Battle of Tachi Dai (Rebels & Co. Vs Fire Nation)

[jialingjin]

Well rested after their day long layover in the nameless village, The rebels and their clingons headed south. They were now in Tachi Dai.. the ruined village that was just beginning to get back on it's feet. The perfect cover.. for the Rebellion Operation. The town was not considered a threat anymore. It was thought to contain only farmers anymore and a few watering holes for the Earth Kingdom men to drown their sorrows in. The Fire Nation had long marched through here and the colonies had yet to reach it. Ever encroaching though, the Rebels in Tachi Dai were limited in number; only a handful permanently settled.

Jialing led the group into Tachi Dai; Reed's Hometown. Lifting her head, Jia glanced up at the shattered roofs of the few burned out shells of buildings at the edge of the village's property. Fields ran in every direction, trees planted in and around the village whose inhabitants tended to live spread out among the fields now, though a few.. and the rebel contacts, lived in the heart of the village. Weeds sprung up alongside the road with it's deep wheel ruts and mud puddles lying in shallow spots. She frowned and side stepped around what she could, sticking to the middle of the road. Her back was burdened with her share of the supplies, a weighty bag that also contained her rolled up futon and her quiver of arrows. Her bow was tied to it, the string currently curled up and in one of her pockets.

Despite a bath a few days ago, her hair was back to it's normal stringy, greasy self as it floated and waffled around her face, permanently windblown with her crimped bangs hanging alongside her long face. Her skin was dirty once again, one corner of the stiffened collar of her forest green tunic flopped over against her neck. Her bag and old ostrich horse harness jingled with each step, rusted old belt buckles and snaps banging against eachother. Jin stayed at her side, the large wolf hound bounding along ahead of them often but always returning. His long legs made it hard to stay with the slower humans. His tail swung out behind him like a rudder, full of burrs, dried leaves and mats of dirt and mud. His golden color was dull and faded from the sun.

Tachi Dai. Home Base of the Rebellion's main Earth Kingdom force.. and what a wreck it was.

[jialingjin]

The ragtag band trudged forward, pressing the barrier between the fields of wheat, soybeans, and an assortment of other vegegtables to the banged up town. The roads came from all directions, cutting through the family plots of land to the center of the spread out village where they met in the middle. Battered and broken houses pressed against the roads, benches placed outside for occupants to sit and watch the world pass by. Quiet a number of homes had new construction, repairs, but this small number was only Tachi Dai proper. Farms, dotted with houses stretched out around the village center, providing enough food for the village as a whole and a little bit for tribute to the Fire Nation. It kept them at bay and it kept the rebellion safe.

Jialing looked around as she walked, her pace slowing down. She had been here before, a few months ago and there had been little change. Maybe a few more repairs had been done, the corn and wheat were higher and the grass was greener. Her head turned from side to side as she walked, catching for a moment the wooden wind chimes that dangled from the corner of one of the tiled roofs. The air was still and the chime silent. Above the roofs, the tavern looked over, it's looming facade catching Jialing's attention. It was the first building to be rebuilt after the last attack years ago and it still served as bar, post office, and town hall. Also: The Rebel base and Jialing's destination.
"Come on.. stop lollygaging." She muttered under her breath, glancing over her shoulder at the group. There was Tsuya, their lost Kyoshi warrior; Gengoro, the former Fire Nation Soldier (Boy would the rebel higherups LOVE that..); Tseng Wei who was just.. plain.. creepy; Hibiki the kid and Reed who was walking beside her. Turning to face forward, she paused for a moment to look at Reed's profile, at his prominent nose and greasy hair that now fell into his face rather than standing up like it had now that it was too heavy. Jialing gave a small sigh.

[gengoro]

This field. It feels all too familiar, like Gengoro’s been here before. As if part of another life of his knew this place. To him, it didn’t matter anymore. The stalks of wheat grass bend as Gengoro pushed through the area. The buildings were more little than he imagined. Behind him, Tseng Wei followed. He has been a little quiet as of lately, which made Gengoro more than a little worried. Still, matters currently are what’s important.

