I'M ALIIIIIIIIIIVE! Over a year overdue, but I finally have this up! Brace yourselves for the most suspenseful edition of the Avatar Niella series. Just a reminder, there are now 5 books. I KNOW I said it would have the proper number, but this story is long enough without trying to resolve ALL the conflicts. And just to make things harder for myself, I threw in another Complication (hence, the title of this fic). Read on to find out!
Brownies go out to all my reviewers: LorneStar, Terra Young, me, Renohan, punkyvb, Mr. Wiggles Critic, and Ryan Lohner. I luv u all!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Avatar. As usual, I own Niella, Tae Xing, Quin, Kichona, Kanna, Yue, Ryuu, Shui, Lie, and Ming.
WORD COUNT: 3138
The sun tinted the dark grey clouds blood-red as it ominously rose slowly above the horizon. The glare shone into Suki's violet-blue eyes while she worked. The chains were heavy, and they clanged together noisily with every movement she made. Dozens of others worked alongside her, slaving away to build the large flagship for the 'glorious one', since the old one had been damaged at Kyoshi. She was lucky Azula hadn't come by to see the project yet. If the deranged ex-princess were to recognise Suki, it would be over. She had no idea where Ty Lee was; the new prisoners had been randomly separated into the nighttime and daytime crews. She hoped Ty Lee's group hadn't been seen by Azula, either – her longtime friend and fellow Kyoshi Warrior would be doomed.
A few of the prisoners who'd been incarcerated for a longer time had been put in charge of supervision. They patrolled the sheltered crater of a work yard with whips. Some refused to hit anyone unless directly ordered to, but most had no mercy. Those ones weren't even prisoners, but volunteers, people who'd been giving the new world peace a hard time ever since Zuko had been crowned Fire Lord. All day, Suki and her crew worked from dawn to dusk, getting two small meals a day, if they were lucky, and sleeping all crammed together in a pit when it was time to switch with the night shift workers.
A little girl, who couldn't have been more than three years old, stumbled nearby and dropped the heavy hammer she'd been carrying. The closest guard raised his whip, ready to strike her, but Suki stood in between them. "She's just a child!" she insisted.
The guard shoved her back. You'll get five lashes, too!" Judging from the cold gleam in his eyes, he was one of the few who'd actually volunteered to serve Azula.
Suki stood her ground, though. "I'll take all ten of them!" she boldly declared, "So long as she doesn't get any." Some of the other workers paused in their labour to watch the showdown.
The man rolled his eyes. "How noble. All right, then. If that's the way you want it." He leered at the child. "Get back to work! All of you!" The other prisoners immediately went back to their tasks. The girl whimpered, got up, picked up her hammer, and scampered off. "You two!" the guard barked at two of the others, who seemed to be trying – and failing – to blend into the background, "Hold this prisoner!" They reluctantly came over, each grabbing one of Suki's arms. She hoped it'd be quick, but this brute apparently had other ideas. He struck violently hard and dragged out the time between lashes, making the punishment last as long as cruelly possible. At last, the tenth and final blow was dealt, and she was shoved back to her work area.
For the rest of the day until sundown, Suki had to work with her injuries paining her. She would have to ask for help from that fellow prisoner, a retired doctor. He'd managed to take care of a few others, in spite having almost no available materials.
That night, while Suki was trying to get to sleep, the little girl from that morning crawled up to her. She had wide hazel eyes and long, tangled black hair. "Why'd ya do that?" she whispered.
"Do what?"
"Why'd ya help me? Nobody else does."
Suki smiled. "I didn't want to see a pretty little girl like you get hurt."
The child just stared at her, pouting a bit. "But I'm a big girl. Daddy said so."
"Okay, I didn't want to see a big girl like you get hurt. What's your name?"
"Mmm... Mommy said no talkin' to strangers."
"Well, your Mommy sounds like a very smart lady. My name's Suki. I'm from Kyoshi Island. There, I'm not a stranger anymore, am I?"
The girl smiled a tiny bit and shook her head from side to side. "No, not no more. My name's Kichona."
"Are you here alone, Kichona?"
"Mmm-hmm. Lotsa scary men came to my house. They hurted Mommy an' Gramma an' Grampa. Then they took me 'way, an' I dunno where Daddy an' Unca Quin are."
"Then you can sleep here with me. I don't want you to be lonely." Kichona snuggled up next to Suki and quickly fell asleep. The Kyoshi Warrior looked down at her and thought fondly of her own daughters, Yue and Kanna. She hoped to see them again.
Ba Sing Se was only one more day's sail away. Tae Xing thought it would make her happy, but for some reason, she didn't feel all that eager to go home. After all, what was there to go back to? Fine silks, jewellery, a father who possibly didn't care about her, a man she didn't even know but would have to spend the rest of her life with – if you could call that a life – and no friends. How could she even call that home? Niella and Quin and their friends were all she had now, and her little brother Fu Kun. He was the only thing she was looking forward to seeing. She'd never treated him the way a sister should. Now that she'd finally realised her error, she could start making up for it.
