"Avatar Soyala," the ship captain said as he finally caught up to them, "what would you like my men to do? Our orders were to take you back to the Earth Kingdom."

"Let me get back to you on that, captain," Soyala said, glancing back at the monks and then heading into the medical tent. Jianyu shrugged and followed her. "Hey," she said once she found one of the Northern monks, "I've got a question. Since I've got to learn airbending anyway, should I have my ship head back to the Earth Kingdom while I stick around to help with the wounded? I learned a bit of healing when I visited my sister tribe at the North Pole, so I can be useful."

"And I'm going to stick with Soya," Jianyu jumped in. At Soyala's raised eyebrow, he added, "hey, if you're going to stay here rather than go back for more earthbending lessons, I'm going to stay too to make sure your earthbending doesn't get rusty."

"Of course. We'll have you train privately with one of our best," The nomad grinned sheepishly, "It would be a pleasure to have a pretty young lady like yourself up here. We don't get many of those." He guided the two toward one of the wounded. He had suffered few burns, but was going in and out of consciousness. "Help him, please, miss."

Sage was busy in another tent attending to a Fire Nation soldier. He had suffered several slashes from what looked to be water. 'You deserved it, scoundrel...' She thought while sloppily dressing his wounds. Sure, he needed help just as much as the next guy, but he wasn't going to get it from her. She loathed the Fire Nation with a burning passion.

Soyala nodded and started tending to the wounded. She opened her waterskin with one hand and started to bend the water, using it to heal what she could. Jianyu helped as well, doing what he could with bandages and antiseptic. Soyala had the tent pretty much in hand, though, so he wandered into the next one to see what he could do to help. He saw Saku there, and went over.

"Need any extra hands in here?" he asked. "I'm no healer, but I can tie a bandage well enough. Soya's pretty much got the other tent under control." He gave an easy sort of grin. "Though I guess it kind of helps that she had some training from the healers in the Northern Water Tribe before she started her earthbending training."

"No, we're fine here. Unless you want to gather more bandages and pass them out to all the tents? " She muttered, not bothering to look up from her work. She had almost finished dressing the last soldier in her tent, and was about to see if anyone else needed help. "Wait," She paused for a moment, "Does that mean your friend is the Avatar? Soyala, is it?" She grinned. Was that who she met earlier? Oh, how amazing was that? She grinned widely to herself. Sure, it wasn't the most masculine thing to be excited over the Avatar, but that didn't matter. She had thought the rumors were fake for as long as she could remember. Maybe now peace could be restored. The Fire Nation had been awfully tense, lately..

Jianyu grinned.

"Yeah, Soya is the Avatar," he replied. "Though she really is originally from the Southern Water Tribe. She's a badass waterbender, and a pretty good earthbender." Glancing around, he spotted the supply of bandages and grabbed some. "I'll go pass these around to the others, then. Soya's still in the next tent, I think, if the monks haven't already whisked her away into the temple."

Indeed, Soyala had already taken a moment to let her ship's captain know she was staying for a while. The Fire Nation wounded would stay at the temple, but the ones in the brig of the ship would end up going back to the Earth Kingdom and be dealt with from there. Soyala had to admit, she was kind of looking forward to airbending training. She had been an airbender in her last life, she knew, and she was looking forward to learning proper meditation.

"Of course." Sage gave a quick smile to Jianyu. She ripped the bandage, sealed it, and woke the soldier. She gave a rushed explanation of what happened and his treatment, then jogged out the door, leaving the wounded in her tent to the "guards" stationed outside. She grabbed her glider, which was a shabby substitute for her fans, and popped it open mid-run. If she was quick enough, she could catch the Avatar.

From roof to roof, she blew drafts up into her glider, soaring through the air. There she was. Soyala was just a few feet away. Oh, how exciting this was. Sage dropped down swiftly to her feet. She landed in an alley directly adjacent to Soya. "Hey!" She called out, "Miss, do you need an escort? It must be hard to find your way around here." She spoke slowly, drawling out her words so they appeared much deeper than normal. She closed her glider, folded it up, and stuffed it into her robes, careful not to jab any stuffing.

