Avatar: The Tale of Harry, Book 4: Family

by stringdog

For 33 years, since the end of the Fire Utopia, the world has known peace and balance. Even the events 10 years prior did not threaten this. However, events are about to be set in motion that will bring the world to its knees in the coming years. Once again the world will need the Avatar to save it. Harry must step up once more but this time the threat is much closer to home.

12. Chapter 12

Here is the twelfth chapter in Book 4 around when I was hoping to get it out but still later than it should have been released. I am now only 2 chapters away from catching up (I should have released Chapter 14 by now) but alas while I may get within one if I can edit during my free time tomorrow I will likely fall behind again as the next few weeks fuck me hard in the real world but such is the nature of it. Anyway, that is all I have for now as there were no questions to address since the last chapter so sit back and enjoy the 12th chapter in the fourth installment of Avatar: The Tale of Harry. Book 4: Family.

Disclaimer : As always I own nothing related to these two great works of fiction.

Chapter 12

Crown Princess Dominique, heir to the Southern Throne, walked purposefully down the hallway to her father's Throne Room, a look of worry on her face. The 33-year-old Princess cut a striking figure as she approached the ornate doors to the room buried deep within the Southern Palace.

Pale skinned, lean, and beautiful, Dominique wore her long, bright red, hair in a tight braid down her back, interwoven with a dark blue ribbon and tied off with a flawless sapphire just above past the middle of her back. In addition, she had two loops of hair brought back from her braid and attached to the front of her hair with small bone clips just to either side of her middle parting in a similar fashion to the way Katara had done it.

Dominique wore the traditional uniform of a Southern soldier complete with two water skins, a boomerang and her own personal sword, a straight platinum blade handmade personally for her in Zaofu strapped to her back. In addition, she had numerous throwing knives on her person, a weapon she was almost as good with as the infamous Mai. The only things she hadn't done was wear the traditional warrior war paint or wolf helm as they were reserved solely for battle.

Though Dominique, as the Crown Princess, did not have an official position in the Southern Army or Navy, she would become its Commander-in-Chief upon her ascension to the throne. As such, she was treated as an officer and wore the uniform, trained with the whichever unit she felt like, and learned what she could in preparation for that day. She didn't have to; she had chosen to do so as a way to honor her heritage and prepare herself for her eventual reign.

Between her natural intelligence, waterbending skills, and exceptional training that included learning under the Avatar himself for a bit, Dominique was a force to be reckoned with. As with her counterparts Crown Princess Ursa in the Fire Nation and Crown Prince Altinak in the North, Dominique was raised to be a strong leader for her people and the world. After her sister's abdication 18 years ago rather than lose her bending, Dominique's training for her birthright had begun in earnest.

After graduating from the Elemental Academy third in her class, the Crown Princess had attended the Sokka Institute of Technology to get her degree in military history and international affairs. It was the top university in the Southern Water Tribe so it was expected of her to go there. After that she attended the Hakoda Collage of Warriors for her military training to gain the same training as her officers. In that time she had learned everything about international relations, leadership, war, military tactics, and diplomacy that the best and brightest could teach her.

This had intensified 7 years ago after the horrific crimes her cousin, best friend, and the military golden boy, James had committed. Avatar Harry, her uncle by marriage to her aunt Ginny, had come and trained her personally for a few years before leaving to return home to a quiet retirement.

The actions of James had shaken her to her core because of how close they were and how amazing he had been until that moment but she had used it to fuel her own drive to get better. She had to ensure that she never made the same mistakes as James and be the warrior her always known that she would be. His legacy was gone but hers wasn't and the best thing she could do was forge it into a lasting one of peace and balance.

Now, after all the years of training, Dominique was a confident and composed leader, ready for the day when she was called upon to take over the Southern Throne with the blessing of the Tribal Council, a formality in times of peace. It was a day that she hoped would be years away but now she had a bad feeling that that day was approaching earlier than expected. After the news she had just received, Dominique was worried, very worried.

