Before the Order finished their journey to Ba Sing Se, Master Piandao pulled Yun aside.

"Are you ready," he asked, his voice firm.

"Yes, Master," Yun said, willing her voice not to tremble. In all honesty, she did not feel ready. She still felt as helpless as she did during the siege of the North Pole. All of her insecurities were coming back to her.

Master Piandao's eyes narrowed. Yun gulped, feeling that she was being sized up. He then unsheathed his sword. Stepping back quickly, Yun's hands hovered over her sheathed daggers at her hips.

"Draw them," Master Piandao said. "Draw them, and prove you are ready."

It was another test. Yun unsheathed her daggers, tossing her sheath out of the way. For the first time, Master Piandao didn't say anything. As soon as she held her daggers, he rushed at her, not even allowing her to take her stance. Yun hesitated for a second before rolling to the side to avoid getting run through. Just as she got up from her roll, Master Piandao struck downwards. Yun's knees buckled as she held off the attack with a cross of her daggers.

"Why so hesitant," Master Piandao challenged. "If you hesitate in front of an ally, what will you do in front of a foe? Battle is not the time for hesitation." With that, he backed off for a second, readying his stance. This gave Yun a little time to get herself into a stance as well. She began to look for openings. Fighting with Zuko had given her a little more experience with battling with swords. She would have to be aggressive. Master Piandao was right. Now as not the time for hesitation.

With that, she shot forward, swinging her knife in an arc. This was easily blocked by Master Piandao, but what was unexpected was the kick in the chest that followed, sending Master Piandao stumbling back. Yun followed this up with a downward stab with the dagger in her left hand. Before it could connect, Master Piandao used his free hand to push Yun away. The blow hit Yun right in the solar plexus, knocking the breath out of her. Yun flew back a few feet and ended up on her back.

Wheezing, she got back up just in time to roll out of the way of another attack. Getting up and whipping around, she backflipped out of the way of another swing of the sword. Yun ducked down and ran in, both daggers near her left side where the sword might strike her. Dodging a series of swings and strikes, Yun backed up. Shaking any remaining hesitation from her mind, she went down on both hands and kicked on foot out, unbalancing Master Piando. Quickly transferring back to her feet, Yun swung her right dagger towards Master Piandao's throat, quickly followed by her left one. Master Piandao rolled back, and the momentum from the swing left Yun with her back to him. She could feel the sword coming at her, and she stepped to the side and turned, trapping Master Piandao's sword between her two daggers.

Twisting and pulling up with her left hand as hard as possible, Yun managed to pull the sword out of Master Piandao's hand. With a smooth motion, Yun set a single dagger under Master Piandao's chin.

"Surrender," Yun panted. With a slight smile, Master Piandao raised both of his hands in surrender.

"You are ready," he said.

"You went easy on me," Yun grumped. Master Piandao chuckled before visibly gathering himself.

"War is a difficult thing Yun, and you will be in the midst of it," he said. "You have proved you are ready, but unfortunately, war is never something one is fully ready for. And now you are without your friends. How will you fare?"

Yun stopped and thought for a moment. The leftover adrenaline from the fight with Master Piandao was fading, but with it leaving came a sense of purpose. Yun felt ready to fight, to prove herself. Yun was no longer that eight year old girl running from the Southern Islands, and she was no longer the bystander that she was during the siege of the North Pole. No, she was the daughter of the village chief of the largest village in the Southern Islands. She was sister to Katara, and Sokka, and friend of the Avatar. She was a waterbender, a friend, a dagger-wielder. Yun was a survivor, and she was done running.

"I'm ready, Master Piandao. I will fight with honor and pride, and I will prove myself worthy," she vowed. Master Piandao nodded and handed Yun a Pai Sho tile. Turning it in her hand, Yun recognized the white lotus carved into the tile.

"Ask me about it after the battle is won," he said.