They’ve reached the town of Tachi Dai. Within a distance, Gengoro noticed a small barracks with Earth Kingdom soldiers residing there. It was strange to see that they were sporting heavy armor on them. It wasn’t unusual, but the armor didn’t look streamlined, so wouldn’t it be bulky and hard to maneuver? Still, Gengoro wasn’t there to understand their different culture. He pressed on, following the leader, who happened to be the girl Jialing into this little town.

In front of the group was a tavern that looked to be recently rebuilt. It wasn’t unusual for this sort of establishment to be the first to be rebuilt after a catastrophe struck. Feeling a little bit on edge, Gengoro looked over at Jialing.

“So, now what?” Gengoro asked Jialing as politely as he could.

Tseng Wei caught up to the group and looked around the town. It seemed to him that the town wasn’t very populated. If he were to do anything, he had to be quite careful. Unlike a big city, doing the things he does is much harder to hide in such a low populated area.

[jialingjin]

“So, now what?”

Jialing HATED being the leader. She hated feeling the weight of responsibility on her shoulders like this. She was not designed to lead, nor did she enjoy it. Her face set into a seemingly permanent scowl, she glanced towards the tall, strongly built Fire Nation soldier briefly before turning her attention back to the road ahead of her. Jin trotted ahead, too busy sniffing all the interesting smells of the deserted and emptied streets to care. He seemed particularly intrigued by a day old Ostrich Horse patty.

"I don't know." She snapped begrudgingly, keeping her head down and her crimped bangs in her muddy eyes. Looking around the town, it was empty and quiet. No one was out.. and very few of the shops seemed open. Wind chimes made of wood hung from many of the roofs, the small number of buildings in the actual town dwarfing the actual number of inhabitants. Ever since the Fire Nation came through, the townies had refused to move back, leaving mostly the farmers on the outskirts. A shrine stood at the center of the town, small and barely under 10 feet tall. It was a spirit gate, and all across it's peeling surface painted with bright gold, notes were tacked. Some were old, some were new. Chimes hung and lanterns sprawled across the ground. Jialing gave it a glance, recalling having seen it when she and Reed had passed through earlier that season.

She sighed as she glanced towards the taller, three storied inn and tavern. That was as good a place as any. Raising her arm, which was sore, and dirty, she waved her fingers in that direction. "Head.. thatta way..."

[Teiú]

(Teiú is coming from: Setting Foot Into the Unknown)

The animal was exhaust from the long run. However, by treating it kindly, Teiú managed to keep the pace of the Ostrich-horse through the four hours trip to Tachi Dai. Setsuko was silent, perhaps sleeping, thought the rebel, without giving much attention to her actual state. The kid was somewhat nervous a few hours ago, much from the abrupt leave Teiú forced them to take in order to escape the unlucky encounter with both Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom armies.

It was told to Teiú, by Fargus, that Tachi Dai was a medium size city of the kingdom but the view brought to the firebender's eyes were one of a bit of desolation. The place seemed to be the stage for fierce battles and signs of a fight between fire Nation and the habitants were clear. Teiú was a soldier, it was easy to him to recognize the patterns of a Fire Nation attack.

The young man made his way into the town by the southern entrance and, as soon as he entered the first of the streets, a bit emptied by the way, a feeling of relief came to him: he finally managed to reach Tachi Dai. That was the end of a quest started months ago. Setsuko's head was braced in Teiú's chest. The rebel moved his arm forward, over her head, and gently cherished the Ostrich-horse's neck.

"Good boy you, good boy. We will be resting in a minute."

Teiú opened his backpack and checked the sealed wooden tube, supposed to be holding the very important message, which safe delivery was being the reason of his trip. Right after, the deserter took the letter given to him by his master and comrade in The Rebellion, indicating the place to go after reaching Tachi Dai.

"Now, how am I supposed to find an address in this city? I mean... in a city like that..." He wondered.

