Disclaimer: the characters and places in the following work of fan-fiction are the intellectual property of Nickelodeon and, as such, they reserve the right to remove this story at their sole discretion.
This story is the seventh in a series, so please read (and review) the other six before continuing!
Previously on Avatar
"We can start by retaking Omashu," General How stated, formulating his plan out loud and pointing to various locations on the map as he spoke. "Now that Long Feng is no longer needlessly tying up military resources, we can send aid to the resistance hiding in the mountains."
"We intercepted a caravan of Fire Nation explosives en route to Omashu," Suki said grimly.
"They aren't explosives," replied the prince with a hint of confusion. Looking over the box, he announced thoughtfully, "they're…fireworks."
"If they're shipping toys and fireworks to Omashu for Solstice…" the Avatar realized out loud, "then that means-"
"There are civilians in the city," Sokka continued ominously, "families…"
"And children," finished Zuko gravely.
"…We snuck in trying to find some other way to take back the city that didn't involve killing everyone," Sokka insisted. "Nothing was supposed to happen until we got back, but unfortunately, General Bloodlust down there decided to ignore the plan."
The governor stared in disbelief at the boy's disgruntled rant, and then narrowed his eyes distrustfully.
"Lies," he hissed. "All lies!" Just as he was about to call for his guards again, he was once again interrupted by yet another newcomer.
"The boy speaks the truth, Yaozu."
"And why should I trust the words of a traitor and some water tribe brat?"
"Because they're trying to stop a massacre," declared Aang.
The sounds of battle raged in the streets of Omashu, intermingled with the cries of terrified women and children. Governor Yaozu gulped a bit as he realized he had long since lost all control over the situation. Turning to the Avatar, he eyed him uncertainly.
"Then you intend to end this butchery?"
"I can't," Aang replied quietly, "but you can."
"Are you suggesting I surrender?" asked Yaozu angrily, and then in a worried undertone, he whispered as his hand rose to his neck, "Ozai will have my head."
"If you want to save innocent lives, then the only thing you can do is surrender," Bumi insisted solemnly.
"Please," Aang added earnestly, "this has to stop."
The governor bowed low before Aang.
"Name your terms, Avatar," he intoned, "we surrender."
Book 3: Fire
Chapter 7: The Solstice Festival
The morning sun rose magnificently into the clear blue skies over Omashu, a glorious herald for the swiftly approaching summer solstice. Even the smelting fires in the city were dormant, so that nothing existed to mar the perfection of dawn.
Iroh sat at a low table in the main room of the accommodations they'd been given: a nice apartment in the middle tier near the governor's house. He had just poured a cup of tea when Sokka and Katara entered the room. The older man looked up, and then glancing at the bedroom beyond them, noticed they were the only ones there.
"Where are the others?" he asked curiously.
"They left earlier," Sokka yawned as he replied. "Aang said he was taking Zuko and Toph on a quick tour of the city."
Iroh glanced out the window at Omashu's sprawling tiers.
"In a city this large," he mused doubtfully, "I'm sure it will be anything but 'quick'..."
Aang's face was brimming with joy and excitement as he leaned out over the front of the stone bin hurtling down the delivery chute.
"HA-ha!" he shouted with glee, "Yeah!"
Behind him, Toph had her arms flung into the air, a huge grin spread across her face as she also whooped.
"Woooo-hoo!" she laughed.
Then there was Zuko, sitting at the back of the bin wearing an expression of sheer terror, with his hands gripping the sides so tightly that his knuckles were white.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" he shrieked.
Sokka's ears caught the sound as he was about to take a bite of his breakfast, and he turned to look out the window just as the delivery bin carrying Aang, Toph, and Zuko went rocketing by.
"Actually," he remarked casually to Iroh, before stuffing the food in his mouth, "I don't think it will take them long at all."
A short while later, the earthen bin scraped to a halt, sending up a small cloud of dust as it reached the delivery station at the bottom of the chute. Toph and Aang both smiled excitedly as they hopped out, while Zuko remained sitting there, white-faced and windblown.
"That was great!" exclaimed Toph.
"I thought you'd like it," Aang said happily. Then noticing Zuko, asked, "You okay?"
"I think my stomach is still somewhere on the middle tier," the prince answered shakily, starting to turn slightly green.
"Sooo…I guess that means you don't want to see the other side of the city?" inquired Aang timidly.
Not trusting his ability to move without falling over, Zuko merely fixed an acidic glare on the young air bender that suggested Aang would be fried to a crisp if he tried to instigate another 'tour'. The boy gulped slightly with a sheepish grin as he turned to his other friend.
"Um, I'll see you back at the top, Toph," Aang said hastily, and in the blink of an eye the only thing filling the space where he'd been standing was a swirl of air.
Toph turned toward Zuko, who was now lurching his way over to the wall of the delivery station. She could tell that he'd not enjoyed the 'tour' one bit, and while she found this thoroughly amusing, she did feel a little bad for him.
They hadn't exactly given him much choice in the matter, having jokingly threatened to encase him in stone and drag him along. Of course, now that she thought about it, he'd given in a lot faster than she'd expected, and she couldn't help but wonder if it was because he really thought they'd make good on their threat, or if he was simply so regretful about the things he'd done in the past that he was willing to go through just about anything to earn their friendship. Somehow, she had a feeling it was the latter.
"Would you at least like a ride back up?" she offered kindly as she stepped into the delivery system's elevator shaft.
"No thanks," he replied weakly as he nursed his churning stomach and sat down, "I think I'll walk."
Not wanting to press the issue or humiliate him further by making fun of his predicament, she merely shrugged, feigning disinterest.