Quin suddenly appeared next to her, as usual, at her spot looking over the rail of the Hakoda. Tae Xing still wasn't completely sure of whether or not she enjoyed his presence. She wanted him with all of her heart, she knew that, but how could she remain close to him when she was engaged to him, even to some stranger? "We're almost there," he mumbled, "Ba Sing Se. So that's your home, huh?"
"You guess?"
"My younger brother is the only thing there worth going back to. After all this time, I've realised that I don't need any fancy dresses, or servants waiting on me. So much has happened, and I don't think things will ever be the same for me. I'm not the same."
"Wow. I had no idea it was that bad for you."
"Neither did I, until recently. I was so confused when I first started living among regular people. I didn't get how they could stand living without all the luxuries I grew up. Now I don't even want all that stuff. It's just a reminder of how I used to depend on material possessions to be happy. I was so ignorant and selfish, and I don't want that being shoved in my face for the rest of my life!" Quin put his arms around her, and she moved away. "Quin, I'm engaged. As much as I want to be with you, I can't!" When his eyes widened in shock, she realised she'd let it slip out – she did love him. She'd been trying to convince him otherwise, so that he might move on, but now he knew. So that meant that it probably wouldn't make a difference if she finally did what she'd been dying to do for a long time.
Without another word, she leaned forward and planted her lips on his. Quin grunted in surprise, but seemed pleased. "Umm... I really have no idea what's going on now," he stated when they parted.
"I love you. I really do. But there's no getting out of this stupid arranged marriage."
"Can't you just tell your dad you don't want to go through with it?"
"Like he'd even listen to me. I have no say in it at all."
He hugged her tightly as a sudden wave of tears emerged from her eyes. Her body jerked violently with every sob. She hated the future her father had planned out for her. She couldn't stand the thought of being with anyone but Quin. Her life would pretty much end once she got back to Ba Sing Se, but it had really only just begun. It just wasn't right!
The ship lurched suddenly, then stopped moving forward altogether. Tae Xing wiped her eyes and reluctantly separated herself from Quin. The two of them hurried around to the other side of the deck. They'd dropped anchor right by a small coastal village. Tae Xing hadn't noticed it before, since it was on the left side – Niella had called it 'port' – and she'd been looking out to the right, or 'starboard'. Sokka and the other two warriors on board, Ryuu and Shui, were preparing to lower a lifeboat.
"What's going on?" Quin asked.
"We just need to get a few things before we continue on to Ba Sing Se," Niella replied as she emerged from below deck. She swung herself into the skiff, with Sokka, Katara, Ryuu, and Shui behind her. "It'll only take about an hour."
"Can you two watch the ship while we're gone?" Sokka asked, "This port is pretty safe, but you can't be too careful." Tae Xing and Quin nodded, and soon they were all alone. After a short moment of awkward silence, they went down below deck to the cabin Tae Xing shared with Katara and Niella, and sat together on her hammock.
"Are you going to be okay?" he asked her.
She sighed. "I don't know. This is just crazy. Once I get home, I'll have to marry that guy and probably move to Omashu. And the worst part is that I might never see you again." Again she started sobbing, seeking shelter in his arms.
He gently cupped her chin with one hand and turned her head so that they were face-to-face. "I won't let that happen. Even if this whole marriage thing goes down, I'll always be with you."
Tae Xing gave him another kiss, but this time, she wasn't going to stop anytime soon. She loved him more than everything in the world. She never wanted to leave his side. She felt him undoing the belt of her dress, but Tae Xing didn't do anything. She wanted him, and since they only had one day left together, she was going to have him while she could.
The ship was a perfect target, just sitting there in the harbour with no one guarding it. Jin couldn't believe what she was about to do. Her hand was shaking so hard, it was a miracle she was still holding the flaming torch. Then again, maybe 'miracle' wasn't the right word. The term 'grave misfortune' would fit much better.
If she'd had any other choice at all – any other choice – she would've taken it. But she had to go through this, or Azula would kill her baby. Xuan Ya was only nearing his fifth birthday. The very idea of losing him brought her to tears, so she pushed the thought out of her mind so that she could focus on the heartbreaking task at hand: destroying the Hakoda.
She was in a small boat with a few of Azula's Waterbending soldiers. One of them, Lie, was in his mid-forties and had a wife and three children on the line. The other one, Ming, was only eleven, the only surviving member of her family, besides her little brother. Their assignment was simple: set fire to the ship and get out of there. Don't linger, and don't even think about chickening out, or your loved ones will pay.
Now it was time to do the deed. The Waterbenders slowly brought the boat to a stop on the starboard side of the ship, with the vessel between them and the shore so that they wouldn't be spotted. A large basin of pitch mixed with water sat in the bottom of the boat. Lie carefully stood up and began bending it all over the deck, then pulling the water out of it.
Then it was Jin's turn. Whispering a tearful "I'm sorry", she tossed the torch onto the deck, watching it erupt into flames as they sped away.
