Bin parted the faded red cloth acting as the doorway to his secret hideaway. Revealing its many borrowed treasures.
You mean you actually live like this? Muttered Malo as he kicked over a tin cup casually sending it across what Bin considered to be his dining room.
Alright Mr. judgmental, where do you live anyway? asked bin
I go where the wind takes me. Said Malo, acting all sage-like and wise.
So basically nowhere.
In short. yes. I am free from life's burdens. I would prefer being homeless than living in a home like this.
He wasn't wrong.
The small stuffy warehouse was a modest trove of cobwebs and stashed goods piled up and just waiting to be sold on the black market without raising too much suspicion. To sell all of this at once would raise too many questions, so instead, Bin preferred to trade piecemeal to stay unnoticed. But it certainly wasn't a fun place to live.
What did you expect, a kings palace? Replied bin, grunting in pain as he hopped on inside one leg at a time with aid from the air bender. She carefully lowered him atop a crate of his stolen goods before kneeling beside to further tend to him. Malo had a look around curious, while Azzai lit a small candle from his bag with his bending. Leaving it flickering in the center of the room before returning to stand guard, watching near the entrance and occasionally sparing a quick glance through the flap of the entrance every so often and of his cramped surroundings, as if observing every inch of the room for defensive weakness. There were many he noted. It looked as if he could punch any escape route right through the plankboard walls of the crumbling building if he so desired. No wonder it was abandoned.
Do you have any fresh water or bandages I can use? Inquired kishe. That burn looks really bad. Bin gestured towards a bucket of water he had kept stashed near the pile of straw where he slept. Being out in the sun all day stealing, really worked up quite a thirst.
"Eh, it's just a scratch. I've had worse." Reassured bin through clenched teeth as she returned, but he knew it was a lie, and so did she. It was agonizingly painful. Anyone could see that. What he wouldn't give for a waterbender healer to magically appear right about now.
Seeing no clean bandages available, the airbender hesitated for a moment in somber silence before slowly unfastening the piece of cloth she had stolen from the clothesline away from her forehead, revealing the bright blue arrow tattoo underneath. She stared at her makeshift headband for a moment before rolling up the sleeves of her shirt in acceptance and sloshing it around the bucket to collect moisture. No point in hiding what she was here.
The entire time, Bin just stared at her arrows in uncomfortable long silence, Azzai as well sparing occasional grim glances up and down, both fire benders having never seen an airbender up so close before. The public story being that they had all been killed years ago during the fire nations first attacks when they were too young to have met one, the day of the comet. Bin even noted that the arrows were marked all along her hands up to her shoulders. Explains why she always wore long sleeves through bin.
Malo however, curiously enough, took no interest in the airbenders tattoo's. Instead he was in the process of lazing about not helping, eyeing up everything like a kid in a candy shop, looking for what he could potentially steal. Bored from the uncomfortable silence, he formed a comfortable pile of elaborate rugs and pillows before vanishing in it like a rock letting itself being swallowed up by mud.
"Well, this place isn't all bad, I suppose." Came Malo's muffled voice from somewhere deep within the pile he had surrounded himself in, making himself very cozy. "Might just stay a while."
Don't get too comfortable said bin. We can't stay here long.
He was right, even now, through the cracks of the wooden walls there were brief passing lights of torches and handheld flames of fire nation soldiers patrolling with heavy footed steps just outside the thin walls that made all four of them stop and freeze every so often. They were scouring every inch of the city, barging into people's homes in the dead of night, looking in cellars and basements and the cargo holds of ships, questioning and brutalizing any suspected of harboring the fugitive, unaware that the airbender they were looking for was so close at hand. Soon enough, though, they would find her here if they lingered to long. The fire nation was, if anything, thorough and persistent.
Kishe twisted and squeezed the water out of the damp rag before gently patted the bruises and black eye on Bin's forehead causing him to flinch.
Hold still you big baby. She snapped sternly with a scowl and raised eyebrow, I've haven't even touched it yet.
Bin obeyed in silence as she continued working. Sparing the occasional glance towards her eyes. He was used to dealing with injuries on his own. It was..nice, having someone else to help for a change. As she started ripping up strips of cloth to use as bandages, she broke the uncomfortable silence with her warm soft voice.
"Thank you.." said the airbender as she wrapped a bandage around his bruised forehead. "For standing up for me when no one else would."
Even it was incredibly stupid? Asked bin rotating his bruised shoulder toward her to work on next.
Yes that. she chuckled tending to it. Thank you.
Would do it again in a heartbeat. He said with sincerity through broken teeth. You serve the best tea in this whole city. The airbender blushed at hte compliement, parted a flock of hair from her face and continued.
Got any food? Asked malo, his head emerging from the pile. Watching you get beat up really works up an appetite in a fella.
Bin gave Malo a look that spoke volumes, to which malo could care less. He leapt and continued to look around. Carefully inspecting and sniffing one item after another.
Stop touching my stuff.
Well it's not your stuff, really is it?
Bin shrugged in acceptance. He made a fair point.
Kishe, then gently patted water against bin's calf where he had been burnt. Bin singed at the sudden jolt of pain. It was the worst injury he had suffered by far.
Sorry..the airbender apologized hastily. If I had my bag i could help more with that burn. I have ointment in there.
That odd remark struck bin. Why do you have burn ointment?
This isn't the first time I've dealt with the aftermath of firebenders before. She said with such calm stoic acceptance as she tore of another piece of cloth to use on his leg, that it sent shivers up bin's spine.
