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…”
“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!”
“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.
“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. :/
I apologize for not posting earlier. Mom took away all my electronic devices. :/
The characters that died were the ones that haven't been comenting right?
ReplyDeleteRight.
Deleteand what happened to starlight why would u pass out if u airbend?
ReplyDeleteVortex cut off the use of Bending, so the Benders can't do Bending anymore.
Deleteohh that explains it
DeleteOh nooo!
ReplyDelete*silently mourns*
Aaaah Max and Spot. I love the way they're like (adopted) father and sonnn <3
ReplyDelete