A/N: Part 2 of this update. The little omake at the end is a new thing I'm trying out. I'm totally stealing it from Sylvacoer's work, Tales of the Spirit World. If you want to see it done better, or see a good story in general, check it out.
The granary that Karida had chosen as the dueling ground was a vast, empty building. The roof was still sound, allowing no light or wind in and there were no windows. The only door was shut, but could be seen by the faint cracks of light that lined its frame. The greater part of the light came from glowcrystal torches. They were mounted on thick wooden columns, rows and rows of them that ran the length and breadth of the place, supporting a network of rafters.
Empty sacks and crates were scattered around, along with a fine brown dust that smelled of wheat. The old timbers creaked and groaned with the wind, but the air inside was thick and stagnant and bone-chilling cold.
The door swung open with a creaking sound, revealing Reki, Jomei, Siensao, and Zoukani, lightly dusted with snow. Kei Dao had slipped away at some point during their trip here.
Karida stood in the center of the granary, flanked by four men, all but one of whom were wearing swords. All of them were dressed like Reki. Jomei glared at the unarmed man: he had to be a sandbender. Good. Means no matter what Reki thinks, there's someone here for me to deal with.
"I am here," Reki said, stepping out in front of the others.
"I've been waiting," Karida answered. "Come in. I see you brought others. I wouldn't have thought you had a friend in the world."
"I do not," Reki answered, walking into the building at a slow, unhurried pace. "They came to bear witness." She came to a halt about twenty paces from Karida. Jomei swung the door shut again, grateful to get out of the freezing wind. All of them were leaving a trail of water wherever they went as the snow melted.
Karida stared at each of them in turn, her eyes narrowing at Siensao.
"I'd heard you'd taken another student," she said, her voice growing dangerously soft. "I wasn't good enough for you, is that it? After all the effort you put into my instruction? And she's willing to learn from a person like you willingly? She's either a fool or a madwoman."
"Do not be resentful of another's poor choice or my whims," Reki chided calmly.
"I'm not," Karida said, shaking her head. "It just seems so unlike you. But I'm sure there's an angle I'm not seeing." She glanced at Jomei briefly. "He really doesn't know who you are?" She chuckled. "Oh, that is rich. And you never told him? Would you like me to?"
Reki nodded.
"If you wish to rant about how terrible I am and how your revenge is completely justified and your goal is noble, do it to him, not me. I have no desire to listen to such things. Take your time and be descriptive. I will wait until you begin to bore me."
Karida opened her mouth, then closed it again, looking thoughtful. After a moment, she shook her head.
"No. I won't. I'm your executioner, not your herald."
Jomei shifted his feet, gripping his hammer tighter; the woman had guts, talking like that to Reki's face. Either that, or she was nuts after all. Maybe I was wrong and Reki is normal for someone from the desert.
Reki sighed sadly.
"What you are is a broken warrior that I created. This was the only way it could have ended between us." Her expression turned stern and her voice formal. "Karida, daughter of Fadil, daughter of Altaf, of the Azhar Tribe. Face me."She drew her sword and slowly walked forward, the blade raised.
"Reki," Karida answered, causing the other woman to pause, surprised, "daughter of no one, of no tribe and sister to no one. Face me." An expression of absolute fury passed over Reki's face, but she managed to regain her calm before advancing again. But, Jomei observed, for one of the few times since they had met, there was a cold light in her green eyes.
Karida drew her own sword and the other tribesmen swiftly removed themselves from the area, moving to stand close to the door, though still keeping well away from Siensao, Zoukani, and Jomei. The distance between the two women decreased with agonizing slowness. Jomei looked over at the merchant and soldier, desperate for something, anything to happen to stop this, but both of them seemed quite calm. If anything, Siensao seemed curious, while Zoukani kept glancing at the other tribesmen, both hands on his spear. He tensed, getting ready to bring his hammer up, but Zoukani caught Jomei's eye and shook his head. The miner watched, his mind fevered, sweating hard; what a time to be absolutely useless!
Reki halted about twenty paces away from Karida, waiting. The tension stretched on and on as the two of them looked into each other's eyes. Then it broke.
Karida moved first, sword rising in a low-to-high slice that ripped up a large chunk of the floor, the stone dissolving into a blast of scouring sand that tore through the air at Reki, howling like a demon. Reki was already moving, sprinting forward behind one of the stone pillars just as the sand swept by. Jomei snapped out of his paralysis, throwing up a stone wall and planting his hands against it to take the force of the blast. After it faded, he peeked out from behind one side of the wall and saw that the thick stone had been ground down to a mere handswidth. But that wasn't what mattered.
"You cheating bitch!" he bellowed a red haze flooding his vision as he abandoned the wall and charged at Karida. Who uses bending in a sword fight? The sandbender among Karida's allies was faster. The floor under Jomei's feet dissolved into powdery sand and he sank to his ankles, stumbling but staying upright as he turned to face the new threat. Behind him, he heard Siensao and Zoukani rush forward, ready to back him up should any of the other desert people get an idea.
The sandbender didn't press the attack.
"We couldn't win any other way," he snarled, sounding both defiant and ashamed, "and the desert needs her to die!"
Karida's attack had disadvantaged her: she had no idea where Reki was as the dust cloud thinned. Reki darted from cover, swift as an arrow. Karida, hearing the rustle of clothes and slap of footsteps on stone, whirled, parried Reki's blow, and the duel began in earnest, blades flickering in the green light. Reki was at the best Jomei had ever seen her, like lightning among the mountains. Step by step, she was driving Karida back, and it was only a matter of time before the other woman made a mistake.
Karida was bending even as she moved, though, sand flowing up her body to encase her in some kind of sand armor Jomei didn't even know was possible. And yet she still moved as fast as she had before, maybe even faster.