Yun waited in front of the innermost wall of Ba Sing Se, looking at the airships passing overhead. She stood with a group behind the main members of the White Lotus: King Bumi, Pakku, Master Piandao, Jeong jeong, and General Iroh. What used to be part of a flourishing city full of green grass and orderly paths was barren, just brown earth left in its place. Ba Sing Se's beauty was destroyed under a legacy of hate. Yun prayed that she was strong enough to help bring it back to its original glory. She thought of her beautiful home in the Southern Islands, before so full of lush plant-life and creatures. In the six years she had been gone, she wondered if the plants had managed to break through the scorched earth, if the animals managed to find their way home. Did her people manage to return to their village? Did her parents? Yun shook her head to clear herself of such thoughts. They weren't the thoughts that should be brought into battle. Clenching her shaking hands into fists, she took a deep breath and waited for the battle to start.

Jolting, Yun steadied herself on the earthen block she was on as it quickly moved towards the last wall of Ba Sing Se. She watched as General Iroh blasted the wall away, eyes wide in awe. She knew that the comet aided firebenders, but one needed a certain amount of initial strength in order to do that.

As soon as the White Lotus was deposited within the gates, Yun began running. According to the plan, the main White Lotus Members would each be responsible for a quadrant of the city, in charge of quelling the soldiers and tanks in that area. The Order agreed that deaths should be minimized. After all, while not entirely blameless, Fire Nation soldiers were following orders. While taking care of Fire Nation soldiers in her path, Yun kept this in mind. However, she did not hold back, not minding breaking bones or knocking soldiers out to keep them out of her way. Following Master Piandao, she and a few other members of the White Lotus arrived in the Northeast Quadrant.

Strategically, they went down street by street, clearing the area if Fire Nation soldiers. Yun refrained from forming her dragon, knowing the wide area would require that she reserve energy where she could. Instead, she mostly utilized water whips, batting soldiers into buildings or beating them onto the ground. Instead of worrying as she usually did, Yun's mind didn't wander. Instead, she stayed focused, taking care of what was in front of her.

When she encountered a street with rows upon rows of tanks about to fire upon her, Yun prepared to throw up a water sphere to absorb the fire power about to head her way, but then she heard screaming. There were two children behind her on the street, their clothes threadbare and feet naked. They were clutching each other, trembling in fear while looking at the approaching tanks.

Without thinking, Yun threw out a dragon to circle around them and another which overturned the first row of tanks. Running towards the children, she grabbed both of them and ran. Bursting into an empty house, she set them down on. They were crying heaving sobs, terrified out of their minds.

Yun wiped off their tears.

"You need to stay here," she told them. "Stay here, and I will come back for you. Do you understand?"
"Please don't leave us," one of them blubbered, snot dripping down his nose. He was breathing so fast, Yun was worried he would pass out.

"I have to. I need to help my friends and the Avatar-,"

"You are helping the Avatar," the other boy asked, his eyes wide. "That means you are helping us take back Ba Sing Se."

"Yes, which means you have to stay here, so I can do that," Yun said.

"The orphanage wasn't cleared out when the Fire Nation Soldiers came in," the same boy continued. "We came from there to get help." Yun nodded.

"You guys stay here, and I will get help. Where is it," Yun asked.

"It's a big square building," the first one explained. He had stopped crying, but was occasionally hiccuping.

"Go two streets down that way, and you can't miss it. It's the biggest building in the area," the second boy said, pointing in the direction of the palace.

"Okay, stay here and stay quiet. I promise I will come back for you." With that, Yun ran out into the chaos once more.

Running past unconscious Fire Nation Soldiers and a few injured White Lotus members, Yun saw a big square building . . . that's currently on fire. Heart beating, Yun pulled water from her skins and doused as much of the building as she could. Running inside, she saw the first floor was empty. However, childish cries and yelling from the second floor told her that the building isn't totally evacuated. Running, she hears bulk of the noise in one room. She tried the door and found it locked. Growling in frustration, she kicked open the door. Immediately, terrified screams greeted her. The first thing she saw was a trembling boy standing in front of a group of small children. His arms were splayed wide as if he could hide all of them with his small body. His body is shaking, but his face is angry, daring.

