Zhao

They were right on our tail. It had been a foolish thought to think we'd lose them upon leaving the haze of smoke and sand.

We'd emerged from the chaos only to find them waiting for us right outside. 5 skiffs in total. They must've arrived while we'd been fighting for our lives, and now, our survival just became a lot more precarious.

I was at the back of the vessel, firing shots at our pursuers. The status of our skiff's crew was not ideal. Zaik was still injured, Krezk watching over him, Harzek and myself still managing. For the Hami however, things were more grim. Hulon was dead, a different sandbender's whose name I hadn't caught had been lost in the storm, and another was dead on our deck.

I fired a shot at an approaching vessel, the blast of fire missing by what seem like miles, the She'wani benders using the sand to redirect some shots and absorb others. It was pointless. Our only chance was speed, and even in that department, we were lacking. The She'wani were gaining on us, the majority of their crews dedicated to accelerating the vessel while we only had Gani and Shilo to speed us along, one last Hami present at the stern to help me in warding off the She'wani attacks. We were managing, though only barely.

Whether it was clumps of solidified sand, burst of sand waves, or something else following those lines, they weren't letting up their offense. We had 4 vessels on our tail, 2 directly behind us, the other 2 to either side of us, speeding ahead, trying to box us in.

Me and the other Hami had our attention split, needing to cover the stern as well as either side. We were managing, though only just, and that's when an attack had gotten past his defense. I saw it just out of the corner of my eye as he warded off a discus of solid sand, knocking it off course so it wouldn't come in contact with our sailer. In that moment that his attention was turned away, the She'wani had seized the moment, manifesting a pike of sand that rose from the desert floor with such pinpoint accuracy that it shot right through the allied sandbender.

The needle of sand tore right through him, disintegrating back into individual grains once it had already served its purpose to cut our defensive capability in half. A hole going straight through the center of his chest, he slumped over, already dead, falling over the side of the skiff, disappearing behind us as we sped along, all of us noticing, none of us daring to let it distract us, much less stop. He was dead. Gone. There was nothing we could do now.

I was alone. Only me to keep us alive right now. Fire. I remembered Jeong Jeong's words. They were all I had right now, whether the rumors about him were true or not. Traitor or not, he had taught me. He had taught me the power of fire. Fire is alive. It lives, it breathes, it feels. Just as your emotions influence your breath, as does it your fire. Your passion, your heart, it is what makes a firebender powerful.

Rage. That was the one word that shot through my head. Rage. I took control of my breathing, letting it become the manifestation of my heart, my spirit, my passion, my unbridled anger. The She'wani knew they'd killed our only other defender. Their attacks were picking up, focusing on me, figuring if they took me out too, there'd be nothing left defending our sailer. They were right on one count-I was the last obstacle, but they couldn't have been any more wrong on the other-I was not going down.

Their barrage came, despite coming from all sides, directly entirely and solely at me. I couldn't block them all at once, but they all had the same target. Breathe in. Their individual blasts would all come together to meet at a single point. I had to wait. For just. The right. Now! I let the breath I'd been holding in out, guiding the energy to flow through my body, my passion's will manifested in a wall of fire that shot out, myself separating it in half, blocking their attacks from either side, the sand blasts falling apart on impact with my stronger defense, the spectacle providing just the right opportunity, just the moment needed for me to make what counter attack I could-a breath of fire, aided by the fire of my hands as well, 3 points coming together as one stronger blast of fire, directed immediately at one of the sailers directly behind us. I let the blast go, and it sailed, taking nearly all of the energy out of me in the process. It shot forward, hurdling through air. The She'wani only had time to try a meager defense, not that it mattered, all of their wards failing to match my strength.

The blast of fire hit home, directly impacting against the bow of their sailer. Like the snapping of a bone, a splintering cry echoed into the desert air, so loud that not even the wind speeding past us could silence it, the explosion reaching out with arms of fire, grabbing at man and material alike, the wood, the skin, the sail, the bones, all of it food for its vengeful appetite. The burning wreck of the vehicle recoiled to its side, skipping on a sand dune, flying into the air like a crashing meteorite when it came falling into the sand once again, one final explosion marking its sendoff into abandonment.

