Half awake, Katara brushed something off her face. The weight of it gave her a jolt of adrenaline and she shot up. Squeezing her throat to choke off a scream, she watched the fat, bulbous body of the net-casting mantis scurry away. Roughly the size of a man's fist, these creatures were known to hunt small birds and one another. It wasn't the type of thing Katara wanted to find on her person, or anywhere near her at all.
She missed the airship. She missed Appa. At this point, she even missed being back at the temple.
As she tried to calm down, Katara tugged again at the red bands around her wrists. Rani had gifted them to her before she and Riku left the island. They were woven in the design of the infinite knot and held a small silver medallion with a strange symbol etched on its face. Over the course of that day, nearly three days ago now, the stiffness in her body slackened. Her bending was still inaccessible, but at least now she felt comfortable in her own skin.
The trip was only supposed to last three days. The airship trip would take two, with a stop in the middle to refuel. Then, once they reached Ba Sing Se, they would camp outside of the Outer Ring to await the train that would take them into the city-kingdom.
While packing at the temple, Riku made sure to go over their camping supplies. For one night planned sleeping out, Katara teased her on it but she was insistent. In case the train was delayed, or if there was bad weather.
Now, Katara knew Riku had been planning for this from the start.
The acolytes had ferried the pair of them in the middle of the night back to the mainland. There, they were wrapped up in orange robes and shoved onto a cargo airship. Riku had prepared their story; that Katara was a patient and needed to be attended at the hospital in Ba Sing Se. It was the same ruse the acolytes had used at the chemist shop in Republic City earlier in the day to secure more of Riku's medications.
The first night was spent huddled near the front of the ship while the other crates and materials were loaded on. Katara had looked over some curiously in case she saw the rice bag from Thuy's ship that she had used as a bed. Riku must have had the same thought as she watched the crew warily.
They kept to themselves during the day, eating quietly with the crew when it was offered. Most of the trip, they were idle. There were only very small windows in the hold, but Katara pressed her face to the glass to see the world pass underneath. Like a map, Katara could overlay the living landscape with the ink drawn boundaries. Following the line of mountains and forests, she saw the stronghold where Aang had been captured while she and Sokka were ill.
Zuko had saved him, for whatever reason. Wearing the blue spirit mask from his mother's collection, he freed the Avatar from Zhao's tightening grasp. Aang was saved, and she and Sokka were healed from their fever.
In the evening, they passed over the peaks of where the herbalist had kept her home. Aang had remarked about the woman, finding her strange. She had a cat that was only a cat.
In the air, they slept on the only seats available; the crew offering it up to the ill and sacred women.
The next day, Riku was anxious. She checked and repacked their bags multiple times, muttering to herself and snapping when Katara tried to help.
When they landed, they ate dinner. Riku swallowed as much food as she could, urging Katara to do the same.
That night, while the ship was quiet and the only sounds were of people shoveling coal, Riku shook her awake.
"We have to go." She whispered sharply.
"What? What do you mean? What's happened?" Katara slurred, feeling sleep swirl around her head.
"One of the crew is a dock worker in Republic City. He saw us get off the ship. Some of the cargo is Thuy's." Riku replied, looking furtively back toward the ship.
"Are you sure? Riku, it might just be nerves." Katara said, still sitting up and stretching.
"I heard him talking to the captain. He said we weren't on Thuy's manifest and now we're not supposed to be on this one. They're getting suspicious."
"They're still our best way of getting to Ba Sing Se. We can leave once we land."
"They sent a falcon Katara."
Katara went completely still.
They left then, only taking the time to change out of the acolyte robes. Riku insisted on keeping them, since they would be useful in keeping bugs away from their skin.
A sea sat between the mountains and the arid landscape that housed the rings of Ba Sing Se. It was where the air currents swirled, leaving the north and western sides wet and muggy while the southern bowl was dry and hot.
The Great Divide was on the south-west bank. The Serpent's Pass was on the south-east.
They were in a forest on a peninsula in the north.
The airship was two days behind them now and on another peninsula. The grassland there was dense and made for very happy grazing. Vast herds moved through the area and where shipped on wide, flat shipping boats on three sides to various farms or slaughterhouses.
Riku had gotten them hired by a shepherd whose son had broken a leg in the fields. They worked hard, keeping the bovids from falling behind and shooing away the large biting insects. The thin acolyte robes tore easily and they tied the strips over the noses and mouths to keep the bugs out, as Riku had said.