Meanwhile, Koda lay in a First Aid tent. He was coming in and out of consciousness thanks to Soya's rough blows. He would get her back soon enough. He was sure of it.

Soyala jumped slightly and turned around.

"I guess I kind of look a little lost, huh?" she asked, a little sheepishly. "The monks here told me to look around and see if I could find a place that would work for meditating, and I guess I got a little turned around." She watched the monk carefully. There was something about him that seemed... off, somehow, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. "I saw you earlier, didn't I? At the healing tents?"

When Jianyu finished dropping off the bandages, he took a loon inside the healing tents again, pausing near Koda. He could see the Fire Nation soldier starting to stir, and he knelt down.

"Hey, you," he said, "can you hear me?"

"Just a little.." She smirked, "and yeah, I think I was in the one beside you. We met before, too, when you first dismounted the bison. Nice touch, by the way. The elders thought that was quite respectful." She gestured her hand forward with a bow. "After you." She said while guiding Soya down the road.

"Yeah." Koda spat out once he came to once more. "What do you want?" His face curled up into a grimace upon seeing Jianyus face. He barely remembered him, but a clear image of Soya was etched into his head, and somehow the two were connected.

"Well, you're coherent," Jianyu said. "Just relax for a bit, Soya hit you good. For what it's worth, you're being taken care of for now."

"In the Water Tribes, it's customary to show respect to your elders," Soyala replied simply. She followed the monk's direction down the path. "I guess you know from before, but my name is Soyala of the Southern Water Tribe." She grinned and stretched a little bit. "I'm looking forward to learning airbending. I'd ask if it's much different than waterbending, but I guess that's kind of a stupid question. All four elements are different from each other."

"I don't need to be taken care of." Koda grunted as he pushed himself up off the bed. He wasn't weak. He was anything but weak. How could he let himself be beaten by the Avatar who hadn't even learned all of the elements yet? "Where is she?" He stared up at Jianyu.

"I see," Her voice trailed off into wind as she started climbing up the countless steps towards the temple, "Saku. Please to meet you again, Soyala." Sage stopped walking for a moment. "Airbending is different, sure, but I think it's harder than most to learn. Everyone who is born here can bend. But to do that, you have to be committed. You have to meditate, and try as hard as you can to be one with the element. Honestly, it's like the wind.. this element.. it just takes you away. Literally." She shrugged. There were no words to explain how much she loved air bending. It was her life for as long as she could remember.

"As if you'd be able to go anywhere even if I told you," Jianyu snorted. "Oma and Shu, would you just stay down? You probably have a concussion or something."

"Water is about being flexible," Soyala said. Hey, fair was fair. "About finding another way around an obstacle, and flowing with and around your opponent. Using their strength against them. And Jian would tell you something about how earth is about being just as stubborn as the element itself." She snorted. "I still have issues with earthbending sometimes. I'm not one for charging headlong into an obstacle to break through it."

"I'm fine, you imbecile." Koda sputtered out roughly. He wanted to say more, but decided against it. Maybe he could befriend this man and use it against him in the future. "I'm Koda, and you?" He tried a much softer approach when talking to Jianyu.

Sage stood listening and nodded every couple seconds. "Pardon me asking, but how is it being the Avatar? I mean.. It's a big job for a little lady like you." She crossed her arms and flexed her barely present muscles. She looked pretty tough for her size, but she was nothing compared to Soya. She seamed so graceful and lean, probably because of her water bending training. "Oh, we're here." She gestured toward the temple before them. "It was a pleasure to guide you. Do you need anything else?"

Jianyu snorted.

"Why do you care?" he asked. One of his feet slid forward slightly, ready to kick up some rock at a moment's notice. "You tried to kill us, why do you want my name now?" He noticed how Koda hadn't offered any sort of family name. Jianyu thought it was customary for a Fire Nation man to offer his name and his father's name upon introduction, much the way the Water Tribe specified their tribe of origin and how the Earth Kingdom gave a family name. He wasn't sure about the Air Nomads, though, but he figured he'd find out soon enough.

