Onslaught's Hangover

[Teiú]

The line of bodies laid on the grass by his side emitting cries of pain and tears of sorrow should be enough to hint it. Recognizing their presence was impossible though, for the first moments Teiú regained senses were spent in trying to define who he was and what was left of him at the dawn of this new episode, on that dreadful afternoon. Succeeding in his third trial of getting sat still, his eyes skipped the environment to scan his body, in order to define the source of all his pain. The first place catching his attention was his thigh, making itself acquainted by the acute pain under a scarf tied to it, the fabric coated in fresh blood. Without letting go a sound, he watched in awe the wide cut on his flesh under its improvised amend, which Teiú's curiosity inspired to leak more blood, not for the first time it seemed. All over, however, the young man realized his body had way more scratches, bruises and cuts it normally had. Yet, that was the first in a long list of problems to be dealt with. And before the guy could even start listing them, they jumped on his lap like problems usually do.

A shaking hand pulled Teiú's attention. Its owner, by Teiú's side, was covered in blood of his own and the area were his legs would presumably be hinted that the firebender was, perhaps, a lucky one, concerning the fate reserved to Tachi Dai's citizens. Before Teiú could decide what to do about the hand being held in his direction, the man whose wounds were far greater than Teiú's ones was taken by a pair of boys, clearly younger than what the dazed and confused bystander was. The screams of pain the wounded survivor cried out gave Teiú the worst impression of the scenario. His eyes then met with the lined bodies by his side, laid on the ground itself, the grass below them stained red. Behind Teiú, on the field, three big tents were raised, pretty roughly. Under it, those of the injured seeming in greater need than the others were being treated, through very basic methods. Those working in attending to all the unfortunated were those luckier enough to leave Tachi Dai in one piece. From the smoldering ashes of the city, seem from afar, new groups of survivors were being brought over wooden carts. From a fourth tent, separated from the others, those not suited to heal the harmed were busily coming and going, delivering improvised food and water to the sad agglomerated of people.

What a sorrowful view that was. And the strength of the feelings the scene inspired on Teiú didn't diminish, even when he started to contemplate the problems of his own. His sword was gone, as well as any of his other belongings, except for his well carved knife, hidden in his boot. Desperation grew on him as he searched in his ragged clothes for the wooden sealed tube with the message he was supposed to deliver. A dreaded message that brought not more than pain and suffering to his life. The agony of not finding it vanished from him, however, in order to give place to another worry.

Teiú was caught out of breath when his thoughts turned all to his now lost companion. What happened with Setsuko?

[Teiú]

From body to body, Teiú wandered the camp after Setsuko, failing on walking straight due his poor physical condition. In his despair, upon facing how incapable of helping Setsuko he was, tears that wouldn't fall for his so precious message started to flow as his mind reviewed several possibilities having Setsuko in a pinch. He fell on his knees, letting go a growl by the pain felt in his thigh, among the pain invading his soul. Yet, as he fought to regain his stance, Teiú also struggled in cleaning the tears coming down his face. Although he succeeded in standing to his feet, his other intent was a failure.

His will kept him walking even after he bumped half a dozen people on his way. His desperate struggle ceased, however, as a young lady, if older than him then solely by a few years, held him by his arm and told him to calm down. She put him sat on the grass once again and took her time to crouch near him and wait till he could gather the strength to regain control. His state was deplorable. Covered in blood and mud, Teiú had only dirty ragged clothes covering him. His long and once smooth hair was now a tangled mess and his senses were partially clouded by pain, despair and incapacity, for Teiú had been dealing, for these past months, with way more than he was ever prepared for.

The young lady offered him support by landing his arm over her shoulders. Brought to the hospital tent, Teiú calmed down considerably as he was sit in a blanket over the rough ground, even though this one was as coated in blood as the grass he stood on just a few minutes before. The young woman aiding left for the moments it took her to find someone more capable than her in putting an amend to Teiú's worst injure. She came by bringing by hand a lady far more older than herself. The newcomer examined Teiú's thigh and, from a big bag by her side, retrieved a dark mud she applied on the wound after pouring water all over. The cream felt cold to the touch, that was Teiú's first impression. He was snapped out of paying attention to this when the lady slapped his face slightly. He was able to, then, figure out what she was saying to the younger lady.

"... put it over the wound and press till you feel the blood stopped, then wrap it around it. He is in shock, so try speaking to him till he regain some more focus..."

His eyes followed her as she left. He was now in a numb state, while the only word on his mind was Setsuko. The talk inflicted on him by the girl trying to aid wasn't helping much, either. In his mind, Teiú started trying to calm down, while trying to find a first about what to do. He was finally taken out of his daze when a way more rough hand held him by his arm. The words "Fire Nation" being spoken only added to the attention Teiú started to pay. In front of him, three man, two of them with weapons in hand were staring him down low. The one holding him by his arm spoke in an aggressive manner.

