AUTHOR'S NOTES: Unfortunately, I abandoned my other project because it was turning too long and moving too slowly, and I didn't want a magic change of pace in between. That, and I've improved my plot ideas since then. So to those that liked the original version, I apologize, and hope you will like this one as well. The episodes are not divided nearly as much, but the chapters are considerably longer.
there will be things like shipping, unpublished content (available on request; my notes at the beginning of a chapter will indicate if there is any or not), and overall awesomeness. Characters are older, from different nations, and have generally taken a few levels in awesome.
So... enjoy.
PROLOGUE
Water.
Earth.
Fire.
Air.
Long ago, the Four Nations lived in harmony together—but that all changed with the rise of the Air Warriors. Ferocious fighters from the Eastern and Western Air Temples, the Air Warriors were relentless marauders who sought revenge on the world for the damage done to the Air Nomad society years ago. Their first target was the Fire Nation—the same land that, in times past had nearly wiped out the Air Nomads in their entirety. If nothing else, it seemed simply like a display of power.
The Air Warriors were unmistakably opportunists. Using the moments of several eclipses over a course of many years, they continued to cripple the Fire Nation's abilities, and their domination of the skies was their main advantage. The Earth Kingdom remained neutral, but only as long as the Air Warriors did not tread into Earth Kingdom lands.
The attacks from these malevolent sky raiders continued, and they gained favor in the eyes of the powerful Northern Water Tribe. The latest chief was as opportunistic and resourceful as the Air Warriors in his nature, and so he added his forces to the already growing power of these airbenders.
So how did the mighty Fire Nation fall? It technically has still not fallen to this day. The Air Warriors have simply exterminated the firebenders, and keep a close watch on the other citizens. Other than the skies on their side, the Air Warriors had mastered the art of compressing air, only to have it combust at the right moment. They essentially went on bombing raids.
Only the Avatar, Master of all four elements, would be able to stop them, but then the world needed him most—he was gone, allowing the Air Warriors to spread across the world uninhibited. By the time the Earth Kingdom and the Southern Water Tribe got involved, the power of the Air Warriors was too great, and so it prevented them from gaining the offensive on these marauders. So far, the only total loss is at the Southern Air Temple, where the Air Warriors tried to assimilate or annihilate the Avatar. Even the Fire Nation still stands today—it is devoid of benders, however. Whatever the case, we are at war, and the Eastern and Western Air Temple Axis is not the only string of enemies fighting us.
Hope was not to be lost so soon though, as my Uncle and I soon discovered the new Avatar—an Airbender named Aang. Surprised that he was not an Air Warrior, we learned that he had little knowledge of the other elements either, let alone firebending. Hopefully he can help turn the tide of this war. While the Water Tribes are in no immediate danger of being exterminated, our strength wanes with each passing day.
We will hold out though. The Water Tribes never go down without a fight.
=Zuko=
CHAPTER 1
Another skirmish had broken out again in the waters surrounding the Southern Water Tribe. Not to the surprise of the Southern Water Tribe warriors, it was another Air Warrior raid. The convoy of Water Tribe ships had been returning from a trip to a small icy island where they were able to rest up. They were on their way home from an excursion that had taken them to the southern Earth Kingdom, and so this was their last stop before the Southern Water Tribe itself.
"This is starting to get old," Iroh grunted as he launched another volley of iceberg spikes up towards the flying marauders and their airships. He and Zuko were on one of the smaller but faster ships. Speed was crucial for downing these swift marauders. The war here was a battle of Air and Sea. The Water Tribe had a superior navy, but the Air Warriors dominated the skies, even though they were largely outnumbered.
"Their advantage is clear, Chief," one of Iroh's officers warned, "If they start making more powerful bombing raids on us, we're going to be done in."
"My Uncle's Water Tribe doesn't go down that easily," Zuko encouraged the woman, "Besides, keep in mind what he always says—this tribe is too beautiful to die."
The woman's face turned a slight tinge of red before she nodded and jumped back to her station at one of the catapults. Projectiles of all sizes were exchanging positions, but the Air Warriors were actually putting little effort into throwing projectiles. One of their greatest weapons was their bending ability, or more notably, an ability they picked up from observing firebenders before they were exterminated. The ability involved compressing the air around their target, and then releasing it with an explosion. They were effectively the "bombing raids" that the officer had mentioned.
