Midnight Dreamings

[Shadowfang]

His heart raced as he watched the flames of the Darkblade begin to move further and further out of control. The warning shot had instead fallen directly into the mast and flame proceeded to ignite the rest of the wooden deck. The others were still below deck or somewhere else entirely he didn't know at this point. All he knew was that they had found the ship, and he was with it.
The ship moved with impossible speed towards the Darkblade until the shining golden eyes of a familiar face glared back at him. Before, these eyes had been filled with nothing but what Orodreth thought was friendly competition. Now he saw malice and the ache to kill. Fire grew in the benders hands and he sent it directly into where the ships below deck would be. The hole opened, and he could hear the screaming. It was his fault. He shouldn't have involved the others. The laughter of the man grew in his mind until it matched the fire's roar. The fire that no longer burnt the ship, but ate away at an old farmhouse from years ago. A single voice yelled above everything for him to run and get help, but Orodreth was stuck in place. The house collapsed and the yell stopped. Orodreth only watched.

He awoke in silence though drenched in sweat and twisted completely in his sheets. His eyes stared around the familiar room in confusion for a moment until he realized that it had been nothing more than a dream. A dream that seemed so real to him that his arms burnt as if fire had singed them already. He lay on the bed for minutes afterward in a complete daze.

The Darkblade had been sailing straight toward Jiro's island and it would be sometime within the next two days that they finally reached it. The trip had seen some good wind and was taking much less time than Orodreth had first thought. The weather cooperated and few other ships were met during the entire journey. All that mattered now was that they get back to the island. He figured that the group would most likely split up to complete each of their goals.

In the time that had elapsed since they set out, Orodreth had learned a handful of words in Mako's language, and could say a few sentences that mostly had something to do with food. The sound was still unnatural in his mouth, but it was getting slightly easier each time.

He pushed himself off the bed but did not stand up. Instead he sat with his feet touching the floor trying to fully convince himself that none of his dreams were real. They didn't always come to pass as he saw them. Sometimes they were only dreams. Either way, he kept his head bowed and his eyes closed. The slight rocking of the ship was the only thing that kept him grounded to this world. He would need to get to the deck to find out where the Darkblade had sailed to during the night hours, but for now, he remained on his bed.

[Sa Ra]

Sa Ra woke up from her sound sleep, by Mako scratching at something. He was all wound up, excited at having three people to talk to. Orodreth and Ty Dao had progressed well, so far they could say several things to Mako, all of his choosing. And mostly they were saying "Yes, we will give you food," or "I know where food is." Although Sa Ra was trying to teach them something that didn't have to do with food, Mako kept interrupting them. It was starting to get on her nerves that Mako was so excited about that, especially since he wanted to play in the middle of the night. She got up quickly, even though her head spun, to stop him from destroying whatever it was he had. She picked him up and crossed the small room. They all had their own rooms, but most of them were smaller. That was fine with her. She headed above deck, pausing for a moment by Orodreth's door. He seemed more distant then usual, and she could tell something was wrong, but was giving him his space. It didn't mean she wasnt worried. She continued softly until Mako was squirming to leave, and when she let him go he ran around the railing in a dangerous game he had made up. She called quietly for him to stop, since Mako had already fallen in the water once and she didn't feel like retrieving him. He only slowed down a little. Sa Ra sighed, wishing she could go back to bed but if she did he would wake her up again. She leaned against the railing, looking at the water passing by rapidly, as Mako raced around either jumping over her or running on her. He thought it was great fun.

[Azrael]

Rasir was on the top mast, meditating again. Sa Ra came out on deck. "hey." He jumped down after she scolded mako for running around the railing. As he was walking over to her he realized that he hadn't really gotten around to much teaching. "Hey, since your up, do you wanna learn some airbending?" he asked, eyebrow raised.

[Malu]

<sub>The gentle rocking of the waves barely disrupted the peaceful moment of the fire bender's life, nor did the distant voices that had suddenly rose quietly in the night air. Seated steadily on the railing of the ship's port side, she kept her fingers curled around the wood at her sides, making sure to keep herself from falling overboard again; their journey had not begun long ago, but in the short amount of time they were at sea up until that point of time, Malu had found herself flying through the air and splashing into the ocean, much to her displeasure. Not only was she angry that the surrounding element contrasted greatly against her own, but the fact that the usual annoyances of thoughts and memories bothering her had not receded quite yet as she had hoped it would with groups of people now residing around her.

And sleep had not come easily either, dreams of her haunting past blocking her from peaceful moments of rest. Or there were times when the dream changed to something else, something that was similar to the dreams Rasir had earlier with the changing views and people, and different at the same time.

It was weird, she had previously began to think to herself, how few qualities could bring people together in the strangest of ways and how completely different things could be linked together somehow. The topic rose often in her frequent thoughts. With more free time on her hands and nothing else coming to mind to occupy said extra time, Malu used these moments to dig through her mind and debate over ... life, basically. Both her own life and those of her friends came to mind during these periods.

