Chapter 37
With a smile that didn't reach his eyes, Sokka made an effort to convince his friends that he would be fine. That he would come out of this duel victorious. He himself was not so sure. The unease in Mai's silver eyes worried him greatly. He had never seen Mai fearful before and it scared him.
Yet, he was not afraid. Not really.
He had trained under Master Piandao and he had hold his own against Azula, granted, she had not been able to firebend then but it was still a small victory in Sokka's book. He could hold his own against Ruon-Jian…
Besides, anger burned in Sokka's heart when he looked at his smirking opponent on the other side of the courtyard. He knew the real culprit behind this scheme was Ursa, but Ruon-Jian's insults made him boil in anger still. He was being played but there was nothing to do but to win this swordfight and stop Ursa's play in its tracks.
"He likes to strike at the arms and legs." Mai said softly as she straightened Sokka's belt, casting glances over her shoulder at Ruon-Jian. From the way she glared, it was clear that she was well aware of Ruon-Jian's skill with his blade.
"He likes to bleed an opponent until the man can't take a step or raise his sword before he moves in for the kill. He is quicker than a viper, too, but he'll strike at your left most often and expect it from you."
Sokka nodded. Many not so skilled sword wielders found it easier to strike thus, so it seemed an odd weakness in a blademaster. Master Piandao had made him practice alternating which hand was uppermost on the hilt so he would not fall into that. Strange that Ruon-Jian wanted to prolong the fight, too. He himself had been taught to end matters as quickly and cleanly as possible. It seemed as if Ruon-Jian liked to humiliate and hurt his opponents.
"Many thanks, Mai." Sokka said softly as he processed the information Mai had given him. She gave him a small nod and the look she gave him said that he better come back alive from this ordeal.
They were all here. Princess Azula, Mai, Ty Lee and Katara and they had company of nearly the whole court, many men and women that he called friends. On the other side sat Princess Ursa and several of her minions. She regarded Sokka with a small smile, it looked like she believed she had won already.
Not if Sokka had anything to say about it, though! Sokka reached for the calmness that Master Piandao had taught him when he was still a student of the sword. He became one with his surroundings and his sword as he drew his blade from the scabbard Mai proffered, and the black jian became a part of him, his beloved Spacesword.
He became one with his surroundings, he felt how every distraction fell away. His sole focus was on the smirking man in expensive clothes in black and gold that stood waiting for him.
Ruon-Jian waited until he had turned around before drawing his own weapon on the other side of the courtyard, a flashy move, the sword blurring as it spun in his left hand, leaping to his right hand to make another blurred wheel in the air before settling, upright and rock steady before him, in both hands. He started forward in a walking stance called "Cat Crosses the Courtyard", an arrogant saunter. His smirk deepened as he approached.
Raising his own sword, Sokka moved to meet him, without thought assuming a walking stance perhaps influenced by his state of mind. Emptiness, it was called, and only a trained eye would know that he was not simply walking. Only a trained eye would know that he was in perfect balance every heartbeat.
Ruon-Jian wasted no time manoeuvring. The instant he was in range, "Plucking the Low-hanging Apple" flashed toward Sokka's neck like lightning, as the man truly did intend to have his head with the first strike. There were several possible responses, all made instinct by hard training, but Mai's warnings floated in the dim recesses of his mind. Without conscious thought, he chose another way, stepping sideways and forward just as "Plucking the Low-hanging Apple" became the "Leopard's Caress". Ruon-Jian's eyes widened and his smirk slipped in surprise as his stroke missed Sokka's left thigh by inches, widening more as "Parting the Silk" laid a gash down his right forearm, but he immediately launched into the "Dove Take Flight", so fast that Sokka had to dance back before his blade could bite deeply, barely fending off the attack with "Kingfisher Circles the Pond".
Back and forth they danced the forms, gliding this way then that across the stone paving. "Lizard in the Thornbush" met "Lightning of Three Prongs". "Leaf on the Breeze" countered "Eel Among the Lilly Pads", and "Two Hares Leaping" met the "Hummingbird kisses the Honeyrose".
