Recap of Chapter 3: Azula makes her way to Kyoshi Island, reflecting on how she does not trust her soldiers, especially Jang Tsu and Quin. The only one she trusts is the one she is subconciously in love with - Bo Don, the Earth Kingdom guard who delayed Toph and Niella when they went to see the king. Zuko begins instructing Niella in Firebending, and aside from accidentally setting a tree on fire, she does pretty well for a first-timer. The lesson is interrupted when Azula and her ship - the Ozai - arrive in the bay. Suki, Ty Lee, and the other Kyoshi Warriors try to repel her by setting the Unagi on her (they have put a huge half-submerged gong in the water so when they ring it, they disturb the Unagi, and she attacks any ship that moves) and when that doesn't work, Niella tries making an ice barrier, but Azula's Waterbenders just knock it down. The heroes arrange for Niella and Tae Xing - as they assume Azula is after Tae Xing - to go to the South Pole with Mai and Zuko. But it might not work as Azula's men have begun destroying all the boats in the harbour.
Well, here's my fave chapter! I loved writing this, and I hope you love reading it.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Avatar. I do own Niella, Tae Xing, Quin, Jang Tsu, Liya, and Kichona.
WORD COUNT: 1470
Niella could barely breathe through the thick smoke. What a brilliant idea she'd come up with this time. Run into a burning house just to snatch a couple of cloaks. Azula and her followers had landed on the beach, and now the entirety of the village was a war zone. Enemy benders fought against the Kyoshi Warriors and Zuko and Hahn's personal forces. Niella's plan was to get two decoys – one for herself and one for Tae Xing – to distract the Black Phoenix fighters long enough for the real girls to get away. So far, part one – getting their cloaks to complete the disguise – wasn't going all that well. The guest house had caught fire, and now she had to battle her way through the flames and the smoke. Her own was already draped over her arm, but she still had to get Tae Xing's.
Finally, she found the princess's room and snatched her cloak up from the floor, beating out a small ember on the hem. At least she now had both. The heat was nearly unbearable. She still had to find the door amongst all this mess. Coughing, Niella did her best to keep the flames at bay. Where was that door? She had to get out. Stumbling, Niella reached out and grabbed something solid to break her fall. It felt metallic, and was very hot. She looked up, and found herself staring into a white, skull-like face. As she backed away in shock, Niella realised it was the faceplate of a red helmet.
Two men stood before her, both wearing the intimidating burgundy armour. They were poised in Firebending stances, ready to strike. Niella gasped, accidentally inhaling a lungful of smoke and coughing. The Firebenders, however, made no threatening moves; in fact, they seemed more afraid of her than she was of them. Still, they were Azula's men; she couldn't take any chances. She pulled out all the contents of the waterskin hanging off her belt, intending to strike, but a loud creaking noise stopped her. Looking up, she saw the wooden support beams above them about to give in. She jumped away, but the Firebenders did not realise the danger until it was too late. One of them pushed his friend out of the way before the burning wood crashed down on top of him.
Niella stared in shock as the second Firebender pulled off his helmet and ran over. "No!" he shouted, "Jang Tsu!" He tried to lift the heavy beam off him, with no success, and then eventually fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face. He was so young; he couldn't have been older than Tae Xing, at the most. Something in the back of Niella's mind told her to run, but she ignored it. She couldn't just leave them like this, no matter who they were. Instead, she stepped forward and raised her water over the beam. She cut the thick wood in two strong strokes and pushed it off the soldier. Then she took one of his arms and threw it over her shoulder.
"Come on!" she shouted to the other one, "We have to get him out of here!" The boy stared at her in surprise, sadness, and confusion, then supported his friend's other side. The three of them made it out of the house and into a sheltered bit of forest behind it, away from all the fighting in the streets. There they lay Jang Tsu down on a large patch of soft moss. His friend gently pulled off the helmet, discarding it over his shoulder like a piece of trash. The two of them looked so much alike. The same eyes, face, and hair colour. They were definitely brothers, about ten years' difference in age.
"Quin…" Jang Tsu whispered, clearly in extreme pain, "I'm sorry… about… home… It was my fault."
"No," Quin choked. Niella felt helpless as she just stood there watching the two brothers spending their last moments together. "No, don't say that. The raid wasn't your fault. Mom and Dad wouldn't blame you, and neither do I. It was Azula." Niella's interest piqued as the evil woman's name was mentioned. "I'll make her pay for what she did to our family, and I'll find Kichona. I promise." The brothers grasped hands, eyes overflowing with tears. Niella was on the verge of crying, too. Then Jang Tsu closed his eyes and took a shuddering breath. His hand fell limply onto his chest. He was gone.
