Weekend! It's been a crazy week! Thank goodness for my Darth Vader stress ball! I love this episode and this was one of the first chapters my muse came up with. *looks sternly at muse* You better not have messed it up too badly!
Thanks to everyone who has reviewed! You guys are AWESOME!
Fun Fact: Igneous Terra means Burning Earth in Latin. Because everything sounds cooler in Latin.
Disclaimer: If I owned Avatar I would give bagermoles the ability to fly. Flying Bison fly, Dragons fly, even the moon flies (sort of). Why is it that the source of Earthbending can't fly? Ok, ok dumb question.
Akira hadn't spoken since she'd seen the forest. She closed her eyes, then had plopped down on a stump, crossed her arms, and pretended like she wasn't shooting dark glances at Zuko every couple of seconds. All because of a forest. A stupid forest. Not that he missed her talking. Ridiculous. She could remain silent forever for all he cared.
There were more important things. Like that Avatar. They were closing in. It was when Zuko finally gave the order to get moving that he noticed his uncle was gone. Why did Uncle insist on disappearing when they were so close? For a moment he considered leaving without him. No cryptic hints, no obsession with tea and Pai Sho. He sighed. If only he could go through with it.
"Have you seen my uncle?" he asked Akira.
She traced a grove in the earth with her foot.
She was impossible. "When're you going to start talking again?"
She looked straight into his eyes. "What's the point of destroying a forest?"
The point? There isn't a point. We're at war. What do you expect? "I didn't do that."
"Firebenders did."
"And we're all the same?"
She looked back at the ground, "Yes. You are."
She wasn't going to understand-no. She doesn't need to understand. He could care less if she ever understood. Just wish she'd stop staring at me with those eyes. They're brighter when she's angry. Like staring into the most alive piece of land you could think of. No. Dangerous thoughts. He started to walk away. Didn't need to be thinking about her eyes. It just bothered him, that's all.
"He went that way," she jerked her foot towards a grove of bamboo.
Just like his uncle. "Why?"
"How should I know?"
He seized her wrist and pulled her along behind him. "Come on! We're going to find him. We're leaving soon."
"Ow!" she pried his hand from her arm, "I can walk on my own!"
He roughly pushed the bamboo aside. "Uncle it's time to leave! Where are you? Uncle Iroh?" If he was drinking tea he was going to smash the tea set over his head.
He could hear Akira behind him, struggling with the bamboo.
"Over here!" his uncle's voice came from behind a glade of trees. There was steam everywhere.
"Uncle?" His uncle's clothes? Oh no. Please let it not be what he thought it was.
It was. His uncle was sitting in a steaming pool of water with a giant smile on his face. "We need to move on. We're closing in on the Avatar's trail and I don't want to lose him!"
Akira had finally wrestled free of the bamboo and made her way out in the open. She took one look at Iroh, at Iroh's clothes (draped over the tree) and back at Iroh before turning around and staring resolutely at the bamboo.
"You look tired, Prince Zuko," Iroh said, "Why don't you join me in these hot springs and soak away your troubles. How about you, Akira?"
Thankfully, Akira ignored him.
"My troubles cannot be soaked away!" Zuko shouted, "It's time to go!"
"You should take your teacher's advice and relax a little. The temperature's just right. I heated it myself," Iroh released a jet of steam from his nostrils. Relax when he was so close?
He. Was. Impossible. "Enough! We need to leave now. Get out of the water!"
Iroh slowly raised himself out of the springs. "Very well…"
Zuko barely had time to raise his hand in time to prevent his mind from being scarred with years of nightmares. "On second thought, why don't you take another few minutes?" Just please get back in the water! "But be back at the ship in half an hour or I'm leaving without you!"
He turned to leave and noticed that Akira's eyes were shut tight. Wise decision under the circumstances. As he heard his uncle sink back into the water, he pulled her along behind him. "Come on."
This time, she didn't protest.
Half an hour had come and gone and still no Iroh. Of course, no one seemed too eager to go back and get him, least of all Zuko, who looked like he might combust if they didn't start moving soon.
She continued to stare at the destroyed forest. It made her sick. "A skirmish outside Senlin Village Forest…" I guess it didn't go well. Nothing went well for them. It was always a struggle. They fought and the Fire Nation destroyed more and more. But there was no reason to destroy the forest. Because they can. It made her so angry that it hurt. A dull pain in the chest. She was so tired of feeling this way.
After the sun set, they finally went back for Iroh.
"Uncle!" Zuko shouted. "Uncle where are you?"
Iroh and his clothes were gone and jagged pieces of stone rose in the middle of the pool. Earthbenders, Akira thought.
"Sir," one of the Zuko's Firebenders said, "Maybe he thought you left without him."
How could they miss what was right in front of them? Maybe their Firebending left them nearsighted.
Zuko looked around, "Something's not right here." Finally he saw the stones in what had been Iroh's hot springs, "That pile of rocks!"
"It looks like there's been a landslide, Sir," the Firebender replied.
