Chapter 12: A Friendly Firebender

Ash walked into the yard and put a dead beaver and fox down on the large pile of prey. His stomach growled as he caught scent of the dead prey. His mouth watered, and it took all of his self-control to not grab one and gulp it down. He looked around nervously at the Firebenders around. Ash felt like they were all glaring at him. Quickly, Ash ran back into the forest, acting like he had more prey to fetch, and he sniffed the air, detecting a rabbit not far off. That could feed one of the young...or a small Firebender, Ash rolled his eyes. He began to trot along, but jerked his head up as he saw Firebenders walking by, looking like...they were leaving.
"Why are they leaving The Bending Tower?" Ash murmured, shaking his head. He turned around to head off, but jumped as he saw a gray she-wolf standing there. Ash took a few steps back in surprise, realizing she was a Firebender. Oh great, Ash thought frustratedly, bracing for her to start yelling at him.
"Because," the she-wolf said, and Ash widened his eyes in surprise, noticing how gentle and calm her voice was, "the Firebenders have conquered more than just The Bending Tower; the Earth Kingdom, some of the Tribe of Flying Birds, and the Water Tribe. So we have to patrol the land to keep animals in place--"
"What!" Ash yowled, not believing his ears as he heard the she-wolf say they conquered the Water Tribe. When he was an apprentice, Ash had been a part of the patrol who saved them from the Firebenders; now it felt like it was done for nothing. "But we saved them a while back!"
Ash expected the she-wolf to comment that it was a horrible save and talk about how horrible The Bending Tower was, but instead the she-wolf looked at Ash with her calm, blue eyes. "And you were brave to do that. But right now, the Firebenders are in power." Ash stifled an eye-roll as the she-wolf smiled. "My last station was the Earth Kingdom. My name is Stella, I'm a Firebender apprentice! You?"
Ash felt suspicious of how kind this "Stella" was, but he replied anyway. "Er, Ash, full Waterbender--" However, he quickly stopped talking as a blood-red dog with white paws walked up to Stella and Ash, throwing a glare at Ash.
"Stella, if you ever talk to one of Goldwing's Benders, you will be ordering them to fetch you prey, not to mingle with them!" the dog snarled. "Stella, you need to learn, you are too soft! See, if you ever spot an animal under our control not working, you must bite them, strike them down, and show no mercy!" With that, the dog sliced his claws across Ash's chest, making Ash yowl in surprise. Luckily, Ash didn't start bleeding. Ash struggled to his paws, and the dog ran off.
Stella sighed. "Sorry. That's my mentor, Hachiko. He isn't exactly the friendliest Bender in the--"
Suddenly, Tiggerpaka jumped down in front of Ash, making him flinch. He looked up at Ash with a smirk. "Greetings, Mash!"
"It's Ash," Ash muttered.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Tiggerpaka said, acting like he didn't hear him, "and your friend here, Tella, who is in league with Tiredblade!" Tiggerpaka narrowed his eyes at Stella, who looked from Ash to Tiggerpaka, confused.
"Um, it's Stella, and I don't know a 'Tiredblade', but I know a Fireblade--" Stella began.
"No, my dear, it is Tiredblade. You uneducated wolves get confused much too easily," Tiggerpaka snorted. "Anyway, I must find Tiredblade, he owes me grubs! Tella, tell me where he is! You must be good at telling, it's in your name, right?"
"Er...Fireblade is in the Water Tribe--" Stella began, but Ash cut her off.
"Tiggerpaka," Ash said, having an idea, and the meerkat turned to him. "Since you're such a great animal, an experienced explorer, we need you to do an extremely important job that is very deadly, yet the most important job in the world! You gotta accept it. What you need to do, is stand-" Ash pointed with his tail to a rock covered in moss "-right here! And you mustn't move!"
Tiggerpaka threw his paws into the air. "Finally!" Tiggerpaka exclaimed, "someone recognized my talents! My true meaning in life! To do the impossible, to master the deadly jobs!" Tiggerpaka hopped onto the moss rock and stood stil. Ash stifled a snicker, and looked at Stella.
"That takes care of that," Ash smiled.

Author's Note:
Guess who made Stella! :3