During the next days, our life at the Northern Water Tribe was relatively nice and calm.
Master Pakku continued the training of Aang and Katara, the latter making a noticeably bigger progress than the young Avatar, which was probably due to the fact that she already had mastered the basics while Aang had to learn everything from the ground up, which looked like quite the challenge for him, the difference between water and air was bigger than he presumably had expected.
Most of the time, I was simply watching the training, but then one day, Master Pakku wanted my assistance. The students' next lesson was to throw orbs of water at moving targets. The master asked me if I could bend some flames and send them into the air so they could be used as targets. Of course I followed the order and took my position a small distance away from Aang and Katara, sending a couple of small fireballs into the air, a few meters over my head. Shortly after, the water orbs came flying, I had to pay double the attention, on one hand, I couldn't let any of my fires that wasn't hit by the water drop to the ground, on the other hand, I didn't want none of the water orbs to hit me.
I wasn't able to manage the second part, a water orb bursted mid-air and poured out its content right over my head. I was soaking wet, while Aang, Katara and even Master Pakku were laughing out loud. I ignored them and headed back to the igloo to dry up my clothes. I didn't have a complete second robe with me, but that was no problem. I would simply ignite a little fire, hang my robe over it and snuggle up into some blankets for the time being.
After I arrived inside the igloo, I ignited a little fire at the provided fireplace, took a little metal hook from my bag, rammed it into one of the ceiling ice blocks, peeled out of my dripping wet robe and hung it onto the hook right over the fire.
Fortunately, my undergarments had largely remained dry, only my cloth shirt had a few damp spots. I took off the shirt too, now only wearing my cloth pants and my boots still. I was about to sit down on my sleeping bag when I heard someone enter the igloo. It was Katara.
While still entering, she said: ''Yulizan! Are you alright? You walked away so suddenly, I thought maybe...''
She stopped mid-sentence when she saw my naked torso and the countless wounds and scars covering it. She uttered a soft sound of shock, I tried to calm her down:
''Don't worry, I'm OK, I already survived much worse in the past, a little bit of water isn't going to kill me.''
She slowly recovered her voice and said quietly: ''Your body! What happened to it?''
While she was still speaking, she walked towards me, her soft fingers tracing my chest.
I replied: ''Well, an Assassin's life is quite dangerous. Everything you can see here are relics of my training and all the fights I fought so far.''
She looked at my whole torso closely and said: ''You know, I now know a couple of things about healing. I could try to heal those scars for you.''
I immediately replied: ''No! The wounds and scars on an Assassin's body speak of his experience and are a reminder of the hard work and mistakes during his training. They are a part of me and will stay forever.''
Katara nodded and then pointed to my right forearm: ''And what is it with this writing?''
''Every Assassin has to choose a creed to live his life after when he is awarded the title of master. This creed is then tattooed onto his weapon arm, to connect it with body and soul forever.''
''And yours is: Fighting is my destiny?''
''Yes, my life is all about fighting evil, I will never do anything else!''
Katara nodded again, then exited the igloo again, leaving me alone. I now laid down on my sleeping bag, took one last look at my robe which was slowly drying away and then turned my gaze to the ceiling. Like most of the time, I thought about many things, until sleep eventually took over my mind and body.
When I woke up again, I was still alone. I peeked over to the entrance, I saw that it was still daytime, I therefore hadn't slept for long.
My eyes wandered over to the fireplace. The fire had become smaller in the meantime. I stood up, walked over and touched my robe, it was dry again. I put out the fire, took my robe, removed the hook from the ice and put the robe back on again.
When I was ready, I stepped out of the igloo, where the shock immediately struck me: It was snowing, but not ordinary snow, no, this kind of snowfall was black! Even though I never had seen this kind of snow myself before, I knew what it meant from the order's scrolls: The snow was mixed with ash, turning it grayish to black. The cause for this were big emissions of soot and smoke into the air, which could only mean one thing in this case: Fire Nation ships were approaching the North Pole!
Shortly after, Pagan landed right in front of me, he looked nervous.
I asked: ''What is it, my friend? What did you see?''
Pagan replied: ''A large cloud of smoke at the horizon!''
That was all the dragon had to say, my suspicion was confirmed, the Fire Nation would attack the Northern Water Tribe.
