Nearing Departure

The young man narrowed his eyes as he tried to see what was making the noise.

Turning his ear towards the area of the noises, the young man can hear the indistinct sound of fighting.

Surprised, the young man turned to look towards where the noise was coming from and can vaguely notice rocks being thrown around whilst someone expertly dodged the attacks and attacked back with a stick.

The fight didn't last long and the young man was shocked to see the Earthbenders doing weird movements before suddenly running away.

'Wh-what's that?'

The young man leaned forward trying to see if that would help him see further. It was then that he noticed the figure was facing towards where he was.

And nervously, the young man watched as the person walked over to him.

With wide eyes, the young man looked at the person before him in shock.

'Is he blind?!'

Looking closely at the blind man, the young man looked at the man before him with surprise.

Before him stood a young man with a white, slightly dirty, ribbon on his head that covered his eyes. The young man could see some faint scars and felt a little pity for the person before him.

This person walked around with an exquisitely carved walking stick with images of mythical creatures, Phoenix, Dragons, White Tiger, Black Tortoise, and many other creatures the young man failed to recognize.

The walking stick was thin at the bottom about as thin as a pinky.

Nervously looking at the maybe blind man before him, the young man began to get nervous. If he could back up and run away, he would.

However, right now he could do nothing but just look at the man worryingly.

"Hm? A Firebender…"

The young man suddenly felt his body go cold as he heard the calm and captivating voice of the blind man utter the words Firebender.

Shaking in fear, the young man watched the blind man stand before him. Seeing him raise his hand in the air, the young man closed his eyes tightly and waited for him to come.

"…"

?

Confused, the young man lifted his head and noticed that the blind man was yawning.

"…"

The young man continued to stare at the blind man and wondered what the blind man was thinking about until he suddenly heard the man's voice.

"Why are you staring at me so intensely?"

"Huh? I-I…"

"Calm down," said the man before striking the young man as fast as lightning around his neck area.

"…"

!!

The young man tried speaking but now matter how much he tried, nothing would leave his mouth. Panicking at this sudden feeling of not being able to speak or hear his own voice, the young man looked at the man with fear.

"You'll be fine," calmly said the blind man.

Oddly enough, the young man felt like he could trust the blind man's words and he quickly felt his body relax. Taking a deep breath and relaxing his body, the young man fixated his gaze on the man before him.

Watching as the blind man used one of his hands to check his pockets, the young man wonders what this man was trying to do.

"Hmm… where did I leave that knife…"

The blind man sighed and eventually walked around the bandit's camp before returning with a gourd.

'Water… I thought he went to look for a knife,' thought the young man as he curiously looked at the blind man removing the cap of the gourd.

Looking on curiously, the young man's eyes widened as he noticed the blind man bend water out of the gourd.

?!

'Woah! He's a waterbender??'

Shocked and amazed, the young man watched as the blind man suddenly moved his hand downward rapidly and suddenly sent a water blade flying to the young man.

TCH!

'Ahh! That scared me…'

The young man heaved a sigh of relief after finding out he wasn't hurt in any way and was now impressed by how he was freed by a blind waterbender.

Once free, the young man turned to look at the people who were on the carriage with him before turning to look at the blind man.

"..."

The blind man raised an eyebrow and sighed, "Are you sure?"

The young man nodded with a sad look on his face.

Nodding, the blind man waterbended the water back into gourd and walked over to the people who were tied up before bending the water once more and cutting the ropes.

"Thank you sir!"

The passengers quickly thanked the blind man and were deciding to rest since it was night already. They were pretty far from the nearest village so they decided to sleep for the night.

Just when they were deciding that, they remembered about the firebender and they quickly turned to look at him with a glare.

"You… you should leave," said a hunter as he puffed up his chest and walked over to the young man.

Quietly, the blind man listened to the interaction from the sidelines.

"I…"

Lowering his head, the young man couldn't bring himself to say anything and only looked at the empty long road in the darkness.

Just when the young man was going to walk away, the blind man made a move and placed a hand on the hunter's shoulder.

"Wait," said the blind man, stopping both the young man and the hunter from moving. "I need to talk with this young man."

The hunter looked at the blind man for a second before scoffing and walking away. This man had saved him, so he decided to stay quiet for now.

"Tsk…"

After rejoining the group, the hunter turned to look at the blind man and the young man and listened in to their conversation.

"How does it feel?" asked the blind man.

The young man furrowed his eyebrows and looked at the blind man with his head tilted, "What do you mean?"

"To act as a hero and instead be attacked by the people you tried to save."

"..."

The young man then understood and a grim look appeared on his face. He shook his head and decided to instead remain quiet.

"You left the Fire Nation because you were tired of them. You looked for a safe place to live for the rest of your life, yet now, you risked your identity and tried saving these people. You have a good heart in you. It proves to me that not all of the Fire Nation are cruel or evil."

