The Rise and Fall of Yu Dao
The day of Toph and Satoru's arrival finally came on one of the hottest, most uncomfortable days of the year. Aang had somehow managed to convince Zuko to take some time away from his letters and parchments in the stale heat of the inn, and the pair now stood in the backyard, arms raised towards each other. It had been some time since they had practiced firebending together, and seeing the stress permanently etched across Zuko's brow, Aang had insisted that he needed it. There was no doubt, as their sparring had begun, that Zuko had a lot of pent up rage, and it was about all Aang could do to avoid the searing hot fireballs that were blasted at him. In truth, it wasn't so much sparring as target practice, but Aang didn't complain, kicking a few blasts at Zuko whilst mainly trying to stay out of the way. It was with some relief, however, when Kama, the innkeeper, peeked her head out of the back door and called to them.
"There is a man and woman here looking for you," she said, though she yelped when Zuko kicked one last flame up at Aang, who dodged with a kick of his heels.
"Sorry," Zuko apologised gruffly, looking back at the innkeeper. She threw him a wide eyed glare, before ducking her head back into the building.
"That'll be Toph and Satoru," Aang said cheerfully, grabbing the towel and wiping his profusely sweating torso. Pulling shirts back over their heads, the pair pushed back through the door, and with her hands crossed irritably over her chest, a scowl on her face, stood Toph. She had grown over the past few years, though admittedly not by a huge amount. She still barely scrapped five feet. But her height did not take away from how intimidating the small earth bender could be, and Aang's wide grin certainly faltered when he saw her frown.
"I thought the plan was to meet us at the gates," she snapped. "We had to ask for directions!"
"Oh," Aang replied. "Umm, sorry Toph, I guess we just thought you were meeting us here."
"It's ok, we're here now," said the man stood behind her brightly. He was much taller than Toph, bespectacled with curly black hair. Toph stuck out her tongue, irritably.
"Did you have a safe trip?" Asked Zuko, after glancing uncomfortably at Aang.
"Oh yeh, it was great," Toph replied, sarcastically. "Nothing like being up in the air where I can't see!"
"You came by balloon?" Aang asked curiously. Satoru nodded, though he looked worriedly sideways at Toph.
"It was quicker," he explained. "And we were already running a little late."
"No harm done!" Aang forced the grin back to his face again, hoping he could lighten the mood lowered by the angry earthbender. "It's probably too late now to call a meeting with the council," he continued, trying to ignore the twitching of one of Toph's lower lids. "So I vote you spend the rest of the day relaxing and we can get things organised for first thing in the morning."
"Relax here?" Toph sighed. "Twinkletoes, this place is dull as anything."
"Not at all!" Satoru cried. "The mine isn't too far, we could go and take a look at it, get more of a feel for it before we speak to the council tomorrow?"
"Sounds like a good idea to me," Aang agreed. "We can take Appa."
"Great," Toph muttered. "More flying."
As they soared over the slightly shimmering city of Yu Dao, Zuko and Toph clearly both there against their best judgement, Aang turned back to his passengers, trying to get a conversation going.
"So how have things be in Gaoling?" He asked. "Were you able to get any deals with the refinery?"
"Yeh, no problem," Toph replied indifferently. "My dad's still the richest guy there, it wasn't hard to get everyone he wanted on board."
"What about your mum?" Aang continued, tentatively. He saw Satoru stiffen, looking uncomfortably over at Toph.
"Oh, well ..." Toph sat up. "She still owns half the estate. But she's moved out of town, she lives in Ba Sing Se now. With her new husband."
"Oh," Aang replied, not really sure what else to say.
"It's fine, I'm not bothered," Toph replied, though her tone indicated otherwise. "Which reminds me," she added. "Where's Sugar Queen?"
"She and Sokka are back in the Southern Water Tribe. I was supposed to be going back there myself but, well ..." he trailed off, glancing at Zuko who seemed to be staring out over the side of Appa's saddle, ignoring the conversation.
"I'm just surprised she doesn't want to be here," Toph continued. "Negotiations have sort of become her thing, haven't they?"