"Quin, run!" His brother's voice filled Quin with terror. The fire was spreading all over his childhood home. He couldn't run; he had to save it. It was so disturbingly quiet, save the crackling of the flames. What had happened to all the screaming?
"Mommy!" Liya was lying face down on the ground, the back of her beautiful scarlet and burgundy dress burned. Her husband ran over and lifted her up. It was too late. She slumped lifelessly in Jang Tsu's arms. Quin rushed over to his niece and scooped her up, then carried her over to her parents. The dust on Kichona's face was streaked with tears. "Mommy?" she whimpered, patting Liya's face, as if trying to wake her.
"Your dear mother is gone." The cold, hard voice came from behind them. Quin turned to see a woman dressed in rags, with long, hopelessly tangled dark brown hair, standing there, a cruel smile playing on her lips. Her hair hung over her face, hiding her eyes. "And so is the rest of the village." Quin's heart nearly stopped. Mom and Dad. Those rebels had killed his family!
He set Kichona down and stood, his blood boiling. "Murderer!" he shouted, throwing as much fire as he could muster in her direction. The witch of a woman deflected it in an instant, cackling madly. She aimed a small, deadly jet of flame towards what was left of his family, but Jang Tsu blocked it. Quin was now frozen in place as more rebels surrounded them. The colour of her fire, it was… blue. Blue fire. The only person ever to produce that, the most dangerous rebel in the entire world, Azula, was the one standing before him. She lifted her head, and for once, Quin saw her eyes. Hazel, somewhere between brown and gold. And disturbing. The look in her eyes was hollow, demented, broken, and evil.
The other rebels were about to fire, but then Azula held up her hand, and they froze. The looks on their faces, unemotional when they'd attacked, now showed intense fear and regret. "Actually," Azula commanded, her voice disturbingly light-hearted, as if she wasn't really paying attention to the slaughter and destruction she'd just caused, "how would you two like to join us?"
"Daddy! Daddy! Daddyyyyyyyy!" The high pitched wails trailed off as the masked and armoured man carried Kichona away.
"KICHONA!" Jang Tsu was practically throwing himself against the four rebels holding him back. Quin stayed in his position kneeling on the floor, eyes screwed shut. He just wished he could shut his ears to all the screaming and misery. His entire body was shaking, so much that his awful blood-red armour rattled. He hated wearing it; it was a symbol that he belonged to the people who'd destroyed almost everything he held dear.
"Oh, don't worry," Azula stated from her place on the rickety throne, still disgustingly cheerful, "Your little sweetie will be just fine. There are lots of other little kiddies she can play with, and as long as you stay with us, they'll all keep having their fun while we crush my brother." The twig she'd randomly picked up on the way back and started playing with suddenly snapped in two or 'crush'.
How could she talk about hurting her own family like that? Quin had grown up hearing all the horror stories about the war and how the royal family done so much wrong, except for Ursa, Iroh, and Zuko. Sozin killing the Air Nomads, Azulon ordering Ozai to kill Zuko, Ursa arranging Azulon's death, and of course Zuko's decision to turn against the rest of his family - aside from Iroh – to join the Avatar, and leading the Fire Nation to peace. Quin knew it all. His own family had been loyal to the idea of peace since the war had begun, giving shelter to the desperate Earth Kingdom refugees who wandered through. The only thing he had left from his father was his favourite Pai Sho tile, the White Lotus. He'd never figured out why Father kept it; he didn't even play the game. But he would treasure it forever.
And here was this demented, insane, wicked monster plotting the demise of her own brother. So she was as evil and unstable as the stories said.
Now that was interesting. The little bit at the end with the twig came from when we first see Azula interacting with Zuko and Iroh. Remember? She picks up a shell and squeezes it so hard it shatters? I thought I might add something similar to add a little more detail. Now I think we've figured out that the Firebender uniforms we see without the masks are the ones the soldiers wear now, while the creepy ones with skull faces were sort of discontinued, but Azula decided to use them. So even the waterbenders and earthbenders she's recruited wear them. Most of her soldiers are people captured from villages she's attacked. Pretty much all of them are in the same type of situation as Quin and Jang Tsu.