A dank stench of seawater and muck wafted over the deck as Jee's sailors set the dredge down in front of assembled benders and other purely curious onlookers. Mud, rocks, various clams and starfish... and familiar, eerie blue glinting in the morning sun. Zuko let out a breath, relieved. Well - kind of. Given what he planned to demonstrate, he was just glad the sailors were keeping the bystanders from getting too close.
"You've anchored here before," Captain Jee said in an undertone, standing beside him. "I trust your judgment on the bottom."
"Anchoring's not the problem," Zuko said, equally quiet. "Handling the anchor after you get it up - some people aren't going to believe this unless they see it." He stepped into plain view of the crowd, paying as close attention to where Langxue and Amaya were as to the firebenders. This was going to be interesting. "All right, everyone. What I wanted to show you-"
"You can have ice under water?" Jinhai was on his father's shoulders to see better, not quite bouncing. "No way!"
"This is no ordinary ice," Iroh stated, eyeing it much as he might a sleeping scorpion-viper. "There are reasons the Fire Nation has had little interest in the coast near the Northern Air Temple, and they have very little to do with how short winter days may be."
"If your trainers covered this at all, they probably called it a hazard." Zuko pitched his voice to carry; they needed to hear this. "If we're not careful, it will be. But if we are... this could be useful." A slash of his hand broke a fragment off feet away; a beckoning curl of fingers, and the shard settled in his gloved hand. A sharp breath out-
Flames licked up from the highest edge of ice, blue and flickering yellow. Under the heat, water began to drip away.
"Fire-ice!" Langxue looked like someone had poured marine tea down his throat; awake and jittery. "I haven't seen that in... a long time."
Naval firebenders shifted, obviously recalling obscure warnings out of the mists of training. Jee cleared his throat. "As you can see," he said confidently, "in small quantities, it's reasonably safe. But if it fouls the anchor we need to chip it off. The usual techniques of melting large sections of ice away... I'm sure you can imagine what that could do."
"Fire-ice." Shirong cast a glance at Teruko before fixing his attention back on the chunk melting and burning in Zuko's hand. "You're burning water? How?"
"It's not just water," Zuko smirked. "How much do you know about natural gas?"
"Natural - oh." The Dai Li looked taken aback. "Guanyin's merciful veil. That stuff is here?"
"Large deposits abound in these mountains. Even leading under the sea, it seems," Iroh nodded. "When it bubbles through deep water, the fire-ice forms, and can lie there for centuries. Unless an unlucky ship drags it to the surface, and there is a spark."
"It takes a lot more than a spark to set it off," Zuko said, trying to head off ripples of unease in the crowd. "You have to melt it first, and you have to melt enough so there's gas in the air to burn." He flattened his palm, stretching the ice in rhythm with his fingers. Huh; didn't quite bend like pure water. Interesting. "I investigated this when we were searching here before." But I couldn't bend water then.
And now he could. He'd thought about that, back in Ba Sing Se; fire-ice, and desperation, and protecting his people in a dangerous world.
We fight with what the world gives us. And here... it gives us fire.
"Natural gas," Langxue said, half to himself. "The ever-burning fires of Asagitatsu."
"Ever-burning-?" Shirong's breath hissed between his teeth. "Of course! No wonder the Face-Stealer... a natural beacon for Fire Nation dead. Guanyin herself nurses fire here; it wouldn't take much for fire-spirits to intervene for those buried. With the fires out, the blessing would be corrupted, and-" His gaze fell on Jinhai, and the other young Wens. "...It'd be very bad."
"Not only Guanyin." Iroh smiled at Amaya, eyes warm. "You know we believe Agni La's brother. But long ago, it is said, Agni was also called the Grandson of the Waters."
"Grandson of the - a fire spirit?" Amaya said in disbelief.
Iroh inclined his head. "Today, I believe, we may show you why."
"Is the fleet in position?" Zuko asked Jee.
"More or less," the captain said dryly. "I did warn them what you had in mind. I don't think the other captains quite believed me."
Zuko almost grinned. "Some people just have to see it."
"See what?" Tingzhe Wen gave him a look askance.
"Asagitatsu will only be won by courage," Iroh declared. "It is time to tell her we are here." He stepped back, a circle of flame lighting around him, breathing with his breath.
Zuko matched his rhythm, reaching not for the fire within, but for the world without. There was water, and there the stirring of it that must be wind over waves, and there another stirring that whispered a promise of flames...
There, and there, and - Agni, so many!
Uncle's kiai seared away thin wafts of gas mixed with air, the great ring of fire blazing out to cleanse harbor air in brief, harmless flickers of flame. Zuko spun with that shout, gripping the strongest of those sparks, twisting-
Fire bloomed like panda lilies, a hundred licks of flame weaving from the waves.