Toph wasn't wrong on that regard. In the years that followed the war it had become very clear that Katara had a knack for convincing people to do the right thing in terms of progress. She had, after all, been the one to convince Aang that the Harmony Restoration Project wasn't the great idea he had thought it was, and on many occasions Katara had been the one to lead when speaking to the world leaders on important matters.
"There's a lot going on in the South Pole," Aang answered. "They're expanding the village, I think she's teaching some Northern Water Tribe women who have moved to the South Pole to learn waterbending."
"Sounds like she's got everything all worked out over there then," Toph replied, stifling a yawn. Aang felt his stomach lurch and said nothing. Soon enough they rose over a hill to see the Yu Dao mines spread wide across a huge crater in the earth. The ground was a rust red, spiraling like an inverted termite mound deep down into the ground, silver picks glinting in the sunlight as rows of workers hacked their way into the earth walls. Towards the far side of the impressive, though to Aang somewhat upsetting sight, was a metal hut. Pulling gently on the reins, Aang angled Appa downwards, and to the surprise of the three men standing outside the hut, they touched down heavily, billowing a red dust across them.
"Whoops, sorry about that!" Aang called, jumping down from Appa's head. As the dust settled, three shocked faces looked back at them. One of them, a very large man dressed in green Earth Nation attire that stretched across his generous middle, finally managed to find his voice.
"Who're you?"
Aang hesitated. With the flying bison, the arrow across his forehead, and the scarred face of the Firelord standing beside him, he wasn't quite sure how to reply. It wasn't that he expected everyone to know him, of course, but it was common knowledge by now what the Avatar looked like.
"I'm Avatar Aang," he replied, bowing. "And this is F-"
"Avatar Aang!" The man cried, slapping himself across the forehead. "Of course, how could I be so silly?"
"How indeed?" Toph muttered, under her breath.
"My name is Gajja, I run the mines here at Yu Dao. You'll have to excuse me, I had no idea that you would be visiting so soon."
"Well, my friends Toph and Satoru arrived today, and as the council will be meeting tomorrow, we figured it would be good if you could meet first." Aang stepped back. "Gajja, this is Toph Beifong."
Toph inclined her head, before spitting sharply to her right side. Gajja's smile faltered.
"And this is Satoru, he runs the Earthern Fire Refinery,"
"Pleased to meet you," Satoru said, reaching out a thin hand, which was completely swallowed by Gajja's large ones.
"The pleasure is all mine!" Gajja said enthusiastically. "We do what we can here, and dare I say the mine has run very successfully even through the war, but with more non benders looking to start working here we are very eager to learn more about what you can offer us!"
"And you us," Satoru replied. "The metal industry is only growing, and though I feel that our refinery is more than up to the task, we still need the raw material to keep it that way."
The pair of them exchanged pleasantries for a while longer, Aang noticing how irritated Toph seemed to be by the whole ordeal, before Gajja finally announced, "why don't we have a tour of the mines? I can show you each of the ores that we mainly excavate here, and where it is we could stand to improve."
Satoru followed eagerly, quickly followed by Aang. Toph and Zuko seemed to both sigh before they, too followed.
"As you can see, we run on pretty basic technology," Gajja continued, as they began to walk down the long spiraling path of earth that lead deep into the mine below. Metal and wood fencing lined the outside of each pathway, to prevent anyone from falling into the deep depths below. Peering over the fence Aang couldn't hold in a light shudder at the thought of anyone falling to their deaths down that deep dark hole. "We have long since gathered all the ore along the top twenty meters of earth, and for the most part the upper areas remain empty with the exclusion of some of our younger workers." He gestured to several men and woman who looked over with interest at the Avatar and his companions, headed their way. "Though the ore is long gone, there is still quite a selection of attractive stone that fetches quite a price as collectibles in the inner rings or Ba Sing Se."
"People pay money for this?" Toph asked, putting her hand on the small round stones that piled high in one of the wheelbarrows, her expression indignant.