Back and forth as smoothly as a demonstration of the forms. Sokka tried attack after attack, but Ruon-Jian was as fast as a viper. The "Grouse Dances" cost him a shallow gash on his left shoulder, and the "Red Hawk Takes a Dove" another on the left arm, slightly deeper. "River of Light" might have taken the arm completely had he not met the draw-cut with a desperately quick "Rain in the High Wind". Back and forth, blades flashing continuously, filling the air with the clash of steel on steel.
How long they fought, he could not have said. There was no time, only the moment. It seemed that he and Ruon-Jian moved like men underwater, their motions slowed by the drag of the sea. Sweat appeared on Ruon-Jian's face, but he smirked with self-assurance, seemingly untroubled by the slash on his forearm, still the only injury he had taken. Sokka could feel sweat rolling down his own face, stinging his eyes. And the blood trickling down his arm. Those wounds would slow him eventually, perhaps already had, but he had taken two on his left thigh, and both were more serious. His foot was wet in his boot from those, and could not avoid a slight limp that would grow worse with time. If Sokka was to win, it had to be soon.
Deliberately, he drew a deep breath, then another, through his mouth, another. Let Ruon-Jian believe him becoming winded. His black blade lanced out in "Threading the Needle", aimed at Ruon-Jian's left shoulder and not quite as fast as it could have been. The other man countered easily with the "Swallow Takes Flight", sliding immediately into the "Lion Springs". That took a third bite in his thigh, he dared not be faster in defense than in attack.
Again he launched "Threading the Needle" at Ruon-Jian's shoulder, again, again, all the while gulping air through his mouth. Only luck helped him to suffer just one more wound in those exchanges, that one to his right arm.
Ruon-Jian's smirk widened, the man believed him on the edge of his strength, exhausted and fixated. As Sokka began "Threading the Needle", too slowly, for the fifth time, the other man's sword started the "Swallow Takes Flight" in an almost perfunctory manner. Summoning all the quickness that remained to him, Sokka altered his stroke, and "Reaping the Barley" sliced across Ruon-Jian just beneath his rib cage.
For a moment it seemed the other man was unaware he had been hit. He took a step, began what might have been "Stones Falling from the Cliff". Then his eyes widened, and he staggered, the sword falling from his grip to clatter on the paving stones as he sank to his knees. His hands went to the huge gash across his body as though trying to hold his insides within him, and his mouth opened, glassy eyes fixed on Sokka's face. Whatever he intended to say, it was blood that poured out over his chin. He slowly fell over, his unseeing eyes staring at the sun, his smirk finally gone.
His movement was automatic as he gave his black blade a rapid twist to shake off the blood staining its final inch. The pain he had ignored now flared. His numerous wounds flared and burned and standing upright took effort. Perhaps he was nearer to exhaustion than he had thought. How long had they fought?
Suddenly he became aware of clapping. As he looked around he could see the large crowd applauding his victory. Except Ursa and her cronies, they were nowhere to be seen.
He had won, he had survived and Ursa's plot against them had failed. The last thing he saw before losing consciousness was Katara rushing out to aid him.
§§
Mai looked down on Sokka as he lay in his bed. It was not long ago that he was dying with an arrow through his chest.
He really ought to be more careful with himself, he made everyone worried!
It was a fleeting thought. Yet she was not as worried as the last time Sokka lay unconscious after a fight. He was not dying, not if Katara's ominous mumblings were anything to go by. It seemed as if Katara intended to heal Sokka only to beat him black and blue.
She had never seen a swordfight like that before. Yes, she had seen Sokka train with Master Piandao but she had never seen a duel between two blademasters in a fight to the death. The gamble Sokka had taken was inconceivable, Ruon-Jian had been stronger, faster and more skilled yet she had seen how Sokka had used the man's arrogance against him and won the day.
"Why won't you wake him?" Azula asked, frustration made her voice harsher than usual. It was obvious that the princess hated to worry over somebody else.