Not a problem for Suzuran. But he really, really hoped the other captains believed Jee now.
"Fire on the waters." Amaya gripped the railing, staring at the sea as if she'd never seen it before. "Fire from the water... How will anyone know what to be?"
"I guess we'll just be what we'll be, huh?" Saoluan gazed over fire-wreathed waves with a smile that matched Teruko's for the promise of sheer mayhem. "That's the story Shidan gave us. We didn't use to be different peoples. Just one people, with a lot of different games." She laughed out loud. "So what next, prince? Here's fire and water, but that's just half the balance. What are you going to do? Pull wind from a stone? Or - ooo, I know! - mountains from the sky!"
Zuko traded a glance with his uncle. And maybe he couldn't match Iroh's beaming grin, but he could definitely smirk.
Taken aback, Saoluan turned a slightly panicked look on Langxue. "Um. He's not...?"
The young waterbender eyed Shirong. Who was looking suspiciously at Teruko. Who was trying to look innocent. "Is that why you wanted us to bring the pumice, sir?" she asked.
Zuko's smirk deepened. "Lieutenant. Did you know Agent Shirong is under the impression that rocks can't float?"
"They can't," Shirong insisted, looking like he very much wanted to panic, if he could only think of a safe direction to run.
"Yes," Zuko said deliberately. "They can."
"So. The Avatar, and your brother, are still alive."
Kneeling in the shadows cast by the Fire Lord's screen of flames, Azula deliberately put certain things out of her mind. She would not think of that desperate battle against the blue dragon and her watery creatures. She would not consider the rumors now snickering through streets and palaces, of exactly what might have happened for the princess' vessel to limp into harbor a battered, half-sunk wreck. She would not even twitch at the thought of Mai and Ty Lee waiting in her quarters with the Dai Li, all desperately trying to pretend they were the loyal servants the Fire Lord would demand.
Above all, she would not wish for white whiskers, and a laugh, and razor-edged kindness.
None of that exists. There is only here. Only now. "I have no proof that they are dead, Father," Azula said levelly, head still down. "Both were gravely injured, but were last seen in the company of proven healing benders. For the sake of our nation, I will assume that the Water Tribe boy has managed to convince the more reckless of his companions to keep their heads down, and we must prepare for the invasion of a living Avatar on the day of the eclipse. An Avatar who will not only strike in our weakest moment, but may yet find some way to repeat that disaster at the North Pole."
Flames burned higher. "A disaster caused by your fool of a brother, and your traitorous uncle."
"Unfortunately, I've found information that may not be the case." Azula kept her voice even, tinged with disgust for treachery. "My most recent sources implicate Admiral Zhao, instead." Best to leave the main source in anonymous silence.
"He had my favor, daughter."
Dangerous ground. Well, she'd expected no less. "When he was tasked with the invasion, yes. However, Ba Sing Se's Dai Li appear to be as capable in spirit matters as our field Fire Sages. In their experience, spirit-slaying of this magnitude would have to be somehow linked to an offense by the official in charge." Now she did raise her head, expression cool and interested. "Given the fleet order of operations only lists General Iroh as an advisor, and doesn't list Zuko at all, I doubt even their most idiotic actions could have set that water-monster off."
Silence, save for the crackle of flames. An old tactic, but a good one.
Her knees ached from kneeling. Surreptitiously Azula warmed her hands, soothing away the worst of it. I'm not a traitor, Father. I'm not - whatever Makoto might have told you.
If the dragon had told him anything. Shidan might not lie, but he could have been deceived.
And Father knows I am his most loyal and ruthless servant. He knows that.
Yet if that were true, why leave Ty Lee ignorant of herself when Azula needed her? If only she'd known Ty Lee was an airbender when they'd first hunted the Avatar; the war might be over even now. The little monk had been lucky to date, but he was fragile. Vulnerable, in a way no one but another airbender could exploit.
Aang believes he acts for the good of the world.
That the Fire Nation was itself part of that world didn't seem to penetrate that shaved skull of his. But that was all right. Let him believe fire was nothing but evil. Then let him meet Ty Lee as she truly was.
I'll give you a dark mirror, little Avatar. Will you see? Or will you try to break it?
Best to be prepared if he did turn to violence. She would not lose Ty Lee to an arrogant little idiot-
"You encountered some difficulty in your return."
Damn. How could she have forgotten one of the first rules of survival? Never, ever get so caught up in your own concerns that you ignored Father. "I did," Azula stated, marshalling her thoughts. "It was interesting. None of my crew had ever encountered an isonade before." She allowed herself a smirk. "Then again, I doubt the isonade ever met blasting jelly before. And it won't have a second chance to improve its tactics."
"Blasting jelly."
