Chapter 45: Patrolling the Territory

Later, everyone was inside the training room in The Bending Tower. Ash was in between Flare and Crash, and everyone was sitting around, talking, waiting for instructions from Goldwing, who was at the front of the room, talking to Kabu. Since it was snowing, Kabu had ordered everyone to move into the training room for a meeting.
"Everyone, settle down!" yowled Goldwing, making everyone turn their attention to the winged leader, eager to listen to what he had to say. Goldwing exchanged looks with Kabu, then turned to everyone. Ash perked his ears to hear better. Wonder what they're gonna say, he thought eagerly, as he saw Goldwing had opened his jaws to speak. "Airwing has predicted that this snow is going to be none like any other, it's going to be big. With that said, we must make preperations. Slice, Miguel, Crystal, Flare, do you still know how to Firebend?"
"No," Crystal replied.
"Well, I know a little..." Slice shrugged.
"I know some," Miguel nodded.
"I know pretty decent Firebending," Flare responded.
"Good. It's going to be cold; in every room I need you to somehow put fire in there without burning the room down. Make a fire that can keep everyone warm," Goldwing nodded. "We're also going to have hunters getting prey. Kabu, you handle making those patrols. And River?"
River stepped forward. "Yes sir?"
"You're going to make patrols to find loners throughout the territory and bring them into The Bending Tower," Goldwing ordered. "We need to help the loners because they'll freeze to death. We already have some loners with us: Cinder, Tiggerpaka and Masang. Take any other loner needs to be brought in."
"Oh great, we're having a bunch of strangers in here?" muttered Stone, who was a few feet away from Ash. Ash couldn't help but agree. What if a Firebender could've thought Goldwing would bring in loners and come to spy when brought in? Maybe Goldwing would make sure the loners that came in weren't very suspicious. Ash reminded himself to keep his guard up.
"Okay," Kabu stepped forward. "Here's who we're gonna have hunting: Stone. You lead Raoul, Max, Charlotte, Mistletoe, Rusty and Maisoon." Stone nodded and walked away, followed by the rest of the patrol, and they exited the room. "Diamond, you lead Dust, Airia, Darner, Twig, Crash and Eris." With that, Diamond's hunters left. "Now, Zapada, you lead Nyx, Cora, Midnight, Dell and Twig." Then, that patrol exited the room. Kabu stepped back, and River took his place.
"Searching patrols," River nodded, "Shell, you lead Akumu, Twister, Ash, Pine, Light and Windows."
A beautiful female lion nodded. She headed for the exit, and Ash bounded after her, Light close behind, followed by Akumu and Twister. Windows and a female coyote brought up the rear. River's voice faded behind Ash as he headed down the stairs and went outside, where the snow was getting heavier.
"It's c-cold! Akumu complained.
"Well, it's not as cold as Mt. Ice was," Light snorted. "And that place was horrible."
"Alright now, let's go," Shell nodded, and they all headed into the forest. The leaves swished around Ash's paws as he walked through them.  He looked up at the snow, remembering it from Mt. Ice. He had been told it came from the sky, but didn't quite imagine it was swift and beautiful as this. Ash didn't quite remember snow before, no matter how far back in his memories he went. Maybe I was born in white-earth? Ash suggested to himself.
"Aren't you Kabu's mate?" Akumu's question to Shell snapped Ash back to reality and away from his daydreams. They were heading into the area where all the fallen trees were.
"Yes, I am," Shell nodded, smiling at Akumu. "He's a good Bender."
"Yeah, I look up to Kabu," Akumu smiled back. "Even though he made us do all that tough training..."
"Agreed, seemed like he did all that for no reason..." Twister mumbled.
Shell perked her ears, "He didn't do that for no reason. It was for good reason."
"What'd he do it for?" Ash asked, curious.
"To make all of you stronger. Have you noticed that after a moon of that training you've had more strength than before?" Shell responded. "You may have thought it was for no reason, but it has indeed helped you a lot."
Ash realized Shell was right. "Oh... That is true. I managed to pull Willow out of the fallen trees," commented Ash, jumping onto one of the fallen trees and standing on them.
"See?" Shell smiled.
"We should get back to detecting the loners," Light pointed out.
"Right," Shell nodded. "Do any of you know any loners around here?"
"Well, let's see," Ash said, looking at the snow on his nose, crossing his eyes. He then turned his attention to Shell. "Ember, for one. He's a fox. And another one, Midnight, she's a wolf. They're close friends so they should be together."
Shell nodded. "Alright. On the way, try to detect scents of any other loners."
Ash moved to jump off the tree, but instead slipped because of the snow. He fell onto the ground with a grunt, but got to his paws. He saw Light snicker at him, and Ash rolled his eyes, and walked past her, trying to catch up to Windows.
"So do you like this cold weather?" Ash asked him.
"Not one bit," Windows mumbled. "Why did I even join this place? I could be in a much warmer area..."
"Then join the Fire Nation if you're so cold, they live next to an active volcano," Light snorted.
Windows narrowed his eyes, "Are you saying I should go join the Firebenders?"
Ash braced himself for the upcoming argument. He knew for a fact Light never backed down from something like this, and Windows didn't seem like the type to surrender, either.
"Well sure, you seem good enough to feed the Firebenders. Perfect rank for you," Light smirked.
"You'd be perfect for that, too. I mean, you're not even a full Bender yet," Windows retorted.
"At least I can live during a snowstorm," Light growled.
Just as Windows opened his jaw to make a reply, Shell stopped them. "Quiet, guys. We need to focus on getting the loners."
Ash kept trotting along with the group and he smelled the air, picking up a scent. He then checked the ground. "Ember. He's been here."
Shell sniffed at the air. "Okay," she nodded, and began following the scent. Ash came behind her, and Akumu and Twister followed, both looking around at the place. Pine still said nothing, trotting silently. Ash looked at Pine, and she looked back. Ash quickly looked away and kept his eyes focused on ahead.
"Hello," said a voice. Ash perked his ears, and smiled. Success. He turned around and looked up in the tree, spotting Ember. Just as he expected.
"Hello, Ember," Ash nodded in greeting. "How are you surviving the snow?"
Ember jumped down from the tree gracefully. He walked over to the patrol, leaving pawprints in the snow. "Well, Midnight and I have been hunting prey, not much luck though. It's pretty cold out," Ember commented.
"See?" Windows turned to Light, "I'm not the only one who's cold."
"Well at least the fox doesn't complain," Light snapped. She then turned to Ember and raised an eyebrow, suspicious. She sniffed at him. "Hey... He's a Firebender." She then growled.
"Firebender?" Windows echoed, "Well it's about time we'll see some action 'round here!"
"Former Firebender," Ember corrected him. "I left them."
"Congratulations," Light rolled her eyes.
For the first time, Ash saw Ember a bit annoyed. "Why can't anyone trust me?" he snorted.
"Because, well, I don't know..." Light said sarcastically, "Because you could be a spy!" she exclaimed.
"Light, calm down, there's no proof that Ember here is a spy," Shell nodded. She then turned to the fox. "Look, the snow is going to get harsher and harsher. It's going to be a blizzard, supposedly." When she said this, Ember's eyes grew wide, full of worry. "So, we're inviting you and your friend Midnight to stay at The Bending Tower until this blizzard blows over."
"Did someone say my name?"
A black she-wolf stepped through the bushes. "Hey, Ember. What's up?" she then turned to the patrol. "Oh, Twister! Akumu! Ash! Hi."
"Hey," Twister said.
"Midnight, Shell said this is going to turn into a blizzard," Ember explained.
"A blizzard?" Midnight said in a tone that sounded like she didn't believe it. "How would you know?"
"I don't," Shell said, voice full of confidence. "But I trust in my leader that the prophecy one our elders had is true."
Midnight turned to Ember, "Well what do you think?"
"It's not like they're gonna harm us, we should take shelter there." Ember nodded.
"What, you don't trust us?" Windows challenged Ember.
"When you've grown up at the Fire Nation it's weird when someone asks to take you in for shelter," Ember shrugged. "We'll come. The blizzard would kill us if we don't."
Shell nodded. "You'll be safe with us."

