It had been two days since Nova had approached them under the cover of night, and Ruby was finally ready to go. She'd woken up after one day, but her wings still needed to rest, (as they'd discovered after trying to take off, which had ended with them both falling off and Ruby blasting fire that had barely missed the trees). Anyway, Naomi was back in the town. She'd gotten some more food to replenish their supplies (and to not appear as suspicious), and was now on her way back to the shop where Nova was.

    Nova was on duty at the store, and assisted her in taking another pair of saddlebags off the wall. (Well she couldn't just go in for no reason). Once Naomi had payed, she tried something.

    "Do you think I could have some help carrying these? The inn I'm staying at isn't far." Naomi asked Nova's mother. She was grateful Xano wasn't there to point out her lie. She threw a furtive glance at Nova, who got the message.

    "I'll do it!" Nova called out, before picking up the basket of food Naomi had as a demonstration that she could.

    "Well-" Nova's mother said.

    "I can pay you." Naomi said, holding out some coins.

Nova's mother sighed. "I suppose." Naomi and Nova headed out of the shop, Naomi's heart thumping wildly, sure that at any moment they were going to be stopped. Naomi started to turn left towards the hilltop where Ruby and Zyga were, but Nova grabbed her sleeve and pulled her right.

"The only inn in town is this direction." She said discreetly. "We'll loop around." Naomi nodded, and followed Nova. Thankfully, Nova knew the streets well. With adding only a couple minutes to their time, they made it to the hilltop. Zyga had cleaned up their fire, and Naomi had collapsed the earth tents beforehand, so they were ready to go. Zyga fastned the extra saddlebags on Ruby, while Naomi filled them with the food she had bought, and secured their money chest. Everything else was ready. Zyga hopped on, and Naomi helped up Nova so she was between her and Zyga, and secure. They were about to leave, when an unwelcome sound was heard.

"Nova?" All three of the dragon riders turned and saw Xano emerge from the trees. "Nova! Mother said you had gone with the avatar to the inn, so I came here as fast as I-" He stuttered to a stop. "What are you doing?" He said, noticing for the first time that Nova was seated on the dragon, about to take off. Naomi and Zyga exchanged glances. Truth or lie? The decision was made for them when Nova spoke.

"I'm leaving." Nova said, her tone cool, and very clearly not open to discussion. Which apparently did not matter to Xano.

"Leaving? You aren't going anywhere. I promised Mother that I would bring you home safely, and that's what I'm going to do."

"No, you aren't. I'm leaving with Naomi and Zyga. This is my decision Xano! You can't stop me!"

"Yes, I can." Xano said, raising two boulders from the ground. Naomi reacted, leaping off Ruby and bending the boulders back down. She felt a protective surge towards Nova, and raised her arms in defensive position. Her expression must have been pretty scary, because Xano lowered his arms.

"Maybe I can't stop you from leaving, but you can't stop me from going too." Xano said. Nova gave him a wholehearted glare.

"Um, hello? I most certainly can stop you." Zyga said. "Ruby is my dragon." Naomi watched Xano carefully as he said his next part.

"I'm going to protect my sister. I refuse to let her get hurt." He said. Naomi saw his expression. The worry, and the fierce protectiveness he felt. He was genuine. A glance at Nova confirmed that she saw it too, but Nova's expression also confirmed that that didn't change a thing. Xano saw their unwavering resolve, and came up with a counter-argument.

"Or I have a few badgermole friends who can help me follow you." He shrugged. "I'm coming whether you like it or not." Unexpectedly, Zyga spoke after that.

"Fine. Get on." She said. Naomi and Nova both shot her surprised looks, with more annoyance from Nova. Zyga shrugged. "Hey I still don't like it, but badgermoles make Ruby jumpy, and last time she saw one, she nearly burnt down a forest." Which made arguing kind of hard.

They were on their way out, when Naomi asked Zyga to pause over the river. She untied her betrothal necklace. She had wanted to burn it to ash, but as she wasn't sure how far off she was from firebending, this would have to do. Besides, it made her feel like she was choking. Despite her severance from the escorts, it continued to feel like a collar, keeping her on a leash, slowly choking her. Aware of her three companion's questioning gazes, she dropped the necklace and watched it sink into the water.

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    After another day of flying, Zyga decided it was best to stop so Ruby could rest and not pass out for 36 hours. No one argued. They stopped in the mountains near the Northern Air Temple, still in sight of the sea. Naomi felt jumpy. Storm clouds were coming in over the ocean, and they were far too close to the Northern Water Tribe in her opinion. Too close to the chief and Arrluk. Naomi shook off her thoughts and began to make earth tents. Xano joined her. Naomi made two, before Xano stepped in and made one as well. His was far larger than the other two.

    "We need to conserve space." Naomi said, preparing to bend the earth back down.

    "I'll stay with Nova in the larger one. We always shared a room at home."

    "I will absolutely not stay with you." Nova said cooly. Xano looked ready to argue, so Zyga stepped in.

    "Guys! We need to conserve space, as Naomi said, and Xano, you need to respect Nova's wishes." Zyga then nodded to Naomi, who bent the earth tent down and made two smaller size ones so they made a circle around where the fire would be. Xano glared at Zyga.

    "Why are we making earth tents though, when there's a cave right behind us?" Nova asked.

    "Because Ruby gets the cave." Zyga said smoothly, as Ruby swooped in and curled up in the cave. Nova nodded as Ruby fell asleep.

    "I'll get some firewood. The tree line isn't too far down." Nova said.

    "I'll come too." Xano said immediately.

    "No, you won't." Nova said, before climbing down to a ledge below them.

    "Yes I am." Xano said. "You'll need an earthbender if you intend to make it back up."

    "You don't think I can climb?!" Nova said, clearly outraged. Xano backed down some at her tone.

    "I don't doubt that you can, but you won't make it back up before nightfall without one. Especially carrying firewood." He said. Nova's expression clearly showed her irritation, but subsided, as he was right. The two of them disappeared down the mountain side. Zyga turned to Naomi.

    "Up for some firebending training?"

    "Sounds good."

    "Remember, you can't think of fire like water. You can't redirect it. You have to take the offensive." Zyga said. Naomi took a deep breath. She never usually had to take the offensive. That was probably a bad thing. Her escorts always protecting and shielding her had molded her personality and her abilities to be less powerful than they could have been. She hated them for that. Wait. So think of them. Think of how you wish you could strike back. Against them, against the Chief, against Arrluk.

    She smelled smoke in front of her, and opened her eyes. Smoke was rising from her palms.

    "You're getting close." Zyga said. "But make sure you aren't drawing your fire from anger and hate. That's the balance of firebending. Firebending is energy, but it can be drawn from anger instead. You have to make sure you're not relying on the other sources. Pure firebending is energy. Naomi held out her hand and focused. Firebending comes from the breath. The breath becomes heat, which becomes energy, which becomes fire. It's energy.

    "Well done Naomi." Zyga says clapping. Naomi opened her eyes. In her palm, a small flame danced in the wind."

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Another longer chapter! Feeling proud. Also, I still kind of am hating Naomi's character. I'll try and improve it.

-Phoenix