Reki's next attack seemed like a mistake, for the blade only sank partway through the sand armor at Karida's shoulder and then became stuck. Karida's sword flashed forward for a killing blow, but Reki used her trapped sword as leverage, sliding under one arm, planting one foot under her opponent's leg and shoving the other woman off her feet. Karida's concentration broke, enough to let Reki yank her sword free. The sharp metal edge descended in a stabbing, two-handed thrust. This time she got through and blood blossomed amidst the sand for a moment before Karida could seal the breach and knock Reki's sword away.
Jomei, still mired in sand, could not help but be impressed. Looks like Siensao's got a long way to go if she wants to match Reki's last student!
Karida sprang to her feet, turning to face Reki again, just in time to catch a spray of sand in her face, courtesy of Reki's foot. Karida didn't even bother to raise a hand to block, doubtless she had bent it away from her eyes, but in the split second when she was focusing on that, Reki kicked high, crunching the bridge of Karida's nose under her foot and knocking the woman off her feet.
Karida's fall became a controlled tumble, and she leapt to her feet, recovering just in time to ward off Reki's pursuing blow. Steel rang on steel as the swords met again and again. This time, though, it was Reki who was retreating steadily, back around one of the pillars.
"Here they come", Siensao muttered, jerking Jomei's attention away from Reki's duel. The other Si Wong warriors, clearly intent on eliminating Reki's 'witnesses' were moving toward them with drawn swords. "Stay here," she said, stepping in front of Jomei, Zoukani following her lead. "Two against four is fair, but only just. For them."
Before Jomei could argue with the error in her accounting, the pair charged the enemy line. Zoukani knocked aside the first swordsman's thrust with the brace just below the head of his spear, advanced, then slammed the haft of the spear into the man's crotch as he stumbled forward, tripping on Zoukani's foot. The tribesman hit the ground hard, and only barely managed to roll out of the way of the thrust that would have pierced his heart. Siensao, not to be outdone, lashed out with her staff, cracking one of the remaining swordsmen on the wrist before he could close the distance.
"Hey!" Jomei, still mired in sand, shouted, startled. "The sandbender's mine!"
Siensao, ducking a wild swing, glanced back at him. "As you wish. Just don't die, I'd hate to have wasted my investment."
Cursing under his breath, Jomei strained to get to firm ground, only to step further and further into sand. "Quit cheating and fight me fair!" he demanded of the sandbender, who stood off to one side, ignoring the duels around him to watch Jomei's struggle. "You're going to collapse the building on all of us if you don't stop this pig-chickenshit!"
The sandbender hesitated, then shrugged. "So be it."
"You son of a…!" With a roar, Jomei flung his hand back, snatching whatever solid stone his bending could reach and hurled it at him.
The sandbender reduced the door-sized slab to pebbles and dust with a single thrust of his open hand. Overhead, one of the rafters snapped, showering them with debris.
"Seems to me you're doing as much damage to it as we are, earthbender." He swept both hands down, plunging Jomei down further into the sand.
'Find some solid earth, find something!' Jomei's mind screamed as he fought back against the sand and his rising panic
Out of sight of the others, Reki turned retreat into headlong flight, sprinting back around another pillar, Karida pursuing. As Karida rounded the pillar, she received the barest instant of warning before Reki's sword flashed down from overhead. She twisted away slightly, just enough, so instead of stabbing in through her eye, the razor edge slid along her nose and cheek. Reki had been hanging from the glowcrystal torch. Missed! Reki hissed inwardly, annoyed with herself, as blood flooded over Karida's face, the woman whirling away to, trying gain some space and time to recover control of her armor. Reki leapt down after her half-blinded opponent, resuming the attack.
Jomei, knee-deep in the sand and getting deeper, cracked a great slab of rock free from the floor behind the sandbender, straining to turn it over on top of the man. Without even looking over his shoulder, his opponent snapped both arms back against the slab, shattering it. His feet shifted, widening the pool of sand around him and Jomei. Tthe dark look on the man's face told Jomei he was finally taking this fight more seriously. And now more of the roof was starting to fall in, admitting shafts of daylight and the freezing wind, which blew sand everywhere. Rafters and beams buckled one after the other, one of them slamming into the sand right next to Jomei. Seeing his chance, he heaved himself up onto it, out of the sand while his opponent's concentration was broken.
Siensao and Zoukani, a sudden curtain of falling debris cutting them off from the pair of desert warriors they had been fighting, turned without pause on the unlucky man trapped on the wrong side of the rubble. The warrior tried to fall back and circle around to rejoin his comrades, but Zoukani's spear shot out and tripped him up, sending him sprawling. Siensao's staff followed up with an overhead, two-handed strike that cracked against his head. The warrior went limp. The two of them whirled to face the remaining warriors, who charged, screaming battle cries and swearing revenge for the death of their comrade.
Karida, not bothering to pause and swipe away the blood streaming into her eye, stomped down hard, turning yet another large swath of the floor to sand, trying to sink both of them into it. Reki saw the move coming before it began and leapt to another torch, climbing into the rafters, where the shadows kept her out of sight. Karida, enraged, followed after on a column of sand, landing heavily. Hearing the lightest of footsteps behind her, she turned, the weight of her armor unbalancing her slightly on the narrow beam. Reki didn't bother with swordplay, but merely slid aside from her opening attack and rammed her shoulder against the other woman with enough force to unbalance them both, sending them tumbling off the rafters and towards the hard ground.
The women wrestled briefly in midair, Karida's sandbending-powered strength against Reki's agility and technique. Reki won, kicking away slightly, then used the momentum from the fall to aid another two-handed thrust to the thigh. This time, with the force of the impact jarring Karida's concentration again and her own force, she got through, piercing the leg completely. Instantly, the sand armor lost cohesion and blood poured from the wound. Karida screamed for the first time, a loud, piercing sound that cut through the rumble of the collapsing building and made everyone jump.