"Suit yourself. But if you change your mind, we'll be at the north chute near the city gates in just a bit."
And with that, she lifted her hands and set the earth-bending-powered elevator into motion.
Zuko let out a long breath as the green tinge began to leave his face and he felt that his stomach was finally catching up with the rest of his body. He sat there in the shade of the building wondering how he'd been persuaded to go on such a ridiculous ride in the first place.
"Crazy air bender's going to be the death of me," he muttered under his breath.
Commander Huo stood on the observation deck of his ship, staring out at the harbor in the distance. He didn't even turn as he heard footfalls behind him. Lieutenant Jee shifted nervously in the doorway.
"It seems the bird that went missing several days ago has been…found," Jee announced. Huo took a deep breath.
"Let me guess," he drawled mildly, "it came back with a message from Fire Lord Ozai."
Jee stepped forward with a scroll in his hand and held it out to his commanding officer.
"How'd you know?" he said dryly.
Huo only threw the other man a grim smile as he took the proffered missive. He opened the page and read it over, nodding as if it contained nothing he didn't already know. Rolling it back up, he addressed Jee.
"Inform the princess that I would like to see her," he said briskly, "We have some… things…to discuss."
Jee gave a curt bow.
"Yes, Sir."
Aang and Toph were on their way down the north chute while Zuko sat against the wall of the parcel station, having decided a lift back up to the middle tier wasn't such a bad idea after all. He hadn't been there long when the sound of a slight commotion around the corner caught his attention. Curious, he got to his feet and headed out toward the main square.
Zuko wandered cautiously out into the plaza and looked around. The main gates of the city had been opened, and a throng of earth kingdom refugees had begun shuffling in.
The commotion he'd heard was their startled reaction to the changes that had been made to the city. Their faces were a mix of shock, confusion, sorrow, and anger, and a low murmur rumbled through the crowd as people reacted to what they saw.
"Oh my…"
"It's awful!"
"What did they do?"
"Our city…"
"My home…"
At first, he didn't quite know what was wrong. But then he looked around at the city and saw the red tiled roofs, the stone buildings blackened by the soot of smelting forges, the crimson banners fluttering in the breeze, and he began to understand.
This was not the Omashu they'd left; it was alien now, it was…Fire Nation. And to make matters worse, the people who had taken over the city were still here, walking their streets, living in their homes.
An inexplicable sensation of regret and shame settled over the prince. Even though he knew this wasn't technically his fault, it didn't diminish his feelings of guilt, or his despair at knowing there was probably no way to undo the damage.
So absorbed was he in his thoughts, that he didn't even notice when Aang and Toph wandered up to stand beside him until one of them spoke.
"What's going on?" asked Toph.
Aang gazed at the shocked and dismayed faces of the returning citizens, and immediately understood what was wrong.
"The people of Omashu have come back…," he explained, then he hung his head sadly, "But it's not what they expected."
"What do you mean?" she asked, slightly confused. She could sense the dismay coming from the returning refugees, but without being able to see the city and the drastic way it had changed, she had no idea what was causing their distress.
Aang and Zuko exchanged uncertain looks, wondering how they could possibly describe to their blind friend what the refugees had come home to.
"The city is…different now," Aang answered sorrowfully. "It's not the same as when they left."
"But it's nothing that can't be fixed, right?" she reasoned, "I mean, I can tell there's a bunch of metal plating on the walls, but…how hard can it be to take all that down?"
"It's not just the way it looks, Toph," Zuko added seriously. "The city is filled with colonists from the Fire Nation who are afraid that if they return home they'll face punishment for surrendering."
"What kind of punishment?" Toph asked warily. Zuko looked at the faces of his countrymen, peering out from doorways and windows, some apprehensive, others with thinly veiled animosity.
"You don't want to know," he responded quietly.
"Oh," she murmured as the depth of the predicament became clear. "Isn't there anything we can do?"
"I don't know," answered Aang thoughtfully, shifting his gaze from the heartbroken people of Omashu to the unreceptive Fire Nation colonists. He had managed to save the citizens, both Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom, but now they were all displaced, and it occurred to him that the whole world would be like this if (when!) he succeeded in ending the war.
He had to fix it somehow. He was the Avatar. Restoring peace and balance in the world was his duty. His face settled into a look of firm resolve, as he decided that this would be his first true test. When he spoke again, his voice was filled with determination.
"But I'm going to try."
Personal Note: I can't help but feel that I completely bombed on the last 'episode' I published (Reclaiming Omashu). I wanted an unexpected resolution to the crisis, going for 'tension' rather than 'action', but instead I think I wound up with something far too anticlimactic for most people's tastes. This has led me to re-evaluate, once again, my ability as a writer to see this 'season' all the way through to the end.
I recently told someone that trying to build on the work of another author, and still maintain the integrity of the original work, has to be one of the gutsiest challenges a writer can undertake, and that the series of Avatar stories I am currently working on is the hardest form of writing I have ever done. But the only reason I am doing it is because I firmly believe that fans like me are desperate for it in the absence of the third season.
I've said this before, and I'll say it again:
I don't write for myself, I write for Avatar Fans.
But the fact that I have absolutely NO idea how many people are even reading this series makes it difficult for me to decide whether or not I should continue. Since FanFiction only counts raw hits, and not unique hits, I don't know if there are 400 people reading, or 40 people reading it 10 times each, or if it's just the 10 or so people who leave regular reviews who are reading it 40 times each. I simply don't have any way of knowing with so little feedback.
So if every person who is following these stories would please take the time to leave just ONE review (good or bad) at some point during this 'episode', it would give me a much more accurate picture of my audience and help me determine if I should even bother with this project anymore or not.