Chapter 42: Falling Trees

Liberty was eating breakfast, sitting next to her friend Starlight. Her breakfast consisted of a rabbit that apparently Malroy had caught, which Starlight had been happy to inform Liberty about. She had been rambling on about his hunting skills were good for an animal who was half-blind, only to find that Liberty wasn’t listening. So Starlight had then changed the subject.

“What are you gonna do after you finish breakfast?” Starlight asked Liberty.

“Not sure. Haven’t received orders,” Liberty replied, taking a bite of rabbit.

“You’re bound to soon, though. Mentors never stop ordering us around,” Starlight commented.

With a sigh, Liberty silently agreed and ate a bit of her rabbit again. And hopefully I’ll be allowed to eat my whole breakfast before I’m called on, she thought.

The rest of breakfast was uneventful, and then Twister trotted up. “Bending practice, Liberty. We’ll be going with Starlight, Light, Ekaj, Dell, Spot and Max.”

“Why such a big group?” Starlight asked.

“They all wanted to join Liberty and I. Their apprentices all need training,” Twister explained. “C’mon.”

Liberty and Starlight got to their paws and headed out from the yard, following Twister. When they were past The Bending Tower and deeper into the forest, they met Light.

“There you are,” Light said, looking at Starlight. “Took long enough.”
“Sorry,” Starlight apologized. “I had been hungry…”

They waited a while, but eventually the others joined the group.

“Where shall we practice?” asked Dell once everyone was present.

“By Ice River. That way the Waterbenders can do some Bending,” Light suggested.

Everyone seemed to agree and they began to walk in the direction of Ice River. Starlight walked beside Liberty on the way. “I haven’t done much Bending. Have you?”

Liberty shook her head.

“Can’t wait to try it out some more,” Starlight said. “I’ll be the greatest Bender.”

“I doubt that,” said Light, who’d been listening to the conversation.

“You’re so positive,” Spot muttered sarcastically.

Light turned and growled at Spot. “Oh yeah? And your father – Spots – he was positive all the time, never bothering to think about the negatives of an outcome. And is he still here? No. He’s dea—”

“Don’t talk about my dad!” Spot snarled. “I’ve never even gotten to know him!”

“Break it up,” Max insisted. Liberty noticed sadness in his eyes. “A lot of horrible things happened in that battle, Light. Too many deaths. We shouldn’t bring it up.”

Spot glanced at Max and nodded knowingly. Liberty wondered what that was all about.

They kept walking until they ended up at the Ice River. “Alright,” Light spoke up. “We’ll have someone go first to show their Bending. Volunteers, anyone?”

“I’ll go!” Starlight exclaimed.

“Alright, go ahead,” Light said.

Everyone trained their eyes on Starlight as she stepped forward. “I will perform a simple Airbending move: just make the wind blow,” Starlight announced.

“Let’s see it,” Max nodded.

Starlight took a deep breath and then started whipping her tail back and forth and she slammed her paws forward. Liberty expected the wind to blow, but instead, Starlight collapsed.

“What the--?!” Liberty exclaimed, running up to Starlight. Light quickly joined her. “Starlight! Wake up!”

Starlight didn’t respond.

“What happened?” Dell wondered, coming forward. “She…She didn’t seem sickly, or anything…”

Suddenly, the earth started rumbling. Not again! Liberty exclaimed to herself. She then heard something large shaking back and forth, and looked up in alarm to see a large oak tree falling her way, and suddenly became paralyzed with fear. “Oh my Lifebree--!”

“Liberty!” howled a voice. Suddenly, Liberty was lurched forward, and landed down hard. But she felt something heavy hit her tail, and pain shot through her. “OUCH!” she cried out, gritting her teeth with pain.

She looked to realize it was Ekaj who had pulled her forward. Panting, she looked back to see the tree had landed on her tail.

Another tree collapsed, and Liberty heard someone shriek; yet she wasn’t sure who. “It’s bound to be over soon,” Ekaj said reassuringly. “Just…hold tight.”