With that said, the blind man turned around and left, leaving the young man and the other four people behind.

However, before the blind man got any farther away, the young man stopped Genji.

"Wait! What's your name? I want to know the name of my savior."

The blind man chuckled and lightly shook his head as he answered, "Genji, a wanderer who walks around the world aimlessly."

Disappearing into the darkness of the night sky, Genji left the group of people.

The two hunters and the coachman turned to look at each other after they heard the blind man speak. At first they didn't really care what was being said, yet they suddenly felt very guilty whenever they thought of what the young man did to try to fend off the bandits.

Da! Da!

Whilst they were busy talking amongst each other, the three of them suddenly heard some footsteps. They turned their heads over and noticed the young woman that was traveling around with them suddenly approached the young man.

"Thank you!"

The young woman thanked the young man, surprising the young man before he suddenly shook his head quickly with a guilty expression.

"I-I didn't do anything! I only got my butt kicked…"

Raising her head to give the young man a fierce gaze, the young woman said, "You still risked your life to save us! You even had to use your firebending."

The young man lowered his head with a weak smile on his face before softly muttering to the young woman.

"Thanks…"

A couple feet away from them was the group of three that were moved by the young woman's decision to thank the young man and the young man's resolution to save them even if it meant exposing his firebending.

***

"Haa~... such fights will always happen whether there's war or not. It's human nature," muttered Genji after distancing himself from the people from earlier.

However, despite what he was saying, Genji was seeing the destruction and devastation the Fire Nation had wrought upon the Earth Nation.

For the good majority of the land he has traveled, whether on foot or carriage, Genji had seen many burnt down villages and towns.

It was a sad sight to see, even Genji felt a little disturbed by the large amount of burnt villages and towns.

'Let's change things for the better,' thought Genji as he walked forward with a serious expression on his face. 'But first, let's head to the Northern Water Tribe and let's make it fall under my control.'

With a long and extensive travel, Genji traveled non-stop for a total of five days. Five days filled with annoying trouble that continuously got in his way.

Wild beasts, a group of bandits, mischievous kids from nearby villages throwing rocks at him, and even the occasional tripping and falling because his sensing abilities don't pick up small rocks sometimes. Genji would even go as far as to stop by in some villages to use his Physician skill and level it up along with his acupuncture.

Genji didn't use his acupuncture for just healing, it was a great method of attacking. So Genji would use it often when fighting so that he doesn't defeat an opponent or kill them just to prevent himself from leveling up any further.

Despite the hardships, Genji's skills had risen by a lot of levels and had all reached a very nice level.

After four days of traveling, Genji was finally close to making it to the edge of the Earth Nation closest to the Northern Water Tribe.

All he would need to do now is to head to the edge of the Earth Nation and either buy a boat or steal one just to head to the Northern Water Tribe that is guarded by various waterbenders hidden behind various icebergs and large chunks of ice.

Smiling, Genji focused his senses on the firebender that was still following him from afar. He already had a plan that will delay the firebender long enough that it will allow him to enter the Northern Water Tribe and even move around in there freely.

Without the supervision of the firebender follower, Genji will be able to use his waterbending skill freely.

The only way he could have used his waterbending skill earlier when freeing those people, was by utilizing the blind spots made by the firebender who was looking at him from afar.

He also didn't have to worry about being mentioned as a waterbender by those people because he had shifted the focus from himself over to the young man. As far as they are concerned, he was just a mysterious blind waterbender that happened to be passing by.

…

With the sun starting to rise in the distance, Genji found himself nearing a city.

Rhia!

Hearing the weird cry of the ostrich horse, Genji focused his senses on where the screech came from and found an old man standing near the ostrich horse that was sitting down.

Approaching the old man and the ostrich horse, Genji made his presence known.

"Excuse me, old man, what seems to be the problem?" asked Genji as he focused his senses on the ostrich horse.

The old man turned his head around and saw a man covering his eyes with a silk cloth approach, "Hm… My ostrich horse doesn't listen to me anymore. I don't know what to do with it anymore. I might just sell it now."

"Do you mind if I take a look at the ostrich horse?" asked Genji as he approached the ostrich horse that looked like it couldn't move.

Shrugging his shoulders, the old man said, "Give it a shot, but I don't think a blind man like you can do much."

Genji ignored the man's comment and just approached the ostrich horse, taking a closer look and checking it's body.

"There doesn't seem to be much of a problem. Just a little thirsty and pain in it's legs."

"Ho? You aren't lying are you? Are you planning to take this horse from me?"

Narrowing his eyes, the old man looked at Genji with caution. It didn't matter to him whether Genji was blind or not, someone trying to rob him will still end up hurt with his Earthbending.

Shaking his head, Genji said, "No. I just request from you to help me get to that city."

Turning his gaze over to the city in the distance near the ocean, the man nodded and said, "Alright. If you can help make my pet get healthy enough to reach the city, then I will give you a ride."