The first steps of a Long Journey ( Open )

He had been walking for as long as he could remember. Till the death of his god father, he had been on his own since he was 14. He had killed many in his path and he had become wanted by two different Kingdoms. The Earth and Fire had a bounty on his head, in the past he had killed certain guards who had gotten in his way on a lead he had of a women who smelled or Roses. He had found out that she was from the Fire Nation. Even though that was not much of a lead but it gave him a destination.

He had been walking down the road till he heard someone walking behind him, he stopped as he found himself surrounded. The winded picked up as he could hear there wear four of them. He could smell their weapons as he smelt something familiar....the smell of roses. He narrowed his eyes but he then understood it was jut something left behind, the smell was something coming from an object they were caring. One man threw a knife at him, Ahbwen did not move as he could hear the knife coming but it was off just by inches. It whistled past him, with a loud thud it hit the tree next to him.

The men looked uneasy as they didnt like how he just stood there when a knife was tossed at him. " So, Ahbwen we are hear for the bounty set by the Fire Nation....you gots a large one on yea, dont you !!" one of the men snarled as he laughed to himself after he finished. Ahbwen stood there and did not say a single word. There was an eerie silence but then all four of them ran at Ahbwen hoping to kill him in a flash. Awhben, moving in a fluent motion, dropped kicked the first guy in front of him and he pulled himself away by grabbing the man behind him. He slid through the mans legs. In a flash his sword was out as he cut one of his legs off. Ahbwen rolled into a bush and was hidden from site.

All that the three men could hear was their friend screaming in pain on the ground. They looked around but could not find him, there was a loud snap as an arrow protruded from a mans head. In a flash, the next two fell with the same fate. Ahbwen jumped down from a tree as he retrieved his arrows. He looked at the man frantically trying to stop his leg from bleeding. He could smell the blood, he could hear his heart beat, and he could hear him moving around. Ahbwen walked over and placed one foot on each side of the mans neck and with a twist he cracked his neck.

Ahbwen began to walk away....he stopped at one man and searched him. He grabbed a parchment and he felt it. By how roof it was, he could tell it was a wanted poster. He felt a seal on it, a seal of the Fire Nation. He got up and began to walk away from the battle scene.

It was quiet in the streets of Ba Sing Se, something the young man had not seen for a long time. But he did not cared about that fact. He had to do two jobs in this city, a personal and one his king had told him to do. He shook his head and walked fast further. He had to kill an merchant who had betrayed another one of the dark nation. And he had finally found out where the killers of his sister were. An cold smile appeared on his face.

Then, suddenly, he came to a place where a fight had been. Fast he looked around if any other persons were near. Then he looked at the dead. "Another assassin? Seems like that, by how the work is done.", he said to himself. Then he looked into the streets again. The other one could not be far away, because the bodies did not lay there for long. The young man knew that he had no time to look after the assassin, but he was interested. So he walked into the direction which seemed to be the one somebody like him would take. It was easy for Kiendo to imagine where a assassin would go, mainly because he was one.

It was not really long till he found a person. Somehow the stranger remembered him of somebody, but Kiendo could not remember. He walked up to the person till he was next to him. "Quiet day, isn´t it?", the young man asked, an hand on his sword if this stranger should be danger. But Kiendo decided that he would not kill this man when he can avoid it.

Ahbwen was looking out as a man walked up next to him. He took in the smell of him, he could hear that his hand was on his blade. The thought of a fight bothered him a bit but he woulddo all in his power. The question was obvious, more or less it wasnot a question on how quiet it was. Ahbwen took it as a "who are you" question. Ahbwen said nothing as he let the man calm down, by the sound of hisheart beat he could tell the man was in shape and very healthy. He cracked his neck as he made no motion of looking at him, his hood covered most of his face and eyes.