Moving east, they got on the most dangerous looking raft Katara had ever seen. She wondered how it would even float with the bovids on it and was stunned by how low it bobbed in the water.
The air moved dangerously above them, but the river brought ice water down from the mountains and kept a cool head south. The animals were forced to a resting position with a canvas stretched over them- both to keep them dry and to secure them. The adults were at the sides, using long heavy poles to push against the riverbed and propel them across.
At the other bank, Katara rested and watched as other people untied the animals. Her arms and back sore, as she assumed were Riku's. Yet Riku stood haggling with the shepherd over their pay. When the transaction was completed, she walked over and gestured to Katara. Then, with their packs back on, they entered the forest.
Riku kept them moving but Katara just felt lost.
Appa had made quick work of their travels and Sokka was the hunter. Now on her own feet, and without her bending, Katara spent most of her energy simply trying not to complain. The net-throwing mantis was the last straw.
"Riku." She snapped, crawling over to Riku's sleeping bag and shoving at her shoulder.
"Wake up." Katara hissed.
Riku rolled over and opened her eyes, somehow looking fully awake.
"What." She stated. A prompt, not a question.
"There was a spider." Katara said and Riku snorted.
"Good. It probably kept the worse bugs away." She replied and sat up, pushing the sleeping bag off her body.
"When are we getting out of these woods?" Katara questioned. Riku set about remaking the fire, igniting it easily with her bending.
"Soon, with any luck. But then we have another river to cross." She said and started to dig out the last of their rations from the bottom of her pack.
There had been a time when Azula had chased them over miles in small tanks. Katara remembered the sleepless nights, their insane plan, and how Azula had split her party on lizard mounts to continue her pursuit regardless. She had looked clean, neat, and precise when they did meet.
Now, they were both, once again, filthy. In a cargo hold or among smelly animals, they were soon caked in a layer of filth. Both of them now had longer hair, their nails were torn away, and their clothes were permanently stained. Even the purple of Katara's skin was subdued under the constant reapplication of grime.
Riku did not complain. She moved them forward, taking opportunistic moments to hunt while Katara gathered the plant life and clean water she knew about. They were barely not starving but Riku seemed confident about their direction.
It had been almost three weeks since she escaped the palace. Three weeks with her brother and friends trapped in a drugged haze. It was too much to bear.
"It's going to rain." Katara said dejectedly, as she looked up to the sky. The trees were not as dense here as the more tropical parts of the world and she could still see patches. The clouds were low and heavy.
"That will set us back." Riku muttered, half to herself. She handed Katara some of the meat they had smoked yesterday and they both chewed silently. There was a rumble of thunder in the distance and Riku sighed.
"Why is it so bad if the Fire Lord marries the Earth Kingdom princess? Isn't that what everyone wants?" She asked.
The sound of thunder was closer now and a sudden breeze smelled like rain. Their fire shivered and popped.
"There's been a lot of talk. A lot of people have been looking to use marriage as a way to settle things. Mostly, the world wants there to be peace in the Fire Nation. Zuko marrying Xianji would do the opposite." Katara answered honestly.
"What husband are you running away from? The Avatar?" Riku questioned.
Katara sighed heavily and picked apart her share of meat.
"The prince in the North Pole." She answered.
Riku frowned and Katara watched her closely.
"There was a princess, I remember. Yuka or something."
"Yue."
"There was no prince."
"She." Katara paused, looking up again. The moon was up there, behind the clouds. She would be almost full again.
"The Fire Nation attacked and she died." Katara said lamely. Riku continued to frown but took another bite.
"You're from the South Pole right?" She asked. Katara nodded.
"My father is the head chief now." She replied.
"So you're a princess."
"No." Katara said quickly. "I'm not. I'm a waterbending master."
"Are you though?"
"Oh go take a dive A-" Katara stopped abruptly and Riku stared at her.
"So that's it." She stated. Katara flushed and shrank back.
"What?" She asked.
"I used to be someone else." Riku said.
Katara's throat dried and she struggled as she tried to swallow her dried breakfast.
"My parents argue from time to time, about my mother going into the forest. After all, everyone in Hira'a knows that something happens to the people who go into the forest. They don't come back, but sometimes the forest sends them someone else instead.