[set]

Everything happened so quickly that it all seemed like a dream. Fire and fear was what she also recalled. Setsuko remembered seeing the rebel firebend before being lifted away from the noble. She remembered that he was trembling, and there was another man.. "Hand me the girl and you may have a chance to survive all this." … “…This is the spy scum who killed a high officer." … "Would never hurt her. I loved her... never hurt her."

She remembered clinging and shutting her eyes tightly as she was being carried away. She felt the man’s heavy breathing; she was probably getting too heavy for him, and she remembered the fear of being dropped and left behind.

It took a minute to realize that her eyes were slightly open and staring idly at the ground, and it took another minute for her to realize that the ground was moving. No, she was moving. She lifted her head from resting against Teiú’s chest, turning to see the back of the animal’s neck. Her eyes then turned to Teiú. ”…who killed a high officer…” Curiosity was about to get the better of her by immediately programming her mouth to question him, but Setsuko decided to keep the question to herself until the time was right; after all, they’d just gotten out of a rough situation. Instead, to quench the thirst of her curiosity, she asked a different question. “Teiú, where are we? And how long has it been since we left that village?” She glanced around. “What happened to Xin?”

[Teiú]

Pushing the ostrich-horse forward with gentle commands, Teiú amazed himself by seeing that the animal would follow the will of its knight without complaining. That meant that the military education he received wasn't different, at all, from the one the Earth Kingdom soldiers received. If that was a good or bad thing, the rebel wouldn't be able to tell, but a smile of satisfaction came to his face upon managing to pull out this success, that although almost a meaningless a happening, he being able to control the Ostrich-horse, was a relief considering that the firebender's quest had been one full of failures, till that present data.

The few people Teiú came across by slowly entering the city looked at him with suspicion. The best option was to ask someone for help. Yet, what would he ask? "Hey, do you know about the secret headquarter of the anti-Fire Nation terrorist group, The Rebellion?" Now that wouldn't work, he guessed. Then the rebel's attention was suddenly drawn to the girl, Setsuko, his companion, when she questioned him about their location.

"Teiú, where are we? And how long has it been since we left that village? What happened to Xin?”, curiosity in her golden eyes.

"We, eh...? Hello there Setsuko... are you alright?" Teiú, his breath caught away by surprise. "Well... we are in Tachi Dai, deep into Earth Kingdom territory." The firebender covered his eyes with his left hand to be able to look at the sky. The Sun, source of his power and intimately linked with him and his people, the people he loved so much, told him how many hours passed since that fateful encounter in the village, where Teiú was caught between the forces of the two rival armies.

"I guess, Sets that, if we left the village by noon, there's still a couple of hours, or so, till the sunset. Xin..." The firebender looked away to consider. Perhaps it was the best thing for him, to have Xin delivered to the army of their nation, where she would be safe, at least as long as the Fire Nation could sustain an army. "Xin stood back... by personal choice. Perhaps..." And Teiú thought how it could be better, to both him and Setsuko, if the little girl had walked over to the fire soldiers as well, where she would be away of bigger problems. Yet, as long as she would stay by his side, he would give his life to protect her.

"I mean... she is well, Sets. She is with the army of our nation and you know how they are, eh? They wouldn't leave a comrade behind. I could bet that she is plain safe and sane!" And he smiled to Setsuko, trying to bring a bit of comfort to her dazed mind. "So now, remember when I told you that your beautiful amber eyes are not very welcomed here? Could I ask you to do something for me? I have a friend in this town that is certain to help us. However, until we get to him, could I ask you to try and not look another people directly in the eye? I promise that his situation will not be for long."

With that said, Teiú moved further and further in the city, trying to follow the logic presented in his rebel comrade's letter about where would be the headquarter of the so spoken off Rebellion.

[jialingjin]

The tavern was always a popular place at night, but in mid afternoon it was empty. Save for the lone bartender who stood behind the smooth counter of wood, cleaning the ceramic glasses and teacups. A couple of old men, farmers perhaps, were seated at the bar, drinking mugs of warm brew. The tavern smelled of smoke, both of cooked meat and of the smoking variety. It was dark, dimly lit with yellow oil lamps hanging from the rafter beams.

