Chapter 43: Feeling Grief

Stone was standing over Fan, looking down at the peahen. "I... I don't know what to say..." she said, voice cracked from sadness. "I thought... I thought Fan would survive this."
Darner put his tail around Stone's shoulder. "She's in a better place now, definitely, she'd be welcome there."
Rainbow's head was hanging in sadness, sitting over Amur's dead body. Her tail was around one of Amur's paws, grief on her face.
Ash sighed, looking at all the sad faces. "If... If only there weren't so many... Deaths," he said to himself.
"We should be grateful it wasn't many," said Charlotte, startling Ash, who had just realized she was next to him. "They may have been good Benders, but... But it wasn't a lot."
Ash kept looking at the dead bodies, wordless. Questions lingered in his head: what caused this storm? It was more extreme than any other storm in history. Why didn't the Peacebenders warn them? Why would this happen to them? Did it strike any other places other than The Bending Tower?
Suddenly, Goldwing landed on the ground, some of the young in his mouth. Airia, Zapada and Nyx followed, landing on the ground around Goldwing, who put some of the young on the ground, and they all went running, crying, to their mothers and fathers.
"Mom! Mom!" squeaked a little kit, running to Rainbow, leaning against her fur. The rest of the kits followed, and Rainbow put her tail around them, sadness on her face.
"Mom! I was so scared!" wailed one of the kits, burying his face in her fur.
"Streak, you're fine now... It's all gonna be okay," breathed Rainbow, her body shaking from her grief. She licked her kits' heads, trying to calm them down.
"M-Mom...!" squeaked a brown kit, "Wh-Where's dad?"
Ash's muscles tensed, wondering what the kits' reactions would be to finding their father dead. His throat clogged up with grief, feeling terribly sorry for the kits, and all of the young who had been scared from the tragic storm.
"Nzuri..." sighed Rainbow, licking her kit's head, "Your father... Has gone to a better place."
"A b-better place?" Streak asked.
"But... He'll be... Coming back, right?" asked Nzuri.
Ash hung his head in sadness, not wanting to watch the kits. Everyone was silent, all of them seemed to be looking at Rainbow and her kits, and each and every one of them seemed sad for her, even Hazen, the loner.  Goldwing's eyes were shut tight, he seemed to be still taking in all of the bad stuff that had happened to them all. He shook his head quickly and swiftly jumped onto the boulder, "Yes, we have had many losses, and we will have the animals buried tonight. May the Peacebenders protect them well."
Everyone was already gathered under the boulder, looking up at Goldwing, wondering what to do. All Ash wanted to do was go back to The Bending Tower and curl up in his den and pray he had only been in a nightmare. Eclipse sat on his right, and she put her tail on Ash's back. "It'll all be fine," she whispered, "Soon we'll have forgotten about this and moved onto other things. Besides, the dead ones are watching over us this very moment..."
"Since we're all in a moment of sadness, I'd like to do something that supposedly would cheer us up a little bit. The patrol who brought Tiggerkat back contained some apprentices who had been training for quite a while. "Dust, Ash and Rusty... And, on Airia's request, Charlotte too."
Ash perked his ears. What could possibly be happening that Goldwing wants with us? he wondered, full of anxiety.
"Peacebenders," Goldwing began, "hear my words as I make Dust, Ash, Rusty and Charlotte into full Benders. They have worked hard to understand Bending, and are ready to take their turns to become full Benders. Dust, do you agree that you are ready to become a full Earthbender, and that you can take on all of these responsibilities?"
"Yes!" Dust yowled, unable to hide the excitement he had.
Ash was wide-eyed. They were finally, after so many moons, becoming full Benders? What he had joined The Bending Tower to achieve?
"Rusty?"
"Of course!" Rusty exclaimed, his legs trembling.
"Ash?"
"I do," Ash breathed, his heart racing.
"And Charlotte?"
"I will," Charlotte nodded.
"Then with the help of the Peacebenders, you may all get your wish. When I tap your head, the Peacebenders' powers will make you stronger, faster, and a better Bender." Goldwing walked forward and tapped Dust on the head, eyes wide. He then tapped Rusty's head, who had his eyes as equally wide as his brothers', then Goldwing tapped Ash's head, and finally moved onto Charlotte.
Out of nowhere, Ash felt strength building inside of him, making him instantly feel stronger, like he could take on any enemy, anytime, anywhere. At the same time this felt good, and he kept getting more and more excited.
Then, Ash felt the feeling go down to his legs, and felt them be stronger. He had the urge to run, run and run forever, and figured this would come in handy for whenever he had to outrun an enemy.
After that, it stopped.
"Dust," Goldwing said, "Rusty. Ash. Charlotte." He had taken a pause after every name. "You are now officially full Benders. Welcome."
At first everyone was silent. Ash was silent too, wordless, he couldn't think of what to say; he was now a full Bender, after thinking he'd never make it that far.
"Yeah, go Rusty, Dust, Ash and Charlotte!" exclaimed Crystal, howling. Flare joined in too, cheering alongside Crystal.
"Good job guys!" yowled Eclipse, a smile on her face.
Then, everyone was cheering. Ash felt his heart racing, pride swelling in his chest, and he had almost forgotten about the storm that had occurred. It was one minute that they were apprentices, and now, full Benders.
Ash turned his head and saw Hazen eyeing him, just him, only him, not the others. An evil smile spread on his face, but only for a second, then it went away. Did I just imagine that, or did Hazen really do an evil smile? Thought Ash, but he quickly dismissed the thought.

Author's Note:
Yay. ^U^