Legend of Korra Book: Strength Chapter 3

Shiro Shinobi: "Ronin, the double bender that had been missing since the beginning of the Hundred Year War has shown to be no threat and befriended our heroes. However, on the way to his home village of Shyria with the help of Mako and Bolin, a town is attacked by unknown spirit soldiers. Luckily the three along with the town's folk were able to defeat the invaders. But it led to the idea that there might be another threat team Avatar will have to fight and discover whom is in charge of the soldiers."

*Book: Strength Chapter 3 - Story of The Past*

     Within the the Eastern Air Temple after dusk, everyone had met up in the library, surrounding the same table inside library they had used to look at the maps.

 “This is a helmet I picked up after the fight with the soldiers.” Ronin places the helmet on a table for everyone to see, “Do you know who they are and might be serving for Tenzin?”

“We'll have to look through the library here, I'm sure we'll find something about something about what happened in the town.” Tenzin rubs his beard in concern, “We must hurry though, who knows how many soldiers there are or how far they have gotten since the time they have risen.”

Everyone searched through the book shelves hoping they could find answers, each looking in their own section in the library.

“There's got to be a book here that has information of who's army attacked the town.” Tenzin said as he was looking through a book's pages.

  “Has any one checked this section?” Jinora asked pointing to one of the book cases.

   “No, I don't think any one has. I've been searching this one next to it.” Korra replied while putting a book back into the book case.

On the other side of the room, Ronin and Asami searched through the books in their side. Ronin searched through a book and saw it mentioned the village of Shyria.

 “Well what do you know, I didn't know there was a book that had a bit of my village's history.” Ronin smiled as he looked through the book.

Asami walks next to him to see, “Really? What does it say about it?”

 “Nothing much, just our life style and such. I can still imagine it like I just left it.”

The book showed some drawings of the village and the people with a few descriptions. On the side.

    “Must have been nice to live there.”

 “It was. I remember it all when I first left it. Everyone was at my departing to go train the Avatar. They even held a small event.”

 It was a bright noon, the whole village of Shyria surrounded an air bison with air nomads next to its right side at a distance. Before Ronin left with the air nomads, his fiancee came forward to give a gift and kissed him after.

 “Come back to me as soon as you can.”

“Don't worry, hopefully this won't be for long. You'll see we'll be together again in no time Ziri.” Ronin hugs and kisses Ziri again.

 “I'll wait for you, no matter how long you are away.”

Ronin got on the air bison and was on his journey to the Eastern Air Temple with the three monks. Ronin looked back to the direction where Shyria was as it became smaller in the horizon soon covered by the trees of the forest.

“How long do you all believe it will take to train the Avatar?”

 “The Avatar is young, still a child, but he is willing to learn. He is very smart for his age and won't be a problem.” One of the monks with a brown necklace answered.

“But why now? If I am correct the Avatar is to be trained around the age of sixteen.”

  “Our counsel decided to start his training early because they want him to start serving the world.”

“Doesn't quite make sense, he is still a child and is at least entitled to a normal childhood.”

 “We agree with you, but there is not much we can do about it. All we can do is support and help the young Avatar through it.” Another monk replied.

Ronin turned back to the direction where he had seen the last of Shyria.

  “Here it is!” Jinora called out for everyone to hear her. Everyone quickly runs to the center table where Jinora places the book.

   “So who is the one who commands the soldiers that attacked the town?” Korra asked.

  “It seems the soldiers you three faced are from the Dragon Brothers' army.”

“That's impossible, they had been defeated by Avatar Hanso and Lixao who was the double bender at the time. They have been gone for at least 5,000 years. They had sealed the Dragon Brothers in a temple that has been lost for centuries to avoid them from returning, even in the Spirit World.”

 “If they were sealed away, how is it they've come back?”

“I'm not sure, but being from what you three had described when you fought the soldiers they are spirits now. There has to be some spiritual force at work that has brought the Dragon Brothers' army back.”

    “What can do we to defeat them again especially since they appear to be spirits?” Asami asked concerned for the situation.

“I don't know how we'll be able to, but I'm sure a way will present itself. For now we must do whatever to prevent the army from harming innocent people.”

     “When we fought the soldiers they vanished with every critical hit we were able to land on them.” Bolin answered as he did hand jesters, “So maybe we don't need to do much to stop them where ever they're going to be.”

“Hmm, this will be quite the challenge. We will need to find the temple the Dragon Brothers were sealed in, I feel there's where we'll find answers. Let's just hope the army hasn't spread far.”

     “And how are we going to find the temple's location exactly?” Bolin scratching his head in confusion.