Two words, and she wanted to cower on the floor. The very neutrality of his tone was a slap in the face. Fire was the superior element; firebending, the ultimate combat art. Well enough for ordinary soldiers to rely on tanks and drills and inventions. One of Sozin's line should be above all that. "There wasn't time for subtle measures. I had to save my ship-"
"Never," Ozai's voice knifed across hers, "did I think to hear Shidan's words from my own daughter's lips."
He knows.
It froze the marrow of her bones. She couldn't move. Couldn't think. Mai, Ty Lee, her agents - they'd never have betrayed Shidan's presence. They were far too smart to think they could escape her revenge. It had to be her crew. Hadn't she proved with Zuko time and again that low-ranked seamen were a weak point, willing to bend to anyone of higher rank? They'd talked, no doubt of it-
Breathe.
Breath was fire. Breath was control. And control was everything.
So Father knows. Move accordingly.
Easy to think. Almost impossible to do. Shidan had come for her because he'd known she was dying. Because he wanted her to live. He'd healed her. How could she say she'd just let a healing bender walk away? Not out of gratitude, no, Father would never stand for that... but she doubted he'd like the real reason any better.
He risked his life for me. Like I did for Ty Lee. I risked my life, it doesn't make sense-
Only when Shidan's blades and fire had defended her, it did. There was something more than loyalty and vicious self-interest that moved people. Something she didn't have words for. Yet. But it was bright and sharp and demanding, like the skill that flung Mai's blades. And she wanted it.
It wasn't like firebending, or anything else she'd mastered by years of honing innate talent into perfection. It was different. Hard.
But Shidan had challenged her. He'd stood in her own cabin, knowing her strength, and challenged her inner fire. Blocking her with that brightness, that flexed and taunted and could not be destroyed, any more than she could shatter moonlight on water.
"Learn, granddaughter. And remember. We fought the sea itself, and lived. Not because we are stronger, or more cunning! Because we are.
"When our ancestors marveled at the flames, Agni saw the spark within us. He saw we lived, as fire lives; we spark and burn and die, as earth and air and water can never do. And so he chose us, and twinned that spark with his own. And in our ears he whispered, 'Be.'
"You are a firebender. Within you, you nurture Agni's spark. How fiercely you burn! But fire is only half your strength. Find the spark that is human, granddaughter; that is dragon, that is life. Find that, and you will never be defeated. Even in death."
Find the spark, the strength within herself. Believe.
"He had information too sensitive to risk passing through ordinary channels," Azula found herself saying. She kept her voice even with an effort, and hoped it was as true as it felt. Father would know if she lied. Father always knew. "There's a volcano in the north of the Eastern Continent that's threatening to get cranky. Byakko plans to send firebenders to calm it down again. He wanted me to be sure this was no move against our empire's interests."
True. She knew it was true. But who had told her? When?
And why did seeking after the memory of those words bring only a touch of warm hands and razor edges, comforting as the knives that let her sleep?
A ripple in the fiery screen. "And you believed him."
If she hadn't been awake, those words would have jolted her alert. That statement had more thorns than an orchard of rose-orange trees. "If I recall, Mount Shirotora isn't due for another few centuries," Azula said plainly. "They can divert some of their benders elsewhere for a time without endangering our islands."
Sparks snapped in the flames. Azula refused to flinch, but sweat prickled down her spine.
"Shidan of Byakko would save our enemies, and you think he does not move against the empire?" Ozai's laugh was dark. "You have much to learn, Azula."
Of course she did. She was only fourteen. Old enough to defend her own honor, and the empire's, but not old enough to have read every scroll in the palace library. Cunning and intelligence took you far, but there was something to be said for the accumulated weight of her ancestors' viciousness.
Even so, she couldn't picture what she might be missing. "We have colonies on the northern edge of the continent," Azula observed. She'd been in Onsenzakura to capture Zuko and Iroh; the locals might not be as refined as citizens of the caldera, but they were loyal. "They expect us to handle such perils, or warn them in time to evacuate." She stared through the flames, face a calm mask over unease. "It would need to be a significant tactical advantage to counterbalance those losses."
This time, the silence felt smug.
This is wrong.
Honestly, why should she care if the northern colonies died? If their dying served a purpose for the empire, a useful purpose that would crush their enemies forever - it might be worth it. But to let Fire Nation citizens be wiped out by a volcano? Lords ruled because they bent fire; because they were Agni's children. Peasants gave loyalty because those lords had the power to protect them.
Allow our own people to die by fire, and everything we have built will be shattered.
Surely her father had considered this. There must be a greater goal. An ultimate strategy that would give the Fire Nation ascendance over all others.
Calm. You know the game. "I would be honored to have the benefit of your intentions, Father."
"You would be, indeed."
Just the slightest curl of disdain to his lips, audible in his tone. Azula cringed inside, as if a stone door had slammed on her fingertips. That was no. That was fool. That was you are not and never will be worthy-
What did I do, Father? What have I ever done to make you doubt me?
