Chapter 47: Figuring Things Out

Ash woke with a start. He examined the room. Empty, just as he left it. He was hot and nervous from the dream he just had. I better find out who it is before something bad happens, Ash thought, a bit shaky. He slowly got to his paws, and noticed he had a bit of a headache. Ash shook his pelt, his achy bones protesting it however. He stretched, then trotted out of the Waterbenders' den. He could hear murmuring and followed it, which lead him to the indoor practice room upstairs. There was a meeting being held.
"Ash, where've you been?" asked Dust as Ash walked past him. He turned around and looked at Dust, who was sitting next to Charlotte. There was an open spot next to Dust, so Ash sat there next to his friend. He then turned to him.
"Um, taking a nap..." Ash shrugged. He turned to Goldwing, who looked as if he was about to speak. Kabu was sitting on Goldwing's right, and Crystal, Flare and Hazen were sitting to his left. Ash's  guard went up as usual as he spotted Hazen.
"Attention!" Goldwing exclaimed. Everyone stopped talking and turned to him; you could hear even a leaf falling to the ground outside since it was so silent. "Crystal and Flare are hoping to become full Benders. They're a bit old to be apprentices but we will still train them, yet try to get them to be full Benders faster than other apprentices, since, like I said, they're older than a newbie apprentice should be. Crystal wants to be an Earthbender. Pine?"
The black coyote poked its head out of the crowd. "Yes, Goldwing?"
"Pine, you will train Crystal to become an Earthbender. This will be a challenge though, since she is older than other apprentices. I hope you'll be able to make her a full Bender quickly," Goldwing nodded.
Crystal dipped her head to Goldwing, "Thank you for letting me train."
"You deserved it, Crystal, I'm sure you'll become a loyal Bender," Goldwing smiled. He turned to the crowd. "Now, Flare wishes to be an Airbender." He scanned the crowd. "Mistletoe. You deserve to have your first apprentice."
Mistletoe looked up at Goldwing with big eyes. There was no doubt she wasn't trying to hide her excitement, even though her first apprentice was unofficial. She nodded, "Thank you, Goldwing."
"Like I said to Pine: This will be a challenge. Flare is older than other apprentices. Try to make Flare a full Bender quickly." Goldwing nodded back.
Flare was smiling, "Thank you Goldwing."
Goldwing nodded, "You and your sister will make great Benders." He turned to the crowd. "Now, this loner here is Hazen. He's been outcast from the place he used to live in, and would like to join and learn Bending. He says he wishes to be an Earthbender." Goldwing scanned the area again, looking for an Earthbender. "Sun."
A beautiful golden female wolf rose her head from the crowd. "Yes?"
"Oh, isn't that Goldwing's mate?" Dust murmured to Charlotte as the she-wolf got to her paws. "Figures he'd call on her, then."
Charlotte nodded, "Yes, that is Goldwing's mate. And I don't think Goldwing chose her because she's his mate, she's a senior Bender and very respected, have you seen her fight? She's pretty tough, even though she looks like she's not."
Ash agreed; Sun did look like she'd be more like the type to defend the young and get help rather than fight to the death along with other Benders. She was beautiful though; and looked like she would be Goldwing's mate.
"Sun, it has been a while since you had an apprentice. I think you could train Hazen," Goldwing nodded, "he'd be learning from the best, I'm sure."
Sun smiled, "Thank you, Goldwing, I'm glad to have an apprentice, it's been so long since my last one."
"Probably because Goldwing thought she was going to retire before getting another apprentice," Dust murmured.
Hazen nodded, but said nothing, almost seeming a bit shy. His eyes shown respect for Sun, and looked like he was happy to get such a great mentor and to be able to learn Earthbending. "Thanks," he managed to get out.
"I want an apprentice," Dust complained.
"Dust, you've only been an apprentice for a moon," Charlotte pointed out, "Goldwing's going to look for someone more senior to mentor any apprentices. But you'll get your day, I'm sure," she smiled, putting her tail over his paw. Dust looked down on her tail and a smile spread across his face, and he almost looked a bit nervous at the same time.
Ash knew that if Rusty was nearby and saw that he would have laughed at him. Ash just looked away and turned to Goldwing, wanting to know if Goldwing possibly had anything else to say. He looked like he was done with the meeting though.
"The meeting is over," Goldwing nodded, "Who's ready to go hunting?"
Animals began to volunteer, but Ash slipped away from the crowd and walked into the hallway, leaving Dust and Charlotte behind. He sighed and began taking a walk, trying to get all his thoughts straight. He decided to begin focusing on his dream.
So there was a traitor in The Bending Tower. "Traitor" would mean that someone who had already been there for a while was going to betray them. Ash couldn't imagine who; everyone at the Tower seemed very loyal. He began scanning through his mind who the traitor could be: Rusty? No. Dust? Definitely not. Miguel? Although Rusty would say "yes", Ash doubted it. Max? No... Come on, think! Ash told himself.
Charlotte? Of course not, she wouldn't be the betraying type. Mistletoe? Not likely. Creature? No, he would die rather than join the Firebenders, surely. Windows? Well, he may be grumpy, but Ash was sure Windows would rather fight than join.
Suddenly, Ash bumped into someone. He shook his head to clear it, and looked up to see Eclipse standing there. "Ash?" she said.
"Oh, sorry Eclipse," Ash replied, "I wasn't looking where I was going." He began to walk around her to continue his thinking, but she stopped him as he got to her side.
"You seem worried about something," Eclipse commented.
How does she know? She's blind! Ash exclaimed to himself. "What makes you say that?" he asked her, turning to face her blind eyes. He then began to realize: Eclipse was a healer, which meant she could deal with omens. Plus, she was one of the animals who were going to help him stop the Firebenders. If that was so, if Ash could get her to stay loyal to him, it'd help much more in the future.
"I can sense it," Eclipse replied. "You can tell me, if you'd like, and I'll help you sort it out." She sounded calm, and Ash knew she wouldn't respond angrily, which someone like Twister would do. But not out of anger in him, just anger like getting worked up. Eclipse would deal with it helpfully.
Ash sighed. "You'd be good with helping me in this. The Peacebenders gave me a dream today."
"That should be easy for me," Eclipse smiled, "Go on."
"My mother... My, er, dead mother..." Ash hesitated. He then shook his head and continued, trying to make his voice sound steady and make sure he didn't sound too worried. "She told me there's a traitor in The Bending Tower. And if the traitor isn't stopped, well..." He tried to remember all the animals who had died in his dream. "Lots of us will die," he summed it up.
Eclipse nodded. "Well, who's suspicious to you?" Her blind eyes were full of concern, willing to help Ash out with his problem.
"Um..." Ash was going to say Hazen, but he didn't; Hazen had only just joined, and Ash mostly just got a deja-vu feeling from Hazen, but couldn't imagine why. "Well, who you do you suspect?" Ash asked Eclipse.
"No one at the moment," Eclipse shook her hanging head. "I never suspected anyone before. But I'll keep a lookout as to who seems as if they could be hiding something. But Feather always says, always brace for the impossible, be alert. Don't let anything take you by surprise." With that, Eclipse trotted away.
Ash nodded slowly, then began walking down the hall. He then realized the Peacebenders had entrusted him with three things: to find the third animal to help defeat the Firebenders, to find the traitor in The Bending Tower, and, (the big one) kill Ironfang once and for all. Why were the Peacebenders relying on him to do so much?

Author's Note:
Seems Charlotte has taken a liking to Dust... c: Ever feel overwhelmed? Well, you can assure yourself that you've never had a harder time then Ash has. xD