The wooden boards creaked under the weight as the lanky, thin girl entered with cautious steps, her boots hardly making a sound with each slow step. She walked with her head down low, warm brown eyes sweeping across the room. Tables and creaky wooden chairs and stools were scattered about. A hand brushed back the greasy strands of hair that hung from her face, pushing back much of her hair where it fell to the side. She scowled as she turned and headed for a clandestine table in the corner. On the way over, Jialing began to strip off the ratty ostrich horse harness that she wore around her torso, the straps that held tightly the rolled up futon creaked. Her toe hooked around a chair, pulling it out as she let the pack hit the ground.

Likea ragdoll, she fell into the chair, letting her head go forward into her hands while her elbows skirted along the table's surface. It was a waiting game.. that's all it ever was. They had Tsuya, Hibiki, Gengoro and Tseng Wei. All Tsuya wanted was to find her fellow Kyoshi Warriors and rescue them. All Hibiki wanted was to free his town. ...Lord knew what Gengoro or Tseng wanted. One was like a mercenary the other.. spirits in heaven. She just wanted to put her head down, curl up with Reed and Jin and just... do stuff. Maybe go cause some headaches for the Fire Nation.

Practically the entire town of Tachi Dai was rebellion supporters. It wouldn't take long for their arrival to reach the ears of the higher ups. Scouts like Reed and Jialing rarely came back without good reason. And rumor had it there was interesting news coming in...

[Teiú]

The rebel was standing in front of a town's Inn with a look of hesitation toward the place. He came there by following, in erratic movements, the instructions stated in the letter he was supposed to deliver to the rebel heads alongside the all important message, which Teiú wasn't even aware what was yet. The orders were that the message needed to be delivered bearing its seal.

The firebender didn't know which option, among the ones he had at the moment was the better to follow... or the less worst one. He could go in and ask someone for information. Yet, considering that he had the bio-type of a citizen of the Fire Nation and, according with what was told to him by Fire Nation officers, he was being searched in the Earth Kingdom already, this could prove to be way more dangerous than anything he tried before. Everything could turn in a mess and that wasn't the most improbable scenario. And even, there was Setsuko. Bringing her in could prove to be as dangerous as letting her waiting outside, considering how the color of her eyes, a strong and beautiful amber color, would be decisively negative while disguising as Earth Kingdom citizens.

Teiú brought his hands to his head and emitted a grunt of disappointment, while trying to decide what to do. At the end, he decided to walk in bringing Setsuko along. Should something happen he was already ready to break through anyone standing in front of him to leave the tavern. That way, also, he could be aware of Setsuko's state and if she was get into some mess, so would him. The young man left the Ostrich-horse's back and conducted him to a nearby big wooden recipient filled with water, near the inn's entrance. There Teiú roped the animal in the post, meant to be there for that purpose, he thought.

Right after, he took out this green hooded cloak and covered Setsuko with it. Her golden eyes were way more dangerous than his brown ones. It was impressive to him how she would rarely complain about something. Perhaps, and most probably, he thought, her condition couldn't allow her to realize the magnitude of the happenings surrounding her. At that, Teiú felt incredibly ashamed of venturing with this girl and making her witness scenes that a kid shouldn't, like the death of the Fire Nation soldier by the spears of his foes, a few hours ago.

Mentally, he tried to whisk these thoughts off and to renew the promise to keep her safe and sane till bringing her back to her parents, back there in the Fire Nation, her and his beloved home. He breathed deeply and then, walked into the tavern.

Teiú hoped to make a discrete entrance. Not much after the wooden floor below his feet produced the awkwardest and most irritant creaking. Setsuko, that was by his left side holding his hand, lost inside the cloak that, for her, seemed like a blanket, pressed her companion's hand in agony, with the gnashing. Feeling her little fingers around his hand didn't helped his confidence much.

The tavern was almost empty except for a couple of old man by the bar and a very peculiar group sitting at a big table. When the awareness of his presence became evident to them was that the thought came to his mind: After all, it seemed like the worst idea, ever.

