I am probably the least patient person in the world. I was planning on posting this in about a week, but I guess I'm just going to put this and the next chapter up tonight. I'm sabotaging myself, I know- but who wants to read a story with like two chapters up?
I've gotten several hundred hits, so I know that there's at least a little interest. But reading seems to drop off sharply after the first chapter- are they too long? Is my writing dry?
Review! Please and thank you with cherries on top, I do take advice into consideration and like getting feedback.
Sukka fidgeted, bouncing on her heels as the gangplank shot out. She was almost free from these idiots! She was willing to grant that the Fire Nation personnel on the boat were generally good-natured and professional, but they were missing a few screws. Zuko really seemed to believe that she was going to settle down in Kyoshi. Maybe it was just easier to pretend they believed that than it was to admit that their beloved policy was asinine and that they'd dragged her halfway across the world for no particular reason.
For all his tough talk, Zuko seemed rather soft. Hakoda would have killed or ransomed an enemy in his custody. Sukka was relatively certain that Zuko would have dumped her off on shore instead of prison even if she hadn't been so accommodating with information.
'Naivety and mercy aren't the worst traits, I suppose. You're benefiting from his decisions, so don't be too harsh on the guy.'
The grump she was thinking about strode down the walkway in that insufferably confident manner that he had. She eyed the marines standing at attention around her, searching their faces for signs that she wasn't the only one wanting to reach out and trip him. No one tried, at least.
He was now discussing something with a strange woman in heavy facepaint, who looked spectacularly unhappy to see him. 'She's got good instincts,' Sukka thought.
Before long, the crew got what was apparently a signal to begin transporting the materials accumulated on the dock. As they filed on shore and then back on board, Sukka wondered if she could just sneak off. They were letting her go, after all. It seemed stupid to stand around on ceremony. The thought left when prince ponytail himself beckoned at the deck and a lurking marine gripped her arm and steered her off the ship to stand by the strangely dressed girl.
She was quite pretty, actually, from what Sukka could tell under the paint and elaborate hairstyle. The green dress was a strange compromise between tradition and utility. Sukka immediately liked her, especially the sour expression directed at Zuko.
"Here. Just keep her in town. If she leaves neutral territories, she's a traitor and any official who spots her will put her down on the spot."
He was a regular Prince Charming.
"Fine." The girl's voice was surprisingly high- she was even younger than Sukka had guessed. "Let's get out of the way and let them work." Then the strange girl strode off, clearly expecting Sukka to follow and hoping that Zuko would fall in the harbor. Sukka snickered. The prince looked off-footed by the brusque snub.
"Well, it's been fun," she said unconvincingly. "Thanks for not putting me in prison, I guess." She didn't wait for a reply before she ran after the other girl.
As it turned out, her new babysitter was named Suki. She was the head of a group of girl warriors based nearby. When she heard that, Sukka solemnly declared "That's the coolest thing I've ever heard."
Even more luckily, Suki had only agreed to watch Sukka to appease Zuko. Kyoshi Island was in a strange place politically where it was under no one's protection, and a Fire Nation prince could have caused them a lot of trouble if he so chose. Much like Sukka, she'd chosen to lie.
"He's really naïve, isn't he?", Sukka'd remarked in a baffled fashion. "I suppose a prince just gets used to people obeying his orders and forgets to think that not everyone has a reason to."
Suki shrugged, watching the ship pull out of port.
"I'm just glad to see the back of them. I hate having to trade with the Fire Nation." Her chair scraped when she sat down, facing Sukka. "How did you end up in their custody anyhow? I'm not harboring a criminal, am I?" She narrowed her eyes intimidatingly.
Sukka waved her hands frantically. "No, no. Nothing like that. I'm from the Southern Water Tribe. Prince Ponytail showed up, picked a fight, then apparently decided that he couldn't leave a bender in enemy hands and forced me to come with. Four miserable weeks of boredom and arguing later, he offered to cut me a deal for information. It didn't seem to occur to him that I would mislead him, and he cheerfully fulfilled his end by leaving me here." She frowned. "When I say it like that, I sound like a bit of a villain for sending him hundreds of miles out of his way on a hopeless quest."
Suki snorted in an unladylike manner. "Who cares," she dismissed. "The right for honesty between enemies is sort of undermined after an unprovoked attack and kidnapping by one side." Then she gave a smile that lit up the whole bar. "Are you really planning to stay here, then?"
"No," Sukka said decisively. "Definitely not. I need to find my little sister." She grimaced. "Although what I can do to keep her safe is debatable. I got my butt handed to me by Prince Ponytail back in my village. It was really ugly."
"Well… if you want to stay for a while and train with us, I can fix that problem. I can't find your little sister but I can do that much. That sounds like a worthy quest to me, and I would lend you aid." The last part had a formal, ritualized air to it that made Sukka sure the words weren't originally Suki's.
Eyes wide, Sukka leaned across the table. "You really mean it? That would be fantastic! I haven't really had any training since I was twelve." The other girl grimaced in sympathy. Sukka wondered if it was a good idea for a moment, but opted for honesty and added that "I also managed to liberate a few firebending scrolls from my dear friend the prince while I was on board."
"Why would you want those?"
Sukka fidgeted. "Didn't I say I was a bender?" She made a face. "My baby sister Katara is a water bender. I apparently took after the raider who attacked my mom. You can imagine that getting trained as a firebender didn't go well in a water tribe." She gave a self-depreciating laugh. "It probably saved my life on that ship, though. The last time they came for our waterbenders, they killed my mother. Apparently firebenders get better treatment, regardless of loyalty."
Suki whistled through pursed lips. "That's rough. Well, let's hope those scrolls of yours have some good moves on them, because I don't think anyone here can help you with that. Actually…" she trailed off, looking uncomfortable.
"I shouldn't tell anyone about the bending thing?" Sukka guess. At the relieved nod, she shrugged. "Yeah, I figured. It makes people nervous, and I figured it would make more sense to lie low while I try to find someone to take me back down south."