"Healing takes energy from Sokka's own body." Katara explained, her voice bordering on patient and her tone of voice made Azula give her a sharp look. "He received healing not so long ago. I don't want to strain his body too much."
"Besides, you know as well as I that the fool would never rest, he would be rushing around as if the Fire Nation couldn't work without him." Katara finished somewhat heatedly.
The two women traded a knowing look and they seemed to find common ground to agree over, Sokka's behaviour that is.
"Fool!" Both women said at the same time at the unconscious young lord, startling them both. The two powerful benders exchanged thin smiles and then they went back to study Sokka. Azula and Katara working together, that would be an unpleasant surprise for Sokka when he woke up! The thought made Mai smile a little.
Suddenly the door opened and Ty Lee rushed in. She looked like she had run all the way here from wherever Azula had sent her. The princess had wanted Mai to go at first but she had flatly refused so Azula had sent Ty Lee instead.
"Azula, your mother is on the move." Ty Lee said before either Azula or Katara could get a word out. "How is he?" Ty Lee asked Katara, her entire being told them how worried she was.
"Not dead." Azula answered harshly enough to make the acrobat jump. "Where is Ursa?" Azula all but hissed, her eyes glittering dangerously.
Ty Lee swallowed in fright and then started talking before Azula would explode.
"She was heading toward the Fire Lord's private wing." Ty Lee said hastily. The words froze Azula where she stood. Mai also understood what that could mean for the princess and Sokka. Mai felt her stomach sink with fear, this was not good…
"I need to go." Azula said softly after a little while. Yet she didn't move, she worriedly looked down at the unmoving young man that meant so much to them all. Azula herself might not know it but to Mai it was as clear as day, Princess Azula was in love with Sokka.
Otherwise she would have been out of the door the second Ty Lee was done speaking.
"We will watch over him, Azula." Mai said softly and nodded solemnly to her friend.
Azula's golden eyes became firm as she gave Mai a slight nod. Then she was gone.
"Why won't you wake him?" Ty Lee asked Katara after a little while.
Katara's sigh made Mai smile slightly as she looked down on Sokka.
"Feel better soon, Sokka." Mai whispered to her unconscious betrothed.
§§
Ursa gave the weak Fire Lord a wide-eyed and innocent look, she had mastered them to perfection after all. It would pay off even after Ruon-Jian's failure. She refused to let her anger show when her lieutenant's abysmal debacle to kill that wretched foreign upstart crossed her mind. It had nearly cost her everything!
Yet, now she was in luck. It seemed as if Azulon had been semi-conscious since Ozai's failed coup and unaware of recent events. Now, how to use it?
"I must as a mother thank my Lord, for the tremendous honour of having my child named crown heir to our glorious nation." Ursa said with well-practiced sincerity.
The Fire Lord frowned heavily at her but said nothing as three of his personal servants lowered him to a sitting position on a small dais in his private sitting room. Azulon looked weak and he moved slowly as if from great pain. The sweat beads on his pale complexion told Ursa that the man ought to stay in bed. She fervently hoped that the old fool managed to stay alive until she had made sure he brought down Ember and her wretched daughter.
Strange how she now desperately needed him to stay alive compared to just a few days ago when she plotted his death. She still had the poison she had concocted for that very end in her quarters. Perhaps it would come in handy at a later time?
"Why, the Fire Nation will grow strong and prosperous under the next ruler, my Lord." Ursa continued innocently, furtively observing the Fire Lord's reaction to her words.
She could almost hear his unanswered question – who had been declared heir?
"As the next Fire Lord, greatness will be hers, my daughter Azula." Ursa stated with a grateful smile.
She was not disappointed. Azulon was a master at the Great Game but weakened as he was by his wounds, his reaction was easy to read for Ursa. She had expected it after all.
A small inhalation, widening of his eyes and then his face slowly reddening, in anger she presumed.
"Yes, Azula would make a great Fire Lord." Azulon said after a pause that went on a second too long.
