Fire Chapter 15: The Barrens

Segment 2: Dinner Guests

"Okay, who's hungry?" Katara asked needlessly as she started sifting through a bag containing the last of their fresh vegetables. "We have mushrooms, rice, and…" she glanced up from the bag and finished apologetically, "more mushrooms."

"Mushrooms sound good," answered Aang wearily as he plopped down against a tree. The poor air bender was exhausted after maintaining a constant cloud cover during the long flight. "If I can stay awake that long," he amended with a loud yawn.

"I don't suppose there's any meat?" piped up Sokka hopefully, peeking over Katara's shoulder at the meager selection of food.

"Not unless you want to go find some," snapped his sister matter-of-factly as she picked up a pot and headed toward the nearby stream to fill it.

Sokka looked around at the dense trees that surrounded them, and noticed with a sense of unease that they seemed unusually quiet. The forest itself didn't appear too healthy either. Most of the leaves were brown and dry, the tall trunks a sickly gray color. Even the thick bushes were a papery, dingy brown.

"You won't find much here," stated Zuko dourly as he and Toph wrangled Appa's saddle to the ground. "These woods are tainted."

This comment seemed to wake the Avatar slightly, and he sat up and glanced around, taking note of the rather sorry state of the terrain.

"What happened to it?" he inquired. "Wait…where are we exactly?"

He reached for his map and studied it with a frown, setting it in his lap as his eyes raked across the gaunt trees in confusion, then back down at the paper. His brows furrowed, creating deep wrinkles along the pale blue arrow on his forehead.

"This can't be right," he muttered pensively, "this should be a lush forest, with some of the most colorful leaves to be found anywhere in the world." The map rustled onto his lap again as he gazed sadly at the withering woods. "Where are all the ember-oaks and fire-maples?"

"You're looking at them," the prince replied with a bitter tinge to his voice as he piled some firewood into a ring of stones. "They're all dead or dying. They have been for decades."

"I can see why," Toph interjected solemnly, pressing her hand against the bare ground to study the soil. "There's nothing here. No animals, no insects; no life of any kind. It's like the earth is…empty."

"I'm not so sure about this water," remarked Katara when she returned from the stream. She sniffed the filled pot and wrinkled her nose. "It smells funny…"

Momo reinforced her suspicions by taking a cautious drink from the crock only to immediately gag on the foul taste.

"We'll need to boil it first," Zuko stated flatly before lighting the fire with a quick breath of flame.

"Hrm…if we're going to boil it," Toph mused thoughtfully before announcing in her best Iroh voice, "then we may as well have tea!"

This earned her an irritated glare from Zuko, but Aang laughed out loud at the uncharacteristic (and surprisingly accurate) impersonation, and the cheerful sound lightened the previously somber mood.

"Actually, tea sounds great."

Toph and Aang were up on Appa's head enjoying their tea while Katara cooked and the eldest boys conversed with heads bent over a map. The blind earth bender would kick herself later for not having had her feet on the ground.

Because really, they should have known better considering how close they were to the capital city earlier that day. One of them should have realized there was a possibility that someone would take notice of a large, fluffy cloud moving in the opposite direction of every other cloud in the sky.

As it was, the attack took them completely by surprise; so much so that the first return missile shot at their assailants was not a rock or a fire blast. It wasn't even a water whip.

It was a frying pan.

Katara's reaction to the sudden appearance of six armored soldiers was born of pure instinct, and she flung the sizzling, vegetable laden skillet she was currently holding at the nearest target. It clanged loudly against the man's metal chest plate, sending him and all the food in it scattering to the ground.

"Hey! That was dinner!" cried Sokka in dismay, even as he reached for his sword with one hand, and pulled his boomerang free with the other. The bent metal whistled through the camp, knocking down a second soldier when it collided with the back of his head.

Although she'd been taken unaware, Toph wasted no time jumping into the fray, sending up a wall of earth just in time to block an incoming fireball headed for Aang who had hopped down from Appa alongside her. She was suddenly very glad she 'watched' him and Zuko practice every day, for it had allowed her to learn all the basic fire bending stances by feeling the placement and movement of feet upon the ground.

Her unique sense of sight also meant she was the first to notice two very serious problems. One, the Avatar was too tired for this fight; and two…

"Azula is coming!"

The words were out of her mouth mere seconds before a blue flame streaked through the camp. It was a good thing she managed it too, because it was the only warning Zuko had to dodge the blast, which was aimed directly at his head.

It barely missed him as it sailed past and smashed into a nearby tree, igniting it in a glorious explosion of crackling flames. Appa roared and reared in panic, while Momo shrieked as the fire quickly began to spread through the dry leaves clinging to the treetops.

"Get the saddle on him!" Zuko shouted to Aang, pointing to the frightened bison, "We need to get out of here!"

A curt nod was the Avatar's only reply as he whisked the saddle onto his large companion's back with a mighty gust of air. Meanwhile, Toph was busy trying to pin down Azula who was barreling toward the camp on the back of a swift-footed dragon-mongoose. Knowing that the agile creatures could easily climb over any obstacles, Toph did what she did best. She waited.

Intently feeling for the light-stepping pace, she carefully timed and plotted the lizard's course. With a small grin of satisfaction, Toph struck at just the right moment, the right step.