"You'll have to help us out a while in exchange for training," Suki warned. "And yes, be quiet about the bending. Traditionally, Kyoshi warriors aren't benders at all. The benders born here tend to be artisans, or leave to get trained elsewhere. Kyoshi has a lot of really great things, either here at the port or at the village proper. We have a great dojo, an incredible dance and Kabuki academy, and a writing school, but no earthbending teachers. I've never even heard of a firebender outside of their armies. Finding a tutor would be hard."
As anxious as she was to find Katara and give Aang a piece of her mind, Sukka figured she could afford to spend a few weeks learning from real warriors. Or, rather, that she couldn't afford not to. She grit her teeth while practicing with the traditional bladed battle fans late into the night- she had to be able to keep Katara safe when Prince Ponytail or someone even worse eventually found them. Besides, there was no way she could make her way to the Northern water tribe before they left- she was going to have to find them some other way.
She'd probably just ask about flying bison. It was not the most subtle way of travel.
Practicing in the Kyoshi warpaint felt strangely good in a way that her black and grey warrior paint never had- perhaps it just suited her better than her father's colors did.
Suki was a harsh taskmistress. Her second-in-command had taken most of the Kyoshi Warriors off on a requested mission to help a trader reach the next city safely (if they didn't provide that service, it was unlikely that they'd have much for trade at all), but someone had to stay after the port received a supply request for a Fire Navy ship. The real town authority was apparently too intimidated to do his job, and had arranged for Suki to do it for him. Sukka wasn't impressed by that, but she was grateful she had met Suki and not some cowardly mayor.
She ended up staying with a group of younger orphan Kyoshi trainees, and earned her outfit and weapons through promising to take patrols after her training was up to par. Luckily, Sukka was athletically inclined and she picked up her new weapons quickly. The little fans suited her much more than that heavy spear ever had, and the lighter boomerang was long-lost. Somewhat surprisingly, the fans could also be used as a projectile, and even came back if thrown properly. 'At least all my boomerang practice wasn't for nothing,' she grinned.
Her other weapons were a trio of thin blades of varying lengths, well-balanced both for throwing and using as short swords. The other standard weapon was a katana, but Suki had thought it would take too long to train her to proficiency in that when Sukka had skill with the fans. If she came back or changed her mind about staying, she could be trained in that. Unless that happened, she would use the light weaponry. They didn't really compensate for her reach disadvantage against a male opponent, but the Kyoshi Warriors didn't seem concerned with that. Maybe it just didn't seem important when all the warriors were women?
It took a few days for Sukka to figure out the reasoning behind their nonchalant attitude towards their smaller body types in comparison to conventional warriors. The idea behind their fighting seemed to be speed and the redirection of an opponent's energy.
If a girl had mastered both of those concepts, then she was actually in her element when fighting big, strong men like water tribe warriors. A Kyoshi warrior's worst opponent was one like her- agile and swift, using accuracy instead of brute force. People who used brute force overcommitted to a hit and were easily made off balance. Fighters who focused on expending the least amount of energy for an attack couldn't be tricked into using their strength against themselves.
"You take their strength, and make it your own," Suki's voice echoed in her head when she figured it out. The cryptic statement she began lessons with made more sense in retrospect.
One bizarre lesson was dedicated to using her fans and short blades as accessories in civilian clothes. Sukka had half-heartedly pinned her hair with blades that scraped dangerously at her scalp, and fanned herself with twelve inches of razor sharp steel. The lesson was declared a failure and she received pointed chopsticks for her hair instead, and was told to keep her fan closed until she needed it if she was trying to travel without causing alarm.
That lesson was pretty necessary- while the Kyoshi warriors were completely uninvolved in the Hundred-year war, they were often hired as protection by travelers, or to deal with angry spirits. The last part surprised Sukka- she'd grown up hearing about great waterbenders and the Avatar as the only ones capable of dealing with the spirits, but that was apparently inaccurate.
There was a lot that even non-benders could do to fight and appease spirits- knowing which spirits could be appeased and how was half the battle. The most frequent ones were also the ones that needed to be fought- angry spirits of people who died violent deaths and were unable to distinguish between people who deserved punishment and strangers in the afterlife. Generally, they would linger around their place of death until they could latch onto someone- either possessing them or just hitching a ride. Carrying around such a spirit caused ill luck, but that was harder to spot without a trained sage. Those spirits only became obvious when they were provoked, generally by something that reminded them of their life or death.
At that point, Suki had explained, they would possess someone and attack whoever angered them. The only thing to do was to hold the possessed down and perform a cleansing ritual that would help the spirit pass over.
Unfortunately, a hundred years of war had ensured a constant supply of such angry spirits. Perhaps the worst ones were the Fire Nation spirits- not because of any inherent viciousness, but because a spirit far from their ancestral home had a much harder time finding peace.
That particular gem of information had made her shift uncomfortably.
After two and a half weeks of training, Suki had judged her good enough to go out on a practice run. Sukka was nervous as she packed, but she couldn't back out. This help was the only price for all of her training and weaponry- the Kyoshi Warriors were really quite impressive, and their sense of sisterly camaraderie made her wish she had grown up here. She finally felt like a real warrior, instead of the girl that Hakoda had half trained before he had to leave.
Sukka would be leaving with two younger girls and one experienced warrior. It was essentially a supervised training trip with little chance of trouble as they escorted a small merchant caravan. The trip started with a boat ride to the mainland, then escort to the nearest town before they returned. They were also intended to return with some medicinal supplies for the village, to accomplish multiple errands at once.
There were perhaps thirty girls in the group altogether, but about twelve of them were in training and didn't leave the confines of the village. Since they were largely intended to protect Avatar Kyoshi's relics, Suki had to ensure that there was a respectable force in the village at all times. Despite how impressive they seemed to Sukka, the Kyoshi Warriors had nearly been destroyed less than a decade ago, and they were still building up their strength. Which explained why they were so eager to train her in exchange for the help of an already moderately capable warrior, she mused. They were the main source of income for the village, but taking the requests they needed to in order to keep the town afloat financially stretched their forces very thin.
She almost felt guilty that she was saving money for her trip searching for her sister. Sukka was happy here, and she was needed too.