"still," Iroh commented offhandedly as he and Zuko took to launching powerful geysers of water upwards into the sky, turning it into shredding ice shards as the water shot upwards, "it almost makes me wonder how they reproduce if they're monks and nuns… or how there are so many of them."
"It almost seems obvious," Zuko chuckled and he brought up a wall of ice to block a shower of arrows from Air Warrior archers, "clearly they have some sort of intense mating ritual every solstice or something, where they have hundreds of children. It probably has some weird name too, like Pon Farr or something."
"Ah, Pon Farr," Iroh chuckled, "that was the name of it."
"What are you talking about, uncle?"
"Pon Farr is more than just a game, nephew."
Zuko slapped his forehead and shook his head. "Uncle…"
Their attention was soon redirected back to the fighting. The Air Warriors remained swift and bothersome, swooping down and launching destructive attacks at the Water Tribe ships and soaring back into the skies before they could react. However, as more time passed, more airbenders fell from the sky, and unlike them, the Water Tribe had many skilled healers. Even Zuko had some knowledge in this department.
Victory went to the Southern Water Tribe that day, for although the casualty rate among the Southern Water Tribe was great, the percentage of airbenders that had fallen was greater, and so the Water Tribes had done them in better than they were used to being.
Such was the life down near the south. These air raids were normally not this common, but perhaps they were beginning to grow impatient at the resilience of the Water Tribes. Even the Northern Water Tribe, which had a reasonably sized division among them between loyalists and supporters of the Air Warriors, had still withstood the attacks it received.
Zuko and Iroh's ship was the least damaged out of them all, and was one of the few that was still sailable in its current condition. Iroh issued the order to the officers on his ship to spread the word around. Take the navy home. He and Zuko had another plan in mind.
As Iroh's men dispersed, all heading south back towards the Tribe, Zuko and Iroh manned a small boat and began sailing north, using their bending to increase their speed. Zuko had wanted an idea of where these marauders had gone off to, and Iroh thought that that information would also be nice to know.
"So were you serious about that Pon Farr thing, uncle?" Zuko asked as they followed the trail left by the Air Warriors, "or was that another joke?"
"I had to say something to keep you in fair spirits, Zuko," Iroh chuckled, "though whether or not they actually call it Pon Farr is beyond my knowledge. No worries though, There are plenty of beautiful girls in our Water Tribe for you, nephew."
Zuko suddenly felt like the conversation had taken an awkward turn, and that he did not want to know further details into his uncle's "romantic" life. Thus, they kept sailing.
The trail led them to an otherwise empty slab of ice—or so it seemed. However, a little bit of poking around proved it to be quite the opposite. There were remnants of a Water Tribe encampment here, and it looked like the Air Warriors had found them on the way out.
Zuko was furious. He was generally not this quick to anger, but perhaps his patience had been worn thin from all the recent skirmishes from the airbenders. Whatever the case, he was not in the mood to be presented with another site of carnage, even if it was small. He roared loudly before Iroh could say any words of comfort to him, and stamped the ground. This proved to be a very interesting turn of events.
His waterbending skills were not something to laugh at either. He was powerful, but definitely had some control issues to work out. The ice beneath his feet cracked, but the crack stretched towards the middle of the island. This was definitely a good thing, as neither of them were ready for the edge of the island that they were standing on to crumble into the ocean like a coastal metropolis foolishly built on a faultline with a name like San Andreas.
Zuko and Iroh took defensive stances, as they figured that this was some sort of setup by either the Air Warriors or their own men. The Water Tribes were skilled at setting these kinds of booby traps, but seldom did so anymore now that the Air Warriors fought almost entirely in the sky. Whatever the case, it was clear that both the chief and his nephew were ready to be hit with something.
However, this proved to be something far different. An iceberg—spherical in its shape, rose from the massive cracks in the ground. Zuko and Iroh both looked at each other with skeptical glances, but eventually, the rising iceberg stopped. The two waterbenders started in awe at it for a moment, and then slowly moved towards it.
"It looks fragile," Iroh noted, "I do not think this is a trap."
"I don't either," Zuko nodded, "but if it looks fragile, that means I can smash it!"
Without thinking of much else, Zuko whipped out his club and dashed towards the iceberg. Iroh shouted Zuko's name once, but then realized that that strategy wouldn't work. Thus, a simple palm to the forehead, a small chuckle, and a shake of the head would suffice.
Upon reaching the ice sphere, Zuko threw his club high into the air, and launched himself up after it. Catching it in the air, he spun around, striking the ice several times and in several places as he fell back to the ground. Once he landed, he swung his club one more time against the ice, and he chipped it. He glanced back towards his uncle and gave him a grin.
