Chapter 37
"Aang," Bato's deep voice pulls the avatar out of his slumber. "Ahni's back."
Aang leaps off the palate and heads out the door. Suddenly he turns.
"Ahni's the healer, right? You never said her name before." He asks Bato.
"Yes. She's with Appa now."
Aang takes off for Appa. When he arrives at the site where the injured bison rests he sees a person in a dark cloak with a hood over her head. There are no other Water Tribesmen around to confirm her identity and that makes him very uncomfortable.
"Take off your hood." Aang tells the healer brusquely.
"Excuse me?" She asks, confused by the unfriendly reception.
"Sorry, but I need to see that you're not going to hurt Appa. He's been hurt enough as it is."
"I would never hurt him." She's offended now.
"I can't know that. I obviously have enemies. Please lower the hood." Aang hates being such a jerk, but he can't risk Appa to spare her feelings and frankly he'll blow the cloak right off her if she doesn't comply soon.
She pulls the hood from her head and he looks closely at her. At first glance he might think she's a boy because her hair is quite short. Dark nearly to the point of being black, it promises a riot of curls and waves if it ever grows out. But her delicate features are all girl. Bright blue eyes and a tiny turned-up nose. The darkened skin tone of the Water Tribe. She's authentic he decides. She looks to be about eighteen, but Aang can't be sure.
"Thank you." He says, calm now.
"You're welcome. I understand." She assures him. "It will only take me a few minutes to do the healing. There's no other damage besides the cut. It's deep but it's been tended well. There doesn't appear to be any infection and it's clean. We can leave as soon as I'm finished. Perhaps you should get your things." She suggests while Aang stares at her.
"We can leave?" He asks.
"Yes. I'm to accompany you." She explains while she pulls a stream of healing water from a jug on the ground and begins to stroke the bison with the glowing liquid.
"Katara will be there. She's a healer." He says. "You don't have to come with us."
"I've been instructed to accompany you." She shrugs. "My purpose may not be to heal."
"Can you fight?" He asks.
"Not yet. I was hoping to go to the South Pole and study with Master Pakku when this force leaves, but I've been told to join you on your mission instead. I suppose I'll get to the South Pole eventually." Ahni finishes with Appa and sets the jug aside. "We can go as soon as you're ready. He's been sleeping, so he seems rested." She smiles as the bison shoves her about ten feet with an affectionate nuzzle.
Aang continues to stare at her. He doesn't like this one bit.
"Who told you to come with me?" He asks suspiciously.
"I received a visitation from Yue. She was my cousin in her human life and she comes to me sometimes and advises me. We were very close. She instructed me to help you. If you leave without me, I'll have to find a way to follow you, so it would really be best if you just take me with you." She explains in a matter-of-fact way as if the occasional heart-to-heart with the moon were no big deal.
"You have visitations from Yue?"
"My cousin. Yes."
Several moments go by as the avatar continues to stare.
"Okay. I'll be right back." Aang finally says and heads off, his blood running cold. Why would they need a second healer unless the other healer would be out of commission?
Don't think about it. Just get there.
He finds himself running.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Ah, Ba Sing Se." Sokka sighs as the Fire Lord's group strides up the walk to the Fire Nation embassy. "The Earth Kingdom's biggest lie."
"I wonder if Toph is here yet." Katara says.
"Vallon, do you think she's here? Do you feel her heartbeat?" Sokka teases.
The big earthbender flashes him a devilish grin.
"Not yet. But I will later." He says meaningfully.
Sokka scowls. Katara pats his shoulder in mock comfort.
"Remember, not a word about the twins." Zuko says quietly when they're on the other side of the embassy doors. "Any information about them at all could be very dangerous. As far as any of us is concerned they don't exist."
They all nod. They've been over this many times. If anyone finds out about Taoki and Kenya and the information they've given, the boys will be in an incredible amount of danger. Zuko won't be happy until they're all back at the palace, but especially the twins. They will be the most damaging to the principals in this scheme and so they must be kept under lock and key for the time being. They've been left back at the ship and won't disembark unless it is absolutely necessary. And then surrounded by the most elite unit of guards the Fire Lord can muster.
"When do we go to the Council?" Katara asks.
"We have just enough time to drop off our things, freshen up and go." Bokkusu informs. "The sooner the better. If we're early we can get it over with faster and start back home tonight."
"Yukio, are you okay?" Zuko asks his obviously anxious cousin.
"Yes. I'm a little nervous I guess." The prince shrugs.
"Me too." The Fire Lord puts his arm around the boy's shoulders.
"Me three." Sokka pipes up and Yukio laughs.
The mood is tense but positive. They've been waiting for this confrontation and now it's finally going to happen. To have the Fire Nation finally free of the Council is like a dream come true to the Fire Lord. Even if the Council places stringent sanctions on them, they are better off working around the corrupt cabal and making their own way.