Jomei ran along the wooden beam towards the sandbender, even as the man brought his arms into the same move Karida had used to blast his rock wall. Putting every last ounce of strength he had into the attack, Jomei threw his hammer with a mighty heave that sent the weapon flying at his opponent. The sandbender contemptuously threw up one hand and a wall of sand swatted the hammer aside. Jomei pulled both hands back.
The sandbender brought his hands together for the finishing move when he sensed something and threw a quick glance behind him. He saw about a half-second of whirling steel before the hammer took his head off in a shower of blood, brains, and bone chips. Jomei nearly fumbled catching the hammer as it returned to him, feeling the cracks that now marred the thin layer of stone encasing the weapon's shaft. An old trick, and one Dongzhou had been reluctant to let him learn. Then, to his shame and surprise, he did drop the hammer, his hands shaking, staring at the bloodied head with horrified fascination. I killed him. His head just...burst like a ripe melon. I[I just murdered a man with earthbending, what am I what am I what-NO! With a howl of frustration, he slapped himself, shaking off the terror that had threatened to destroy him. He snatched up the warhammer, flicking a bit of skull off it, noticing his hands had stopped shaking. A killing blow doesn't have to be pretty, it just has to work. I hadn't killed him, he'd have killed me and gone on to kill Reki and everyone else! Through the roar of falling stone and the veil of dust and sand, he tried to find his allies again, yelling Reki's name.
Back-to-back, Siensao and Zoukani squared off against the remaining enemies. Siensao stood up on the tip of one foot, reaching out with just one hand on her staff, giving it even greater reach than usual, forcing her opponent back a step, then followed up with a thrust, feigning a stumble at the end. As the warrior batted the staff away with his sword and rushed in, Siensao reversed the weapon, the wood sliding easily under through her fingers, stabbing the opposite end into his gut. He reeled back, winded. She spared a glance to check on Zoukani...
...just in time to see the old soldier catch the flat of his opponent's blade with the middle of his spear shaft, turning it aside and shoving the man back. The Si Wong warrior, already unbalanced, had the bad luck to step through a crack in the weakened floor, he went down in a heap. Zoukani kicked his sword away before he could rise and finished the fight, with a final thrust of his spear through the man's chest. As if I had to worry. A noise behind her made her whip around; the man she'd downed was on his feet, hobbling for the exit.
"Zoukani!" she yelled. "Take him down!"
Zoukani hefted his spear, took an instant to judge the distance, and threw. The steel point hit perfectly, catching the fleeing warrior in the center of the back, and he dropped again. Without bothering to retrieve his spear, he drew his sword and held it in a two-handed grip before him. The two of them headed for where they'd last seen Reki.
Karida raised her good leg and slammed it down, the ground under Reki's feet crumbling into another sinkhole. It sucked her in, but Reki refused to let go of the sword, only plunging it further as she fell, twisting it in the wound. The agony nearly caused Karida to pass out, but she reached out with a shaking hand, heedless of the blade's edge, and with a convulsive shove, pushed it past the point of balance. The length of bloodied steel slid free and Reki slid down into the sand. A whole quarter of the granary had fallen in by now and more was coming down. Karida pushed herself to her knees and focused every bit of her fading will on burying her lifelong enemy so deep that she could never escape.
Reki was clawing madly, just barely keeping ahead of the flow of sand. Her sword was lost, swept away. And slowly, ever so slowly, she was climbing upwards towards Karida, who looked down at her with stark terror. Reki's face was contorted into a demon's smile and there was madness in her eyes. The torrent of sand slowed, then stopped, as Karida abandoned her efforts and tried to flee, crawling away. Reki's fingers reached up and clamped onto her ankle with the strength of one possessed. Karida screamed again and scrabbled for her dropped sword. Reki hurled herself out of the pit and got there first, snatching up the heavy blade with both hands. She was gasping for breath from the exertion and covered in sand, but she was triumphant.
It was at that moment that Jomei, Siensao, and Zoukani came upon the scene, Jomei from Reki's left, the other two from her right. Reki, oblivious to them, raised Karida's sword for the finishing blow.
"Above you!" Jomei roared in warning, and Reki threw herself to the side rather than bother to look. An instant later, one of the heavy beams crashed down where she had been standing. Getting to her feet, she looked for Karida and saw the jagged entrance of a tunnel where the tribeswoman had been. Shrieking a curse, she sprinted for the nearest wall, the other three close on her heels. Jomei knocked out a door with a single blow of his hammer and, coughing heavily, the four of them tumbled out of the building. It collapsed behind them, burying the battleground under tons of rubble. And all the while the snow continued falling, covering everything.
The renewed cold hit them like a blow, but they struggled onward until they had gotten far enough away to feel safe, in the lee of a tenement building a few streets down, away from the soldiers and watchmen who were converging on the granary. Then and only then did they stop and think. For a long while, there was silence. Jomei was the first to break it.
"You might have told us she was a sandbender."
Reki was calm again, though shivering with cold.
"I would not have agreed to fight her if I did not think I could beat any tactic she used. And if you had known, you would have tried to prevent our battle or interfere. That I could not allow."
True enough, Jomei admitted, though it didn't make him approve.
"You think she's dead? She was bleeding pretty bad and that whole place is rubble now." But both of them heard how hollow he sounded.
"You do not believe that and neither do I," she answered. "She survived. And she will try again."
"We may need to move to someplace a bit more out of the way for next time," Siensao remarked. "I'd rather not draw attention to ourselves by destroying whatever poor village has the misfortune to host your next encounter." The merchant was just as cold, but she hid it better.
"We?" Reki asked, glancing her way skeptically.
Siensao shrugged.
"My apologies, I assumed you'd prefer to travel with people who will tolerate you rather than striking out alone. It would allow us to continue our lessons." A small smile crossed her face. "You have yet to teach me how to better accomplish my goals."
"I've said what I had to say about that," Jomei added, "but if it'll help, I'll say it again. I need your help."
"Even after you've seen what I turn people into? Even after you know the dangers you face just being around me?"
