Luke

We were surrounded. Everywhere I turned, waterbenders surrounded us. This is them. This has to be them. I turned my head around to try and catch the sight of Zek, Ka'lira, or Gordez, any of them, but their attention was, as it should have been, focused on the immediate threat-the waterbenders threatening to end our journey before it had hardly even begun. We know the countersign. Why haven't they said anything?

I was looking to Gordez, for something, anything that could get us out of this, but he had his sword raised to his chest in a ready stance, the 4 of us standing like the perfect 4 corners of a square, boxed in, Ka'lira with her crossbow, Gordez and Zek, blades trained on the hostiles immediately to their fronts. It's not enough. Not by a long shot. I turned my left side to the waterbender closest to me, the water already manifesting itself into no-doubt lethal pikes of ice facing immediately towards me, the rare glimpse of sun sneaking through the thick canopy above reflecting right off at the perfect angle to create a glare in my eyes. But nonetheless, I put on foot behind me, turning at a right angle to my left foot in front, my footing solid, grounded, but ready to immediately push off of it and leap out of harm's way, all just as Jeong Jeong had taught me. My hands were already raised in a fighting stance. I can do this. I can do this.

"Don't," I could just barely hear Gordez say to my side. I hadn't been provided enough time to question his order before he spoke again, this time addressing all present, friend and apparent foe alike. "We're not here to start a fight. He stepped forward, closer to the man in front of him, the move in itself by no means antagonizing, but subjecting us to a coincidental far worse affair. "We don't-"

"He's wearing Fire Nation armor!"

My muscles tightened, immediately reaching for my sword at my side, determined at the very least to follow Gordez's commands. For now. The waterbender in front of me flinched, the ice in his hands shaking. He's nervous. Good. I can use that if I have to, and by the looks of that, it will prove to be very soon.

"They're here to finish what the others started! Kill them!"

I leaped forward, pushing off of my right foot, hearing the splash behind me from my leap, followed by the sounding of smaller splashes as well as the shattering of ice behind me as icicles, directed towards me for where I stood nearly moments ago, collided against one another, foiling the opening attacks of the two other waterbenders who had seemingly had their sights trained on me.

The one immediately in front of me, however, he had stood less prepared. Just my luck. His projectiles were already clashing around him, his focus broken, the water rushing back to the dry land where he had stood dry just seconds in the past. Bring my blade to the right, slashing at an upward left angle, his own arms his only defense as he desperately brought them up to defend himself. His arms however, well-honed as they were, less so than his focus it seemed, proved to be enough to save his life, though not his arms. The sword went immediately through his right arm, detaching it completely from his forearm, the blade continuing to go through his left arm, going midway before becoming stuck.

I didn't waste the time nor energy in attempting to fully sever his hand from the rest of himself, instead dislodging the blade as he promptly fell to the ground, unconscious, myself wondering if it would be the blood loss or the drowning that would kill him first as he fell face down in the murky swamp water, already becoming a sickening shade of red on behalf of its newest addition.

I was now positioned immediately between two waterbenders, both of them focused on me, albeit one of whom's attention was being somewhat directed towards his bleeding comrade. Good. Focus on him while I kill your friend. Wow, that was dark.

I turned my attention away from the concerned waterbender, focused now on the one who was already solidifying the water around my feet, I could tell. A firebender's strength is his agility. Jeong Jeong's lessons had saved my life on more than one occasion. There was no reason to believe he would be any more wrong now. This is where Fire and Air find themselves sharing in many regards. However, while the Airbender prizes his agility to evade conflict, the Firebender will utilize his agility as a weapon, using it to take the fight to the enemy. And that was just what I did.

In seeing his trick to trip me or freeze me in place, myself already approaching him at a less-than-optimal speed, for him at least, he sent a cyclone of water, emerging from the water by his right side, immediately towards me, myself just barely dodging to my own right. I need to put myself between him and the other. Running was easier heard, closer to the water body's edge. I went to, sliding in the measly few inches of water, slipping right past beyond his left side, swinging my blade at his leg, hoping to topple him. Rather, very much contrasting the man I'd faced immediately before him, he stood his ground, the cut along his ankle but a scratch as far as he was concerned. At the very least now, I had this man situated between me and the other waterbender, a quick look behind me affirming that the others were focused on fighting my friends, myself hoping we were faring well, but not deigning to waste the time in assessing their combat, already locked up in my own.

I was down lower than him, on my knees following my slide, kneeling before him as he attempted to turn to face me, almost as though he'd lost track of me in my evasive maneuver. He, however, soon realized the folly of his way when he turned to face me and was met by the upward slash of my steel, cutting through chest, neck, and lower face, becoming caught on his skull.

As he went down to his own knees as I just began now to stand, a bucketful of water came splashing down on my neck, myself, by instinct, being forced to look up as yet another icicle melted into water, no longer quite the weapon it had been while utilized by the waterbender.

Sure enough, the other waterbender had been distracted by his downed buddy but looking up to now see myself standing over yet another one of his fallen friends, one could see the realization dawn on him that it had been his own negligence that had cost the latest man his life. Even from where I stood in relation to him, while I couldn't see his face, his stance was enough to speak of renewed affirmation in his desire to kill me before I hurt any more of his friends.

A water whip intended right for my face was the first in his flurry of assaults, just grazing my hair line, shortening it even more than Zek and Ka'lira had done just a few weeks ago. The second in his fury would be to freeze the water by my feet. It wasn't even a conscious effort at this point. I was able to heat myself up enough at will, doing just so now, the ice remaining a slush of sorts as I trudged forward to the waterbender. It took me too long to realize, however, that his ice move had done just what it was intended to do-not stop me, but distract me.