In short order she reached the ice doors of the Throne Room, two elite guards standing outside who opened them without a word and closed them behind her as she walked into the grand chamber. Though the room was ceremonial and rarely used, it was still an impressive room and one that she always enjoyed being in. It was a testament to their history and how far the South had come since the end of the 100-year war so it always filled her with pride that she would one day join that long line of progress for the South.

The room wasn't as large as its counterpart in the North, no Throne Room was, but it was no less impressive. As was customary, the room was made entirely out of ice, the ceiling was held up by a collection of ornate ice pillars carved with intricate wave designs showing the various types of sea.

Alcoves ran along the sides of the room and were filled with statures made out of ice depicting the former Chiefs of the Southern Water Tribe, both the official ones since Chief Tonraq became the first Chief of an independent South, and the unofficial ones before him such as the Sokka and Hakoda, as well as statues of the greatest heroes of the south like her Uncle Ron. On day Dominique's statue would grace the room in one of the empty alcoves but only after she had earned the honor.

The Southern Throne itself was carved out of the ice wall at the far end, though covered in dark blue furs that the Chief himself hunted and skinned for this very purpose. Behind the throne and carved into the wall in impeccable detail was the symbol of the Southern Water Tribe. Her father, Chief William, the 4th Chief of the Southern Water Tribe, sat atop the throne waiting for her.

Dominique strode purposefully down the plush blue carpet the connected the door to the Throne, the only part of the room that wasn't ice. Though her grandfather Arthur, who had passed away 15 years ago, had seldom used this room, her father liked to use it for important meetings so that he could be surrounded by the history of the South when he needed to make decisions for the whole Tribe. What had happened today mandated the Throne Room.

With the Avatar in the North for the Summer Solstice, Bill and Dominique were set to join him in a day's but then they had heard about what had happened during the pre-solstice dinner Bill had called his daughter and heir to the Throne Room to discuss it before their trip. In the time since Dominique had more bad news for her father.

Bill had been Chief for 20 years, ever since his father's abdication while Dominique had been at the Elemental Academy, but he hadn't changed much from his early days. Tall and broad, his once glorious main of fiery red hair had turned strawberry blond as it had been lightening with age but was still thick and long with only a few adornments to keep it out of his eyes.

The scars that lined her father's face, the result of a run in with a violent bloodbender known as Fenrir the Werewolf during the Battle of the Elemental Academy still showed even after all these years as he watched her approach with a stoic expression on his face. The scars and his serious look, likely due to the news of what had happened in the North, only added to his gravity and aura of strength that made him the respected Chief that he was.

As with his daughter, Bill was wearing the traditional attire of a warrior of the South as he did everyday despite not being of fighting age anymore. Unlike Dominique though, Bill favored the traditional machete as his blade of choice and was an expert spearman with no equal on earth. Even now his trusty spear sat in a holder next to the Throne as a symbol of his authority. Bill was also an accomplished waterbender of near unmatched skill The only person in the family who surpassed him was his youngest brother Ron. Even in his early 70s Bill was feared fighter as any Chief of the Southern Water Tribe should be.

"Father, I come to you with bad news." Dominique said in her thick, educated, Southern Tribal accent as she knelt at her father's feet and bowed her head to her Chief. "Well even more bad news that we have already received."

"Rise my daughter, you do not need formalities when it is just us in here." Bill said and Dominique rose at her father's words. Normally she would hug her father but they had to keep up appearances and her news was too serious for such affections. "What news do you have for me that could be worse than last night's failed assignation attempt on Chief Sirius up in the North that wounded my Northern counterpart."

"Father, Ba Sing Se and Republic City have been attacked." Dominique said seriously in the tone she would use to give a report to a superior, which in essence was what she was doing. "All at roughly the same time it seems. In addition, there are reports of attacks at all 5 Air Temples and a failed strike at the Royal Palace in Royal Caldera City along with successful strikes across the Fire Nation."

"What!" Bill exclaimed shock evident in his voice even if he kept his facial expressions controlled. "Are you sure Dominique?"

"Yes dad, something bad is happening and its coordinated." Dominique said sadly finally dropping the formalities as she had passed on the news and was now just talking to her father as his daughter and heir. "We have been fooled, lulled into a false sense of security and then stabbed in the back when we least expected it. Whatever this was, it was under our radar the entire time and we are paying for it, dearly."

