Cool. Cool cool cool. She thanks Fen and settles down for the night cuddling her dog. 

Hey Glimmer? Uh, I dunno if you can hear me, this is what I'd do to talk to my telepath friend, does it work with you?

Yes! Hello!

Oh, cool. 

I miss my friends. Did you ever have friends?

I don't really remember, the spirit admits. I haven't talked to anyone—properly talked not just startled them and watched them run away—in a really long time.

I'm sorry. That's tough.

I have a bunch of friends back home. I didn't use to, but - well, we do a lot of hard stuff, but we always tackle it together, and that makes it a lot easier.

Anyway. I hope they find me soon.

I hope so too. You sound sad about not having them.

Yeah, I am. I still have Wishbone here, and I have you, I guess, and that's neat, but - I just really wish Alex were here.

Maybe they'll find you, the spirit says encouragingly. I don't really know how, but I don't know a lot of things.

Yeah. Me neither. I'm sure they're working on it.

She pets her dog and mutters a prayer under her breath and goes to sleep.

In the morning, she awakens to the smell of breakfast, which Fen is making. It appears to be... some sort of soup. It's not going to win any awards, but it's edible.

She'll take edible.

"Welp. I guess I should go back and find those antlers."

"Good luck!" says Fen, bouncing.

Mrrrgh, doing things.

It's not that she minds doing things, exactly, it's that she feels like there's probably something important happening back home, and maybe she should be working harder on finding a way back, but she doesn't really know how she'd start on that, so she's off doing fetch quests instead.

She does her best to head back the way she came, leaning on Glimmer for navigation.

The spirit is reasonably helpful.

The saber-tooth moose-lion's remains have been fairly well picked over by this point, but the skull is still there, antlers and all.

Awesome. Great. She'll just carry these back to the village.

She arrives just as the sun is beginning to dip behind the treeline to the west.

There appears to be some sort of commotion in the village. Raised voices, armoured figures looming menacingly in the street.

Huh. She really should have figured out whether she had enough money for a bow before she left, that was stupid. She sets the skull and her dog down by a tree and quietly ducks behind a building, trying to see if she can get a closer look.

Do you know what this is?

No, the spirit says worriedly. I think those people in the fancy armour are from the Fire Nation, though.

There's a flare of light from up ahead, like someone just lit a torch. A voice cries out in fear.

"HEY!" yells another voice, this one recognizably Fen's. "Quit being such a bully!"

Gasps of alarm. Someone says, "Fen, no—"

Dangit, dangit, dangit - she should have been more prepared -

She sprints in Fen's direction, quickly and at least outwardly calmly. This is dumb. This is a dumb situation. 

She rounds a corner and tries to take in whatever's happening in, like, as little time as humanly possible.

There's a stranger there, a young man who doesn't look far from Karen's age, with a dramatic burn scar nearly covering one eye. His armour is similar in style to the other Fire Nation soldiers, but seems fancier still. Blades of fire hover at his fingertips, and his stance is that of a competent martial artist in an unfamiliar style. He's looking down at Fen with impatient contempt, good eye slightly narrowed, scarred one half-closed but alert.

Fen, holding a short branch in both hands the way someone who has never seen a sword in their life might hold a sword, plants their feet firmly and scowls up at him without a discernible sign of fear. The branch is crooked and has leaves on it.

Uh huh. 

So they have other kinds of magic here. Burn victim could have pretty much anything up his sleeve. Besides the army. She's never taken on an army before, but she doesn't like her chances.

"Fen," she says, with as much authority in her voice as she can muster, "drop it."

"NO," says Fen.

The scarred boy makes an irritated noise, flicking his fingers to dismiss the gathered flames. "Out of my way, kid."

"YOU get out of MY way," Fen says stubbornly.

"I don't have time for this."

A nearby soldier takes a half-step forward. "Sir," he says, and that's as far as he gets; the scarred boy glances sharply at him, and he shuts up and stands back immediately.

Mrrgh. She scans again, trying to count the number of soldiers in the area. She casually steps towards Fen, trying to give off the impression of someone too absent-minded to think that anyone might target her.

"Fen, your mother wouldn't want you to get yourself killed for no reason."

There's maybe a half-dozen close enough to be semi-immediate threats, and a few more in sight. Villagers huddle nervously in the street and against their houses, watching the unfolding scene. It's not completely clear who Fen is defending; there are several people nearby who they could have stepped in front of before Karen arrived.

"Yeah well SHE'S not HERE," says Fen. "And THIS guy was BULLYING MY FRIENDS."

"All I want to know," says the scarred boy, with an air of thin and dwindling patience, "is where to find the Avatar. Tell me that, and nobody needs to get hurt."

"The Avatar's not here EITHER!"