Chapter 45: Electing a Leader

"So you don't even know where this 'Land of Yin and Yang' is, yet we're heading towards it?" demanded Campbell later that day. Misty had explained to the group about what she had learned from Majaka and the Speaker. "I really do not--"
"I suggest we embark soon," said Koro. "We're bound to find the Land of Yin and Yang somehow, right?"
"The Peacebenders can tell us how to get there!" exclaimed Bracken. "Right, Misty?"
"Uh," Misty began, "about that--"
"Bracken. There are no Peacebenders," Koro insisted. "We'll have to get there on our own."
Bracken's face grew sad. "But--"
"Hey, it's true," agreed Campbell. "They're not going to help us."
Bracken's ears drooped in disappointment.
"Yeah..." Misty said hesitantly. "We should head off. But we got to bring Tiggerpaka with us."
The group moaned.
"Let him stay here!" protested Sidew. "He's nothing but trouble."
"He's exiled!" Misty turned to him. "Remember? He can't stay here."
"Who cares?" Sidew snorted. "Besides, you're not leader."
"Well, last time I checked, we don't have a leader, so I can have a say in things," Misty retorted.
"We'd better leave Tiggerpaka here, or I'm leaving you guys and heading back to The Bending Tower," growled Campbell.
"Yeah. Tiggerpaka'll just slow us down," agreed Rhett.
"Tiggerpaka will get killed without us!" exclaimed Misty. "We can't--"
"Once again, you're not any kind of leader!" Sidew said. "You're outnumbered."
"But--"
"Oh yeah. Just because your father's the big leader of The Bending Tower, you got to be leader, too?" Campbell glared at Misty.
"It has NOTHING to do with Ash being my father!" snarled Misty, making everyone fall silent. "Why do you have to assume I want to be leader, just because I think Tiggerpaka should follow us?! It has nothing to do with leadership. It has to do with doing the right thing!"
"I think you'd be a good leader," murmured Bracken, breaking the silence.
"Should we elect a leader?" Lephos asked. "We're going to need one..."
"In which case, I vote myself," smirked Sidew.
"You can't vote for yourself," Lephos retorted.
"I vote for Koro," Rhett said, glancing at his brother, who looked surprised.
"Same," Campbell agreed, looking at Misty.
What's that all about? Misty demanded in her head, anger rising.
"Uh...I'll vote for Koro," piped up Lephos.
"Some brother you are," snorted Sidew.
"I vote Misty!" exclaimed Bracken.
Oh Lifebreeze, Bracken... sighed Misty.
"Misty," said Sidew.
"I thought you didn't want her to be leader," Campbell replied.
"Well, anything's better than Koro," Sidew grumbled.
"If you don't take that back--" began Rhett with a growl.
"Be quiet, it's fine," Koro said. "And, uh...I think I'm going to vote for Misty..."
They were all silent.
"It's a tie," sighed Rhett. "How do we break it?"
"Ooh! They should fight to the death for it!" exclaimed Sidew, laughing.
"Not a fight to the death," Lephos said, "but a fight for the role would be interesting..."
Misty's heart began to hammer. Great. A fight, for a role I don't want, against my mentor. I don't stand a chance.
"Sure, let's see it," Campbell nodded in agreement.
"But no Bending," insisted Koro.
Everyone looked at him.
"I've had more practice in Bending than Misty," Koro explained. "It'd give me an unfair advantage. Just fighting, at least instinct could kick in and that'd be fair."
"I suppose that's fine," shrugged Lephos.
"Alright, prepare to fight!" Sidew grinned. "First to surrender loses! Three...two..." The group all backed up against the wall to give plenty of space. "...one...GO!"
Koro jumped at Misty. Fear took over her and she quickly darted to the side, avoiding the attack from her mentor. I didn't sign up for this, Misty thought fretfully. I could at least try to win, right?
Maybe I could make my father proud.
Misty turned as Koro slammed into her, forcing her into the wall. Misty turned just in time to see Koro about to attack with his claws again, and she easily ducked from his strike and pushed into his chest with all her force. This made her mentor stumble, and Misty shot out from around him, and then jumped.
Koro quickly turned around and easily pushed Misty back with his paw. She hit the ground and scrambled to her paws, only to be pinned by Koro.
"I give up!" she yelled.
"Koro wins!" exclaimed Sidew.
Koro stepped off and looked at Misty. "You okay?"
"Fine," Misty replied.
"Sorry 'bout that," apologized Koro. "You'd be a good leader though..."
"I never wanted to be," insisted Misty.
"So, Koro, what do we do now?" said Lephos.
"We should probably get some food and embark for the Land of Yin and Yang," Koro said. "You guys can all go hunting if you'd like. And...we're going to bring Tiggerpaka."
Everyone - except Bracken and Misty - groaned in response.
"Misty's right," Koro insisted. "We'd be doing the right thing."
"Fine," muttered Sidew.
"We'll announce to the Meerkat Clan that we're leaving," said Koro. "If the world is in danger, well...we should leave as soon as possible."