Ash walked with the patrol and they came back to The Bending Tower. Shell walked with them up to Kabu. Midnight was in conversation with Twister and Akumu as they walked. Ember was examining the Tower, looking in awe at it. Kabu had came up to them. "So who do you have here?" he asked Shell.
"Ember and Midnight," replied Shell.
"So now we have two Midnights," smiled Kabu.
Ash nodded in agreement; he remembered Kabu calling an animal by the name of "Midnight" before, but Ash had never saw him before.
"This is probably just temporarily though," Midnight assured him.
"What do you want us to do now?" Shell asked.
Kabu licked her ear. "Go rest. Shell, you've been hunting last night, you deserve rest."
Shell smiled. "Of course." Shell then went into The Bending Tower, and Kabu turned to Ember and Midnight. "You two... Twister and Akumu can show you to the travelers' room. That's where our loners stay."
Twister smiled. "Follow me, guys," she then walked into The Bending Tower.
Kabu turned to Ash, "Ash, you go help Twister and Akumu."
Ash nodded, and darted after Twister and Akumu. He skidded to a halt when he came in, seeing Twister and Akumu looking at him. "Kabu asked me to come with you," he explained.
"What, Kabu doesn't trust us so he needs three Benders to guide us?" Ember chuckled. Midnight smiled in amusement, and they kept walking, Twister, Akumu and Ash escorting them.

Author's Note:
*insert author's note here*   *-*