Just to let you know, this is kind of a filler chapter. I am hoping to have a good chapter up later today. I have been off work because I have been sick. Can't deliver pizzas if you are coughing and have no voice. It really sucks.
Suki steadied herself as she exited the air ship with Ty Lee at her side. The trip back was not an easy one. The wind was harsh and kept blowing them off course. It took them a little longer to get back than it normally would, but she smiled as she felt the soil of her home under the soles of her shoes.
"It's so great to be back home, Suki. I have missed it here so much." Ty lee cart wheeled down the path to the village. The ex-acrobat had began calling Kyoshi Island home when she became a warrior there. She said it was the one place where she felt she truly belonged and didn't feel like a freak.
Suki smiled at her and walked behind her. "I know what you mean, Ty Lee. I have missed being here. Traveling between here, the South Pole, and the Fire Nation, I have missed my home. I don't think Sokka realizes how much we travel. I know he misses seeing his sister all the time and his father, but after this is all over, I am staying here for awhile. No buts." She looked at the statue of Kyoshi that graced the center of the small village.
Ty Lee stood up and looked back at Suki. "I know what you mean. You are always traveling. I grew bored with it when I was in the circus and then again when I went with Mai and Azula." She frowned at the name Mai. "I wish sometimes I had been there for her when she found out about Katara and Zuko. Then maybe she would not have snapped like she did."
The warrior leader hugged the normally bubbly woman. "You could never have known Mai would have done something like that. It was not in her nature, normally. I knew her after the war. I would not have thought she would have snapped as well. Things happen for a reason, you of all people should know that. If you had not stood up to Azula that day, you would not be here with us warriors now. The spirits work in mysterious ways."
Ty Lee smiled brightly. "You know, you are right. Things do happen and I am glad it did. If I had stayed with Azula, I would still be in prison as well, for being a traitor to the Fire Nation." She turned her large dove gray eyes on her leader. "Thank you Suki."
Suki smiled just as brightly. "No problem. Now, let's get everyone rounded up. We have some extensive training we need to work on before this upcoming fight. I need everyone in peak shape."
--
"Welcome Avatar." One of the female airbenders smiled as she bowed formally to Aang. He bowed back with a small smile.
"Where is Yan Chi? I really need to talk to her." Aang looked around the newly renovated temple.
"She is in the garden meditating. She will be glad to see you." The younger woman stepped aside so Aang could pass.
He thanked her and walked to the garden. Since the Air Nomads had come out of hiding five years ago, others had found their way to the long forgotten temples. Their numbers began to flourish and thrive. Almost every child born in the temples could bend, even the babies. It was a wonderful feeling to walk among his people.
He watched the youth play with the air scooters or another game. Learning the ancient bending arts was every child's dream here. He had showed them many techniques that had been lost to the rages of time. He was indeed a living relique and loved the job. There was so much that he was teaching them, and there was new techniques that they were teaching him.
He smiled as he walked along the restored path to the wonderful gardens everyone had helped plant, even Jelisa with the proper motivation.
"Come on J, you should really be helping. This a lot of fun." Katara smiled at the moody waterbender as she sat on the rock and looked out at the sky.
Jelisa turned her head and looked at the other waterbender. "I don't think so. Rolling around in the mud and dirt is Toph's thing, not mine. Besides, I am just here for a lookout, nothing more." She turned her back on the gang once more.
Aang shook his head and turned to the other airbender, Arawn, Jelisa's boyfriend. "You know, she responds better to you than any of us."
The red-headed airbender smiled as he placed the panda lily plant into it's new home. "Yeah, but I am not getting in the middle of this. I prefer to be on her good side. Makes my life a lot less dangerous and makes my nights a whole lot warmer."
"Sneaky, that is a mental image I could have gone my entire life never seeing. Thank you! You and Ice Queen… gross." Toph stuck her tongue out at the older man.
Arawn smacked his hand on the ground with the middle finger being the only one up. "I know you saw that, Shorty. Don't say you didn't. I know how your sight works." He grinned in her general direction.
"Yeah, fuck off. I caught it. I should have never told you about how it works." With that, she shot him a few feet into the air and right into the brooding waterbender.
"TOPH!"
The Earthbending master just smiled and leaned back. "Yes, oh miss cranky one?"
"I am going to kill you. You are still on my hit list. I am just trying to figure out if it is going to be slow and painful, or fast and painful. Either way, you will die." Jelisa pushed the surprised ninja off of her and began to stalk close to the metal bender.
Toph let her words roll off her shoulder. "Kinky, but not my thing. You can think whatever you like, but I will know you are there before you get into killing range of me." She kept right on smiling.
"Toph Bei Fong, I am not going to kill you yet, just maim, slice, and have you wishing for death. Then I will delay it a few more days." Jelisa began to pull water out of her water pouch.
The group looked from one bender to the next, waiting to see where the battle was heading. Arawn walked up behind Jelisa and put his arms around her. "Come on J, I want to talk to you." He walked her toward the temple itself.
"Yeah, we won't see them for a little bit." Toph went back to forming small holes in the earth for the plants.
True to Toph's words, Arawn and Jelisa returned a hour later. The airbender had a swollen bottom lip, but the waterbender was walking with a limp, favoring her right leg. They were both smiling like hyenas. The gang looked at them, shaking their heads.
"You two can never just talk out your differences, can you?" Sokka sipped on the cool water that was in his water skin. "One of these days, you two are going to kill each other."
Jelisa sat down at one of the empty holes and grabbed a plant. "Oh, there was plenty of talking going on. Just not the type you want to hear." She smiled at the warrior.
Sokka's eyes grew round as her words sunk in. "You are on sick puppy, Jelisa."