From the Fire Nation's point of view only good can come from this meeting.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I'm not sure where I'm supposed to go exactly." Aang tells Ahni as they fly over Chameleon Bay toward the city. "Did Yue happen to give you any idea?"
"She said to look for the Water Tribe captain. I assume she meant the one called Sokka."
"Probably. That's the only Water Tribe captain I'm expecting to see in the city." Aang agrees. "But that doesn't quite tell me where to go."
"You don't know why they've come to Ba Sing Se?"
"No. Probably to meet with the Council. I can't imagine any other reason for Zuko to come all the way to the Earth Kingdom."
"Maybe that's where we should go then."
"Or the Fire Nation embassy. We'll find them there. Or the Water Tribe."
"How about embassy row. We'll find somebody." She laughs.
Aang finds himself chuckling as well. The spirits and their vague directives are not often a source of laughter unless it's the hysterical kind. But Aang needs a giggle right about now and their current blind dash to Ba Sing Se is a perfectly suitable catalyst for mirth, inappropriate though it may be.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The doors to the Unified Council building are the most elaborately carved in the city. Even the Earth King's entry is lacking when compared to the rich, dark wood with its intricate, hand-tooled work. The entire building actually looks like a second palace rivaling the grandeur of the King's own residence.
There is an inner chamber and an outer chamber. The outer is the vestibule, which is decorated in rich tapestries bearing slogans of peace and harmony with vases of fine crystal slipped into wrought iron sleeves bolted to the walls. The scent of hydrangeas wafts through the air, the light purple flowers tucked inside each of the many vessels adorning the room.
The outer chamber is the place where security guards check each visitor and confiscate weapons. It is forbidden to carry arms into the inner chamber. Bending is also prohibited within the "sacred walls" of the Council's inner sanctum. Preserving the peace in their own bureaucratic way.
Sokka grumbles as he gives up his broadswords, his boomerang, his machete, his dagger, and a few throwing stars he brought along for good measure. Yukio gives up his bow, Katara her waterskin, Zuko his broadswords, Bokkusu his saber, and Vallon a shrug, as he has no weapons besides his forbidden bending. Ty Lee looks on shaking her head. She's getting a bad feeling about all this, but there's no stopping it at this point. She stands back, nearly to the doors so she can get a good perspective on the situation.
The entrance to the inner chamber opens slowly.
"The Council will be with you in a few minutes your highness." A guard bows respectfully to Zuko. "If you'd like to wait in the chamber for them, they're on their way."
"Thank you." The Fire Lord curtly returns the bow and he and his group head toward the heavy doors.
As the empty hall comes fully into sight Katara and Sokka start to giggle. Zuko keeps a straight face, but has a very hard time of it.
"What the hell?" He mutters looking into the great hall.
"It's Bosco." The siblings laugh behind their hands.
"Donated by the Earth King." A guard points out importantly as he gestures to the twenty-five-foot granite statue of a bear in full attack position. It stands to the side of the podium, which is the focal point of the long table where the Unified Council sits for their sessions.
"I never saw Bosco look like that." Sokka whispers to his sister.
"If he wasn't wearing the stupid hat and vest I'd never recognize him." Katara agrees.
She notices that there are no chairs set up for them in the chamber. They're still stacked off to the side. Odd, she thinks, as they're expected and only a few minutes early.
Zuko, Yukio and Vallon enter the inner chamber first. The Fire Lord glances back toward Bokkusu to remind him to stay close to Katara and, horrified, he sees the box man go down in a heap. Katara disappears behind a guard a second later and Zuko quickly turns to go back. A wide phalanx of guards blocks the exit, separating the Fire Lord, the prince and the earthbender from the rest of their party, obstructing both view and access.
In the outer chamber chaos has broken loose. Bokkusu lies on the floor in a pool of blood, stabbed deep in his side by a guard. He still breathes, but the blood is leaving his body quickly and Katara struggles with two guards as she tries to pull water, any water she can find, to her aid.
She hears a rumble in the inner chamber. She knows what she has to do and she does it. She fights like a girl. An eye-gouging, arm-biting, face-clawing, groin-stomping girl. She's free within a fraction of a minute, but it may be a fraction too long.
She looks around for her waterskin, but it's gone. Probably emptied by the villains anyway. The wall vases with their beautiful hydrangea blossoms are emptied immediately, the water from each making a fountain overhead as it heeds her call.
Katara covers her hands with the precious liquid and bends to Bokkusu. A guard tries to pull her away, but he falls to the ground paralyzed. Sokka and Ty Lee are working in tandem, knocking out and paralyzing guards in a coordinated effort to keep them away from Katara and the fallen security man.
"Get Yukio out of here!" Zuko roars to Vallon as he tries to break the line of guards. His breathing starts again when he sees the streams of water over the heads of those in the outer chamber.
Katara's okay.
