Chapter Twelve: Wait and Listen.
--
The Guardian.
I was in my first official battle today. After all the subterfuge and politicking that I've been involved in lately, it was refreshingly simple. You kept an eye on your back, and (optionally) the backs of anyone wearing the right colour uniform, and stabbed anyone wearing the wrong uniform. No having to try and pull off obfuscating stupidity (or apathy, if you prefer), no judgement calls where it's clear that if you choose wrong, you won't know it for months, if ever. Just pure, cathartic violence.
However, there was one moment...
I'll have to think about what exactly Azula meant with that gesture.
Oh, my life got complicated again. Oh well, at least it's familiar.
--
The Assassin.
It was a warm evening fr this time of year, and I was sneaking up on the earthbender again.
It had started with another disastrous attempt to get the Avatar to earthbend. His airbender training had got the best of him once again, and his teacher had yelled at him once again for it. This time, however, Katara had leapt to his defence, and the two had almost come to blows, finally opting instead (to my eternal relief- I had seen just how dangerous the earthbender could be during her daily practice sessions) to storm off in opposite directions. After we had given them their space, taking the time to prepare dinner (unleavened bread with vegetables and my seal jerky for everyone except the Avatar, foolish vegetarian that he is), he had gone in search of Katara, directing me to look for the earthbender instead.
So here I was, coincidentally (or not, perhaps) back at the cliff edge where I had been trapped. It seemed like years ago, but it couldn't have been more than a week.
I stopped as soon as the earthbender was in sight. She knew I was there, but made no sign. Idly, I wondered why the Avatar had specified I go after the earthbender. Out of all of them, she was the one I had established the least of a rapport with, probably due to my disastrous first impression. Since I had joined the group, she had been wary around me, distrustful. I understood that, and accordingly made no particular effort to win her over. That would have looked ridiculously suspicious.
On reflection, that was probably exactly why the Avatar sent me after her. Interfering busybody.
I took a few steps forward, making no effort to mask my steps. The earthbender turned to 'look' at me.
"Come to try and cut my head off again?"
Most people would have thought that accusing, but the way she said it changed the meaning. It was a lifeline.
"Only if you really want me to."
She chuckled. Half-heartedly, true, but she still chuckled. I took this as a good sign, and moved until I was standing next to her.
"You mind if I sit down?"
Her only response was to scoot over slightly, which I took as a 'yes', and flopped down. She broke the silence a few moments later.
"You here for any particular reason?"
"Dinner, but it'll keep for a little while."
I think that threw her. "Oh?"
"Yeah. I thought we could talk a bit. Since, you know, we kind of got off on the wrong foot."
She snorted. "You could say that. Okay. Let's talk. What you wanna talk about?"
Ah. You called my bluff.
Well... "Anything bothering you? I mean, everyone seems wound pretty tight right now and I was wondering..."
She stared unseeingly at the sunset.
"It's Aang. He's frustrating as hell."
Well. That was direct.
"He's got the skills, but he's got no balls. I mean, I've tried everything, shouting at him, punching him, taking his nuts away-"
Wait, what?
"Wait, what?" That cannot be what it sounds like.
With a grin, she pulled out a small bag, labelled with a crude drawing of the Avatar's head.
"A bag of nuts. I took 'em."
"And... did he get the implications of that?"
Her grin was now decidedly evil. "Don't think so." She smashed one's shell, and ate the contents with obvious enjoyment. "Want one?"
"... I'll pass, thanks." With the horrible, terrible mental images in my head right now, the last thing I want to do right now is anything that can be referred to as 'eating the Avatar's nuts'. Call me squeamish.
"...But he just won't rise." She seemed to deflate. "And Katara's not helping any, talking about how easy it was to get him waterbending, and how far he's progressed... ugh." She trailed off. "Can we drop this?"
Hmm.
"Sure. Well, now you've answered my question, was there anything you wanted to know?"
She thought for a moment. "Actually, yeah. You remember the first night you joined us?"
"Uh... yeah."
"What were you actually doing? I recognised some of the movements, but it was weird."
Weird? I am insulted. "My stone forms. One of my sword fighting stances."
"Huh." She nodded. "Who taught you that? It doesn't seem very fire-nation-y."
Ah, all the subtlety and tact of a boulder to the crotch. How apt.
I had to stop myself from puffing out my chest. "Well, I actually made it up myself, based on a whole bunch of techniques I read about-"
"I thought so," she declared, interrupting me before I could get into the really interesting stuff (like how most of the stances were based off southern earthbending forms, but the arm work was patterned after a swordsman from Ba Sing Se, who had written a scroll on the subject over a hundred years ago and-). "It's odd." She stood up, and motioned that I do the same. "Come on. Get into the stance."
Ooo...kay?
I draw my sword, and lean the sheath up against a rock. Taking a few half steps into the open, I slide into my basic stone stance, both hands on my sword.
To my side, the earthbender nodded. "Uh huh, uh huh. Now, just run through a few basic moves."
Mentally shrugging, I complied.
My sword chops downward in a powerful stroke, and slides sideways into a diagonal block while my stance shifts in preparation for-
"Alright, I've seen enough."
I dropped my stance, fighting annoyance.
"What was that about?"
"It's like I thought. You're doing it wrong."
Wrong?
"How can I be 'doing it wrong'? I made it up, didn't I?"
She looked insufferably smug. "Well, if you're trying to base it on earthbending, you're doing it wrong." She sighed, and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Look, it's not actually technically incorrect, but it's like... you've seen how the music's written and never heard it played."
I tried to keep calm. She was only trying to help. I think.
