Van (Qiang)
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Van's trek to Ba Sing Se is interrupted when he noticed that Lyra has disappeared. Before he is even able to wonder where she went, he is ambushed by two assailants, an archer and a Firebender. He dispatches the Firebender by throwing him into his accomplices crossfire. Van quickly moves to attack the archer, but upon arrival, he discovers that the archer has already been taken care of. By Lyra...
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I can't exactly call this saving my life, really. It's not like I wasn't taking care of the situation. Archers are only trouble when they're more of them or they're attacking you from long range from a hidden location. If he's one on one with you, only the best marksman in the world(like a Yu Yan) are even remotely dangerous. So long as you are at least a competent fighter. Which I sure as hell was.

I've not only beaten several enemies at once, I've single handedly captured a Fire Nation tank. Not to brag, but in most situations, I'm pretty confident I can come out alive even without any bending. That isn't to say I could do something like kill a master bender or anything, but I would sure think I have a good shot at not getting killed by him, I'll tell you that.

So, I wasn't in any danger from this guy. Really, I wasn't.

And I shouldn't feel like Lyra sneaking up on him and putting an ice spike in his spine was saving me. But, dammit, it sure as hell felt like it.

It's becoming easy to forget which one is the adult here. But, that's going to have to wait.I need to figure out if this was a team of really bad bounty hunters or just really good idiots.

Obviously the guy with a spike through the back of his head wasn't going to be saying anything, so I doubled back to the first guy. Turns out he was still alive. And he was even trying to make a very slow getaway from his belly. I'd say he probably had gotten five yards up the road. A red smear of blood trailed behind him. He heard us (or should I say me? Since the girl didn't make a sound) coming and tried to hurry his pathetic pace. At least he was smart enough to break off the ends of the arrow, and leave it in rather than pull out the only thing stopping the wounds from completely bleeding out. I walked up to him and shoved him over to his back with my foot.

Would you believe it? The idiot actually tried to attack me. I stomped on his offending arm before his weak fire attack could do more than make the air wavy.

He cried out in pain, his voice ragged. I'm shocked none of the arrows hit his heart, but they most definitely got a lung. One or both could collapse soon or he'd bleed into them. Either way he probably had another two minutes tops before he was done for.

"It's not looking good for you, pal," I told him. "So, why not go out with honor, eh? That's what you Fire Nation types are all about, right? Honor? Prestige? Just tell me who you are and make this short and sweet."

"Go to hell!" he rasped then spat at me, a blood flecked mess that got on my pants. I twisted my heel into his arm, grinding it into the dirt. He cried out again.

"I guess I was wrong. Then answer me this question: do you know who I am?"

This guy was pretty defiant for someone bleeding from the mouth. "You're dead! That's who you are! Dead!"

I leveled my spear at him. "You know, I just realized how long it's been since I used this end of my spear on someone. I think I might've forgotten how it's done. And I'm not sure but..." I tracked the spear down from his face to just below his waist. His eyes went wide. "...I think if you get stabbed here, it hurts. A lot. Yet, I can't see to remember. Hey. You don't mind if I try to refresh my memory on you, huh?"

It's funny how quickly another man's resolve vanishes when his privates are in danger. If if you were minutes away from Death's door. No man wants to be castrated. "N-no! Don't!"

I loosened my grip on my staff, letting it almost dangle over him. "Then give me an answer. And I'm no Toph Bei Fong, but if you lie to me, I'll know. Then, you can spend your last moments as a woman," I said flatly.

His eyes tarted fluttering. He was losing it. "I...I don't know...who you are. Neither of us did, but we were...hired to...kill...a man...with...a spear..."

Not bounty hunters drawn by my wanted poster then. "Hired? By who?" His head lolled to the side. I took my foot off his arm, reached down, and grabbed him by his bloody collar. "Stay with me, dammit! Who hired you?"

His eyes focused on me again and each breath he rasped out was bubbly. A sick laugh slithered from his lips. "Our...clientele...is...confidential...to...my...level..we...don't...know who...paid for it...." He then gave me a red toothed smile. "But...now...that...we've faild...you..." He coughed up some more blood. "...you...and the...little brat are...are..." his eyes rolled from me to Lyra who was standing behind just behind me. And when they did they went wider. "No! Im...impossible!!" Did I say they were wide? Well let me correct that, his eyes practically were popping out of his head. If I weren't holding him by the collar, he would've been backing away, but instead he just thumped the ground weakly. then went limp on me. I grunted in frustration and let him drop.

Well, scratch two...assassin's? Was that what they were?And clientele? Levels? What the hell was he talking about? And why did he crap himself -literally, I might add- when he saw Lyra? Did he recognize her? And what was impossible about her? I looked at her, but her face was an unreadable mask again.

Gah. I hate when I have more questions than answers. And I hate it even more when any answer only brought up more follow up questions.

I rummaged through his pockets and turned up nothing but a small red coin. On one side was what looked like a sword stabbing through an eyeball. Friendly. And on the other side was some engraving that was too small to read. Hm...I wonder. I went to the archer and found a coin just like it in his pocket. Interesting I guess.