That blast had taken nearly everything out of me. I was leaning against the pilot's platform, currently being operated by Harzek who was serving more as a navigator as Shilo and Gani did the true steering.

He'd observed the vessel get destroyed behind us, but as well noticed the energy leave my body, just in time for another blast of sand to collide with the starboard corner of our stern, chipping off a good degree of wood, sending our vessel sliding from the impact, just barely maintaining its heading.

"We can't lose 'em like this!" Harzek called out.

"Not like this." Shilo agreed. "There! That's our only shot!"

And that's when I saw it, taking the brief moment to turn away from my efforts to defend all sides of the vessel, seeing what he was pointing to-a sandstorm, off to our port side. No.

"Are you insane?!" Harzek cried out. "That'll kill us!" No way in hell.

"I can get us through it."

If I couldn't hear it in Shilo's voice, I could more than definitely see it in his eyes. The confidence, the dedication. If this skiff had been operated by will alone, we'd have been halfway across the Earth by now. Earth. The element of substance. Of stubbornness. Whether we agreed or not, we were going into that sandstorm. We were already turning to face it. It was moving towards us. We'd be fighting against it.

Shilo was standing at the bow, leaving Gani to steer us forward alone. What is he doing? I couldn't see what he was doing from where I was, fumbling for my goggles around my neck, bringing them up to my eyes, raising my facemask as well to cover my mouth and nose. I have a very bad feeling about this. The others around me were doing the same, preparing for what waited ahead. Shilo, however, stood motionless, the wear and tear of his age now invisible as he stood alone, balanced on the portside prong of the bow, nearly concealed ahead of the mast.

We were drawing closer to the sandstorm. The vessels behind us had lagged for a moment, but they were picking up the pace now, their attacks intensifying, desperate to bring us down before we got too close to the storm. Even they were smart enough to fear what was ahead, while us, meanwhile, seemed to have some form of deathwish.

The She'wani attacks had picked back up, and intensely, a discus here, a sand blast here, the majority of them falling off course. As we neared the sandstorm, the wind around us was picking up, knocking both my attacks and theirs astray. I'd have considered that a good thing until, very similar to the one that had killed the other Hami, a pike of sand emerged from the surface, directed immediately towards me, knocked astray by a rogue blast of air, the pike driving itself straight into Krezk's side, in and out of him in the same second. I turned. He was on his knees. I watched. I could only see the eyes behind his goggles as he turned to look at me. Terrified eyes. Blank eyes. Dead before he hit the ground.

Rage.

I saw my target. I saw the She'wani that had done it. I breathed. I'll kill them. I felt the energy flow. I'll kill them all.

"Brace!"

The skiff I was aiming for turned, the fire dying in my hands, no more target it to turn it towards. What?

I pivoted my head to face the bow of the sailer where a wall of brown awaited just a few hundred yards ahead.

I fumbled, letting my breath die, desperately reaching for the navigator platform where Harzek was clinging on to the navigation board, Zaik hugging the mast, Gani controlling the sand torrent with one hand, clinging onto the other mast pole with his free hand, and in front of them all, Shilo just standing at the front, ready for all that awaited him, not a concern in the world.

We were only yards away. He's going to die.

And the wall of sand reached us. I closed my eyes, awaiting the force of the impact, of the complete and total likelihood that we'd be sent flying into the air.

I stayed where I was, hunched over, eyes closed, awaiting an impact that never came. Did we stop? Nothing had changed. Was the storm moving away from us now? I opened my eyes, slowly, wary of the possibility that I'd open them in the exact moment that we struck the wall of sand. But as the world around me slowly came back into my realm of sensation, it became clear to me as though we were in an oasis of peace and serenity amongst a sea of chaos and devastation. Behind me, I could see the brown haze, above me, the selfsame chaos, to both sides, right and left, the devastating brown miss that would have torn us apart in seconds, and directly in front of us, standing at the bow of the sand sailer, the man responsible, Shilo. His hands were out before him, moving his arms in a wavelike motion, bending the sandstorm to all sides of us, using the travelling grains flying in the wind, manipulating them to his side, creating a shield around us in a sense, protecting us from the cruel elements.