"You bet they do," Gajja replied. "You see there are some crafters in Ba Sing Se who are able to make quite wonderful trinkets from the stone, which is soft enough for even a non bender to work with."
"Ingenious," Satoru uttered, his eyes rapt with attention.
"Of course, it's not a huge income," Gajja continued. "But it makes use of parts of the mine we thought were no longer of any value."
Aang looked over at Zuko, who seemed to be sharing his thoughts.
"So Yu Dao makes quite a profit out of this place?" He asked.
"I don't often concern myself with how much the council chooses to sell off the products once they have bought them from me. But it keeps my employees and myself well fed!" He laughed broadly, patting his stomach.
The group followed Gajja down a little ways past the miners picking for the smooth stones, before coming to halt at what looked like a large wooden and and metal box, held up with a complicated series of ropes, hanging over the drop into the center of the mine.
"The next layers are much the same, so we will need to take the elevator down to get to where the ore mining takes place," he said, gesturing to box. "I'm afraid there's too many of us to make one trip, but I will go down first with Satoru and the young lady, if the Avatar and Firelord are happy to wait until the elevator comes back up?"
"That's fine, Gajja," Aang replied. But Toph seemed to have other ideas.
"There's no way I'm getting in that," she snapped. But to Aang's complete surprise he saw Satoru excitedly grab her hand and pull her into the elevator. If that had been Aang trying that, or anyone else for that matter, he was sure they would have met a very painful end. But with face blushed beetroot red and her teeth grit, Aang watched as Toph stood in the elevator. Gajja leaned over the side and yelled, "Pull 'er down!" With a ominous creak, Aang watched as the rope started to shift, and the elevator slowly began to make its descent, watching as his friends and Gajja disappeared from view.
"Do you get the feeling that the council haven't been completely honest with us over how much they actually bring into the City?" Zuko asked at once, his eyes narrowed as he looked back at the miners collecting the stones.
"Yes," Aang replied. "But then, if this all goes through and Satoru can get a deal with the mine, maybe he can have a bit of say on the matter."
"I wouldn't keep your hopes up," Zuko said gravely. He walked forward peering over the edge. "I can still see them. This is going to take ages."
"Short cut?" Aang asked, opening his glider. Zuko let out a laugh, for the first time in a few days sounding genuinely humored.
"I can make my own way down," he replied, before swiftly dropping from the edge of the pathway. Aang looked over to see the Firelord dropping gracefully into the darkness, great bursts of fire lighting the drop as he eased his fall with firebending. Grabbing his staff above his head, Aang too dropped.
It was with a certain smugness that Aang and Zuko waited at the bottom of drop, waiting for the elevator to finally finish it's slow descent. Miners had stopped, staring wide mouthed and gobsmacked at the Avatar and Firelord suddenly dropping into their midst, and Aang could hear Gajja's loud laughter. Eventually enough, the elevator touched down, and an angry looking Toph quickly stepped out.
"Of course, I'm not sure why I thought an airbender would need the help of an elevator to get down, but there you are," he said brightly. He looked round at the wide pathway they had landed on, and the workers quickly turned their attention back to the walls. "Now this is where the real work happens," Gajja continued. "Earthbenders create the wide channels in the rock, and then our miners, a collection of benders and nonbenders, extract the iron ore. The ore is then pushed back to here in the wheelbarrows, where they're tipped into the rock basins over here."
They followed Gajja as he walked around the wall, where five large rock basins stood. Ore was almost full to the top on the one furthest from them, and Gajja cleared his throat loudly. One of the workers, a fierce looking woman with jet black hair and eyes came forward.
"I know it's not quite full yet, Parvati, but could you perhaps give out guests a demonstration?"
Parvati nodded, dropping low on her haunches, and with a raise of her muscled arms the rock basin started its rapid ascent up the side of the wall.
"Benders up top then tip the ore into a series of wheelbarrows and they're taken out of the mine," Gajja said, his voice tipped with pride. "As I said, it's a basic system and we rely almost entirely on earthbenders to do it, but it has been a successful process for the better part of a century now."
