The forest was a completely different clime during the in-bewteen seasons of Winter and Spring. In the winter, the bite of frost nipped away at the small little fibers of fuzz on your skin, like tiny little things giving you miniature doses of frostbite. But yet I liked the cold, and the winter. Though it bore no fruits of nature for harvest, and though regular living was harsh in a snowstorm, it was comforting to be in the cold. Even as I felt nature's palm brushing on me, I was deeply ensorceled by my own reality, the curtainous fog of dreams.
At the Fire Palace, the curtain of night covered the sky, and stark white snow fluttered down from heaven. Obscurity's embrace was never enough to darken the world, especially here. I sat on top of one of the roofs of this multi-bulding palace, alone and only accompanied by my sword, and a dark red haori coat with a scarf around my neck. A lantern with a dancing red and amber baby flame inside of it was at my feet, resting. With every breath, the air became a lighthearted mist and then vanished into the cold. Snow was falling down upon me, and I was a little cold. But I had no real reason to just up and leave. The dark clouds did cover the stars from being seen though, but just the darkness itself proved that it was night time. I sat on that roof, not knowing if I was to be alone or if I was unknowingly waiting for somebody to join me. It was just perfect, little bit of fire to go with all of this ice coming down—it felt just right for me to be here. "I never really see you alone anymore." her voice told me.
I held up my lantern and looked behind me, over my shoulder. It was her, the brown haired, happy acrobatic girl that was associated with Azula. She wore a fur and fabric jacket—custom made and expensive I'd wager—and her hair was in that usual, really cute tail that hung from her back. Seeing her, I smiled in joy. "Good morning." I jested.
The flame was small, but the light wasn't. I saw her being glazed in firelight as she smiled at me, giggling as she gracefully and flawlessly made her way along rooftop tiles to me. "I don't think it's morning, Jushiro."
She sat down next to me, now bathing in the firelight just like I was. Each and every day that I knew her, I was reminded over and over again about a simple truth that nobody could dare to realize. She was so beautiful, so cute and yet so imposingly regal. Even to me, a prince. It just blew my mind, every single day. Breaking out of the usual hold that my oggling seemed to present to me, I looked up to the sky and answered, "Actually, it's a lot closer to midnight. I learned a while back that midnight is actually the beginning of the morning, as the sun is waking up here and falling asleep over on the other side of the world. "
She looked at me with those big, cute eyes of hers, smiling at me. "Are you going to be the next great genius of our nation? Because you're too brainy not to really do anything but train all day." she told me.
Shrugging my shoulders, I responded. "I could. But who am I to share my genius with?" I asked her, my heart beginning to sink. "I'm all alone now. You and your friends are in that royal academy for girls most of the day, I'm never really able to leave because I have my training regiment and... you know the other reason." I told her.
At this point, I was accostomed to being alone. This time, it was because I had not done anything. Zuko had been banished by my step father—his own father—all because he wanted to try and do what was right for his people in a simple deployment move. Normally, such a dispute could be settled by a one on one duel in public knowledge. But, he made the wrong choices. The girl looked over to me—whom in turn was looking at the fire of my lantern with an immoveable gaze. "Oh, yeah... he's all gone now, isn't he?" she asked.
I nodded. "First mom... Then Azula...Now Zuko." I said to her. "He's the one who sent them all away. The only one who's even of any worth to him anymore is my step sister."
"You mean... the Firelord?" she asked.
I looked over to her and nodded. "I'm the only one who hasn't had to leave the palace... but soon, I will." I told her.
She and I looked at one another, long, hard and quietly. My heart was now in my belly, and both my stomach and my heart were aching terribly. I had told my step father once already that I was to leave for my training, and now that nobody was here for me—I had no choice. Except she was here for me. The girl I love, she was right here. "Take me with you." she told me to do.
"What?" I asked her, reeling in surprise as everything blasted into flames with the small crackle of a broken twig.