For now.
Out of the corner of his eye Zuko sees the statue crumble to huge chunks that start to rise ominously from the floor. All around them men in green uniforms cling to the walls and pillars, aiming their hands at the rubble. He shoots a stream of fire at them, but they are protecting each other by raising shields of earth in front of one another as they slowly move the rocks higher into the air.
Vallon takes a wide stance and attempts to push the rubble back down to the ground, but he's no match for so many powerful benders in one place with one single mission.
It takes only a second to realize the attack is meant for but one of them. As the chunks of granite rise to a point over their heads the mass begins to move to the Fire Lord.
Yukio runs up the walls to the attackers, shooting fire and knocking out earthbenders left and right. He lets out a primal scream as he realizes there's a new villain for each one he takes out. It doesn't stop him however, and he runs up the opposite wall to harass those on that side, finding a spot from which to launch a series of blasts at the top of an ornamental pillar.
Vallon gives up on trying to manipulate the mass of stone and goes after the attackers. He picks off pieces of their own pile of granite and hurls a few boulders around, but they always end up back on the pile.
Katara jumps up from healing Bokkusu who still lies pale, but breathing in a pool of his own blood. The bleeding has stopped but he's unconscious and won't wake up any time soon. He has a good chance if one of the guards doesn't decide to stab him again for good measure.
There are fewer guards to stop her entering the inner chamber than there were to begin with, but Sokka and Ty Lee are tied up with a coterie of fighters by the main door and there are enough blocking the inner chamber that she'll have to fight them to get to the other side.
Zuko shoots a blast of fire at an attacker as the villain is about to hit Yukio with a good sized rock. Vallon pulls some of the pile of rubble away as it makes it's way over the head of the Fire Lord. A chunk pulls apart from the main, manipulated by a wall-crawling attacker, and slams Zuko in the head, drawing blood and sending him to his knees.
He looks up, dazed, to see Katara sweep away a line of guards with a waterwhip and rush into the inner chamber. He hears her scream and then…
The waterbender stares at the huge pile of boulders in front of her, the dust from the impact swirling furiously around the room.
Five heartbeats later, Vallon sweeps his hands apart and the boulders divide and settle on either side of the room as the villains scatter and disappear like cockroaches.
Yukio drops down from his perch and rushes to Katara's side.
"Is he…?" The prince chokes as Katara coats her hands with water and places them on Zuko's mangled and bloodied body, tears pouring down her cheeks and sobs racking her slim frame.
"No, no, no, no, no…" She moans as she touches him reverently.
She makes a pass over him and feels nothing. Another pass brings the same. Two more passes and Sokka puts his hand on her shoulder. She shrugs him off and continues her ministrations, seeking something, anything that signals life.
And suddenly it's there. The tiniest heartbeat. Slow, weak, but there. She bends down and places her cheek next to his mouth and feels the thinnest wisp of breath.
Sokka sees the look on his sister's face and runs out of the room, returning quickly with her abandoned waterskin and a bucket of water he stole from an ostrich-horse tethered outside the building.
"What can I do?" Ty Lee asks, kneeling beside her friend.
"We need to get him out of here. Back to the embassy at least. They'll be back to finish the job if they find out he's alive." Katara says urgently while she assesses the damage. She nearly screams her frustration as she realizes what she faces. She's never attempted a healing this extensive. She isn't sure it's possible; in fact she's fairly certain it's not.
"I'm afraid to move him." Sokka worries.
"Stand back," Vallon orders, "I'll raise a palate under him from the stone and earthbend it to the embassy. It won't shift his body at all." He assures them.
"I have to stay with him. If I stop the water he'll die." Katara warns.
"I'll make the palate big enough for you." The earthbender says. "Get ready." He positions himself and prepares.
Suddenly a group of about twenty new guards enters the chamber. They grab Yukio and Vallon and pull them aside.
"What's the meaning of this?!" Sokka yells indignantly although he has a pretty good idea.
"You are under arrest for bending in the inner chamber of the Unified Council." The two of them are informed.
Yukio looks at Katara in panic.
"You can't arrest the prince of the Fire Nation." Vallon growls, readying himself to fight.
Sokka rushes over to the earthbender and Yukio.
"Go with them." He says quietly. "If you fight them now we'll never get Zuko out of here. We'll come for you." He ends in a whisper reassuringly.
Vallon nods and stands close to Yukio knowing that although the prince has an excellent chance of surviving this, the likelihood they will find the big earthbender alive later is quite small.
Yukio has admirably stopped looking terrified and assumed an expression one could only describe as unimpressed. When the guards grab his shoulders and push him toward the door he rolls his eyes disdainfully.
But one quick look back at Katara shows her his anguish.
She passes the healing water over her dying beloved again. She raises her head and watches miserably as the door behind the podium slowly closes and the only heir to the Fire Nation throne disappears behind it.