Satoru looked around, clearly impressed. "I can certainly see how we're going to be able to help each other. Toph, what do you think?"
The group looked over at Toph, who was leaning against one of the walls. "I think this would move faster with metalbenders," she said. "But for the time being I think your machines can make enough of a difference."
"Metalbenders?" Gajja gasped. "But, you're the only one, surely?"
At that, Toph grinned, though it looked more reminiscent of a cat grinning at a mouse than anything else. "Not any more. I am the only one who can teach metalbending, of course," she added with a wave of her hand. "But I have been training metalbenders for the best part of two years now."
"That is simply amazing!" Gajja gasped. "Do you think there is any chance any of them would be willing to work in the mines?"
Toph scoffed. "There are only a few of us, and we are always at high demand. Mostly we help keep Satoru's machines running and help where necessary. But hey, in the future, who knows?"
Gajja seemed practically giddy.
"So," Aang asked, stepping forwards. "Do you think that yourself and Satoru will be happy to work out a deal?"
"Most certainly," Gajja replied. "I will, too, be at the council meeting tomorrow, though if you wanted to discuss terms now ..?"
"Uh, I think it best to wait until everyone is present," Zuko broke in, seeing the excitement on Satoru's face. "I don't think the Mayor would be too pleased if we had something worked out behind his back."
"Oh," Gajja said, slightly disappointed. "Yes, you're right of course."
A good twenty minutes later, after waiting patiently and painfully for Satoru and Gajja to get back to the top in the elevator, Toph having bended herself up before Satoru could say otherwise, the group said their goodbyes to Gajja, before alighting on Appa, taking off and soaring back over the sparse woodland between the mines and Yu Dao.
"What a nice man," Satoru said, still grinning.
"I don't know why," Aang said, "but I just expected him to be a rude sort of man."
"Please," Toph scoffed. "If we decide to embrace technology rather than trees and spirits that doesn't make us unpleasant people."
"That's not what I-" but Aang, seeing the smirk on Toph's face, decided it best not to finish that sentence.
Later that night, as the baking hot sun was finally starting its descent in the sky, Aang, Zuko, Toph, and Satoru sat in the inns backyard, having elected to enjoy their evening meal in the considerably less stuffy outdoors. The conversation had turned to how they hoped tomorrow would go down with the council. Zuko and Aang were trying to explain to them how each of the council members seemed to think and act, and how best to go about certain details of the agreements. Toph seemed confident that she could get what she wanted from them with no issue, but Zuko seemed to be getting frustrated at how dismissive she was being about the council.
"They're a team, remember," he all but snapped. "We're the outsiders and they stick together on almost every decision. But they listen to Yuddha most of all, more so than the mayor. So if you have to appeal to anyone then appeal to him."
"Alright, alright, Sparky," Toph sighed, before taking a huge gulp of her tea.
"Yuddha can be very shrewd," Aang continued on from Zuko. "So just make sure you have all your facts ready before putting anything across."
"What if it doesn't work out" Satoru asked, nervous for the first time.
"It has to," Zuko cut across before Aang could answer.
"And don't forget Gajja will be there." Aang's voice was more encouraging than Zuko's. "He wants this to go ahead as badly as you do."
"We'll be fine," Toph sighed. "Just, no one say anything first that may upset them."
At that, an uncomfortable silence followed, Aang and Zuko exchanging quick glances.
"Oh what was that?" Toph asked, tiredly.
"What was what?" Aang replied innocently.
"The awkward silence following my quite prominent words. Don't pretend you didn't notice. What else has happened? What could potentially piss this already pissy council off?"
Aang shifted where he sat, looking across at Zuko hoping that he would perhaps offer to explain. But Zuko had busied himself with his drink.
"Ok," Aang sighed. "Well a few days ago there was an attack in Mahi Kah. The council know about it, of course, but we've yet had time to go into the details of what happened. Zuko here is worried that the same thing could happen in the other colonies. I'm not so sure-"
"What sort of attack?" Toph asked. For once her voice not gloomy but genuinely interested.