Ursa prattled on as she continued to observe the old man. She knew that Azulon never had liked her or supported her in the Great Game, yet she had never gone against him. That was something Azulon also knew…
She might be ambitious but never a traitor. Perhaps she should remind him of that fact?
"I am so saddened by Prince Ozai's betrayal and I wished that I could have known about it sooner." Ursa said with a sad and apologetic smile. "Alas, it saddens my heart to confess that I also have come to know the bitter bite of betrayal." Ursa continued with unshed tears in her eyes.
"Prince Zuko decided to become a vagabond instead of a member of the royal family and left to travel the world." Ursa said and nearly managed to keep her fury from showing. She could feel her anger rise as she had to tell the Fire Lord herself about the humiliating fact that she had lost her greatest pawn to achieve her goals. It was humiliating beyond belief!
The Fire Lord regarded her for a long and uncomfortable moment. She didn't dare to say anything more since Azulon's piercing eyes seemed to look into her very soul. Had she overplayed her hand?
"What do you want, Ursa?" Azulon asked, his voice cold as a winter storm. His question blunt and with no finesse, he no longer wanted to dance around. It made Ursa twitch before she could stop herself.
It was win or lose…
But before she could open her mouth she was interrupted by the opening doors and a servant declaring:
"The crown heir, Princess Azula to see the Fire Lord."
Azulon had a countenance carved in stone as he glared at Princess Azula when she made a perfect kow-tow. Azula and Ursa ignored each other completely, their deep dislike for each other nearly sharp enough to touch.
Silence descended upon the room as the Fire Lord glared at the bowing heir to his realm.
"Princess Azula, is your…position well-deserved?" Azulon finally asked coldly, his eyes blazing in anger. Ursa could not hold back a small smile in delight. Yes, the Fire Lord was not pleased about Azula's elevation, not at all.
Azula slowly rose from her kow-tow and met her grandfather's gaze proud and unflinching.
"No, I would not call it well-deserved." Azula answered evenly. Say what you want, she was no coward. "But my ascension is the best outcome, both for the Fire Nation and for myself, that could have happened for our beloved Nation." Azula stated confidently. Then she graced the injured and weak Fire Lord with a ghost of a smirk.
"My Lord seems to be the picture of health, after all." Azula's words were followed by a cold silence.
Azula's words held a double meaning that both Azulon and Ursa understood. Azula's decision to change sides had won the day for Azulon's forces but her words also meant something else… Ursa composure fractured for a moment and she nearly snarled at Azula.
"I should be grateful that I am still alive? Is that so, Princess Azula?" Azulon asked with dark humour that never reached his cold eyes. He continued speaking before Azula had the chance to answer.
"Yes, I do remember that you, Princess Ursa, are quite skilled with herbs and…poisons?" Azulon now asked Ursa who paled under the weight of his searching eyes. "I must say that I believe your daughter when she implies that I would never have woken up if you were my caretaker, Princess Ursa." Azulon stated coldly.
"I would never commit such an atrocity!" Ursa insisted forcefully, her eyes altering between pleading while looking at her ruler and hateful when glaring at Azula. "I have never taken any action that even could be implied as treasonous against you, my Lord! Please believe me!" Ursa continued and sat with confidence as she looked the Fire Lord in the eye.
Silence descended once more over what remained of the royal family in the Caldera. This time it was Azula that smirked in pleasure, she had taken the initiative from her mother's grasp and now grandfather might actually destroy Ursa and end that threat to Sokka and herself.
"Yes, truer words have never been spoken, Princess Ursa." Azulon agreed, yet the thin smile he wore sent a shiver of fear down Ursa's spine.
"You have never committed treason, Princess, but you have not taken action to prevent treachery either." Azulon stated and silenced Ursa with a raised hand when she opened her mouth to speak. "You waited until the last possible moment to come forth with news of Ozai's rebellion and you sent your lapdog to duel Lord Ember in an attempt to gain the upper hand to become…what exactly? Regent of the Fire Nation?" Azulon asked unrelenting.
