The Unrivalled Expert in Human Nature

Chapter 9

I am kind of short on time, but I did manage to do this sort of in time. My laptop is the biggest piece of trash in the universe...

Hope you enjoy this :)

oooooooooo

109 AG

Most people were destined to take up their parent's jobs when they got older. A baker's son had few choices, a firstborn prince even less. That is how Fen became the best paid assassin in her entire province at only fifteen. Her father taught her, sure, but she had the kind of natural predisposition for the work one couldn't fake. After her father died, people said she was even better than he ever was.

One day, Fen got a new mark. A pirate collective that was becoming too powerful by some people's standards. More specifically, their two leaders, Azula and Wen. Fen didn't like taking on two people at once, but word had it the two never separated.

Finding them, of course, wasn't going to be easy. She snuck on board ship after ship, passing through the area they were last seen over and over again. Nothing. She was just about to give up on her current plan when she heard people yelling the word Pirates again and again in absolute terror. She was aboard a prisoner transport ship, so she only had to go down to the cells and wait.

"Pirates! Hundreds of them! They're everywhere!" A soldier came running down to the prisoners, probably to hide, but he was struck by lightning from the back. He fell and behind him appeared a man and a woman.

That had to be them...

"Outside. Hands raised if you want to live." Azula said as her fire melted the bars holding the prisoners.

Fen obeyed, together with most of the people, and they were led onto one of the two pirate ships that came for them. They were in open water again very quickly, since the waterbenders seemed to be very skilled at speeding up their ships. The prison ship was sinking into the ocean behind them.

As Fen looked around and counted, she realized there weren't hundreds of pirates on the two ships. Maybe a little more than one hundred...

Soon, the pirates who weren't helping with the sailing started splitting up the captives. Adults from the children. Since she was still a teenager and not particularly tall, Fen was sorted with the children. When she looked to the horizon, she saw two more ships, waiting.

The moment all the ships came close to each other, Wen came out of nowhere and froze the sea around them, so all the vessels were connected. He never had to say his name, it was fairly obvious which two people were in charge.

Now that their whole group was together, Wen and Azula sat down onto the big pile of boxes filled with stolen goods and immediately all their people went quiet.

"Prisoners, today is your lucky day!" Wen spoke up, "You are all free people once more. And as free people you face a choice, all of you."

"You can choose to show gratitude to the people who just saved you from a life in prison," Azula continued for him, "Or you can refuse our help and once again be on your own."

"And whatever your choice, make sure you mean it, since the few rules we do have, we take very seriously." Wen finished his piece and waved to two women who dragged out a tied-up man and laid him at the couple's feet. All the pirates reacted to this with loud booing and insults.

"This man was one of us," Azula started, "Until he decided he no longer liked our rules, so he murdered, stole and ran. But even on that ship we found him, like we always find traitors."

"Do you have any defense for your actions?" Wen asked the accused man, but he remained quiet.

"Then there is only one question left... Will it be fire?"