" It isnot really quiet....I can hear your heart beat. A slit spit would tell me your thinking on avoiding a fight, as much as I am. Now since you asked me a question I will ask you a question....is the Land that lays before me, is it beautiful?" Ahbwen asked. He was blind and he could not see what layed before him. He listened to the people below him and he listened to the air below him. He could tell the drop was maybe 50 feet below until there was a house. He thought of many escape routes as he knew someone would find the bodies of the men he had just killed. A hawk landed on his left shoulder opposite of where the boy was. The Falcon he could see was blind but the bird was looking right at him as he could hear and smell him.

Kiendo was glad that the man was not going to fight, but he still was prepared to use a hidden weapon if this stranger was just trying to trick him. But the young man was really impressed by what this stranger knew right now. He had heared of blind earth bender who could tell so exact details about other persons. After the question he was asked he also knew that this man was blind. "Right in front of you there is not much beautiful. Only cold stone and dirt, like in every big city. Everything has nearly the same colour, and the only beautiful thing here are the flowers that stand in the windows every now and then.", he told the man. "But if you mean the Earth Kingdom itself, it is a beautiful country, but also dangerous.", he said. He had no idea if he should also describe that or if it had been enough to tell the man how Ba Sing Se looked like.

"I was wondering if you are an earthbender, because of the fact that you have known what I had done.", he then told the stranger. But suddenly he found out that he had not told the man who he was. He was not afraid to tell his real name, because he had been under the protection of the dark king for a long time and so he had managed that he never had been searched. "By the way, my name is Kiendo.", he said to the stranger, before he looked at the hawk. The young man could see that it was as blind as its master. He wondered how this birl could survive.

Ahbwen nodded his head to the mans responce. The name it self really had no effect on him. He looked back out at the world as he took in a deep breath." my name is Ahbwen Duraz, I do no earth bending but I am no master as I have been teaching myself. I have been born blind along with my hawk. I was born in the fire nation, to make things short I was banishes from my family as they didn't want a blind son. Why I am here is of none of your concern"he finished. He listened again to the mans heart skip, even Ahbwens own heart skipped when he thought of his god father jumped into his thoughts. " Che Che" he said to the hawk as it dove down blew.

He had not a single emotion touch his face as he had another question for the man." Even if that is your real name, either way it is not a concern, but...I have another question for you, Do you know a lady who smells of roses?" he said without looking at the man. He could now smell the dead bodies which he had killed, along with people yelling about the deaths and a killer on the loose. His chat was running short on time but he found the man much more interesting then most people he had met in his life on the road.

Kiendo understood as Ahbwen did not told him much about himself. He also did not liked to talk about his past. But he felt somehow sorry for this man. Strange, an assassin who feels sorry for somebody., he thought and smiled. But he was not completely coldhearted, so it sometimes happened that he had feelings you would not expect. Then Ahbwen asked him if he knew a lady who smells of roses. Kiendo had to think for a while. It was strange for him to think of persons only how they smell. Meanwhile he could hear the yellings. He could also hear some footsteps, but could tell that meanwhile nobody was walking in their direction.

Suddenly he remembered that he had heared something about a person that could be the searched lady. "I have once heared about a lady that smells of roses. An earthbender I want to... ahm .... meet has talked about her when I saw him the last time. They seemed to be friends. If you want you can come with me and ask him.", Kiendo said. Then he thought for another moment. "But you will have to ask him really fast. Oh, and he will not be pleased to see me.", the young man continued.

The man he was talking about was one of the killers of his sister, or better the man who had killed her. He knew that Kiendo was hunting him, so he had tried to hide. But the young man was one of the best assassins, so his victim had no chance to hide. And this man was going to die as soon as he had found out everything he want to know. Kiendo thought that he might now the firebender who had killed his mother and he could find out where the other men were that had helped to kill his sister.

