Summary: Aang and the gang wipe out several Fire Nation divisions in an avalanche, but are captured by the Yu Yan archers. A shadowy band of fighters come to the rescue and Katara is fascinated with their mysterious leader … until she makes an unwelcome discovery.
Author's Notes: This is the second installment in a series of fake new "episodes" that begin where Book of Water: Chapter 13, The Blue Spirit leaves off. For the rest of my "new episodes," please visit my profile page (justanotheravatarfan). I am sorry for any confusion or inconvenience caused by my posting these stories separately, instead of as chapters within a single story. I was confused about how things worked at first and am kind of stuck with this now. My version of The Book of Water only goes to Chapter 19. When I start The Book of Earth, I will use the correct chapter format.
Thank you for all the helpful reviews: I've tweaked things a bit and reformatted my paragraphs so the dialog is easier to read.
Obligatory Disclaimer: I own nothing from the Avatar world, but I hope to create something this fabulous some day.
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Appa flies through a pale blue sky scattered with pink and golden clouds. Aang guides the giant flying bison as Sokka lies on his back snoring and Katara's face dreamily rests on the rail of Appa's saddle.
"What a beautiful morning," Katara murmurs. "It feels like nothing bad could possibly happen on a day like this."
As Aang turns to reply, several flaming arrows skim over his head. Sokka jumps up, rubs his eyes, and snaps, "Are we being attacked again?" More arrows fly by.
Katara glances down and gasps, "Fire ships!"
Sokka yelps, "SHIPS? The entire FIRE NAVY is more like it!"
Aang quickly tugs the reins and cries, "Yip! Yip!" Appa rises safely out of the arrows' range. "But what do we do now?" asks Aang. "We can't stay up here forever!"
Sokka thinks for a moment and responds confidently, "We need to find a tall mountain with water and ice and located inland by nightfall. That way, we at least have the advantage of a good position. Then we can try to fend them off. It's our only chance!"
Prince Zuko leans forward against the railing on the deck of his ship brooding as his ponytail flutters in the wind. The lieutenant gingerly approaches to inquire, "What are our orders, sir?" and braces himself for Zuko's usual annoyed reaction to interruptions.
Instead, Zuko turns around with a mild expression and says, "Please fetch General Iroh, I need to speak with him."
"Right away, Prince Zuko," comes the Lieutenant's crisp reply.
"Thank you, Lieutenant," adds Zuko as he turns away to resume his brooding. Thank you, Lieutenant? Astonished, the Lieutenant runs downstairs in search of Iroh.
Who, as usual, is in the hold playing a game of Pai Gow with some of the crew and winning all of their money. As the Lieutenant clatters in, Iroh raises his head and purrs,
"What is the matter lieutenant? You look like you've seen a ghost. You need a calming cup of jasmine tea."
"Um … Sir? I think Prince Zuko is ill."
Iroh frowns, "Ill?"
"Well," the Lieutenant continues, "He definitely isn't himself today. He's on deck and said he wants to speak with you."
"Alright," agrees Iroh. "As soon as I finish this nice game of Pai Gow with these gentlemen here."
"But … but …" interjects the lieutenant, "Prince Zuko then said 'Thank you, Lieutenant' to me!" The crewmembers' heads and Iroh's eyebrows jerk up as though they are all marionettes attached to the strings of a single puppeteer.
"May we finish this game later?" requests Iroh. Grateful for being spared from their imminent fleecing, the crewmembers eagerly nod their agreement.
Iroh pads up to Zuko, stands beside him and puts a hand on his shoulder. "Is something wrong, Prince Zuko?"
Zuko takes a ragged breath, but doesn't look up. Iroh peers into his nephew's face and sees that he is weeping. Finally, the prince shudders and whispers, "My father was right. I am a traitor and a coward. I can never capture the Avatar."
"Now, now," responds the older man in a calm, reassuring tone, "Don't be so hard on yourself, nephew. You've set your hopes on a difficult task for one so young."
"But you don't understand, Uncle," Zuko interjects, "I … I don't WANT to capture the Avatar."
"Ahhhh," Iroh softly exhales, "And why is that?"
Zuko pauses to sort through his jumbled thoughts. Then he abruptly asks, "Do you know where I was that night?" Iroh shakes his head.
"I was rescuing the Avatar from Admiral Zhao's dungeon," the prince answers his own question, "At first, I was doing it for myself, to bring him back to my father. But without the Avatar, we never could have made it. We fought our way out together … and … and …" Zuko's voice trails off.
"What, Prince Zuko?" coaxes Iroh.
