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Chapter 28
Told as Charlie
"Why are you all looking at me?!"
"Well you're the idea guy."
"So I'm the one who's always supposed to come up with a plan? That's a lot of pressure!" Sokka folded his arms, and tilted his head back slightly, frowning. Cameron blew a strand of hair out of her eyes, and leaned her elbows back against the wall.
"And the complaining guy," she stated matter-of factly.
"That part I don't mind." We watched the gargantuan beast as it rolled across the empty desert, a black smudge against the baked ground. Olivia sighed.
"Well we ought to try and get those earth benders back up here. I want to ask them a couple of questions," she muttered. General Sung assured her that the men would be recovered as quickly as possible, and led us to the infirmary where we were to await the soldiers while they were recovered. We watched as soldier after soldier was heaved into the room, and I sighed, folding my arms.
I stepped over to one of the men, and frowned at him.
"These men don't look injured," I said, and Katara kneeled down by the man. She bended a strand of water from the pouch on her hip, and set to trying to heal him. I noticed Sokka across the room, arms folded, leaning against the wall near the doorway. I folded my hands behind my back and half wandered over to him, and leaned against the wall next to him.
"Hey," I said.
"Hey."
"You uh. Doing alright? Since Suki left…" I muttered.
"No, no I'm good. I'm good." He said dryly, and I nodded.
"Right." Katara called me back over. "Didn't think so," I muttered under my breath.
"Their chi's been blocked," Katara said to me. I knelt down next to the man, and tilted my head, hands folded on my lap.
"So. What. What's it mean?" Katara raised an eyebrow at me.
"Really?" She blinked, surprised when I said nothing. "Oh. Well… as waterbenders, our power comes from our internal life. From our chi, and we are empowered by the moon, with our peak power at a full moon," she began. A shiver sliced through my spine, and I felt myself go rigid.
"So… when Zhao killed the moon spirit…" I trailed off, and bit my lip, trying to push away the hatred, and the sorrow. Katara nodded.
"Yeah… yes." She cleared her throat. "Anyway. Chi is an important function for everyone; benders, non benders. If chi gets blocked, it's dangerous. It's paralyzing." I tapped my chin thoughtfully and narrowed my eyes. Katara tilted her head.
"Char?"
"What you said about the moon. I remember reading something about it in Wong Shi Tong's library," I muttered. I recalled a book that the great spirit had encouraged me to read, and thinking about it, I could recall a few passages I'd read about chi.
"Waterbending is the only element that came from spirits, not animals," I said, and Katara blinked at me. "They learned from the moon and the sea. And that's why our bending is more powerful at night, and during a full moon." I smiled thinly at the perfect balance of the two; and I recalled the things Wong Shi Tong had told me. I wrapped my arms around myself.
"Charlie… I'm sorry. About what happened at the Northern water tribe," she said earnestly and I sat back, nodding.
"It happened. Bad things happen but we've all got to move on," I glanced unintentionally at Cam who was talking with the General and Aang, arms folded, stubborn expression as always.
"When Sokka and I were little, we lost our mother to a group of firebenders," Katara said. i glanced at her and she touched the necklace around her neck. "Bad things happen Charlie, but it's not easy to lose people you care about… I know its not fair-"
"But I've moved on. You helped me with my hair," I sheepishly grabbed the braid she'd done for me when Sokka cut my hair after finding out I'd tried to pretty much become my sister. She lowered her gaze and sighed. I stood up, and approached Oj, leaving Katara. Not because I was angry with her, but because she was stirring up things I'd managed to finally calm down.
"Why didn't they take me with them?!" I demanded, pacing back and forth on the wall. On one side, a plummet to certain death, and the wickedly, fast approaching drill. On one side of me was Olivia who kept on glancing at Cameron and on the other was Cameron who was staring off at the tanks steadily ignoring the airbender.
"The same reason they didn't take us, Charlie. That's too many people for a stealth decision," Cameron replied calmly.
"Yeah, but… I dunno. If they're gonna destroy pressure points, we could have helped!" I snapped, feeling a bit betrayed. And useless.
"You guys, maybe. I'm not much for attack," Olivia muttered darkly, and a guilty swell pushed through me. I sighed, and leaned against the wall, feeling a strange mixing bowl of feelings.
"So what. We just sit here and do nothing?" I asked.
"That's not how this works." Olivia sighed and I scowled.