[jingko]

Exploding from the river, it felt as if his lungs were on fire.

But it felt good all the same.

For Jingko it helped to remind him that he was alive. And it complemented the rush of blood he felt coursing through his veins. The strides of the mongoose-lizard he rode on.

"Yah!" Slamming spurs into the creatures flanks to force it faster up the riverbank. His steed clattering over smooth rocks and sandy mud, Jingko turned to sneer at his entourage just falling behind with their own mongoose-lizards still swimming towards the shore from downstream. It was to let them cool off, the beasts more than the riders, rather than let them run across the river.

"Hurry up damn you!" Loudly snarling through his teeth at them. They still had distance to go, slashing a root through the wilderness to avoid roads and settlements as they sped towards Tachi Dai.

And that worthless town had been dragged out and beaten how many time? He pondered. Two? Three? Four time already? But again they want to clench their fists, but now instead of just irate peasants it was becoming, according to a rescued noble woman, a refuge for people of the uniniatedly named Rebellion. A collection of Earth Kingdom insurrectionists and Fire Nation traitors one-and-all.

Yet having to perforate the riff-raff didn't seethe him with annoyance as much as being assigned to deal with them while he was in the middle of seeking satisfaction--humiliated once for having to escort little girls to a prison and again by having them rescued from him by Earth Kingdom soldiers. All of whom he was still hunting down until now. Whoever kidnapped that little noble brat should have just killed her then dumped her somewhere. Or better yet Princess Azula should have immolated the little girls playing soldier to begin.

Skittering into the forest at a gallop, Jingko's steed let out a cry as spurs slammed into its sides.

[jialingjin]

"So now we wait for Zhong Tai. He's the head of this branch.." Jialing explained quietly to the group as they all seated themselves at the table. She leaned back, folding her arms behind her head and kicking up her feet. Her lower arms were still wrapped in those beige ribbons, stained and dirtied and flecked with a mixture of everything from dirt to blood. The chair creaked under her weight as she balanced on just the back two legs. With her hands gripping opposite elbows she turned her gaze away, staring towards the sunlit door frame that shown on the wall across from the actual door. The sunlight fluttered when a cloud moved over, but came back in it's faded golden glory. Jialing wanted to know if anyone came in. She had her eye on it and anyone who came in.

"..He owns this tavern.. his son, Taka and a girl named Yasu.. they're how Reed and me got involved.." She explained in a dry voice, not taking her eyes off the sunlight. Her mouth hung open, a smudge of dirt along her jaw from where she had wiped her wrist earlier. Reed had taken a seat next to her, his arms folded across the table as he glanced from her long face to the wall and then back to her. He smirked a little bit, but he knew better than to outright laugh.

"... If anything.. He'll be able to give you a better idea of what the rebellion can help you with, Tsuya.." Jialing continued, her voice dropping as a shadow approached. Meanwhile Reed had taken to speaking softly to the kid, Hibiki, explaining how the leader could help him too. After all the kid expected his whole town liberated; something Jia, Reed and Jin were just not capable of doing by themselves despite Jialing's expert drop ins on Fire Nation Soldiers that just happened to wander under the wrong tree. She lifted an eyebrow as the figure became cleared. She sat up, slowly pulling her legs back from the table where they had been resting. The chair rocked forward and Jialing's arms unfolded, coming down to her side to grip the seat of the chair as she craned her head.

A tall man was entering, long russet colored hair hanging from his head. He was pale, or maybe that was just the sunlight washing him out. He was wrapped in a long, saddle brown cloak that was pulled tight to one shoulder. With it, she couldn't tell what he was wearing under... Nothing seemed too suspicious. There was a.. smaller figure, a girl maybe, at his side. The cloak they wore, with the hood up even was pine green. Jialing quickly hushed Reed with a hiss, but she did not take her eyes off the newcomers.