"Well, it was a bit odd," Aang confessed. "I got a hawk saying that Mahi Kah was under attack. When I got there the place was on fire. I managed to put it out, but there was someone there, I couldn't see his face he kept his hood up, but he was definitely a firebender."
"What's so odd about that?" Toph asked blankly. "An New Ozai sympathizer against the coalition, easy."
"That's what I said," Zuko interrupted, tearing his gaze away from his now empty glass.
"I don't know ..." Aang said quietly. "It just ... I dunno it didn't feel like it."
"Well spirits knows we best pay attention to your feelings, Twinkletoes," Toph suddenly cackled. "Relax. Firebender attacking a coalition town isn't exactly an odd occurrence, and I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner."
Doubtfully, Aang shrugged his shoulders.
"Well," Satoru said at length, glancing over at Toph. "We should probably get to bed. It'll be a long day today."
Aang watched a curious pink flush rise to Toph's cheeks as she, too, stood.
"Yep, me too. I've had enough excitement for today."
"Goodnight, Aang, Zuko," Satoru said, with a small bow. Aang and Zuko nodded back, as Satoru turned and headed inside. Toph raised a hand, before following after him. Aang, brow furrowed, watched them go, though Zuko didn't seem the least bit interested in what might be going on between Toph and Satoru, and had already got to his feet.
"I'm off also," he said. "See you bright and early."
"Right."
After several minutes staring up at the clear starry sky, his mind racing over all the new information they had gained that day before he, too, decided it was time to call it a night.
The next morning they all woke early, though bright certainly wasn't the descriptive for some of their company. Zuko seemed to be practically dreading the meeting to come, and his slouch of his shoulders and distracted look on his face at breakfast made that perfectly clear. Toph, still, looked entirely bored by proceedings. It seemed that only Satoru and Aang seemed to eager to get started, which in itself was unusual given how tedious Aang found each and every one of these meetings.
After breakfast, the four of them got to their feet, and made their way to the large central courtyard where stood, tall and proud, the beautiful building that housed the council halls. Gajja was stood outside, and he waved eagerly at them as they approached, before heading in together.
It was clear that Toph had been right. They had had nothing to worry about. Gajja and Satoru were so enthusiastic in their approach that there wasn't anything for the council not to love. Much to Zuko's relief, Aang was sure, he had only needed to speak once or twice, when asked about various Fire Nation involvements in certain aspects of the refinery, and Aang hadn't needed to talk at all. After all of half an hour, Satoru and Gajja were standing and shaking hands, before going ahead and each shaking hands with the mayor. Aang looked across at Zuko, each of them clearly relieved.
"I'm very pleased this could have been worked out, Mayor," Gajja said, with a wide grin. "I'm sure Satoru and I will begin work as soon as possible."
"That is very good to hear, Gajja!" Replied the Mayor, and he went to grab the hammer, as if to call the meeting to close.
"Actually, Mayor Morishita," Aang said, quickly taking to his feet. "There is another matter that we wish to discuss."
Brows raised, the Mayor looked across as his fellow councilmen, before nodding.
"Though we require the council only on this matter," Aang continued, casting Toph an apologetic look before realising that she couldn't see it.
"No worries, Avatar!" Gajja boomed in his cheerful voice. He bowed, and Aang bowed in turn, as he, Satoru, and Toph filed out of the room. Once they had gone, Aang took his seat once more, looking across at the council, who were eyeing him curiously.
"I know that you've all heard of the situation a few days ago in Mahi Kah," Aang said, and almost with resignation the council nodded. "I was hoping that we would be able to discuss the matter."
"You'll be pleased to know, Avatar Aang, that we on the council have already talked about it and come to a decision."
Aang mouthed silently for a moment, gobsmacked. "You've ... you've already come to a decision? About what exactly? What decision have you come to?"
"It seems obvious to everyone on this table that we are merely looking at a Fire Nation rebel who takes issues with the Fire and Earth Kingdom colonies," the Mayor explained kindly, as if speaking to a young child. "Mahi Kah survived, with extra security we can handle this."
