"Act casually,"he said quietly.
"What, Aang?"whispered Katara as they walked in a deeply wooded forest along a trail of crushed granite outside a beautiful Taoist architecture shrine. The large conference for the world's religious men and women had concluded. Aang hesitated to take Katara's hand - unlike he normally did when they walked as husband and wife after formal affairs.
"I feel like we are being watched."He muttered.
Katara almost tensed into her normal Water Bender defensive crouch, but Aang touched her sleeve, "No. Don't. They will know that we know."
It was deathly quiet on the trail. No birds sang or insects chirped. The animals knew too. That had been Aang's first clue something was amiss. He closed his eyes for a moment but couldn't "see" anything with his seismic sense.
How could they defend against an invisible enemy?
Aang and Katara didn't have to wait long for the enemy to make the first move.
Both Katara's and Aang's feet tripped hidden triggers, were caught in rope net snares, and were jerked instantly high in the air. The bags were so tight that they could not free their arms or legs to bend their way out of the nets.
A dozen Yu Yan archers rappelled from the trees, and leveled deadly sharp arrows at them. Some dripped.
"Poisoned...", thought Aang nervously.
The uncontrolled swaying of the nets made them both bilious. An older warrior descended on a rope.
"Well, what have we here?" It's the Mighty Avatar. Still collecting frogs, Avatar?" announced the leader of this rogue force.
"No, Commandant..."
"Colonel Shinu to you, Avatar. Have some respect."
"My apologies, Colonel. I am not a military man." Aang said scornfully, which annoyed Shinu, who furrowed his brow.
"You should think more like the military. You believe the war is over. There's still many people unhappy with what you and your puppet Fire Lord have done to diminish our power – our destiny."
Aang responded tersely, "That is not for you to decide, Colonel. The world was unbalanced for a hundred years because of one evil man and his family. It took a revelation by Fire Lord Zuko to truly understand the historical place of the Fire Nation and to restore order. It is youwho have forgotten what is truth. The Fire Nation had no right to determine who lived and died then."
"Perhaps, Avatar, but today, we still decide who lives and dies."
"So, Colonel, who will live and die today?"
"We have you Avatar, and this woman. For ransom. But we have to show we mean serious business to exact the highest price. So we will have to tie the ransom note to a body. Your wife's body."
Aang and Katara suppressed their stunned reactions. Aang had an idea.
"This woman is my associate. A delegate from the conference."
Katara shot a stunned and fearful glance that only Aang could recognize. "What are you doing?"
He responded with a "Trust me" look.
Shinu could not suppress his own surprise.
"Oh really.Your wife is Water Tribe. This woman is too."
"Did you see how many Water Tribe men and women were in that convention? She ismy associate."
"Then you won't care if we take her life."
Aghast, Aang quickly answered, "Taking any life is against my beliefs, Colonel, particularly taking any religious person's life. Surely there is still honor in your military to take only other warriors' lives."
"Under ordinary conditions that is true. But these are desperate times that require desperate measures, Avatar. The world will understand better that we mean business if we kill a female religious leader without hesitation. Then they know we won't hesitate to kill you if we don't get what we want."
There was real desperation and seriousness in the Colonel's voice. He meant what he said.
Aang stalled for time, "What do you want, Colonel?"
Shinu breathed deeply, and began his story, "At the height of the war we were the elite of the Fire Nation's fighting forces. Marksmen. Sharpshooters. Assassins of the final few Airbenders except for you. You know that. Of all our targets, only you and the Blue Spirit ever eluded us."
What the archers did not see is that both benders had hand movement. Katara slowly wicked the water from the vine ropes. Aang noted the nearly invisible wisps of vapor, and delicately raised a knowing eyebrow to his bride, unseen by the archers and their murderous leader. Aang secretly raised the internal temperature of the vine rope and quietly air bended the heat away so as to not get burned.
Shinu continued without noticing, "The new Republic City security forces 'didn't need our services anymore' thanks to you, Avatar. We were considered too warlike for them. They wanted a 'defense force' much like your extinct Air Nomads. Extinct for good reason - they were too cowardly to fight."
Aang bristled, but knew he was being goaded.
"King Kuei didn't need us either, and the young punk Fire Lord's knife woman wanted your Kyoshi Warrior friends to protect him. Somehow, Zuko's knowledge of our operations during the war fouled his tastes for us. I don't know why though - we nearly apprehended that scoundrel The Blue Spirit who kidnapped you years ago. Thanks to ALL of you we are destitute and hungry. And so are our families. So by ransoming you and killing her, we save our families."
Katara was defiant, "At least let me die with dignity, Colonel. Free me from this net and let me stand."
"No. Something is not right."
"Who's the coward now, Colonel? Afraid of a helpless woman?" snarled Katara.
The Colonel grumbled and unsheathed his knife to cut her throat.
"Don't your archers still have their aim on the Avatar as well?" asked Katara.
"Yes. He dies at the first sign of escape."
"Then you have nothing to fear from me."
Aang and Katara exchanged glances. They had to make a move with the slightest opening.
It came.
"Lower her!" growled Shinu.
With bows aimed at her, Katara's net touched ground. Surprising the archers and Shinu, she stood quickly and ripped through the fragile dried vines now composing the net. The instant her arms were free, she spun and water bent the liquids from a dozen giant trees, shattering the waterless trees into thousands of deadly splinters that incapacitated multiple archers. With that huge volume of water, Katara assumed the octopus form, pinning the remaining archers to the ground, but too late.
The archers had all shot their arrows into Aang's net – but an emptynet. Using just his own physical strength, the scorched vines snapped easily, and he escaped. The archers desperately tried to reload, but were trapped by Katara's water bending. An injured Shinu was frozen to a tree by Aang.
The sounds of violence brought the Kyoshi warriors and several Fire Sages to the scene. Soon the Yu Yan archers and their leader were disarmed and bound.
Shinu attempted to disgrace the Avatar publicly, "You lied, Avatar. You compromised your values to save your wife. Some holy man youare."
Aang answered, "I misled you. I wasn't faking. I still spoke truth. I just didn't tell you everything she is. She is my associate as well as my wife. So I remained true to my values. Too bad you didn't."
Ty Lee asked, "Where should these prisoners go?"
Aang started to speak but the Chief Fire Sage interrupted, "Boiling Rock - for the attempted murder of the Avatar and Master Katara."
Aang tried to argue, but was cut off.
The Sage explained, "This is not your decision Avatar Aang. The Yu Yan archers must be disbanded. Their time is over- the last relics of a terrible war."
Aang compassionately asked, "But who will care for their families?"
"We will Avatar. The Sages serve the innocents of this world, even as we protect the Avatar Cycle. That much we have re-learned - thanks to you and the Spirit of Roku."
Everyone departed, so Katara and Aang finished their walk hand-in-hand, this time with the birds chirping and the late summer buzz of cicada-mantises echoing in the lush green forest. Under one undisturbed tree at the edge of the great woods, he turned, and surprised her with a passionate kiss.
Reeling, Katara replied, "Wow! What was that for?"
Aang snickered, "For those few minutes of just being my associate."
"I have learned to always expect the unexpected from you, Aang. I just didn't know it would apply directly to us this time."
They beamed at each other, caressing each other's faces softly.
"Ready to fly away with me, my love?"
"As much as ever, Aang. You know how much I enjoy flying with you."
He popped open his glider, they put their arms around each other's waists - as they had dozens of times before - and launched into the clear blue sky, back to the village where their family and Appa awaited their return.