The Fire Lord didn't give the shocked Ursa a chance to explain herself.
"I hereby banish you from the court and from the Caldera." The cold eyed ruler of the Fire Nation declared and glared down on the stricken princess.
"You will be confined to your home village of Hira'a for a period of ten years. Begone from my sight." Fire Lord Azulon finished and two of his Royal Guard's dragged a broken woman out of the room.
Azula had watched her mother be brought low and cast out with a wicked smile gracing her lips. It was a fitting end to her mother, to be cast out and lose everything she had held dear – the power to rule.
"A fitting end to a sad and pitiful creature." Azulon murmured and Azula nodded in agreement. A fitting end indeed.
"Princess Ursa was right, she had never made a single move against me." Azulon said softly. "Unlike you, Princess Azula.
The words made Azula look up at her ruler once again.
"You plotted my downfall and led rebels against me." Azulon continued dangerously.
So, he was not going to forgive her transgressions after all? She had always known it would come to this, her grandfather never forgave the slightest offence. Sokka's plan had always been a dream. It was a fleeting thought and it seemed he was not yet done.
"You are a full-blown traitor, Azula!" Azulon roared and began to cough when he was done speaking, his eyes blazing in anger.
Azula sat calmly for several seconds. Sokka's gambit was up and Azula know what had to be done.
"My Lord, I take full responsibility for my actions and I am willing to submit myself to a court of justice if my Lord so chooses." Azula said smoothly and as she met her grandfather's eyes unwaveringly. They both knew that a trial would end in a death sentence.
"You are willing to do anything to protect him, are you not, Azula?" Azulon asked softly, his anger gone.
Azula met her grandfather's eyes and smiled slightly. It was a sad smile.
"Yes, that I am." Azula answered simply, her gaze steady.
§§
Sokka slowly blinked as he looked up at the ceiling. Confusion made him frown as he considered the ceiling. When did his father use wood as a building material in their house? Talk about excessive, Katara would have a fit when she found out!
"Finally awake I see. Good to have you back, brother." His sister's voice startled him a little. She was fine with the ceiling?
"Took your time waking up, as usual." Mai said with her monotone voice but Sokka could hear that she was relieved that he was among the living.
"And before you go on about me not waking you, this time around it was Katara that refused to wake you up. Even for dinner." Mai continued and was rewarded with a smile from Sokka and a glare from Katara, one she ignored.
Ty Lee laughed softly at her friend's teasing and cheerfully greeted Sokka's return to the living.
Sokka got up to a sitting position and sat there for a little while as memory of what happened just before he lost consciousness flooded back to him.
"He is dead, isn't he?" Sokka asked quietly and his words silenced his friend's mirth.
"Yes, he is dead." Mai answered as softly.
Sokka squeezed his eyes shut in pain only he could feel. He had been forced to kill a man and he knew that Ursa was behind it all.
Mai laid her hand on his shoulder to let him know she was there for him and Katara grimaced fiercely over the fact that her foolish and happy big brother had to kill a man.
"Where is Azula?" Sokka asked instead. Did Ruon-Jian have a family? Someone whose whole world now was broken?
"She is getting married." Ty Lee answered chirpily.
She was suddenly the focus of all her three friends. Three shocked friends to be precise.
"She is getting married?" Sokka finally managed to say, all thoughts of Ruon-Jian gone.
"Of course not, Sokka." Ty Lee answered cheerfully and made her way up to Sokka only to pat him on his cheek. "You needed a distraction, that is all." The acrobat continued and gave them a full smile.
"What? And Azula getting married is the best distraction you came up with?" Sokka blurted out as he waved his arms around, he could feel himself becoming angry.
"Azula says that when you need to distract someone, always come up with something worse than what is disturbing them at the moment. It works like a charm." Ty Lee explained in a carefree way as she made a simple flip.
"Although, they can experience some unwanted guilt when they understand that they no longer worry over whatever worried them in the first place and instead feel grateful that the distraction was not true." Ty Lee continued as she tapped her finger on her lips as she frowned in thought.
