I'm Not Lost [Ronin]

[Kasumi]

First time away from home. Sure, it was likely on the dream list of a lot of people her age. Get out, see the world, and most importantly: do it on your own. Kasumi had to admit though: it was maybe a little daunting. She leaned back on the cool grass and tried to imagine what it must have been like all those years ago when Avatar Aang did the same thing. A lot worse, she imagined. Well, that made her feel a bit better. She closed her eyes and listened to everything around her. It wasn’t that far from home, relatively speaking, but it still felt completely foreign.

The northern peninsula of the Earth Kingdom was a stark contrast to the Northern Water Tribe, what with the thick forest that marched almost all the way up to the shore. It was warmer too, though not by a huge amount, as it was still pretty far north; the population of nothing but pine trees was testament to that. But Kas was comfortable enough here. Compared to the tundra, this was warm and cozy. And noisy. Not a lot of birds were at the Northern Water Tribe, and she was starting to wonder if they were simply all stuck in this one spot. Either way, they sure weren’t shutting up. There was one familiar sound though, that she had made sure to keep nearby: water. The beach was not more than 50 feet away, though a couple big rocks and thick tree trunks were enough to hide a good portion of it from view. And here, she used the term beach loosely; it was about 5 feet of small rocks separating dirt from water. But hey, better than nothing. And it had actually been convenient for dragging her canoe up on.

Oof, speaking of that canoe… She let out a long sigh and turned over on her stomach, her arm the only thing keeping her from getting a face full of dirt. She had learned the hard way that even an experienced water bender and a canoe that was meant for rougher water could not actually withstand said rougher waters gracefully. Had that ever been an experience. She took a deep breath - weird, earthy, unusual as it was - and lightly rubbed her side with the hand that wasn’t holding her head up. Yeah, she was going to have a good-sized bruise there for a nice long time.

[Ronin]

He had been out on his own for months now, ever since his father had named him crown prince of the fire nation. Out of obligation of course, Ronin was now the only hire since his brothers passing. Just Ronin didn’t want the throne, he didn’t want to take his brothers place in the world or be under his father’s thumb not with what he knew he was planning. So he ran away, burning down part of the royal palace on his way out. He actually snickered to himself at the thought of it, the look on the guards faces where priceless but he had been so upset at the time he hadn’t had time to enjoy it. It hadn’t been to long after that he had ditched his normal fire nation clothes and um barrowed? Some normal peasant attire that didn’t really have anything on them that would put him in any nation.

The only thing of great value to him that he had escaped with was his grandfathers samurai swords that he had fought with as the blue spirit, which where now strapped to his back in a X formation. He had given them to him for his twelfth birthday, making him promise however to use them well. He planned on keeping that promise. He was now roaming down a earth nation road which was covered in forest, a hood covering a lot of his face. He always kept his eyes and ears open now a days, ever since those bandits had gotten the jump on him and Akio. A encounter that he had gained the scar on his lower side from, and the same encounter that had lost his brother his life.

When he came across a small beach he noticed someone had washed up on the shore and was now laying face down in the dirt. His first instinct was to just keep walking, what if it was some kind of trick? But something was pulling him in the direction of the little canoe and its passenger. So it wasn’t to long before he was kneeling down beside who he could now see was a girl, looked around his age.” Um are you alright? You didn’t crash did you?”He asked in a rather deep voice.

[Kasumi]

Kas hadn’t even realized how tired the trip had made her until something, or someone, alerted her to the fact that she had in fact been half asleep. She jumped, letting out a small yell at the very near noise, and scooted away on instinct. Bad idea. The bruise she was sure she was going to get seemed to have come early… and her elbow had managed to find it and alert her of its presence quite sharply. Ow. She clinched her teeth for a second, trying to ignore it as she looked to… a boy. He seemed about her age, though spirits only knew because she was awful at guessing ages. And national origins too, apparently, as she hadn’t the slightest idea where he could be from.

She hurried to sit up, which didn’t make her side feel much better, but she ignored that for now. It was harder to ignore the dizziness; what was that her grandmother always told her about rushing too much and pushing herself too hard? Guess her head was taking her grandmother’s side now. She rubbed her hand across her forehead a moment. “Whoa… sorry… yeah, I’m fine… didn’t crash or anything… just… long trip. That’s all.” She took her hand away when the world was reasonably non-moving, which was about when she noticed the handle of some weapon over his shoulder. No, wait… another on the other shoulder. Whoa, this guy meant business. She made a mental note to try not to get on his bad side. “Sorry if this is your land or something. I can be on my way.”

[Ronin]

When the girl jumped, out of instinct Ronin automatically reached for one of the swords on his back, his hand heating up. However it wasn't long that he realized she wasn't attacking and he had just surprised the heck out of her. Not that he had jumped out at her or anything, but then as he watched her he noticed that she did look really tired and maybe even had a few bumps and bruises. That was something the taught you in the fire nation, to notice someones weakness' and use them to your advantage. However he didn't really plan on doing so, unless this girl attacked him first.