'Duty before self,' she reminded with a sigh. That particular edict had always been easy to obey back home, when she never had reason to want anything that didn't serve her primary duties.
The boat trip was short but nerve-racking, knowing that the horrible Unagi monster was so close by. Things went smoothly, though, and the monster was appeased with the offering of rice. The youngest of the girls present, a chirpy girl named Chihero, was completely enchanted by the expensive goods the merchants had. Her trainee peer took the opposite approach- Lanying was utterly serious and stoic in an attempt to seem professional despite being a short 13. The girl supervising them was Biyu- a sixteen year old who happened to be one of Suki's three most capable warriors.
When she thought about it that way, it was more than a little shocking that a decent fighting force had been pulled together in just a few years after the destruction of the experienced members. There was a broad gulf of ability between a twelve year old and a fourteen year old- one was a child trainee, and one was a full-fledged warrior.
Hopefully, in a few years they'd be able to push back the age for full membership and spend longer training girls. It was one thing for an especially talented sixteen year old to be an adult warrior, and another thing altogether for an average fourteen year old to be promoted because of necessity. It was a risky gamble- a couple dangerous fights could incapacitate a promising but unprepared girl. Needing the strength now could be counterproductive in the long run, but what else could they do? They had a lot of young orphans, and five only girls who would be considered fully-trained by the standards Kyoshi had set down. They had fallen on hard times, from a proud past where their warriors averaged from 18 to 25 years old.
Sukka pushed those troubles from her mind and concentrated on her surroundings. They had been walking for nearly a full day, and were likely to reach their destination soon. The two trainees had long fallen into sullen boredom, but Biyu was calm and professionally attentive. She'd rather emulate Biyu than the little ones.
And it was a good thing she thought that way.
Tremors in the ground caught her attention, and Sukka shifted. She'd never seen anything like it. Her eyes met with Biyu, who mouthed "earthbender" and silently drew out her fans. The other three followed suit, but their employers continued chatting happily up until a gaping hole opened up in front of them and a man leapt out, riding a wave of rock. In moments, another man and a slim, scarred woman emerged from the hole with drawn weapons and tried to flank the merchant train.
"Bandits!"
The cry went up, but Sukka didn't know who it was from. Biyu leapt to engage the earthbender, clearly assessing him to be the largest immediate threat. Without waiting for direction, Sukka moved to face the other man while the smaller girls ducked and wove towards the lone female opponent.
The bandits clearly hadn't been expecting to meet organized resistance. The bender was marginally talented, but his companions had apparently just been hired muscle to intimidate any resistant travelers into giving up their gold.
After a short scuffle, Sukka confiscated her opponent's katana and dragged him over to a cart, where an angry-looking older man helped tie the prisoner up. Then she leapt back into the fray. A moment's assessment showed that the trainees were doing an excellent job and even had their opponent on the run, so she tag-teamed the earthbender, feeling immense satisfaction when Biyu knocked him unconscious with a closed fan.
"Well, that was fun!" A nearby trader gave Chihero a strange look and a wider berth, but the girls were too busy coming down from an adrenaline high to notice. Sukka agreed cheerily. "That did wonders for my confidence after my last fight ended so badly." The stoic Lanying gave an uncharacteristic fist pump, grinning and cocking a hip sassily.
"Alright, calm down ladies." Biyu stood from where she'd been kneeling over the only prisoner left conscious. "Our friend here had intimated that these bandits are part of a larger force located nearby. We can turn these three into the local garrison and collect whatever bounties they may have on their heads, but we need to be on our guard for any reinforcements they may have. We could be attacked in revenge or in an attempt to free them. That was a good first fight- I'm proud of all of you. You do the Kyoshi Warriors proud." She finally cracked a small smile at their triumphant grins.
"Right!" Chihero clenched a fist in front of her face. "We'll stop anyone who tries to fight us! We're protecting the townsfolk and travelers by stopping them!"
Sukka elbowed her teasingly. "Damn right!"
Biyu shook her head a little but turned to address the waiting travelers. "We'll require the use of this wagon to escort our prisoners to town, where they will face justice! If everyone is ready to begin moving again, we should not linger in this area."
It turned out that there was a small bounty on the earthbender and the scarred woman, which they collected to bring home for the order as a whole. Apparently Sukka's opponent was new to the gang-she was thanked for bringing him in, but not monetarily. Regardless, she felt cheery when they began their trek back home, with packs full of reward money, herbs, and ointments. Now that they had been in their first fight, all three trainees would be allowed to select a unique hair ornament and abandon the trainee headband as a statement that they were full warriors. The hair ornaments were often the only way to tell apart warriors- an intentional decision to prevent enemies from altering their tactics to deal effectively with a warrior's unique strengths and weaknesses.
Suki was surprised to get requests for three girls to commission unique pieces from a local artisan, but pleased and proud. The jeweler made sketches and promised they would be ready by the end of the next day.
Once they had their hairpieces, the three girls spent hours playing with elaborate hairstyles to find their signature look. Generally, a girl didn't change her statement once she'd gone out on her first mission as a blooded warrior so that her peers would be able to learn to tell her apart. Therefore, it would really suck to be stuck with a hasty ponytail for the entirety of one's career.
Sukka grew used to her next hairstyle- it took as much time to put together as her makeup did, but it was a source of pride.
She didn't leave the village for another week of training, at which point she was anxious to use her new skills. Not knowing where she was going to go but knowing that she had to leave soon was wearing on her nerves. When Kyoshi village proper received a missive that some sort of malevolent spirit was causing trouble in a farming hamlet on the island, she eagerly volunteered to go.
Katara held a hand over her eyes to ward off the glare while Aang scrambled to catch a ride on the gigantic fish that apparently made this island a vacation destination. He was feeling better about his position as the Avatar now that he'd mastered waterbending under Huu, the master who wielded vines like they were part of his own body. Katara had been impressed by the versatile nature of Foggy Swamp waterbending, especially since they trained her. In less than a month, she had blazed through their curriculum and astounded everyone present. She'd heard mumbles to the effect that if Aang hadn't been there, they would have assumed she was the waterbending Avatar.
It was flattering, to be honest.
