No one knew the monster's name, but they eagerly described his appearance.
Enormous in height and broadness of shoulder, capable of snapping an ordinary man in half with his bare hands! His face was arrogant and conceited, while his his blood-hungry gaze alone inspired terror. People claimed he bore some dreadful mark either across his forehead or over one eye.
And as if that weren't enough, he could supposedly incinerate an armored warrior with a single glance or blow apart an entire squad.
The very description of the monster made one's blood run cold.
Compared to him, Zuko was beginning to seem like a fairly decent guy one might actually be happy to see!
"I'm telling you, he's definitely an Evil Spirit!" some old man declared passionately when the rumor-sharing somehow snowballed into an entire crowd of gawkers eager to gossip. "The Fire Lord released him from the volcano beneath the Capital, where he'd been imprisoned by the Avatar centuries ago!"
"Exactly! The Avatar disappeared, and the evil spirits were set loose!"
"What spirit?!" another heated storyteller objected. "Why would a spirit need pretty girls?!"
"Ain't it obvious?" the old man refused to back down. "To torment them and feed on their pain! He's an Evil Spirit! Fire's curse upon this world!"
"You're drunk, old man! The Herald's a special warrior trained from childhood in a secret school created specifically to serve the Fire Lord! My brother transports goods to the north and has connections among Fire Nation soldiers — reliable information!"
"That's right, that's right! I heard they train them in that school like animals so they'll kill without thinking…" another man in Earth Kingdom green eagerly joined the discussion.
"Let's get out of here," Katara suggested quietly when the rising clamor of voices began sounding dangerously close to an outright brawl.
"Yeah…" Aang agreed, still in complete shock from everything he had just heard…
***
At the same time, farther south. The Fire Herald.
We entered the city without the slightest problem. Even the couple of carts loaded with supplies and the dismantled hot-air balloon failed to attract any attention or questions. Though we soon discovered why: the locals traded in practically everything imaginable. The stalls held scrolls, books, foodstuffs, exotic animals, jewelry… about the only thing they didn't openly deal in was slaves, though even there… I had my suspicions.
After wandering around the market for a bit (and discreetly buying a few pieces of jewelry for Suki and… just to have on hand, purely as a precaution, of course), I gave the order to move out.
As we crossed the square, I witnessed an interesting sight.
A young girl was making her way through the city surrounded by servants. Just a little girl with pale, sightless eyes — and yet she walked calmly and naturally, without the slightest hesitation or attempt to feel out the road before her.
The servants fluttered around her in constant agitation, endlessly asking questions and offering help. In response, the girl grimaced and was practically hissing at them already.
Well now, that was a twist.
Because who else could it possibly be but Toph?
The trouble was, I couldn't remember where exactly she lived, and finding that information wouldn't be easy either. First, just as we had "millions of Lees," the earth-diggers had "millions of Tophs." I couldn't remember her family name, let alone where I was supposed to look for her. And unlike political reports or regional maps, "small blind girl" wasn't exactly the sort of information you could dig out of an archive or ask a kindly mayor about. Nobody kept records like that.
Which raised the question: what exactly was I supposed to do now?
As far as I remembered, the kid seemed determined to find adventures for her own ass, and I could certainly provide those in unlimited supply. But somehow I wasn't thrilled about dragging a little girl into mortal danger, no matter how tough she considered herself — or actually was.
On the other hand, I didn't want to hand such a teacher over to the Avatar either. "A cow like that is needed at home," as the saying went. Besides, give her another five years and she'd grow into a real beauty…
Ahem. Irrelevant. That was still a long way off.
So then, gentlemen, our options? Recruit her? But how? I knew nothing about her aside from vague memories of a difficult personality and an overwhelming desire to "show everyone hell itself."
Which meant I first needed information. Recruitment could wait until the return trip…
Well then. The first shoots of my own little network.
"Suki, Ramis, Mao," I addressed the leaders of the Kyoshi warriors, swordsmen, and benders, "leave a couple of people behind here to gather information around the city. Pay particular attention to any news concerning an airbender. I also want you to dig up absolutely everything possible about that girl and her family," I nodded toward Toph.
Naturally, the group looked confused, but by now they were already accustomed to orders that seemed strange at first glance.
"Yes, Her—"
"Commander. Just Commander."
"Yes, sir."
And with that, Elvis had left the building.
Or rather, the squad left the city and headed for the mountain pass.
Along the way, I dispatched the people I didn't currently need to various villages and settlements with orders to regroup in Gaoling in two months.
Unfortunately, there was no way to spare any more time. I very much wanted to be present for the siege of the North Pole, and for that I needed to be somewhere nearby so they'd drag me along "for company" — or else I'd force my way into the operation myself. The specifics hardly mattered.
Right now it was early autumn. Only a matter of weeks — perhaps even days — remained before storm season began in earnest. Nobody would sail or fly north in weather like that; it would be a guaranteed watery grave, no matter if you were the Avatar three times over.
The storm fronts would calm down by early winter, and that was when the gathering should occur. Naturally, there would still be some buildup period afterward, but two months was the safe maximum. Any longer, and I risked missing some very important events.
(End of Chapter)
🙌Bonus chapter for 100 power stones!
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