They started calling her "Master Katara" after the Avatar died, but if Katara had truly been a master then Aang wouldn't have died at all .
Often times, Katara found herself standing here – in the deepest tunnels of what was once the Cave of Two Lovers, looking upon the firelit statue erected in Aang's likeness . It wasn't the first statue made to honor the lost Avatar. When they first arrived, Toph insisted that as the Avatar's earthbending teacher and the first and only metalbender alive, she was entitled to create the statue of Aang in his honor . And everyone agreed with the idea of a metal statue until people actually saw what it was Toph created: a metal shadow of a form that hardly even looked human .
And then everyone remembered that Toph was blind.
What came to replace Toph's creation was the statue that looked so much like the carefree boy she once knew it sometimes hurt her to see it . But she made herself come here, she made herself face her failure, and she begged the spirits to forgive her. Eventually , it became a place to seek counsel and guidance within herself. She wasn't Katara of the Southern Water Tribe anymore; she was Master Katara, Leader of the Final Resistance . She was the most powerful waterbender in the Earth Kingdom. She was Aang's closest ally. She was the stitching holding them all together, and if she couldn't keep herself in one piece, how could she possibly expect to be able to do that for anyone else ?
Nothing makes you grow up faster than the casualties of war.
"Master Katara?"
"Rakota," she smiled. "Take this information to my brother, okay?" She handed the boy back the scroll and watched as he spun on his heels and ran back the way he came through the labyrinth of tunnels until the light of his torch disappeared .
The majority of the resistance fighters consisted of orphans of war from the Earth Kingdom, but there were a sizable number of warriors and benders from both the Southern and Northern Water Tribes who came flooding to their cause after Fire Lord Ozai announced absolute victory over the four nations . That announcement also led to a handful of recruits from the Fire Nation itself. They were older men, masters of their trade and highly valuable. But they were few and far between, and many of the younger members of their cause struggled to trust them.
Today, Katara realized, that trust (or lack thereof) would be the deciding factor in their survival .
They had known that someone would come for them eventually . If not the forces of the newly conquered Earth Kingdom, then the seasoned soldiers of the Fire Nation. When word reached her that ships bearing the seal of the Royal family had set a course towards the colonies, all the memories and pain came rushing back, and Katara really wished that they were squaring off against soldiers whose faces she'd never seen before .
Katara took one last, longing look to the statue and turned away; hoping that Aang would forgive her for what she was about to do .
She met with the strike team near the mouth of the cave. They were a makeshift bunch of people that Toph had hand-selected: the Toph Team, as Sokka called them. Most of them were earthbenders or remnants of Jet's Freedom Fighters that Katara had rallied in his wake. It was strange to find so many people willing to fight alongside them, especially when it had been the four of them for so long; the three of them for even longer . Sure, they got help here and again, but everyone always went their separate ways. And now, here they were, at the end of their rope. Together.
It wasn't like Toph to go searching for Fire Nation soldiers, but then again, they weren't hunting the usual sort of soldier . Toph had been itching for her chance at revenge as much as Sokka, so Katara wasn't entirely surprised when Toph jumped at plan her brother had suggested in the council room . Still, the idea of Toph going on the offensive, or… preemptive rather, sat uncomfortably in the pit of her stomach . As if she were going against everything that made her the master Aang once sought after. She thought maybe they all were. She certainly wasn't the girl who found the boy in the iceberg anymore.
"I didn't think you'd be going with us," Toph said with an unmistakably condescending tone.
" Just because I don't agree with your plan doesn't mean I'm not going to help you." She didn't like the plan because it wasn't something Aang would ever do, but she had to admit, it sort of made sense. She knew it would have been shut down if there wasn't at least some chance at it being successful and Katara wasn't going to put her friends in jeopardy because they were willing to take the risk . Aang would have hated that more.
