Chapter 50: Another Field Trip

Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC.


"You look terrible." Katara remarks bitterly, lightly leaping over Zuko as she leaves her tent and rummages through her bag.

Standing up, Zuko rubs his eyes and says, "I waited out here all night."

"What do you want?" Katara bluntly asks, running a comb through her hair.

"I know who killed your Mother. Liling and I are going to help you find him."


I need to borrow Appa." Katara says, striding past Aang and proceeding to climb into Appa's saddle. Zuko and Liling trail behind her, each holding an overnight bag.

"Why? Is it your turn to take a little field trip with Zuko and Liling?" Aang asks, taking a break from shoveling hay into Appa's mouth.

"Yes, it is," Katara replies simply, giving no explanation as to why they are departing.

Surprised, Aang inquires, "Oh. What's going on?"

Her jaw clenching, Katara replies, "We're going to find the man who took my Mother from me."

"Sokka told Zuko and I the story of what happened. We know who did it. And we know how to find him." Liling explained, preparing to jump aboard Appa herself.

"Umm. . . and what exactly do you think this would accomplish?" Aang asks, fearing what Katara might tell him.

Shaking her head, Katara sighs. "I knew you wouldn't understand." She turns and begins to walk away.

"Wait, stop, I do understand. You're feeling unbelievable pain and rage. How do you think I felt about the sandbenders when they stole Appa? How do you think I felt about the Fire Nation when I found out what happened to my people?" Aang asks empathetically.

"She needs this, Aang. This is about getting closure and justice." Liling says suddenly.

"I don't think so. I think it's about getting revenge." Aang contradicted with a slight frown etching itself into his face.

"Fine!" Katara snaps. "Maybe it is. Maybe that's what I need. Maybe that's what he deserves."

"Katara, you sound like Jet." Aang points out, issuing a low blow.

"It's not the same. Jet attacked the innocent. This man, he's a monster." Katara retaliated, emphasizing the last word to get her point across.

"Katara, she was my Mother too. But I think Aang might be right." Sokka says after a moment, reaching a hand towards his sister.

"Then you didn't love her the way I did." Katara snapped, shrugging away from Sokka's touch.

"Katara. . ." Sokka trails off, speechless.

"The monks used to say that revenge is like a two-headed rat-viper. While you watch your enemy go down, you're being poisoned yourself." Aang says, producing some Iroh level advice.

"That's cute. But this isn't air temple pre-school. It's the real world." Zuko contradicted, shaking his head.

With a heavy sigh, Katara adds, "Now that I know he's out there, now that I know we could find him, I feel like I have no choice."

"Katara, you do have a choice. Forgiveness." Aang implored of her.

"That's the same as doing nothing." Zuko corrects him.

Shaking his head, Aang replies, "No it's not. It's easy to do nothing. But it's hard to forgive."

"It's not just hard, it's impossible." Katara turns and walks away.


"So you were just going to take Appa anyway?" Aang inquires suddenly, popping out from behind a rock, catching Katara in the act of climbing aboard his bison.

"Yes," she replies, unabashed.

"It's okay because I forgive you." At that, he gives a hopeful smile. "That give you any ideas?"

"Don't try to stop us," Katara says, clearly having been given no ideas as she, Zuko and Liling prepare to leave.

"I wasn't planning to. This is a journey you need to take. You need to face this man. But when you do, please don't choose revenge. Let your anger out and then let it go. Forgive him." Aang implores of her.

"Okay, we'll be sure to do that guru-goody-goody." Zuko sarcastically quips, throwing his bag up and over into the saddle.

"We'll be on our best behavior," Liling promises sarcastically, hoisting herself up after Zuko.

"Thanks for understanding Aang. Yip yip." Katara says, snapping the reins. Appa takes off, then, the field trip now began.


They'd only been flying for a few hours when they entered Fire Nation waters, their campsite having been conveniently closer to the Fire Nation than the Western Air Temple.

Looking over the edge of the saddle, Liling advised, "We need to find the Fire Navy communication tower. All the navy's movements are coordinated by messenger hawk. And every tower has to be up to date on where everyone is deployed."

"So once we find the communication tower, we bust in and take the information we need," Katara asked, eager for some revenge at long last.

Shaking her head, Liling quickly shot down the idea. "Not exactly. We need to be stealthy and make sure no one spots us. Otherwise, they'll warn The Southern Raiders. Long before we reach them."

They land on the rocky shore of one of the communication towers. Katara waterbends the water into a raft of ice and the trio jump on it. She then proceeds to surf the raft, creating a tall wave to bring the raft up to the tower, forming a makeshift bridge. The three of them jump off the raft and begin running down a corridor. Two guards walk out but they are able to sneak past them.

