Tao had been studying and following different animal tracks for hours now and frankly had gotten tired of it. Sure a guide must able to accurately identify an animal just by it's tracks but they all headed in the same direction; namely out of the burned down part. By sheer coincidence he came across tracks that ha had often seen back in the Fire Nation namely those belonging to a Mongoose Lizard. He hoped that animal's rider was aware of the dangerous condition of the forest, but that hope was quickly dashed when he heard the sounds of a Tiger Monkey attack.

He really hoped he was wrong about what was happening as he had no interest in playing hero, but he still ran toward the origin of the sound. Luckily for the blue skirted girl in danger, he already was close by. Unfortunately for him though he wouldn't be able to fight the carnivore off with just his dagger, so he had no choice but to bend if he wanted to save her.

With a quick punch of his left arm he shot of a weak fireball at the Tiger Monkey hoping to scare it off before it hurt the girl any further, but he only managed to make the animal angry. Now seeing Tao as a threat it ignored the girl and her Lizard and instead charged straight at him, the only reason he didn't end up with it's claws in his neck was because he barely managed to put his right arm in front of their intended target.