I could see the force of the sandstorm around us, the way it tore at the dunes, tearing them apart to move them elsewhere, unearthing the earth itself, set on carrying this piece of the Si Wong somewhere else. We would have been dead in seconds, our skin torn to ribbons, ripped apart, none of us standing a chance. It was by the merit of Shilo, the man standing at the front of the vessel, ready to meet the storm head on, that we had survived.

He seemed to be at complete and utter peace, his eyes shifted simply forward, his motions never ceasing, constantly bending the storm to our sides and above us, evading us as Gani had us speed along forward, the small bubble in which we resided completely windless, us moving along unhindered.

His movements, I thought, as my eyes, in complete and utter awe, settled on Shilo, it looks like he's waterbending.

There was no noise to disrupts the unearthly silence we were all sitting in, none of us daring to speak as though the smallest would disturb Shilo's focus, tearing apart the aegis dome protecting us all, leaving us exposed to the cruel realities of the world around us. So instead, we just stayed put, our eyes moving around us, no words even coming to mind if we had wanted to speak in the first place.

The silent bliss would pass somewhat soon, however, interrupted by a sight none of us had been expecting. It seems we hadn't been the only ones to brave the storm. To our starboard side, a vague shadow, approaching closer-a She'wani sailer. The hell?

Be it by design or by accident, the port of their vehicle slammed directly to our starboard, knocking us astray, questioning the integrity of our protective barrier as small streams of sand were released from the ceiling, dropping atop us.

Their vessel was now completely adjacent to ours, myself now realizing that they themselves were protecting themselves from the storm, a full crew of 10 sandbenders aboard, 2 piloting, 4 on offense, and 4 others managing their protective barrier, one however that was only covering the bow of their vessel, protecting against the brunt force of the storm. Yet Shilo is protecting the entire vessel himself alone. If ever there was a sandbender master's feat to behold, it was this.

I took the risk in letting go of where I was clinging onto the vessel, speeding over to the starboard side, firing a pre-emptive blast of fire at the She'wani, catching them off guard, themselves still attempting to get their bearings after the impact with our skiff. Their distraction wouldn't last long, but luckily, it would be enough, granting me the opportunity to hit a She'wani square in the chest, the blast of fire shot with enough velocity to tear directly through him, sending him to the ground, dead before he could even scream.

The She'wani only granted their fallen companion a moment of attention before redirecting their gazes back to us. Shilo and Gani were busy keeping us in motion and alive, so it was up to us Fire Nation soldiers to defend them. In that moment, I found a difficult-to-resist urge to chuckle at the notion of what was occurring, Fire Navy soldiers, in the middle of the desert, working alongside benders of a hostile nation, while in search of a mythical spirit library. It would be one hell of a story to tell my children once this war was said and done. I shot back into focus. Couldn't have that future if I didn't live to see it. Harzek and Zaik were already back up on their feet, sword and spear in hand respectively. The sandbenders unsheathed their own weapons, knowing that any manipulation of sand right now would be a fool's errand, one that would threaten to question the fragile balance keeping us all alive.

I didn't have that same weakness. I shot another blast of fire, this one directed at one of their shield bearers. Too distracted keeping his crew alive, he had no time to react, the blast caught him in the lower spine, sending him to the ground writhing in pain.

My action was enough to tell the others what my intentions were, forcing the remaining 3 fighters to focus on me, something that would end up proving to be a mistake on their part as it gave Harzek and Zaik the perfect opportunity to go on the offensive, Harzek's blade immediately cutting one from shoulder to stomach as though chopping an axe through wood. Zaik's assailant was more ready, able to parry his spear strike, rendered useless by Zaik's counter-parry, knocking the butt of his spear into the She'wani's head, rendering him stunned, exposed to Zaik's next strike, impaling him directly through the stomach.

