Book One: Water
Chapter Three: Encounter

Kain had never given much thought to all things Avatar, and this didn’t change now. So the world’s only hope for peace, love, and hippies had vanished. Big deal. It’s not like he was needed. Not that the world was all peaceful. Bandits and scum were everywhere, but the Avatar wasn’t all-powerful. He couldn’t appear wherever someone was up to no good and save the day every time. He couldn’t eliminate evil from the world. Just like anyone else, the Avatar was limited.

Yeah, he could save them from a world war, but the individuals still suffered.

Individuals like Kain’s parents.

The inside of the temple, under the main room, had been like a maze. Luckily, the trails the Earth Sages had taken were visible through the dust. Kain followed the armored footprints – those that matched the shoe prints of a treasure guard.

Finally! The treasure room.

Kain pulled off his blood-red traveling cloak and the several small animal skin pouches inside it. He chose the pieces that would be the hardest to trace back to the temple and filled several sacks.

A thin band of silver and gold entwined around emeralds and diamonds caught his attention. It appeared to be a crown. Kain stared at it a moment more before packing it too. He wouldn’t sell it; this would be just a little reminder.

***

Getting out was surprisingly easy, and getting down the outside of the temple was much easier than climbing up it, and soon Kain was finally on his way to the Fire Nation.

He tested how others would react to his stolen goods at a small inn his first night and no one seemed to notice or be suspicious.

Excellent.

The young traveler made it a week without any problems. He was in the former upper ring of Ba Sing Se. After the war, the inner walls of Ba Sing Se came down, and the citizens were treated more as equals, allowed to live wherever they pleased. This made it easier for Kain to navigate the city and find what he was looking for. It would take another week while he waited for his passport. His old one was lost with his parents.

Luckily, the city’s employees believed his story and accepted his money. He roamed the area of the city he was in, partially looking for someplace to stay for a week, and partially enjoying the pleasant afternoon weather.

Dare he think it? Were things actually starting to look up?

From the expression on the face of the man who stood a few feet away from Kain, way off the designated path, the answer was no.

“We got company,” the bulky man in green called over his shoulder casually. “Just a pipsqueak. Nothin’ I can’t handle.”

Well. Kain would see about that. He probably would have fought the man, who was obviously a bandit, anyway. The three men behind him had their backs to him, most likely doing something illegal. They would be next.

Kain loathed bandits.

And Kain was not a pipsqueak. He was tall, though not as tall as the earth bender in his way, but tall enough. And, though he wasn’t as bulky as his challenger, his muscles were hard to miss. If Kain had wanted to be huge, he could have been. As it were, he preferred the agility that came with being lean. This is what would help him bring the earth bender down.

Without hesitation, he drew his sword while his opponent detached a big hammer from his belt.
In one motion, the earth bender connected the iron hammerhead with the rocks at his feet, which came at Kain in a wave of boulders.

As the earth rose below him, Kain used the force to leap at his opponent. The hilt of his sword connected with the man’s forehead, and his enemy crashed to the ground like a rock.

Kain almost laughed at the irony, but the other bandits hadn’t noticed their fallen friend. While he still had the opportunity, Kain cut through the belt of the man in the middle, both disarming his weapon and his money bags – full of stolen loot no doubt.

The other bandits turned on him now. They looked from their unconscious comrade to Kain in surprise. He dove at them before their little brains had a chance to figure it out. He sliced one other’s treasure loose, but two managed to keep their weapons.

They swung their hammers wildly, panicked by Kain’s quick movements. Apparently, their guard was the only bender among them. If they had been more benders, they could have slowed him down.

Kain sliced through the weak wood, separating the hammerhead from a bandit’s hand. He dropped back, picked up his companion, and let the other two do the fighting.

A hammer connected with Kain’s leg as his elbow connected with the bandit’s face. Both men collapsed to the ground, growling in pain. The only opponent that remained standing swung his hammer down toward Kain.

Too slow.

Kain rolled quickly out of the way and onto his feet, careful to put more pressure on his good leg. His enemy missed his target and instead hit his comrade’s weapon, which sunk deep into the ground. Its owner couldn’t pull it out.

Meanwhile, the last bandit rushed Kain, who aimed a swing of the sword at his enemy’s fighting arm.

The bandit dodged at the last second, but the black blade cut along the strap that held up the bandit’s armor.

Kain didn’t pause to assess the damage he’d done. He tackled the defenseless bandit to the ground and put his sword to his throat.

“Good match, but you lose. Leave your treasure and I’ll let you live,” Kain smirked.

The bandit he stood over was the only one who still had a bag of gold. He dropped it and Kain stepped back.

He didn’t notice the girl until he’d gathered all of the bandits' lost loot.

He said, “Oh,” when he finally saw her.

She appeared to be about his age, with long, dark brown hair, dark skin, and big blue eyes. She wore a light blue tunic top with diagonal collar, a thick, darker blue waistband, and dark blue pants. Her hair was down, showing she didn’t care what people thought of her, and her expression was completely calm, as if she was used to being nearly kidnapped by bandits. She was wiggling out of the last of the ropes the bandits had been trying to tie around her when she noticed Kain was looking at her.

She smiled slowly when her blue eyes met his grey ones, and she leapt gracefully to her feet.

“My name is Klara,” she told him as she walked to where he stood. He watched her cautiously, unsure of what to do.

She better not ask for a share of the gold.

They were now nearly nose to nose.

“Thank you for saving me,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck. He was too surprised to push her off. She let her lips brush lightly against his before pressing them quickly together. She pulled away before he could react.

His face broke into a half-grin when she stepped back, still smiling at him.

“Now that is the kind of undeserved hero-worship I could get used to,” said Kain.