[set]

With one hand gripping the cloak wrapped around her and the other hand in Teiú's, Setsuko walked with silent steps while staying close next to her protector. Her shoulders felt stiff the further they walked into the tavern. She felt some sort of atmosphere in the place that kept her alert. At first she was going to look around to fulfill her instinctive curious needs, but she remembered what Teiú asked her before they entered; she immediately forced her stare at the floor. By doing this, the golden gleam of her irises were further dulled to seem like a cross of dark amber and a very light brown.

At the same time, she felt the stare of a stranger's eyes. For the first time, there was a hostile feel in a stranger's presence, a feeling she rarely experienced before back home. Then again, she was able to look at them directly in the eye without putting herself into danger. But here she was, in a place where her eyes were not welcome, as Teiú said. A small buzz went off in the back of her head and her hand quietly wrapped onto Teiú's hand, which was already holding her other hand.

The little girl wanted to hold her breath and be invisible to other eyes around her. Teiú, why are we here? She wanted to look up at him, but she was afraid of her eyes being seen.

[Teiú]

For the first moments of the gaze thrown by the group toward him, Teiú could not realize what to do. Several feelings of fear, surprise an suspicion passed through his thoughts, and none was stronger than an understandable will to laugh, due, perhaps, the seriousness in the air.

Yet, managing to control his emotions, Teiú simply countered the gaze of suspicion with a look of naiveness. "Ok, alright, they are just persons, right? What is up about it? It will be like that: I don't mind their business and they don't mind mine." The young rebel thought, trying to ease his feelings of concern.

Slowly, being mindful of every step, Teiú walked toward the bar. By his side, being pulled clumsily by the hand, was Setsuko. Even then, though looking to the counter in a straight line, the firebender could feel the peculiar group's gaze burning the scruff of his neck. When he reached the counter there was the barman, giving him a look of disdain.

Visibly nervous with the situation surrounding him, Teiú, stuttering, shot away a question.

"Eh, well... I... I would be looking... f-for the boss... er, mean, the owner of the place."

[jingko]

"Be a man!" Jingko's kick came from the heel of his boot. Bound and gagged, the loincloth wearing man gave a muffled yelped before falling onto his side then curled into a ball. Conceding, the captive's eyes remained closed from the blow as the tears he tried to hold back began to flow.

"Keep on," then saying as he removed his black leather boots, "and we shall by all means accommodate you to play the part of a sniveling woman." Jingko momentarily unsheathed his dao for emphasis, holstered it into the scabbard then passed it to a subordinate and continued to undress himself.

"Too big," another undressing Fire Nation soldier muttered as he held up the captive's frayed brown trouser then tossed them towards a third soldier undressing.

After being undressed the captive's clothing had been tossed into a pile of random Earth Kingdom attire hastily procured and brought along from a different Fire Nation camp. Part of spoils from whatever village or refugees were unfortunate. Jingko would have rather questioned the commanding officer as to why--keeping the clothes--if their existence wasn't suddenly a boon given what would be an infiltration mission. Instead, while tying olive drab coloured trousers to his waist and securing a signal flare under the waistband, he reviewed the plan in his head as they attempted to ascertain the precise location and strength of The Rebellion that were reported to be headquarted in Taichi Dai. At the town's outskirts would be two men for each of the four directions, one to pass messages between them, one to ferry messages to the incoming force if need be, which left him and the other two to go inside the town. Separately and from different roads more preferably.

Jingko took a moment to rifle through the small dump of clothes before donning a knee length, mustard yellow tunic over his thickly padded and sweat-stained white vest. He next shoved his feet into a pair of dirty brown leather riding boots that came to his shins and he found quite tight fitting. Next he undid his topknot and began to tie it his hair into a ponytail with a strip of cloth he tore from his sleeve before finally joining the other two Fire Nation soldiers in disguise--rolling in the dirt and patting it on their clothing and body to help with a more travel worn appearance.

The plan was reviewed a final time, salutes were passed between them then Jingko leapt atop the captive's confiscated ostrich-horse. The captive himself was still curled in a fetal position, eyes closed and shaking with muffled sobs. Jinkgo spat in his direction then turned to one his subordinates. He slide a finger across his own throat then kicked the ostrich-horse into a gallop back onto a main road leading into Taichi Dai.