"Did you never wonder how Byakko found you?"
And everything in that question screamed of trap. But for who? "He's a spy," Azula shrugged. "That's what he does. I expect Mai will be even more useful, having had the chance to observe his methods."
Useful, to be sure. But to whose side? Mai had made it clear she would neither forgive nor forget Azula's manipulations in her relationship with Zuko. But.
"You're his sister," Mai had said, while they struggled to keep their ship from taking on water. "He wants you to survive this war. And he's got a plan. You'd like it. Some of it's vicious enough even for you.
"I'm here to help Zuko, and Ty Lee, and you. Because they care about you. And Shidan cares. He's a lot scarier than he lets the Fire Lord think. Trust me."
Interesting to have that confirmed now, by what Fire Lord Ozai was not saying. No sneers of Byakko's powerlessness. No contempt for a clan that held as much stiff-necked independence as it did only through luck and a water volcano's whims.
He's not saying anything, Azula realized. He wants me to talk. To tell him what I know.
And he hadn't mentioned Makoto at all.
Impossible. If he knows about Shidan from my crew, he has to know a dragon attacked us. A dragon! When they're all supposed to be dead!
Unless Shidan was right, and Ozai hadn't learned of Grandfather's presence from her crew at all.
No. It can't be. Father wouldn't lie. Not to me.
But he wasn't lying, was he? Not mentioning Makoto wasn't lying about her. Just as not mentioning Mai's heritage hadn't been lying to Zuko.
Father would never treat me like Zuko. He wouldn't!
Two options. Either her father was allied with Makoto, or he wasn't. On the face of it, wasn't seemed far more likely. Sozin's line had slaughtered dragons. Even Uncle Iroh. And Makoto had tried to kill her. Her father would never allow that.
...But she knew what she'd heard, six years ago. She knew.
I was a child then. Not nearly as useful. I am now, I took Ba Sing Se - I am the worthy heir!
An heir who'd only survived by earth and air and forbidden healing. Her life was balanced on a knife's edge, especially now that she'd delivered her warning of the Avatar-
Ice trickled down her spine. Nawahime claimed to be our spy.
And the first rule of spies was, never use information that could be tracked to only one source.
He wasn't surprised that the Avatar might be alive. He wasn't furious. He wasn't disdainful. He wasn't surprised.
She'd been used. A plausible source of information, to cover what Makoto had provided.
She let us get away!
The room was flashing red and black; Azula made herself breathe normally. Yes, Ty Lee had surprised Makoto on the beach. Yes, shards of stone had dealt serious damage to those wings. But dragons bent fire, breathed fire. And there had been no firebenders left on that beach to fight her.
That bitch!
The Fire Lord's heir, used as a stalking ostrich-horse to cover a dragon's trail. She'd never felt so angry.
Makoto used me for her own gains... and to hunt Shidan.
And that, Azula found, she could not forgive. There was no reason to kill Shidan. He'd been ordered never to approach the Fire Lord, or the palace; he was no threat to Sozin's line. He'd always acted, would always act, to protect Byakko. And Byakko was the last guard of the west; the farthest point to cry justice to Agni before the sun sank into the sea. Beyond their island was only untamed ocean, and they stood against the sea's power like their mountain itself.
Only a fool quenches the flame that guards him. I will not be threatened by fools!
Yet the Fire Lord was no fool.
He's still waiting.
Still silent. Not a whisper, not a crackle of flame to hint to her what Fire Lord Ozai wished to hear. She would be walking blind through a maze, praying with each word not to plunge to her doom.
So be it.
Words arrayed like Mai's hidden blades, Azula began.
...Sweat, dripping along her collarbone and spine, turning formal armor clammy and torturous with salt. Azula willed the discomfort out of her mind, stalking toward her chambers, a smile on her lips that made passing servants cringe.
One more corridor. Just one more.
She wasn't even certain, now, just what she'd said. Some plausible weave of Shidan's network observing messenger-hawks, engine speeds, winds, and currents, and from that calculating that if a message had come in here, the ship itself must be found in a specific area of there...
She'd dropped a significant hint that security in the naval yards needed tightening in the midst of that. After all, if the speed of imperial vessels was widely known - well.
A good stroke. It may have salvaged everything. One more door...
Ty Lee was on her almost before the door was decorously closed, babbling a pink mile a minute as Mai efficiently got her out of clothes and armor and into a broiling-hot bath.
Cold. I was so cold.
"Who do we need to maim?" Mai said bluntly.
Azula blinked, relieved to see her own hideout knives had been carefully placed in reach on the tub's little ledge. "No one. At the moment." Her eyes narrowed. "Why?"
Choose your words, Mai. You know we're being watched.