      “When we go out to find the temple we should mark the places we find the soldiers in.” Mako grabs a map scroll from a vase near the library's entrance and unrolls it to mark the town that was attacked on a map, “Here's where the town that got attacked is, as a start to get the temple's location.” He then draws an arrow, “They came from these woods along this mountain side. Every time we find them, we should draw an arrow of the direction they were coming from.”

 “That's a good idea, but do you know if this method will work?” Ronin asked unassure of the reliability of the technique.

      “I don't, but we should give it a shot.”

“We should get on the move as soon as possible, there's no telling how far the army has spread. We'll need as much help as we can get, so we'll have to start contacting our friends and leaders in the mainland.” Tenzin said with boldness.

It was the next day, Oogie and Asami's Yoat were prept to leave. As everyone finished putting their belongings on board, Tenzin was talking to Pema.

“I'll have the air acolytes of the West Air Temple come for you and the kids. I know you all will be more safe there since it is hidden from sight.”

 “Please be careful Tenzin, make sure to call us when you have the chance.”

“I will dear. Hopefully we'll get this under control without too much trouble. I'll come back for you and the kids when it's all over, I promise.” Tenzin turns to the kids, “I want you all to be on your best behavior and to help your mother with anything she ask.”

  “Don't worry dad, nobody's going to mess with our family when I'm in charge.” Meelo said confidently sticking out his chest.

“I know you will son.”

Tenzin hugs all four kids at once. He kisses Pema and jumps on Oogie's saddle. He takes off as well as Asami's Yoat leaves the dock. As the Yoat sailed across the ocean, Ronin was at the nose of the ship looking down at the shimmering water.

 “Hey are you alright? Not getting sea sick are you?” Korra asked jokingly.

“No, just looking at the sea and what is to come in the horizon. This is quite the ship you all have, never would I have thought we could make such a vessel go fast.”

 “Well it isn't the only thing that can travel fast, there are also air ships.”

“Air ships? My, how much technological advances there's been.”

 “I came to ask if you don't mind postponing your visit to Shyria? I feel like it is unfair to keep you with us for this situation we have going.”

“It is quite alright, I'm in this too having fought those spirit soldiers. I want to help in this. After all, it is my duty to serve the Avatar.”

As Ronin continued to look at the ocean water he remembers something that happened in his past. The monks and Ronin arrived at a village for some supplies. As one of the monks attended to the bison, the rest went into the village for the supplies.

As Ronin browsed through a food stand he talked to the monk that was on the rains, “So how long did it take for you all to arrive at Shyria from your air temple?”

 “I believe it was at least a week. We should be able to supply ourselves for the trip no problem.”

Just then five fire nation soldiers appear down the path, walking as though they were a gang roaming their streets. As they walked, some of the shop keepers hid closing their shops. Then the leader of the pack notices one of the monks and approaches him.

    “Hey you, air bender.”

  The monk turns to the leader knowing he had no good intentions, “Yes, can help you with something?”

Ronin notices the confrontation and starts walking to them.

    “You will have to come with us. We have strict orders to hold air benders under custody.”

“And why is this? They haven't done anything wrong.” Ronin interrupted knowing the soldiers were up to no good.

    “Stay out of this stranger, this is nothing for your concern, unless you're looking to get hurt.” The leader swings his right arm in a downward diagonal direction.

“I'm traveling with him, so it is of my concern.”

    “I warned you.” The leader then fire bends at Ronin.

Ronin immediately bends to make the fire disappear. The monk and Ronin bend their elements at the group to start evading. Two fire benders were hit by the air and fire bending while the others were able to block them. The leader yells out to get them and starts attacking again. After one of the other monks paid a seller for some food, he hears the commotion from the bending and sees his fellow monk and Ronin fighting the soldier. He immediately heads for the air  bison.

 “Johnsu get the bison ready, we are under attack by some fire nation soldiers!” After he loaded the food supplies onto the bison with the monk, he turns back onto the path he had ran on, “I must go back help them.”

The monk and Ronin were putting quite a fight against the fire nation soldiers. Soon other soldiers appear and join the fight. Ronin then uses Earth bending to knock out half of the group of soldiers that had showed up.

    “What?! Who Earth bended at us?!” The leader called out looking around the abandon stands.

Then one his men points at Ronin, “Sir, I think it was him.”

    “Then he must be the double-bender. We have strict orders to take him into custody also.”

The fight then started again, this time more fierce since Ronin was using Earth bending to fight. One after another fire nation soldiers fell, some being tossed into stands.

The other monk joined the fight, “Don't worry, Johnsu is going to be bringing the bison to us, we just have to start getting away from here.”