"I won't say it again stranger, answer me!"

[Teiú]

A torrent of rough words and cursing were being thrown at him by the infuriated newcomer. He talked in a fashion and with words that, for Teiú in his actual state, were being impossible to distinguish. The young lady caring for him tried, in vain, to stop the man in his tracks, trying to explain that Teiú was in a state of shock. Her hands were still pressing the wound on his leg. Suddenly, the man from behind, holding a mace by the height of his head, advanced at steady feet. Lost in that scenario, Teiú couldn't do something else other than standing still and seeing what would happen. Both his condition and the environment weren't allowing him to answer with reasonable thinking behind it. His savior was relatively aged man that arrived the scene. Among the words Teiú heard, most were about a rant concerning a certain group of youngsters in his lines. He argued with the impetuous leader of the heated group of warriors without raising his voice to the level of the young one. Surprisingly, that brought an unexplainable feeling of relief to Teiú, even though he wasn't being able to hear what was said.

Those who first arrived left. The one shouting at Teiú, though, didn't miss the chance of throwing an intimidating gaze towards the firebender. At that, the aged man was already by Teiú's side. He crouched near him and peered for a long time at the poor guy's face. He asked something about his health status at the girl still trying to finish the bleeding. She answered with words already used by the woman instructing her how to care for him.

"Yes, he is beaten up and dirty, hair is a mess, but it is him, no doubts about it." He said, just before asking the girl if Teiú could be moved. She insisted it shouldn't be done. He insisted his presence was required somewhere else, politely. It took them moments of talk to agree Teiú would be taken somewhere else. It was also agreed she would go along, while tending to his worst injures. A few meters away from the healing tents, already inside the neighboring woods, a smaller tent was raised. Supported by the shoulders of the ones taking him, Teiú gave up of any thoughts of running away. His curiosity wasn't at its peak either, he wasn't much interested about the destiny of the actual quest. The interior of the tent was dry and considerably furnished. Yet, one could see it was not for fanciness but for necessity. Papers and books filled improvised shelves behind a huge table in the center of the tent. Teiú was put sat in a plain wooden chair. It felt heavenly comfortable.

The man left, while emphasizing he would be back in a minute. The young lady returned to his intent of healing him. She asked about his name. He answered it truly, in him no will of pretending to be someone else. But then, he returned to that state of nervous tension, when the man came back, bringing alongside him other two men, once considerably old, with a long white beard and hair and a younger one, huge, with a messy black hair. Both stared him down low. It was when the biggest of them got near that Teiú managed to see he was carrying something. By his left hand a rolled scroll. By his right, the wooden tube Teiú had so diligently hold, which contained a so supposed important message. Its seal was broken.

Teiú's hands closed, the tension aroused in the room. However, that was just till the said man spoke, in a pretty gentle tone.

"Don't worry young one. We just got a few questions to ask. But everything in your possessions, from the letter of Kangiro to the message inside the seal, is hinting you are a friend. And a very precious one."

[aratak]

Outside, amongst the dust and smoke, a blue figure could be faintly seen running toward the encampment - but mostly the sound of coughing is what would have drawn attention to her. The chaos at Tachi Dai had separated Katara from the rest of the gaang - and she found herself fleeing from her enemies. She was not amused to see lighter skinned, golden eye'd people in this direction either. "Damnit...I'm surrounded. I can't go back that way though." She muttered to herself. Katara noticed some clothing hanging from a wire. What seemed to be a full length hooded green robe, and matching boots. She really didn't mind changing out of her tattered water tribe outfit, which had gotten torn up and dirtied during her forest "adventure". As the waterbender approached the robe, she took a closer look at the encampment. The people, as expected, were fire nation. But they were mostly injured and dressed as earth kingdomers, and low class it seemed. It was heavily apparent that such light skinned individuals were not earth kingdom... They weren't in the military for sure. What in the hell were they doing in the earth kingdom? Katara didn't know what to do... it was a moral delimma. She had the power to help these people... But they were fire nation... no different than the people that killed her mother. But they looked hurt.... They appeared to be as demoralized as her father did after Kana's death. Reluctantly, she sighed and headed toward the injured fire nationers.

"Don't attack me, please... please don't attack me..." She told them all. "I can help you... all of you... my name is Katara. As you can plainly see, I'm from the water tribe.... and although I HATE the fire nation for the terror they've invoaked on everyone, I can't just sit back and watch other people suffer..."