She couldn't help rolling her eyes. Idiots. "Have you ever seen a landslide that went uphill before?" Akira asked.
Zuko bent down beside the pool, "Those rocks didn't move naturally." Very good, Zuko. "My uncle's been captured by Earthbenders!"
Everyone looked at her. "What?"
"Where did they take him?" Zuko asked.
"How should I know? I don't have some magic mind connection with other Earthbenders!" Akira crossed her arms. Oh what she wouldn't give to have been there when Iroh was captured.
"You must have an idea," Zuko grabbed her shoulders and glared at her. As though this was her fault.
She kept her mouth shut.
"I asked you were he was," Zuko began to shake her.
Picture him flat as a pancake, underneath thirty tons of rock. Only way to keep from doing something stupid.
"Prisoners of war," she spat, "Are supposed to be taken to Ba Sing Se."
"Sir, there are a dozen roads to Ba Sing Se. There's no way of knowing which way they went," one of the men pointed out.
Zuko looked at her, "I'll find him. Come on." He started to lead her away.
Unbelievable! "Wait a minute! After everything I've been through, you just expect me to help you? I'm not helping you! Ever! He deserves whatever there're going to do to him!"
"I don't expect anything," Zuko said as he threw her on the Komodo Rhino, "I'm taking you along so you don't try anything." He climbed on behind her.
Akira elbowed him in the stomach. "Oh don't worry. I'm not going to try anything."
They rode together in silence while Akira argued with herself about whether or not to try Earthbending.
It was so frustrating. She thought she'd finally progressed and here she was back where she started. At least she wasn't crying. Just angry. Angrier than she'd ever been before. And she wasn't even sure why. It wasn't just the forest. It was something…something else.
"Which way?" Zuko asked when they finally came to a fork in the road.
"How should I know? I've never been here before!"
He finally chose the left path. "Then why are you so upset about the forest?"
"Because," Akira looked forward and forced her eyes open as wide as possible. She wasn't going to cry this time, "Because it didn't need to be destroyed. It's ridiculous that they use their bending on people who don't even fight back!"
"You're right," he replied.
Akira turned around to look at him, but he didn't elaborate. "We're not weak," she said. She didn't want him to misunderstand, "But everyone who can fight is away in the war."
Zuko didn't say anything for a long time. And then, "Why don't they leave? Go someplace where they can be protected."
"Because," she said, "People in the Earth Kingdom. We…we don't give up easily. We're stubborn."
"I hadn't noticed." She didn't turn around because she was sure she was wrong. It couldn't be, but it sounded like, just maybe, he was smiling.
It was early morning before they found any trace of Iroh or his captors. A small sandal lay discarded on the ground. Zuko picked it up and gave it a whiff. A look of revulsion came over his face. "Yeah, that's Uncle Iroh."
The resumed their mutual silence as he climbed back on. For most of the morning, nothing but silence until Akira saw footprints on the ground. It looked like they belonged to Ostrich Horses. "Look!" she pointed. Crap. She looked down at her hands. Akira could almost feel Zuko's eyes on her. And why not? There she was, saying that she didn't want to help, and now she was pointing out their tracks. Why? There was no reason. Just shut up, she told herself, firmly.
At just past midday she felt Zuko turn sharply behind her. The Avatar's bison was flying across the sky.
"The Avatar," Zuko breathed. He yanked on the reins and the rhino backed up to follow the Avatar's bison. But he didn't urge the beast onward. He stared at the bison and then back to the tracks they'd been following. "Get off," he said.
Slowly, Akira slid down from the saddle.
Zuko turned the Komodo Rhino back the way they'd been going.
She couldn't believe it. "What are you doing?"
"To find my Uncle."
"What about me?"
"Do whatever you want. I don't care."
"What?" Akira couldn't believe her ears. Was he really-? "What about the Avatar."
Zuko looked straight ahead, "This is more important."
It was twilight by the time he caught up. For a moment the half dozen Ostrich Horses that stood on the side of the road confused him. Then he saw his uncle, chained and spread out on a rock, surrounded by Earthbenders. One of them raised a rock and moved it over his uncle. No.
As the rock descended, Zuko intercepted it. The rock dropped harmlessly to the ground as Zuko cut his uncle's chains with a well-placed kick.
Iroh smiled as stood up, "Excellent form, Prince Zuko."
"You taught me well."
"Surrender yourselves!" one of the Earthbenders commanded, "It's five against two. You're clearly outnumbered."
Zuko smiled at his uncle's reply. You're clearly outmatched.
Several boulders shot towards them. They broke into pieces as Iroh smashed them with his chains.
Zuko caught one man off guard as he shot fire from his foot. The man fell backwards. Zuko spun around and delivered another blast of fire to the man behind him.
His uncle caught a large piece of rock with his chains and hurled it back towards the two men who had thrown it.
And now, it was two against one. The man (he must be the captain, Zuko thought) threw several pieces of rock at Zuko, who spun out of the way and unleashed a stream of fire from his fist.