The experience had been tainted by the bizarre visions they had seen when they camped the first night. Aang had chased after a strange girl he didn't know, but Katara had seen Sukka and their mother holding hands. When Huu had explained that the swamp embodied the connection between all living things and that time and death were illusions, she'd grown cold. Did that mean Sukka was dead? For one glorious moment she thought that her missing family was really there, before chilly reality set in and she remembered Hakoda's face as he'd set Kya's body out to sea in her funeral canoe- the chief's wife merited the less of crucial supplies, though most others would have been let to slip under alone instead of in a canoe with two small holes drilled.
When Aang had suggested they make a tourist stop to a place that would cheer her up, Katara had agreed for his sake. Their first trip to Omashu had failed to be relaxing- his old friend Bumi was now the king. Katara privately thought he had lost his mind with old age, but Aang definitively stated that he was exactly the way he remembered him as a boy. Bumi had played some bizarre game where he put Aang through a series of tests involving his pet, lunch box, and rock candy, and then proceeded to lay a heavy load of bad information as to the state of the world onto Aang.
It turned out that things were worse than the isolated Water Tribes could have known. Thankfully, Bumi had information on locations of Fire Nation strongholds and speculations as to safer routes for them to take. To Aang's disappointment, Bumi refused to be his earthbending teacher. So overall, the stop was informative, but it did not serve the purpose of relaxing Aang. He definitely needed to take breaks and relax- his training was much more efficient when interspersed with playtime.
Personally, Katara was too unhappy to relax. She constantly felt sick with worry and guilt.
'But Pakku said they wouldn't kill a firebender,' she reminded herself for the hundredth time. The Fire Nation prized their benders- they were almost certain to try to press her into military service, or marry her off to produce more strong firebenders. Apparently, first generation benders had notoriously strong connections to their element (which might have explained Katara's extraordinary skill). Pakku's logic was insufficient comfort in the face of her fear, but she clung to it like a mantra. It was all she had. She still hated the man on a personal level, but he had given her a lot of good advice and practical knowledge for her travels, including a small wooden lotus token and the name of a man she should show it to when asking for help looking for an earthbending master.
In her darkest moments, Katara wondered if she should find Aang his earthbending master next instead of looking for Sukka. She missed her sister like crazy, but the search seemed hopeless.
They had no idea where her sister might have been taken- she could be at a colony, or any one of the four naval bases along the Earth Kingdom coastline, or even to the great stronghold at Pohuai. 'Or even in the Fire Nation itself', she reminded herself sadly.
Lost in her thoughts, Katara didn't see the dark shape in the water behind Aang. She only knew something was wrong when he crashed into the beach screaming, and a great sea monster rose up behind him. She scrambled backwards, and the two put as much distance between themselves and the water as possible for a few frantic minutes. When they calmed, Momo popped his face out of her shirt where he had been trembling. She hugged him, feeling her fingers shaking as much as his tail appeared to be.
Aang's face was white and his eyes wide- for a moment. Then he grinned. "That was exciting! I love seeing new things. That guy definitely wasn't here the last time that I was!"
Katara's head fell forward in shock and she looked at her friend with wild eyes. 'He's nuts!'
She didn't have a chance to say anything, however, before the warriors who had been creeping around them moved in and knocked them both to the ground, restrained them, and tied their hands behind her backs before propping them up against a pole.
"Hi guys!", Aang said cheerfully from under his blindfold. Katara groaned quietly, willing him not to say anything that could get them in trouble. "I'm the avatar, and this is my friend Katara! Who are you guys?"
'Like that. I didn't want him to say anything like that.' She slumped over further, exasperated beyond belief. Just because they hadn't met anyone who didn't like the Avatar yet didn't mean that they wouldn't, and he definitely shouldn't admit it to people who had him tied up unless he knew whose side they were on.
She heard uncertain shifting of feet in the sand, and the beginnings of a whispered conversation. Then, "Prove it," a girl's voice said decisively. "If you are the Avatar, prove it."
The blindfold still over her eyes, Katara couldn't tell what was going on. From the gasps and sounds of fast-moving air, she assumed Aang was doing some impressive bending… probably while still bound and blindfolded. That incredibly talented, adorable, sweet jerk. She definitely couldn't do anything to free herself from this position. After a moment, Katara repressed the envy- she didn't need it anymore. She was even better at waterbending than he was, even with his spiritual advantage. Maybe air required less movement to bend.
"Okay," the same voice came, sounding surprised and higher pitched than last time. "I think I believe him. Untie them, ladies. I trust that the Avatar and his companion will not bring war to our shores, but we cannot harbor you for long without risking our neutral stance in the war."
'Neutral?' Katara thought in disgust, pulling her freed hands in front of her chest. How could anyone rationalize away being neutral, when the Fire Nation was killing innocents everywhere? They'd come to this tiny island eventually, when they had what they wanted from everyone else.
"Is Katara a common name in the water tribes?" She could see the speaker- and her companions- was a young woman dressed in a green dress with black armor over it and heavy white face paint.
"No," she said tersely. "I've never heard of another Katara. It's a Southern adaptation of a Northern Tribe name."
The speaker paused. "Do… do you know a girl named Sukka?"
And suddenly her heart was in her throat. "How do you know that name?" Katara didn't remember moving, but she was suddenly within inches of the taller girl, grasping at her shoulders.
Her fingers were gently prised off, and folded within warm hands. "You have Kyoshi's own luck," she laughingly began, "Sukka has been here and she will be back. A Fire Nation frigate dumped her on us, and she's been saving up funds to go back south to find her little sister." The older girl crossed her arms in front of her chest forbiddingly. The razor sharp fans certainly helped to enhance the intimidating effect. "I take it that's you. You worried her sick, you know!"
Katara's knees hit the sand. Her whole body was weak with relief. "I know." She blinked back tears. "Where… where is she?" Aang curled up next to her grinning madly and put an arm around her shoulders.
The older girl laughed. "That's a long story. We should head back to the village for this one. My name is Suki, and I'm the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors- the girls who just now kicked your butts."