"If you wanna hurt 'em, you gotta get through me," he yelled.

"I'm here to get you out," Yun tried to explain.

"Take us away," one of the small children shrieked in fear.

"No, to safety," Yun gritted out. From the increasing heat, there were fires in the building that Yun hadn't put out, and they were growing.

"How can we trust you," the boy said. Yun assumed he was the makeshift leader of the group.

"I was sent by two boys to help you guys," she said quickly, hoping to get the children out of the building.

"What were their names?"
"I don't know. One was tall, and the other was crying, okay? We need to get out of here, unless you want to stay in a burning building," Yun said.

"I'm not going anywhere with Fire Nation," the boy said, crossing his arms. Yun almost rolled her eyes. Did she look like a firebender? She formed a small water whip and flicked the boy on the forehead with it.

"I'm a waterbender. Now can we go?" That seemed to appease the lot of them, and they made their way to the stairs. Just as they were about to leave, the boy in charge gasped.

"My photo," he cried out, about to head back. Just as he did so, a wooden beam from the ceiling fell, right on top of the waiting children. Yun grabbed the boy and left backward, and used the water tentacles to push the other children far away from the burning building.

"Li," the other children called frantically. Yun could hear their panic from the other side of the wreck. The ceiling had collapsed right in front of the doorway, and fire was closing in behind them.

Li was unconscious, and the smoke made it hard for Yun to breathe. Putting a hand in front of Li's nose and mouth so that he could avoid the smog, Yun looked at her options. The building was made of concrete, really thick concrete, and the windows were really high up. Yun's only option was to blast through the wooden mess. The only issue was that she was already short of breath, and she wasn't sure that she could blast through the wreck and pull Li out.

"No hesitation," she thought, before pulling her remaining water out. Forming a dragon, she willed it to clear a path for her, and then she let it go. It zoomed forward, tail still connected to her palm and the water source. It weaved and swerved, bucking all the while. It then wrapped its body around the wooden beams, squeezing it much like the Serpent had done to the Fire Nation ship so long ago. When the dragon released, all that was left of the wreck was many, many splinters.

Throwing Li over her shoulder, Yun dragged Li out of the building. As she took a breath of fresh air, the children crowded her.

"Woah, was that a dragon?"
"That was amazing, miss!"
"Is Li alright?"

Yun was already feeling unwell, and the crowding wasn't helping. Pushing past the children she went to the side and promptly threw up.

"Ewwwww," the children said. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and turning around shakily, Yun glared at them. They all quailed. Then Yun heard a boom and remembered that there were children in the middle of a war zone.

"We have to get out of here," she said.

"You want us to go out there," one of the kids said fearfully.

"It's safer further away from the palace. I'll bring you to your friends, and I won't let you get hurt. I promise."

With that promise, Yun set off to the same house she left the two other boys. Sneaking around soldiers when she could, she finally got the children to where she had left the two other boys. She didn't walk them inside the house but did check their surroundings again to make sure the house was safe. Indeed, with dwindling numbers, the Fire Nation troops had slowly been retreating to the palace.

"I'll see you when we've won the war." With that, she turned and returned to the fight. Thoroughly out of water, Yun unsheathed her daggers. She wouldn't be able to take care of tanks anymore, but soldiers were fair game. Bending was useless without fast reflexes to back them up. Master Piandao told her that many times. She could beat these soldiers without her bending. Yun shook off her dizziness and ran back towards the palace.

Dodging broken tanks and unconscious soldiers, Yun ran as fast as she could. Ahead of her, she saw a street lit up by blasts of fire. White Lotus members advanced in a line, pushing the firebenders back. While they were advancing, Yun caught notice of a lone figure approaching the White Lotus member's backs. Pushing her legs to carry her faster, Yun saw the glowing of the soldier's palms. Knowing she wouldn't reach in time, she threw her dagger, puncturing the gap between the helmet and the armor. The soldier fell in a heap, unnoticed by the White Lotus members which had subdued the rest of the street.