I walked over to Aang and Katara and wanted to tell them my new knowledge, when suddenly the deep sound of a large drum broke the silence. At once, all members of the Northern Water Tribe were walking towards the palace. Since we didn't know what exactly was happening, we just followed them.
On our way, Sokka and Yue joined us, however, the princess walked away again shortly after, as it wasn't honorable for a princess to be seen alongside the common people in this kind of situation.
When we had reached the main hall of the palace, the chief was currently talking about what I already knew. He explained to his people that they would be going to war now!
However, the sages would ask the spirits of the moon and the sea for help. I was relieved, should the spirits really decide to help us, our chances would increase drastically.
The chief was also searching for someone to conduct a very important mission. Sokka immediately volunteered and was chosen. My feeling told me that he would regret this decision.
After that, Aang talked to the chief, I didn't understand most of it, but apparently Aang wanted to fight to protect the people of the Water Tribe. They could count on me in any case, if any Fire Nation infantry would make it into the city, they would be defeated by me! And Pagan was there too, the assistance from above.
Suddenly, there was a loud bang heard outside, everybody started running out of the building. I immediately saw it when I reached the courtyard: Giant fireballs were launched at the city, the attack had begun!
When another fireball was flying right towards me, I intervened: I mobilized all of my strength and sent an intense fire beam straight at the projectile, causing it to burst it mid-air and rain over the city as little chunks of fire. But even though I had stopped one fireball, even more were always coming.
I was looking for the rest of my friends when I saw Aang storming past me, mounting Appa and heading straight for the open sea. Aware that he was flying directly into the beast's open mouth, I ran over to Pagan, jumped on and ordered him to follow Appa as fast as possible. The dragon shot up into the sky and gave chase to the bison.
Shorty after, we saw the source of the bombardment, it exceeded my worst fears: About one hundred Fire Nation ships were heading towards the North Pole. I immediately was sure: We wouldn't stand the slightest chance in an open battle like this.
But Aang begged to differ as it seemed. He used his glider and landed on one of the ships in the front, disposed of the crew and destroyed the catapults with some help from Appa. But because of the sheer mass of other ships, this didn't make any kind of difference. The young Avatar seemed to realize the same, he and Appa returned to the city shortly after, me and Pagan followed them.
The water benders were able to hold back the attackers, they eventually retreated when the night broke in, apparently the Fire Nation was aware that the water benders were too strong during the night.
Aang was exhausted and said that he would not be able to win this battle alone. But Princess Yue had an idea: She wanted to ask the spirits for help personally.
But Katara was skeptical: ''How do you want to ask the spirits for help?''
Aang answered instead of the princess: ''All I'd need is a place to meditate in peace, then I can get into the Spirit World.''
''Then I would propose the Spirit Oasis.'', Yue replied.
I asked: ''What exactly is that?''
''A place of peace, where a pond is located, in which two koi carps, the incarnations of the spirits of the moon and the sea, are swimming.'', the princess explained.
Aang said excitedly: ''Then let's go!''
Yue wanted to lead us, but just when I wanted to follow her and the others, I saw someone standing in the distance.
I called after my friends: ''Go on ahead, I will follow you!'' and walked over to my discovery.
She stood by one of the larger canals and watched the sea. Her long ponytail was gleaming in the light of the almost full moon.
I walked closer to her and said: ''Runa!''
She turned around and looked at me. Tears welled up in her eyes, she walked up to me and hugged me tightly. The tears began to stream down her face, I loosened the embrace and asked:
''What is going on? Why are you crying?''
She slowly regained her composure and replied, still sobbing: ''My fiancé! He found out!''
''Found out what?''
''About us!''
''But how?''
''He came to my house tonight, he said he didn't want to wait until the wedding, he wanted me now! I fought against it, but he was too strong. He pushed me down to the bed, did things to me. When he touched me, he realized I didn't have the feeling of a virgin anymore. He insulted me, hit me, so I ran away.''
I noticed only now that she had a large red mark on her cheek. I traced it with my finger and then kissed it gently. I embraced the still crying girl again and caressed her face and hair while saying:
''Don't worry, it's going to be alright, I'm here. He can't hurt you anymore.''
She continued sobbing into my robe, I tried to digest what I just had learned. How could a man be this ignorant and see a woman only as cheap property? If this guy would ever cross paths with me...
My thoughts suddenly became reality, when I looked over Runa's head, I saw a young man, about my age, coming around the corner, heading straight towards us.
While still walking, he already shouted: ''Runa!''