For a moment, Aang didn't quite know what to say. He had expected ... he wasn't really sure what he had expected. But he certainly wasn't prepared for the council to be behaving so nonchalantly over the entire thing.
"With respect, Mayor," Aang pressed, "I faced the one who was responsibility for the burning of Mahi Kah, and he was much more powerful than any of the benders you have here." Yuddha snorted.
"One bender, perhaps," he interrupted. "But we have perhaps the best law enforcement in the country, second only to Ba Sing Se, comprising of very talents earth and firebenders. Mahi Kan is a small town, without much in the way of defense, we are far better prepared."
Aang looked between the four of five of them sat opposite he and Zuko. "Even so," he said tentatively. "I would prefer if I could have some involvement in your defenses-"
"But don't you have somewhere else to be than Yu Dao?" Houka, one of the Fire Nation representatives, asked innocently. "It's hard not to hear the whispers from the Fire Nation Capital regarding how worried they are at how long their Firelord has been absent. Surely your own people ... those acolytes, will be needing you?"
Aang blinked back, blankly.
"They don't need to me to babysit them. But I'm not sure what that has to do w-"
"No, Houka is right," said Yuddha, a cold smirk now playing across his lips. "If I remember rightly, our last discussion you were talking about how you wanted to involved the Water Tribes but couldn't until things were more settled. That's all well and good as a goal, but I ask, what is the point in a coalition with just three nations?"
At that, Aang's mouth dropped. He looked back at Zuko, who seemed just as surprised as he felt.
"Well, as you've probably noticed," Aang replied, somewhat shortly. "I'm all that's left of the Air Nation. And I'm here, and offering to help."
"No no you misunderstand me," Yuddha continued, his voice dripping with false empathy. "Shouldn't you be spending less time trying to sort out the other nations and focus on your own? You're sixteen now, yes?"
"Y-"
"Well shouldn't you have a wife already?"
"Uh-" Aang stammered, unsure of how to deal with this fresh and unexpected attack.
"Now I won't pretend to know all there is about the Air Nation, but I do now that all children born in the Air Nation were benders, weren't they?"
"I don't-"
"So, it seems to me that a suitable non-bending wife should have been found for you already."
"That's not for you to decide, Yuddha!" Aang snapped, heat rising to his face. Beside him, Zuko looked on with concern, worried at how well Aang could hold his own against such a personal attack. But Yuddha continued, as if he hadn't heard him.
"If you want peace for the world, as you claim, then perhaps it's time your grow up and do your duty as the Avatar and the last remaining Air Nomad. We are more than happy to welcome the Water Tribe into our city when the time is right, but in inclusiveness if truly what you seek, then you should consider more the future of your race, and less-" he hesitated, clearly trying to hold back a grin, "inappropriate relationships."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Aang asked, his voice low.
"It means that maybe you should spend less time with that Water Tribe peasant girl and find a woman more suited to you."
At that, Aang snapped. He got to his feet, eyes flashing angrily as his hands curled into fists. "How dare you speak about Katara that way!" The temperature in the hall seemed to drop several degrees, and in an instant it became clear that Yuddha has clearly pushed it too far. Zuko, worried as it seemed others in the room were, that Aang may unleash his fury should Yuddha say another word, too jumped to his feet, grabbing Aang's arm. Aang looked across at him, face still twisted in anger, before letting out a long low breath.
"Well," he said, his voice again low and level, "if you think that you are capable of protecting yourself against any potential attack, then I think it best that we take our leave."
"I think that would be wise," Yuddha said shortly. Never before had Aang wanted to punch something as much as he wanted to hit that smug, black eyed face, but he pushed the feeling aside, and bowed to the council, who nervously bowed back. Then, hardly waiting for Zuko, he stalked out of the hall, his feet hardly touching the ground as he walked.
Once outside in the suffocating heat, he could hear Zuko calling out to him. He didn't want to stop, not even when he saw Toph and Satoru, who had clearly been waiting outside, lounging on the fountain in the central courtyard, walk up to him expectantly.