"What are the reports from the other nations?" Bill asked leaning forward. "What are their current status?"

"Ba Sing Se has fallen." Dominique said seriously, her composure returning for the moment. "The Earth King is confirmed dead and the city is under control of whatever group that took it, likely the whole Earth Kingdom is lost. If they are this organized to take Ba Sing Se then there is no way that they haven't taken more of the Kingdom. As of right now there is no contact with Republic City or the Southern Air Temple but it appears that the Fire Nation and Northern Air Temple are either safe or at least holding out. We don't know about the other Air Temples."

"Fuck." Bill swore his composure gone and not caring about it. "And our family? We are spread out to the corners of the world so it is always hard to keep track of them."

"We know that mom, Victoire and Louis are safe with Aunt Ginny in the North as they went there to prepare for the Solstice, Louis getting leave from the Air Nation Defense Force to join them." Dominique confirmed and saw her father visibly sigh in relief at that. "Fred and George spend most of their time in their mansions and those are more fortified then most Palaces with supplies to last a decade so they should be safe so long as they are there. Ron can handle his own and the kids know how to survive and will contact once they can. Only thing is that we haven't heard from Charlie or Percy and his family."

"Ya uncla per'y is good 'n' dead." A thick accent said joyfully from the door. "Our ally t'eir kill'd 'im a few days back so t'at she coul' be 'ere for t'is."

Dominique turned to gape at the entrance way though she was in a fighting stance on reflex at the sudden interruption. Standing there were 3 people, one of whom Dominique was surprised that she recognized. It was her cousin, Percy's nonbender daughter Molly, was standing next two people Dominique had never seen before.

Molly, named after their grandmother, was, like her namesake, a plump woman a year younger than Dominique. Molly was the only member of their family who was born a nonbender and Dominique had a feeling that it had deeply affected the woman as Molly had always seemed off around the rest of the family and had never taken to the warrior mentality of the South, or the rules orientated mentality of her father. Seeing her now and the hard look or pure hatred in her eyes at them unnerved Dominique, especially because she was wearing a tailored regal robe.

Still, as unnerving as Molly was, she had nothing on the other two people. They both radiated power and malice in a way that Dominique had never felt but she had a feeling her family had in the past when they had been faced with fanatics who were devoutly loyal to a madman or madwoman. This wasn't good but Dominique pushed down her feelings as she studied the two unknown people.

The one in the middle, the one who had spoken, was clearly a swampbender based on his accent and his tanned skin, black straw like hair and a wispy black beard. He was dressed in winter clothes to ward off the cold of the Southern Water Tribe but they were in the style of the Foggy Swamp. This was complete with a wooden breastplate that had a golden laurel wreath embossed on it, an intricated vine design in the center of the wreath. It was a symbol that Dominique had never seen before but was certain was important to whoever these people were.

Oddly, the swampbender was holding a pair of vines like whips that coiled around his arms and were moving on their own marking him as a skilled plantbender. In addition he had a crossbow and a quiver of bolts strapped to his back so someone who knew that bending wasn't everything and was prepared for when he couldn't bend.

The other person was a striking, slender. lightly tanned, fit woman with straight reddish-brown hair standing well over 6 feet tall. She wore a tight fitting but warm dark green winter outfit that showed off the woman's athletic form. She too wore breastplate but hers was translucent and that was as tight as everything else was on her. The only reason why Dominique knew she wore the thing was that it had a laurel wreath on it as well but nothing in the middle of it but a darker, clearly opaque, patch of the same material that Dominique thought might be glass.

This was because the woman was also controlling what looked like a swarm of glass shards hovering over her shoulders, some stained red, as if it was nothing. If Dominique's suspicions were correct, and she had a gut feeling that they were, then the woman was a glassbender, an exceptionally rare bending ability only slightly more common than lava or combustionbenders. It was the newest of all bending sub-arts, created by the Avatar himself during the Liberation of the Fire Nation, and required exceptional skill and power to master. This made her a formidable adversary.