"Well, what exactly should I do to improve?"
"You're too stiff, and you're doing too much with your arms."
Okay, what does that mean? "You couldn't be more specific, could you?"
"Sure." She hopped off the rock she had been perched on, and tapped her foot on the ground. Instantly, the ground beneath my feet shifted, and I was thrown onto my back.
"See? Your stance was too rigid. The point of earthbending stances is to be able to weather anything, but you can't do that if you're a statue. You've got to make a call on what you can stand-" here she dug into the earth with her heel, and the ground bucked beneath me, hurling me upwards. I just barely managed to land on my feet "and what you've got to adapt for."
"I think I get it. But what do you mean 'I'm doing too much with my arms'?"
"Strength in earthbending doesn't come from your arm muscles, I imagine that's firebender territory. It comes from your back, and your core strength. Start your movement from the shoulder, and keep your stance strong, but not stiff." She moved over, and I noted not for the first time how incredibly tiny she was- barely up to my elbow- and jabbed my back. "This is what you need to concentrate on first. Hold your stance properly, and you can stand up to anything. Now, try again, and do it properly."
It took half an hour, and every time I got it wrong, Toph would either hit me with something, or nitpick. But after half an hour, I think I got it. And she was right, too. It did feel a lot better.
Toph waved her arms, and the packed dust rose into a crude mannequin holding a rod of dirt. At her command, the puppet began to move.
"This is what you looked like half an hour ago."
I was almost distracted by the incredible display of earthbending, but I could see the glaring flaws in the puppet's movement.
"...I wasn't this bad, was I?"
"Exactly this bad." She grinned, and waved her arms. "And you walk like this, too." The puppet doubled over, and dragged its knuckles along the floor while walking in a waddling, flat-footed way.
"Ha. Ha. Ha. Well, thanks for the impromptu lesson, Toph, but we really should get back to camp. Dinner's been ready for a while. They're gonna start thinking I've thrown you off the cliff or something."
"Ha. As if. I could take you with both arms behind my back," she scoffed.
She probably could, if it came down to it.
--
The Guardian.
We moved towards the town, a platoon of Royal Guard at our backs. This particular battle had been the cause of some disagreement between Azula and the Field Marshall. He had thought that we should wait until our heavy support was in the area, but Azula had decided that she had been cooped up long enough, and had opted to take direct control of the battle. After a little while, she had got her way.
So it was that we three were leading the assault on the town proper, while another three platoons were going into the caverns. I didn't envy them much.
The sound of heavy booted feet is oppressive, and the complete lack of opposition is making everyone paranoid. I keep glancing over my shoulder, even though I haven't heard anything. The lack of noise is probably about as telling as anything else.
We're at a crossroads when it happens. The ground comes alive with earthbenders, and the unit is thrown into complete confusion. Simultaneously, the roofs are suddenly bristling with enemies.
Alright. Let's get on with this.
There's a beat of silence, and it suddenly occurs to me how odd some of these earthbenders look. None of them seem to be wearing shirts, for example, and some of them are wearing full-face masks. Sensible, I guess. I know if I looked like some of these bozos, I wouldn't want anyone knowing who I was either.
The ground shakes. Literally. Thundering down one of the crossroads is quite simply the biggest man I have ever seen. Seriously, he has to be about eight feet tall, and at least four feet wide. It's grotesque.
The monster bares its teeth. Okay, I retract my previous statement about this beast being grotesque. Now he's grotesque.
"Hippo mad!"
There's no time to reflect on the stupidity of that battle cry, since suddenly the ground has leapt up and is attacking us. To my right, Ty Lee is trying to strike a scrawny man on all fours, and Azula is dodging the strikes of what looks like Admiral Zhao, plus a cape and about seventy pounds and minus his shirt. There's a rumbling in the earth, and I step back just in time to avoid a squat, hairy man in funny little glasses who pops out of the ground and tries to grab me.
...Well, at least they're colourful.
I kick the man in his teeth, and he yelps. But there's no time to follow through, because suddenly there's a new player, a huge muscle-bound man, knocking royal guardsmen aside like ninepins. Azula spins, blasting him with a stream of fire, and he doesn't even blink, just pulls up a wall of earth to take the attack for him, and keeps barrelling towards us.
"Retreat! Fall back and regroup!" Azula made a judgement call. For what it's worth, I think it was the right idea. Risking a glance around, we've lost almost half the platoon in less time than it takes to boil an egg.
On the command, we scatter, dodging down alleyways, pursued by different earthbenders. My pursuer is a wild, hairy man, thin as a rake and as crazy looking as they come.
I don't have the energy to run all the way out of town, so I draw a knife, and spin around.
He's cautious, padding in a wide circle around me, rock in hand. I raise an eyebrow.
Suddenly, with absolutely no warning whatsoever, he bursts into flame. Ten paces away, I can feel the raw heat curling my eyebrows, and I involuntarily take a step back. In seconds, all that remains is charred and blackened bones and the nauseating smell of roasted flesh, and Princess Azula steps around the corner.
Then comes the weird part. She gives me what can only be described as a look. I'm... not entirely sure what she's trying to convey. 'I saved you, you owe me'? Unlikely. She knows that guy couldn't have taken me down. 'Look what I can do'? I already knew that. 'Remember how strong I am, so you'd better not get any ideas'? ...Maybe.
But there's no time to consider this, because the earth is shaking again, and that huge man mountain is right behind us. So I'll run now, and think about it later.
But one thing is for sure. I won't be getting much sleep tonight.
--
Wow. It's like the plot is almost moving.