"Well," Toph said as she crossed her arms over her chest and shot her a beaming grin. "Good." Katara knew then that she had won some sort of bet, probably against Sokka. "Even with earthbending, it'll take us a lot longer than if we could all ride on Appa, so I hope you're ready for the trip."
Toph stomped a mud-crusted heel into the earth, forcing a rectangular box to emerge from below the ground. At her direction, two other earthbenders did the same, resulting in three identical stone carts lined in a tunnel under the former Earth Kingdom . "I'd put you with the other waterbenders on the sky strike, but I actually need your help down here so you'll ride with me."
Katara nodded and vaulted over the raised wall of the stone cart. She was soon joined by Toph and three others: a tall, lanky boy with a long hook nose and a dust-covered bowl cut, a terrifying woman with golden eyes and more muscle definition than Katara had ever seen on a woman before, and a short girl with short hair and a grand total of four blades strapped to her body in seemingly random locations . Other than Toph, she didn't really know any of them. But they, of course, knew her.
The other carts, both positioned in front of their own, were equally as diverse. The one directly in front of them contained identical twins, Talo and Malo, two teenage Earthbenders who trained under the Kyoshi Warriors' leader Suki as much as they did Toph; a mustached man who could only be described as round (in the kindest and most gentle way) with a knack for explosives and training animals, his three ring-tailed flying lemurs, and Smellerbee . Meanwhile, the front kart housed a Northern Water Tribe warrior, Longshot, Suki, and a frail-looking earthbender with a weeping, angry red scar trailing down his neck and under his clothing .
The formations, at first glance, really didn't make much sense. Then again, a lot of things that Sokka and Toph devised didn't make sense. One by one the carts set off, propelled through the tunnels by powerful earthbending. She wondered when Sokka would be setting out; him and his waterbenders. Funny, she thought. Sokka in charge of waterbenders.
There was a tightness about the team as they descended through the earthy slopes. It felt eerily like a suicide mission: knowingly marching to their death. For a while, they all ignored each other while Toph kicked the cart along the tunnel, the sound of stone scraping through the dirt their only solstice from the dangers of silence .
Toph had a knack for sensing emotions, even if Toph also had a knack for blatantly ignoring them. It seemed that today, Toph saw it necessary to address, and before Katara could work up the courage to ask what it was she was getting herself into, Toph began to explain her version of Sokka's elaborate scheme .
"We have the sky strike team to sink their ship," Toph began as she pushed the cart down the tunnel. "but that's just a diversion. That's why they're riding out on Appa. The real attack comes in three waves. Suki and Koska will make first contact, with support from Longshot and Haan further back. Then when the next strike comes in, Haan and Suki will join up with Talo and Malo and while the others join up with Longshot . If we're right, that should separate them enough to pick them off one by one. By that point, Sokka and the water benders should have joined back up with the attack to put the firebenders in watercuffs to prevent any more damage to the town ."
"Then what's the point of our team?" Katara asked, finding herself in awe of the detail put into consideration. She didn't like the plan because it put too many of them into unnecessary danger. The idea of sending anyone out as a distraction always resonated discomfort and sat awkwardly in the pit of Katara's stomach, but Toph and Sokka (with the help of their more experienced tactical minds left behind) had thought everything through .
"Our job is to take down Zuko and Azula. Azula can generate lighting so watercuffs won't work on her and as far as we know, they can both breathe fire. So unless we completely encase them in rock, they won't be subdued . Think you can unfurl that rage of yours long enough for me to get them in rock coffins?"
Katara nodded, a devilish smirk pulling at the corners of her lips. " I think I can manage that."
They reached the end of the line a short while later. The first two teams of Toph's underground forces had already surged to the surface, but Katara noted that they were too far under the earth to hear anything going on up above them . It was painfully quiet now – so much that Katara could hear her heartbeat in her ears as she crawled out of the stone cart .