The impressive moment and cool statement was a little ruined by the high-pitched squeal that followed from the shortest girl present. "We kicked the Avatar's butt! We're so cool!" The three taller girls gave the speaker an exasperated look.
"Chihero, don't do that while in uniform. Ever again."
"Yes, ma'am."
Sukka's feet dragged in the dirt as she and her sole traveling companion, Biyu, neared the village. They had found the troublesome spirit easily- it had spotted Sukka and latched onto a host to attack her furiously. 'Guess I look more Fire Nation than I thought,' She frowned. That couldn't be how the spirit had identified her as an enemy- not in this uniform and face paint. Perhaps spirits had another way to tell?
Anyway, being the target had actually made it easy for the girls to keep the farmer family safe, though it was doubtlessly traumatizing to see the mindless fury the recently deceased son had fallen into. They'd weepingly explained that he hadn't been buried- he had been a new recruit to the Earth army, and put on the front lines because he was a bender. But he had been untrained and roasted within his cloth armor on the field in a matter of minutes, leaving charred remains that couldn't be returned home. It was well and good to take care of Fire Nation remains through immolation, but Earth Kingdom citizens, especially benders, needed to be returned to the earth to find rest.
Biyu had recited what felt like an eternity of blessings, aided by Sukka whenever she remembered a part and could breathe. She was stuck holding down the struggling body. It was lucky that the man had chosen to possess his younger brother and not his bulky, strong father. Redirecting other people's strength was all well and good, but it didn't help restrain someone twice your size.
Afterwards, they held a small ceremony blessing his travels and ceremonially burying some of his most prized possessions. His younger brother had to be carried- spirits had no concept of human limitations, and his body had been overtaxed in the possession.
By the time they left, it was dark and the strange insects that brought pinpricks of light to the sky were darting around. Sukka couldn't help but smile, despite her aching muscles. She loved seeing exotic, pretty things like that. There certainly hadn't been anything exotic and beautiful during her long incarceration on the Fire Nation ship, except perhaps delicate porcelain teacups and the tapestry of dragons. Perhaps the Fire Nation just wasn't as beautiful as the Earth Kingdom, or maybe it was their military in specific. Water Tribe ships were works of beauty with elaborately carved wood, sigils and blessings on the floorboards and winding motifs on railings and doorways, so she didn't see why Fire Nation ships had to be so depressing.
And then her baby sister came running and screaming down the crest of a hill into her vision. For a startled moment, Sukka thought her nostalgia for the Water Tribe had ripped Katara right out of her memories and into the real world. Biyu reached for her fans instinctively, but Sukka ignored her and dashed forward, catching Katara in a spinning hug that ended with Katara crying onto her shoulder. In her peripheral vision, she saw Aang and Suki walking at a more sedate pace in the direction Katara had come from.
"I'm so sorry." Katara hiccupped into her shoulder, and Sukka felt tears soaking through. She rubbed her baby sister's back and whispered soothingly. It didn't seem to get through to her. "I'm so, so sorry Sukka. I shouldn't have run off. And then I came back and you were gone…" she burst into a fresh round of tears.
"It's okay, I'm not mad anymore. Not at you. I'm going to string Aang up by his intestines and braid his skin into a jump rope, but I'm not mad at you. I could never be." She buried her head in her sister's thick hair, muffling her own voice before she said anything really emotional. It didn't disguise the fact that her voice broke when she continued, "I was so worried about you the whole time. I'm glad you weren't there when they took me." Her voice was wry. "You never would have listened to me when I told you not to fight them."
Katara sniffled through a smile. "You're right, I wouldn't have listened."
Sukka drew back and tweaked her sister's nose. "Brat."
Said nose crinkled up and the younger girl turned her face away. "Hey, stop it." She paused. "What on earth did you do to your hair? I heard that you joined Suki's group, but I pictured you with your warrior's wolftail."
They suddenly remembered they weren't alone when Biyu started to snicker. "Sorry, sorry." She waved a hand. "It's just… a wolf tail would not really look right with the formal makeup and armored dress."
"She's right," Sukka announced with a grin. "Why, are you jealous? Maybe it's time you updated your 'do as well." She tugged at Katara's right hair loop. "That's a little old fashioned, don't you think?"
When her sister scowled and began the lecture she'd heard a thousand times, Sukka knew the world was at right again.
About a quarter mile away, Aang finally stopped running, panting a little. "Whew." He wiped nonexistent sweat off his forehead. "I think I'll hang out with you for a while, Appa!" He paused. "At least until Katara has a chance to calm her sister down."
Since she wasn't traveling as a Kyoshi warrior, Sukka wasn't going to wear the full dress and face paint regularly. She brought it with her, but compromised by fastening the armor and gloves on with her green top and grey slacks. After trying it on, she ripped the sleeves of the top off at the forearm, and tailored the ends of the pants to hug her calves instead of moving loosely. Katara watched, bemused but happy.
"You're making me feel silly in my Water Tribe blues," she commented lightly. Suki gave her a sideways look.
"Don't take this the wrong way, coming as it is from the girl in full face paint, but I think that you should change clothes, Katara. I knew instantly who you were. Aang, too, if you can convince him. Besides, it's really foul to wear the same outfit for weeks on end." Said boy looked up inquisitively at his name, cheeks filled with sweetcakes.
"She has a point," Sukka said without looking up from her stitching. "The Fire Nation is looking for you, Aang. I know that the saffron is part of your heritage, Aang, and that Katara's blue is both traditional and logical back home- we only have the one kind of inedible berries for dye, and we would have lost you in the snow if we didn't dye your white polarbear furs. It doesn't serve the same purpose in the Earth Kingdom. If we are traveling through the Earth Kingdom, we should look the part to avoid notice. I do have some extra clothes, if it would help."
Aang shook his head. "No way! These are traditional Air Nomad colors! I have to wear them."
Suki pursed her lips in thought. "But do you have to wear just those colors? I think I know where you're coming from- tradition is important. But that doesn't mean you can't be flexible and reinvent what you need. Yellow isn't strange in the Earth Kingdom at all. I bet we could whip up something for you with both your colors that wouldn't stand out nearly so much that you could wear."