“Oh, yeah!” Liberty yelled. “Like I was going to go for a walk or something!”

Ekaj flinched at the harshness in her voice. Then, the earthquake stopped.

“Is everyone okay?” yelled Spot’s voice.

“Liberty’s tail is stuck under a tree!” Ekaj announced. “We need to get the tree off!”

Next thing Liberty knew, Spot, Max, Light, Twister and Ekaj where pushing to get the tree off Liberty, who felt embarrassed. Everyone’s going to the trouble of getting a stupid tree off me just because my reflexes were slow!

It took a while, but the tree was finally off Liberty’s tail. “Is your tail okay?” Ekaj asked worriedly.

Liberty tried to move her tail, and winced. “Ow!”

“What’s wrong?” Ekaj demanded, face full of concern.

“It hurts,” Liberty said through gritted teeth.

“We need to get you to Nightgale,” Spot insisted. He turned to Light – he still had anger in his eye about Light’s last remark, but he talked nonetheless. “Is Starlight still knocked out?”

Light trotted over to where they left Starlight’s body. “Yes, but luckily she’s fine. No injuries.”

“Hold it,” Ekaj froze. “Where’s Dell?”

Everyone looked around nervously.

“I had heard a tree crash and someone shrieking,” Liberty spoke up. She ignored the pain stabbing at her tail. “Maybe she’s nearby that tree.”
“Oh no,” Ekaj murmured, eyes full of fear. He darted for the nearest fallen tree and looked around. Spot joined him. “Dell?” Ekaj called. “Dell!”

No response.

“Here she is!” exclaimed Spot.

Taking it easy with her tail, Liberty made her way over towards the tree, curious. She then spotted Dell’s body.

Dell’s dead, crushed body.

“She’s…dead,” Ekaj whispered.

“Get her body,” Light ordered. “We need to get back to The Bending Tower, see how the earthquake affected them.”

“We could probably just drag her out from under,” Spot pointed out. “We don’t have to be gentle. She’s…uh, not with us anymore.”

“That’s disrespectful,” Ekaj growled. “We’re rolling the tree off of her.”

A moan made Liberty turn around in curiosity. “Wh-What happe’?” asked a voice, which Liberty recognized as Starlight’s.

“You passed out,” explained Twister. “Earthquake happened.”

Starlight moaned in response.

“Spot, take Starlight and Liberty back to the Tower,” Light ordered. “The rest of us will get Dell.”

Spot trotted over to Starlight and Liberty. “I trust you two can walk?”

They both nodded.

The three of them walked for The Bending Tower. The walk was quiet and uneventful.

Voices reached Liberty’s ears. We’re nearby, she realized. And sure enough, it didn’t take long before they arrived at the yard.

There were yells, talking and scurrying about. Chaos.

“What are they--?” Spot began, but then he looked at the Tower and grimaced. “…Oh.”

Liberty followed his gaze and gasped. A tree had crashed through one of the roofs of the Tower. “Was anyone in there…?” she wondered aloud nervously.

Suddenly, a female Dalmatian ran over – Liberty realized it was Sylvia, Spot’s mother. “Oh, Spot!” she cried. “Thank goodness you’re okay!” She licked his forehead, but he backed away from his mother.

“Mom,” Spot said. “What happened?”

“Oh, that terrible earthquake came, and…” Sylvia was panting with fear. “And it crashed through the roof!”

“Anything else?” Spot asked.

“It’s…it’s in the location of the Healers’ den,” Sylvia explained shakily. “Nightgale and Comet escaped, b-but, they said…they said that…”
“What’d they say?” Spot pressed.

Sylvia looked her son in the eye. “The impact killed Snakeseye and Kirin.”

Author’s Note:

Ah, character deaths. Interesting to write, sad to read.
I apologize for not posting earlier. Mom took away all my electronic devices. :/