"I'm still learning," Soyala admitted. "The elders in my village kept telling me that the Avatar is the spiritual bridge between this world and the spirit world, but I don't know how to do it. I guess it's something I'll learn as I go." She grinned. "But I've already started learning the other three elements." When they got to the temple, she nodded her head a bit. "Thank you for guiding me. I hope I'll see you more often while I'm here."

"I figured it was time to play nice." Koda shrugged, eyeing the mans advancing foot. "Interesting. So, your name?" His eyes fluttered quizzically. This man seemed kind, but guarded. He was an earthbender, though, judging by the foot movement. Koda had to be careful around this guy. He could flatten him like a pancake, just as Soyala had done before.

"I see. Well, I'm sure you'll make a fine Avatar. A great one, at that. Hope we meet once more." Sage smiled softly towards Soyala. Honestly, Soyala seemed like she was going to do fine with air bending. She seemed to have a certain drive in her, one that Sage had picked up on when Soya mentioned her native element. 'I hope she stays here for awhile. Maybe she would take an elder with her if she had to leave suddenly. What if Zeizyng would go? Oh, he would bring back so many tales from their journey..' A smile crept to her cheeks as she thought of all the things the Avatar was responsible for. Soya could keep peace within the nations.

Sage glided across the sky once more and landed on her favorite spot. It was on a rooftop that overlooked the whole city. She could see every bird, every tree, every movement made in the Temple. The bandaging must have been close to finished by now, and the monks surely didn't need her at the moment. She lied down on the edge of the rooftop, arms crossed behind her head and feet dangling over the edge of the house.

"Jianyu," Jian offered warily after a moment. He didn't offer his family name, though. He didn't trust Koda not to somehow order Fire Nation troops to Gaoling City to find his family.

Once she was alone again, Soyala went to find a quiet spot. She knew how to meditate, and she'd been told it was part of her training for her to find her own meditation spots. They would resonate with her better if she found them herself, or something like that. She wandered around the grounds surrounding the temple for a few minutes before she realized she'd wandered her way into the temple orchards. Smiling a bit, she found herself a nice place to sit and settled in to meditate.

"Pleased to meet you, Jianyu," The words slipped easily off Koda's tongue, seeing as they were coated in sarcasm. "How long have I been out?" Hesitantly, he backed up onto the bed once more and lied down on top of it. Hey, if he was gonna make small talk, at least he would be comfortable for it. Koda recalled nothing about the time spent since he was injured. He didn't remember how he got in the tent, who he was bandaged by, or even where he was. It was all a mystery. The one thing that he remembered was playing in a constant loop on the back of his mind. The rock being forced up at him, knocking him unconscious, and leading to the travel here..wherever here is. How would he find his father now? His ship must be long gone across the vast ocean.

"A couple days," Jianyu replied. "Not too long, considering the size of the rock you got hit with." It had been a chunk of claystone, Jianyu was fairly certain; sedimentary stones like that tended to come from mountains like the ones the temples were built on. "You'll have a pretty good lump on your head for a while, though, I guarantee it." Absently, Jianyu tapped his toes on the ground, feeling for some of the rocks under his feet and absently noting a few veins of crystals below the surface.

"I see." Koda felt around his head for any abnormalities and eventually landed on a medium sized lump. His fingers lingered there for a moment before dropping back to his side. Damn, Soyala had really gotten him good, but there was no way he would show it. "It's nothing, really," He cleared his throat, "Now how about me getting out of this tent, huh, buddy?" He grinned up at Jianyu. Friendliness wasn't working too well, so he prayed to the spirits that this kid would just crack already.

Jianyu gave Koda a flat look and shifted his weight slightly to give the impression of crossing his arms without actually doing so.