"Maybe you should sit down? Before you go headlong into current." He said as he motioned to the water not to far away that was still looking rough." No this ain't my land, I was just passing by and I saw you taking a nap down here." He said as he got to his feet and brushed himself off." There is a hotel for travelers a few miles up the road, Id suggest you head that way or find a nice place to make camp." By the look of her she seemed to be from a water tribe, not that he could tell which one for the life of him. However he knew either one would be a long journey and the girl looked dead on her feet." I wish you well." He said as he started back up the road, but something just had him go more slowly then he normally would have, was he waiting to see if she would fall over? Or maybe just stop him? He didnt know really.

[Kasumi]

When he reached for the weapons on his back, Kasumi tensed. Well, perhaps it was a better idea than she’d originally thought to stay near the water. Though she wasn’t really sure how well water bending could do against swords. The breeze seemed oddly warmer, though maybe that was just her nerves acting up. Probably. She was rather relieved when he seemed to decide not to cut her head off. That wasn’t exactly on her top ten list of things she wanted to do today, or any day for that matter. Though the way he was studying her made her not so sure he had given up on that objective.

The irony of his words almost made her laugh, but she kept from doing so. “I think I’ll be fine, thanks.” If there was anything she wasn’t afraid of, it was water. Even though it was technically water that had just kicked her butt. She watched him get up and followed suit. He mentioned a hotel… well, she didn’t care much about that. She wasn’t exactly here for the tourist attractions. Somewhere to camp? She knew nothing about camping. Wait… maybe this guy could help! He looked like he’d been travelling for some time, so he was bound to know what he was doing, right? The new determination seemed to wake her up pretty fast. Just in time for him to walk off. “Wait a minute!” She ran to her canoe and pulled out her bag of just basic supplies - money, some food, a rolled-up blanket - and jogged after him. “Where are you going? Do you mind if I walk with you?”

[Ronin]

Ronin gave her a shrug when she said she would be fine, he didn't exactly believe her. Then again, what was it to him? If she passed out it was her problem. Then why was he not getting out of there? He just walked down the road he heard a lot of rustling and running from where he had left the girl. When she yelled out he let out a sigh and stopped in his tracks, turning around to look at her." Yeah?" He asked before she caught up with him, he hesitated a moment at her questions. He found her excitement, strange. Such energy wasn't something he was used to in his family, accept for his brother who he used to joke around with all the time.

" I'm heading to Ba sing se. I guess you could come along if its what you want." He said as he shrugged it off and began walking down the road again, holding his bag over his shoulder but making sure it was still easy for him to reach his swords in case they where attacked, or she attacked him. Something he hadn't totally ruled out as an option yet. After a little while of walking, the silence of walking with someone. When you where walking alone that was one thing, but awkward silences always bugged him." Im Ronin, by the way." He said as he looked at her, though he kept his ears open for anything or anyone watching them.

[Kasumi]

Kasumi didn’t let the fact that he didn’t seem hugely enthused about her running after him faze her. To be honest, she did that a lot back home. And while this wasn’t home, well, at least he didn’t just ignore her or get really angry, right? He actually stopped. He seemed nice enough. Then again, back in her tribe, everyone was so closely knit that trust was sort of considered a given. She couldn’t think of a single person back home who wasn’t trustworthy. And sixteen years there made for a pretty well-defined habit.

She noticed him hesitate and for a moment thought her chances were shot. Generally hesitation, at least in her book, meant doubt. It seemed to last a lot longer than it probably did before he spoke again. She couldn’t help but smile. “Ba Sing Se? I’ve always wanted to see Ba Sing Se. And I need to go there too.” She was about to keep talking when she remembered back to how few words he’d used before. Hmm… maybe not much of a talker then. Great. Exciting company! She fell silent, if a little awkwardly, and walked beside him, holding the strap of her bag on her shoulder.

Silence never boded well with Kas. She fiddled with the strap of her bag as they walked, brooding over how annoyingly long a trip this was going to be to the walled city. Walking… peachy. She was pondering topics of possible conversation - forget this mr. tough-guy-of-few-words, this was boring! - when he spoke up. Oh… introductions. Duh. How could she forget? She smiled up at him, considering he was a good head taller than her. “Nice to meet you, Ronin. Thanks for letting me come with you. I’m Kasumi. Or just Kas works. So, um, are you from around here?”

Odd, she could swear she'd heard that name somewhere. Then again, in the last month she'd had so many important names and dates stuffed into her head she could have easily mistaken this one. Or maybe it just sounded like a name she'd learned. Ah well, she'd just stow that one away in her mind to figure out later.