"Fine. You guys sit here and do nothing, and I'll just…" I wandered away from my friends, and trekked aimlessly through the great halls of the wall. Truly, it was a master class build of gargantuan proportions. Certainly though, nothing that I had imagined of the earth kingdom.
"What do you think of the wall?" I voice asked and I jumped as I spun around, and saw the general standing there, hands folded behind his back. I smiled.
"Oh, it's beautiful. And uh, very… earthy," I said. He chuckled.
"Yes, that it is. Nothing like the water tribes?" He asked. My mind drifted to the glassy, frothy behemoth of a kingdom that was the Northern water tribe as it sprawled across the frozen tundra. How something so fantastically beautiful could be crafted out of a blank scape...
"Nothing like any other nation," I sighed. He strode forward, and nodded to me.
"Indeed not. It is it's own creature." There was a pause, and then he cleared its throat. "A wall must be strong, to protect the people that live within its borders. A wall is mighty not because it wants to be, but because it must be. It does not think 'I am a wall I must be strong because people need me to be'," he said, and I shrugged.
"I don't suppose a wall would think many things." He sighed, and opened his mouth to say something when a great thundering roared through our ears. My eyes widened and I turned from the general and sprinted back the way I'd come. Cameron and Olivia were on their feet, and leaning over the wall, staring with wide eyes down over the edge. I slid to a stop, and looking over the wall, I saw that they drill had managed to smash into it, and was barreling through it. I stepped back horrified as the general ran past, shouting different orders, demanding the earth benders come forth to defend their city! Olivia, Cameron and I stared, blankly, silently down at the drill. I whipped my head to the side and swallowed thickly.
"Where are they?! Why didn't they stop the drill…?" I shouted. Cameron shook her head.
"Obviously something went wrong! We've got to do something!"
"Like what? We don't know anything about this thing!" Olivia shouted. She squeaked, and jumped forward as tons of enormous boulders were shot past us, and thundered down onto the drill.
"Look!" I pointed out across the desert, behind the drill, at an enormous pool of sludgy water that had begun to form since the drill hit the wall. I nodded, and turned to my friends. "We've got to get down there!"
"Soldiers, whatever you do, don't stop shooting rocks down there!" General Sung shouted, and narrowing my eyes at the drill, I saw a figure, criss crossing between the boulders. After a moment, another figure popped up behind the first. Olivia grabbed my and Cameron's arms, and with a leap, cleared over the wall, and bended us down. I gave a cry as we violently darted left and right as we rocketed around the boulders, and crashed not so gently down on the drill. Cameron and I crashed down on the drill, and I dug my nails into the metal as i slid over the side. Olivia grabbed my arm, and held on tightly, trying not to let us slide off.
"Oj watch out!" I shouted as a blazing fireball rocketed toward us. Cameron growled and lurched in front of Olivia and I, and with a few swift movements, bended the fire away.
"Azula!" She hissed through her teeth. Aang leapt to her side, and both got into a defensive position.
"Now, this is hardly fair! Two against one?" Azula called. I looked to Olivia.
"Let me go! Help them!"
"What?! No, I-"
"Let go! I got this!" I snapped, and she released my wrists. I slid over the side of the drill, and dropped to a roll when I hit the ground. I didn't bother looking back over my shoulder as I ran as fast as I could to the back of the drill. It was a long, hot, hard run, and when I made it to the sludgy pool behind the drill, sweat was pouring down my face, and my clothes stuck to my skin in pools of sweat.
"Charlie!" Sokka called, grinning. Toph and Katara were bending the sludge back into the drill, and I put my hands on my hips.
"Need some… help?" I asked between panting. Katara smiled and gave a sharp nod, and I ran to her side. With a swipe of my hands, and a strong stand in the muddy ground, I gave a sharp push at the water, and felt the water as it thundered backwards through the pipes. After a good while of bending, there was an explosion further down the pipes.
"Yes!" Katara called, "keep bending! We've got it!" We continued to bend until the screeching of metal howled across the empty desert, and I stepped back, an eyebrow raised. Suddenly, an enormous wall of muddy water rocketed up into the sky, and another and another.
"Stop! Stop!" I shouted. I turned to run, and slipped on the muddy water, crashing down into the nasty stuff. Sokka grabbed my arm.