I sat up abruptly and leapt to my feet in the motion of an inverse tornado roundhouse kick, drawing out my twin knives: Kiku and my darker one, Aku. Dawn was barely climbing out of the bedsheets of night, and the three of us were surrounded by red leaves and trees. Now that I had woken up as loudly and abruptly as I did, Aiko and Ulik were stirring sluggishly as well. Keeping my senses sharpened to detect the enemy, I told them, "Get up. We have company, it's rude to sleep."
That sentence really got their attention, as Ulik scrambled up to his feet and Aiko made for me immediately. Right before I turned my attention to her to speak, I heard the whistles of an arrow flying at me. The Topaz glowed with its golden iridescence as I heard the snap of wood and a broken arrow fell to the ground. Seeing this, I sneered and spat at the ground. "Aiko, give me sight on these enemies. This subterfuge strategy they think they could use is pissing me off." I directed to her.
The environment became a near black dome with green veined pillars for trees, a husk of grey as the ground, and ten to twelve red humanoid lights as people. But something wasn't right here, I knew it. These things weren't even fully grown—they were kids, teenagers at best. A small group of them were in the trees, others were on the ground, shifting around their hiding places. I reeled back a step as I willed out for my uchigatana, and it burst to existence in my hand. "Aiko, what am I looking at? These are just kids." I said to her.
"Or maybe they're just really short people?" she asked.
"It matters not, Yojimbo." Ulik declared as I saw his grand, yellow lit form take a stance I assumed to be Earthbending. "They attack us whether they are old or young, lad."
His feet firmly planted into the ground, he raised his fist up in a swift and powerful uppercut motion, pushing upon his legs to make him fly into the air. Seeing the result of a simple gesture amazed me as the ground rose up at his feet to push him higher into the air, as the earth returned to flatness. Suddenly, I saw a little burst of the very air itself as he backrolled and pushed for a sprint rush towards the ground. "Jump, lad!" he demanded as an iron gloved fist impaled the ground.
Drawing from the Ruby, I leapt into the air as Aiko returned my vision to normal human perameters. The ground didn't shatter at all, but rather, it bursted in random arrayed pockets of space near-between the trees—I heard and felt the impacts that his earthquake laid unto the enemy kids. Taking his idea into consideration, since he just obliterated the ones on the ground, I drew much more from the Ruby as I pencil spun with much velocity. Kinetic energy was increasing the speed of my rotations, fueling me for what I was about to do. "Ju-uh-uh-uh shi-ro-ohhhhhhhhh! I'm gonna be si-i-i-i-ck!" Aiko whimpered and cried out as I rocketed down to the ground with such an impact that the atmosphere became grey around us, and even time itself seemed too slow to see us.
I drew back my blade for a single slash as white sparks of newborn levin husked out a warning breath, making my hairs stand up and my skin sizzle a bit. "Hyah!" I roared as I full moon spun with all of the strength I had.
The earth responded to me in kind, as Jove's whip lashed out its rage upon us, like a ribbon of wrath, sharper than the finest blade and more theatrically than the boom of the universe. The thick wooden life forms that did nothing more than shelter life and material alike were mown down like the grizzly reaper's prey. Swiftly and harshly fell the trees of this forest, a great arc like a massive circle was mown down. All around us, now, was the ruin of what would be enough wood to build a small house. Quickly putting my sword away, I looked up the sky. Though the sun was on the rise, I could still see the thing that I wanted. A lone, nearly erased, amethyst star twinkled its last, being absorbed into the morning breath of the warming sky. 'Green.' I thought to myself with a smile. 'Usually, healing herbs are green. That's a sign.'
"Jushiro, I don't detect any dead bodies." Aiko told me.
I turned my gaze over to her as she returned to her normal form, floating closeby my side. "I lost detection of them as Ulik earthbent them to shambles, I'm sorry." she finished.
I smiled to her gently as I tickled her kitty cheek with my fingertip. "I don't care about the kids, Aiko." I told her. "Don't feel bad about it."
The sound she made was on proximity with purring as she and I stopped our little puppydog session and I turned my attention to Ulik. "And I never saw that kind of bending before. Nicely done, driving them away, Gorigan."
He smiled open lipped, showing his few but strong looking teeth. "A pleasure, lad. If we'd fight on solid earth, I'd teach ya a thing or two."