"I come from an ambitious clan," Mai said levelly. "It's good to be of service to our people. Where's anywhere better to work?"
...Oh, lovely. That was truly lovely. Almost poetic. Every word the strict truth. Azula had to smirk.
She wouldn't have dared say that to me before.
Which was actually... interesting. Loyal servants were valuable. But someone who wasn't loyal, yet wasn't actually an enemy; who had goals that ran in parallel, but weren't the same - it kept her alert. Kept her focused.
And if what she suspected was true, they were going to need all her focus to survive.
He won't let Makoto move against me. Not now. Not until after the eclipse, when the Avatar has been crushed.
But once Aang was in hand...
Calm. Control. And ignore the little whimper that wanted to climb the back of her throat, that looked at her father and wanted to beg why?
Why doesn't matter. Makoto wants me dead, and she's working with Father, and I...
I will not end up like Zuko.
There was one way to be sure. One piece of information she could learn, that would tell her once and for all if she was secure as the heir, or if she might be... expendable.
Sozin was over eighty when Azulon was born. Azulon was in his sixties when Father was.
Fact. And fact. She'd be a fool not to consider the possibility.
"I know it's been some time since either of you were in the city," Azula said casually, meeting gray and gold gazes. "But I was wondering. Have you heard any interesting gossip? Especially about... oh, gifts of cash. And silk."
Who's getting married? Who's negotiating it?
Put that together with a visit to the Dragonbone Catacombs, to check the Sages' records of family alliances, and she'd know.
You can't put Mother aside. You can't!
Ursa was banished. Ursa was legally dead. He very well could. She hadn't succeeded as heir this long by ignoring the facts.
"Could be fun." Mai tapped black-painted nails against a blade, scanning the bathroom walls for any alterations that might hide listening holes. "Can you balance on a clothesline?"
"Sometimes," Ty Lee nodded, obviously considering it. "Even if the line's not supported, there should be buckets and racks I can use. Good idea!"
"Clotheslines?" Azula said doubtfully.
"Ask questions while Ty Lee's putting on an act, they never know what they said later," Mai said plainly. "And if you want to know something... delicate..." A shrug. "You'd be amazed what laundry can say."
Azula stared.
Mai's hand moved, miming flat and silky.
Oh. Sheets. That was... um. More than she'd wanted to know. Eww.
You're the heir. Do what you must to survive. "Creative," Azula acknowledged. "We're going to need to be very creative in the next few weeks, ladies. Our nation needs us to be very, very useful."
A subtle warning. But from Mai's stillness and Ty Lee's nibbled lip, clear enough.
If we're not useful, we'll be dead. If Father thinks I'm not useful anymore...
Well. He was going to be wrong. One way, or another.
"Useless," Sokka muttered, knowing it would be lost in the thump of earth, the splash of water, the dying crackle of flames. "Way to let a guy pitch in."
Dispirited, he walked away from the bending slamming around the meteor, eyeing tiny licks of flame Aang and the girls hadn't gotten to yet. Weird. You'd think dry grass would burn like tinder.
It was burning; just, not the raging fire he'd expect in this crazy nation. More of a crawling crackle through the stems, leaf after dry leaf casually catching and flaming, rhythmic as Gran-Gran working hair off a hide-
"Fire and steel, boy! Just what do those young fools think they're doing?"
...It was a very manly eep. He'd swear that to anybody. Here he'd been thinking of Gran-Gran, and-
Well, she wasn't Gran-Gran. A little too tall and pale. Wrinkles not quite in the same places. And Gran-Gran would never have worn red and gold, or pulled her hair back with a red flame ornament. Or had the hilt of a sword peeking over her shoulder.
Okay. So he was staring. She had to be a grandmother; maybe even somebody's great-grandmother, she looked that old. And she was armed. It kind of made the world go sideways.
"Well?" She prodded his shoulder, just above the Fire Nation's weird armbands. "Speak up, cub. Water and earth, bending here? If the authorities catch you, you'll be up a frozen mountain with no sun, won't you?"
Gold. She's got gold on her robe hems. "Aren't... you the authorities?" Sokka managed.
"Heh. Heh heh heh..." Fists on her hips, she laughed, loud and clear as a talking drum. "So the cub has eyes. And can use them." She smirked at him. "Still waiting for my answer, boy."
What were they doing? Wasn't it obvious? "They're putting the fire out."
"In summer?" She looked as if he'd just offered her a rancid fish. "Why?"
"Um, town over that way?" Sokka pointed. "Night, nobody up, grr, fire, argh?"
"It's summer," the old swordswoman said dryly. "If you think their fire towers aren't manned, especially at night, you haven't been in the islands long enough. And if you think putting a summer fire out solves anything..." She narrowed her eyes at his friends, and drew in a breath that filled ancient lungs. "Stop that now."