It was the roar of the flames that told Quin something was wrong. He climbed out of the hammock and grabbed his clothes up off the floor. Tae Xing looked confused. "What is that noise?" she asked, also getting re-dressed, despite the sudden rise in temperature in the cabin.
"I don't know," Quin replied, "I'll go check it out." He finished fixing his shirt and was about to open the door, but pulled back when he smelled smoke, looked down, and saw some rising up from the crack under the door. That could only mean one thing. There was a lot of fire on the other side. "Stay close to me," he told Tae Xing, pulling her towards him.
He shoved the door open, and a huge wall of fire greeted them. The entire hallway was full of flame and smoke. Quin held one arm out in front of him to keep the fire at bay, and the two of them dashed through the corridor, and up to the deck.
Everything was aflame. The deck was coated with some sticky black substance that seemed to be feeding the blaze. There was nowhere else to go – Quin and Tae Xing ran to the rail and jumped over, landing with a great splash in the harbour below.
Tae Xing gasped and started flailing about. "I can't swim!" she cried. Quin fought to keep both their heads above the surface, despite not being a strong swimmer himself.
"Just hang onto me!" he shouted. He could feel his strength giving out. Soon he would sink beneath the waves, dragging the girl he loved with him.
Suddenly, something tugged hard at the back of his neck and lifted the two of them up and out of the water. Quin landed on something hard; it was the bottom of a small boat. Sokka, Katara, Niella, Ryuu, and Shui were all in it with him and Tae Xing.
"Quin! Tae Xing!" Niella cried, bending the harbour water to try and douse the fire, along with her mother. "Are you two okay? What happened?"
Quin sat up, keeping his arms around a shivering Tae Xing. He couldn't tell if she was trembling from cold or fright. It was probably both. "I'm not sure. We were down below deck when we heard the flames. It was too out of control for me to put out, so we jumped." He felt a pang of guilt. "I should've been paying better attention."
"That's not our biggest concern right now," Sokka stated, looking grim, "Now we need to find another way to Ba Sing Se." Quin looked back at the Hakoda, seeing that it now resembled a floating bonfire.
Tae Xing felt sick to her stomach. She'd spent the better part of the past few months on the sea and had gotten accustomed to the rolling motion of a ship. But the short, jerky movements from sitting on an ostrich horse were different. They'd been delayed almost a week after the Hakoda was burned. Niella and her mother had saved it from total destruction, and repairs had been made, but it would take months to make the ship seaworthy again. At this point, it wasn't even puddle-worthy. So Sokka had rented a few ostrich horses to carry them the rest of the way to Ba Sing Se. Tae Xing just wished it wasn't ostrich horses.
They were about halfway to the city when they stopped for the night and started to have supper, but Tae Xing couldn't eat. She got so nauseous to the point that the very sight and smell of food made her throw up behind a bush.
"Are you sure you're fine?" Niella asked for the third time that day.
Wiping the corner of her mouth with her sleeve, Tae Xing looked up, embarrassed, at her travelling companions. "Yeah. I guess. I've gotten so used to being on a ship, I'm now getting land-sick."
Sokka arched an eyebrow. "I wouldn't be so sure about that," he stated sceptically, "I've been at sea all my life, and that's never happened to me." Niella, Katara, Ryuu, and Shui nodded in agreement. "It's probably something else." Then he went back to his blubbered seal-jerky.
Katara stood up as Tae Xing retched and threw up again. "I can check you over to be sure you're not sick, if that's okay with you." Tae Xing was able to stop long enough to nod before she was forced to bend over again. Katara gently rubbed her back soothingly.
"Ryuu, you should probably get going," Sokka said, still partly engrossed in his food. Ryuu was going to ride on ahead and let Tae Xing's father know that they would be arriving either around noon the next day. The warrior grunted through his jerky and got up, climbing on his ostrich horse and racing off towards the city.
Tae Xing felt a little uncomfortable as she laid on her mat, stripped down to her underclothes, while Katara prepared to check her over. Sure, she'd shared a cabin with the Water Tribe women, but being so exposed in front of them wasn't something she was used to.
"Now, I just need you to relax," Katara told her gently, "I'm going to have a look at all of your chi flows, starting with your head and working down. Okay?"
Tae Xing gulped and closed her eyes. "Okay." Beside her, Niella squeezed her hand reassuringly. The princess didn't know how it had happened, but somewhere along the way, they'd become like sisters.
She felt a cool sensation on her forehead, Katara's healing water, which moved down her face to her neck, her shoulders, down each of her arms, her chest, and suddenly stopped over her abdomen. Tae Xing felt slightly sick again as Katara moved the water around that area, then pulled away.
She opened her eyes and sat halfway up to see Katara's worried expression. "What is it?" she asked, "Did you find something wrong?"
Katara chewed on her lower lip. "I... I don't know how I can put this any other way, but... Tae Xing, you're pregnant."
BAM! I knew I was starting to make Quin and Tae Xing's situation identical to Sokka and Yue's, but that throws it off course, doesn't it? Update coming August 28th!
And if you're new to the Avatar Niella series, check out the other three fics!