I smirked at him as we turned our attention to the direction of the green star's last proximity. "I'd say it's north." I said aloud. "We'd best be walking, that way we won't go too far before the guiding star lights the sky."
Ulik was the one who stepped forward a little bit. "Aye, lad. A star can't guide us if t'be hidden."
I chuckled a high, lighthearted tune to his agreement. "Enough discussion. Onward."
XXXXXXXXXX
"No, this is completely unfair!" Aiko whined out, loudly and childishly.
"How is it unfair, Aiko?" I asked her.
She floated around to be in front of me, still moving at the pace we were walking. "It's because Ulik doesn't have to transform or anything when people are around! I do!"
"That's because I'm an Earthbender. I can just tunnel into the ground and seal the hole I dug." Ulik stated.
She gestured to me. "See?! How come I can't do that?"
I chuckled with a raised brow. "Well, you could turn invisible."
"That's transformation!"
I rolled my eyes. "Then hide in my robes."
She then turned a little pink as she yelled out flusteredly. "No, I am not hiding in your stinky robes!"
"They're not stinky, Ulik and I washed them in the river and I used the Sapphire to heat dry them." I argued.
"That's not what I mean, you're probably stark naked under there!" she retorted.
"I have smallclothes."
"This is horrible. How does anybody get around without Flying?" Aang's voice asked nearby.
I turned to Ulik quickly. "Grab Aiko and tunnel underground. With her, you'll be able to keep sight on me through—." I began.
"I know, lad, I got'it." he interrupted as he grasped onto Aiko with one big hand squeeze as he practically sunk into the ground like a frantic screw motion, then the hole in the earth sealed itself.
I took a deep breath and adjusted my hat. "Gods, I'm gonna have a headache." I muttered as I walked on through the forest.
Walking in silence, I held my Uchigatana in my hand, slung over my shoulder. My jewels bounced and jingled as I kept moving, and I was paying an unusual amount of attention towards the nature around me. The ample amounts of moldable and yet concrete earth at my feet, the trees with amber and blooded leaves fluttering down gently, and the blatantly rediculous piles of leaves with lichi nuts in the middle. They were supposed to be traps for small animals like Hog-monkeys and other creatures of such size. Seeing these, I came to a realization as to who was here along with me. "The Fire Nation?" I whispered to myself. "Here? They must be occupying a town nearby."
"Hey! Jushiro!" Aang's voice boomed out from behind me.
I turned around just a bit to see the trio standing with Appa and the lemur, Momo. They all had giant bags on their backs, full of camping gear and equipment, and they all looked not only aimless and lost, but also agitated and tired. Seeing them, I put my Uchigatana into its scabbard at my back and I took off my hat. "Aang, Sokka, Katara." I greeted.
Aang hopped over to me, like speeding wind he zoomed over to me and landed on his feet. I reeled back a step and the slight whoop of surprise left my mouth. He stood with me, smiling casually as he bowed his head. "Good morning, Master Yojimbo."
I shook my head and grasped my fingers in between my eyes, closing them tightly before reopening them and returning to a normal posture. "Stop being so formal, you're the Avatar." I told him.
He laughed lightheartedly as he responded, "Okay, Jushiro. Didn't mean to embarrass you."
I nodded as I put my hat back on. "Don't fret about it, it's just weird." I told him. "Why are you three walking? You have a Flying Bison." I asked them.
They both turned a look to Sokka, who was pretty much slapping his palm unto his forehead. Such a gesture was a direct implication of false logic in place and the results of failure or idiocy being borne from such circumstances. "I assume that it was his idea, based on false instincts." I said.
"Yeah, pretty much." Katara and Aang simultaneously answered.
"Agh, okay okay, I understand it wasn't a good idea. But come on! The Fire Nation is bound to notice Appa floating around in the air. He's a giant fluffy monster with an arrow on his head!" Sokka tried to reason out.
"I doubt that Appa couldn't evade catapault shots." I argued. "But enough on that subject, I'm glad to see that you're alright, after that incident with Zuko and those pirates."
