It's pretty amazing what the mind will notice even during the most fatal of situations, for instance here I was my platoon about to be wiped out by a company of fire nation veterans and I notice a woman in blue running towards the rear of the fire nation column I shook my head, no way that we could do anything for her except perhaps pull the fire nation away from her. Besides we needed to fall back before they completely encircled us. "Fall back to the river!" I yelled "We'll make our stand there, and show these bloody morons how much it costs to buy riverside property from the earth kingdom!" There wasn't much of a cheer, but I could see that the men were happy to stop running, to stop being hounded, and finally fight a fight on our own terms.
Even if there wasn't much more than a fool's hope that we could win.
As we reached the river we turned more or less as one to face the oncoming fire nation soldiers. As I turned I realized that they were no longer organized, they had seen us running and thought that they were chasing a defeated enemy. My heart soared, if they attacked in that disorganized fashion we might actually stand a chance to defeat them, or at least rout them momentarily. But my hopes died as a wall of fire sprung up in front of the advancing men, the wall lasted only long enough for their ranking officer to get the men organized before it faded to nonexistence. I swore "Sorry guys their officer is good. Avoid engaging him if you can, just leave him to me." Truth be told I wasn't at all sure I could take him, but I wasn't about to let my men go up against a monster like that.
The Fire nation let loose three specifically timed volleys of fire, timed so that we wouldn't be able to harass them unless we wanted to catch a fire ball to the face, and charged. "COVER!" I yelled bringing a slab of stone up to protect myself and those near me. I saw Lee and Chin go down in the first volley but no one else was hit as the other two landed among us like flaming rain. I didn't notice any other casualties for a while after that, but then again I was a little distracted fighting for my life against the Fire Nation infantry.
I lifted a rock and sent it crushing into the ribs of some fire bender who had a few of my men pinned down. Power of fire comes from the breath. I thought Well good luck breathing now sucker.Then I noticed the girl in blue again. She was still coming towards the battle, but now she was much closer. I could actually make out more than just the color of her clothes. She couldn't have been more than 19! If she didn't turn around soon she'd be right in the thick of the melee, where she'd probably die or be captured like the rest of my men. I couldn't let that happen and tried desperately to get her attention and warn her away from the battle.
I succeeded in the first matter only, I got her attention and she looked up and met my eyes. It was then that I noticed for the first time her expression. It wasn't emotional, or scared. It was a look of sheer confidance. She was running headlong into a confrontation with almost a full company of veteran Fire Nation soldiers and she wasn't the least bit worried. She was either really stupid, or knew something I didn't.
She arrived at a location that she evidently deemed close enough, and planted her feet preparing to join the battle. In the half second before she set herself into action I saw an emotion deeper than her confidance, it was something cold and lethal. She gave a slight smile and my blood nearly ran cold. At that moment I was just happy that I wasn't about to fight her.
She moved gracefully and made short work of the company. She used the river and swept them all up at once. Down to the man. I was stunned, completely immobilized by the awesome display of power. She hadn't just used the water from the river; she had picked up the entire river and smashed the company with it, sweeping them back up and depositing them back into the dry river bed before the watter from upstream had a chance to so much as rewet the mud. She fixed a lock of hair that had come out of place during the… battle was the wrong word, movement fit more. And walked slowly towards me. After the majority of the Fire Nation had surfaced she froze the river with one breath and a downward motion of her right hand.
"Are…Are you?" I stammered trying vainly to get my mouth to say the name of the hero who had to be standing before me.
She smiled, and this time I melted, the smile was sweet and warm, but it also seemed the slightest bit sad which made it all the more beautiful. "Yes. I am. The Fire Nation will regret the day that they killed Avatar Aang. We will win this war." As she said this her face set in grave determination. I heard the low rumbling call of a beast I'd never heard before and a large shadow passed over head. "I must go soon, Sokka will be unbearably annoyed with me if we're late to his precious general's staff meeting, but first you have wounded. Allow me to help." I nodded speechless, my men, my platoon, and my life were saved. And all by someone I'd never thought I'd meet. The Ice Queen herself, Katarra.