Chapter 32: Arrival at Mt. Ice

Thunder began rumbling overhead, but everyone kept travelling. Streak and his siblings flinched at the noise and huddled close to Rainbow; Ash could tell they were remembering the huge storm their father, Amur, was killed in. Ash turned and looked forward. They were right next to Mt. Ice. Thunder boomed overhead. We need to get to the cave quickly, Ash decided. Mt. Ice was covered in snow, and as a breeze swept through, the snow flew off and stuck to Ash's pelt, and he shivered. The sooner they got to the cave, the closer they'd get to being warm.
Everyone began trekking up the mountain. The thunder boomed once more, making everyone pick up the pace despite it was hard walking through the snow. Ash pulled himself up the mountain, gritting his teeth. He used all of his strength to climb up. He could tell others were struggling behind him.
"Th-This p-place is t-t-terrible," came Twig's voice.
"You're t-t-t-telling me," agreed Nightgale.
The wind started blowing hard, making everyone shiver something terrible. The thunder came closer, and Ash told everyone to move as fast as they could. Tensions were high as everyone kept climbing the steep mountain. Ash began to fear that the kits would die from the cold, seeing Streak, Nzuri and Patch all shivering from the cold. Rainbow put her tail around them to keep them warm as she walked, a sad look on her face. She must be upset to be doing this alone without her mate, Ash thought, feeling sorry for Rainbow.
Ash looked to see Pine, a dark brown coyote, was struggling hard against the wind. She pushed hard, trying to trek on, but suddenly collapsed. Creature scurried to her side, trying to help her up. Pine got to her feet, but fell down again. Even when Kabu tried helping to get her up, Pine still lay there.
"Pine, we need to get moving," Creature said.
However, Eclipse trotted over to Pine, and thunder boomed, closer then before. "...Pine is dead."
Gaps arose from The Bending Tower. Ash could hear Tiggerpaka snort, "Ha! She'd never survive, anyway." Kabu gave Tiggerpaka a glare.
"We need to keep moving," Ash nodded. Kabu picked up Pine's dead body and carried her, and everyone kept moving up the mountain, and finally, they reached the cave. Inside was a fire, which made it warm in there. Relieved, everyone scurried inside the cave.
"Hello?" came a voice. Masang hopped out of the shadows.
"Masang!" Ash smiled, "we need to rest here.
"Sure," Masang shrugged. "Make yourselves at home."
"Who's here?" came a voice.
Out from the shadows came Ember, followed closely by his friend Moonlight.
"Oh, hi guys!" Moonlight smiled sweetly.
"Hi," said Twister.
"What brings you here?" Ember asked.
"...Why is the whole Bending Tower here?" Masang raised an eyebrow.
Nightgale began telling the three loners the story of their mission against the Firebenders, and about the rebellion, while Rusty began ordering animals to go hunting. Despite they were hungry, Stone objected because she thought there'd be no prey in a cold place during a thunderstorm, but Rusty ordered her to try, despite Stone thought it was ridiculous being bossed around by Rusty.
"Ah," Ember nodded. "May we join?"
"Yes," Ash said.
Tiggerpaka came over. "You know how stupid this is? We can't let just anyone join! What if they're Tiredblade in disguise?" He examined Ember and growled, "who are you, and who are you working for?!"
"I'm Ember," Ember said.
"You liar!" Tiggerpaka snapped.
"Tiggerpaka, just go away," Ash said.
Tiggerpaka glared at Ember before walking away.
Lightning lit up the sky and thunder cracked. Raoul and Max yelped and hid behind Kabu.
Ash trotted over to Miguel. "Yes?" he said.
"Miguel, I'm going to ask you a few questions," Ash nodded.

Author's Note:
The Theme Songs page, Fan Art page and Facebook Benders page are updated.
Happy Mother's Day!