Sokka wasn't very good at hiding any thoughts he had, especially since he stepped forward and spoke first. "And speaking of that, you were acting very peculiar about your encounter with him that night." he commented.
I shot a look to him, my eyes filled with an angry fire, but yet my expression of the face was still calm. "What happened bewteen he and I is our business, not yours." I snapped at him.
"If he's hunting us, then it is our business, considering you said that you knew him." he argued.
"He's not hunting you or your sister, he's hunting Aang." I corrected him. "And I'm not a part of your merry little crew, so my business with the idiot is not something for you to worry abou—."
"Both of you, just calm down." Aang mediated as he stepped bewteen us and held us away from one another. "Both of you just need to calm down, chill your nerves, and take a deep breath." said Aang, sternly.
Realizing that I had raised my voice, I now felt a little bit of tension in my muscles. The Fire Nation had traps here for small animals, probably for uses of eating them. That meant that there were camps here, or an occupied town—as I had already surmised. I might have even given us away. I almost lost all attention to the immediate subject, but it still reached into my field of perceiption. "Aang, I'm just looking after the betterment of the group. For all we know, he could be a Fire Nation spy, or something else along those lines." Sokka insisted.
"If I were a spy, I wouldn't be allowed to attack Zuko or his men." I commented. "And I'm not a spy. If I was, I would be making my way back west to deliver the Avatar to his doom."
"See?!" Sokka jumped at, gesturing to me. "Only spies talk like that!"
"Sokka, he's not a spy." Katara told him as she turned to me. "You're not, right?"
"I'd be a lot richer if I was, of course I'm not a spy." I told her.
Sokka glared at me. "Whatever, I still don't trust him."
I rolled my eyes to his little show. "Fine, then don't trust me." I told him as I continued to walk on. "Toodle loo!"
I then found my way to some bushes, a perfect normality in this setting, considering that we were in a forest, right? Right. Naturally, I had to brush my way past these little pieces of nature to get on with my stroll past these woods. Upon exitry from those annoyances, I found myself in... a worse predicament.
I happened upon a camp of twenty, perhaps thirty, Fire Nation soldiers, going about their business at base until I scrabled into the middle of their place of commerce before work. I had none of my weapons out, and the trio of kids were not immediately on my tail, so I had nothing to worry about from these men. So long as I didn't cause trouble, I had nothing to fret about. So in my startled simplicity, I slowly waved my hand to these men, to show my greeting. "I am just passing through." I told them.
One of the men was in full halberdier attire and eating noodles out of a bowl, hunched over next to a fire with a few of his friends and fellow soldiers. They were all looking at me, paralyzed in the same moment that I was. It made a lot of sense to me; I mean, they were probably on their break from all the work they've been doing, eating, laughing and talking with their friends. Then a guy with an armored hat, black oobi with white haori coat, with a moonstone uchigatana on his back decides to waltz in through the bushes in the back of the camp. That would be a bit awkward, to me at least. The man with the noodles slowly and carefully got up to his feet and grabbed at a stray paper on the ground. After a second or two, he held it up to reveal that it was a mass printed flier of Aang, with a few mythical descriptive words written next to his portait. "Mmph?" he asked me, full of randomness.
I pointed at the ground, to signal to this man—in our newly assumed random sign language—that he might be in this forest. He put down the paper and, while holding his chopsticks in his hand, he gave me a thumbs up gesture. I nodded as I walked backwards through the bushes. Now that I was on the other side, I sighed in appreciation of the fact that they didn't associate me with Aang. "What was that?" Sokka asked from behind me, startling me.
"Aaaah!" I screamed out as I swiftly took out my weapon and with a powerful arc sweep with my leg and force drawn from the Ruby, I threw him into a tree and even broke part of the trunk with him.
"Sokka!" Katara called out to him as she ran over to him.
Aang quickly zoomed over to them as I decided to take this time and leave them. "Crap crap crap!" I yelled at myself as I ran from them and leapt along the trees. "Gotta get out of here! Gotta do it now!"