[jialingjin]

The man behind the bar looked up when the two entered. In his thick, dark skinned and fleckled hand he held a ceramic cup that he was wiping down with a damp rag. A stack of them sat before him on the polished yet nic'ed and dinged up bartop. Broad shouldered and with thick arms like branches, he looked up and down the two with the hoods and the cloaks. His jaw cracked open as he ran his tongue over the inside of his cheek, steely jade eyes narrowing at them. Stubble clung to his jaw, his broad roman nose hooked and his bushy eyebrows settled down darkly over his thin eyes. He was balding, but his hair was short, chopped short against his skull. A simple tunic was pulled over, the sleeves long since hacked away of the dried mud colored fabric.

"Harumph.. Zhong Tai... ain't in right now." He smacked his lips, nodding towards the dark and brooding bunch smuggled over into the corner of the tavern. "..'Ey waitin' for.. 'im." He spoke with a stoccoto voice briefly reminiscent of a certain starfleet captain. "..Might want to make friends.." He kept his voice low, the gruff sounds not even ellicting an echo. These young kids wandering in here.. always were members of the rebellion and he had no doubt that's what these all were up to. The barkeep turned his back to the cloaked one as he put the cup in the shelf behind him.

Meanwhile, if one could radiate hateful energy and distrust, Jialing would be radioactive and quite possibly glowing. She sat with a prominent scowl on her face, her thin lips pressed tightly together in a thin line. She couldn't hear a word of what was being sad, but she could have sworn she caught the glimpse of armor under that umber cloak as they spoke. She drew her neck back into the ground, lowering her head towards the center of the table. "... I dun like 'em." A confession, but not a surprising one. Did Jialing like anyone?

Reed glanced up at them, leaning out some to get a look even as he put a hand to his forehead to brush back up his cowlick. His hair was getting longer every day and his bangs were beginning to fall back into his eyes. He'd have to give himself a trim here sooner or later. He arched one eyebrow as he pursed his lips and then he too, dove for the center of the table with a lowered head. Giving Jialing a playful mockery of her currently sour expression, He tried to lighten the mood. "They're just a couple of people. A girl and well the other one's kinda questionable.. but they don't look like anyone important."

She shot him a darting glare, her nose wrinkling with disgust. "Not like anyone important.. well neither do we, smartass! But we are...!" It was surprising with Tsuya entered the fray, lowering her painted face down to the huddle. "And it's like you're helping anything with your fancy makeup." Jialing hissed at her, reminding her that she stood out like a sore thumb. The two had an argument earlier about whether Tsuya should wear her makeup or not. This far north, nearly no one would recognize a Kyoshi Warrior but if word got out that they were traveling with one, or that the rebels has a Kyoshi... it might make them targets. Tsuya had won obviously.

She frowned, rolling her eyes with their caramine accents towards Jialing. "You said that this place is a gathering for the Rebels in this area, correct? That this whole town is just swarming with rebels?" The young woman asked to Jialing, not waiting for a confirmation. "Then isn't it entirely possible that they are rebels? Perhaps sent here to meet us?" Logic in all it's glory, Tsuya had the brains that the group so desperately needed.

"..I don't need any of your ideas..!" Jialing hissed, feeling her role was being compromised. She liked power and she liked her dictatorship like role over the group. While certainly Reed could pin her a fight, Tsuya could incapacitate her, Gengoro could break in her half and Tseng Wei could possibly do some disgraceful with her corpse, they all listened with plently of grumping when she shouted orders at their camps. Perhaps it was the massive dog at her side with his large golden head that was bigger than one of Gengoro's fists, the way he snarled when the latter two approached. Speaking of Jin, he was lying at Jialing's feet, his big-lug head on the wooden floor with a tail that was as still as anything. He was ignoring the argument taking place above him, instead focusing his eyes on the long haired man. He too.. had the distinct feeling.. and well he could hear the faint creak of leather that held metal plates.
He waited.