Shakily, Zuko continues, "Something changed. It felt like I was finally fighting on the right side. We almost got away. Then the archers knocked me out with an arrow. The Avatar could have escaped and left me to my fate. But he took me with him when he fled."
Iroh asks gently, "and what happened then, Nephew?"
Zuko lowers his eyes, "He … he … tried to make friends with me, but, I struck out at him and he disappeared into the trees. I did not pursue him. At the time, I thought it was because I hadn't fully come to my senses…"
The fire prince goes on, "But then, the same sort of thing happened last night. I should have taken Katara prisoner so the Avatar would try to rescue her. But I … I just couldn't do it."
"So," Iroh suggests with a sly grin, "The girl got to you?"
Zuko's eyes spark with anger and he snaps, "It has NOTHING to do with the girl, Uncle!"
Then his voice subsides into bitterness. "I am not fit to lead. I do not have the Fire Nation's interests at heart. I must do what is best for everyone on our ship. I must go. Then you can take our men home."
The older man puts his arm around the younger man's shoulder. "Where will you go, Zuko?" he asks.
"I do not know, Uncle." Zuko responds, "I just know that things can never go back to the way they were. If inheriting the throne means continuing this war, I renounce it."
"But," Zuko adds resolutely, "I WILL find a way to fight back."
Iroh smiles at Zuko and says, "Sometimes, people stand up for what they believe in and others call them cowards and traitors, my boy."
Startled, Prince Zuko looks Iroh straight in the eyes.
"What do you mean?" he demands.
Iroh blandly replies, "I am only suggesting that you inform your men of your change of heart before leaving before jumping to conclusions and deserting us, Prince Zuko. You owe it to them … And you may be surprised by how they react."
Zuko bows his head, "I will do that, Uncle."
"What are your orders, sir?" inquires the lieutenant of the ship.
Admiral Zhao points to Appa's distant bulk hovering in the sky and replies, "Attack. and keep following them."
"But, they're out of range, Admiral!" responds the lieutenant.
"They are for now," Admiral Zhao admits. Then he smiles and rubs his hands together with satisfaction. "But they can't stay up there forever."
A rosy sunset subsides into twilight. A bright crescent moon rises in the sky as Aang steers Appa towards a high plateau on a deeply forested mountain with a shimmering stream flowing from the ice cap on top. The three friends begin setting up camp.
"It'll take a day for them to catch up to us, so we'd better get a good night's sleep," Sokka advises, then yawns and spreads out his sleeping bag.
The others do likewise and fall asleep.
At dawn, Sokka climbs up a tree to scope out the situation. He spies the Fire Navy ships approaching the harbor below and also sees a narrow chasm leading up the mountain a couple of miles away.
Sokka climbs down and reports to Aang and Katara, "They'll be here in just a few hours. We need to climb towards the summit as fast as we can."
"But, Sokka," Katara points out, "When the trees thin out, they'll be able to see us!"
Her brother answers, "They already know we're somewhere on this mountain. There's another way up the mountain. If they use that passage, we can create an avalanche and they'll be trapped."
"And how," Katara skeptically inquires, "Do we persuade them to use that particular passage?"
"Aang can fly Appa over that part of the mountain, meet us on top and then Appa can wait for us on the other side," replies Sokka.
"Wow," Katara exclaims as her brows lift in amazement, "I'm impressed!"
"You're brilliant!" Aang chimes in.
Meanwhile, a small blue ship that is barely distinguishable from the sky and water slips into a nearby cove unnoticed by either Sokka or Admiral Zhao.
Sokka, Katara and Aang meet at the top of the mountain as Appa grumbles and slogs down the other side with Momo.
"We have to wait until just the right moment," warns Sokka "When most of them are trapped in the passage, but before they get within range." They wait breathlessly for what seems like an eternity.
"Now," whispers Sokka.
"But I've never created an avalanche before," protests Katara.
"Look, all you need to do is crack the ice, then Aang can push it down into the passage!" retorts Sokka.
Katara gamely tries with no results and the three kids start to panic.
"Or maybe," jeers Sokka, "You CAN'T do it because you're worried that your new BOY friend Prince Psycho's down there with them!"
"He is NOT my boyfriend," Katara spits back angrily at her brother, as her hands angrily slice the air.
CRRR-RRR-AAACK!
The glacier splits and Sokka grins at his sister, who sticks her tongue out at him in reply. Aang swings around, grunts and tumbles the ice and snow down the passage towards their enemies, who panic but cannot get away.
Sokka, Katara and Aang jump up and down triumphantly, and joyfully cry, "We DID it!"