XXXXXXXXXXX
Flashback:
I sat in my room, on my bed, putting on my gi, oobi and sandals. It must have been earlier in the morning, for the sun was a small ways in the sky from my window, but yet nobody was stirring all that much—not even the servants. As I dressed myself, all was quiet, save for the chirping larks and songbirds, the swimming turtle-ducks and fishes. As I walked down the halls, nobody met with me. I was alone this morning, for the moment. But yet, it was for the best, at least I thought so.
I strolled my way to my favorite spot, that one outdoor yard with that pond, bench, and tree—all accompanied by that green grass. Standing in that place, I took the time to close my eyes and breathe, in and out. The wind shuffled each individual blade of grass, even the flowers that carried the cherry blossoms were provoked to let go. The water rolled in its little wrinkle waves, and even my hair and clothes brushed with the air. As I took a deep breath in, and back out, I spoke to myself. "Most of my life was spent here, it seems."
I took my cream color hilted sword from its sheath and took a stance, as per the normality of my more casual and non-serious training. "You know, not once have you ever practiced with me." Azula's voice called out to me.
I sighed in a distant flavor of relief as I assumed normal posture and put my blade away, turning around to see Azula in a red, black and gold kimono with her hair let down. She was strolling in such a casual and yet viperous form, it was actually not that notable—that is how she usually did things. Seeing Azula made some people grovel respectfully, mostly out of fear that she would mince you alive. For me, such was different, she made me feel some sort of kinky hunger and happiness whenever she was around. Smiling at her, I replied. "You never asked me to."
She held onto my shoulders as she pressed her lips to mine and kissed me. As her lips lingered with mine, I held gingerly to her waist and quite frankly I held her closely to me. Azula and I had grown much closer and closer over the last year or so, due to the fact that Zuko was gone, Iroh with him, and it had been a few years since mother left as well. She was always there when I needed her, but yet it was her friend that I would truly love a little more.
She and I pulled out of the kiss and rested our heads against one another. "I'd say that was good practice." she suggested as I playful, poisonous smile curled upon her lips.
I giggled a bit in soft humor. "Azula, I'm with your friend." I reminded her. "You know we can't do this out in the open in the morning."
She gave a kiss on my lips again and held to my cheeks. "I know we aren't in a relationship, but some famlies are like this. So you have nothing to worry about."
I smiled and slipped out of her grasp to get myself some breathing room. "What did step-father call you into the throne room for?" I asked her.
She giggled and parted a stray lock of ebony from her face. "He simply asked me of my opinions of a few of the recent moves in the war, nothing too fancy."
"Why ask you? Last time I checked, you were unfamiliar in the tactics of land war." I questioned her.
She gave me a sneer of disapproval as she flicked my forehead with all of her finger strength. The sharp spike of pain instantly registered in my mind from my skin as my body reacted to cover the area she attacked and I shut my eyes tightly. "Ow ow ow!" I grumbled.
Her eyes flared with a deathly anger, the stuff of true nightmares. "I'll have you know that in my time in the war council, I have been quite adept in the art of war."
Smiling submissively and rubbing the back of my head, I responded. "I see. Well, I can't just tell you that we should practice in terms of swords."
I took a stance with my feet firmly placed apart, one forearm raised in defiant defense and the other arm partially withdrawn. She stood there, befuddled by my act of friendly challenge. "Are you actually suggesting to practice with me?" she questioned me.
Looking to her, I smiled in a playful, and yet disrespectful way. "Unless the Fire Princess is a little cool in the coals. You're no fire, you're an ember at best."
I could practically hear her swagger of agitation steam out of her ears as she gave me and angrily smashed smile from those lips of hers. "You wait right there… I am to get dressed and then we shall see who is the stronger fire." she replied as she walked away in such a livid fashion.
I smiled in a completely honest and bewildered way to my stepsister as I resumed a normal posture with the way I stood. "It may be the last time I can test that conviction, sis."