And now, with her topics worn down and her temples throbbing from the spacey atmosphere and growing lack of sleep (thanks to insomnia), the teen was left to cling to the side of the ship. Eyes had gone astray a while ago, a blank gaze watching the ripples of waves in the open ocean and the magical disappearance and reappearance of the night sky above as these waves moved passed each other.</sub>

[Sa Ra]

Jakita jumped as Rasir spoke, not expecting anyone else to be up. She hesitated before she said, "Um...alright." Airbending had since been driven out of her mind, with all the other stuff going on. She didn't feel like she was ready anymore, but she couldnt share her doubts. Mako had stopped and was watching them, and then Sa Ra noticed Malu on deck too. She didnt look like she had slept much. She focused back on Rasir, trying not to feel so self-conscious. She glanced around for Orodreth before blocking it all from her mind.

[Sa Ra]

The sun just rose as Rasir called the training off. Sa Ra was trying to control her breathing, not used to bending so much. She never knew that bending could be so hard! Just concentrating on the basic stuff proved to be almost too much for Sa Ra. Mako had long ago left, looking for someone to talk to, no doubt. Sa Ra smiled slightly, though, she felt she had learned something that would help her bend better. The bright light hurt her eyes, and after the training session, she decided to go back to bed. She walked there half asleep, and lay in her bed with her clothes on. Airbending took more out of her then she thought, and she knew that soon she would want to get up to teach Ty Dao and Orodreth how to talk to Mako. That or Mako himself would come to wake her up. She closed her eyes, trying to enjoy the break time she had.

[Azrael]

Rasir had congratulated Sa Ra on a good session and airbened himself back onto the top mast. They had gone on longer than he thought. He yawned, rubbed sleep from his eyes, and assumed a meditive position, trying to remember everything the monks had ever taught n\him about the avatar.

[Shadowfang]

After what seemed like half a day but was really only an hour or two, Orodreth stood up and moved from his bed. He had heard the sound of feet on the upper deck and the sounds of quick gusts of wind let him know that Rasir was most likely training in some way. When he began to hear the sound of more than one pair of feet moving, he realized that Sa Ra must be practicing with him. He stood up and walked quietly toward the doorway just in time to see Sa Ra turn the corner and head toward her room in a groggy state. Might as well let her get some rest. He thought to himself as he continued onto the deck and to the helm of the Darkblade.

The ship was still on course. He determined it after a few moments of concentration. The air avatar was meditating in the nest which had quickly become his favorite spot or so Orodreth assumed. Perhaps the height reminded him of the home he was banished from. His eyes then went to Malu who seemed to be concentrating on the waters the ship now traveled in.

He saw Mako roaming around the deck and reached into his pocket for a bit of dried fruit. "I have some food for you," He said in the best attempt at Mako's language that he could bring forth. He held out his hand with the fruit in it. Maybe a few moments of practicing with Mako would calm him down.

[Sa Ra]

Mako took the food from Orodreth happily. After running around the deck and trying to catch the air they were magically moving, he was hungry. He repeated one of the words that Orodreth said, over and over again, trying to enunciate the correct way to say 'Have.' He chattered on that if you said it the way it was said, you might make someone angry. He didn't care that Orodreth couldn't understand him, because it was great to have an audience. Mako ignored the slight pronunciation errors, they didn't change the meaning of the sentence. He kept going on, starting to play with the fruit, pushing away and pouncing on it, talking about whatever came to mind. Shoving the fruit in his mouth whole, Mako started to repeat a word, one he wanted Orodreth to know. 'Secret.' "It would be fun," He chattered to himself, "If I could talk to Orodreth and Sa Ra wouldn't know what about!" He laughed, an even stranger sound then his language. He jumped on Orodreth before leaving, trying to find another piece of food, before going to see Sa Ra. He scratched at her door before she opened it, and she sighed when she saw him. "So early?" He started immediately about how he wanted to teach Orodreth a few words and the follow him. She did, reluctantly, and he led her onto the deck.

[Shadowfang]

Orodreth repeated the word several more times in order to get what he assumed was the correct pronunciation. Mako had gone on to explain something, but only a few words could be picked out from the explanation. He then heard Mako try to get him to pronounce a different word. Orodreth did his best to repeat it and actually had an easier time than normal picking up the sounds of this one.

Mako made a strange sound then dove and grabbed a hard bit of bread from his pocket then proceeded to head below deck. Probably to hide it, he thought, but he then realized it was to get Sa Ra. He smiled to her when she came up though she looked exhausted. He assumed it was from the practice that she wasn't able to rest after. "Hey how'd the air bending go?" he said taking a few steps toward her.