By the time Zaik kicked the body off of his spear, sliding it off, Harzek had already killed the other She'wani attacker, and I was already conjuring a continuous spout of fire, sending it across the entirety of their deck. It didn't take them long to realize the hopelessness in maintaining their offensive, and they broke off, but only after I know that my onslaught had already claimed two more of their men. I doubted what was remaining of their crew would be able to fight off the storm, but it was no longer our concern as their shadow crept back into the shroud of the storm.

We had only a moment of respite before an all too familiar figure emerged from behind me, to the vessel's port. That selfsame pike of sand that had already taken two of our crews' lives.

Luckily, in the darkness and confusion of the storm, it only struck air, flying past us harmlessly, it however just a sign of a greater threat-another She'wani sailer, this one, contrary to the last, focusing on a ranged offense, the strength of the bender pushing the attack clearly something to behold in how he was able to allow his attacks to maintain integrity within the storm.

Us Fire Nation soldiers had already sought cover, myself attempting to fire a number of shots that went wide, veered off course by the surrounding conditions.

It seemed as though this new attacker had learned from the mistakes from the last, opting to not draw in too close to us, risking having their personnel wiped out, rather opting to take their chances in attacking us from long range.

Where their attacks lacked in accuracy, they made up for in frequency, rendering it too dangerous to be stood in open view, ourselves forced to resort to cover for survival. Gani was exposed, I just realized. I could already tell the She'wani's renewed attacks were being directed towards him. If we went down, we would be sitting ducks, dead beyond all shadow of a doubt. I emerged from cover, moving to his side, and not a moment too soon, bringing up a small wall of fire in just enough time to block a sandy projectile.

I attempted to return fire, but the wind was causing my fire to be blown away before it could ever reach home. This wasn't going to achieve anything.

"We need to get closer!"

"Their shield only covers their bow!" Harzek called.

"Yeah! So?!" I yelled back.

"Hit them in the stern, knock them on their sides, they'll be torn apart!"

I had been planning on relaying the suggesting to Gani, but he was already on it, slowly, no, quickly, very quickly, approaching them, with almost suicidal intent. We're going to fa-

The thought was interrupted by me nearly lurching forward, only just avoiding falling overboard by grasping onto the mast. Our port bow came in direct contact with their starboard stern. They were spinning, listing to the side, turning, their port side almost being exposed to the storm. Their benders were trying to adjust.

Adjust for this. We were close enough now, the sand shields perfectly blocking off the wind, providing me the perfect chance to let my inner flame made manifest. I extended both of my arms, channeling the anger, the hate, the passion from earlier, letting it all release now from both of my hands. Fire rained upon their deck, eating at every inch of tinder as it spread, ever hungry, ready to consume more and more. It drew their attention away, just as I'd hoped. The fire, the storm, themselves turning even more, it was too much for them to effectively divide their attention. The wind took them, their starboard side completely exposed, and they went flying, the wind uplifting them, hurtling them into the air, flames spinning across their bow, burning bodies, still screaming for life, falling from the deck, carried by the wind of the storm like fragments of a grenade, being scattered in the wind, the burning mass of wood and sail flying above us, my head turning up just in time to watch them disappear behind us as they came crashing back down, spinning in the sand before being uplifted again, a burning ball of fire left to the darkness of the storm.

They were gone. Truly speaking, they were gone. We were in the clear.

Holding back onto the navigator's deck as we adjusted our path, I sank back down to my bottom, sitting down on the deck with a loud sigh of relief, the fighting already over. Only 2 had attacked us. There were 3 when we entered the storm. I wanted to let myself think that they had either refused to enter the storm, opting for the more logical move of doing the exact opposite and heading the other way, or perhaps, better yet, the storm had torn them apart without the need for us to way, it didn't matter to me. I just wanted to pray that the fighting was over, that we were in the clear.

Zaik settled down next to where I was next to Harzek. None of us could have anticipated our time in the desert coming to this. The same thought from earlier came back to me, and I found myself hard-pressed to resist the chuckle, failing, at least partially, a small scoff emerging from my lips. The others bore me no mind. We were all too tired to do anything save sit down right now and close our eyes, all of us just praying to ourselves that the fighting was over.

I don't know how long we must have stayed like this, the only thing changing when, seemingly out of nowhere, Gani had collapsed to his knee. It was only when we turned over to observe that we saw that he was bleeding, a cut in his side.