XXXXXXXXXXX
I sat at the sputtering embers of a campfire as the side of a river, not too far away from a resident Fire Nation occupied town. In my hands was my guitar, which I held covetously away from the fire. Alone and bored, I kept on along and strummed in harmony to my mind's whims, playing my favorite song once more. For some reason, this song was truly my favorite. There was no other in this world that was in such perfect harmony with not only my feelings, but also my thoughts and even my very self awareness. It was just perfect for me, like the spirits themselves conducted this song all for me. As I even thought such things about spirits, I watched my mind play tricks on me and show me brief flashes of my fight with Habai in those other woods and that village.
As I saw that, I stopped playing and sat there, looking upon the fire in total silence. "Right..." I told myself. "I kinda played out a dick move back there." as I saw within the fire's flickers and flares and dances, I gazed upon myself kicking Sokka back into that tree.
Then the ground began to vibrate just a little bit. Vibrations became faster and more intense. Then the vibration became intense shaking as he looked forth from the fire to see Ulik leap out of the ground through a self-sealing hole, and he pounded thr ground with his great big feet as he landed. He looked down at me, smiling a proud and arrogant smile. "Took you a single kid to make you flee with tail 'tween your legs through a forest." he summarized as he gave me a disappointed tsk tsk. "And I thought you were a great warrior, lad."
I looked up to the Gorigan and chuckled. "I'm seventeen years old and I'm the only one of my kind. Pretty sure that I have a few freebies with fleeing like that." I argued.
He scoffed and spat at the ground with such a force that it left a little crack in the earth. "Even so, at least give us a warnin', lad. Aiko was yellin' at me the whole time, and I couldn't jump outta th' ground!" he complained as Aiko fluttered out from his shade and barred her fangs at Ulik.
"It was really smelly down there! And you kept clamping onto me like some kind of covetous animal, squeezing the life out of me like some ragdoll in the middle of—!" Aiko screamed at him.
"Enough, both of you." I inserted as the golden jewel glowed with its iridescence and a wall of prismal light separated them, before dissolving. "The fact still stands, we still have plenty of ground to cover."
I stood up and popped my neck, pointing at the green star in the sky. "The green jewel is that way. Let's get going, we're gonna have to make a detour back to where we met. Right, Ulik?" I asked him.
He both nodded in affirmation, and wore a facial expression of surpised confusion. "Ye still goin' by your word?" he asked me in return.
I gave him a proud smile as I flashed him a thumb of positivity gesture. "You gave me the Topaz, so I'm obligated to fulfill a contract."
He simply looked at me as if I was his savior, his face gleaming in awe as he was almost at an open mouth gape. That lasted for mere seconds before he gave me a challenging eye and an arrogant smirk. "You'd better hope so, Jushiro." he told me. "I'd hate to beat you within an inch of your life."
I sneered in a challenged excitement. "Challenge accepted." I told him as Aiko fluttered into my clothing and I squatted, drawing up physical power at my feet.
Leaping up into the air, I flew with all possible haste as the sonic boom at my back and the tug of wind resistence at my clothing tethered me to the sky.
XXXXXXXXX
Elsewhere:
Aang the Avatar and his two friends—brother and sister, were sitting and merrymaking with young bandits among the trees and the dying sunlight mixed with lanterns hung about. They told stories, jokes, and even played and laughed around like all kids should. Until the sound of a sonic boom reached their ears, like the sound of some form of thunder without rain or clouds. The first to notice it for what it was and the one who definitely knew what it was, the first one was Aang to sense this. "Aang, that sound..." Katara hinted to him.
He looked to her and nodded, a semi-serious and glum expression on his face. "I heard it too. He's gone again." he agreed with her.
"So what if he's gone?" Sokka interjected. "I don't trust him, he has too much that he's hiding from us, and plus he knocked me into a tree!" he complained.
She sneered at him angrily. "You deserved to be knocked into a tree, you startled him! Sokka, sometimes you can really be a thickheaded and thoughtless idiot! Wasn't it clear that he wasn't ready to trust anybody with what you kept demanding? Ugh!" she shouted at him as she crossed her arms and got up to her feet from the table.
Ignoring Sokka and Katara, Aang closed his eyes and turned his head towards the direction of which he heard the boom. "I get the feeling that we'll see him sooner than later." he said glumly.