After running past the two guards, they find the room where the records are kept. Slinking inside, Zuko and Liling immediately head over to a certain section of the room and flip through scroll after scroll before finding the one they were looking for.

"Okay, Southern Raiders," Zuko says, unfurling a scroll onto a table. "There," he points, "On patrol near Whale Tail Island."

Her brow furrowing, Katara whispers almost ritualistically, "Whale Tail Island, here we come."


It was now daybreak and they were still a good distance away from their destination. Sliding over to where Katara sat, Zuko suggested, "You should get some rest. We'll be there in a few hours. You'll need all your strength."

"No, don't you worry about my strength. I have plenty. I'm not the helpless little girl I was when they came." Katara replies, rubbing at one of the bags under her eyes. "I ran as fast as I could. But, we were too late. When we got there, the man was gone. And so was she." she finishes, her voice crackling slightly near the end.

"Your Mother was a brave woman," Liling says quietly after a moment.

Unconsciously placing a hand on her necklace, Katara replies, "I know."

"There!" Zuko shouts suddenly, interrupting the sullen mood. The two girls turn to look at where he is pointing. "See those Sea Raven flags?" He throws the telescope to Katara to allow her to look through it. "It's The Southern Raiders."

Removing the telescope from her eye, Katara nods, saying, "Let's do this."

They dive into the water, Katara creating a bubble of air around the three of them and Appa all the while waterbending at the boat, doing as much damage as possible. Upon reaching the surface, she waterbends a stream of water, which coils around a passing guard. He gets pulled into the water with a scream. The other soldiers run to the side of the ship to look, however, Appa had submerged again, only to pop out just as quickly on the other side.

Katara waterbends two huge waves on both sides of the boat and sends them rocketing towards the ship. The soldiers get hit by the wave and are weightlessly tossed into the ocean. A lone soldier managed to stay on deck stands up by shakily holding the side of the ship. Appa lands noisily on the deck and the soldier turns back. Katara charges at him, tears in her eyes. The soldier firebends at her but is soon thrown overboard into the ocean by a tunnel of water.

The trio pushes through the two doors to exit the deck and rush into the corridor. Katara has bent water around her arms. A door opens and a soldier brandishing a sword pops out. Zuko grabs the soldier's arm and holds onto the sword as he pushes the soldier back into the storeroom. A second soldier emerges but rather than firebend at him, Liling simply grabs him by the arm and flips him onto his back, leaving him in a breathless daze as he hits the ground hard with a dull thump.

At the end of the corridor, Zuko turned to Katara and asked, "This is it, Katara. Are you ready to face him?"

Katara pulls down her mask, signaling she's ready. She turns on the spot and waterbends towards the door with a battle cry of both anguish and unbridled fury.

Water seeps through the sides and the door bursts open to reveal Katara. Zuko and Liling enter the room quickly to dissipate the flames issued by the assailant.

"Who are you?" the Captain asks, looking at each of the teens, not sure who to fear the most.

"You don't remember her? You will soon. Trust me." Liling tells him with a small smirk, placing her hands on her hips.

Zuko firebends again. The Captain moves to the side and breaks the flame. He proceeds to bend, his arm shaking uncontrollably.

"What?" he looks at his arm as it moves around wildly. He struggles and groans as he tries to contain it with his other arm. His arm drops to the floor and his body bends forward. His helmet falls off his head. "What's happening to me?" he shouts in pure, undisguised terror. He looks up to see Katara in a bloodbending stance, smiling. She brings down her arms and the Captain's body is brought to the floor.

Blinking to get over the shock of Katara's technique, Zuko bends down and orders, "Think back. Think back to your last raid on the Southern Water Tribe."

"I don't know what you're talking about. Please, I don't know!" the Captain cries, huddled on the floor.

"Don't lie! You look her in the eye and you tell me you don't remember what you did." Zuko screams, pointing a finger at Katara.

Katara brings her arms up, bringing the Captain up to his knees. He looks back at her, extremely frightened. Looking into his eyes, Katara's face softens before her eyes widen in shock. "It's not him. He's not the man."

"What? What do you mean he's not?" Liling splutters, denoting the Captain. "He's a leader of The Southern Raiders! He has to be the guy!"

Katara wordlessly turns and walks away. As the Captain struggles to his fee, Zuko pulls him by the arm and pushes him against the window in an arm lock. "If you're not the man we're looking for, who is?" he demands furiously.

"You must be looking for Yon Rha. He retired four years ago." the Captain quickly supplies.

Zuko lets the Captain go, then, and looks to Katara, wordlessly asking her what she wanted to do next. With a slight nod and a steely glint in her eyes, her mind was made up. They needed to find Yon Rha.