Lions and tigers and bears oh my! (Soren and PM)

Bai had been walking for a couple of days now and she finally stopped when she reached a small forest. Zing had been rather agitated that day because he hadn't really had anything to eat. Bai had encouraged him to go off on his own and find some berries but Zing was a very stubborn flying lemur. So now the two walked, Zing resting on Bai's shoulder through the forest, Bai keeping alert. The girl knew never to let her guard down in a forest, you don't know who's going to be hiding around the corner to rob you. So with her staff in her hand, Bai kept on her toes, turning at every noise. Maybe it was paranoia but it was better to be safe than sorry. 

Bai reached what appeared to be an empty clearing but before Bai settled down ready for dinner, she walked around the perimeter of the clearing, just to ensure that no one was ready to attack her. She didn't want to wake to someone robbing her possessions and even kidnapping Zing. She shivered at the thought of the world without her trusty sidekick. Once she was sure that the clearing was safe, the girl fell onto the floor, threw her bag off her shoulder and sighed. Even though it didn't seem like she had walked for long, the balls of her feet began to ache. As she massaged her foot, Zing flew around in the quick circle about 10 foot into the air, just as a precaution. Zing joined Bai once he felt that they were alone. Zing was pretty smart, for a monkey. 

Bai rummaged through her bag and pulled out a bag of fruit. Zing's eyes widened in hunger and Bai handed the lemur a few berries. The two began to nibbled on the fruit but Bai needed a more hearty meal. Bai being a vegetarian, the girl would only eat vegetables but it was better than constantly eating berries. Bai pulled a few crackers left over from the other day, a block of cheese and a few leaves of lettuce. After little preparation, Bai had created a small cracker sandwich. Just as she was about to tuck in, she heard a few leaves rustle, as if someone was walking through the woods. Bai was immediately standing, staff in hand. "Who's there?" Bai asked curiously. How could both the flying lemur and the airbender miss the sight of another person? 

Soren had been traveling the Earth kingdom territory for a while now. Dodging and evading the mercenaries that had been after him for about the past 3 months now. It wasn't difficult for every time the mercenaries would get too close, Soren would sense them and would easily get away. Having seismic sensing came in handy when it came to evading the enemy. Eventually he would have to stand up to them, but he felt it would be easier if he could split them up. This was why he made his way towards a nearby forest as his 'fans' made their way closer and closer to his position.

Soren had mad his way deep into the heart of the forest. The mercenaries were close on his tail and he could feel their footsteps getting even closer. Deciding to stop and face them, he told Naga his shirshu, to hide himself and await for his signal. Naga ran off into a nearby cave and stayed there until Soren could signal him. Soren felt the first guy about 20ft away. Soren hid in some brush to obscure himself from view and waited for his pursuers.

Just then, two fire bending mercenaries walked in front of him and stopped. Scratching their heads they looked at one another and said, "Where did he go?" Soren then quickly launched his granite gloves at both mercenaries. Both gloves grasped each mercenary by the throat and squeezed to make sure they couldn't make any noise. Soren then jumped out of the brush he had been hiding in and cut the heads off of both of the fire bending mercenaries as he unsheathed his long sword. He then sheathed his sword and picked up both of the heads by their hair.

With both heads in hand, he felt the presence of the last mercenary about 50 meters away. He felt scared as Soren could feel the man trembling with fear. Soren walked over to the man and appeared in front of him. The man's face had a look of horror on it. As if he had seen the devil or a ghost. Soren smiled and held up the heads of the other two mercenaries. He then said, "Are these friends of yours?" The last mercenary shook his head and muttered, "N...nope. Never met them before in my life." Soren chuckled and shook his head. Thinking for a moment he then threw their heads at the man's feet. They rolled and looked up at the man with their cold lifeless eyes. With a screech he quickly started to run away from Soren. Soren then earth bent a wall of stone in front of the man. Then he bent two side walls to enclose the man and trap him. Soren walked slowly to the man and said, "Please. Don't make this harder than it has to be. You know that I am still alive and while you know that... I will be hunted. So you see, I have to silence you." Soren then stopped about 3 feet away from the man and unsheathed his sword. Unsheathing his long sword, Soren commented "I will make this quick and painless." Soren then quickly stabbed the man in the chest before the man could utter another word.

Putting his sword back up, he called Naga back and walked towards the clearing that was about 100 yards away. After a few minutes, he appeared from the brush as a girl called out, "Who is their?" Soren looked around and saw a young girl about 30 yards away standing up with staff and some weird monkey. Deciding to be the flirt he always had been; Soren walked over closer with Naga. Speaking up Soren said, "I am sorry if I startled you. I am Soren. What is your name?"

Bai was very surprised to find a male older than herself walking towards out of the brush with a very large pet companion. Now Bai had quite good knowledge about animals and knew this was a Shirshu. She knew that their tongue has a toxin that can paralyse anyone for up to two hours and that even though they don't have eyes, they have extraordinary smell. It was quite fightning though, seeing such a dangerous animal up so close. It didn't bother Bai much but Zing seemed a little fidgity. By the feeling of his claws into her shoulder, he already disliked the Shirshu. The boy apologised if he startled Bai and introduced himself as Soren. Bai wasn't startled in the first place, she was just simply using her reflexes. Bai's grip on her staff tightened, ready for an attack and Zing moved from one foot to the other continuously. "Well Soren, it's nice to meet you. I'm Bai and this is Zing." She said and gestured to Zing who gave the new arrivals a suspicious look. "Is that a Shirshu?" Bai asked, even though she already knew it was a Shirshu, she just wanted to know what it was like owning one.

Soren looked at the girl admiring his shirshu. Walking up to Naga, he pet him on the head as the girl introduced herself and her pet. The weird monkey seemed a bit on edge when it saw Naga. Naga was actually a push over most of the time, and was only vicious when commanded or when danger was near. Soren stopped petting Naga when Bai asked "Is that a Shirshu?" Soren was surprised that the young girl knew of such an animal as the shirshu were very rare. "Why yes it is Ms. Bai. He is name is Naga. He is quite harmless for the most part. Just don't let him lick ya." Soren looked at the strange monkey she called Zing and asked, "Is that a flying lemur? I have heard of them. It is said they can be a hand full to have as a pet. Is this true?" Soren then followed up with, "Naga here is actually pretty easy to take care of. As long as you feed him and play with him he is happy as a baby moose-lion." Soren the stomped his foot and made a column of rock rise from right behind him. He then sat down and waited for Bai's reply.