Still, that unknown benders weren't the most disturbing part of the whole scene. No that was reserved for the fact that both benders were holding the severed head of one of the guards that had been outside when Dominique had arrived by the hair. They weren't here for a social call, that was for sure.

In unison they chucked the heads forward, splattering blood on the ice floor, as a troupe of dark blue outfitted soldiers with black helmets and chest plates bearing the same logo though with nothing in the center of them came running into the throne room from the corridor and flanked them. One of them, likely a leader of sorts, whispered to the swampbender as their backup formed up. It seemed to be good news as the man smiled at it and nodded to the man as he stepped forward.

"Looks like t'e South has fall'n." The swampbender said as the severed heads came to a stop on the ice and looked at Dominique and her father. "Ya council is dead, t'e military sub'erted, we control t'e Southern Water Tribe now."

"Who the fuck are you?" Bill said raising from his throne and walking to stand next to his daughter grabbing his spear in the process. "Molly, dear, why are you with these people?"

"You are sitting on my throne, uncle." Molly said simply in the formal tones that came from the upper classes of Ba Sing Se. "I am with these people because the Princeps promised me my birthright, rule over the South Pole as his Governor-General of the new Water Provence. As the only nonbender in the family, I deserved the Throne but it was unfairly denied me so I will take by force. All it meant was pledging my loyalty to the Princeps and his Global Principate, a fair price to pay in my book."

"The who?" Dominique asked, she'd hadn't heard of that person before. "Mustn't be an important guy seeing as this is first I'm learning of him."

"The Princeps is the new ruler of the world, the man who's vision of a truly united world under the rule of one man, the Princeps, will finally make the world what it should be, a truly balanced place." The glassbender said in a sultry voice that didn't quite cover the guttural tones of someone raised in the Lower Ring of Ba Sing Se. "We have pledged our eternal loyalty to him and his vision. Some, like Molly, have pledged to rule his new provinces as his representatives there. She has proven her loyalty to our cause and worth of her position. Others, like myself and Gupta here, are exceptionally powerful and skilled benders in the toughest and rarest arts who were personally recruited by the Princeps."

"And why would he want that?" Dominique asked stalling as she tried to come up with a plan. "Seems an odd choice."

"Because with our combined power under his leadership and wisdom we are unstoppable." The woman said with a sneer at Dominique. "We who bring our bending to the table are his Uniques. We serve the Princeps exclusively as his council, his advisers and his principal agents in ruling his Global Principate. We represent him when he is not present like now. Because of our importance we have been charged with leading the assaults on the key locations, the ones with the high valued targets like this one, well that and as a chance to take down fuckers like Prince Ron who have wronged us in the past. The Princeps desires Dominique be taken alive for some reason, but you old man, you are going to die today."

"Good luck with that cocksuckers." Bill said with a smirk as cracked his neck in preparation for battle. "Better fuckers than you have tried and failed to kill me and I'm still here. All of you against me and my daughter in an ice room, that ain't nearly enough to win."

"The arrogance of the benders in this family astounds me." Molly snarled with pure hate in her voice matching her eyes. "But then again what would I expect, y'all are always benders so when Percy produced a fucking squib it was a shame on the family. You fight for equality but when you have a squib you treat her like shit, you are all a bunch of fucking hypocrites. It's why I am glad I killed my father, and the rest of my immediate family, at the orders of the Princeps. It was a good riddance of scum from this world and it proved my loyalty to him and his cause."

"You, you killed Percy." Bill said stunned at this his guard momentarily down at that news. " Molly, why? I'm sorry if we had done something wrong but we can fix this as a family."

"No, we can't and besides I have a new family now, one who appreciates me and my own abilities and rights to this Throne." Molly said with a sadistic grin. "Gupta and Pocklington here are Uniques and they will take care of you before finishing the job and capturing Dominique, Ron and any other family members present. Say hi to dad for me, Uncle Bill."

"Wha…" Was the last thing Dominique ever heard her father say because at that moment, while he was distracted by Molly's words, Gupta dropped the vines, drew the crossbow and fired in one smooth, well-practiced, motion clearly done with talking.