The girl jumped, broke away from my chest and hid behind me.
I whispered: ''Don't worry, I will protect you!''
I made myself as big and intimidating as possible, showing off all of my muscular stature. The bastard that was Runa's fiancé headed straight towards us. When he stood in front of me, even though he was a good head shorter than me, he said straight into my face:
''So it was you! You took her innocence from me! You will...''
Instead of letting him finish his sentence, I struck him down with one single powerful punch. He cowered on the ground, holding his visibly bloody nose. I didn't even wait for him to say anything or to get back to his feet, but instead picked him up from the ground with ease, lifted him up a good one and half feet over the ground and then threw him over my shoulder, right onto the hard ice ground. He screamed in pain when he hit the ground.
''Be glad that I didn't use a lethal technique, you damn motherfucker!'', I thought while walking over to him.
He tried to crawl away from me, but I simply grabbed his foot, pulled him back, lifted him up again, pushed him against the closest building wall and held him in place with my right arm on his chest. I was almost smoking with rage when I spoke with my darkest voice:
''Listen up, buddy! You can count yourself lucky that you're still alive! I only let you live because you were seemingly wrongly promised to this beautiful girl as a husband. Be sure to remember the following, and remember it good: From now on, you will treat her like the wonderful woman that she is, you will be a good husband, always stay loyal to her and never treat her as your property again, you got that?''
The young man was only able to nod slightly, but I wasn't finished.
''Good, because if you make only one mistake, I will find out, I will return here and...''
I extended my arm blade following my last word, it was only inches away from the fiancé's throat. He screamed in fear and nodded again. Then I let go of him. He sank to the ground, gasping for air. I went back to Runa, who had done nothing but watch in shock the whole time. When her fiancé was standing on his still shaking legs again and looked over to us, I said:
''Go home! I will bring her back in time!''
The young man ran away as fast as he could, without turning or looking back.
I turned back to Runa and looked her in the eyes. I scratched my head and said apologetically:
''I'm sorry, I think I kinda crossed the line back there, I didn't want to attack him this viciously, but...''
In the middle of my sentence, Runa put her lips on mine, I returned the kiss after a few seconds. So we stood there for a couple of minutes, kissing in the moonlight.
When Runa broke the kiss, she said quietly: ''In two days, you did more for me than I ever could have dreamed somebody doing. How can I ever thank you for this?''
''By living a happy life. I'm pretty sure that after what I did, your fiancé is going to treat you like a queen.''
We both laughed, then I accompanied Runa to her home.
When we arrived there, she said: ''I can't do anything but thank you again, for everything you did for me. I really hope that one day you will find your luck as well.''
''Don't worry, I will.''
We shared one last kiss, then Runa entered her house.
I leisurely strolled back the way towards the big courtyard when my eyes went up to the sky: It started to dawn. Suddenly I realized: I had completely forgotten about Yue's guide to the Spirit Oasis, Aang could be in danger!
I ran to the courtyard as fast as I could. While I was running, I heard a large cracking and then breaking sound, the Fire Nation ships were slowly starting to pierce through the walls.
When I reached the courtyard, I saw Sokka and Yue climbing Appa, they were on their way back to the Spirit Oasis to look after Aang and Katara. I woke up Pagan, who had been sleeping soundly until now, mounted him and told him to follow Appa. Even though the dragon had only been awake for a few seconds, he was immediately ready and shot up into the air.
Shortly after, we had reached the oasis. It was just as peaceful as Yue has described it. Grass and bushes were growing around the pond in the middle, it truly was a special place for its location so far in the north.
But I could already see that something was wrong from a distance, because I only saw one person at the pond and, to my horror, it wasn't Aang but the stunned Katara.
I ordered Pagan to land immediately, jumped off his neck and asked the confused water bender: ''Where is Aang?''
Katara wasn't able to construct an intelligible sentence, instead she only mumbled: ''Aang...Zuko...meditation...abducted...''
My worst fears had come true: Prince Zuko had been able to abduct Aang and I didn't have the slightest clue where they could be. Surrounded by Sokka, Yue and Katara, I dropped to my knees at the pond, clenched both of my fists and pounded the grass before throwing my arms up towards the sky while screaming as loud as I could:
''AAAAANNNG!''
One thing was certain: We had to find him, as fast as possible! Otherwise, this battle and subsequently the world was lost!
Next chapter: Showdown!