Then everyone looked up as they heard the bison flying towards them.

“Everyone come to me.” Ronin called to the monks. They got close to Ronin as they looked at the soldiers closing in on them. “Prepare yourselves, I'm going to launch us up.”

Ronin Earth bended a platform from under them to fly into the air towards the bison while making small blocks of Earth pop up from under the soldiers to insure they don't attack while losing their balance. The three made it onto the saddle and flew away into the clouds and blue sky.

It was a bit past sunset and the Yoat had to be docked at a small town like fishing village on an island.

    “We'll be able to resume our trip to Republic City early in the morning, we need to refuel the ship for now.” Asami informed everyone as they sat on some wooden boxes and crates on the dock.

 “So what should we do for the night?” Korra asked.

  “Maybe go look around?” Bolin said as he shrugged his shoulders.

   “Might as well since we have nothing to do tonight.” Mako added.

The gang walked around looking at the items on the open stands and later in the windows that were on display. Then they came across a small dinning place.

Asami stopped walking to point it out,“Hey, why don't we get something to eat here? I feel like trying some sea food tonight.”

Everyone agreed and walked into the building.

As they looked at menus, Mako and Korra talked to one another, Korra at times giggling, Bolin, Asami and Ronin talking to one another.

“You know I can't say I've ever eaten sea food before. Most of the food I ate came from the forest or the river.”

  “Oh I'm sure you might like it. There are some good things I would recommend and well others I wouldn't.” Bolin replied.

Asami pointed a food item on her menu showing Ronin, “You should first try the soup. It has a bit of everything, so you'll be able to tell what you might like.”

“Sure, I guess I'll have that.” Ronin puts down the menu.

As everyone ate, they discussed what they were going to do when they got to Republic City.

“So, Tenzin is going to be able to convince your President with the evidence to help if we need it?”

 “It's hard to say, we all kind of built bad reputations when bad things happen to the city, especially me.” Korra said feeling awkward then continued eating her food.

   “Despite what has happened before I'm sure we'll have a strong influence since we were the ones to fix things after. We hope the President will at least take what has happened in the village into consideration. I'm sure if it's Tenzin whom will explain it all to the President, we shouldn't have any problem getting his support.” Mako added as Korra went back to eating.

    “So Ronin, what do you think of the technological advances the world has made?” Asami wanting to know intentively.

“Well from what I've seen it is pretty great. The machines help get the job done faster as I've seen. What else can they do?”

    “They can transport people to where they want to go faster than usual. No more traveling on foot or by domesticated animals. Just like with the ship, it makes it far more safer when voyaging the seas and more comfortable.”

“And do you make some of these machines and transportation?”

Asami made her eyes wide for a moment surprised of the question on the spot and looked a little glum cause of it. “I do, but soon it will be I did. My company is or rather was specialized in making vehicles of all sorts to help with heavy tasks and everything else. But with the recession the world is in, it won't be any longer.”

Ronin could tell that the question made Asami feel bad and wanted to apologize, “I'm sorry if my question made you sadden cause of it.”

    “It's alright. I guess I just have to learn to let these things go. I'll have to face these problems soon. I will be strong when I do.”

“You have everyone here to stand beside you and support you all the way. If you fall, they'll help you get back up.”

  “He's right, we'll be with you all the way.” Bolin added.

 “Nobody in our group gets left behind.”

   “Even though it may not look like it at times being apart, we are here to help each other through whatever troubles one of us have.”

Asami smiled, “I'm grateful for having friends like you, you all really mean a lot to me.”

Bolin raises his cup, “Here's to team Avatar, we're going to be at it again.”

Everyone, but Ronin raises their cup. Before they even touch glasses, they look at Ronin.

“What?”

    “You're now part of our group, even if it might be for a little while.”

Ronin picks up his glass and tips it with everyone else's.

It was around noon and the bison lands in an open court yard with tall grass with a wall full of vines and flowers. Nobody came to greet the monks and Ronin as they got off the bison.

“Where's everyone? I thought there would be somebody expecting us.”

 “Maybe they're in the main part of the temple meditating.” The monk with the brown necklace turns to one of his companions, “We should go let them know Ronin is here to train the young Avatar.” Then he turns to Johnsu, “Why don't you show Ronin around the temple so he can start getting use to it?”

Johnsu bows and starts leading Ronin around the temple.

“Looks very nice here. How long has this temple been standing on the mountain?”

  “It has been here for centuries. It is not clear why the monks of the time chose such a high place, but we have been safe from the many wars the other nations have waged on each other.”