Jomei's reply was completely confident.
"Even now. If we can beat her and those thugs we can beat anyone else. And I still don't care what you did."
"I killed people. Hundreds. Maybe even a thousand."
Jomei looked over, his eyes widening. How many people do you have to kill before you forget how many it was? Reki looked over at him, seeming very weary, much older than she was.
"Karida was right about one thing. It should fall to me to admit my own sins. I said you would know the truth about me today and you will."
"I don't need to hear it, really!"
"But I do!" Reki exclaimed, sounding almost desperate, "I need to hear it. I was wrong to think I could simply ignore what I did. Karida is the result of that. I need to remember what I must never again become."
"Might I suggest you do so in less frigid conditions?" Siensao suggested. "This really isn't the time or place for confessions."
Reki nodded slowly.
"No, it is not. And I will accompany you until our lessons are completed. I will help you, Jomei, if you are still willing after hearing what I have to say. So long as you are headed for some place very far from here," she murmured, standing up. "I think I would like Karida to have a very long road to her crown."
Back near the granary, in an abandoned alleyway between buildings, a bloody hand broke through the cold stone and the packed snow, clawing at the cloudy sky.
In the depths of the Earth Kingdom prison, Kyuzo and Jura met once more, each well aware that it might be the last time.
"So that's it," Jura said. "That's why I can't come with you like I thought."
For a brief moment, Kyuzo's face fell. Then he smiled, a bright smile that seemed to light up the iron walls around them.
"Don't worry," he said. "It'll all work out for the best. I'll show this lady around the colonies or wherever, then come back, find you again, and we'll work out what to do from there."
"How can you believe that?" she asked, as she had done many times before.
"I look around at this big, screwed-up world, and if I didn't laugh, I'd cry. So I laugh, and have hope. Even if it is a lie, it keeps me alive. So, your brother's going to keep my safe, huh? Good for him, I wish him much luck. What are you going to do while I'm gone?"
Jura's own smile was sad.
"Like you're so fond of saying...I'll think of something."
Reki and Jomei sat in her room at the inn Siensao had recommended when they first came to Omashu. It seemed a long time ago, now. She had wiped off the kohl that lined her eyes and removed her head wrappings. Now she was busy running a whetstone down her sword, working out the many nicks and scratches it had received in the battle with Karida. The regular, rasping sound suited Jomei's consternation.
"I will answer as best I can whatever questions you have about me, about the Blood Drinker," she said, not looking up or pausing in her task. "You know enough to understand the essence of both of us."
"I can see why you didn't want to tell me," he said at last. "If I was in your place...it wouldn't be something I'd want known. But there's something I don't understand. I believe what Karida said is true. But from what I've seen, you're nothing like this 'Blood Drinker' should be. Seems to me that person died a long time ago."
"She is not dead," Reki said, "she is in here, waiting." The swordswoman tapped the side of her head. "I keep her locked away for the sake of the world and for when I might need her. People change, but they only become more themselves."
"Well...even if you say she's still a part of you, you're not the Blood Drinker. You said so yourself. So I'm not going to leave."
Reki scowled at him.
"You want to keep company with one of the most dangerous people in the world? You will be shunned and hunted for even associating with me. Potential allies will have nothing to do with you. I am not fit to teach you. And if the Blood Drinker returns, you will be among the first to die if you do not become like she is. Is that what you want?"
"Doesn't matter what either of us want, it's about what's needed. I need your help still and anybody who doesn't care for my friends isn't anyone I want anything to do with. And you need a friend. You're not the Blood Drinker anymore and it's not right that people don't give you a chance and you don't give yourself a chance. I've had plenty of time to think about all this on the way here, and the only thing that's changed is that I get why you were being so mysterious. And now that I know...I don't care. You're my comrade. That's that."
Reki was surprised, an expression he had rarely seen on her. After a moment's hesitation, she went back to sharpening her sword, putting more pressure than before on the whetstone.
"Fine," she said coldly, "be that way. Do not expect any gratitude from me for your foolishness and I will not save you if you throw your life away like this. And you will cease interfering in my drinking habits!"
"You drink to forget," Jomei murmured. "You think you don't deserve to live because of everything you did. But then..." he raised his voice and his face grew angry. "Why do you fight so hard? You want to die? What are you waiting for?" All the thoughts he had been keeping to himself over the past week came pouring out in a great stream of angry words.
"You want to die, huh? Then what are you waiting for? You say you're a coward and afraid to die, but I think you're just fooling yourself. I think you know you deserve to live and you just don't want to face facts. You're not afraid to die. You're afraid to live. You know you'll never be able to just let yourself die, no matter how hard you try to make yourself believe that you deserve it, and that terrifies you. And that's why you keep pushing me away, you're afraid that I'll find out and you can't have that. Well guess what, it turns out I'm not as stupid as I look. I figured it out. So now what?"
Reki looked at him with an expression of deep weariness.
"Only you, Jomei, could spend so much time trying to figure out something and come up with a heartfelt, ignorant answer."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Jomei demanded.
"After death," Reki said, "the soul of a Si Wong tribesman faces a final challenge on its journey to the Spirit World. They must walk a narrow path, with fires burning below. If they fall, their soul will be consigned to oblivion. And if the proper rites are not performed, the shades of their dead enemies will try to hurl them from the path. I have made and killed many enemies. I cannot cross in safety to the Spirit World. I do deserve to die, but the thought of it terrifies me. There may be something to what you say...perhaps I am afraid to live as well, I have not thought about it. But that is not why I am still alive. I am not so foolish as that."
Her next words were sharp and full of venom.
"Does that answer your question, Jomei of Teoro Village?"
By this time, Jomei could endure that name without flinching, but it still hurt like a knife in his gut. I hate this business. I've no right to ask things like this. But how elsecan I convince her to live?
"I...I don't mean to offend you or anything, honest, but...could I perform this rite, whatever it is?"