I stood up, bouncing the coins in my hands and glanced at Lyra. She was staring intently at the coins in my hand and her skin had gone pale. Which was something given how pale she already was. I wasn't fear exactly, but she definitely was reacting to the coins.

I started to say something when her jerked like something hit her and started looking around. Then to me she said, "We must go. They'll be here soon." I think I've been underestimating her age because of how short she is, but the voice I heard was not as young and frail as the one's I've heard in the past. It sounded closer to my age than some 10 year old like I thought she was. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized, I hadn't seen any female's younger than 18 since I was in grade school. I've grown a lot since then...could she really be that old?

It just goes to show that I really still don't know anything about Lyra. Well, except that she moves like a ghost, scares would be killer's half to death, apparently has better instincts than me, and bends with the expert skill of...

...an assassin.

Oh shi-

While all this started sinking in at once, my brain started working in fuzzy snail mode, because I didn't fully grasp what she actually just said. I was too busy coming to really exactly who this girl my be. "What? Go? Who's they?"

She started looking around, the look in her eyes still unreadable, but her pace and just the air she was giving off was like she wasn't just looking for something. But she was perceiving for something...

If that's even a phrase.

Lyra then turned and walked past me, back to the road, with a smooth, but rushed pace. Then, over her shoulder without looking, she said in the same might-be older-than-she looks voice, "If you find out, you will die."

k..here it is! my not so long awaited first post! kinda short..only 1 page of word..but meh *shrugs* sorry it doesnt have that much action guys...just wait til the second

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Kaiya (novice waterbender)

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I sat in the chair, legs crossed, and bored out of my mind. Taka had decided I needed another remedy lesson for some reason. Seeing as she hadn't said anything for almost a week now, I guess I shouldn't complain. It used to be that there would be one every other day, but since I started training with Sheng, she was forced to cut that time in half. Thank goodness, otherwise I might kill myself out of boredom. I loved just about everything about training. It was a good stress reliever as well as an excellent way to get out frustration. Plus, I can also defend myself if something were to happen. It's not like I thought something would happen, but you can never be too sure. I remembered all the stories that people had told me about the day they found my parents dead. And how the murderers were obviously looking for something, and kept me alive for an unknown reason. They could have easily killed me, seeing as I was only a year old at the time and completely defenseless, but they didn't. They left me alive, but with a scar on my right arm that I will bear forever....

I suddenly snapped back into the present. Taka was still droning on and on, something about seaweed, and apparently wasn't aware that I wasn't paying attention. After listening for a minute or so I became bored again and couldn't help my mind from wondering.

I thought of the new water bending move that I discovered last week. It was something like a stream of water that I could manipulate and grab things with. Not very impressive, but it was my first created trick. My parents had very few scrolls on water bending, and most of them were too difficult to figure out. Because of that, I had been learning on my own. The only move I've mastered anyway is your basic move water or snow from one place to another. I can't seem to figure out why I havent been able to do more in the six years since I discovered I was one.

I remembered the moment, the very instant I water bended for the first time. Manchu had slipped, and was falling to his death over the cliff into the ocean. I had panicked; thoughts rushed through my mind contemplated what in the world I could have done to save him, if anything. By instinct, I guess, I threw my hands out and imagined the snow on the cliff forming a ledge to catch him. The next thing I knew his screams had stopped. I fearfully looked over the cliff to see him halfway down, sitting on a small ledge, just big enough to stop his fall. He looked up at me, still in shock, his mouth open, stuttering words I couldn't understand.

He finally said clearly enough "..was that..you?"' I looked at my hands. They were trembling, but other than that I felt no different. "I..I..don't know..." I stretched my hands out again, closed my eyes, and imagined the ledge to lift higher and higher until it was at the top. When I opened them, I saw Manchu standing in front of me. "Wow," he said, "I can't believe it..you're a water bender!" I was just as shocked as he was. I had known neither of my parents were benders, so that must have meant that someone futher back was. It was times like these I wished I had my parents there, to tell me of my unknown heritage...

I was pulled back into reality again as Manchu burst through the entrance of the tent. Taka finally stopped talking for a minute and looked at him.

"Manchu, what are you doing here?" she inquired with her gravely, almost monotone voice.

"I'm sorry Taka," said Manchu blushing a bit, "I guess I should have knocked.." I rolled my eyes.

"It's a tent smart one, you can't knock." Manchu blushed again.

"Well..the men decided they wanted to go hunting today instead of tomorrow, so I was wondering if you still want to go." He then looked up at Taka. "Can she go?" Taka mumbled something under her breath and sighed.

"Very well, but the moment you get back, Kaiya, I expect that you can identify all the uses of seaweed." I cringed but nodded. Manchu had that silly smile on his face he always wore when he was excited. I rolled my eyes again and proceded to grab all my gear, my coat, gloves, boots, and dagger. I wrapped the ribbon around my arms like always did and then headed out into the frigid weather.

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O..and if your wondering...i never write in first person..i always like third..but i saw this as a chance to expand my talents If you dont like it, please tell me, and ill see what i can do

btw...any feedback..good or bad..would be greatly appreciated xD