She wondered, worried, for her brother on the surface. Sokka had one of the most difficult jobs, made even harder by the fact that he wasn't a bender. Water was the element most opposite to fire, which in many ways made it their greatest weapon against the Fire Nation, but Sokka had no counter for the sheer force of the Fire Navy's flames . He was, however , creative and innovated and highly skilled recon and tactical surveillance. So long as their past experience fighting the Fire nation was worth anything, and she had to tell herself it was, she knew he would be fine .
Toph threw out a halting hand, freezing her team mid departure from the Stone cart. "Something's not right," she said, and all of the fears that Katara had swallowed back for sake of trust came rushing back .
Katara peered desperately through the darkness as Toph tipped her head to one side, listening through the silence beneath the earth to the village above . She couldn't see it, but she could imagine the way Toph's forehead crinkled when she was straining or confused and knew that woman had deep creases between her eyebrows where her study rested on her face . During their time together, Katara had learned that Toph was far more expressive than she let on. There were quirks, things she was unaware of, that became tells for what it was the stubborn bender was truly thinking .
If I only had a bit more light...
Toph slammed a fist into her palm. "Katara," she said. "I'm sending you up."
"Wait, Toph—"
Katara rocketed to the surface; the earth moving around her like a boat in the ocean waters. When she opened her eyes, she was standing in the middle of a busy market street where citizens cowered behind toppled vegetables stands and barrels of spilled fish . She spun on her heels and dashed towards the docks, expecting to come face to face with destruction and chaos, but found that the town was uncharacteristically lacking in collateral damage .
Where there was a firebender, there was one of their own to subdue them; all of them cuffed and chained like rabid beats about to be put down . She ran by waterbenders, earth benders, and weapon specialists as they congregated their prisoners together and gave her assuring nods as she passed; each as unscathed as the last . But as she ran, counting the faces she knew and the ones she didn't, Katara noticed that four were missing.
"Have you seen Sokka?" She asked one of the fighters as she skid to a stop.
The fighter shook his head and turned his attention to the west. "Last I saw, he was headed to the docks."
Katara nodded. "Thanks, Haan."
She turned a corner and headed down the main road that led to the ocean; where wooden docks lined with iron warships sat awkwardly amidst a town that otherwise resonated with peace . Fire Navy ships had always been daunting, industrial machines, because the Fire Nation wanted their enemies to see them coming – wanted them to know that fire could bend even steel and iron to its will . And even after a hundred years of facing these powerful ships, their dark, soot-blackened forms towered with sharp contrast against the soft palette of light earthy tones that glowed under the sunlight; a monster if she ever saw one .
Zuko was waiting for her at the crossroads; his sleeked back hair fluttering with a gentle breeze that reminded her too much of when they first met . Next to him was Azula; a twisted smile etched into her perfect expression as fire danced in her open palm. Before them, kneeling with his head to the earth, tunic clasp in Azula's clawed grasp, was Sokka.
"I don't know what's more boring," Azula closed her fist, extinguishing the bright blue flames. "Waiting for your little team to show up, or how unbelievably predictable you are."
Katara wrapped an arm around her midsection and pulled at the water from the waterskin on her hips. She had to keep them busy long enough for the Toph and the other earthbenders to lure them into a trap. Zuko, she could deal with on her own. No matter how strong he had become, she knew how he fought and she knew how to cloud his mind. Azula, however... The princess was a much more daunting task. But it was she who Katara wanted to take down most of all.
She pulled at her water, sliding her stance around and hurling it towards Azula with a push. The water cracked like a whip as it clashed against Azula's arm, engulfing the Princess' nondominant side in Katara's bending grip .
Azula looked at her arm, then to Zuko and grinned. "I told you," she said, gesturing to the watercuff around her forearm. "They're predictable."
Katara grit her teeth, feeling the anger weld her jaw shut. She pulled, yanking her away from Sokka with all her strength. The water snapped free of Azula's arm as she let go, Sokka crawling – frantic and desperate – away from the royal siblings . Katara shifted her stance, and pushed again, bringing the whip of water back down on the Princess.
