The city Ro Pan and his sister hailed from was an interesting sight for Pakak, even after the strangeness of the magnificent Air Temples he'd encountered after joining the Avatar's group. The large wall isolating the place's innermost section from the rest of it had seemed somewhat off-putting to him, but Ro Pan and Xiaofan insisted that it wasn't there when they left all those years before. In any case, he was overwhelmed by the stone architecture as it sprawled out around him; the vastness of it all was only second in his mind to its relative dryness. "A bit arid", he had called it, although he was the only one of their group that felt such an observation needed to take any kind of precedence given the heated tensions hanging over the populace city.<br/><br/>Pakak came from a simpler variation of hierarchy; in the Southern Tribe there were Elders and Chieftains, very easy to keep track of (although he<span style="font-style: italic">did</span>manage to get himself into a great deal of trouble in spite of this simplicity) and as such he had difficulty grasping the nuances of the Avatar's exchange with his old friend over dinner. At one point things grew heated, but in the end it seemed to settle down with little trouble, to the Water Bender's immense relief. He had come to the city as a favor to a good friend (they never spoke of it, but Pakak had his suspicions regarding the circumstances of their first meeting), and while he was willing to stand at Ro Pan's side regardless of the situation, he had little desire to get caught up in a civil war. Especially not in such a dry, dry place, surrounded by walls and stone. And it was dry, too.<br/><br/><br/>It was something of a relief when they exited the city the next day for the meeting; Pakak was happy to be back in the open air, though he still felt somewhat uneasy as the peace talks began. Things started off well enough, until they were all distracted by the sound of galloping hooves; a girl sat atop an animal, moving furiously towards them, shouting something that was incoherent to Pakak's ears given the distance remaining between the newcomer and the rest of them.<br/><br/>And then, the unthinkable occurred.<br/><br/>Yu Shang, old friend to the Avatar, uttered a cold apology as he stabbed Ro Pan deeply and viciously, before sending them all flying back, among them Xiaofan last to succumb to the treacherous man's powerful Earth Bending. By the time Pakak regained his footing ten feet away, the Avatar lay on the ground, dying before his very eyes even as his assailant disappeared into the distance.<br/><br/>Pakak moved to approach Ro's form but stopped after taking several steps, witnessing the grief of a sister losing her other half, the last family she had. The loss tore at him as well, creating the kind of sorrow inside him he had never experienced before.<br/><br/>Avatar Ro Pan saved him when he had nothing- he gave Pakak's life new purpose when the disgraced tribesman was uncertain of whether or not he would even live to see a new day. Ro Pan was his savior, a master of all the elements who could unite the world, a person capable of seeing the good no matter where he looked.<br/><br/>And he was gone.<br/><br/>Pakak's jaw clenched so tightly he was surprised his teeth did not shatter; his eyes grew moist and his breathing was suddenly labored as within him grief and sorrow battled rage and disbelief. He didn't know what to do- for the first time since meeting the Avatar, Pakak was lost.<br/><br/>Silently, he turned and looked away, casting his hood over his face.