Our skiff fell to the ground, colliding against the sand, and it felt as though the entire Earth had shook, sand falling from our artificial ceiling, caking my right shoulder in what I feared was just the beginning of the end.

"What's happening?!" Shilo called from where he stood at the bow.

Harzek was already at Gani's side, looking him over, undoing some of the wrappings at Gani's side where he'd been bleeding. "Gani's passed out! Blood loss."

We're sitting ducks. It's already a miracle that Shilo is protecting us as is. He can't afford to move us as well.

"Is he alright!?"

And of course, the man's first priority was the life of his man, the last one he had left of this expedition. I could only imagine where his mind was right now. Hell, where Harzek's was too. We had both lost so many men here, half of them wiped out in the blink of an eye, those who were left slowly being picked off one by one. And now Gani as well was at a risk of being lost.

"I can stop the bleeding!" Harzek cried out. "It's not too bad. He'll be fine."

"Do what you have to do. We'll wait out the storm."

This time it was me who spoke up. I couldn't imagine how much energy it was taking him to support this protection of us. To just sit here, wait out this storm, it could be hours. "We could be here for hours before the storm lets up. Are you sure that-"

"I'll do what I have to do. Just keep Gani alive."

I nodded. "Zhao, help me with Gani. You too, Zaik. Zhao, I need some water from your pack. Zaik, I need some cloth and some booze." I knelt down by Harzek's side, helping him reveal the wound beneath the bandages-a grizzly slash along his side, his wrappings thoroughly soaked in blood.

"I don't ha-"

"Now!"

Zaik nodded, turning to his pack, removing the flask that his water should have been in, uncapping it, instantly filling the air with the strong aroma of Si Wong brew, the same smell that had infected the Misty Palms Oasis tavern.

It didn't take long to piece Gani back together. He would live. It would be hours before he'd be in any condition to move, however. For now, we were trapped here, the desert itself blowing in the wind around us. There was no knowing how long we'd be here. It was the same feeling of helplessness that I always detested, but in this moment, there was nothing that could be done, and I had to come to terms with that. There was only one man keeping us all alive in this moment, and it was Shilo, still standing atop the sand sailer bow, his arms at constant motion, holding the world together around us.

The hours drifted by, slowly, miserably, Harzek's "Now!" having been the last word spoken in this bubble of silence. We were all too afraid to speak, to move a muscle at that, even breathing itself feeling like a risk with each inhale and exhale that we took.

When you focused, you could hear the muffled howling of the wind around us, watching as the world went passing by.

I spent those hours thinking. There was little else that I could do given the circumstances. 5 of our men dead. 10 of Shilo's. While I couldn't see Shilo's face, I could see it in the way his posture had faulted on hearing of Gani's injury before promptly righting himself once again. I was sure that no shortage of regrets was going through his mind as the deaths on our behalf kept on stacking. Now, however, he was being forced to remain strong, even if it only meant saving one more of his men. I had no doubt, despite what little I knew of the man, that he would, without hesitation, put his last breath into defending those under his care.

While I couldn't see Shilo, I could see Harzek, the way he sat next to Zaik, inspecting his injuries, ensuring that nothing was infected or posing a risk to take him out of the fight. I saw it in his eyes. It wasn't anger this time. Not like it had been when we returned from the swamp. I was wondering if the anger was being reserved, but for some odd reason, I didn't get the sense that such was the case. It looked as though he had moved past all anger, himself realizing that taking it out on me would not return his men to him. They were gone. Lost. All he could do now was live with the memory of them and, akin to Shilo, put every ounce of his breath in ensuring no more were lost.

I had no way of knowing what those around me were thinking, but if there was one though I knew we all shared, it was the questioning of if any of this was even worth it. What if it had only been a dream? What if nothing was waiting at the end of this goose chase? What if all those who had died had died for nothing? The Fire Nation was losing soldiers, good soldiers, for what very well may end up having been a fool's errand. And I, the man who led them on this suicide mission, forever disgraced, a shamed failure, a blight on my Nation.