Aang frowned. "Thanks, but no thanks. Maybe if things get really desperate."
Sukka stared sternly at her little sister, who rolled her eyes and gave in. "I guess I could try something else for a little while", she allowed.
"That's my girl," Sukka praised teasingly. "I have some clothes in my room if you'd like to grab them. Leave the pink top, but take anything else and bring it here so we can tailor what we need to."
With an eyeroll, the younger girl was off. She sewed in silence for a few minutes until an outraged voice rang out. "Sukka! This shirt is indecent!"
Aang looked at Sukka with wide eyes, but she snickered. "Maybe for you, little one!" she taunted. "I think it's adorable. I said to leave it alone. I'm definitely wearing that later."
Katara flounced back in and gave an outraged sniff. "Just imagine what Gran-Gran would say," she said sternly, all but shaking her finger at her elder sister. She was holding the lightest green shirt Sukka had found, the one with wide loose sleeves. The dark gray pants she'd selected were loose as well. Sukka rolled her eyes at her sister's matronly modesty, but obligingly had her model them. Katara was almost swimming in excess fabric.
"I like it," she defended. "It feels more like wearing a dress this way."
Sukka sighed. Beside her, Suki turned her head to the side consideringly. "Well, it wouldn't be so bad if you added a sash." She smiled. "You could even use your blue water tribe one! That way you haven't completely lost your colors."
Suki was right- said sash made the look much better. They feared it looked too 'water tribe', but Suki assured them blue wasn't so rare in the earth kingdom and that it wouldn't look strange at all. The high-collared top almost looked like a yukata on Katara's adolescent frame, but she didn't want the material taken in. "If I change my mind, I can do it later" Katara said firmly. So that was that.
With 'disguises' in place, the group left to a chorus of goodbyes and tears. As sad as the goodbye was, Suki was more than a bit relieved that her younger trainees wouldn't be skipping practice to make goo-goo eyes at Aang anymore.
On a giant smelly buffalo for the first time, Sukka wiggled nervously. "So, uh. Where are we going?"
She thought it was a reasonable question, but the other two took a while to answer. Katara worried at her lower lip and glanced sideways at Aang, who was standing stiffly.
"Okaaaay," she said slowly.
A muscle jumped in Aang's jaw. "We're going to the Eastern Air Temple," he said shortly. Katara winced visibly and drew further into herself. "I know… we've been to the Southern Air Temple. And I know that the odds aren't good that there are airbenders there. But I have to know. And that temple is where Appa came from. If there are other Sky Bison around, he deserves to know."
Sukka blinked slowly. 'We're going there for the flying snot monster?' She glanced down at said massive beast, and remembered it was carrying her. "Well, I guess we owe Appa for providing transportation. Let's go check it out."
The Southern Air Temple was a tomb. Seeing a temple for the first time was a fascinating experience- it consisted of three pagodas over three different mountains. The architecture was amazing and utterly impossible… and everything was covered in scorch marks. Empty metal suits of armor that must have been the old Fire Nation uniform lay on the lower levels, and piles and piles of human bones scattered the upper level. In one particularly gruesome tableau, an adult figure was crumpled in front of a pile of children's bones, backed against a supporting wall.
They walked through it all in silence, Aang trembling imperceptibly. Katara held his hand firmly, looking like she wanted to cry herself. Sukka felt distinctly unnerved, beyond even what the carnage in front of her warranted. "Aang, I think there are a lot of angry spirits here. I think… I think we shouldn't be here." She swallowed. "Me specifically. Spirits can sense that I'm part Fire Nation. At a scene like this, anything could set them off. Is there anywhere in particular you need to go here or to do? If not, we need to either start taking care of these remains or get out."
He looked back at her silently. She couldn't read his expression, but in a moment he took off for the inner sanctum at a run. Katara followed, yelling for him to wait.
Sukka swallowed hard and turned to take in the scene in full. "I guess that's my job, then." Then she frowned. "What do Air Nomads need to rest, anyways?" She settled for saying a quick prayer for them, and then went about incinerating Fire Nation corpses. The heat required left her shaky and stumbling over the words of each blessing for the displaced spirits. The oppressive aura gradually lessened, but it definitely wasn't gone.
At that point, Sukka was seeing spots of white from overexertion and tiredly stumbled back to Appa. "Hey buddy". She threaded her fingers through the soft fur and buried her face. "How long do you think they'll take?"
Appa rumbled and gave her a light nudge. She stumbled a little bit. "You're right. I should take a nap." After a few mis-tries, she hoisted herself up and curled up behind the horn of the saddle. She woke up sometime hours later to the feeling of surprisingly gentle breezes on her face and the smell of salt on the breeze. Blearily, she attempted to focus on the younger children talking quietly, but couldn't make anything out.
"She's awake." Their hushed conversation came to an end with that.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know how to respect Air Nomad dead," she apologized to Aang and the air as a whole. "I said blessings over them, but that's all I knew to do."
Aang sighed. "It's fine. Air Nomads are actually returned to the element by sky burial- leaving them out to the elements. They were fine, though they should have been arranged more respectfully."
She nodded. "Good to know."
"I appreciate that you tried," he said quietly. Then he sighed. "We don't really have plans right now. I think we were just going to settle down for the night near a town."
"Someplace near water," Katara added. "I have first watch." She frowned. "I need a bigger water pouch as soon as possible. Let's check out the market first thing in the morning, okay?"
"Sounds fine to me," Sukka yawned. "I'm pooped, guys. Apparently I'm not in fit shape to do much bending, especially not that hot."
Aang raised a nonexistent eyebrow. "There are varying levels of heat?"
"Yupp. It's weird, huh? I can actually make a flame that's such a low temperature I can touch it without even blistering."
He scrunched up his face. "That doesn't even make sense!" Katara laughed.
Aang stayed up later than the girls under the pretense of keeping Appa company. Really, he didn't want to sleep.
Seeing this temple was almost worse than finding Gyatso's body because instead of being shocked by the death, he had come fully expecting disaster but fiercely hoping for signs of good news- like hints that someone had been by recently or that benders had escaped. There was nothing. The bedrooms were the worst part- they looked exactly as they had the last time he'd been there, except for the layers of dust.