"I know I'm going to regret this... You don't deserve my help...Infact it was your stupid military that destroyed my home and killed my mother. None of you deserve my help...But I can tell that...you're all helpless... just like I was that day."

[Teiú]

It took quite the amount of time to put all in words Teiú could finally start to comprehend. A strong spirit was offered to him and, upon having a few sips of it, Teiú felt a sudden sharpening in his senses.

Teiú reached an outstandingly important part of his quest. He finally reached those he was supposed to and, thanks to providence - or spirits intervention - the message delivered to Teiú to be delivered to someone else reached safe hands. Safe and important hands. The firebender was fed bread and meat, while the three men chattered about "The Rebellion" and it status, about friends in Fire Nation and enemies in Earth Kingdom. From politics to terrorism, from espionage to warfare, those three spoke about the subjects of the group to Teiú for quite a long time, even more when the girl attending to the young one's injures left the room. Teiú concluded it came from the letter his leader, master and comrade in arms Kangiro ordered to be delivered alongside the secret message. After all, it seemed his master was really an important person alongside the ranks of the criminal organization, as for for these men to talk so much about important things to such a beaten up foreigner puppy, he really had someone distinguished behind him.

Diligently, Teiú listened about stories and plans, victories and defeats, and then about the contents of the message he held for so long. An important lesson that, although denying his precious power to him for the certain period of time, would likewise do so to all those whose flames would bow to. Those men in front of him, after all, were his salvation, as for they didn't seem biased by the fact he was a Fire Nationer, and trust was indeed put on him. That explained later, when a wanted poster was shown to the firebender. A sketch of him, now charged of way more crimes he had been while in Fire Nation, in a poster that, according to Teiú's new friends, was spread across the country widely. In undesirable ways, Teiú became a very infamous person around. Now, more than ever, Teiú's life became attached to "The Rebellion" in its own way. Far from home, wanted by two nations, the ones to support him were the ones he so forcibly fought to reach and make contact with.

After what could count for a couple of hours, perhaps more, someone approached the tent to deliver a message. Something about an unexpected visitor willing to help. The man that saved Teiú earlier left to attend to that newcomer. When Teiú was finally able to speak normally and think straight, and when those that spoke lent ears for his questions, the one thing the firebender came with, however, was not about "The Rebellion".

"A... a girl, about half my size with black hair and golden eyes... she... she was with me... where is she? Can you find her for me?"

[Teiú]

The amount of info gathered hinted at worst possibilities around. Upon reviewing them all, praying for the spirits that Setsuko was among those imprisoned by the fire troops was one of the most optimistic guesses. Strangely, however, although quite a burden was taken out Teiú's shoulders upon fulfilling his duty with the Rebellion, the uneasiness that took over his thoughts over the last months was replaced by a sudden urge of seeing Setsuko safe again. She was his responsibility and, beyond that, having her around over all the hard times he had been through made him grow pretty attached to her. And while he fed feelings alike for Xin, the one who left the group earlier, his worries for his little companion where understandably higher. Now, summing it up, Setsuko was a little kid lost in a totally hostile world. Her own existence and lineage, reflected in the form of amber irises, would make things specially difficult for her. That is, if she was alive.

As Teiú followed this line of thought, he shied away from it when the last idea went to his mind. Covered in bandages and nicely attended to, as well as well fed, the young firebender was laid in the improvised bed by the tent. In the dry comfort of the inside, however, Teiú could still hear the cries and moans of the injured outside, and the busy noise of people coming and going. Advised by those resembling forms of leadership to stay inside, avoiding giving away his nationality for those that would recriminate him, Teiú couldn't do much other than review the facts. And as all the troubles in his mind went through, he met that old and common impulse of letting go tears of deepest sorrow. However, not a drop went by. He smiled a tired smirk, looking at his shaky hands with drowsy eyes.

The conclusions he arrived at wouldn't require vocal materialization to make themselves understandable. Experiencing unspoken hazards and dangers, outstanding sorrow and pain, entwined the fibers of his personality. Now, what he had left to face things to come with was unshaken hope and an invaluable increase in sense of perception. The pain didn't sever his will. Instead of that, it only broke it apart in order to glue it in a more complex way. That, Teiú could appreciate. And he found himself happy that he had that, to aid Setsuko and Xin. To aid those he left home in recovering dignity and peace.

The piled amount of damage and lack of sleep finally took their ultimate toll, forcing Teiú in deep slumber, in a sleep to be slept long before a new dawn. As the last rays of sun bathed the sad encampment, from among the closed eyelids of a tired young fire nation man, a single tear let go, sliding down the face... finally.

(Teiú leaves to: The Army of Shattered Dreams and Resentful Wills) (Katara, PM me for info)