"I think not," he said. "Not all earthbenders have rocks for brains, you know. Besides, I doubt you'd make it fifteen feet before you fell over, let alone all the way down the mountain by yourself. And I don't think it's actually possible for firebenders to swim all the way back to the Fire Nation, so you're really better off staying here until you can walk straight."

"Fine, whatever mommy says," Koda grunted and added in a whisper, "One more day and I'll be kicking your butt out of here." He turned over in the bed with his arms crossed. There was no point in arguing with this guy. He was as stubborn as a rock. Literally. Meanwhile, he could plot how he was going to take Soyala down. It wasn't going to be easy, sure, but it was possible. He could catch her by surprise when she was meditating, maybe... or even just out of the blue in the street. She did out him in a lot of pain, surprisingly, and she had to pay for that. After, he could just raid her ship and go find his father.

"We'll see if you're still saying that when you're up to your neck in shale," Jianyu snorted. "I don't see why you can't do yourself a favor and heal, but I guess it's no skin off my neck if you don't." He shrugged. "Whatever." He sent one more look at Koda before leaving the healing tent to go explore for a while. There had to be some interesting mineral deposits to find on the mountain around the temple that he could investigate.

Soyala, meanwhile, was enjoying her meditation in the orchards. It was pleasantly cool out, and a breeze drifted through the leaves of the trees with a soothing sound. She could feel the gentle currents of chi around her as she meditated, although she didn't fall into a true trance. That was something that had to wait until she was supervised by the elder monks.

As soon as Jianyu left the tent, Koda carefully pushed himself off of the bed. He peered out the edge of the flap, and stumbled out into the open when he noticed that the coast was clear. He wasn't stable, but he was able to move, and that's all that mattered. If anything, he at least had to figure out where he was.

"Hey, you, bald-headed man. Where am I?" He grunted out in a rough voice. The man replied with a short explanation, obviously offended by Koda's actions. Koda nodded once and sat down on the brim of a clay pot. His head was pounding. It was like a million tiny needles were jabbing him one after another, over and over again, and just wouldn't stop.

Sage, who had woken up from her accidental nap just moments before, stretched cautiously from the roof. She walked back to the first aid tents to check on the wounded. There was honestly nothing better to do with her time. She could be meditating, but she didn't want to disturb Soyala from her trance. So, tightening bandages and fetching food it was.

Soyala started to get fidgety after a little while, and decided that maybe a moving meditation would be better. The seated meditation was nice after all the healing from earlier, but now she was getting a bit bored. So she made her way back to the main area of the temple yard to see if she could find a well or something to refill her waterskin with fresh water. She paused when she saw Koda.

"Well, you're awake, that's something, I guess," she said dryly as she went over and filled her waterskin from the rainwater in the clay pot. Her arms swept out, up, and in again as her wrists twisted to guide a cord of water into the waterskin. "You should be resting." Now that they weren't actively fighting, Solaya figured she would be civil for now. They were both benders; if she wanted to get technical they were both firebenders. They had to have something in common.

"I am resting..on this pot. Can't you see, or have you suddenly gone blind?" Koda cocked his head sideways and stared up at Soyala. She wasn't half bad looking, actually. Maybe he just didn't notice before. Huh. Either way, though, her pretty little face was bound to get messed up when he put his revenge plan into action. He decided that now really isn't the best time. She just refilled her waterskin after all. "So, you were a water bender first?" He locked his eyes onto hers. 'Maybe I could charm my way into her friendship. She'd swoon at every inch of me. I mean, who wouldn't? I'm the handsomest guy around here...' He stuck his chest out, smirking to himself.

"Wow, you're a bright one," Soyala replied. "The Water Tribe tunic must have clued you in." She smirked slightly. "I see your attitude's recovering just fine." She tested the water level in her waterskin with one hand, and then added a little more to top it off. Then she closed the cap and adjusted it on her shoulder a little. Briefly, she entertained the thought of asking how firebending differed from the other four styles, but restrained herself. She'd been told by the Order of the White Lotus that she had to go into each element fresh, without any sort of prior knowledge of it. That way, it kept her from forming biases as she learned.