Water splashed to the ground as Aang and Katara stared. Toph let earth fall with a thump.
"Well. Manners enough to listen, at least." A wizened finger pointed at Toph. "You, earth-girl. Put that turf back, and mind you get it roots-side down. A grass fire's harmless, but if we start a ground fire, Shu Jing will skewer us all. And rightly so." Another jab. "You, waterbenders. Make yourselves useful and soak the roots before she lays them back. A spark underground can linger for weeks before it flares to the surface again, and I'm not going to be the one to impart that joyful news to the fire-watch-"
"Sokka, get away from her!" Toph stomped up a wall of earth between him and the white-haired woman. "She doesn't have a heartbeat!"
Say what?
"Clever girl."
Sokka backed away behind the dirt shield, watching what had seemed to be a stubborn old lady... fade.
Translucent now, the woman shook her head. "You still need to tend that turf, girl. I'm but a ghost, wandering where I loved. Let a ground fire begin, and you'll wake far darker things than I could ever be." She spread empty hands. "This was my domain once. I would not see it harmed."
"Spirits can lie," Aang flung at her.
"Spirits, yes," the swordswoman said dryly. "I am a ghost, little waterbender. Your teacher should have taught you the difference."
A ghost. Sokka felt the hairs on the back of his neck going straight up. Spirits were spirits, and you never knew quite what they'd do, or why. Ghosts? They'd been people once. And, well - people could be downright evil.
"Um." Aang pulled out his sure I know what I'm doing, trust me smile. "I wouldn't say Master Pakku told us all about ghosts..."
Oh great, Sokka realized, heart sinking. He didn't listen to a word of it.
"You have Sokka's name," Katara broke in, swallowing hard. "Give us yours."
"One, for four to use?" The ghost looked almost amused. "Not a fair trade, little water-child."
"Sokka's name, and we do what you said to stop this... ground fire," Katara offered. "We'll trust you that far."
"Ah; now those are fairer words." The ghost nodded, satisfied. "In life, I was called Temul." She pointed toward a particular patch of turf. "Douse that one first. I can feel the spark in it."
Katara flicked water up from the ground, soaking it into the spot with a flattening wave of her hand. "Is it out?"
Gold eyes half-closed, and the ghost nodded. Toph frowned, but flipped turf back where it'd come from.
"You're just going to do what she wants?" Aang grumbled, waving up his own globe of water.
"She's someone's ancestor spirit," Katara said seriously. "Remember what Master Pakku said. We wouldn't see her if it wasn't important."
Sokka gave Temul a look askance, remembering awkward moments on a beach with somebody's hands fisted in his tunic. "I thought proper ancestor spirits showed up in family temples."
"Oho, been listening to the Fire Lord's propaganda, have you?" Temul smirked. "Think about it, young one. Not everyone is rich enough to have a temple, are they? So if the only living souls who can gain counsel from the dead are nobles... well." A sweep of her hand, toward the horizon. "It's so much easier to tell lies."
"The whole war is a lie!" Aang protested. "How can people not know?"
"Now that, little waterbender, is a long story." Temul nodded toward the ground. "Earth first. Perhaps we'll have explanations after." She chuckled darkly. "And if you think I lie, consider this. I'm dead. There's very little left the Fire Sages can do to me." A sharp smile. "They're not about to disturb Sozin's ashes so he can kill me twice."
Sokka stopped in his tracks. "You... Fire Lord Sozin?"
"As I said-"
"Long story, got it," Sokka sighed. "What the heck is a ground fire, anyway?"
Drifting along as the others damped and righted turf, Temul arched a white brow. "What does it sound like?"
"It can't be what it sounds like," Sokka argued. "There's ice in the... um." He looked down into one of Toph's deeper holes. "I keep forgetting you guys don't have ice down there."
"You must come from very near the poles," Temul mused. "So you've never seen grass fire. All you have on the taiga are crown fires. No wonder you're fearful of the flames."
"Hey, last time I checked? Stuff burning down, generally bad," Sokka shot back.
"Then come and watch. Come," she nodded to the others, as Toph snugged down one last soggy square of turf. "Let me show you life in the midst of fire."
Yeah, right, Sokka thought skeptically, one eye on the fires burning merrily closer to town fields as Temul drifted toward a darker forest. If anybody's in those watch towers, they better get moving...
Fire climbed a low bank at the fields' edge, and stopped.
Say what?
Katara stared through the night. Reached out, like feeling at a fur. "There's water behind that hill!"
"That hill's not a hill," Toph stated, head lifted in surprise. "People made that."
"So amazed, young ones? Did you think because we cannot bend it, we cannot use it?" Temul tched. "We are all Agni's children, gifted with fire or not. These islands are our home. We know them; fire, earth, sea, and sky. Especially the sky." Her gaze grew distant; the air seemed to ripple with heat. "Death comes as summer dies. Those who cannot read autumn's storms may lose more than their own lives."
