Chapter Thirty-Eight

Katara heard Appa's growl before she saw the flying bison swoop down above their campsite. Her head snapped up in expectation, her feet carrying her in that direction without a conscious command. "Sokka, Zuko, you guys are back!"

Sand flew up as the massive creature landed on the beach. Katara raised an arm to shield her eyes from the particles, while Ty Lee just bounded through the cloud to greet their returned allies.

Toph lifted her arms and brought the cloud of sand back to the ground, where it belonged. She'd been practicing her sandbending ever since they'd arrived on the island, trying to compensate for the way it clouded her seismic sense. When the tiny particles joined the rest of the sand, she grinned. "How'd your training go?"

Sokka hopped down from the saddle, and pulled a long, black sword from a sheath on his hip. "I got this," he announced. "It's a Jian Sword, forged from the minerals of a meteorite. I'm calling it Space Sword."

Katara rolled her eyes. Sokka seemed to think he was creative with names, and she wasn't going to burst his bubble. Instead, she walked over to Zuko, smiling faintly. "And what about you? How did forging your new swords turn out?"

He pulled what appeared to be a single, curved blade from his back then, with a movement of his fingers, split the sword down the middle so a second blade slipped free of the first. They were the same dark metal as Sokka's sword. "Master Piandao recognized me right away. He knew what I needed."

The black blade reflected a ray of sunlight, throwing the sharp edge of the blades into relief. It looked sharper than any weapon she'd ever seen.

"Sokka and I sparred with them before we left. They're lightweight, high-quality. It doesn't take much force to cut someone with these."

It took her a moment to identify the subtle change in Zuko's speech, but when she did, it made her smile. They're friends now. Ten days, that's all it took. The realization gave her something that had been absent from her life for too many weeks now, something that she only realized had been missing in the moment it returned to her: a sense of hope.

We can win, she thought. We're ready.

Zuko sheathed the swords, just as Sokka started talking.

"We're going out to find a ship to stow away on tomorrow. Once we're sure it's headed to the capital, we sneak onboard and hide in the first capital-bound crates we see. That way, we'll get unloaded first, so we'll have enough time to slip away."

"And then we wait in the harbor district until the Day of Black Sun, right?" Ty Lee asked.

"Right." He turned to Katara. "Has Dad tried to contact you since we left?"

She shook her head, confused. "No. Why?"

"When we left the healer's island, I told the warriors to find him and bring reinforcements for the eclipse. I was hoping they'd send some kind of confirmation about that."

Disquiet rippled through her heart.

"They probably don't want to risk having their message intercepted before it reaches us," Toph reasoned.

"Right, of course," she breathed. "I'm sure that's it."

"No point in worrying about it," Sokka decided after a moment. "We've got our mission. Whether or not they land in time for the eclipse, we still have to break into the palace and take down the Fire Lord. We'll leave for the capital tomorrow morning."

They all made noises of agreement, even Appa and Momo. All except Katara.

No, Toph's right. They just don't want to blow our cover. She must be right.

She must be.

Sokka

After everyone had dispersed to make their final preparations for tomorrow, he headed into the woods to hunt. Ty Lee tagged along.

"You don't really have to come along," he said, hoping she'd take the hint. It wasn't that he minded spending time around her, but the way she flirted with him was somewhat unnerving. He still had Suki to consider, and even then, the days before a major battle were not an ideal time to start a relationship. He'd learned that lesson when he'd lost Yue at the North Pole.

Ty Lee blinked, then frowned. The expression looked unnatural on her normally perky face, but it didn't diminish her inherent charm. He made himself look away.

"I just missed you, that's all. Your sister's fun to talk to and everything, but I need more interaction than that."

He sighed, letting it go. Their conversation had scared away whatever game there was to be found, so there was no point in sending her off now when it would only hurt her feelings.

"Did you have fun on your trip?" she asked.

"I did, actually. I don't know how to explain it, really, but even though I was in the Fire Nation, even though I was a guest in this huge castle, it sort of felt . . . I don't know, like I belonged there, or something. Like I would've been welcomed there, unconditionally, even if I hadn't had the connections to get in."

She considered that for a moment. "I can't think of any place that wouldn't let you in, to be honest. Your aura draws people to you. You're a natural-born leader."

He stopped, staring at his feet. "Thanks."

"For what?"

"For saying that. I've always tried to live up to the image I have of how my father led the village. It's nice to know that someone believes in me."

"The others believe in you, too."

"No they don't. I can't bend. Even now, with my Space Sword, I can't keep up with the rest of them. My younger sister . . ." He faltered a moment. "My younger sister is a waterbending master. Barely fifteen, and she's accomplished things that some adult waterbenders can only dream of. And me? I'm just some water tribe peasant playing chief with his ragtag bunch of friends."

"You're wrong."

"What?"

"You're wrong. Being a bender isn't what makes you strong. It doesn't make you better than the people who aren't." She lifted her gray eyes up to him. "Even when I was at Azula's side, even though I can see now that I was only a tool to her, I never felt like I was less than she was. I was a valuable part of the team. I could fight, take down my enemies, just like you. All that time, even though she was a prodigy and a princess, I felt like her equal. And you know why? Because I was."

He stared at her. Equals? "Ty Lee . . ."

"You're just as good as every one of them. That's a fact. So stop moping and—"

He kissed her.

For a moment, she just stood there, frozen. Then she lifted her hands to his face and leaned deep into the kiss. Their bodies twined together, fusing like molten metal under the searing heat of the kiss. The part of his mind responsible for judgment and reasoning faded to the background.

His guilt over kissing someone besides Suki faded to the background.

His grief over Yue's death faded to the background.

And he thought, in the brief moment while he still retained the ability to think, that somehow, this was right. Somehow, with everything else in chaos, with the invasion looming over his head, kissing Ty Lee fit perfectly into his life.

The kiss waned, and a tear rolled down the side of his face. He lifted a hand to wipe it away, embarrassed, only for her delicate thumb to rise up and brush it aside. "You have no idea how long I've waited for you to do that," she whispered, moving her lips to his again. This kiss swelled steadily, becoming so piercingly sweet that for a moment, all he could do was hold her to him. When this one eased up, he tilted his head forward so their foreheads were touching. Though still relatively short, Ty Lee's hair had grown out enough to tickle his skin when they touched. He breathed in her scent, then tried to make comparisons. All he could think of were trite clichés that had no business in describing her.

He tilted his chin and kissed her again.

Azula

"Why must my brother always hide out on the most insignificant island in the sea?" Azula said, glaring out across the black waters at the speck of orange on the horizon.

"Maybe he thinks the small islands will be beneath your notice," Mai suggested, rubbing a piece of cloth over her blood-crusted knife. She sighed. "These knives were meant for throwing, not cutting. They're all dull, now."

"I'll have new ones made for you when we return to the capital."

"And when will that be?"

Azula's anger flared. "It will be when I say it is, and no sooner. I will not return home a failure."

"Whatever."

She returned her attention to the wisp of smoke rising up from the middle of the island. The black tendrils were too small for a natural fire, and too steady to be the work of ordinary firebenders. A campfire, most likely, in a place where there was no point to camping.

Unless of course, they don't want to be found. And why would they? They know I'm looking. Waiting.

Hunting.

She stood up and headed down the corridor, annoyed by their slow progress. When she strode through the metal door blocking off the wheelhouse, the captain turned toward her, moving as if to scold whatever crewmember had interrupted him. When he saw it was her, he closed his mouth and bowed instead. "Princess Azula, it's an honor to—"

She cut him off. "Full speed ahead to that island," she said, pointing out the window. "I want to get there before we're seen." I will not fail again.