The Space Between (Open)

[Jin]

It had been raining in the mountainous region for the past few days, soaking the trees and paths, cleaning everything of the past. It was a good rain. Even if Jin's ostrich-horse was starting to smell. Just the thought of it made him grimace. The mountains were beautiful this time of year and the snows were not expected for several more weeks.

Jin pulled up on the reins, stopping the animal. He had named it Cho for lack of anything sounding better. Like him, it was dressed in cheap equipment. The leather saddle was well worn and of an unknown age, and the blanket below the saddle was a simple brown. His own clothing could easily blend in with a peasant crowd, made of muted browns and reds with no scribe work. He wasn't used to such... cheap... clothing, but it would make his assignment that much easier. His two swords were wrapped in inexpensive rice paper on top of his traveling equipment behind the saddle. Travelling light would be the perfect way to describe it. A little food, a sleeping roll, and a tarp in case it rained. He also had a short bow that he was getting better at, using it to catch more food when he ran out.

His assignment. He had been given it by Lady Yuzuki only two days prior, but he had memorized it already.

"Jin, your first mission within the order is to gather information on the Western Air Temple. Find exactly what their defenses are. We have had trouble gaining access to the temples, so I want you to try and gain their trust and gain entry."

And he would do just that. If all went according to plan, it would be relatively easy. The Air Nomads prided themselves on their neutrality and hospitality... if you could make it to a temple. The Western Temples was one of the easiest to access, with its buildings hanging under a cliff. He would go and ask for temporary sanctuary; stating that he had been attacked by bandits on his way between towns, with all of his goods stolen. In the hills, bandits weren't so uncommon. The Fire Nation Army was everywhere, but less of it seemed to be home lately. If he were lucky, a few bandits would actually attack him. Maybe he'd let one or two get a close cut to help his clothing look more like he was attacked. Either way, he thought he had a solid idea and it had the most likely chance of succeeding out of all the other ideas he had thought of.

Coming out of his semi-trance, he urged Cho onwards. He had no time limit, but he'd rather not spend too much time keeping Lady Yuzuki waiting...

[Witchcraft]

Akusui, currently known as Ni Po found himself deep in the mountain range outside of the Western Air Temple. He tried to get far enough away were a nearby Air Bender wouldn’t see him Water Bending. He wore his yellow and tan clothing of the Air Benders though he did not have the arrow tattoo or the shaved head.

He doubted that they would have minded having a water bender in their temple but he didn’t want to put the Lotus member that got him within the temple in jeopardy. The Air Nomads knowing he was a water bender would lead to questions as to why he was there, how he got there, how he ended up with the Air Nomad clothing, just a lot of mess all around. His cover was currently that he was waiting for his sister to get back from the Southern Air Temple so they could go off and help their sick mother. Since Ni Po didn’t have bending powers he was able to stay with their mother while his sister had to go off and train at the temple.

He was at the temple for a week so far and though he couldn’t bend he still joined the benders in the daily morning and evening training and stretching as they went through the different forms. That was the real reason why Akusui was here. His bending form was lacking something, and he figured it may be tied to Air Bending. He was working with such small shards of ice they didn’t act correctly in the air when he tried to use his water bending forms. They were too spread out to work with the snow forms and too small to work with the ice forms.

This was the first time that he could get away from the others without drawing attention to himself. He was now climbing a mountain with his gourds hidden under his cloths cursing his inability to wind jump or air glide. No wonder they put the temples so far in the mountains, they were their own defense, it was hard to get anybody that wasn’t an Airbender up here. Once he found a flat area that was secluded enough he would try using the airbender forms on the ice particles to see how they behaved.

[Jin]

As Cho followed the trail higher and deeper into the mountains, Jin contemplated his strategy. He had the 'why', but he needed the 'how' and 'for how long'. He was willing to stay for up to a week but was hoping for a lot less. Just their defenses and anything unusual. He had an older map of the Temple that he could write on and label things that had changed or special static defenses. Probably a damning thing to have, but he hid it deep within the folds of his clothing. The steady, rythmic sounds of the ostrich-horse thumping up the path helped keep his mind focused. He found that steady noises, such as a waterfall, or the chittering insects in the late summer, helped him think.

It was turning into a good day and Jin was making good time on his journey. He predicted just a few more hours and he would be at the temple. As his plan was cemented, he let his mind wander. Lady Yuzuki. She was formidable. He was sure he would enjoy his time working for her as long as he could be kept busy. And as long as he didn't anger her... Well, he didn't really worry about that. He rarely failed at anything. And honestly he wasn't expecting this mission to be too difficult. As long as nothing out of the ordina-

Why did he have to jinx himself? He mentally face-palmed as he road over a small bend in the path and found a clearing, complete with a training Airbender. At this distance, he couldn't see what the Nomad was trying to do, but either way, he wasn't expecting to be confronted this early on. Might as well practice his acting skills... if worst came to worst, he could probably knock the kid out and hurry on with his mission. It would shorten his window to less than a day before the missing Bender would be truly worried about...