Azula was totally unprepared for the beast's sudden stop when one its feet became rooted to the ground in a stone vise, and the princess found herself being flung forward over the front of the saddle, screaming as she flew through the air with arms and legs flailing wildly. She crashed to the ground with a thud, whereupon Katara pulled a wave of water from the stream and washed it over her, freezing it into a thick, icy cocoon.

Appa's saddle was now in place, and he was anxiously prancing about, waiting for his friends to get on so they could leave the terrifying flames behind. Aang was already at the reigns as Katara clambered up the side. Zuko quickly tucked a hand beneath Toph's foot and launched the girl into the saddle, startling a yell out of her.

More soldiers could now be seen pouring through the woods toward the camp, and Azula's crystalline prison was beginning to crack and splinter. They didn't have much time.

"We need a diversion!" advised Sokka, taking down an oncoming soldier to add to the pile of dazed men building up around him. His new sword skills had certainly come in handy; he'd managed to single handedly incapacitate several of their attackers.

"Then we'll buy the others some time," answered Zuko, hurrying over to help Sokka dispatch four more spearmen.

"We can't just leave you here!" protested Aang.

A loud crack erupted from the mound of ice covering Azula. Despite Katara's attempts to thicken the shell by adding more layers, it was inevitable that the princess would break free very soon.

"There's no time to argue!" snapped the banished prince, his eyes darting to more troops heading their way. Sokka moved forward to engage them. "Just go!"

Aang hesitated for only a moment, glancing from Zuko to Azula and back again. With a despairing expression, he pulled a small object from his shirt pocket and tossed it to Zuko, who caught it neatly. It was the bison whistle.

"Call for us when you're safe!" Aang instructed gravely, fixing his friend with a pleading look that clearly showed the anguish he felt at having to leave without his two friends.

"We'll be fine," assured Zuko, offering a brave and somewhat cocky grin, hoping that it would be enough to convince Aang to hurry up and get away. He was relieved when the air bender finally snapped the reins and hollered 'Yip! Yip!', lifting into the sky and away from danger.

Once they were gone, he turned back to Sokka, who was admirably holding his own against a pair of spear wielding soldiers. He took down one and then the other with an impressive series of feints, dodges, and strikes very unlike what Zuko knew to be part of basic army training.

For a brief moment, the glade was quiet and the prince walked up beside his friend with his eyes fixed on the unconscious men on the ground. He blinked at them in wonder, glanced at Sokka, and then returned his gaze back to the fallen men.

"I guess you don't need those sword lessons now," he remarked with obvious approval, referring to his unfulfilled offer several weeks ago to train the water tribe warrior in the use of the twin dao.

"You happen to be looking at one of the Fire Nation's finest," replied Sokka haughtily.

He was so busy posturing as he spoke that he didn't even notice one of the soldiers behind him getting back to his feet until the man was about to strike. And it was Zuko who deflected the blow and sent him careening back to the forest floor. The prince glanced around at the dozen or so downed men, some groaning as they slowly returned to consciousness.

"I'm not so sure that's saying much," he remarked with the barest hint of disgust.

It took Sokka a second to catch the veiled insult, but when he did, he let out an indignant, "Hey!"

A piercing crack reverberated through the clearing and both boys turned to see that Azula was about to escape the ice that held her. The thudding of heavy boots flanked them on every other side, and the teens looked back and forth from the two threats. Sokka grimaced nervously.

"This is going to bad, isn't it?"

Zuko turned to face the wave of soldiers, his swords ringing as he swung them into a combat ready position.

"All we have to do is break through their ranks and keep on running," he said grimly.

Nodding in agreement, Sokka took a deep breath and the two boys dashed forward into the advancing line, blades swirling madly as they collided with a wall of hardened armor and sharpened steel.

Side by side, and sometimes back to back, the fire nation prince and water tribe warrior were an unstoppable whirlwind of dancing blades cutting through spear shafts, clanging against swords, and slamming hilts into armored bodies, which fell back from the formidable onslaught.

It took only a few frenzied moments for them to find the opening they needed, and they rushed through it without hesitation. Zuko let Sokka get a few steps ahead before sheathing his swords as he spun around and laid down a wall of fire to cover their retreat. Beyond the flickering barrier, he could just make out the sound of shattering ice.

He didn't stick around to see what would happen next, choosing instead to catch up with his companion as they made their getaway. As Zuko pulled along side him at a sprint, Sokka glanced over and quipped.

"So what are we going to do about dinner?"

Author's notes:

First off, I apologize for not having this up sooner. Blame my ISP for being absolute -expletive deleted- about me wanting to change providers. They shut off ALL our service on Saturday (phone, cable, and internet), a full five days before we asked them to and we weren't able to get it turned back on until today when they were actually in the office. (grrr!)

Anyway, at least I was able to get started on the next chapter. It's about halfway done so I'll have it up within the next day or two.

Also, for those of you on the look out for some good stories to read in the meantime, I'd like to point you toward these:

If you read and enjoyed one of my earlier recommendations titled 'Adjustments' by hhgbh, then you will be happy to know that they've started a new series of one-shots, appropriately called 'My Avatar Oneshots'. The first one features an incredibly charming and touching conversation between Katara and Sokka. It's a great read!

Another story I highlighted a while back called 'Cast Me Gently Into Morning' by OveractiveImagination39, also has a sequel now: 'Better Days'. So far, it's every bit at good as the first!

These and many other great stories can be found in my favorites, so please check them out (and don't forget to leave the authors a well-deserved review!)