"Take it with a Pinch of Salt..."

“Stop that!” Baihu whined, his body rocking to the left, narrowly avoiding a plume of fire that arced toward him. The Earth bender glanced over his shoulder, eyes settling upon his persistent follower. “How many times do I have to tell you? I’m practically royalty – you know what kind of trouble you can get into, making an attempt on Avatar Kyoshi’s great, great, great, great grandson’s life? “

“Liar”

“What d’you mean ‘Liar’? I’m an Earth bender, aint I?”

“You’re not related to Avatar Kyoshi” the girl stated adamantly. She’d heard him say this hundreds of times since they’d met, and each time it seemed more and more ridiculous.

“Oh? and how would you know?” Baihu scoffed dismissively, shaking his head at the girl’s nerve, “I swear, you kids today, no res—“

“You’re too short.” Tsun cut him off matter-of-factly.

“Too short?” Baihu mouthed, the young female’s words having struck a nerve. His right hand dropped to his side, fingers curling slowly, manipulating the ground in the girl’s path causing her to stumble forward several paces. “I’m soo ditching you when we reach the next village..”

Lai Bu Wan
Pilgrim

As the girl stumbled, Lai acted purely on reflex--and his right hand turned just so, bringing a a small ledge into being right in front of the girl's feet, preventing her from toppling over.

Lai was a naturally optimistic and friendly sort, but he still felt like inquiring why the girl had been tripped by what could only have been earthbending.


"Is there trouble?" he asked of the man.

Kaida would have been wandering down the trail looking for his missing rabbit-fox when the earthbender's manipulation caused him to fall off the road into a bush nearby. "Hey! What's the big idea hittin a guy when he is not looking!" he would yell from the bush. Then he would earthbend rocks in his hand to lift him up and walk towards the two people.

A startled gasp escaped Tsun as the ground rose in front of her causing her to lose balance and stumble forward, had it not of been for the intervention of the stranger, whom too could Earthbend it seemed she would have fell flat on her face, as such she was able to regain her balance. “Not cool!” she exclaimed, arms folded across her chest as she glared up at the older male she had been travelling with.

“You reap what you sew…” Baihu replied, the age old proverb only serving to further annoy the girl up even more.

While the newcomer’s earthbending hadn’t gone unnoticed, it was the question "Is there trouble?" that drew Baihu’s attention, and turning his gaze to face the one addressing him. After a moment’s pause he shook his head, “Everything seems in hand. Just teaching my daughter here a lesson, “ Baihu motioned toward Tsun, “you know how impertinent kids these days can be.”

“Stop telling people I’m your daughter, we look nothing alike!” Tsun chimed in, the irritation in her tone apparent.

“Luckily, you took after your mother in the looks department.” Baihu countered, cradling the girl’s head in the crook of his elbow, stifling any more comments that would draw suspicion.

Returning his attention to the inquisitive man, Baihu took a moment to inspect him, taking note of attire and the provisions that were on display.

“Sure you’ve got enough there?” It was a harmless enough question, though one that usually made others second guess themselves – it wasn’t uncommon for folk to return to towns or villages just days after having set out, their demeanour exuding defeat. Failure to prepare was preparing to fail. Something Baihu had not only experienced, but seen a lot during his travels.

“You can travel for days without seeing anybody, and then all of a sudden two pop up at once..” Baihu mused, turning his attention from the travelling man toward the irate male heading their way.

Lai Bu Wan
Pilgrim

"I've got plenty, in terms of food and water. As for apparel..." Lai looked down at his unshod feet, covered only in footwraps. "I like being barefoot. Lotta strength in the ground, you know."


Lai swept his casual gaze across both of them--and what the girl said was readily apparent. The man looked nothing like the girl. Or Avatar Kyoshi, for that matter. His gaze intensified for the briefest moment, as he wondered why the man would seek to pass the girl off as his daughter. Then his suspicion was overcome by his natural optimism, and he smiled his idiot grin again.

"Now, where are you all headed? I myself was just taking a gander at the road to the Earth Avatar Temple."

“Yeah…, barefoot...” Baihu arced a sceptical brow, his eyes gravitating downward; now, he loved earth as much as any other Earthbender, but the Earth Kingdom’s days were long, and the sun seemed to take delight in seeing everything beneath it scuttle for shade – out here, in the open there was hardly any shade; and if the ground got any hotter well, pardon the cliché, but you’d be able to fry an egg on its surface.

Tsun wormed her way free of Baihu’s headlock, a soft thud rocking her would be captor as she punched his shoulder, “What d’you wanna go to that dump for?” she asked dryly, “I’ve seen that place before, and it looks as dull as everything else here in the Earth Kingdom.” The girl ranted on.

“Alright motor-mouth, we get the picture.” Baihu let out an exaggerated sigh before mouthing a silent apology to the wandering male who’d happened upon them.

“Where are we headed? It doesn’t matter! We’ll die of old age before we even get there, God, you Earth Kingdom folk are so slow!” Tsun exploded again, her temper fitting of the Element she bent .

“I’m telling you, we’re almost there…” it was a feeble attempt to placate the girl’s heated disposition

“You’ve been telling me that for the past three days, and I still don’t know where there is!” Tsun threw her arms up in the air, spinning on the heel of her boot, “I’m going on ahead.” She exclaimed, tossing her hair back over her shoulder before storming off from the men.

“Yeah? Don’t go too far!” Baihu called after the girl, though one could sense through his words he wasn’t too concerned about the girl.

“She’s right though—that place is pretty dull.” Baihu finally replied, turning to look back at the pilgrim.

OOC: He's not REALLY barefoot--he has footwraps on. "Unshod" would be a better term.

Lai smiled idiotically, the kerfuffle between man and the girl going completely over his head. Most such conflicts were meaningless to him--he was of the interminable opinion that everything would work itself out eventually.

"Ah, nowhere I go ever seems dull. I have a knack for getting myself into excitement. And anyway, I'm a pilgrim--visiting temples is sorta my thing."

Lai shrugged, and began to walk after the girl, who seemed eager enough. He nodded approvingly, and turned back toward the man. "I'm Lai, by the way. Your friend here seems a mite feisty, but she's right--daylight's a-burnin'. We may not be headed toward the same destination, but it seems we're headed in relatively the same way. It couldn't hurt to share the road, now could it?"