Rorrick
"It's been over a month, Mae." Rorrick was on the ground, gasping for breath. "I'm never gonna get it."
"You will." The old woman waved her hand and a gust of wind lifted Rorrick to his feet.
"No, no more standing." He tried to fall back to the ground but Mae refused to let him. Another gust trailed around him and kept him standing. "Why are we still doing this? I'm never gonna get it."
"You have to."
"Cause the world depends on me. You know, every time you say that it makes me wanna give up even more."
"You don't have the luxury of giving up. Let's get back to training shall we?"
Rorrick was about to protest when an angry and pain-filled roar filled the otherwise silent night. "What was that?"
Mae looked towards the sound. "Strange things happen in these woods. I believe natural places like this are closer to the spiritual world, which means as Harmonic Convergence comes closer we'll see the changes here first."
Rorrick could hear tree limbs snapping and cracking. Something big was rushing through the forest towards them. "It's coming this way, what are we gonna do?"
"You said your air bending takes over when you're in an emergency." Mae shrugged. "Maybe this is just what your training needs?"
"That's not funny, Mae!" He could hear snarling now, and pained cries. At first he saw the round eyes of a tiger, then the curved horns of a bull but they were a part of the same face. The beast came frantically lumbering towards them and Rorrick noticed that its front legs had the huge paws of a tiger while the rear portion of the animal's body had the heavily muscled, hoofed legs of a bull. "Holy crap, it's, it's a... a bulltiger?"
Before Rorrick could make sense of the animal it launched towards them. Mae barely even moved, a twister of air formed beneath her and she easily avoided the beast's vicious claws. Rorrick was a little less graceful. He rocketed upwards, limbs flailing, and fell back onto a cushion of air. As the strange animal passed him, he saw an icy spear stuck deep into its flank. "Its hurt!" He called out to Mae, who was still soaring high above him.
The bulltiger rounded back towards Rorrick and came charging at him again. He bounded out of its way, firing himself up and over the beast and coming down on two feet behind the it.
"Well done," Mae called down to him. "It's coming back now, watch yourself!"
The bulltiger came charging again and Rorrick flipped over it. It had trouble slowing itself down and crashed head first into a tree. It fell to the ground, bleeding and struggling to breathe and Rorrick ran towards it. "It's okay, big guy," he said as he moved to get close to the bulltiger. It was trying to get back to its feet but Rorrick could see that the pain was overwhelming.
"Stay away from that thing!"
Rorrick turned to see Jeera approaching. "I've been stalking it for weeks. Its dangerous."
"You did this, didn't you?" Rorrick gestured to the spear of ice in the animal's side.
"I had to, to keep everyone safe."
Rorrick was inching closer to the bulltiger. It tried to back away from him, it snapped its jaws and even roared but Rorrick didn't back down. "You're not gonna scare me, buddy. I just wanna help you." He slowly reached out his hand and touched the animals paw. He felt it grow tense, its giant claws threatened to cut him but they stayed sheathed. "See? You like me, don't you?"
Eventually the animal allowed Rorrick to move close to it. He touched the animals horns and let his hand lower to its face. "You thought this guy was dangerous? Look at him?"
"He attacked you."
"He probably just did that cause you hurt him. You need to heal him, use your glowing water trick and make him better."
"No, we can't have him lurking around camp."
"I'll make sure everyone's fine. I mean, look at this! He's so sweet." Rorrick cradled the bulltiger's head in his lap and listened to the poor creature's sad whine.
Mae lowered herself to the ground beside Jeera and she nodded her head to the bulltiger. "Do it, Jeera. Heal the creature."
"But, Mae--"
"Why are you questioning me? I didn't realize you were in a position to do something like that."
"I'm not questioning. Protocol says--"
"I helped write the protocol, Jeera, don't quote it at me. I'm telling you to heal the creature, now."