"No. It can only be done by a family member or blood brother and you are neither. To even suggest that you might serve in this manner is offensive beyond what you can comprehend, no matter that you make it out of ignorance."
She paused, just long enough for Jomei's heart to stop. Then she said softly, "However, I appreciate the offer in the spirit in which it was meant. It means more than you know."
"Uh...you're welcome, I guess," Jomei muttered, turning a little red in the face. "But if that won't work, then what about this: Stay alive...and I'll try and do enough to become a blood brother. If you still want to die then...then I'll keep away these shades."
Reki shrugged.
"You may try. That is a worthy goal and one I am willing to keep you alive for. That is our common ground to stand upon. For death, I will tolerate a great deal."
"Then will you come with us on the prison raid tonight? I'll be there."
"There is no need. I have already discussed your plans with Siensao and they call for no killing. My skills are not needed. The plan should succeed."
"All right. If you think it should, then it should. I have to go and talk with the others again, but I'll see you tonight. Don't drink too much, we're leaving as soon as we get this prisoner."
"Go, then."
As he reached the door, she called out, "And Jomei?"
He looked over his shoulder.
"Yeah?"
"If I were the kind of person that had friends, I would be glad if you were one of them."
It was a snowy winter night over Omashu. The light grey clouds hung over the mountains like a blanket, shedding a strange silver light upon the great city. Though it should have been dark as coal, instead one could easily see a fair distance, until the falling white flakes swallowed everything whole. Anything beyond that swirling curtain might as well not have existed. And the wind had picked up, moaning through the streets like a restless spirit. It was a perfect night for an escape.
It began in a certain street. A group of Earth Kingdom soldiers forged ahead through the drifts, carrying a glowcrystal lantern on a long pole coloring the snow an eerie green. They were wrapped up in heavy cloaks and scarves, grumbling at having to be out tonight. None of them were particularly alert, here in the heart of the greatest southern stronghold. They just wanted to get out of the cold. As they rounded a corner, they greeted by a man carrying a pot of hot tea. He kindly offered some of it to them in exchange for their hard work. Thanking him for his generosity, most of them accepted. A moment later, all of them were asleep.
"I feel ridiculous," Jomei grumbled, crunching through the snow. "How do these guys fight with all this armor?"
"Be grateful they had an earthbender with them," Siensao admonished him, "that armor is designed to give you the freedom to bend effectively. Ours isn't."
"Knock off that chatter, men," Kei Dao said, playing the role of the bluff commander with far too much enthusiasm, in Jomei's opinion. "We're almost there."
Up ahead of them, Hei'an Prison emerged from the snows, its gloomy stone walls looming high above them. Watch fires burned high upon the outer wall, where thick wooden gates stood shut. The gate guards spotted their lantern as they approached.
"Who are you?" their commander asked Kei Dao, "I thought Wudan Gei's patrol had the inspection tonight."
"Lieutenant Lao Xia," Kei Dao said. "Wudan's back is acting up again, or so he says. You know how he is about his 'old war wound.' You'd think they'd lean on his brother a little to stop cutting him so much slack."
The guard nodded in sympathy.
"Yeah, that's him all right. You have your orders?"
"Got'em right here." Kei Dao produced an official scroll, made out in the name of Lieutenant Lao Xia. The guard looked over them carefully, the snowflakes leaving wet spots on the paper, then handed it back.
"Right, you know the drill. Walk the outer walls first, then the upper levels, then the iron cells. Try not to be all night about it." He signaled to someone on top of the wall and the gates swung open. Jomei had to stop himself from letting out a sigh of relief. That part of the plan had worked. They'd gotten into one of the highest-security prisons in the south. Whether they could get out again...that he didn't know.
There was only one way in or out of the prison proper. The main building, visible above the outer wall, housed only petty offenders. But where that building merged into the mountain stone of Omashu, a single tunnel ran back into the real prison. It was so narrow that two people could only walk side by side with difficulty, and low enough that the ceiling brushed the top of Jomei's borrowed helmet. The ubiquitous glowcrystal torches lined the hallway, alongside stone cell doors. For non-benders, it was the perfect prison. At regular intervals, other tunnels branched out to the left and right, lined with more cell doors. Faint noises came from behind some of them, muffled by the thick stone. At each intersection stood a squad of guards. Kei Dao made a point of greeting them as they passed, as though he walked a group of jailbreakers through these halls every day.
They walked through three levels of the stone cells, descending deeper and deeper into the mountain's heart via an earthbending-powered lift that was the only way to pass between the levels. Below the last level of the stone cells came the iron cells. Everything was plated with the grim grey metal. Walls, ceilings, floors, and the cells themselves were all covered in it. The glowcrystals seemed off somehow, casting a sickly green light over the black hallways. The guards here were less talkative than those above, as if they too were beaten down. And the prisoners were worse. They were all pale from too little time in the sun. Some of them watched the guards through the small, barred windows in their cells with open hostility. A few of them were smiling, seeming very much at home in the gloom, and whispered threats as the group walked by. Jomei gained a new respect for Siensao, for coming here almost every day since they'd arrived.
Finally, they reached Kyuzo's cell, on the lowest level of the iron cells, three more levels down. It was rumored that below this level was a place where prisoners went when they were never meant to come out and were never seen again. The firebender's cell was at the very end of a long corridor. Their guide, a younger man as pale as the prisoners he guarded, with a disturbing smile, unlocked the door for them.
"We'll be rid of this one soon enough," he assured them with a little laugh. "About time they got him cleared out. Too much clutter taking up that cell. More space for prisoners. We always need more space down here. I heard they're taking him Down Below."
"Oh, I'm not so sure," Kei Dao said as they walked in. "I've got someone on the inside who tells me differently."