"I know." The whole gang began to laugh at him.
Aang smiled at the memory. It took him and Toph two days to stabilize the southern wing. They always fought with each other, then made up in a big way. That was the way those two were. Unfortunately, they were like half of the same whole. Neither one complete without the other.
He found the person he was looking for sitting among the flowers and trees. "Ah, what do I owe the honor, Aang?"
Yan Chi turned and smiled at him. She patted the ground next to her. He joined her and looked out at the other airbenders. "I need your help."
"Well, why didn't you just say so in the first place. I am always wiling to help you in any way I can." She brushed her fingers across the panda lily's petals. "But first, has my son and daughter in law been staying out of trouble? I know how those two get."
Aang nodded. "I know what you mean. Well, Jelisa is up north and Arawn is somewhere. We are not for certain where he is. There is a resistance that is threatening to throw everything out of balance again. They took your son and the children."
Yan Chi jumped to her feet. "Come, I will round up the warriors. This resistance will pay for messing with my only child." She looked down at the Avatar. A dangerous glint was in her gray eyes. So, that is where Arawn gets it from.
He stood up and followed her into the temple. She yelled at everyone she came across to assemble in the courtyard and to spread the word. They had one hour to gather or face her wrath. Most of them ran to find others and some were glued to the spot by her words. No one messed with Yan Chi when she was mad, no one.
--
"Arawn, we have to get out of here, NOW!" The ex Fire Nation Princess yelled. She dodged another chunk of rock and a few daggers. Blood trickled down her cheek from where she was just not fast enough to dodged the dart and it grazed her cheek.
She spared a glance at the airbender. He was firing arrows left and right. The beloved sword of his lay broken at his feet, snapped in half as he tried to block a rock his chest. He was nearly out of arrows and sweating from the beating his body was taking. He kept going though.
She fired another volley of fire blasts, then took off towards Arawn. She grabbed his arm. "Let's move it. Mai is here."
He fired off one more arrow and nodded. "Okay, we need to get to Ba Sing Sei and inform them what is going on." He blasted everyone out of his way and cleared the path for their escape.
Running like the hounds of hell were on their heels. Tearing around the corners, they headed for the exits. Wasting no time, Arawn blasted anyone that dared get in their way. Azula fired lightning at them as well, taking out a few. They followed the corridors toward the way they had come. Light flooded the halls as they saw blue skies.
They dove out of the door as the wall slammed down a second after they landed. They looked at each other. Both had blood coating every section of their bodies. "You know, we need to move. They will not wait long before they come after us. We have to make it to the Great Wall." Arawn rolled over onto his knees and began to cough violently.
Azula watched in horror as the airbender began to cough up large amounts of blood. He stopped for a moment. He turned his pale face to her. "I think I have a problem." He then fell.
She dropped to his side and checked for a pulse. It was there, but it was weak and slow. She had to get him to a healer or he would not survive. She pulled him onto her lap and struggled to get the unconscious man's arm around her neck. She struggled to her feet, pulling him up with her. He normally towered over her by a foot, so trying to drag him was hard.
His breathing was shallow and blood trickled out of his mouth. He was not in good shape. She thought back on the small battle they we just in. Then it hit her. The rock he tried to block, the one that broke his kindjal. It must have crashed into him and done internal damage, possibly breaking a rib. The rib, in turn, must have punctured his lung. That would explain the blood and the shallow breathing.
Dragging the battered airbender was a chore. She felt her strength wane with every step she took. The wall was insight. Azula knew that was his only chance. She had to get him there. She would not fail. If she did, she knew there would be no stopping the airbender's wife from killing everyone in her path.
Azula finally saw a guard. Laying Arawn down carefully, she ran with what strength she had left. "Hey! I need help!"
The guard turned around and watched her run up to him. "My friend. He needs help. We were attacked. He is hurt badly."
The man grabbed Azula before she hit the ground. The energy spent, she collapsed into his arms. "Where is he?"
She pointed to the ground a few dozen footsteps away. The guard sat her on the ground and ran over to Arawn . He picked up the other man on a slab of earth and manipulated it to follow him. He then sat Azula on it, next to the beaten airbender. "What happened?"
"We were taken by the resistance. My friend and I tried to escape and he took a boulder to the chest. I think a rib punctured his lung. He began to cough up blood, the collapsed. I have to get him to the palace. We have friends there." Azula looked at Arawn. He was growing paler by the second.
The guard nodded. "What are your names?"
Thinking quickly, she gave the only name that she could think of that would not get her into trouble. "I am Ursa, and this is Arawn. His wife is Princess Jennasa of the Northern Water Tribe. She also goes by Jelisa, the master waterbender and protector of the Fire Nation Royal Family."
The man nearly choked. "Oh shit. I know Jelisa. She is the head of the assassins guild. My brother has told me stories about her. Not the friendliest person."
"Nope, that she is not. We are friends with Toph Bei Fong, the Avatar, Fire Lord Zuko, Lady Katara, and the lot. I have to get him to them now."
"I will personally get you there. Hold on." He jumped on the slab, opened a hole in the Great Wall, and proceeded to go as fast has his Earthbending would allow.
Okay, I know it has been awhile since I have updated this story. I am sorry. I was stuck . Well, Suki and Ty Lee are back on Kyoshi, Aang has began to gather the Airbenders, Yan Chi is Arawn's mommy, and he just got his ass beat. Azula has saved him. Things are beginning to fall into place for the final battle. Mia has returned, but who broke her out? That will be revealed soon. Next chapter Arawn and Jelisa are reunited, Zuko and Katara are reunited with their children, and hell breaks loose in the Fire Nation. Stay tuned. See ya!