"My father came out of the forest after a man named Ikem went in. My mother came out of the forest randomly, but my father took her as his wife very quickly. A lost one, he said. They had been separated in the forest.
"I apparently was a lost one too. And it was after the Fire Lord came to the village and fought with some woman. Some woman who attacked my mother." Riku said.
"Riku." Katara started but had no idea what to say.
"Was I her?" Riku asked. "Was I the Fire Lord's sister?"
Katara stared back at her. She remembered the day Chang died, taking the hit meant for Noriko. It made her suddenly furious and Katara could feel her blood pounding through her body making her swell.
Ursa had been selfish. Katara struggled over the thought, especially after what Zuko had told her. To spare her son, Ursa had murdered Azulon and fled. She ran home, re-met the love of her life, and willingly went to the Mother-of-Faces to have her past removed. A face and her memories, traded to be safe and happy.
Ozai had sent a Yuan archer after her. Zuko had learned that during his many midnight visits to the prison. He once believed that his mother was murdered, buried in an unmarked grave in a foreign place.
All the while, Noriko lived happy and dumb with a new family. Noren kept the truth from her about the children she had committed high treason for; the ones she sought to protect from the ones closest to them. For the rest of his life, he may have let her live cut off from that choice.
Which made the choice meaningless, as Zuko was burned soon after and Azula was tortured. She gave up everything, lost nothing, and gained a new loving family while her last one was left in tatters without her.
How would things have changed if she had gone anywhere else? If she had done anything else?
If she had simply killed a different member of the royal family?
Now, after it was safe, Noriko was trying to get her memories back. To be a mother to her children again. Zuko had to be the one to convince her to keep her face, sparing Kiyi a trauma of her own.
Riku was offered the same, to be ignorant and happy. But she wanted the truth, knowing that something was out there for her and whether bad or good, she wanted to know.
It would destroy her.
"No." Katara said. "Azula was killed in the fight. Zuko had gone back to see his mother's village with her, trying to reconnect with her. She attacked him and he killed her."
"Then who was I?" Riku demanded, clearly not believing her.
The square had emptied when the fight entered the village. No one had seen what had happened and only knew of the outcome. A woman was dead and wrapped in a sheet. Azula had escaped them in the woods before the fight and they took her back to the lake after. No one would know which was which.
"You were her friend. One of the few actually. You worked in the palace." Katara said. "You went into the forest because of her death, and the Fire Lord feels guilty."
"So who is my mother?" Riku asked, her voice trembling. Thunder crashed overhead and Katara finally looked away.
"Noriko is your mother. She made a choice and Zuko has accepted it." She replied.
"She wanted his sister but took me instead." Riku said softly. Rain exploded from the clouds, soaking them and washing away the flames of their fire. Silently and quickly, they packed their things, moving for efficiency over speed. This was a downpour and everything would be wet in a matter of moments, packed or not.
"Is that why I hate him?" Riku asked as they started to walk.
"I don't really know." Katara answered. "But if you hate him-"
"Why am I doing this?" Riku forced a short laugh and wiped her hair from her face. "Because I want him to leave me and my family alone."
Conversation stopped as the rain tumbled through the levels on leaves above them. After speeding toward them, Katara waited to find the edge of the storm. The rain itself wasn't wholly unpleasant; the drops were heavy but warm, yet Katara was uncomfortable as her skin absorbed all the moisture. Her fingers swelled and looked identical to seaprunes. The purple helped a lot with that.
Worse, as they walked in the path the storm had already hit, the ground was a sucking mess. As Katara stopped to free her shoe from a mud hole, she was tempted to leave it. Riku warned her against it.
"You'll need to cover yourself when the rain ends." She stated.
When they did escape the clouds, Katara very quickly understood. The heat of the area created a blooming of fat flies. A cloud of birds crashed with a different thunder, but none would swoop down for a feast while the two of them were walking about. So they had to deal with the flies on their own.
The flies meant they had to tie the strips from their robes around their noses and mouths. After traveling for miles in the rain, the airy fabric was completely waterlogged. Katara felt like she was trying to breathe underwater. Which, as she remembered, was not an ideal experience.
But to even gasp above or below the wrap would immediately suck in a biting fly.
After walking for hours in the heavy humidity, half drowning and soaked to the bone, the wind shifted. The breeze was warm, but cut through so sharply that Katara shivered. Both of them quickly lowered their makeshift masks as the flies were buffeted away.