Author's Note:
QOTD (Question Of The Day): Who's your favorite character so far in this series?
AOTD (Answer Of The Day): Bracken, he's adorable :D

I'm going to start doing QOTDs in the ANs, which you can answer in the comments below. :) I'll also put a AOTDs, which is what my answer would be.

Chapter 44: Mending Bones

"Eclipse has mended broken bones before," said Nightgale, examining Liberty's broken tail. Liberty was going to miss the meeting of Kirin, Snakeseye and Dell's deaths because of her broken bone, but she didn't mind too much. They were in the Healers' den. The tree was still in the roof, but it wouldn't effect them just from sitting there. "But she told me the herb she used wasn't around here...I don't know what to do about this, Liberty."
Liberty grumbled to herself. "Oh, joy. Guess I'll just die, then..."
Nightgale, who apparently hadn't heard Liberty, turned to Comet. "Any suggestions as to what we do?"
"We could ask a traveler," suggested Comet. "Someone who's been traveling for most of their life. They may know what to do."
"Good idea," Nightgale agreed. "But who?"
As if on cue, Tiggerkat came in. "Hello! I heard Liberty's tail broke! Poor thing. Where is she?"
"Uh, here?" said Liberty.
"Oh!" Tiggerkat bounced over to her. "Are you okay?"
"Just dandy," Liberty mumbled sarcastically.
"Oh, good! I thought you were really hurting," Tiggerkat smiled with relief. She turned her attention to the tree. "Whoa! What happ--?"
"Tiggerkat, please leave. I need to figure out how to help Liberty's broken tail," Nightgale insisted.
"Ooh! I can help her!" Tiggerkat insisted.
Immediately Liberty grimaced. No, no, no...
"You sure, Tiggerkat?" Comet said, looking concerned. "You, uh...I don't think you have much medical experience."
"Of course I do! I got this," Tiggerkat smiled.
"Alright then," Nightgale shrugged.
"I'll get the materials!" Tiggerkat exclaimed, bouncing out of the room.
As soon as Tiggerkat would be well out of earshot, Liberty turned on Nightgale. "Why? Why are you letting Tiggerkat mend my tail!?"
"She's the best you got," Nightgale insisted.
"She's not going to help it. She'll make it worse, for Lifebreeze's sake!" Liberty yelled. "Why would you trust--"
"I thought you were taught not to talk back to your elders," Nightgale snapped, taking Liberty by surprise. "Tiggerkat has been proven to be useful in the past. So she may actually know what she's doing. Now, I don't want you to struggle as Tiggerkat mends the bone. You got to be steady. And no insulting her either."
Once Nightgale turned around, Liberty gritted her teeth, growling in anger. She has no idea of the pain I'm going through. Easy for her to tell me to trust Tiggerkat! I'll be that fool of a tiger has forgotten already about my--
"I'm back!" exclaimed Tiggerkat as she bounced back through the door. She was holding two sticks and a bunch of vines with flowers on them in her paws.
"Alright, go ahead," Nightgale said.
Tiggerkat approached Liberty's tail, who immediately flinched, but forced herself to stay steady. She turned and watched as Tiggerkat set the sticks on either side of Liberty's tail and started wrapping the flowery vines around the sticks to hold them against the tail.
Immediately Liberty felt embarrassed. Does that mean I'll be parading around with flowers on my tail for the next couple of moons?
"Done!" Tiggerkat grinned moments later. Liberty examined her tail. Sure enough, her tail was covered in flowers that were holding the sticks on either side of the tail.
"Thank you, Tiggerkat," Nightgale nodded. She turned to Liberty. "You're dismissed. But if anything bothers your tail, please come to me at once. I know you apprentices tend to prefer to avoid the Healer and ignore the pain, but that's not going to help in your case."
Liberty nodded in reply and left the Healers' room. Oh, Lifebreeze, this is embarrassing.
She walked down the stairs, trying to keep her tail up so it wouldn't touch the floor. Liberty headed out into the yard.
The bodies of the dead animals lay in the center of the yard. Animals were around them, looking grief-stricken. But some of the other animals were spread out, looking to be done with their mourning, yet still sad-looking. Why do we mourn our dead? Liberty wondered. It doesn't help anything.
"Liberty!"
Ekaj ran over. "Is your tail--" He then froze, seeing what was on her tail. "Uh..."
"Tiggerkat mended it," she grumbled.
"Well, at least it'll get better," Ekaj shrugged. "It sucks, y'know...Dell and the others dying..."
"Yeah," Liberty murmured.
"My new mentor is Stone. She's okay, but..she'll just, never be Dell, y'know?" Ekaj said.
Liberty nodded. She had a lot of respect for Stone; the raccoon was tough and serious, and from what she heard, handled herself well in combat. Ekaj must consider himself lucky, Liberty thought.
"Malroy now has Leafy for a mentor. She was excited about that," continued Ekaj. "Malroy misses Kirin, though, I can tell..."
Mentors made Liberty recall training and she froze in alarm. With my broken tail...I'm gonna miss training! she thought worriedly. For how long, though?

