Chapter 10

"Seriously, why couldn't the prince go to Ember Island like he usually does, it's too damn cold up here, not to mention enemy territory"

"Enemy territory? You should know those cowardly waterbenders seldom move from their capital, and if they do, they aren't far from it. At best they attack fishers coming too close."

Discussions like this could be heard all around the giant steel vessel, while the crew tended to their duties. These were royal guards, and the reason they were more rowdy than usual was due to an abrupt change in plans from crown prince Lu Ten himself. Usually, before a military campaign, Lu Ten takes a vacation on Ember Island yet just days before they set out, he changed plans and decided to explore some of the barren regions of the north pole without explaining why. As the royal guard, they had to follow, but that didn't stop them from complaining, fortunately for them, Lu Ten was known to take it easy on his underlings when he was on vacation.

As for the man himself, he was sitting quietly in an exquisitely decorated room, reading a letter from his father that was preparing for his biggest siege on the walls of Ba Seng Se yet. One he would naturally participate in too, and while he wasn't a big supporter of the war effort, he still saw it as his duty to take part in it.

The letter from his father wasn't particularly intriguing, really nothing but a status update on various affairs going on back home, and ending with his dad teasing him about finally finding a proper fiance instead of just fooling around. Lu Ten still treasured it, it was the only form of contact he would have with his father while away from home. The letter didn't even question his sudden change of plans, Because Lu Ten was known to make eccentric choices or change plans on a whim. This made him a headache to deal with sometimes, but his status as prince allowed him the privilege to do as he wished as long as it didn't anger his grandfather, the current Firelord.

As he wrote a reply, Lu Ten thought about if he should tell his father about the reason for his change of plans. While it was usually normal for him to act on his whims, it wasn't a whim this time. If he wasn't strongly advised not to inform anyone about the reason, the first thing he would do was to tell his father right away. However, Lu Ten was afraid of angering the spirit which had shown up in his dreams, he wasn't very experienced with spirits, but even he could tell that the creature who referred to himself only as "Arvelir" was unfathomably powerful.

In the end, he chose not to mention the strange spirit and instead wrote a reply about weird records he came across that mentioned the barren areas of the north pole. These records did exist, though they mostly talk about unnaturally strong creatures that live deep under the ocean, or high in the mountains, with the odd mention of a place with a strong connection to the spirit world. After binding the reply to a messenger pigeon, and sending it off, Lu Ten lay down on his cabin bed and tried to relax as he contemplated the words spoken by Arvelir in his dream. Most of it was unclear, but what he was sure was mentioned, was that the key to either winning or losing this war was somewhere on the north poles barren lands. The most obvious answer that came to mind was that the Avatar had been reborn there, but if that were the case, why would a spirit tell him about it, weren't the Avatar suppose to be some kind of spiritual bridge? The next thing that came to mind was some rare and powerful artifact, this idea greatly resonated with Lu Ten, who loved to go treasure hunting. Nevertheless, he doubted he would get a proper answer before he reached the north pole, so Lu Ten continued his daily routine both excited and slightly more afraid than usual.

---

On the barren lands of the north pole, the unusual sight of a young boy shooting spears of ice at high speed at an unknown target could be seen. While forming a new projectile, he abruptly stopped the process and shouted to no one in particular while visibly shivering.

"Who the hell is watching me?! My bending senses tell me that nothing living is close, yet my 6th sense is sure of it!"

After yelling in different directions, and throwing absurd amounts of ice around his vicinity, the boy eventually gave up and went back to his training.

---

On the busy streets of Gaoling, a young man in worn but standard attire of the earth kingdom was navigating between people and small businesses alike. Occasionally people behind him would loudly scream about being robbed, but he simply moved on, ignoring their plight, as did most others because this wasn't a strange occurrence around these parts of the city.

Eventually, the young man took a turn off the busy street and into a narrow alleyway that led into the slum, where the buildings were run-down, and beggars that were kicked from the main streets sat about. After taking several complex turns, and removing or adding walls with his earth bending, he eventually ended up in front of a half-rotten door. After checking his attire, he entered and was greeted by an old man whose entire right side was badly scarred by a burn.

"Edward, you're finally back I was beginning to worry you got caught!"

Said the old man, with an overly happy tone. And the young man, Edward, responded with a flat voice, too tired to deal with his nonsense.

"Shut it Old man Syl, where are the others? I thought we were supposed to meet up and discuss our next move"

"How do you expect to stay informed when you miss half of our meetings, our relocation has moved up and most of the others have already left the city."

Before Edward could respond to the strange chance of plans, Syl made yet another absurd statement.

"Geese's base was raided and he spilled the beans, it's a wonder this place hasn't been raided yet. I volunteered to stay behind and inform you, now move your ass down into the tunnels."

Edward didn't respond, and quickly moved below a bed and into a secret tunnel. If what Syl said was true, they needed to be out of this city as fast as possible, Geese knew their finances and if he talked about it, their little group would suddenly become a much more attractive target for both the city guards and the gangs. Syl gave him some supplies, and they eventually split up, they would emerge at different locations and meet up at a later date.

Once again Edward was alone, but none of the easy-going and confident demeanor he'd shown on the busy streets was present as he moved as quickly as he could through the long and narrow tunnels. Eventually, after hours of travel underground, he emerged from a hole that was beneath a boulder and examined his vicinity for an ambush. Confident he was alone, Edward began moving north-earth toward one of their meeting points between Gaolin and Plains village, Geese would likely lead their pursuers toward Omashu where their group originally planned to relocate.

Edward could already feel the enormous headache that was ahead of him, even if they managed to escape mostly intact, they'd need to start their plan-making completely over. How were they supposed to achieve anything of significance if they kept getting set back by any authority they came across? Maybe they should just settle in a small village as a base or something. The young man continued to toss different ideas around in his head as the sky began turning dark.