Chapter 10

The atmosphere still morbid, Katara spoke up drearily. "What's it say, Aang?"

"They want to make a trade: King Bumi for their son." He looked at the bundle of joy in my arms and smiled. "That must be this little guy."

I listened as Aang and Sokka fought out whether or not it was a trap. At last, they agreed to go. We all hopped on Appa, and flew toward the great city of Omashu. I refused to let go of the child until the last moment possible, still afraid Sokka might try something, so I joined Aang in walking to the meeting spot. There were no specific instructions in the letter as to how the exchange would be made. We waited for a good amount of time before a metal cage high in the air slowly began lower, held up by a single chain. Aang's eyes lit with joy as the face of the King of Omashu came into view. He was certainly not your typical king. His hair stuck out of his head in a mess, his nose crooked, not aristocratic like you would expect in someone of high status, and his eyes were mismatched looking, giving him a strong appearance of insanity.

He snorted out a laugh. "Aang, how good to see you!" His voice had a nasaly quality, matching with the rest of his features in its atypicalness.

I was so distracted by my ponderings about his peculiarities that I didn't notice Azula until she spoke.

"A king for a baby? That's hardly a fair trade. Don't' you agree, Mai?"

I hadn't heard that voice for months, and hearing it now, after finally being lulled into a sense of security, my hairs stood straight on end. I looked turned my head to the direction of her voice, a sneer plastered on her pretty face. Ty Lee, one of her childhood friends, shifted almost imperceptibly from foot to foot, as if she'd rather be elsewhere. I'd always liked Ty Lee the best, but she was a bit of a push over, like me. My eyes rested on Mai, who's face had grown sharp and angular. The rigid lines of her face were intensified by her rounded, yet just as geometric, hairstyle. She eyed her brother, then King Bumi, then her brother once more. She looked uncomfortable at first, before her mouth set in resolve.

"You know, Azula, I think you're right," was all she said before out of her sleeves shot two daggars with deadly aim. Aang took off the ground, avoiding his arrow using his staff, and when Azula saw his arrow tattoo, she immediately went after him, realizing he was the Avatar. Aang had just enough time to cut the chain on the big metal cage and ride it down the mail system. I clung tightly to the child as I dodged. My reflexes were faster, now that I was so used to walking, but she was closer than the Yu Yan Archers had been, and the daggar grazed my shoulder.

How could she put her brother in danger like that? It was her brother, wasn't it? The way she had been the one to make the decision to strike, not Azula, made me think the child in my arms was TomTom. Azula had cheerfully announced the news of Mai's baby brother one day while I had been brushing her hair.

"Of course, now her parents need her to assist with the baby, so she won't have as much time for me, but I always wanted a little brother," she sighed wistfully. "When he's older and Mai is in my court, we can share." I continued running the comb through her hair in silence, unwilling to point out that she already had a brother and she hated him, so what good would having another brother do?

Another dagger came flying at me, and I wouldn't have had time to dodge it, but for Katara creating an ice barrier that caught the dagger mid-flight. She then allowed the ice to melt back into water, dropping the dagger to the ground and hurling the element back to Mai at breakneck speed. Mai dodged it easily, and they performed the same dance a few times more before Ty Lee cart-wheeled over. She pressed one or two of Katara's pressure points, blocking the chi flow. Katara tried to lift the water off the ground with great effort, but it mearly began to rise, then dropped like a dead fish.

Mai sent us a mocking smile before she took my appearance in. She grimaced and shouted loudly. "Well, if it isn't dear old Hanabi! You've been missed at the Palace."

I cringed at the sound of my old name coming from her mouth.

Katara sent a scowl her way. "You must be mistaken. Her name is Hanyuu. She's a nomad."

Mai detested me, I knew. She had always had a crush on Zuko, and thought of me as competition. Her mouth twitched, as if it wanted to smile, but the muscles were too underused to pull her lips up. "Of course. Hanyuu, then. Tell me, Hanyuu, how did you manage to escape that time with the Avatar? I've heard whispers his escape was your doing. You should know the Fire Nation doesn't take kindly to traitors."

My mouth fell open in horror. I stammered, not knowing how much to say and how much to conceal. I wondered if she was acting on a hunch, or if she really knew. If I lied, and they found out, my punishment would be even worse than what I would already have to endure.

Ty Lee's eyes widened in recognition. "Hanabi, it is you! I didn't recognize you!" She leaned forward, as if to come hug me, but then thought better of it when Mai sent a death glare in her direction.