"Aang, wait! Just slow down."
"I don't want to talk about it, Zuko," Aang growled, avoiding his friends concerned gaze.
"Talk about what?" Toph asked, joining them.
"Didn't I just say I didn't want to talk about it?" Aang snapped at her. Toph raised her hands.
"Alright then, jeeze ..."
"Look, Aang, don't let what Yuddha said get to you, the guy's a nasty piece of work. We already knew that."
Aang, still glaring angrily back at the halls, finally nodded, and Zuko clapped him on the shoulder.
"Good. We still had a huge success in there, after all, so let's just focus on that."
Glumly, Aang nodded again, though he was still seething over what Yuddha had said to him.
"Let's get back to the inn," Zuko continued. "I honestly can't wait to start packing."
Aang, however, opened his glider. "You go," he muttered, not looking at any of them. "I'll catch you guys back there later."
oOoOo
Not far from Yu Dao there stood an unusual rock, pitch black in colour and glittering like the wing cases of a beetle in the hot summer sun. The rock itself looked over a small pool, deep blue in colour, that tapered off into the gentle stream that meandered away down the rocky hills that surrounded it, plush with moss and other thick green plants. To the left of the rock stood the base of a large mountain side, from which a small but powerful waterfall fell, rising a delicate cloud of mist from the pool below as it fell. Smooth round stones stood at its base, almost as though they had been placed as steps into the pool below, sheltered by the large mountain. It was upon the curiously dark rock Aang now sat, his knees drawn to his chest and his face staring into the deep waters.
It hadn't taken him long to come across this place as he had all but fled from Yu Dao earlier that day, just wanting to be alone so that he could think. In truth, he was more ashamed now, than angry. Ashamed that he had even allowed Yuddha to bait him. Zuko was right, they knew how Yuddha could be. But, more than that he was ashamed that, no matter ho he tried to deny it, Yuddha has been right. Not, of course, that he should be looking for a non-bending wife, but that despite all his hard work to keep the rituals of his culture alive, three out of four Air Temples remained abandoned, and he was still the last of his people. He had lost hope long ago that more airbenders would be found, though he had always harbored a secret hope that, somewhere, some had survived the war and had just been waiting for a safe time to come out. Young though he was, he knew that eventually he would be expected to have children, to try and bring more airbenders into the world, but it wasn't something that he had thought about any more than in passing, and when he did it had only been with thoughts of Katara in mind and the future they held together. But never had he considered that it was his duty, or that anyone expected him to be marrying and having children now.
After a few minutes, he reached down and held the meditation beads that hung low around his neck. Though he had consulted Roku on a number of issues in the past four years, there was something that held him back. Not only was this a much more personal matter than anything he had previously spoken to Roku about, somehow he felt that the past Avatar wouldn't be as sympathetic as he needed. You need to put the fate of the world, of your people, before your own personal desires. He pulled a face, of course what else would Roku say? In fact, he figured all the past Avatars would say much the same ... they had all expected him to kill Ozai after all.
He looked into the pool a little longer, thinking about how closely the colour matched Katara's wonderful eyes and how much she would have loved it here. He felt a chill breeze rush across him and, realising that it was now beginning to grow dark, he heaved a heavy sigh and climbed to his feet. Grabbing his staff, he clicked it open and glumly made his way back to Yu Dao. When he got there, however, the scene that met his eyes left nothing but sheer panic in his chest.
Aang, of course, was concerned about the Mayor's decision to deal with the possibly rebellion against the coalition without the Avatar's help, but his thoughts had been so preoccupied with Katara that he'd scarcely given it a seconds attention. However, as he soared close to Yu Dao, hearing frantic yells and seeing a fire spreading in from the outside of the city, he could only curse the council, and his own stupidity at leaving the city so alone so he could brood. As he soared down towards the central courtyard he saw, to his huge relief, Zuko, Toph, and Satoru, all trying to pull people away from the flames, Zuko pushing them back.
"Aang!"
