The Fugitive ~ Iroh II

Chapter 10: The Firebender

A/N: Hi everyone, it's been a while! I finally bring to you all Chapter 10 of The Fugitive after an extensive break... Hope you will enjoy it :)

"Has the Avatar been secured?"

A grey bearded man wearing a blue and white uniform, decorated with white lotus on his collar, attempts to make his way through the snowy battlefield, asking the same question each time he passes by an ally. Unfortunately for him, he keeps getting the same answer.

"I don't know," one of them replies again, panting, while fighting a mustached guy. "The envoy we sent has not come back yet. Should we send someone else?"

The first White Lotus member scans his environment quickly. His eyes stop at a young man wearing a deep red uniform who was throwing fireballs at the enemy. The old man punches his opponent in the jaw, which shakes the other guy a bit, and rushes to the young man's side.

"General Iroh," he calls. "We do not have news from our envoy about the Avatar yet. Could you go check on her?''

Iroh glances at the old man talking to him and nods. He gives instructions to Ji Ji who is close to him, before leaving the battlefield. Iroh rushes out of the crowd in the direction of the village, knocking down some enemies on his way. He doesn't know the location of the Avatar because as soon as they arrived to the South Pole, he and his troops headed directly to the White Lotus encampment.  Many scenarios run through his head, and Iroh decides he will ask a village guard. Upon arriving to the village, Iroh decelerates his speed as what he saws is surprising: the village is not being attacked. Why are the White Lotus and the United Forces attacked, but not the Avatar's village? Iroh tries to figure things out, but no reasonable explanation comes to his mind. However, his mission is to make sure the young Avatar is in security. He has no time to idle here. The general frowns, thinking deeply of where the Avatar could be. After a few seconds, he decides to head towards the house of Tonraq, Avatar Korra's father, asking directions to the villagers.

"Korra? She was with her mother," Tonraq tells him. "Is there a problem, General?"

Iroh nods, and both of them zigzag between the snowy alleys of the Water Tribe village. They run to the village's market, looking for Senna who runs a fishmonger's stand. The market is full of people, Iroh and Tonraq have difficulties to make their way through the crowd. Just after turning a corner, Tonraq spots his wife a few meters ahead, and shouts.

"Senna, where is Korra?"

Senna, who is in the middle of a sale with a client, raises her head, and gives him a questioning look.

"What happened, darling?"

"Sorry, sweetie. We have no time to explain. Where is Korra?" Tonraq puts both of his hands on her shoulders as he speaks, breathing heavily after his sprint.

"She went with two persons of the United Forces."

"Who was it?" Iroh asks, surprised. He fears it might have been some impostors who impersonated United Forces soldiers. "Do you remember their names or can you describe them?"

"Hum... I don't remember their names," Senna answers, putting her fingers on her chin, showing she is in deep thoughts. "It was a young woman, dark-haired, with very bright amber eyes, and an old man, half bald with grey hair. They bought a fish from me, and the young woman offered Korra to join them."

Dark-haired with very bright amber eyes. The first person in the United Forces that fitted this description who came to Iroh's mind was Nanami. He thanks her, and gestures to Tonraq to follow him. Both of them painfully make their way out of the market, and head towards the United Forces cooks' tent, a little bit isolated from the village and the White Lotus encampment. On his way, Iroh is worried about the safety of the Avatar, Nanami and Bu Po. The Avatar is a bender, but she is too young. Nanami and Bu Po are non-benders, they wouldn't be able to fight if they were attacked. Non-bender? Has Nanami ever said anything about being a non-bender? Iroh only assumes that she isn't one, but in truth he doesn't know. She never mentioned it. Iroh sighs as he realizes he doesn't know anything about the mysterious fugitive he had taken in on his ship. Lost in his thoughts, Iroh is woken up by Tonraq who has spotted the green tent he told him about. Tonraq pulls on the curtain in one go. The two men open their eyes wide, their jaws dropping. The tent was empty, no one was here. Iroh notes that the fire is still lit, so they must have been here at some point. The interior of the tent is tidy, and no sign of any fight is to be identified. They can assume the three of them might be safe.

"Where did they go?" Tonraq makes circles in the small tent.

Iroh crouches down, and examinates the footprints in the snow at the entry of the tent. He can identify several patterns of footprints, at least six of them. Two belong to him and Tonraq. The small ones are probably the Avatar's. The long but slender footprints are supposedly from Nanami, and the large and short ones from Bu Po. So, who is the one with wide and long footprints? He follows them with his eyes and stands up, calling Tonraq, to head towards the direction the hints are leading to. From afar, Iroh and Tonraq spot two figures, a small one and a large one. They seem to be kneeling on the cold, fluffy snow, looking down at something on the ground. Iroh squints his eyes to determine what they are looking at, but a sudden realization comes to his mind. He speeds up, outrunning his companion.

"Nanami!"

❀

Among the immaculate landscape of the South Pole, two persons seem to be busy in the snow. The young Avatar, Korra, bends as best as she can a big pile of snow, helped by the United Forces main cook, Bu Po, who digs as fast as he can, without care about the coldness of his hands. The two of them are trying to get Nanami, who is buried under the snow, out. However, the man who attacked her seems very skilled, and dumped so much snow on her that Korra and Bu Po are having a hard time.

"Nanami, please," Korra pleads, small tears forming in her ocean-blue eyes, and her nose running out.

Tired of bending, Korra joins Bu Po in digging the snow, bare-handed. Their hands start to change color, turning purple little by little. Korra and Bu Po soon feel their hands become numb as they sink in the snow. However, as they dig deeper, they start to feel a warm sensation. The cold, fluffy snow is starting to melt, creating puddles of water. They remove their hands, wet, and stare at each other, confused. The snow starts melting faster, and soon, Nanami's body emerges from the snowy ground.

"Nanami..."

An echo resounds from afar, but it sounds different and more intense. Bu Po and Korra look up, searching for the new voice. They spot a man in a dark red uniform, running as fast as he can towards them. The General of the First Division of the United Forces dashes in the snow, leaving Tonraq quite a few meters behind.

"What happened?" Iroh inquires as soon as he arrives, landing on the snow in a flash.

But the General doesn't even have time to get his answer that a fierce whirlwind of fire storms him in. A furious roar accompanies it, and Nanami sits up, her bright amber eyes burning in rage.

"That damn gorilla. I will kill him," she blurts out angrily.

"Nanami," Korra cries, throwing herself on her new friend, relieved.

The high-pitched call from the young Avatar calms Nanami's burst of animosity immediately, and she pats Korra's small head gently. "I'm sorry. Everything is fine now, it's okay."

"What happened?" Iroh repeats after the commotion, asking directly Nanami this time. The fugitive looks his way, and Iroh tucks a flyaway hair strand behind her ear delicately. Nanami opens her mouth, but is interrupted by a distant shout. Tonraq finally arrives, panting, and rushes to his daughter's side, taking her in his arms.

A/N: Sooo, Nanami is a firebender!! I hope you enjoyed the chapter and will look forward for the continuation of the story! I'm not very satisfied with this chapter so I will probably work on it again, but I wanted to post so you guys could read it! Feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments! See you in the next chapter :)