The man avoided it and raised a huge wall of earth. But before he could crush Zuko, two chains wrapped around his ankles and the man fell, buried underneath the wall of earth.
Zuko smirked at his uncle. Maybe, though he'd never say it of course, his uncle had something with those hot springs.
As he moved towards Iroh, he was struck with a feeling of danger. Suddenly the world lurched beneath him as his body sunk into the earth. Shoulders down, his body was imprisoned in the ground. He tried to move but the ground around him was solid. Zuko saw his uncle grimace as he too sunk down into solid earth.
One of the soldiers had gotten up. How could he have been so stupid? Not to make sure. A child's mistake. The soldier cleared the rocks off of the captain. "Are you alright Sir?"
The captain brushed himself off, "Thank you Corporal."
The other three didn't move, but the captain seemed satisfied with their condition. "I think it's time," he slowly raised another boulder from the ground and held it over Zuko's head. "To teach our prisoners a lesson."
"No!" Iroh shouted.
This time there would be no one to stop it. Zuko tried moving again but it way no use. The captain released the boulder.
It split into hundreds of pieces.
Zuko looked up. Who?
Akira. She was standing a few feet away, arms raised.
"What the-?"
"That's enough!" Akira shouted, "Stand down!"
The captain's eyes widened, "You think you can give me orders?"
"I know I can. Now, I'm telling you as a Commander in the Earth Kingdom-" She didn't finish. The corporal attempted the same move he'd tried on Zuko and Iroh. Akira flipped backwards and sent a rock fissure towards the man. He shot several feet in the air before landing hard. Unconscious.
She spun around and narrowly avoided a large rock that the captain sent towards her.
As she landed, she dug her feet into the ground and raised an earth shield at the same time the captain shot small rock projectiles towards her.
Akira thrust her arms forwards and the shield shot towards the captain who carefully split it into two. It took less than a second, but while he was doing this Akira struck the ground with her heal and raised a long rectangular slab of earth. She hit it with her right fist and it flew forward, right in between the rock wall the captain had just split. It hit him with full force in the face and he smashed into the back wall of the crater, and sunk to the ground. For a moment, Zuko thought he'd get up. But no.
"We're done," Akira told the captain.
"No! We're not! You're…you're…That's General Iroh! He-" the captain protested.
"I know who he is," Akira replied.
"How can you call yourself an Earthbender?" the captain spat on the ground, "You're nothing but a traitor!"
Akira shook her head, "No."
"You are!" the captain shouted, "You don't care about your own people!"
"I'm not a traitor! Look at yourself! Is this what we've become? Are you willing to sink to their level of brutality and savagery just in order to defeat them? If we that's what it takes to win, what then what have we gained? We'd be just like what we're fighting! Is that what you want? One day he'll face justice," she looked at Iroh, "But not like this. Not from you. We fight the Fire Nation because we want to be free! What kind of freedom is this?"
"We can't win…" he looked up, "We can't win fighting the way we have."
"Maybe not. But I'm willing to try."
"We're stubborn," she had said. Very, stubborn.
"We have to remember what we're fighting for," she whispered. She stomped the ground with her left foot and Zuko and Iroh were flung upwards. "Come on." Akira freed them from their casing of earth with a wave of her hand.
Zuko looked at his uncle, "Are you all right?"
Iroh rubbed his wrists. "I'm fine, Prince Zuko. Thank you. Both of you."
"I didn't do it for you," Akira said, "I meant what I said. I just don't want us becoming like…like…"
"Firebenders?" Zuko supplied.
"Like monsters," she replied, "There's a right way to do this."
Iroh looked down at his makeshift loincloth, "I don't suppose you brought me any…"
"No," Zuko said, "You're riding on the back." He gave his uncle a boost on the rhino and tried not to think how uncomfortable it would be riding back to the ship.
Akira looked disgusted when she learned she'd have to ride in front of a half naked Iroh. ("You've got to be kidding me!")
He was surprised that she'd come back. All this time, she'd been talking about leaving, but it turned out that something was more important to her than her freedom. A different kind of freedom. It wasn't something he'd have expected. The desire to…what?
See that Earthbenders didn't become like Firebenders. Like me.
"Don't you think all are Firebenders the same?" Zuko finally asked as he climbed on in front of her.
Her whispered reply was almost swallowed up by the wind, "Not anymore."
Once again, sorry about fight scenes. My muse doesn't like translating them on to paper-or screen. Hope it wasn't too bad!
Whew, this chapter's long! Make up for the last one, yes? Why are my ANs so long?
You want to know what I hate? My bloody Microsoft word program! Just because it's installed on two computers it kicks me off whenever somebody else opens it! I can't tell you how often that happened when I was writing this! You'd think it'd kick the other person off because it was installed on this computer first-but noooooo! GRRRR!
I make no promises about the next chapter. But I will try for sometime this weekend. Thanks for reading and reviewing! Hugs and acorns (from Hai Bai)!