These were the thoughts that plagued my mind for the hours that followed, until the howling seemed to die, and the soft muffle of the storm around us faded into emptiness.

A few seconds were spent of us exchanging looks, of wondering if it really had passed, or we had all mutually lost our senses of hearing and, to a degree, sight.

Minutes passed of what I presumed was Shilo wondering the exact same thing until, eventually, he let the shield drop, and the world outside stood quiet, sun beaming down, no wind moving the sands, just an eerie stillness, and standing in the middle of it all, eyes focused on us and us alone, a fox. Had it been in the storm this whole time?

A red fur coat, white-breasted, it stood on all fours, completely silent, vivid blue eyes staring directly at us.

None of us had any words, all of us sitting still, heads all craned towards the mysterious, out-of-place beast.

I wasn't sure what I had been intending to do, but I moved, likely intending to stand, and the creature turned its head directly towards me. Its eyes were focused on no part of me save my own eyes. Despite the distance between us, I felt as though his face were directly in front of mine, my eyes looking directly into his, seeing a whole world in those teal blue orbs.

And he ran.

"Where's he going?" Harzek asked, his eyes following it. "Shilo! You know what this is?!"

"We should follow it," I said before Shilo could even respond. I don't know why I'd said it, but something, in that moment, told me that wherever it was going is where we wanted to be. Maybe it was just the desperation of having no other options to resort to save a random fox in the middle of an abandoned desert, but I felt, more than I've felt anything else in a long time, that there was nothing more important in this moment that to follow this fox.

My feet were already on the sand, myself having already taken a few jogging steps in the direction of the fox. Shilo had already stepped off board, himself slowly approaching me in the direction of the fox, his caution and temperance matching what I admitted to be my own foolhardiness and enthusiasm. Harzek was still on board alongside Zaik, but before long, he was on his feet, motioning with his hand for Zaik to stay aboard, saying, "Keep watch on Gani." And with that, he dismounted the vehicle, joining Shilo and I.

And so we ran ahead, following the mysterious creature that ran in a single direction, never diverging, only stopping and craning its head as if to ensure we were watching. It maintained its trajectory, changing course for nothing, until, as if emerging out of thin air, a structure emerged-a sandstone tower rising from the surface of the desert itself. There was no entrance, it just shot into the sky. What the hell is this? Where is the fox going?

The fox did not stop in its tracks, maintained its speed as though it were to collide headfirst against the side of the tower. When it reached it, however, it did not stop. Rather, its front paws touched the tower, and as though it were as simple as taking another step, the fox shifted completely vertically, turning at a 90 degree angle, facing upwards toward the sky, and it ran still, up the length of the tower, the 3 of us that had been following it dead in our tracks, knowing such a feat to be impossible for ourselves, only able to watch in befuddled awe as the fox reached the top, turning back to face us one last time before finally entering the window of the tower atop, disappearing from our sight. And with the same mystery that it had appeared to us only minutes ago, it disappeared.

"What-" Harzek barely managed between pants. "What the hell was that? Shilo. You know what this is?"

Shilo could only shake his head, wordless.

"You said ruins in the desert. This what you were referring to?"

Shilo shook his head again. "No, I…I didn't know this was here. I'd never seen this structure before."

Harzek, realizing he'd find no answers with Shilo, turned to me. "Zhao," he said, not bothering to bring up rank. "How 'bout you? You wanted to follow the fox. You have any idea what the hell this is?"

I was staring at the tower, my eyes following it up and down, trying to make some form of sense from it all, as difficult a task as that was proving to be. I thought back on the dream, on the structure I'd seen, towering far above this tower, a measly sandcastle by comparison. The swamp vision replayed itself in my mind, the way I'd approached the grand temple, that grand library, my eyes scanning it from bottom to top, finally remembering what lay at the top. "Yeah," I said slowly, the realization now dawning on me. Atop that library in my dreams, the tower that had marked its peak, watching over all the Earth surrounding it, now reduced to a measly lookout in the middle of an abandoned desert, the only point of the grand library that still was exposed to the outside, a beacon only for those who sought it out, waiting in plain sight for only those with the right will for it, to seek it out. "We found it."