That was when they struck. Jomei caught their guide around the neck with one thick arm and pressed one of Siensao's knockout patches over his nose and mouth with the other hand. The miner kneed him in the back to make him breathe it in. Siensao and Zoukani, working together, overpowered one guard on duty within the cell, and Kei Dao got the other one. Within a short time, three bodies were lowered to the iron floor and Kei Dao had produced the key to Kyuzo's cell.
The firebender was already moving, gathering up the extra explosives he'd hidden in various corners of his cell. Jomei now got his first good look at the man and hated him right then and there. Even in this prison, he had a smug, self-satisfied look that the miner detested.
"Hey, Siensao," Kyuzo said as he worked, grinning, "nice to see you again! I see you brought friends, too. Who's who?"
Siensao was examining the fallen guards.
"Now is not the time, Kyuzo. We brought some clothes that should fit you." She tossed him a plain brown tunic and pants that she'd gotten out of her pack. "You'll have to steal some boots from one of these men. I think our informative escort is about your size."
Kyuzo swapped out his own clothes for the ones Siensao had given him, stuffing various compounds and tools into a large sack, then draped two heavy bandoliers crammed with explosives over his shoulders.
"If anyone tries to get in our way," he promised, "you'll see some real fireworks. And I've got the perfect distraction all set up." He swung open the cell door, stepping outside his prison for the first time in months. It felt incredible. He was riding on a wave of excitement that might collapse at any minute, but until it did, he couldn't be stopped.
"Just do as you're told, Fire Nation!" Jomei snapped. "And don't blow anything up until we say so. In fact, don't blow anything up at all. That's not part of the plan."
Zoukani gave the miner a significant look, but Jomei ignored him.
"Don't tell me that," he muttered, "I don't have to like him to work with him. And besides, I know what'll happen if one of those things goes off down here."
Their task went faster after that, and after dragging the unconscious guards out into the hallway and around the nearest corner, Kyuzo emerged from the cell last of all, barely able to contain his excitement. He was sweating, though, and there was fear in him as well. Even Jomei could sense it.
"So what do we do?" the firebender whispered.
"We walk out of this cell and into the next one down the hall," Kei Dao said as though it were the most natural thing in the world. He pushed open the iron door and walked out, everyone else following. Every instant in the corridor seemed an eternity to Jomei. He was positive someone would spot them and sound the alarm. We stick out like a damn traveling show at a monastary! He breathed a great sigh of relief when the cell door swung shut behind them. The place was actually pretty spacious, well-furnished, and well-lit for a prison cell, but it was still quite cramped with five people inside.
"What now, assassin?" Jomei hissed, not having been informed of what happened next.
"Now," Kei Dao said, taking out a small wrench from one of his pockets, "we stay very quiet so as not to distract me while I take off this panel." He knelt down and began unbolting one of the heavy iron plates at the base of one of the walls. Those bolts and fittings were suspiciously well-oiled, Jomei noticed. He began to have an idea of where they were to go from here.
"A tunnel?" he guessed.
"Right in one," Kei Dao said. "One of the previous occupants of this cell-hold this bolt, please-was an earthbender, and after he'd got this plate off, bent himself a tunnel all the way to the surface, just outside the walls. Unfortunately for him, the local syndicate caught him just about immediately."
The second bolt came loose and Kei Dao held it out without looking for someone to take. Jomei snatched it up and the other man kept talking. "After he'd told them about the tunnel, they slit his throat, dumped the body back in the cell, and closed up the tunnel again. Since the guards do regular sweeps for these kinds of things, they have to change around the layout a lot-there goes bolt number three-but it's the main way of getting prisoners out of here if they feel like it's necessary, or if King Bumi needs a prisoner released for whatever reason but can't do it officially. The crazy old man struck a bargain with the syndicate; neither of them like the Fire Nation, so it's an unofficial alliance of interest. Where do you think half the supplies come from in this city? Ah, got it!"
He held up the last bolt triumphantly, then carefully pried off the heavy panel, with help from Jomei. Behind it was the yawning mouth of the tunnel. Jomei looked down at himself.
"There is no way I'm fitting through there in all this armor."
"Which is why you're not going there," Siensao explained patiently. "Kyuzo is going in there, then we have to put this plate back, put the bolts back in, and go out the same way we came, as a legitimate inspection patrol. Meanwhile, Kyuzo goes through the tunnel. It exits just inside the outer wall of the prison. Even the syndicate didn't want to risk it being discovered by somebody walking the outer edge of that wall. From there, we'll have someone else waiting to get him out. Kyuzo, you have the signal?"
Kyuzo patted the sack he was carrying.
"Just like you asked for. One green and one flashbang."
"Then get going, but once you get up there, wait five minutes before setting it off."
"See you on the other side!" Kyuzo wriggled into the cramped space and swiftly vanished out of sight.
Jomei sighed.
"This person who's picking him up had better be trustworthy. He better not let the little rat out of his sight for a second."
"Don't worry," Siensao said, "she won't."
Kyuzo groped his way blindly through the tunnel, barking his shins on tight corners and scratching up his hands on the rough stone. His breathing was too fast for comfort and the sack he was dragging behind him seemed to catch on every slight projection, stopping him in his tracks for just an instant, making him feel like he'd gotten stuck. He decided he didn't like being underground.
"Whoever built this tunnel had a mind like a drunken scorpion-bee," he muttered, grasping the handholds in a vertical section with all his might. "They were a damned sadistic bastard who wanted to make people afraid of going indoors."
He had lost track of how long he had been climbing. He only knew somewhere ahead there was air and sky and wind waiting for him, and after months spent in the dim green light of glowcrystals and the icy hardness of iron plates, he would have killed to get out. He might still do so. Kyuzo had never before been so afraid of himself, and afraid of the outside. And with that consuming fear came manic courage. He kept climbing.
