Avatar: Gemini Rocks

Kaiya leapt across the main street of Republic City, two staves in her hands and twisting between the metalbent cables. "What part of priceless heirloom are you people missing?!" She yelled out at them, using her airbending to take gigantic leaps between the buildings, running on walls, and just barely keeping out of arms length.

"Oh we understand. Just gives you a motive not to pay for it. Now come quietly so we can question you already!" One of the metalbending cops fired another cable at her, which Kaiya deflected with a barrier of compressed air, straying it off course. "It was stolen in the first place! I'm just taking it back." She unfolded her staff into its glider, throwing it upward and causing it to loop around, before using the stolen staff to create an airbending slice and knock her pursuers off balance, before leaping up and catching her glider on the second pass.

She grumbled as she flew through the skies, keeping an eye out for any other pursuers that may be after her, but it seemed like they'd given up for the most part. After all, as far as the call was concerned, she was just some thief kid who stole from a skeevy pawn shop. She wasn't exactly a top priority, if one at all. Just something for beat cops to chase. She looked up at the staff she'd taken back and shrugged to herself, even as she felt her altitude start to dip. She'd gotten back what had been lost, at least. As far as she knew anyway. Shame being off center meant she wasn't going to be able to keep flying forever. As she looked down, she realized she'd gone off the merchant district and was now above the bay.

"...Huh. Crap." She muttered, looking back at the city. Going back didn't really sound great, all things considered. Those beat cops were probably still after her. So...time to go for a swim. She snapped her glider shut and took her best approximation at a dive, landing straight in the bay and feeling the wind get knocked out of her. At least she was near some boats?

It wasn't too long of a journey from the Fire Nation to Republic City. Hikoutei and Railana had only been on the boat for tow or three days, depending on how you counted. Maybe this journey would do her some good to get her recognized by her parents at home, if his words to her parents hadn't done anything already. Not that he believed some words from a person they didn't know that was a few economic classes above them meant anything in the face of years of neglect.

They were coming up on Republic City, and they saw the statue of Avatar Aang. It made Hikoutei smile. He wasn't one to express happiness very often, but he did coming here again. The sight of the famous Avatar that ended war prior was something of a... good omen to him.

So when he saw Kaiya, he was naturally perplexed.

He had seen airbenders fly before. But they usually used custom flight suits now. This style was very traditional. And with the place his head was right now, he almost mistook her for Avatar Aang as she landed in the water. He went to the edge of the boat, making sure she was okay, and then looked for rope. "Railana, someone's in the water. Try to find some rope." He called to her off the edge. "Hey! You gonna be okay?" If she wasn't doing so swell, he would unstrap his sword, letting it fall onto the deck, before jumping in to go after her.

Railana took the time out at sea to relax... and then worry... and then hang out in the sun some more... and then get very concerned about the wellbeing of her parents... and then run around the boat exclaiming her freedom... and then feeling like a terrible daughter for running away... and then sleeping... and now she was mostly at peace with her decision to leave on this adventure. She knew that her destiny didn't lay in wait at her parents' house. It was out here. And now she was positive it was with Hikoutei.

As they approached Republic City, Railana gasped at the sight of the statue of Aang that she had seen just once before and smiled at the memory of what happened the last time she was here. And this time it would be even better!

And then she saw the girl and blinked.

Hikoutei gave her an order and all she did was nod before running off. She knew she had seen rope somewhere close by before. They had it pretty much everywhere for situations just like this. The girl grabbed a spool of it and raced back to him. "I got it!!" She tied a secure knot to one of the braces of the boat before throwing the rest down to Hiko.

Kaiya came back out of the water sputtering and gasping, the long side of her hair plastered to her eyes. "Ugh, I knew I should have cut you." She mused, trying to brush it away while holding the antique staff over her head and out of the water. She looked up the ship as she heard someone calling out for her. "I-Yeah! I'm okay. Could use a lift for a second though!"

She took her personal staff, the one that would be more sturdy, and tossed it in the air before twisting her hand at it, creating a small cyclone of wind that carried it onto the deck of the ship. Then she got hit in the face by a rope. "...Sure. That helps." She muttered inaudibly, wrapping her hand in it and starting to climb up, taking care to keep the antique safe as she did.

When she reached the top and rolled over the side and onto the deck, she cracked her knuckles and looked up at the two Fire Nation teens. She sat up and put her fists together, creating an air sphere around herself that sent all of the water soaking her clothing all over the deck. "Thanks for the lift, I guess." She said nonchalantly, standing up and grabbing her personal staff. "I'm Kaiya."

He nodded at Railana when she had done as he had asked, and tossed the rope overboard to the girl in the water. He didn't like that it had hit her in the face, but when someone needed help, they needed the help. She threw a staff aboard, and it landed next to Hikoutei and Railana. When she took the rope and climbed up onto the boat, he held a hand over for her so that she didn't have to climb by herself for all of the journey, at least. He had been prepared to jump overboard to help, but she clearly didn't need it.