[Witchcraft]

Akusui did not yet notice the man approaching his tranquil clearing. He reached behind himself, appearing to scratch an itch and when he did he popped the one of the four corks on his gourds of water. He then did a small jump landing with knees bent, his arms went up in the jump then down slowly as his bent knees slowly the jump into a very graceful and fluid move. This motion caused a very thin mist to form around him. He then let loose the breath of freezing and froze the mist into his soon to be trademark ice shards.

It would take someone being very close to notice the mist that was formed. If someone would look at him at just the right angle to catch the sun it would now appear as if he was surrounding by sparkling diamond dust. He then began to ‘walk the circle’ the most basic form of Air Bending and the core of many of their moves. It was the defensive stance made famous by the Air Nomads since it made it hard for the opponent to get a firm hold on the air bender and also started the circular nature of the air itself so they could quickly shift into an air bend.

Akusui then spun quickly on his toes before going fast into a crouch. The motion was supposed to bring in a funnel of air then send it out quickly but the ice crystals barely budged. Akusui’s eyebrows got pushed together as he stood and stared at the crystals wondering why they didn’t move. He tried the same move four more times. After the fifth failure he let out a loud angry sigh.

He sat down and contorted his legs to the Lotus position. He began to talk to himself softly out of frustration.

“What do I know about air bending? It was originated with the air bison. It is fully negative jin. An airbender uses circular motion to create a large amount of kinetic energy in their movements and lets that energy go to create bent air. Water bending though constantly shifts between negative and positive jin. We use graceful motions to imitated the push and pull of the moon and the ocean. For water we need the slower motion to build the energy in a more stable form, if I tried to bend water using the speed of an airbender I would only get mist out of it and very little at that. There wouldn’t be enough chi to get any real hold on the water. Air benders pull their power from the speed itself since air is so much lighter. Maybe if I cut the difference, speed the water bending, slow the air bending since the crystals are light but not as light as air.”

He then got up and let out a calming breath. He then began to walk the circle again but much slower. He let his chi build as he let himself go through the stances of the circle at a much slower pace. At the last moment where they would be a ‘snap’ to send the energy out he let his arms drift. This time the crystals did move and he cheered to himself. If someone didn’t know better though it could be misconstrued that the air bent since they would see sparkly stuff around him move.

[Jin]

As silent as a ghost, Jin waited and watched. He studied everything he could from this distance. He had never fought an Air Bender before... and most likely he wouldn't be fighting this one... But you could never be too careful. And you could never know too much. Intelligence was always something the military minded sought. Power lies within knowledge, and the spark of power ignited the soldier's spirit as much as any fight. One day, one day... one day he would be able to just fight, and fight, and fight...

He shook his head, clearing his thoughts and focusing on the now. He watched the Air Bender do a quick set of their twisting martial arts... and nothing happened. The boy sat down and seemed to talk to himself. Odd. Cho started to get restless underneath Jin. Probably sensed his rider's problem. To go around or to talk to the monk?

Suddenly, the boy got up and seemed to relax. Jin watched with fascination as the monk walked in a circle, hands apart, and perform the same move as before but slower. A shimmer of wind issued forth. Well, he was getting better... Seeing that, Jin put the Air Bender's threat level at almost nothing. With that judgement, he tapped Cho and began to move towards him.

"Ho, Air Bender! I am Jin, a villager from the Fire Nation! Would you have any water to spare? I am almost out since a band of raiders took all of my provisions and produce when I was heading to the market a few days from my village."

[Witchcraft]

Akusui nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard another voice appear from near him. He turned quickly going naturally into a water bending stance, one hand in front of him straight up for balance while the other was at his side cupped slightly. This stance would have let him move swiftly into the standard water whip or if he was near a large enough body of water, a water vortex.

When he realized he wasn’t about to be attacked he took the hand at his side and put it together with the other and bowed to the man.

“Hello, I am Ni Po. I am sorry but I do not have any water either since I do not expect to be out here much longer.” He lied.

He made a calculated decision to lie about the water he had since he could not remove only one and it would seem very odd for an Air Bender to have four gourds of water but to also have them concealed under their cloths where they would quickly get disgustingly warm.

His voice was stressed though since he was not yet sure how long the person was watching and if he knew he was water bending. To the unskilled eye he knew that what he did could get confused with air bending.

His mind was racing so badly that he didn’t even notice that he could not see any towns from the mountains near the temple. They could be there, but he never noticed any yet. That was kind of the point of the Air Temple, it was hard to give up the material world and reach enlightenment with people around you wanting to buy the most recent robes or the newest gizmo.

[Jin]

Jin noticably slumped in his saddle. He wasn't as weary as he let on, but he would appreciate a nice, soft bed. His clothing helped him look worse for wear as he surreptiously studied the monk. Odd... by his reckoning, they were still a good hour or two away from the Temple... when he went out to train he always brought water. Dehydration was not a fun way to end a training session. But it was probably just normal here. Air Nomads... so flighty and flaky. Inside, he was smirking down at the monk. Outside, his face looked devastated.

"Blast! Would you be able to lead me to the Temple? Just for some water and rest? I chose to come up here and ask because the path back to my village was a two day journey. I would have run out of water by then..."

He let the words hang there, implying that he had no where else to go and just had a simple request. The Air Nomads couldn't refuse something like that. His mount quirked its head, wondering why they were holding still for so long. Like him, it had gotten used to being on the constant move. Cho could probably use some rest as well...