Mingxia squinted at the early morning sky and stretched magnificently, groaning in pleasure as she felt various joints pop. She had been up since dawn to watch the sunrise, which had been a ritual of hers for many years now, especially after leaving the army. She climbed to the highest point of the training yard in the dark, and here she could see every point in the compound, a rather satisfying accomplishment at first, which, after many days of climbing had turned into a sideshow of sorts.

The sun was bright in the low sky by now and the orange dust of sunrise had turned into the gleam of morning. Xia looked down and out across the compound to see it beginning to bustle with quiet life, just as it did every morning. Today easy especially busy, as there had been word of the Avatar in an Air Temple near by. That would explain the strange feeling that she felt in her gut. She felt like yawning. Last night had been a mere annoyance, after a full day of meetings all she had wanted to do was sleep, but a severe headache had prevented her from doing so. So she drank three glasses of whiskey, just enough to distract her from the ache, and had fallen asleep still dressed, on her bed. She had still woken up early, as that was how her body was tuned, and her headache was luckily gone, but Xia still felt tired.

She had meditated as the sun rose, opening up her Chakra paths as her mother had taught her to do many years before. She supposed that it was nearly time for her to go fulfill any duties she was given today and rose slowly to climb back down from her perch. The easiest way to get to Tonrar's office was through the training yard, so she slid down the roof and landed on the ground just outside, turning to enter just as she heard a cry and a thump. She peeked in and saw Mozuyuki staring at the broken remnants of a training dummy. She watched him take out a sword and sit to meditate and crept through the room quietly, so as to not interrupt him. As she reached the door she was nearly thrown off balance by a Tsumi member bursting through the door and calling for Tonrar's son. She turned to watch the scene unfold.

It seemed as though they had found the avatar, Xia didn't know how she felt about that, but she was content, she supposed, to at least tag along for the ride, maybe fight a bit. She backtracked to her rooftop spot, climbing quickly, and then took a running leap, shooting streams of fire around her boots like rockets to follow Mozuyuki. She checked to make sure she had everything she wanted, which she did of course, since the feeling her gut gave her when she woke up told her that she needed to be prepared. She watched as Mozuyuki flew off into the distance and followed close behind. Something was telling her that she shouldn't be going to this fight, so she stayed as calm as she could, which was very calm.

She reached the Temple and frowned, a natural expression on her face. Glaring down at the group encased in air bubbles and what seemed to be a pyramid of earth, she stayed close to the balloons, dodging shots of lava and fire, and carefully remaining neutral. She saw Mozuyuki stop next to the group and faintly heard his unusually animated voice.

Am I late to the party?"

He reclined hear those she could see in the bubble, the Avatar being one of them. Goodness, Natsumi had grown in both spirit and body.


"May I add that we should all just retreat before more of these guys show up? I've always liked the look of these bison you know. It's lovely to meet one in person."

Xia raised an eyebrow, interested in the boy's actions, she figured she should send a message to Tonrar and whistled sharply, a messenger hawk flew to her hovering side and she took a coin out of her pocket. It was a Southern Air Temple coin, she had several from each nation, and tied it to the hawk's leg. He would know what she meant, if he didn't know already that is.

"To Tonrar," she commanded, and the hawk flew off nearly instantly. She tensed as lava hit the balloon in front of her, sending it falling far to the ground below and exposing her to the small group trying to make its escape.

She held her head high and looked down at the group, slowly beginning to descend towards them, on guard, and ready to attack if need be.

"It's good to see you all, isn't it now?" she glared, per usual.