Bin was horrified by that blunt statement and how dispassionately she had said it without a second thought. Suffering had become as second nature to her as breathing. Behind her kind eyes and kind smiles, there was such a sadness he had never seen in any a person, now coming to the surface bit by bit. He never would have suspected that such inner sorrow lay beneath such a calm and collected persona. But that is exactly what it was. A persona, an act she had learned and learned well. A mask of burying it all away from everyone she encountered in order to stay hidden. Even him. And a mask she had shed to save him. It never even occurred to him that she was hiding something. In all the time he had seen her at the tavern, she never flinched at the sight of a fire nation soldier entering and continued with the masquerade. Nor had he ever once seen her without some form of head covering. And the fact that she wore especially long sleeves and fingerless gloves in the dead of summer on her hands that were clearly meant to cover the arrows racing along her arms. It was all so obvious in hindsight. Why hadn't he seen it? Why hadn't he seen her?
He never put two and two together before. But it was becoming clearer every moment they were together. It was becoming clearer to the rest of them as well.
Why were you hiding out in a city with the fire nation around every corner? Asked Azzai from across the room. His voice sharp and to the point. The way he uttered it sounded more like an interrogation than a question.
I was...told someone could help me and...others like me. Said the airbender, wary of the imposing long-haired firebender.
Others? Others like you? Asked malo, now genuinely curious. He sat cross legged across from the airbender as she recounted her reasoning for being here.
"There have been.. Rumors." She spoke. Of an underground organization of sorts that helps air nomads in hiding to escape occupied fire nation lands and take on new lives deep within the earth kingdom, far from their reach.
Ah, Bin had heard of this. Rumors among the underworld had grown far and wide about this supposed organization in recent years. The guiding wind as it was so called, was said to be a secretive network of powerful people sympathetic to the plight of the airbenders. This cabal was also rumored not only to be dedicated to saving air nomad survivors but also to oppose the old fire lord Sozin's imperialistic aims on world domination by hindering his war effort wherever they could and plotting his downfall from the shadows.
Bin could understand why Sozin had made so many enemies.
The guy genuinely sucked.
His promised quick and glorious victory for the fire nation had dragged on into its tenth year and the cost both in coin and young men had been insurmountable beyond even he had anticipated. To continue paying for his war, he had been forced to raise taxes on his subjects, driving many poor families to squalor and starvation, while conscripting more and more young men to go overseas to die in the defense of the few lands they were barely clinging on to. The fire nation had a smaller better better-trained army, but the earth kingdom was massive and had far more men and resources to work with. The war had become a matter that many in the Fire Nation had begun to question whether it was worth all this blood and sacrifice with so little to show for it. Any who did were either arrested or went missing mysteriously if they showed a shred of dissatisfaction at all under Sozin's rule.
This guiding wind sounds like a pretty appealing all-seeing all all-knowing force for good, more likely though it was just a tall tale spread to explain the fire nations occasional failings. But to people like Kishe, it gave them hope. And that was just what they needed. Even if it was likely a false one.
A kind family who sheltered and hid me for a couple of years who had helped other airbenders told me that this city was a haven, that here I could meet agents to help smuggle me out of the occupied lands. I waited and waited, but the agent never came. So I tried to carry on as best I could, holding on hope that someone would come for me eventually. They never did.
Hmmm..Bin throught. Either it was a false rumor or something had happened to this supposed contact of hers. But Bin knew his way around the city very well. And he knew of someone who might know if this guiding wind really existed. Or at least a way to get her out of the city unnoticed.
Hamato.
I think I can help you with that. Bin said with renewed hope. A big crime boss I used to steal for, he runs a big thieves guild in parts of the city with eyes and ears everywhere. If anyone can find people to smuggle you out. He can.
You would help me like that? She asked astounded, not believing what she was hearing. All I did was serve you tea.
It was really good tea. He said truthfully and with a bit of humor. And you served it really really well. He smiled. Why not help you? You helped me. And I have the means to repay that kindness. Besides, Hamato owes me a favor. I think it's time I came to collect on that old skunkrat.
She could never repay him for this. In all her years of fleeing and begging on the streets and sleeping in gutters she had lived by a promise she had made when she was younger, having been guilble to trust someone from the fire nation once. Never trust anyone. No matter how friendly they seemed. She liked bin. She wished she could trust him completely. But she was starting to get a sense of his motives at least, and its not as if she had any better options for getting past the guards with inspections going on. If she had to trust anyone. She was glad it was him. The rest of them, however, they concerned her greatly.
Whats in it for you two? She asked. Why could you possibly hope to gain by helping me?
Yea, bin thought she made a good point. Bin knew her well and cared for her safety. Fire nation be dammed. These two, however. He trusted them as far as he could throw them currently. The only reason he had tolerated their presence was that they had carried him in their chase after her during her flight from the guards. What was their incentive? And what was keeping them from turning her in for the reward?
Bin.
Yea?
I'm Jina
What?
My name. Its not really kishe. Its Jina. I...changed it when I went into hiding.
I guessed as much. Well as long as we're trading secrets I should warn you I'm not really bin.
Youre not?
No, Its burnt ankle man.
Jina shoved him hard in his bruised shoulder with a lsight chuckle.
Bin seeing that he was able to make her laugh kept going. Also I'm not really a firebender Im an undercover badgermole.
Jina just gave him a blank stare.
Ok now thats one step to far. Should have quit while you were ahead. Now shut up and hold still while I work on your nose.
You should leave the jokes to the professionals said Malo. Yours are terrible.