"Come on," he encouraged him, "you know how how much we want to break this thing open."
"You mean, we know how much YOU want to break it open," Iroh laughed as he calmly walked towards Zuko and the ice sphere.
"Fine, you're right," Zuko fake-sighed, "but you'll still help me, right?"
Iroh's answer was not in word, but in deeds. He moved his arms backwards and then thrust them forward, using his own bendign prowess to strike at the iceberg. Zuko quickly joined in when he noticed what his uncle was doing, and within seconds, the sphere began cracking in many different places.
What happened next was beyond either of their realms of expectation. The iceberg straight-up exploded, also shooting a large beam of light into the air. The flying shards of ice missed Zuko, but several want in Iroh's direction. The fine mist and small flecks of ice almost obscured his view for a moment. However, when it subsided, he saw Iroh standing in the same place, one of his hands outstretched. He heaved a sigh of relief. Iroh just chuckled.
"Come now, Zuko," he smiled, "did you really think I'd let a few meager ice shards take me out? If anything, we Water Tribespeople are too good-looking to die."
"True enough," Zuko agreed, laughing, and then he and his uncle were silent, as they stared at the remnants of the iceberg. There was something in there, and so naturally, they wanted to have a look.
It became clear once they got over the side that what was in there was a person and a flying bison. Based on the color of the boy's clothes and the tattoos on his forehead, he was clearly an airbender. More importantly, he was coming around.
"Damn!" he shouted, shaking his head, "that was one hell of a pahty… Southern Air Temple just won't be the same without me there…"
he rubbed his eyes again and noticed the two waterbenders standing skeptically in front of him.
"Oh hey," he waved, and then rubbed his eyes again. "Oh wait… you're not a beautiful woman."
"Is that an insult or a compliment?" Zuko frowned.
"mm," the airbender shook his head again, "sorry, I'm still feeling a little dizzy from last night. I don't even remember what happened. We were partying till some unholy hour of the morning and I got caught in this storm. Then something happened, and anyways, I think I'm a bit lost."
"You're just outside the Southern Water Tribe," Zuko informed him, though that was more of the Water Tribe Lingo, as they were several miles away from it, to the point where it was not visible. Being "just outside the Southern Water Tribe" to a Southern waterbender meant that you were somewhere in their waters, and not quite to the Southern Air Temple.
"So it's probably just over this hill then." The airbender grinned, and he zipped up the slope of the iceberg and then stopped. He turned to the waterbenders.
"What happened to it?" he asked them.
"Oh," Zuko laughed, "it's actually a few miles south of here. But… who are you, and what are you doing this far south?"
"Well, that depends on how far south 'this far south' is," the airbender replied, "but my name is Aang, and this is my flying bison, Appa." With this, he started nudging the bison, which appeared to either still be unconscious, or based on the dissatisfied grunts it was giving, was more likely trying to sleep some more and wanted to be left alone.
"I am Chief Iroh of the Southern Water Tribe," Iroh introduced himself, "and this is my nephew Zuko."
"charmed," Aang beamed.
However, Lady Misfortune was not done pissing off Zuko for the day. Their introduction ceremony was cut short by a deafening explosion coming from the direction of their ship.
"You know," Zuko groaned, not even turning around, "I'm pretty sure that the world hates me to an extreme. Should I even turn around?"
"You probably shouldn't," Iroh frowned.
"Those clever bastards!" Zuko raged, "HOW did they get around to sabotaging our ship! More importantly, how did they get it to be delayed like that? 15 more minutes in there and we would have been done in. I don't get it—and to top it off, that's CLEARLY a storm moving our way. We're doomed."
"And here I was dreaming that I would wake up in the arms of a naïve optimistic waterbender girl," Aang fake-sighed, "alas. I get stuck with a skeptic man instead."
"It's called being realistic," Zuko frowned, "now that our boat's gone, we're stranded."
"Come now, nephew, do you ever stop and think?" Iroh pointed out, "I do not think that this young man's bison is anything less than a flying bison."
"Listen to the old guy," Aang grinned, "I can fly you back there on Appa. Besides, I've been wanting to pay the Water Tribes a visit." With that he slid back down the iceberg and started trying to nudge appa awake again. Zuko and Iroh passed words back and forth.
"How do we know we can even trust him?" Zuko whispered, "The Air Warriors are not all as fierce as my sister. He could be leading us on like airbenders do."