Jomei and the others' return to the surface was uneventful. It had been ludicrously easy to just walk away from the scene of the crime. Not a single guard shouted after them (in fact, they all seemed to be going about their duties half-asleep), even though Jomei tensed and held his breath each time, so certain was he that they just couldn't possibly get clean away. But they did. It was a thrilling feeling, but Jomei, relieved of the terror of anticipation, couldn't help the gnaw of bitter guilt. He was a traitor to his nation now, the same way he was a traitor to his village and his family. Don't know what I'll betray next. Hard to get bigger than a nation. Maybe I'll find some elder spirit and make them mad. One day, when they had no further need for Kyuzo, he would take a very special pleasure in killing the little man. But not now. Not yet.
"How much longer?" he finally asked, his breath misting in the frigid night air. The four of them were waiting behind the closest building to the prison walls, and slowly being buried under the snow. Even through the padding under his armor, Jomei felt the cold metal getting to him. His fingers were starting to freeze.
"Soon," Siensao answered, which failed to reassure him. He also had failed to see the person who'd be getting the firebender out of there. They'd have to be pretty damned good to slip over the wall, throw him over their shoulder, and waltz back out.
Kyuzo could smell the snow and feel dripping water. He had reached the exit of the tunnel, but it was sealed with a heavy stone block and the ice had frozen that block in place. Kyuzo was cold, almost too cold to bend. His inner fire was low and guttering. But he opened a shivering hand and the air took fire. Ice began melting, but too slow, far too slow for him to make the deadline. Inspections were every half hour, he couldn't afford to waste time.
Taking a deep breath, he did as he'd been taught in basic training, drawing on all the wrongs in his life, on all the things that made him angry, on everything he'd ever hated with a passion. Passion empowered firebending, made him stronger, so they said. Kyuzo just wasn't good at getting angry, or hadn't been before he left home. But the injustice that had made him a prisoner for all this time, that was making him leave Jura, probably to die, that he could get angry about. That he could get furious about, mad with rage. The fire in his hands grew stronger, flaring upwards and licking against the roof of the tunnel, burning the air and making his breath come in gasps, but he couldn't stop, he was too close...
He thrust both hands forward with an angry shout and the ice shattered, turning to steam in an instant, along with a lot of snow. Now he was on his hands and knees in a puddle of water that was growing colder every second. The fire died out and he was just ordinary Kyuzo again. He put his shoulder against the block and shoved hard.
It moved a little, scraping against the stone. He shoved again. Another inch. He threw his whole weight against the block and finally it shifted enough to let him squeeze out. He got to his feet, dragging the sack out after him, already feeling miserable in the cold. It was much easier to push the block back in, though. The falling snow would bury it in minutes. Agni, why did I ever leave my nice warm cell for this? This is crazy! But spirits help me I love it so! Fumbling at the contents of his sack with stiff fingers, he found what he was looking for, two skyrockets, meant to be held in one hand and set off with the other. But his timing would have to be perfect. He snapped his fingers and ignited the fuse on the first rocket.
Jomei saw the rocket streak upwards above the prison walls with a whistling sound, leaving a shower of light in its wake, saw it burst into a brilliant gold fire-flower with a great boom.
"Shield your eyes," Siensao warned the group. Jomei squeezed his eyes shut. Just after he did so, a blinding white flash went off in the same place. Anyone who had looked to see what the firework was would be blind for the next few seconds. Daring to open one eye, Jomei's jaw dropped as he saw a giant figure stand up from among the nearby buildings and, each footstep like a hammer upon the ground, take a running, bending-asssisted leap over the prison wall.
BOOM! The earth shuddered and Kyuzo gaped up at the thing that had fallen from the sky. Crouching next to him was an immense stone giant. Huge cracks now riddled the ground beneath and around it, edges poking up through the snow. When it was standing, it would be thirty paces tall and half that wide. It reached out one great hand and a finger as big around as a barrel beckoned him on. Kyuzo took precious seconds to understand that this was his means of escape and he scrambled up onto the hand, which closed around him.
A lot of shouting was going on and somebody was ringing the alarm bell. The golem leapt again, back over the wall, and hit the ground running. A volley of stones followed after, thrown by some earthbenders who had recovered earlier than the rest. The golem held Kyuzo close and took the one stone that hit on its broad back. Even that was enough to stagger it, stone chips flying everywhere. But they made it into the shelter of the city. The golem knelt down and let Kyuzo get off, the firebender backing away quickly. He was still backing away when he bumped into someone. He whirled around in terror and saw what looked at first glance like a group of Earth Kingdom soldiers.
"Don't panic!" one of them said, whom he belatedly recognized as Siensao, accompanied by her friends. "It's me! And your rescuer is friendly. See?" She pointed at the golem. Kyuzo turned around and watched the stone giant fall apart.
The cracks appeared in sections, first at the joints, then spreading to the limbs, and finally, the body fell in half lengthwise, giving off a sound like a great rockslide. A small figure, presumably the bender that had been controlling the golem, leapt downwards from the crumbling stone, landing on one knee in front of them. In the green lantern light, Jomei's keen eyes recognized who it was, once they pulled down the scarf they were wearing.
"Jura?" he blurted out. "You...here...what-"
"No time!" she cut him off, "they'll be after us, we can't stay here! Come on!" She took off running, and Jomei found himself slogging through the snow, gasping for breath, after the others.
"I'm not sure I can make it!" Kyuzo wheezed, having more trouble than most, his long confinement having stolen his wind and strength.
"We're almost there!" Siensao promised. Zoukani fell back a little to support the firebender. Out of the snow emerged one of the mail delivery stations, abandoned and silent at this hour of the night, but with stone bins still stacked close by. Jomei bent one of the bins onto the chute, just before where it dropped away down into the lower city, the one with a makeshift snowplow attached to the front to clear the chute. It was only big enough for three people, so Kyuzo, Kei Dao, and Siensao went first. Jomei shoved them down, perhaps with a little more force than necessary, hearing Kyuzo's whooping and hollering fade into the night. He bent another bin onto the chute and Zoukani climbed in, gesturing for him to hurry. But he couldn't leave yet. He had to know.
