I carefully rolled my map up and placed it back in the rucksack. Having watched the raiders depart West towards the Fire Nation Colonies; I felt a bit of my worry about being apprehended lessen. With nothing else to gain by staying, I reluctantly left my past home behind for the promise of Omashu.

Hard dirt blessed the soles of my boots as I walked the long journey eastward. Even though my march just started, I cursed the bandits in my head again for slaying all of Bailong’s ostrich horses. I know that they probably killed them for their meat, or just for the sake of it, but my feet were going to fall off halfway to Omashu.

I planned to follow the road, and if the map I read is accurate, hopefully, I will cross paths with another town on the way that wouldn’t mind parting with one of their ostrich horses; Either out of pity or through some of his coin.

Father had always said on the rare occasions that he brought the whole family with him to sell or buy products from the larger towns, “Yan, always follow the roads to where you want to go. Neither of us know the dangers that lurk in the woods, but as long as you follow the road at least you won’t get too lost.”

For hours I mindlessly marched forward, my mind only occupied by looking for ambushes or small animals and edible plants to help pad out the rations I scavenged from the wreckage. The darkening of the sky around me made me realize I would have to make camp for the day.

Stomping down I quickly made a tent large enough for me to stand up in before searching the forest around me for any dead branches to make a fire for the night. The Raiders unfortunately took all the metal tools the village had, so I was stuck with bending. Don’t get me wrong, earth spikes can cleave like any steel, but my inexperienced 16 year old bending was more of a sledgehammer than a scalpel. I had previously mostly used it for moving crates of products for my family’s store and hadn’t had much training in combat bending, but how hard could it be?

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Moving over to a toppled-over tree that looked like it had taken a beating during some storm, I carefully circulated my chi from my core, up my back, and into my arms as I punched forwards. A pillar of rock blasted forwards into the tree causing a loud snapping sound as it forced the fallen tree to bend and then crack in half.

Ducking out of the way of the flying splinters, I was surprised that the pillar had enough force to cut the tree in half, however, the pillar I envisioned had a razor-sharp edge enough to cleave through any obstacle, whilst mine was a rounded battering ram that was more a suggestion of an edge. At least it worked I guess.

Taking more time to further smash the remaining tree into burnable chunks, I moved them into the tent. Realizing I would need a fire pit, one stomp later and a sunken pit in the ground was created. Shoving all the wood into the pit and a bit of the truly pulverized bits for the kindling, I waited till dark and lit the fire.

Sitting down next to the fire I pulled out a bit of my spare dried rations. While it's not home cooking, it would have to do until I made it to Omashu. Eating just enough to sate my hunger, I shoved the rest back into my rucksack and tried to go to sleep.

Flashing lights, burning, the smell of cooked human flesh. I woke up in a heap, sweat soaked through my clothes. I clawed my way into a sitting position and tried to calm down. When my hyperventilating finally eased, dawn had broke, and I knew that I would have to restart my march tired.

The second day consisted of marching, rest, and then even more marching. The only interesting event that happened was that he caught a Horned Toad and a full berry bush. While trying and failing to cook the Toad, the berries were a great addition to his meager stash of supplies.

After shakily pushing away the nightmare that creeped into my dreams and getting ready for another day of boring marching, with the sun rising towards its peak, I saw a small village creep into view over the horizon.