Then they hear an ominous "SWOOSH!" followed by an even more terrifying "THUNK!"
"Aaaugh!" cries Aang who is now pinned against the remnants of the glacier with arrows through his clothing.
Katara and Sokka whirl around in the direction of the arrows and see the Yuu Yan archers leaping from the trees below and swiftly approaching them. Aang blows out a huge gust of air that sweeps four of the assailants off the mountain, Sokka hurls his boomerang and knocks out two archers, and Katara buries three more attackers in a frigid pile of snow and ice.
But – SWOOSH! THUNK – the remaining archers quickly immobilize the brother and sister, who are now pinned against the glacier beside Aang.
Then Sokka's boomerang returns and bonks him on the head. For a few moments, tiny boomerangs, crescent moons, bisons and lemurs fly around the Water Tribe boy's head.
Aang draws another deep breath and furiously blows the remaining opponents away. Yet most of them manage to stagger to their feet and gather before their three prisoners.
They crisply divide into a double line of formation, hold up their bows to meet in an arch across the middle and await the approaching Fire Nation division, which marches triumphantly through the passage.
The leader smirks at the captives and commands, "Put them in chains and take them to Admiral Zhao."
Katara, Sokka and Aang hang down their heads and shiver with fear and cold.
"NOT SO FAST!" cries a voice from a precipice above.
Everyone look up and see a slender, muscular figure brandishing two long, curved, menacing broadswords and clad entirely in black except for the sinister, carved blue mask disguising his face. Katara and Sokka gasp in terror.
"And just when I think things can't POSSIBLY get any worse," Sokka grumbles, "they get worse!"
But Aang's eyes light up, a huge grin spreads across his face and he joyfully shouts, "You're back!"
The siblings frown and Sokka dryly inquires, "Another one of your weird friends?" as he recalls their adventure with King Bumi of Omashu.
The Avatar attempts to shrug despite the arrows piercing his clothing and mumbles, "Well … sort of maybe."
The mysterious figure nimbly swoops down between the two rows of archers cutting their bows and bowstrings in half with his swords as he goes, lands in front of the troop commander, and swiftly strikes him down.
The Fire troops close in on their lone opponent, but he deftly fights them off, whirling gracefully like a dervish as he effortlessly deflects their flames with his two swords.
Others attempt to fill the void, but they soon stumble over their fallen comrades. The sparkling white snow slowly stains with red.
Meanwhile, a host of men who are dressed and armed identically to their leader except for the simple black, cloth masks covering their eyes, appear from nowhere and surround the archers and fire troops.
"Give up!" cries the warrior in the blue mask. "You are surrounded!"
Panic ensues. One trooper almost manages to slip away, but a stocky fellow lunges back from the black-clad encirclement and hurls a sword that whirls through the air and plunges into the fugitive's back.
Sokka dryly comments, "Hey, isn't that one guy a bit old and chunky for a Ninja?"
It is growing dark. The masked men silently close in on Aang and Sokka, free their clothing from the arrows and vanish as suddenly as they had appeared.
Meanwhile, their leader approaches Katara with the sinuous gait of a panther and frees her himself. The girl's eyes glow with breathless admiration as she gazes up at her rescuer.
"Thank you," she whispers, "but …who ARE you?"
He looks down as if returning her gaze, but his eyes are invisible behind the inscrutable mask.
A startled blush rises to Katara's cheeks as he takes her hand and raises it with her palm facing up. He places something in the palm of her hand, folds her fingers over the object, covers them with her other hand, then bows his head and melts away into the night.
Katara gazes dreamily where her rescuer had stood and sighs, a soft blush suffusing her cheeks.
"Um … Katara?" warns Sokka, "Let's not go down that road again."
Katara remembers Jet's betrayal and sharply retorts, "And exactly WHAT ROAD are you TALKING about, Sokka!"
Aang touches Katara's wrist, looks in her eyes and nods his agreement.
"But … but," Katara protests, her hands still clasped together, "You KNOW him, Aang. You seemed happy to see him."
Aang nods and awkwardly scuffs the snow with his foot, "Yes … but … it's complicated, Katara. I'll explain later. You wait here while Sokka and I fetch Appa and Momo."
Alone on the mountain summit, her slim figure outlined by the moonlight, Katara looks up at the stars as a gust of cold wind lifts the twin looping strands of hair that frame her face. Then she remembers that her hero had placed something in the palm of her hand. Katara smiles as she unclasps her hands and unfolds her fingers.
Suddenly, her eyes fly wide open with shock and the color drains from her face as she discovers … her mother's necklace!