"Katara!" Sokka scrambled towards her, stumbling over loose stones in the process. "Watch out!"
From one direction, a storm of blades rushed toward her from a nearby rooftop. Sokka managed to unsheathe his sword block most of the knives from reaching her with a metallic clang of the clashing weapons, but the spray of Mai's attack was wide and encompassing and several points found their way into Sokka's flesh .
Katara released Azula, pulling the water up to shield herself from the barrage of knuckles coming for her spine . As quick as she came, Ty Lee jumped away again with a graceful backflip, paving the way for a blast of red and blue flames. She stretched the water, covering her and Sokka with a thin veil of protection that extinguished the flames on contact . From behind, disks of stone shot past and the earth below her feet struck towards the sky, sending both Katara and her brother up into the air while Toph and two other earthbenders went on the offensive .
Sokka landed with a thud, his complaining yelp echoing off the rooftops.
"Sokka!"
Azula's flame-engulfed heel came crashing down on Katara. She jumped back, pushing water between them to protect herself. She pulled the water apart, sending it in razor-sharp waves as she put more distance between herself and Azula before she turned heel and sprinted along the tiled rooftop towards her brother .
She grabbed him by the forearm and pulled him up, his boomerang flying past her ear as he attacked the benders behind them . With her help, they slid down the roof and back onto the ground where Toph was waiting to propel them towards her with another launch .
"What happened?" Toph asked, pulling them behind cover.
Sokka slumped again, pressing his palms into the sticky, wet blood. "You gotta pull them out," he said. "I'm no good to anyone like this."
"They're shallow," Katara said, observing the knives that landed in her brother's legs. "If you can pull them all, I can close the wounds."
Toph erected another wall and Katara's ears filled with the roar of flames. She reached one hand out over Sokka, and closed her fist, yanking the knives free from his flesh. Again, Sokka yelped in pain before Katara could engulf his thighs with water.
Beyond their stone wall, blasts of fire still rained down on the village. "They tricked us," Sokka said when the cuts in his legs had healed. "As long our guys have theirs held captive, we don't have the force we need to stop them."
"Fighting one of those royal candlesticks is hard enough," Toph said, placing a hand on the stone shield she had erected to protect them . She punched it with her other fist, sending the block of stone flying across the village where it collided with a thud against Zuko's armored chest and sent the enraged prince flying down the street .
"Divide and conquer," Sokka shouted, dodging a wave of precise blue fire that penetrated through the small rock hole . "I'll keep Mai and Ty Lee busy. Toph you focus on Azula. Katara, you get Zuko."
She nodded in silent understanding of Sokka's improved plan and the three broke off. Toph destroyed their shield, an explosion of jagged rocks projecting out to cover the water tribe siblings as they sprinted off into opposite directions . It didn't take much to get Zuko's attention. He growled, lighting fiery daggers into his fists when their eyes met, but Azula grabbed his shoulder, stopping him from confronting her .
Overhead, Appa and the waterbenders were making another round overhead, pushing down waves of ice needles onto the battlefield that were met with broad arcs of blue flame, melting them before they could connect . Katara reached out, taking the ammunition and pulling it back to her, working the ice and water into a consistent, malleable water ball . She pulled it around her body, building watery cloak around her backside and down her arms before lashing her palms out and pushing jet like razor waves towards Zuko .
Toph met the attack with one of her own, splitting the siblings apart and forcing the princess' attention away from Katara . Now, with only Zuko to deal with, she couldn't fight the confident smirk that pulled on her lips.
"You really think you're strong enough to beat me?" He asked, flaring his confidence with a crackle of flames.
"I'm stronger than you think," she said.
"So am I."
Zuko lunged forward, bring towering waves of fire from his palms and up towards the air as he forced himself on the offensive . Katara met the flames with waves of equal force from the waters she controlled around her. They clashed with explosive force, ripples of steam dissipating in the air with a loud and angry hiss.