Autumn, for airbenders. From the horrified look on Aang's face, Sokka knew things were about to go downhill fast. Quick, think, do something- "How does anything stay alive in the middle of that?" Sokka blurted, pointing at flowing flames.
Attention flicking back to him, Temul held a finger to her lips. Crouched down, and stepped noiselessly forward, pointing to black mounds where the fire had already burned through.
Funny looking black mounds, Sokka realized, as all of them tried to sneak closer. Two large ones, with a bunch of smaller ones so close they looked like chicks nestling up to an arctic hen-
Out of the black, fluffy yellow peeked out. "Peep?"
"Quack!"
"Turtle-ducks!" Aang pounced, handing Katara a squirming, yellow-fuzzed turtle-duckling with a soot-stained shell. "Why'd you let the fire go here? They could have been hurt!"
"Quack!"
"Hey! I just want Katara to see - ow! Quit it!"
Avatar mobbed by turtle-ducks. Sokka tried not to snicker. Really.
"They're not hurt." Katara rubbed a fluffy head with her fingertip, then put flailing webbed feet down. "Here you go, little mother... just look. They're not hurt at all." Her eyes were wide. "But we saw the fire!"
"A grass fire." Temul watched the little flock waddle off toward the hill, and the water beyond. "They burn fast, low, and cold. No, no; don't believe me. Put your hands on the ground and feel." She nodded toward Toph. "Or ask the one walking barefoot in the ashes."
Sokka gulped. They'd walked right after a fire, and Toph hadn't complained...
Biting his lip, he touched sooty ground.
Hot.
But just hot. Like stone in the summer sun. Not searing-hot like a wood fire, or even boiling-hot like cookpot water. Just hot.
"It's not wise for humans to walk into a grass fire. We're not as sturdy as turtle-ducks." Temul smiled wryly. "Watch the fire. See how it moves. What it likes. It won't eat rock or water. Even a patch of raked sand can turn it aside." She gestured at the fields and town. "Had that meteor not struck, Shu Jing would have set a burn in only a few weeks. Every year, this land burns; every summer, smaller fires stave off the larger. That is the duty of Shu Jing's lord, and he sees to it well."
"Wouldn't it be better if it didn't burn at all?" Aang said skeptically. "I mean, traditions are good, but..." Temul's eyes narrowed, and he gulped. "Okay, sure, you're right-"
"Do you think the grass is dead?" The ghost sounded honestly curious.
"Um... smoke? Ashes? All black?" Aang pointed out.
Toph dug her toes in, the open edges of her shoes shushing on ash. "Feels like some pretty long roots down there."
"So there are," Temul agreed. "Soon there will be rain. New growth will sprout like emerald flames, for all that lives here to feed upon. And because the wiregrass has burned, it will flower, and set seed." She gave Aang a stern look. "Without fire, the wiregrass dies."
Aang looked like he really wanted to sit down, if he could just find a spot without ashes. "But... trees," he insisted. "The Hei Bai forest - the Fire Nation burned it down! It was awful!"
"What kind of forest?" Temul rested her hands on her hips, as if she had all eternity to wait for the answer.
"What kind?" Aang echoed. "How could anybody tell? They were all black and smoking!"
"Not a woodworker, are you?" Temul gave him a dark look. "I thought all children of the Water Tribes touched wood to see if there might be a shipwright in them."
"Oaks," Katara said quickly. "They were oaks, mostly. Remember the acorns?"
Sokka rubbed his head, and scowled. "How could I forget?"
"Hardwood forest." Temul looked grim. "Steel and fang, what do they teach young idiot firebenders these days... that was a foul deed. Hardwoods rarely burn. And like your taiga, when they do, it's crown fires. I lived over two centuries, and I can count on one hand the number of those forests I've seen burn."
Two centuries? Sokka's jaw dropped. No way!
"You're Temul of Shu Jing!" Toph's shoulders tensed; Sokka felt the ground twitch under them. "You knew Avatar Kyoshi!"
"That I did." Air itself seemed to catch fire over her shoulders, burning blue and lethal as Azula's flames. "Why do you seek news of a murdering Avatar?"
"She wasn't a murderer!" Aang protested. "I mean, Chin the Conqueror died, but if he hadn't been so dumb, he wouldn't have just stood there-"
"I did not see Chin the Conqueror fall." Temul's voice was ice. "See the storm tear the ocean over your village, waterbender. Feel the waves carry you out to sea! Fight to swim, to live, for day upon hopeless day. And when all is lost, when the ocean seeks to swallow you whole - then, hope there is a net to save you, as I was saved, flung by the dragons who loved us!" Azure fires flared and crackled, burning in a black darker than night. "Then, you may speak to me of murder." Folding her arms, she began to fade.