"Why are you here?" he demanded. "Why are you helping us? You could have been killed! And where did you learn to do that?"
"Because you're still my brother," she said. "You're right, I could have been killed, so I want you to make sure I didn't risk my life for nothing. I want you to stay alive. Do that for me!"
Jomei nodded without hesitation.
"I'll do it. I promise. For you."
Zoukani clapped his hands to call attention to the fact that they had to go. Jomei ignored him.
"Whatever you do," he said, "just...just stay safe, okay? I'll be back."
"I'll be waiting," she replied, a sad smile on her face, "now go!"
Jomei leapt into the bin and bent them on their way, throwing one last look over his shoulder. The last he saw of his sister was a shadowy figure turning to run, melting away into the dark and the snow.
In the dead of night, Reki found them and the group fled Omashu, heading west under the snow, which wiped away their footprints behind them. It was as though they had never reached the mountain stronghold. In many ways, Jomei wished they never had, for he bitterly regretted how things had gone with Jura. But what was done was done, and not all of it bad. He walked on, head lowered in the teeth of the wind.
When at last Siensao thought they had gone far enough, they retreated into a shallow cave upon a rock face that, judging by the blackened circle of stones inside, had been used for shelter more than once by others. Jomei bent a stone shield against the wind and cold and in the dim green light from that damn glowcrystal lantern, which Siensao seemed to feel no qualms about stealing, observed his enemy. And his enemy observed him.
The tension in the air was stifling. Jomei's steady glare burned into the Fire Nation soldier, carrying unspoken accusations. Monster. Murderer. Fire Nation. Everything that he hated was there, everything he wanted to destroy was there. He had promised he wouldn't, but nothing stopped him from making it very clear where he stood.
Kyuzo, for his part, returned Jomei's gaze with a measured sneer. Jura hadn't been lying about her brother and his hatred of anything Fire Nation. She also hadn't mentioned how big he was, or about the steel warhammer he kept fiddling with like it weighed little more than a child's wooden toy, but Kyuzo refused to allow that to shake him. If he shrank away from Jomei now, there was no chance he'd ever get any respect from the man.
And if Jomei were going to kill him anyway, at least Kyuzo had stuck the metaphorical finger in the lout's eye
Reki was snoring loudly in a corner and no one dared to wake her. Zoukani had resumed his post as the eternal watchman, his spear propped against his shoulder. Siensao watched the standoff, annoyed, finally breaking the silence.
"Both of you, stop that. Nobody is going to try anything here and we don't have time to sit around watching you growl at each other. Go to sleep."
Jomei thrust out an accusing finger. "Tell him to wipe that smirk off his face, then. I'll bet he just thinks the Fire Nation is the greatest thing to ever happen to the world."
"Well, without fire we would be in a sorry state right now, wouldn't we?" Kyuzo shot back.
Jomei leaned forward and jabbed two fingers into Kyuzo's chest.
"You watch yourself, or I'll crack your head like an eggshell. Go on, give me an excuse, give me an excuse, ash-eater!"
Kyuzo rolled his eyes. "Oh, yes, in true Earth Kingdom style, just hit all your problems with a rock! Brilliant! With a strategy like that it's no wonder you've got where you are today!"
He gurgled a bit as Jomei took hold of him by the neck and yanked him to his feet.
"And what about the Fire Nation style? Just burn everything to the ground! You ever been on the receiving end of that?"
"What can I say?" Kyuzo managed to retort, even half-strangled. "It seems to be the only way you have of understanding our nation's strength."
Jomei flung him back down with a frustrated snarl. "Siensao, I can't work with this ash-eater! You can't ask me to put up with that for a year!"
Siensao groaned, massaging her temples.
"Kyuzo, speak civilly or not at all. Jomei, don't try and pick a fight, you started this. This has to work. Please try and get used to each other. You'll be traveling a very long way together."
Jomei sat down in sullen silence, going back to glaring at the firebender, who made a show of bedding down for the night, unconcerned about his traveling companion. Jomei tried to stay awake for as long as he could, but eventually, he drifted off. For a moment before he surrendered to sleep, he thought he saw Kyuzo take a stone figurine out of a pocket, but then decided he had imagined it. Then he was asleep. Tomorrow was another day and he had places to go.
Comedic Interlude
Siensao: So, Reki, any more past enemies that are liable to swim up and bite us in the ass at the worst possible moment? And if so, can I get some advance warning so I can advertise and sell tickets? Because that fight was awesome. Just saying. I'll give you a cut of the profits.
Reki: Says the woman who's managed to make enemies across the whole world. At least I stuck to the desert.
Jomei: Couldn't tell it by how much screen time you get. I thought I was supposed to be the closest thing to a main character in this story.
Reki: Well it wasn't intentional. You think I want to deal with things like that?" *gestures to crazed fangirl restrained by fence*
Fan: I WANT TO HAVE YOUR CHILDREN, YOU CRAZY, WONDERFUL WOMAN!
Jomei: What, that's a bad thing? Do you have to be so damn angsty all the time?
Hanhei: You're not doing so good yourself in that area, son. You do know the reason I want you to get rid of her is because I just can't stand the drama when the two of you get together. *affects falsetto voices* I'm a terrible person! No you're not! Yes I am! No you're not! It gets old. Just marry the woman already. Or kill her. Either way, I'll be happy. You're halfway there as it is, you argue enough.
Kyuzo: We can make it a double wedding!
Jomei: Shut up, granddad. And who are you getting married to, Fire Nation, one of the prison guards? Or one of the prisoners? They must really be desperate. Or cheap.
Kyuzo: You really shouldn't talk about your sister like that. Oh...crap, you weren't supposed to know that yet. Can we pretend that never happened?
Jomei: ...I WILL F***NG MURDER YOU!
Kyuzo: Guess not!
*carnage ensues as the curtain falls*