting area we could escape from if we're spotted again.”