I was about to comment on how nonsensical it was that a pleasant argument over my history had just popped up in the middle of an epic battle, but before I had the chance, Mai raised her arm to strike. Katara flinched, taken off-guard, but Sokka flew in on Appa at just the right moment to throw his boomerang and knock Mai off balance. He hopped off Appa, and Appa flew off to survey the battle until he was needed. Sokka assumed an offensive stance, his boomerang at the ready. He and Mai stared each other down. I wondered how looking at each other menacingly would accomplish anything, but my musings were interrupted, as they so often are, by the action resuming.

Mai shouted for Ty Lee to take care of him, claiming she didn't have the time to deal with him. I had been unfortunate enough to have ventured near a wall, which, if you know Mai, is very dangerous. She shot a round of her knives in my direction, pinning me perfectly by my clothing to the structure behind me. I grimaced as Katara dodged one round of knives after another, trying to make her way toward me. I shook my head, trying to tell her she should leave me. Aang and Sokka ran toward her, pulling her away and toward the edge of the building, where Appa was racing to meet them. Aang and Katara both sent me apologies with their eyes, though Sokka was too focused on driving Appa—or maybe he just didn't care enough—to notice.

Azula hadn't noticed me yet, for which I was grateful. She was exchanging words with her little group for a moment before Ty Lee pointed in my direction and she turned to sneer.

"Well!" she shouted from across the knife-littered battlefield. "If it isn't my dear, sweet Hanabi!" I felt even the knives shivered from the sharp edge to her voice. She stepped closer, one foot in front of the other, hips swinging exaggeratedly, like a cat on the prowl. "It's so good to see you, old friend! None of the other maids were half so diligent as you. You could have written a letter or something. I missed you dearly." By now, she was so close I felt her hot breathe singe my skin. She raised up one claw-like fingernail to my throat and dug it in hard, although I'm sure to anyone else it would have looked like a gesture of affection. "Tell me, Hana-chan. Where were those travelers you were with going?"

I gulped. "Here. To Omashu."

She turned sharply away from me, taking slow sure steps as she spoke. "After here, imbecile."

"I don't know. They didn't tell me."

I saw her shoulders tense and with another sharp pivot she sent a burst of flame that died out only inches from me and Tomtom's faces. "You're lying!"

I was silent for a moment, trying to rack my brain for any indication that they had told me where they were headed after this. I couldn't think of any. "I'm not."

She turned around, showing the briefest flash of genuine surprise before masking it with a guarded look of incredulity. "You expect me to believe you were traveling with total strangers and had no idea where they were going to take you."

Well, if you put it like that… "Yes," I sighed.

She looked at me with pity in her cold eyes. "Oh, my dear, sweet Hanabi. You're so naïve. That little boy you were you were with? He was the Avatar. He wants to bring down the Fire Nation and kill every one of us, just for being born in the wrong country. He wants those Water and Earth barbarians to bring chaos to the entire planet! Do you hear me, Hanabi? He's trying to destroy the world! He was using you for his own evil means!"

"He's twelve," I reminded her, wondering if she really believed what she was saying.

"He's a hundred twelve years old! What kind of dark magic do you think he would have had to use to stay so young and innocent looking?"

I gazed at her, wondering if I could really trust her. Aang, Katara, and Sokka had seemed nice, and I wasn't sure what kind of ability I could have offered them, other than my keen sense of wit, but I doubted that could be used for evil purposes.

Azula sighed, "Do you know how you came to the castle?"

I shook my head. "I was young. I wouldn't remember. How do you?"

"Father explained it to me when I was old enough to understand. He said one of the monks at the temple of the sun made a prophesy about you. Well, not so much a prophesy. Your spirit guide is the Wind Spirit. She has blessed you." She looked at me uncomfortably. "Your first born will be blessed with airbending."

"That's bad?" I queried.

"In itself, no." She fidgeted. "The Wind Spirit is an evil spirit. She blows entire villages down and can drive hay through a solid wall. She is vengeful over the annihilation of her worshippers a hundred years ago. No doubt any child bearing part of her spirit will be the end of the Fire Nation. We couldn't kill you. That might evoke her anger even more. So, we brought you to the palace. The guards were ordered not to speak to you. Zuko was forbidden from acknowledging your existence. You were to remain chaste, safe and hidden away in the palace." Her voice took on a hard edge. "Don't think that little airbender didn't know she was watching over you. He wants to avenge his people as surely as the Wind Spirit does. Don't think he or one of his friends wouldn't have taken advantage of you the moment the fully understood the kind of blessing the Wind Spirit has given you!"

She took Tomtom from me and unpinned me from the wall. "You're coming with us." She commanded as she marched off, Mai and Ty Lee trailing after her.

MUAHAHAHAHA! PLOT TWIST!