He heard the comtion begining to grow as bells Rang out. He then liked the info, he pulled out a wanted poster and gave it to him. On it was a wanted poster of Ahbwen and with a Fire Nation seal on it." This seal would only come from a royal stamp, it smells or roses the same which who had killed my god father so long ago. I had been hunting this lady for 6 years of my life. I could never forget her laugh, I assumed she was a fire bender but if this lady you speak of is an Earth bender then my plans would have back fired as I was on my way to the fire nation to look for her." he said with a harsh tone. He immedialty calmed down as steam rose from his fists as the beam his hands gripped before him was now burnt.

Was he going the wrong way?! Was this lady an earth bender?! The new info bombarded his thoughts as why would an earth bender kill his god father. A man of peace who loved and cared for him was he was a baby and taught him everytimg he knew. The commotion grew more as soldiers where Jlnow yelling at them." below us is a house, a 50 foot drop. The roof is at a 75 degree angle, we can jump and slide down. On the other side of the roof is a cart full of hay which is leaving in 3 minutes. We can have a ride out of hear and we can be on our way. I will travel with you too see this person you speak of but we better do it now" he said as he jumped down below. He hit the roof and slid down the side. He rolled into the hay cart and waited for the man.

Kiendo looked at the wanted poster. Now he suddenly remembered where he had seen this man before. The young man thought he had been stupid to forget that. Normally he knew most of the searched people, because they could help sometimes. When Abhwen ment that he had thought the lady he searched was a fire bender, Kiendo had to think for a while. It was somehow really strange, the whole story. Then he followed the man. When they both were in the hay, Kiendo could not help but he had to say the next thing. "If you had not run so fast right now, I could have told you that I would have been able to hide us as well.", he ment.

It was good to be a dark bender. Nobody could see you if you did not wanted that. Even if he could not get the noises you make away from the ears of people, he could use the shadows to hide. Suddenly he thought how funny it would be to work together with an airbender. Nobody could ever find them. But now he was lying in the hay together with a man who wanted to take revenge like he wanted. Fast he looked out of the hay where exactly they were. Then he nodded. "We will have no long journey to the man I have talked about. Just some streets away.", Kiendo told Ahbwen.

He nodded his head as he only did this to prove a poin he had made to himself, he had found out that this man was no normal man, but he didn't need to know that he was just testing him. As he rolled out o the hay, he brushed himself off as he waited for the man to get out as well. He flipped his hood over his face to hide his face from the rest of the public. He had to leave the city but the possible lead on the lady who smells of roses was keeping him in the city. He listened all around him as he could hear the soldiers above him argueing if they should give chase to them. One was argueing no one could survive that fall, the other was saying an assassin could never die that easily. He grinded his teeth as he was no assassin, just a man with his own purpose.

He looked back as the man came out and he began to lead him. He began to listen and take in all the smells of the city life. some smells bothered in and others were soothing. He didn't trust the idea of following him, but the lead could be solid as he could
not let this go by that easily." Will this person first try to attack you or will he first try to talk to you as a fight is not what I am looking for. I am looking for answers to find his lady not a fight with a man who has his own problems" Ahbwen said to the man leading him.

Kiendo also saw the soldiers argueing. That was the only problem when you work together with somebody who is searched. You could never be sure if you yourself are ave or not. But he did not cared. He wanted to help this guy, also because he somehow thought that Ahbwen had a similar reason for his search as he has. "He will probably try to run away. He is not really the brave one, except when some of his friends are with him.", Kiendo told the man. "And I am sure he is alone right now.", he added.

Kiendo had found out enough about his victim to be sure that he should be alone. Even if this earthbender had hidden very well, it seemed that many people knew something about him. For some time he lay in the hay, saying nothing. Then, finally, they came near the house. "Ok, we have reached our destination.", he whispered to Ahbwen, fearing that somebody could hear him. Then he jumped of the cart and waited for the man.

Meanwhile he looked at the door of the house. It would not be difficult to get unknown into the house. "Oh, if you do not mind, we cannot go through the door. Or you wait till I have caught him.", Kiendo said.