It felt like a battering ram had been knocked against my side, sending me off of my feet, to the ground, dazed, confused, just barely regaining my consciousness, and rising to my feet before the waterbender brought down an arm converted into a grotesque spiked ice gauntlet, smashing it to bits against the shallow rocky surface rather than impaling me through my heart with it as he'd likely intended.

I stood up, facing the waterbender, certain for a moment that I was seeing double before surmising that I, in fact, was not seeing double. I simply had a new participant.

They stood side by side one another. Smart. Together, they're stronger. I'll just have to break them up. I rush between them, not only separating them, but also putting one another within the danger zone of any possible attack they send my way.

I turned my attention to the new addition first, focusing on him, keeping an eye on my fear however, dodging water bursts, whips, and icicles as they were directed my way, though with extreme caution to not put one another at risk, at the price of not overwhelming as much as they would have wished to otherwise.

I kept my offensive on the new waterbender, pushing him back further and further, almost pinning him against a tree before a sudden force suddenly emerged from below me, impacting with my chin, rattling my jaw, alongside the rest of my body as I fell onto my back. That impact, however, would only end up saving my life. The soldier who had knocked me to the ground immediately found his face enveloped by a block of ice that had been intended towards me. He was stunned, incapacitated, unable to attack, but no less unable to be attacked. Still on the ground, my jaw cracking whenever I tried to move it a certain way, I brought my sword up in a slash at his midriff, that being the highest point I could reach from where I was laying on the ground.

His guts spilled out of him, falling into the water beside me in quite the grizzly display, himself falling into his own mess pile mere moments later.

The resounding yell from the original waterbender, now responsible for the deaths of two of his friends, was enough to tell me what he was now more dedicated to ending my life than he was towards doing anything else under the face of the sun.

I pushed myself back, just barely missing the ice hammer he brought down on the ground. I scrambled to my feet, being thrown off balance by another missed swing of his, myself already having a hard time rising to my feet, made no easier by the waterbender's vicious onslaught.

I barely evaded one more time until his fourth blow was met with more success, albeit on my own part as I was foolish enough to make a stab at his throat. Rather, his 4th swing collided with my arm, immediately knocking the sword from it, leaving me defenseless save for Danev's dagger at my waist, but the waterbender did not intend on giving me the time to defend myself.

His ice hammer had manifested back into water, some of which derived from the river to reinforce him, and brought back in preparation of the perfect punch directly to my face, likely knocking off my head while he was at it, I stood frozen for a moment, in a split second looking around me. We were fighting well judging by the Waterbender corpses lining the swamp water, but they kept on coming. It was just too much. It's always too much. A burst of water, fully concentrated for a blast with enough velocity to punch straight through me, was slowly growing in my eyes as it drew ever close to me. It would kill me in an instant the moment it touched me.

Gordez's simple word shot through my mind, "Don't." I'm sorry. I had no choice.

I brought my arm forward in a punch as well, meeting his head on, creating a burst of fire, manifested from the fear, desperation, and survivalism, the likes of which I had never conjured before, and the world became a mist around us, the steam of the colliding elements surrounding the scene before us, but I'd been trained for this, I knew precisely where he was. The scene had been scanned, captured, and memorized. I knew where he'd been standing, and so, himself rendered blind by the steam, I approached, calmly, in one fluid movement, unsheathing my dagger and sliced across his throat with it, leaving him standing there in shock as he reached for the fresh wound.

As it swung through the air, the humidity of this steam mist alone was enough to completely clean my blade, wiping off the blood as it swung through the air, leaving it looking good as new right as it was inserted back into its sheathe, the steam dissipating around us, the dead waterbender falling to the ground, and me, sheathing my own blade, praying that I hadn't been caught in the act of 4 dead so far on my end. I turned, granted the brief reprieve from my most recent encounter's end, scanning the field to see the situation. Right as I did, I caught sight of a waterbender sliding off of Zek's blade, also bearing a crossbow bolt lodged into his neck. He fell to the ground, dead, naturally. Other bodies lined the field, none of them belonging to us at the very least. We can do this. We have to do this.

Whether it had been my display, the casualties suffered on the rest of the field, or perhaps a newfound desire to end this peaceably, the call to "Hold!" resounded from around the field, and it was as though the world went silent all at once. The Waterbenders stood in place, us as well, being still outnumbered, not wanting to resume the hostilities despite having made it this far, ourselves not keen on putting our lives in the hands of sheer luck any more than we'd have to.

The waterbenders stood facing us, expectantly, as though waiting for us to make the next strike, to give them the excuse to finish us off, but we did not such thing, and in turn, neither did they, apparently the word of whichever mysterious benefactor had given them the aforementioned order placed as higher of value than their fallen brethren.

A man walked out from the shadowlands of the jungle, entering the light, approaching our merry band of survivalists. It was clear from his getup immediately that he was of higher rank than the simple soldiers we'd been facing, and the words he spoke next confirmed just as much as he stood facing us, his eyes moving between the 4 of us, before asking, "Where does the moon rise?"

There was a pause between us, as we all, nonverbally, individually, then communally, came to the same realization that this was the sign. Gordez was the one to speak the countersign, saying, "On the side of the righteous."

The water tribesman, clearly now the leader of the men here, turned to the compatriots at his side and yelled out, Stand down!" Then he turned to us. "You are welcome here."

Are you fucking kidding me?