"Do you smell that?" Riku asked. It took Katara a moment, not being able to discern any scent over the fact that she was finally breathing clear air.
"Smoke." Katara announced. Her body jolted forward but she stopped herself as Riku looked forward, her eyes narrowed.
"It's probably keeping away the bugs, so I doubt they're trying to hide." She said. Katara nodded and tugged her mask down around her neck.
"Honestly, I doubt anyone is going to think of looking for us here." She replied.
"You bring an unbelievable level of statistical disruption with you." Riku countered. When she looked over, Katara only shrugged. It was about time she started to accept some things in her life if she was going to stave off insanity.
"Worst case scenario is that we stumble on the Earth Kingdom princess herself. Best case is I will have found out where the Avatar disappeared to, again." Katara added.
"We could use a fire." Riku said and they started off again.
The wind kept up as the storm left the area. It was clean till the threads of smoke tangled together. A heavy, acrid smoke, Katara figured the smell of it would keep a lot of things away. Unfortunately for whomever had drawn it, a fly-free fire was exactly what Katara wanted more than anything.
So it was very odd when the smell of smoke got stronger, but they never saw a flame.
"Why haven't we seen anything?" Katara asked.
Riku stiffened and Katara chilled with instant dread. Wordless, and without glancing at the other, they both took off in the direction of the smoke. The ground beneath them was firm, but the muck that covered her made Katara slip in her boots. Roots jostled over each other as the trees towered over everything, threatening to trip them without even knowing creatures were crawling over the earth. But Katara kept running, gulping air into her shallow, burning lungs.
The smoke got stronger.
"There." Riku pointed and they turned a bit. A clearing shimmered behind tree trunks like a mirage. Yet all at once they burst through the treeline and stopped.
A village was burning.
Barreling forward, Riku raced onward while Katara blinked at the sight. It was a small village, made up of only a few huts. A lumberyard stood off to the side, looking like an unfinished project with the completed homes scattered behind it. The fire had spread over everything.
Now Katara was running, her mind blank as she ignored the reality of the situation. Without her bending, she would be useless. But she had to move forward, she had to do something.
Riku ran straight through a wall of flame and Katara swore, diverting off to find a clear space to enter. There was no sound save for the roar of a hungry fire. Heavy beams popped and groaned, but nothing had collapsed yet.
This was new.
Perhaps the villagers had fled.
"Help!"
Katara shivered as she found a clear space between buildings. A voice, thin and grated, pierced the smoke and flame. Running to it, Katara saw the sagging roof and swore again.
"Help!" The call came again. Bracing herself, Katara ran to the door, bashing it open with her shoulder.
Three figures lay on the bare earth floor. Blood pooling from the wounds on their throats.
"Help!" The voice was further in the hut and Katara ignored the bodies. The heat was oppressive; the fire had been thrown onto the hut and the inside baked like an oven. With that and the increasing smoke, Katara struggled to breathe.
As she entered the smaller, secondary room, Katara's eyes watered from the acrid smoke. It was a bedroom, with three futons still unfolded on the floor. There was no one here.
"Help!"
Katara turned and saw the small trunk. Falling in front of it, her fingers scrambled over the thin leather straps. Ripping them open, Katara tossed back the lid and stared at the small boy.
His bright green eyes were wide and wet.
Scooping him up, Katara pushed his head into her shoulder as she ran back into the main room. The roof of the hut screamed.
The main beam hit with a sickening thud as it landed behind her while the burning thatch rained down on her back.
Making it out of the hut, Katara looked around wildly for a safe space. The huts had been erected without a design, but there was a vague suggestion of a center square. Running over, Katara stumbled and fell to her knees, nearly dropping the child in her arms.
"Riku!" Katara screamed.
There was only fire.
"RIKU!" She screamed again.
There was a blast and a hut exploded outward. A figure ran from it toward the square.
"I found a child." Katara said as Riku got closer.
"Everyone else is dead." She replied. Katara said nothing but fell onto the ground, cradling the boy as she sat awkwardly. Riku looked down at him and her nose flared.
"We need to find out what happened." She said. Turning away, Katara watched as Riku walked calmly to the middle of the square.