"Wait a moment, Zuko. I like this kid's style."
"The tattoos, you mean?"
"those too, But there is something else about him. He seems to have a charm that ladies love."
"What do you even mean! We've known him for only a few minutes, and he hasn't seen a woman at all since then."
"It's like I told you, Zuko. Pon Farr is more than just a game. What I am saying, however, is not that we should blindly trust the boy, but that you don't find airbenders frozen in icebergs every day. I can tell when kids your age are trying to secretly be hostile. He does not have that about him."
"So you really think he is just a fun-loving studly ladies' man then?"
Iroh laughed. "If that's how you want to word it, then aye. Keep in mind though, that it's definitely in our blood to be the same way though. Do not lose confidence in your Tribe, Zuko."
That, and we do need a ride, and so we can either get caught in the storm, or try our luck with him."
By the time Zuko and Iroh had slid down to meet Aang, he had woken up Appa and climbed up onto the saddle. He motioned for Zuko and Iroh to do the same, and they did. Zuko was a little hesitant, being somewhat skeptical of their newfound airbender friend, but he knew that his uncle had a point when he said he was their only real ticket off that island now that their ship was a smoldering ruin on the side of the ice a few hundred yards away.
The trip back to the Southern Water Tribe was with little incident, though initially, Appa had jumped out of the iceberg and flopped into the water, knocking Zuko off the edge. He reacted quickly though, freezing the water below him and sliding on it to keep from soaking himself in the frigid sea. Appa swam slowly, giving Zuko enough time to slide down his newly created ice path, ramp up at the ending, and clamber back into the saddle.
"You've learned well, Zuko." Iroh grinned, slapping a few coins into Zuko's palm. Even Aang gave Zuko a compliment for his fancy footwork.
The Southern Water Tribe Capital remained where it always had been, but the population of that entire region had dramatically increased in the last several years. Under the command of various powerful Water Chiefs, including (and especially) Iroh, the tribe had expanded into several small cities that were linked to the main capital city. Even the smallest village had significant anti-airbender defenses mounted, as they were used to repetitive Air Warrior raids. The power of the Water Tribes was not something to be underestimated.
The Air Warriors had long since learned that attacking either Water Tribe at night was folly. While it sometimes did give them the advantage of obscurity, the power of the waterbenders was also at its peak, and so the airbenders always suffered staggering defeats. During the day, however, it was different. Luckily for Zuko, Iroh, and Aang, night had fallen by the time they had returned. However, it was clear from the state of the tribe that even at this hour, they were preparing for another attack.
Iroh and Zuko led Aang to the chief's palace for the evening, where the latter was greeted by the people of the Water Tribe, and the former two were welcomed back. They settled back in alright, and Aang soon went to sleep. Apparently being stuck in an iceberg for however long made people tired. Iroh pulled Zuko aside after Aang was asleep.
"Zuko," he said softly, "You have heard the stories, right?"
"Which ones?" he smirked, "the ones about the airbenders, or the one about the Avatar?"
"The Avatar, of course." Iroh grinned. "I think Fate has played us a mixed blessing. The Avatar was supposedly from the Southern Air Temple, and the Southern Air Temple has been uninhabited since the Air Nomad Civil War. I do not think these things are a coincidence."
"Should we ask him tomorrow?"
"Not so directly; if he was from the Southern Air Temple, then he obviously had reason to be on the run. We will speak with him tomorrow, but keep in mind that tomorrow is unlikely to be one of tranquility."
"True enough," Zuko sighed. "it looks like it's back to the old battlefield with us then. I guess I have no other reason to be awake if I don't want an Air Warrior bombing raid to be my wakeup call tomorrow."
Iroh laughed. "The Southern Water Tribe would probably be one of the last bastions of freedom in the world if the Air Warriors' influence spread that far." He explained, "the other two would be the Northern Water Tribe and Ba Sing Se."
"I didn't figure you were one to let this tribe go down without a fight."
"Of course not. This tribe is too beautiful to die."
"I've heard the jokes, of course. The people of the Southern Water Tribe are too sexy to be destroyed; the Tribe itself is too awesome to ever fall. We've done well, uncle. Cheers."
The two of them laughed over this for a while, making a few other jokes and cracks about the glory of the Water Tribe, or about its good-looking inhabitants. They spent nearly an hour giving toasts to the power of the Water Tribes with teacups, before eventually retiring to bed in preparation for the battle that would almost surely occur that next morning.