Yun approached the figure, trembling hands pulling the knife out. There was just silence; the soldier had died immediately. Trembling hands removed the helmet. His face was cold and pale in death, blood rushing out of the wound. Shaking her head, Yun forced herself to look away, pushing away feelings of guilt and terror. There shouldn't be guilt for killing a coward. Gritting her teeth, she approached the White Lotus members.

"Does anyone have any extra water left," she asked. The members looked amongst each other before a kindly looking woman stepped forward. Her wrinkled hands pushed a water skin towards Yun.

"It's half a skin of water. Use it wisely," she said, her voice strong. Yun nodded before continuing towards the palace, going ahead of the group.

The palace grew bigger as Yun cleared more streets. She confined herself to the shadows, sending out a small water dragon to knock out soldiers one by one. She drew it out and withdrew it again and again. Progress was slow, but Yun knew she couldn't confront the soldiers head on without the risk of passing out. As she cleared more streets, Yun saw the amount of soldiers thinning out. They were probably all at the palace by now. Running towards the palace without the cover of shadows, Yun was not prepared for a sharp pull at the back of her head. The force pulled her to the ground, sending the air out of her lungs.

Gasping, she scrambled up, face to face with a mountain of a man. He was by himself, but the look in his eyes was dangerous. Yun had seen that look in cornered wild animals. Backing up, she withdrew her daggers.

"So, a little girl's been taking out my soldiers, huh?"

"Yeah, and she's going to take you out too," Yun grit out. He just laughed and sent out a fire blast. Jumping to the side, Yun threw a dagger at the soldier, before running towards him, the other dagger outstretched. If she reached him fast enough, she could end it before bending was involved.

What she wasn't prepared for was the backhand that followed, sending her flying backward and sent the dagger out of her hand. Yun landed on her back, rolling and narrowly dodging a fire blast. She whimpered; she was just so tired. And she was by herself. And she barely had any water left. She was just so tired. She wanted to stay down.

However, then she remembered her master and his last test. She remembered her resolve. There was a war, and it was her duty to help win it. She couldn't fight six years ago, but she was different now. Rolling out of the way of another fireblast, Yun leapt up. She couldn't afford to fail now.

Drawing the last of her water into her hands, she took a deep breath. She had to finish this quickly.

"Ready for it to end, little girl," the soldier taunted, hands glowing again.

"Yeah," Yun replied honestly, before leaping forward, willing the last of her strength into her legs. She went down, sweeping the man. With his heavy fall, she clambered to where his face was and forced the water up his nose and mouth. With wide eyes, the man began to struggle. He lashed out, a hand connecting with Yun's leg. A silent scream blocked her throat as she felt the scorching heat from the flame come in contact with her leg. Still she kept the water where it was. After what seemed like eternity, the man's eyes rolled back. Yun released the water, adrenaline pumping through her veins. She couldn't feel her leg, and she didn't care to look at it either. Yun put a shaky hand on the soldier's neck. Still alive.

Pulling herself to her feet, Yun dragged herself over to where she saw her daggers lying. Picking up one then the other, she looked at their sharp edges and then back to the fainted Fire nation soldier. One quick push through the throat, and he would never hurt anyone again. No Earth Kingdom civilian, no waterbender, no Southern Islander. She limped over the soldier's prone body, her burnt leg being dragged along. Collapsing next to the soldier, Yun raised a dagger with two trembling hands. Taking a deep breath, she brought the dagger down.

But she couldn't, her dagger hovering over his vulnerable throat. She couldn't take another life. He was down. He couldn't hurt anyone. Yun couldn't do it. She just couldn't. Sobbing in frustration, she broke down, cursing herself. Why couldn't she do it? What had she worked so hard for, trained so hard for, if not for this moment? She then heard the sound of a horn. The White Lotus Flag had been raised high at the palace.

Astonishment took over. Yun sheathed her dagger and looked closer. The sign of surrender. Yun struggled to her feet, limping to it. One last look towards the soldier, and Yun wiped her eyes. They had won. It was time for a new era of peace. And Yun looked forward to it.

Yun limped towards the palace, her heart full of hope.