[Sa Ra]

Sa Ra smiled at Orodreth, trying to convince herself thats she wasn't as tired as she felt. "Fine." She said. "It is a lot harder then I remember. I was...out of practice." She was looking out at the water when Mako tugged at her clothing. She kneelt to talk to him easier, and he started talking about words he wanted Orodreth to know. "Slow down and repeat that." She finally managed to tell him, by closing his mouth for him. He did slow down, to a ridiculously slow paced crawl. Sa Ra's forehead wrinkled when he finally told her what he wanted Orodreth to know. She looked up at Orodreth and said, "He wants you to know how to say secret." She said in Makos language, puzzled over why Mako wanted Orodreth to say that. She shrugged then passed Orodreth so she could lean on the railing closest to him. After a few moment, she asked him in a softer voice, "What do you think is going to happen when we get to...where we are going?" Sa Ra was worried that all was not as it seemed.

[Shadowfang]

He recognized the sound that Mako said no from the same one he had said to Orodreth once already. Now he knew what it meant, but he didn't know why Mako wanted him to know what it was. I guess I'll find out eventually, he thought to himself.

He put his back against the railing and let out a breath. "If all goes well, we should get to the island, return the ship, and find another ship offering safe passage. Rasir seems ready to move on now that he realizes who he is, but Malu has said little to me of what she plans to do. I can only assume that Rasir will be leaving and Malu will follow after getting to the island unless perhaps we are heading in the same direction. Of course getting just that far is only a best case. What we do after that is still up in the air."

He jumped up slightly so that he could sit himself onto the railing balancing carefully to keep from falling one way or the other. "I need to learn more, and I can't do it at sea even if I've found myself more at home here recently than anywhere before. I don't miss city life at all, but I do miss the scent of the forests near my old home. Perhaps I could find someone around there to teach me better bending techniques. It'd be good to see what's left of where I grew up at least one more time before." He stopped and didn't dare to finish the sentence. He still didn't believe that, even with training, he could take down his former master in a fair fight, but he couldn't do anything else but try.

"Either way," he said as quickly as possible to try to keep the change of subject obvious. "It'll likely be the earth kingdom that I travel toward after our meeting with Jiro."

[Sa Ra]

Sa Ra noticed his sudden stop, but knew him well enough that he didn't want to talk about it. She nodded to show she was listening, but her mind was on why he stopped. She knew already he had troubles to worry about, but what was the 'before' for? She drove it from her mind and twirled up to sit next to him. "So what are we going to do once we get to the Earth Kingdom?" She asked, "Find a teacher for you and what?" She didn't mean for him to continue his sentence, but she was worried that they would be separated. Now that she had left her forest home, and been around people long enough to know she could live among them, the thought of just going home was a little upsetting. Sa Ra was realistic enough to realize she couldn't travel around by herself; she didn't know the world well enough. She was lucky to meet these people, kind as they were. Just as in the animal world, there could be some rude people to run into. Mako jumped into her lap, almost toppling her from the railing. He was upset that Orodreth wasn't practicing how to talk to him. Or giving him food. "Stop ignoring me!" Mako cried. Sa Ra took the tie keeping her hair up to let him play with it, and he started to just chew on it.

[Shadowfang]

"I think the best course of action after finding a teacher is for the two of us to get some supplies with whatever money I have left after getting us to the earth kingdom. It won't be a lot but we both know enough about living off the land that it won't be too big of a problem. The northern part of the earth kingdom is where the contacts of the Dai Lang met with me so that'll be the first place I go. I need to know how much they know about me and what I plan to do. Maybe even see if I can convince them to help me which is completely unlikely."

He looked to her knowing that he didn't have to ask if she was coming along anymore, but he was about to ask her again when Mako jumped nearly sending her overboard. He reached out his arm and grabbed her hand to make sure she didn't fall which distracted him from trying to understand what Mako had said. He waited until Sa Ra had given him the tie before continuing. "There is a lot to see throughout the earth kingdom though. So many different places that we'll pass through along the way. The earth kingdom does have it's beauty."

[Sa Ra]

Sa Ra smiled at what he said. "We should probably get the supplies before finding a teacher, since we don't know how long it will take to find the teacher." She thought about it for a while, trying to think of the right words, before adding, "We could train Mako to get money. If we needed other things then food." It confused her why he wanted to know what the Dai Lang did, and why they might not help him, but decided she would know soon enough. She hated how slow she was sometimes. She held onto his hand even when she wasn't in danger of falling, feeling more secure with an anchor. "You'll have to show me then." She said in response to the beauty of the earth kingdom. She wondered if it was anything like the place she grew up in. She didn't even know what nation that was in. Sa Ra watched Mako absent-minded, started to think how little she left behind for such a big world. It scared her, but at least she had Orodreth to help through it. She turned her head to look at the water, then saw something on the horizon. "Is...that land?" She asked, having to think hard for the right word. Such simple words tripped her up sometimes.