Riku stood for a moment, her arms held limp down her sides. Then she slowly raised them, pressing her palms together above her head before bringing her hands down her front. Her feet slid, her arms moved to mirror her legs, and she readied herself.
The Firebenders could move like dancers.
From her stationary position, Riku suddenly spun herself. Her legs twirled and fire spun out to meet them. As she landed on a hand, Riku swept her legs out and the rope of fire followed. Like a leash, it hooked onto every torched hut and dragged them along. Pushing herself up, Riku twisted in the air till she was vertical. She pulled the fire toward her, using it to lift her up into the sky till she spun in a column of writhing flame.
The fire had to go somewhere.
Riku was barely visible now in the center of the inferno, but Katara watched her sink like a diver in reverse. When she reached the ground, Riku lifted the column of fire and shoved it upward.
Katara had only seen fire like that during Sozin's Comet. Azula and Zuko had fought with massive walls of fire during their agni kai. Swaths of land were torched as easily as Katara could snap a blanket over a bed.
But this was wildfire, and Riku's bending was not being enhanced.
The fire dissipated and Katara saw Riku lying on the ground, unmoving.
The boy in her arms struggled to breathe. He had inhaled too much of the poisonous smoke.
And Katara couldn't bend.
She released the boy, placing him gently on the ground.
"What's your name love?" Katara asked. The boy coughed violently, his body curling around his chest. With no water, she could only wait out the fit.
"Li Jie." He answered.
"What happened here Li Jie?" Katara asked.
"A witch came. For the relic." Li Jie struggled to speak. His lungs which had been so desperate now rejected the clean air.
"What relic?"
"I don't know." Li Jie started to cry and Katara held his hand. "She said it was Kyoshi's. But we don't have it."
His sobbing turned into coughs and Katara placed her hand on his chest. His hammering heart was exposed and Katara yanked her arm away. The pain still came; a pressure that threatened to burst her body. Her wrists were taut, making her hands cold.
There was water in blood. And there was plenty of blood around them.
Her own pulse surged, begging her to release the pressure. The pain was unbearable and Katara pulled viciously at her bonds. One red band came loose and Katara could feel the call she had longed for so long.
Li Jei stiffened.
Mucus clogged his lungs and his blood thinned from the lack of oxygen. She could feel it. But more, Katara could feel just how small his heart was.
There was nothing good that could come from this. Bloodbending was never going to save him.
Grabbing the red band, Katara clasped it onto her wrist. Squeezing it around, Katara shuffled forward on her knees while Li Jei's body went limp. Pressing her forehead to his, Katara wept while she felt his heart slowly fade away.
With the last beat, the pressure in Katara's body slackened. Sitting back, she lifted Li Jei into her lap and began to gently brush the hair back from his face.
He was so young.
Lifting her head, Katara looked around. The charred remains of the village smoked, and the breeze sent the gray clouds dancing. So it took a moment for her to see the person standing at the other side of the square.
Katara was reverent as she rested Li Jei on the ground. Standing, Katara stared at the figure.
Sunlight glinted on something metal, just about where the person's hands might be. The glint lifted and Katara barely had time to react when she heard the familiar, ear piercing scream of an incoming explosion. She could only shift, but the explosion hit far behind her.
A Combustionbender.
Katara ran toward them, her free hand flexing. Swinging with it, a rope of blood swung out and swiped at the figure. They dodge, leaping up with incredibly dexterity.
Another scream and the ground in front of Katara exploded. Dirt and rocks sprayed her, but the blood only moved from her wounds and down her left arm.
Recalling her whip, the blood wrapped around her arm as it formed a gauntlet. Turning in a circle, Katara used her momentum to propel a rapid series of stakes out in an arc.
More glinting as the stakes shattered against something metal.
A larger explosion hit further in front of Katara and made her pause to shield herself. More debris hit her upraised arms and when she lowered them, the figure was gone.
Katara released the blood. Looking down, she saw how her entire left arm was now a deep purple. The poison blocked her waterbending and thrived in her blood. She could feel the pressure in her chest and didn't need to look to know it had spread over her breast. Idly, Katara wondered if it would kill her when it reached her heart.
"We need to go." Riku said.
Katara nodded, then turned as she felt Riku grab her hand. Numbly, she watched as Riku tied the red band around Katara's wrist.
"You can't slip. Both of us can't be insane." Riku stated.
Katara said nothing.
She could only think of Li Jei's shining green eyes.