"Here it comes!" Toph shouted, and she bended a great chunk of earth up out of the desert, and we all were frozen for a moment, watching, mystified as the great bellowing waves of water crashed around us, and roared away into the desert behind us. The world shook around us and the drill roared and squealed as it broke apart, bit by bit, and a great cloud of steam rolled up into the sky, masking the wall from sight. The world got quiet as the drill went silent, and we all just sat for a moment.
"We did it," Toph said, and Katara jumped up with a shout. Sokka helped me to my feet, and pulled me into a hug. I blushed a little, and hugged him back.
"Hey Cam?" I didn't open my eyes, but remained groggy when I heard Sokka loudly whispering. We'd gotten back to the wall, and most of Team Avatar had crashed, exhausted from the work. We slept in the cot room where the earth benders had been brought earlier when their chi was blocked, and though the sun hadn't set, General Sung said that we could rest for as long as we wanted before continuing into the city. Aang had wanted to go right away, to look for Appa, but Katara convinced him to take a quick reset, and he'd fallen asleep almost the moment he'd hit the cot. But apparently Sokka couldn't sleep.
"What. Whaaaat, Sokka?" Cam responded.
"Can I talk to you?" Cam groaned and after a pause, I heard the cot creak under her weight as she got up.
"Yeah, okay." I waited until I heard them leave, then shot up, curious. I quietly followed them out of the room, and down the halls of the wall. They stopped, and looked out over the evening, down at where the great drill was being disassembled. I hid behind one of the nearby pillars, and shivered in the shadows. I knew it was wrong to listen to their conversation but… I just…
"What is it Sokka?" Cam asked.
"You're a girl right?"
"I hope so."
"Right, right. Me too. Listen… so let's say, theoretically, that I know this guy who has a thing for these two girls… and they're both great people, but let's say he can't really decide who he likes more?" Sokka asked, and I nodded to myself and swallowed thickly.
"Sokka… you're the only guy around here who has a thing for two girls. So… theoretically has just kinda become realistically," Cam said, and Sokka sighed. A warm breeze blew in over the wall, but I still felt cold in the shadows.
"Right… yeah okay. What do I do?" Sokka asked, sighing, and the bouncy playful edge in his voice vanished. There was a pause.
"Charlie is one of my best friends, Sokka."
"I know that! And she's great but…"
"Do you like Suki more?"
"No! Or well… I don't think so! Yes? No? Ugh!" I didn't cry. I didn't feel angry or anything at all. I felt oddly hollow and rather empty. Which I told myself was not okay; teen romance was dumb anyway, and never lasted… besides I hardly knew this guy, right? … But honestly, after everything we'd been through… Team Avatar was an awkward ragtag group of people. We were all bonded at this point.
"You are conflicted."
"Just help me!"
"I can't just make a decision for you, Sokka!"
"But you know about girl things. You're a girl!"
"But this is your decision! I can try and give you advice… I'm honestly not the best person to ask about these kinds of things."
"But you said so yourself. You're her best friend, and I trust you." There was a shocked silence, and Cameron cleared her throat.
"Sokka, Charlie likes you a lot. Like… a lot, a lot." I stared at the blank wall in front of me. "And… she's watched you fall in love, then lose her sister. She lost Yue too. She's watched you fall in love with Suki, then lose her as well. And she's trying to be there for you, but… can you imagine how she feels?" She asked. Sokka sighed.
"That didn't help." There was a smack, and Sokka cried out.
"Ouch! Why'd you hit me?!"
"I don't know, okay! Ugh!" I heard the sound of feet approaching, and I stood up, dusting myself off, and as the rest of Team Avatar gathered by Sokka and Cameron, I joined them. The sun was setting beautifully over the horizon, and I leaned against the wall, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear. Sokka cleared his throat in the awkward silence.
"I just wanna say, good effort out there today Team Avatar!" Sokka said cheerfully. I'd tried asking Cam earlier, but she wouldn't say what happened between her, Aang, and Azula, but she had an air of cool satisfaction about her.
"Enough with the Team Avatar," Katara groaned.
"Yeah! There's more to us than Aang," Cameron added.
"Okay, okay. How about… The Boomeraang squad! See it's good because it's got Aang in it. BoomerAANG?" I sighed, and folded my arms.
"I kinda like that one!" Aang agreed. Olivia sighed and shook her head.
"Let's discuss this later. And by later I mean never," she said. We turned away from the wall, and Sokka continued to try and spurt team names. I paused, and looked over my shoulder at the blazing sunset over the wall. A wall does not choose to be mighty… I hurried after the group, half smiling as I went.