She then dried herself off with some air, and Hikoutei couldn't help but smile. It had been a long time since he had seen actual airbenders. The past decade and a half of war probably had something to do with it. She introduced herself as Kaia. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Hikoutei, and this is Railana. How did you get all the way out here?" He had more questions, of course, but he didn't want to overwhelm her. He was just a stranger that had helped her out of the water. She didn't owe him anything.

As the staff came whizzing aboard, Railana went wide eyed and stared at it. She couldn't help as her curiosity took over and she picked it up to hold it for the girl who was now climbing up to the deck of the ship. An airbender! An actual living breathing airbender!! She had never met one before! To be honest, she had never met anyone who bent anything other than fire. Her life had been spent in the Fire Nation save for the one time she had been in this city previous, but she hadn't met anyone during that time that could bend... It was actually mostly spent with Hikoutei. She giggled at the thought.

When he introduced the both of them, the girl blinked and snapped back to reality, blushing lightly and waving towards the girl. She handed her back the staff but kept quiet other than that. She wasn't exactly sure what to say and didn't want to overwhelm her either. Hikoutei was better with words and stuff so she let him handle all of that.

Kaiya brushed her hair back as she finished her airbending blowdrying session, and walked over to take her personal staff back from the younger female of the two. "Thanks." She said simply, checking it for damage by unfolding it into the glider. No tears, no water damage, all was looking well. Excellent. She snapped it shut again with her airbending and smiled at the two."I mean, I just came here chasing this. Old relic. Nomads didn't want to chase it cuz it's not their way or whatever."

She plopped herself down by the railing and shrugged. "Mind if I ride into the port with you? My bison's there and it's way easier to take off from there or Airbender Island. But if it's an issue I can probably just call him."

Hikoutei smiled lightly to Kaiya. Something seemed weird, still, but he decided not to question her about it any further. Her business was her own. "Yes, the Air Nomads do have a history of being passive. Although some sects have been a touch more aggressive in recent years." Then she asked if she could ride on the ship with them. Hikoutei blinked, and would look around them for any sailors to see if they had noticed Kaiya climbing aboard. At the moment, it didn't seem so.

"Well... it's not our boat. It's just our ride. But even if they do find out you're aboard, I doubt they'll complain too much. We're nearly into the city as it is." Then he perked up when she mentioned who was waiting for her ashore. "Wait- a flying bison? An actual flying bison?" Now that he had never seen in person. "What a privilege. I've heard and learned much about them, but I've never seen one in my life."

Railana was trying to stay quiet as much as possible. She was still swirling in her own thoughts and wasn't really sure how to communicate with this air bender the way Hiko seemed to. Her eyes stayed on them though as she stood nearby and kept a lookout for others when she heard that the girl wanted to stay with them until they docked.

And then she said something that really caught her attention. Hiko's too, obviously. The girl's eyes lit up and suddenly she was standing right in front of the air bender with wide, curious eyes that seem to swirl with golds and pinks. "You have a real flying bison!? I think what Hiko was trying to ask was... Can we see it!?" She giggles happily and Kaiya could see a flicker of flame dance across her shoulders.

Kaiya raised an eyebrow as the two fire nation kiddies got excited about her bison. "What, Lemo? I mean, I can let you meet him I guess." The concept of people not seeing a Flying Bison in their lives was a little lost on her, given that they'd almost entirely repopulated. But then again they still primarily lived in and around the temples. "He's in the port at the stables. They wouldn't let me take him much further and, in all honesty, I didn't think he'd like how close together everything is."

The three waited on the ship for a while until they reached port. Kaiya mostly avoided the actual ship workers. She didn't have much other than a few silver pieces, so paying for the ferry would have been...rough, to say the least. But once they got close to the dock, she stood up. "I'll go on ahead and make sure he's doing alright. The less people who see me the better anyway."

She took a run and used her airbending to launch herself from the deck onto the building that made up the stable. Mostly in place so various travelers could keep their various mounts and pets safe while they spent time in the city. She walked through for a bit...eel hounds, ostrich horses...

She walked past all the various mounts only to find standard Earth Kingdom creatures. She crossed her arms and started getting nervous. She really didn't want anything bad to happen to him, but-

Then she got hit in the head by a small yellow fruit. She slowly looked up at the tree nearby, only to see it was a lemon tree. And that her sky bison was currently shoving the top of it halfway into his mouth. "Lemo! No! That belongs to someone!" She managed to convince him to land and was trying to get him to spit the tree out by the time the two Firebenders arrived. But...well...that was a lost cause at this point.

Hikoutei raised a brow at Railana when she spoke for him, and said that he meant to ask to see the sky bison. He thought that was perfectly well-implied, but he didn't bother to correct her or shoot her a glance. The airbender agreed to their request, and said that she would go on ahead to meet her sky bison for them. He nodded. "Sure. We'll meet you there."

When they got off of the ship, they would head towards the stables on Fafnir, and they came upon the sky bison eating... an entire lemon tree! Hikoutei laughed as he watched it. "My. I don't think I've ever seen something that loves lemons so much." Fafnir looked at Lemo curiously as Hikoutei dismounted, and would approach the airbender and Lemo. He stopped a few meters away. He wouldn't want to disrespect her or the creature. He was fine waiting for permission to approach further to meet the sky bison. Simply marvelling at the sight of it for the moment.