Sokka did feel a pang of guilt when he remembered that Ruon-Jian was dead and that he didn't care because Azula was not getting married! He could only stare at Ty Lee, had she done this deliberately or had she done this without thinking?
"I am not sure if I should be angry or scared?" Sokka murmured softly as he shook his head.
"Be scared." Katara answered softly as she regarded the thoughtful acrobat. "Be very scared."
Mai pursed her mouth in agreement with Katara.
Before either Sokka or Katara could berate their friend for being not so nice a knock on the door interrupted them and War Minister Qin entered. When he saw that Sokka was awake he nearly sagged with relief.
"The Fire Lord is awake and he has banished Princess Ursa and placed Princess Azula under confinement in her room." Qin said as soon as he was done bowing.
Sokka dressed in a hurry as Qin told him what he know. The wrath of the Fire Lord was about to come down on them all!
This was not good! Not at all…
§§
Sokka stepped into the throne room and scrutinized the silent figure behind the flickering flames from the fire curtain. The cold stare that followed him as he made his way down the dim room made him anxious. The unmoving Royal Guards that stood all around the large room only heightened Sokka's unease.
By the spirits, he couldn't let all what he had accomplished be for naught. Above it all, he needed to make sure Azula and his friends came out of this mess alive!
"By your summons do I come, My Lord." Sokka said evenly as he bowed low to his liege lord and the man that hopefully still regarded him as a friend.
The heat from the fire curtain made sweat run down his spine. It was not nervousness, surely not.
A long cold silence, that seemed to go on forever, descended upon the two men. Sokka could not do anything until Azulon had spoken or given him permission to rise. Silence was a powerful tool, Sokka knew that but even so it took all his willpower not to fidget under the wrathful stare of Fire Lord Azulon.
"I am very displeased, my Lord Ember." Azulon stated in a harsh voice. By looking into those blazing eyes, it was clear to Sokka that execution for treason was a real possibility here…
"Not only did you go against my expressed will when you let the rebel Azula live, you used my authority to elevate her to heir to the throne." Azulon said in cold fury. "She is a traitor and will pay the price for her treachery."
"Then we have you, my Lord Ember." Azulon continued in a more controlled tone of voice after he gave his advisor a scorching glare. "Has hubris taken hold of you? Did you believe that you could rule my nation?"
Sokka looked up at the man that held his whole world in his palm, to brake or save it at his whim. What could he do to save it all? Sokka didn't know and decided to be honest.
"I did rule our nation, my Lord." Sokka answered calmly, far more calmly then felt. "I sat on that dais and guided the Fire Nation when my friend lay dying."
"Your wounds were severe and even my sister with her skill could not be certain you would survive the lightning Prince Ozai brought down on you." Sokka continued, his voice rising.
"I could have obeyed your command and have Princess Azula tried for treason and executed. But that would leave our nation, a nation I have come to love and cherish, in the hands of Princess Ursa." Sokka explained and continued.
"Prince Zuko's reign would at best have been weak and contested. At worst, a civil war would have erupted and the spirits only know how that would have ended."
"So I decided to go against your will and spare Princess Azula and most of the nobles loyal to Prince Ozai. Now they serve you, my Lord, and the Fire Nation is no longer split upon itself. I couldn't have done this any other way and, my Lord, I would do it again if I had to. It was the only way for me to proceed, to do my duty as advisor and citizen to the Fire Nation." Sokka finished speaking, his voice strong and confidant.
Silence settled over the dim room and the two men stared at each other. Sokka had told the truth as he saw it and he fervently hoped he could make his friend see it as he did.
§§
Author's Notes:
The first scene where Sokka duel Ruon-Jian is taken from Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time. It is a beautiful battle scene and how Mr Jordan describes the various sword forms.
Ursa is banished at long last! That felt nice, very nice to write…
Thank you kindly for reading, reviewing, following and favouring my little story. It makes my day every day!:)