Author's Note:
I REALLY hope commenters will start coming back since it's summer vacation. I miss everyone's feedback. I'd love all the comments I'd receive after writing a new chapter, hearing about how everyone enjoyed the story and what they thought about so-and-so doing this and all of that. But I'm starting to get worried my readers have left for good. :( Thanks to the few readers who've stayed, though...
Check out my new stories, please. I'd really appreciate it if you'd follow and comment on them.

Chapter 43: The Speaker

What Misty had learned from Busara was overwhelming her. She had set Tiggerpaka free and let him stay in the room she and her friends had been given, but she was no longer distracted and had now settled back to thinking on the words from Busara. Was that even truly Busara? Misty wondered. She recalled when the meerkat had talked to her; how she had grown stiff and suddenly forgotten about Misty altogether.
Frustrated and confused, Misty made up her mind. I'll go back to Busara, Misty decided, and try to find out more about all of this.
She got up and headed inside the Meerkat Clan's tree, which Lilypaka had told Misty was named the Home Tree. Misty had been sitting outside the Tree, watching birds and thinking.
Misty climbed up the steps, going through the Council room - where she slipped past Mbili, Tatu and Moja all in a fight - and entered the room that Busara had been in. "Busara? Hello?" Misty called.
No one was there. Not even Berry. She must be outside, with Berry, Misty assumed with a sigh.
She turned to leave, but then heard a voice.
"Approach me, troubled one."
Misty froze and turned around. "Who...?"
The orb Busara had used was beginning to light up with its brilliant colors. "You did not understand my words."
"Busara...?" Misty whispered. Had the meerkat somehow gotten trapped in the orb?
"You fool. I am no meerkat," the voice hissed. It was scratchy, sounded like a female's voice, and spoke rather slowly. "No, I am above Busara. She is merely my servant. I am above you. Above all of you. I am...the Speaker."
"The Speaker?" Misty echoed in confusion.
"Yes," the Speaker replied in its snake-like voice. "I assist the shaman of the Meerkat Clan. I speak through them."
"Oh," was all Misty could manage.
"No one normally understands the messages I give," the Speaker went on. "That is because I give them an opportunity to determine what it means for themselves. But this...this is too important. You must...understand."
Misty felt relief. "Finally," she muttered. She then brought up her voice. "You're telling me the meaning of what Busara told me?"
"Busara didn't tell you that," the Speaker reminded Misty. "I did."
Misty didn't particularly care for that information. "Tell me what it means!" she begged.
"Patience," scolded the Speaker. "The world is in danger."
Misty's eagerness quickly became curiosity - and fear. "W-What?"
"Yin and Yang are fighting," the Speaker continued. "They are what keeps the world in balance. And if one dies...the world goes with it."
Misty's mouth gaped in horror as the Speaker continued. "You and your group of friends, you are all meant to save the world. Keep everyone from dying. Stop Yin and Yang from their quarrel. But there are animals out to destroy you because of this."
"Wh-Why us?" Misty stuttered. "Why not someone else? And can't we head back home first?"
"You cannot go home until you have completed your quest. Forget all about home. This is more important," the Speaker insisted.
"Nothing is more important than my friends back at The Bending Tower," Misty replied evenly.
"Complete your destiny," the Speaker said, not acknowledging Misty's protest. "Head to the Land of Yin and Yang. Save the world...Misty."
The colors disappeared.
Misty took a breath, trying to comprehend what was going on.
Yin and Yang were about to destroy the world. Out of all the animals that could've been chosen, for whatever reason, it was Misty and her friends that were selected. It was their destiny to save the world. But where was the Land of Yin and Yang? How could they do this? And why couldn't the Peacebenders take care of it?
Misty kept wondering about all of this, but suddenly her vision went black.


