"But why should I care about everyone else? Don't they have their own arms and legs?" Ah, loners.
"They do. But if everyone only does things for themselves, it takes far more ti and effort than if people divide up the work and handle it together. Pure practicality, nothing more. Though caring for soone can also just be a way of showing affection. Haven't you ever seen your father straighten your mother's dress? Or your mother pour tea for your father?"
"Hm… fine," the girl reluctantly agreed. "I get it. So what now?"
"Mmm… first, we should probably clean you up — hugging a dusty sack that tightly clearly didn't do your refined image any favors." I considered who I could rope into that task. I had a strong suspicion there would be no shortage of volunteers among the Kyoshi girls. Well then… soone was in for so difficult tis ahead. Heh-heh.
***
Four days later.
"Sail on the horizon!" the lookout's shout from the crow's nest cut through the gathering dusk.
I tore myself away from my argunt with Toph, who, apparently, had nothing to do. Well, technically there was plenty for her to do — the Kyoshi Warriors were more than happy to tell the girl stories or teach her things — but Beifong herself wasn't particularly thrilled by all the attention. After all, they didn't just talk to her; they also kept trying to hand her so treat or fuss with her hair, and the earthbender found the whole thing endlessly irritating. Considering she still felt rather uneasy aboard a ship, her mood had been less than stellar lately, so she vented her stress through sniping and snide remarks.
Heh. We'd actually started developing sothing of an unspoken competition in that regard.
By the way, I had sent a letter to her father, assuring him the girl would be perfectly safe, that she'd spend the month at a resort, and afterward I'd deliver her to Yu Dao and leave her in the care of the galleon's captain.
And I fully intended to do exactly that, but… well, who could possibly be blad if she happened to run away again, hm?
"And what's so special about that sail?" the girl asked grumpily.
"Ships crossing paths near a port is normal, but running into soone out in the open sea is far less common. Either it's a coincidence, or trouble's found us in the form of pirates. If I tell you to stay here, you're not going to listen anyway, are you?"
"Obviously." She nodded.
"All right then. Grab a couple of pouches of gravel with you, just in case." While the girl went to fetch her ammunition supplies, I headed for the bridge.
"What do we have, Captain?"
"See for yourself, Herald," the man replied, adding several highly unprintable comnts regarding our visitors before handing a spyglass.
"All right then, let's see what we've got here…" I pressed my eye to the lens.
A frigate — and not alone, either, but accompanied by a pair of caravels. Judging by their draft, both were completely empty and riding light, and all three ships were built for speed. The decks were crowded with people dressed in all manner of clothing.
And who might these fine gentlen be? rchants didn't sail around empty, and regular troops wore standardized uniforms. Which ant either privateers or pirates, though, in practice, there wasn't much difference between the two.
Right. Three ships. Boarding party, at a rough estimate, around a hundred to a hundred and fifty n. Possibly benders. Most likely they'd either stumbled across us by chance or targeted what they thought was a rchant vessel. We hadn't advertised the departure of the Fire Nation delegation, and nobody had been walking around in uniform. More than that, a few of Lao's people had been busy putting on a show of bustling activity back at the rented estate.
If they weren't here specifically for , then there probably wouldn't be many real professionals among them. And the rabble? We'd grind them into dust. Manageable.
"Commanders," I called to Suki and Mao as they rushed onto the deck, "Condition One."
"Yes, sir," they answered in unison before moving off to ready the warriors and benders.
"Captain, warn your crew. They are not to interfere." I rated the galleon crew's combat readiness sowhere around "slightly above worthless." They could probably fend off ordinary pirates if they had the numbers on their side, but against anything more serious? Not a chance. And in terms of sheer bodies, the advantage here was clearly not ours.
The ship's senior officer didn't argue, rely nodded. Naturally, he had no desire to offer his neck to boarding sabers.
Very quickly, they caught up to us and moved to encircle the ship. Logical — attacking from two sides was far more effective. The frigate ca alongside our port side and threw over boarding hooks, while one of the caravels did the sa on starboard. The second caravel moored itself to the frigate, using it as a bridge to ferry fighters across.
There was just one ve-e-ery small flaw in that formation.
"Benders, port side!" Mao was an experienced man and knew perfectly well what to do. "Ready. Aim. Burn!"
The coordinated volley from a dozen firebenders ca as a very unpleasant surprise to the pirates.
(End of Chapter)
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