"Wait," Sokka called out hastily. "Please."
Faint as mist, she growled at him. "You try my patience, cub."
"You're a firebender," Sokka quipped, dragging out pages of symbols copied from sand. "You guys are never patient." Got it. "You're a noble, right? You read High Court?" He gulped at her look. "Please? We need help. If Sozin killed you - we're trying to fix things."
Something seemed to move in the darkness behind her, like a storm of wings. "You never asked why Sozin slew me."
...Eep.
"The Painted Lady gave us this message." Aang stepped up beside him. "Do you believe her?"
"Her mark on two of you grants you safer passage than you know." Temul's gaze rested on Aang. "She may believe in you. But Jang Hui has been without hope a long time. Shu Jing is stronger than that." Delicate as fog, she touched the paper. "I have no wish to trespass on favors she has granted."
"You're not going to help?" Aang flung down his hands, obviously not bending. "We're trying to do what's right!"
"A proper citizen of the Fire Nation, even the most boorish lout raised in the colonies," Temul stated dryly, "would know that spirit-matters should be taken to his loyal lord for advice and aid. For lords have strength to face the spirits that even a skilled firebender may not."
"Earth and water," Toph pointed out. "We don't have lords."
"So you do not. But you, girl." Temul leveled a stare at Katara, glittering gold. "You carry a vendetta, do you not?"
"I- that doesn't-" Looking at Aang, Katara shook her head. "I won't use that. Zuko meant it to hurt us."
"When the infection is deadly, Agni's knife must cut deep." Temul's gaze never wavered. "Did you think you carried only ink and paper? The prince's blood marks what is yours by right. Every spirit in this land knows whose gift you bear." She lifted a pale brow. "And every lord knows it is his duty to assist one on vendetta in her search. Piandao of Shu Jing is a true lord, honorable and just." She stepped back. "Seek him, or not, as you will."
Sokka blinked. The night was empty.
"Can we trust her?"
Sokka did a double-take. Aang, not sure about somebody? "I thought you could hear when somebody lied."
"When they're talking, yeah. It's in the air." Aang looked a little white around the eyes. "But - you know how Toph said she didn't have a heartbeat?"
The earthbender shivered. "Freaky."
"Yeah." Aang gulped. "She wasn't breathing, either."
Sokka traded a glance with his sister. Camp and get warm, Katara mouthed at him.
Good idea. The hairs on the back of his neck had been standing so long, their feet were starting to hurt.
But Aang needed an answer. They all did, or nobody was going to get any sleep tonight.
Trust a ghost? Don't trust one? Dad, I wish you were here, I don't know-
Oh. So obvious.
"I think," Sokka said, "we need to find out why Temul died."
A/N: Yes, "fire ice" really does exist. Check out methane clathrate on Wikipedia. Canon put natural gas deposits right on the edge of a continent at the Northern Air Temple? Then fire ice would be there, in Real Life!
I have my reasons for the Sanskrit. (Wow, people figured that out fast!) One of them being, well... look up Agni in Wikipedia. Very interesting entry - especially as lightning is recognized as one of his offspring. Please don't take anything non-English in this story as linguistically accurate. I do my best, but I'm no language expert, only an amateur who loves playing with words.
About Aang denying responsibility for Kyoshi's actions - true, in canon, in "Avatar Day" he went all-out to clear Kyoshi's name. (And found out she was guilty - by Chin Village's definition of guilt - anyway. Heh.) However, in this fic, Sokka and several other people (Iroh, Yangchen, others) have since pointed out that Aang is not the same person as Kyoshi. Or Roku. Or Kuruk. And so on. The Avatar Spirit reincarnates, yes. But the human who is the Avatar is different, every time.
The Painted Lady, and Agni, don't hold Aang responsible for Kyoshi's actions. They do hold the Avatar Spirit responsible, as Kyoshi had to use that to set up the Fire Lord in the first place. Each Avatar is responsible for what they choose to do with the power they command. Agni's beef with the Avatar Spirit goes back many, many thousands of years. Agni's beef with Aang is a straight line back to the North Pole and Koizilla.
Also take into account the fact that Agni's beef with the Avatar may have more than one source. In mythology, spirits associated with fire are often treated warily by humans and other Powers, with good cause. The other three elements are. But fire doesn't exist without consuming something else. So when the spirit of the world incarnates as a human, putting human values on what a spirit does (as Yangchen all but said was the purpose of the Avatar, in the whole spirit world quest Aang went on after he was hit by lightning), then that incarnation is dealing with three apparently "friendly" elements... and one that has to eat other things to exist.
In a situation like that, if there's a dispute, who looks like the guilty party?
By the way, spirit of fire versus spirit of the whole world? Just who do people think holds the upper hand in that one?