When Misty's vision returned, she was at a brilliant green forest. Sunlight sparkled through the trees. There were butterflies, birds singing. Everything seemed peaceful.
"Misty," said a deep voice.
Misty turned to see a huge, white winged wolf with a black pattern on his face. "Who are you?" Misty asked.
"I am Majaka," the wolf replied. "First Waterbender, first winged wolf to walk the land, and your ancestor."
"I'm related to you?" Misty said.
"Of course. Does your mother not have wings like me?" Majaka muttered. "Anyway, Ka--er, the Speaker was right. You're supposed to save Yin and Yang."
"Can't the Peacebenders take care of it?" Misty asked. Her father had told her tales of how all the Peacebenders helped him; wouldn't they do the same for Misty?
However, Majaka simply laughed. "Oh, you naive little girl." Misty felt taken aback at this. "Your top enemy, the one who wishes to kill you because of your destiny, stopped the Peacebenders and cut off their power."
"How?" Misty demanded. What animal could be so powerful as to cut off the Peacebenders?
"One of the Father Stones," Majaka replied. "See, there are several afterlifes, depending on what you are. You're part of the Benders. So your afterlife is the Bender Realm, and you can either go to the Peacebenders or Darkbenders. The Tribe of Flying Birds - who live between The Bending Tower and Water Tribe - go to the Tribe Realm, to the Tribe of Starry Skies if your good, and to the Tribe of Endless Darkness. The Meerkat Clan don't think of any afterlife while alive, but when they die they go to the Plentiful Jungle Realm - all meerkats of the Meerkat Clan go to the Plentiful Jungle - where there are grubs as far as the eye can see. I lived in the Land of Yin and Yang for most of my days. We come here. To what we basically call, 'Land'. Otherwise known as the Land Realm."
"'Land'?" Misty echoed.
"There is no Yin and Yang here," Majaka pointed out. "So we take that part of the title out."
"Oh," Misty murmured.
"Anyway, since mostly Benders dominate the land below, the Bender Realm is the most powerful Realm of all. They're the only ones who can talk to the land-dwellers, which is why only they have a Father Stone that cuts off their power," Majaka explained.
"Then how are you talking to me?" Misty demanded.
"I can go to the Bender Realm, because I'm a Bender. But since I had ran away in my later days to the Land of Yin and Yang, I can come to Land. I happened to be in Land when the Peacebenders' power was cut off, so I was safe," Majaka said
Misty felt relief. "So you'll help me?"
"I have more important things to do, so I'm only talking to you this once," Majaka growled. "It won't be a walk through the field, trying to get to Yin and Yang. It'll take a while. And patience. You'll learn the way there during your journey."
"Why do I have to do this?" Misty asked.
"Because it's your destiny," Majaka replied, as if the answer was obvious.
"I can't choose?" Misty said.
"Of course not. Our destinies are written out before we're even born."
Curious, Misty asked, "and what happens if we don't fulfill our destinies?"
"Then we go to a horrible Realm," Majaka looked Misty in the eye. "They call it the Void."
"What does it look like?" Misty wondered.
"Not important," Majaka insisted. "There are rulers of each Realm, though...the Speaker rules the Void."
"So she didn't fulfill--?" Misty began.
"I'm assuming," Majaka muttered. "I've told you enough, now. Go back."


Misty woke up in the shaman's room, her head buzzing with information.
It was so much to take in.

Author's Note:
No comments on the last post. :/ I write for your FEEDBACK, people.

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. :/