The beds were made- some more crisply than others, with the obvious expectation that little bodies would have climbed into them the next day as usual. Calligraphy practice must have been interrupted when the army had been spotted- pens laid in neat rows in front of low cushions.
How had it happened, he wondered. Why didn't anyone have time to fly away? Surely people had tried. Had the Fire Nation devised a way to make it unsafe to fly- knocking flying bison down? He patted Appa nervously. They had to have killed all the bison too- otherwise they would have still been living in the valley.
The Fire Nation must have come under the cover of darkness- otherwise they would have been seen coming miles away. It would have been dangerous for them to scale cliffs and use their strange hot air balloons at night.
The idea that so many people had wanted his people dead so badly hurt Aang. It was almost a physical ache in his chest, and a tiny voice that could only ask 'why?'. It just didn't make sense. The air nomads didn't hurt anybody. They were the smallest of the four peoples by far, and had subsided by gathering fruits from orchards in their valleys and the beautiful berry bushes that made up their gardens. He had never heard of an airbender committing a crime worth killing them for- the harshest punishment that could be allotted to an airbender was confinement to a temple under the supervision of elders. Theft had occasionally been a problem with young benders on their first journeys- it was an easy crime to get away with when you could fly away from the scene of the crime- but elders straightened that out by forcing them to work for whomever they'd stolen from. Being confined to a single place and manual labor was a serious deterrent for a people who valued freedom above anything.
'I'm trying to convince myself my people didn't deserves to be killed.' Aang snorted, disgusted. 'That's crazy. There's no crime worth killing for. I'm using their way of thinking by acting as if the thought even needs to be considered.' He curled up, bony knees poking his chest. It was hard to be an airbender away from a temple- it was hard to get enough vegan food to eat, it was hard to have no one who understood you, and it was really hard to be surrounded by people whose way of thinking and life was completely alien. Aang was glad he had Katara and Sukka to keep him company. Sukka was becoming a friend, and Katara almost felt like family. But it was still lonely to know he carried an entire civilization with him when he walked. For the first time in his life, Aang felt heavy. He was weighed down with responsibility- as the Avatar and as the only Air Nomad.
He still didn't want to be the Avatar. Sometimes it was fun learning to use another element- he had always loved bending. But in his heart, Aang was an Air Nomad, not an Avatar. Could he be both? Did an Avatar have to give up their nation? Everyone seemed to think he would end the war by punishing the Fire Nation. But he couldn't hurt anyone except in defense- it was another thing altogether to plan what amounted to a murder. And what happened if getting rid of the Fire Lord didn't change things? The Fire Lord had changed multiple times since his people had been killed. If those changes hadn't ended the war, who was to say the next Fire Lord would or could? He couldn't just keep killing people until everyone agreed with him or feared him, even if he was willing to do so.
'And I'm not.' He stared in the distance, half noting that the sun was starting to come up. 'I'm not going to kill anybody.'
Zuko fidgeted at the helm, disliking going back to that tiny island only a month and a half after dropping the girl off. Unfortunately, he had been prevented from going as far north as he wanted by political bullshit- the particularly unpleasant man named Zhao had been promoted, and was snatching up every unit he saw for his personal armada. It was very bad form, but technically legal. On this particular instance, Zhao was actually concerned with collecting men, not ships. He had been put in charge of the capture of Omashu- doubtless he had his eye on another promotion for accomplishing it quickly. When they'd heard about it while exchanging cargo with a mail ship, Uncle had decreed it would be the perfect time to go take care of a few errands.
Zuko was absolutely furious about the whole debacle, but he knew it was a good idea to avoid Zhao. The man absolutely loved lording anything he could over Zuko- perhaps the revenge of a low-born man against a high-born noble he resented.
He still didn't see why they were returning to that specific island, however. Granted, they were avoiding Fire Nation military so that they would 'miss' any changed orders held in waiting for them, and the vast majority of local ports were hostile, and… Okay, so now it made sense. Besides, Kyoshi Island had been an excellent stop for cuisine- the elephant koi they'd loaded up on had drastically improved rations for two days.
'I guess I could see how that water tribe girl settled in,' he mused. He really had felt guilty about taking her from her home and leaving her in the middle of a strange land with only the clothes on her back. He'd tried to soften that blow by making sure she had more than one set of clothing- her water tribe rags had been mistakenly thrown away that first night by someone offended by the smell. (The leather had clearly been treated in an odd way to make it waterproof. Knowing why it was strange didn't make it any less unpleasant, so no one had been all that upset that it was tossed overboard.)
The sound of men laughing burst into the cool night air, and he flinched away, unconsciously turning his bad eye towards the shadows on the deck. If he'd been any less proper, he would have self-consciously crossed his arms. "I suppose it would be a good practice reconnaissance mission,' he convinced himself.
Really, that was worth doing all on its own. In the past, he'd found out interesting things he would never have known otherwise almost every time he changed into black and slunk around in shadows.
They reached the same dock they'd been at before by morning light. This time, there was no 'welcoming' party of grumpy girls in green dresses. Zuko decided to mark that up as a good thing. The day was uneventful- the marines were let out for shore leave in shifts, and he could see a few of them stumbling around the town's (surprisingly many) open bars. Some of them were even singing. He frowned from his vantage point in his cabin and turned away huffily. It was unprofessional. How could they possibly enjoy themselves when they should be helping to chase down that airbender for information on the Avatar?
He paced, feeling like a caged lion-panda. Shadows slowly moved and crept across the ship. The crewmen returned and sobered up in shifts. Uncle and the marines following with his massive piles of trinkets stumbled up the gangway, chattering loudly. The ship grew still and quiet, and the nightly patrols began on board. On shore, one of those girls in green dresses began to do the same, lingering around bars and briskly breaking up any fights. That was when Zuko pulled off his red and gold clothing and slipped into a dark gray that blended into shadows and pulled a blue mask out from under the clothes in his large trunk.