Jeera rolled his eyes and waved his hand. The frozen weapon instantly melted and Jeera bended it into a ball above the bulltiger. "He better not bite." He came close to the animal and held his hands over its wound. The ball of water dispersed over the creature's body and began to glow as the injury melted away. As Jeera funneled the water back into the bottle on his belt, the bulltiger lifted its head from Rorrick's lap. It looked back to where it had been skewered with the spear and licked the newly healed spot. It turned back to Rorrick and licked his face with a tongue that was big enough to wrap almost all the way around his head.
"Haha, see? He wouldn't hurt a fly."
Jeera stood up to move away but the bulltiger quickly turned to snap its jaw at him. Jeera stumbled backwards but the animal didn't chase after him. "Wouldn't hurt a fly?"
"Uh, you kind of hurt him first. Besides, if he actually wanted to hurt you I don't think you'd still be talking now."
"Mae, you know that when we see spirit animals like this we're not supposed to let them get to camp."
"That applies to the wild ones." Mae grinned at Jeera. "It seems like this one is tame enough."
"But--"
"That will be all, Jeera. Please go back to your guard duties while Rorrick and I go back to our business."
"What business is that, anyway? People have been talking, you know. You haven't taken on a new student in almost a year and now suddenly you're meeting the newbie in secret in the dark?"
"What did I say about questioning me?"
"Fine, whatever, just make sure that monster doesn't kill anyone."
"I'm sure he won't, not with Rorrick around."
Jeera grumbled as he went back to his duties. Rorrick stood up beside Mae and the bulltiger moved to his side, pressing its weight against him and threatening to knock him over. "Why did you stand up for me like that?"
"I think the better question is why did you stand up for that animal? He just attacked you after all."
"I don't know." He looked at the bulltiger and felt its thick orange fur. "I guess he just reminds me of someone."
"Think of him like the air. If you give strength to the dangerous components of his spirit he will tear you apart but if you nurture him properly I'm sure he will be a trustworthy friend."
Rorrick smiled at Mae. The more he got to know her the more wisdom he realized she possessed. She hid behind pleasant smiles and a gentle demeanor but he knew that inside she was stronger than anyone else in the freak town he now called home.
"Besides, the Avatar has always had a close connection with spirit animals. From what I've read in the Lotus Library, every one of your past lives has had at least one spirit animal companion. You derive your strength from these companions, just as they derive theirs from you."
"So you think this guy is my companion?"
Mae laughed as the bulltiger turned to lick Rorrick's face again. "Yes, I think he has decided that is the case."
"Well, I guess I should give him a name then, huh?" Rorrick scratched the animal behind its large round ear. "How about... Magnus?" The animal snorted in response and Rorrick laughed.
"Okay, not Magnus. Maybe Hugo? No?" Rorrick leaned against his new friend as he contemplated names. "I know, how about Bowjangles?"
The bulltiger, who was busy sniffing Rorrick's hair, let out what sounded like a groan.
"No, it's great! It'll grow on you I'm sure. Bowjangles, I'll call you Bowie, it'll be cute."
Bowie grunted.
"You'll need to find him a safe place to stay," Mae said, "Outside of the colony of course."
"What? Why can't he come home with me?"
"I may have a lot of faith in you but Jeera was right. Letting a spirit animal like this get anywhere near the colony is against policy for a reason. He would cause a panic."
"But you said that cool thing about him being my trustworthy friend!"
"Relax, relax. First of all, you were air bending like a champ just now! I think you have Bowie to thank for that so I don't expect him to stay away forever. He's got a permanent invitation to your training sessions from now on and we'll gradually introduce him to the colony when the time is right."
"But he's so cute! How can I possibly--" Before Rorrick could finish what he was saying, Bowie rubbed up against him one more time and bounded off into the forest. "Well... I guess that settles that."
"He'll be back for you," Mae smiled as she reached out for Rorrick's arm. "Now, let's go home, shall we? I'm getting tired."