As they walk around they notice they haven't seen any other monks around.

  “This is very strange. We should have came across some of my fellow brethren by now. They must be holding some sort of event related to our arrival or the young Avatar I presume.”

They soon met up with the monks they traveled with.

  “Have you seen any body else? Where is everyone?”

 “We looked in the court yards and in the temple, but found no one.”

“Are they some where near the temple?” Ronin asked concerned of the current situation.

   “We do not know. I feel something has happened to them, after all we did get attacked by those fire nation soldiers. One said he was given strict order to arrest air benders.”

 “The soldiers cannot reach us here without our help or our tunnels. If they managed to, I believe our brethren have taken refuge in one of our safe spots outside the temple below.” The monk with the brown necklace replied.

Outside where the bison had landed the three monks got ready to out and search while Ronin remained on the ground.

 “We will go search for the other monks, they must be in the safe area we are to go to if we are to be attacked. Please remain here in case they come back from where ever they been.”

“How long will it take to find them where they're at?”

 “About a day or two depending on weather conditions. We'll return as soon as possible.”

“Well best of luck to you all.”

  “You will find enough food and resources while we're away. Help yourself if you get hungry.”

After bowing to one another, the three monks fly off on the air bison. Ronin wondered around the temple, looking, hoping to find somebody. Soon days passed and the storage room was running out of food. Ronin would go on a huge balcony to meditate. At night, Ronin stayed up looking at Ziri's gift thinking of her.
 Soon, he was out of food and found himself forced to eat some of the food for the air bison where the air bison were fed. He meditated most of his time, waiting for the return of the monks, but no one had came. It had been a month since the monks left and Ronin saw he was running out of the bison food to consume, even after carefully putting what was left in bags, to eat one for each day to make it last.
 After being in the air temple for a month, a couple weeks and days, having ate the last bag of bison food five ago, he decided he had enough. He planned on getting down from the mountain using his Earth bending. He tried making big steps, but was to weak to bend and hold onto the mountain side. Being so weak, he returned to the meditation spot he had been going to since he was left to wait.

“I'm sorry Ziri, I won't be-” He paused to catch his breath, “Coming home. Please, forgive me. I'll wait for you---in the other side--- if no one comes. I'll wait for however long it takes, for you.”

Ronin got into his meditation pose and closed his eyes.

    “We're here!” Asami called out to let every one else hear.

Every one came to the front part of the Yoat to see Republic City.

Ronin watched in amazement as the Yoat sailed by the mountain slowly revealing Republic City. With spirit vines growing on them where ever they could and the light beam coming from the spirit portal in the heart of the city.

“Wow. Such big buildings. I never knew such architectures could be built. What is the light coming from its center?”

 "It is a result of one our conflicts a couple of months back." Korra pauses, "Now that I think about it, maybe this some how brought you back as you are now with the energy it released." Korra then sees Air Temple Island, “There it is, our home.” Korra pointed to Air Temple Island.

Ronin then notices the statue of Aang, “Is that the young Avatar Aang?” He pointed out.

 “Yes it is. As you might have guessed, this is where you'll be staying at as well.”

“Thank you for your hospitality. But if you all don't mind, maybe we should head to your President and see if Tenzin was able to convince him of our situation.”

   “He's right. Assuming Tenzin hasn't already, I should tell Befong about it as well.”

Everyone then turned to see Republic City happily as they got closer to the docks in Air Temple Island.

 In the afternoon at Eastern Air Temple, a young Guru Pathik arrives at the lonesome temple after one heck of a climb.
He goes through one of the entrances hoping to be greeted by one of the monks, but sees no one in sight, “Hello?” He says hoping to get a reply.
 He explores the temple, searching for the monks, but finds no one. Then he arrived at the big balcony where the air bison were fed. Then he spotted a skeleton in a meditative position looking out to the world below far away.

“Oh dear. It seems you've been waiting for a long time my friend. I'm sorry you were not able to meet whom ever you were waiting for, as well as meeting your destiny whatever it had been. But now you will truly rest, so you can hopefully find peace.”

In the early morning of the next day near noon down below in the meditation site where Tenzin would cleanse in the future, Guru Pathik uses a pulley system to hold Ronin's skeleton on a wooden board over the hole. He places Ziri's gift on Ronin's clothing over his chest with his hands over it.

“I hope you do find peace in the after life my friend.”

Guru Pathik then starts lowering Ronin's skeleton into the hole slowly, Ronin's skeleton disappearing into the darkness. After removing the ropes and pulley system he places the cover over the hole. He lights a few meditation sticks in front of the cover and meditates in front of it.