Zuko and Toph looked round at Satoru's relieved yell, and sharply Aang dropped to the ground.
"What's happening?" He yelled to Zuko, who hurried back over.
"I don't know," he replied, yelling over the noise of the flames. "It just started without warning."
"We need to put out this fire!" Toph yelled and Aang, seeing just how widely and furiously the flames were spreading, decided that he needed to deal with this quickly.
Staff still in hand, he pressed his knuckles together, his eyes and tattoos glowing a bright blue, and the ground below them began to shake. Just as the glow dropped from Aang's eyes, water burst from the well, Aang raising high into the sky with it. Still in the Avatar State, Aang dug deep into the ground below, all but clearing the well of all the water that trickled below the earth. Swinging his staff and spread the water out into a huge wide circle that flattened into a disk that reached across the entire width of the City. Aang let the water fall, just as he had in Mahi Kah, and with an almighty hiss the fires were put out, a steam rising from the city. Letting his control of the Avatar State drop, Aang gently landed back on the ground.
"Nice," Toph said, approvingly.
"Where is he?" Aang demanded, his eyes raking the edge of the courtyard.
"The firebender?" Zuko asked, but Aang was far too distracted to hear him. From the buildings people began to pool into the courtyard, all looking round with shock and fear. Some of the council members were among them, and if Aang had been paying attention he may have felt some sick delight over how gobsmacked and terrified Yuddha looked, but he was waiting for the hooded firebender to appear, just as he had in Mahi Kah.
"Aang!" He looked back to see Zuko, his hand on his arm. "Whoever he is he's probably run away."
"You're probably right," Aang replied, though he refused to let his guard down. "Mayor? Mayor Morishita?"
"Here, Avatar Aang!" The Mayor pushed forwards, his beard and eyebrows were singed, but he was alive.
"Can we do a headcount? There's bound to be people still trapped in their homes."
"Right you are," the Mayor replied, looking very sheepish. "Alright, everyone please calm down, we need to know who's missing! Please can file in a line- no we don't have answers y- no no we don't know who did this!"
But Aang found himself distracted again, the left side of his body began to itch and tingle, and he looked slowly round at the council hall, frowning. He half expected the hooded man to come out of the large double doors, but the hall was silent. Until, suddenly, a large lightning bolt shaped crack snaked its way from the doors right between Aang's feet in a flash, and Aang felt this sort of sixth sense, like electricity in the air. He turned quickly to the people mulling behind him, pushing Zuko with force backwards away from him yelling, "look out!" The council hall exploded. Shards of glass and large pieces of rock and marble bursting out in all directions. Aang was just quick enough to raise a wall of earth behind him, separate himself and the hall from his friends the citizens, before a chunk of earth hit him square in the stomach, throwing him back against his own wall, which quickly crumbled under the weight of the debris from the explosion. He could hear people screaming, see hot red flashing and, just as he slipped out of consciousness, a hooded figure stood where the hall once had.
A/N: From this point on I'm going to try and keep the author's notes at the bottom when they're needed, so you don't have to read through them if you don't want to! First, I am workings towards having a weekly update on Wednesdays as that seems to be when I have the most spare time. Secondly, I want to thank everyone who has read, favourited and reviewed so far!
Finally, I want to answer a review here that I can't reply to privately, and because I think it's relevant to most of you! I realise that there are a fair few spelling and grammar problems that slip through the net, the its/it's palaver that kept happening again and again in the first writing of the series was certainly one of the reasons I wanted to rewrite. Also, thank you for pointing out that rather embarrassing spelling error in the title of the last chapter, I'd also made the same mistake in this chapter too so fixed that *blush* I'm going to do my absolute best to pick up any errors before publishing each chapter, but honestly I really don't mind people mentioning any and making me aware so I can fix them!
For Clayton, your review wasn't rude at all and I very much appreciate it and all your kinds words as well! I don't know if you have a FF account yourself, but if you do it would be nice to be able to reply to your reviews, and I really hope that you do start writing! You clearly have a passion for it!
Until next Wednesday, then! Kuaishu x