When he climbed back on the ship hours later (time didn't count in the blackness of night, when one moment could be any other) he was outright trembling with excitement and anger. The townsfolk had been absolutely full of talk about the girl he'd left there last time, a waterbender girl, and a boy who was the Avatar.
'That little sneak,' some portion of his mind registered. 'I bet she knew he was the Avatar the whole time. I never actually asked her if she knew the Avatar when Uncle was there to see if she lied. She played me like a harp. I did exactly what she must have planned, although I have no idea how they could have contrived to meet here. And… if Zhao hadn't been trying to requisition every ship he could pull off duty and I'd gone where I planned, I would have missed them altogether.' He almost laughed, amazed at what seemed to be his first bout with good luck. 'Guess I should thank Zhao then, huh? When I bring the Avatar back home, I'll be sure to write him a nice letter.'
He momentarily imagined the look on Uncle's face when he shared his new information without telling him how he got it. 'Payback for all those mysterious sources he has,' Zuko thought, amused.
Zuko followed the trail of sightings of a strange flying shape for weeks, eventually leaving his ship and continuing the hunt on foot. It would have been proper to take an escort, but he'd absolutely refused to try to track anyone followed by a herd of slow-moving sailors in clanking armor. Uncle wasn't any speedier.
It was just a reconnaissance mission, he convinced them. Well, from their expressions, 'convince' might have been a strong word for what he did, but it got the job done and he didn't even have to pull the 'I am technically your boss on this mission, Uncle' card. That was good, because he didn't think he could make that claim with a straight face and feeling guilty for abusing authority he shouldn't really have. Without Uncle, he'd probably have been killed in a mutiny years ago.
He finally caught up to a recent trail after losing it entirely near the outskirts of a small, Fire-occupied city. Zuko absentmindedly noted that reinforcements could be found nearby if he needed them and otherwise dismissed the information. The location was predictable- the group liked to stay near water, probably for bending practice. Now that he knew the girl was a bender, he could have smacked his forehead a thousand times before he forgave himself for not figuring that out on his own. The Water Tribe girl had acted strangely, almost as if in anger when Uncle had mentioned that her tribe was out of Waterbenders. Why had he never thought about what that could have meant before?
It didn't matter, he knew. The two couldn't possibly have been all the way up the north pole by now, especially if they were traveling on foot and by air gliders across the continent. Granted, many of the people who'd related sightings of something flying had made the delusional claim that it was some sort of large flying mammal, but that didn't even make sense. They must have just thought the boy was flying much higher than he really was an misjudged size.
The thing he was really baffled by was how well the trail on foot had been hidden… until he came to a strange meadow of flattened grasses, where it became immediately, painfully obvious that three people of appropriate heights and weights to be the three he was following had left on foot. When it became clear that they had gone into town and then ran away, he picked up his pace, heart pounding in his chest. What was going on?
'Ah,' he thought glumly. 'That's what's going on. I thought my luck was going far too well lately.'
He'd found the group. Unfortunately, they seemed to be situated in a camp of rebels and Fire Nation deserters. Zuko silently climbed a tree for a better view and observed from a distance, taking mental notes on his targets and running strategies through his head. He definitely couldn't singlehandedly attack the encampment. He could sneak in, but even if he tossed the Avatar over his shoulder and sprinted away someone was likely to quickly catch up to him on foot.
'Maybe I should go talk to the local garrison,' he mused. Most of the day passed. The Avatar was easy to spot- he was even wearing the traditional clothing depicted in Uncle's scrolls! The waterbender girl was harder to pick out. He would have thought she'd be wearing much more blue. She was considerably tanner and shorter than her half-sister, with long wavy hair of a lighter brown than the shade of Sukka's sleek, near-black mane.
Spotting the girl he remembered was a bitch, though. He blinked, rubbing at his eyes as a taller girl (she was right, she looks pretty tall next to her sister) in black armor over a green shirt with an elaborate hairstyle came to sit by the Avatar and the waterbender. 'Is that really her?'
He was relatively certain that it was, and completely sure that he hadn't bought her any armor or the weapons she carried on her back. He'd definitely never seen her with hair in anything but a simple ponytail. 'Maybe she got those things from those Kyoshi girls?' He played with the idea, noting how much more confident and comfortable she seemed on land.
Then everything went to shit. The garrison he'd been thinking about talking to charged out of the brush, led by a group that appeared to be the Rough Rhinos. Zuko jumped to his feet, and took a moment to pick out the direction his targets were running as the camp scattered in panic. Then he sprinted, blending into the shadows, staying away from both sides like a ghost.
'At least I know where they're headed,' he thought grimly, altering his course a little. This was his chance- If he defeated those two girls, he'd be free to knock out the Avatar and drag him kicking and screaming back to the ship, which should be waiting at a nearby port. It would suck to fight three opponents in a row, but he was certain that he would defeat Sukka again easily, and her little sister probably wasn't any better trained. The Avatar was the only wild card, but he had trained for years for this fight. Zuko wouldn't make it easy.
By the time he reached the edge of his targeted clearing, he was unnerved by a low sound that could have only been made by an enormous animal. He dazedly noted that the reports of the large flying mammal may not have been as fictitious as he had first assumed while said thing swooped out of fucking nowhere and allowed the kids to climb on its back.
'What the fuck.'
He already intellectually knew he'd lost them, but he was terrible at giving up and the part of his mind that would make that decision hadn't caught on yet. He was still in a dead sprint as he burst into the clearing and the last person stepped up into the saddle. She turned and saw him just at the right moment, while the waterbending girl and the Avatar huddled miserably near the back of the creature's neck. For an instant, Zuko caught a glint of the incongruous blue in the eyes of a firebender's face; then she leapt up and shouted something indistinct.
The strange animal beat its flat tail on the ground, causing a huge cloud of dust to rise and it took off straight upwards, ignoring all the conventions of flight that Zuko had learned from watching war balloons and other technologies. His knees hit the dirt.
"They have a magic flying hairy pig-thing," he said, not really aware his mouth was moving. Though words were coming out, Zuko's brain wasn't really functioning. If his uncle had been there, he would have been enormously pleased to see Zuko laugh, as long as he didn't realize the laughter was the beginnings of hysteria.
End of Book One