Katara pulled the steam back into possession and pushed it again into a blast of flames from Zuko's fiery fingers, each clash resulting in the same extinguishing steam as the last . As she danced forward, whirling the water with her, Katara dodged the fires instead, pushing the water around the fire to the source itself . It snapped, slapping against Zuko as it constricted his hands in her grip. With a twist of her fingers, the water whip turned to Ice, and a window of opportunity appeared.
Katara pulled back both arms and threw the forward, the stows of water around her rushing from her guiding hands crashing into Zuko . He tried to meet the wave with a rush of fire from his free hand, but the force of the water overwhelmed him, catching him in its tide and freezing him inside .
With moments to spare, Katara turned her attention away from Zuko. Down the street, Sokka was wrestling with a rope in an attempt to tie Mai's hands behind her back, one leg limp from the now subdued acrobat who he had earlier clashed with .
"You!"
Katara spun again, Azula was pointing, her expression contorted and disfigured with anger, at another woman standing between her and Toph . She had long, silky hair and wore brilliant green robes lined with the signature Fire Nation gold. In one hand she held a leather satchel, the other outstretched in a defensive stance, the world around them burning while she and Top remain unscathed .
"You know as well as I do that this dance of ours was nothing real," she said to Azula, mocking. "We're too similar, you and I. We see a weakness and we take advantage of it. Yours was far too obvious."
Azula snarled, the twists on her face looking incredibly similar to the expression usually reserved for Zuko. With two fingers raised, Azula drew in lightning, expelling it from her fingers with a graceful pulse. The other woman mirrored her, drawing a form from beautiful circular motions before throwing her own lightning to crack in explosive power against the Azula's.
Hearing the clash, Toph yanked the Earth up around Azula's feet, slamming the rocks around her body and encasing her in a stone prison .
"We got 'em!" Sokka shouted, posing with triumph as Katara and the other benders began the process of putting out the fires of battle and rounding up their collection of Fire Navy soldiers .
They herded the soldiers into small groups that would be brought back to camp via the underground tunnels carved by the Earthbending resistance . It was the safest way to ensure that none of them could maintain their bearings and figure out where it was they had been hiding since Fire Lord Ozai's decimating success in the battle for the Earth Kingdom . Group by group, Toph would drop the soldiers beneath the earth and into the darkness until only their four most prized captives remained .
Katara hadn't seen any of them in years: murdering soldiers hiding behind images of children in her mind. They didn't look very different. Older, angrier, but still the same. And that, Katara realized with a swallow, only made things harder. She had spent years painting the Fire Nation royalty as monsters, twisting their features into grotesque wickedness only to be faced with a look all too human .
She thought, all this time, they had sent a woman to her death. Allowing a traitor of Fire Nation nobility to walk straight into the mouth of an active volcano; like a sacrifice to a superficial being in the hopes that no one would come to kill them in their sleep . But their traitor had danced with the demons, more than that, she had beaten them at their own game, and she had treasures of her work in tow .
"Illiza," Katara breathed as she approached. "I'm glad to see you're okay."
Illiza smiled, tucking her hair behind one ear and waving a dismissive hand towards their Fire Nation captives . "You should have more faith in me, Katara," she teased. "A high-born prodigal firebender from the colonies? It's almost as if I was born for this." Illiza reached down into the satchel that bore the seal of royalty and produced several scrolls, wiggling them triumphantly between her fingers before tucking them away again .
"You're amazing," Katara said, clasping her hands together.
Illiza nodded, crossing her arms over her chest and casting her attention towards the subdued Zuko and Azula . Katara followed her gaze. Mai and Ty Lee in cuffs, Azula and Zuko bound by metal and stone. Azula had no less than a single hair out of place, but Zuko's clothes were cut along the arms and legs where the whips of her waterbending managed to reach him, stains of red running down his arms .
"He's not bleeding," Illiza said, noticing Katara's lingering looks. "They're tattoos. His father's doing, from what I understand."
"Why?"
"Because he's the Avatar Killer."