The bow must have been a new prototype because before anyone could react, the speeding and heavy bolt slammed into and through Bill's chest, destroying his heart, and erupted out of his back to impale into the Southern Throne with a spray of blood. Bill's eyes went wide as the life left them; a look of shock frozen on his face at the sudden attack.

Her father's body hadn't even hit the floor before Dominique had reacted as she was already moving the moment she heard the bolt hit him. Years of training with the Southern Military had prepared her for such an eventuality, well that and an assassination attempt on her life that had been a deliberate trap to lure a hitwoman out and arrest her when she was younger, and allowed her to act without hesitation.

Dominique was going to attack first and deal with her emotions later when there was time to process them. Those would come, she was sure of it, but first she had to deal with these fuckers who had just murdered her father and then escape the Palace. She needed to get to the North and she had to survive to get there because right now Dominique needed the Avatar.

As Bill's body fell backwards, Dominique had already leapt forward. Before the intruders could get off another attack, she had slammed her palms onto the ice floor and created an ice wave similar to what an earthbender could do with earth only with ice, a trick the Avatar had taught her based of his own earthbending.

The rippling wave struck the attackers and threw them backwards while also creating an obstacle between her and them. They would be focused on protecting themselves and not attacker her for a moment and Dominique intended to use that moment to the fullest.

Raising her arms, she erected a thick wall of ice out of the floor between here and her attackers, slamming it into the ceiling with the force of her bending. It wouldn't hold them for long but it would for long enough. Dominique turned and sighed as she looked down at her father's lifeless body. His eyes were open and unseeing as the blue carpet darkened with his blood. Committing her father's final expression to memory so that she had motivation to avenge her father's murder, Chief Dominique grabbed her father's spear before she turned and ran.

After the Enlightened Coup in the Fire Nation, her grandfather had built a secret escape tunnel behind the throne that exited the back of the Palace just in case they were ever attacked the way Firelord Iroh had been. The tunnel led into the area where the animals were kept, including her polar bear dog, Veela so that they could use them to flee into the tundra where few could follow them. Unfortunately, because the entire family and the Avatar knew about the passage, Molly would tell them about it but Dominique wasn't going to make it easy for them to follow her.

Dominique punched the right place on the wall next to the Throne and shattered the ice inwards. As soon as Dominique was in the passage, she erected another wall to slow them down and ran. As the new Chief, a title that she would refuse to use until the South was freed, she created as many traps and barriers as she could in her wake. It was a tough piece of bending but one her Uncle Ron and her father had drilled into through years of training her just in case. She created pools of water, ice spike pits, columns and as many obstacles as she could on her way to the exit.

The exit, like the entrance, was covered with ice but it didn't stop Dominique. She punched it at full speed and exploded the ice, and herself, outwards. The force of her exit launched someone who had been guarding it several feet forwards in the special building for the animals at the back of the Palace. Dominique saw that the man was one of attackers based off his breastplate and ended him with a spike of ice to the face before he could get up and process her appearance.

"Here girl." Dominique called before whistling and her still saddled polar bear dog arrived, dragging the lifeless body of another attacker in her now bloody mouth.

"Good girl." Dominique added patting Veela's head as she leapt onto the animal and turned her to the exit. "Now go! We need to get to the Spirit Portal as fast as fucking possible!"

Veela barked, dropping her new chew toy, and ran. After Korra had successfully trained Naga, the first domestication of a polar bear dog in recorded history, it had become a fashion in the South for woman to tame the beasts for the same purpose. It turned out that only the females of the species could be trained and though they could be trained by men, they preferred a women's touch for some reason.

Whatever the case, Dominique had trained her companion from her early age, even bringing her to the Academy to continue that training, and now they were almost inseparable when together. In fact, Dominique had been riding on Veela earlier, doing a cursory patrol as part of her current assignments and to clear her head after the news of the attempt on Sirius's life, when she received the news from Ba Sing Se and the other attack sites. She had sent Veela to wait for her in the building and gone to her father, she left the saddle on for later and now she was glad she had done so.

Placing her father's spear in a special holder on the saddle to secure it while she rode, Dominique tore out of the building, Veela going at a full sprint. The Palace had been built so that it overlooked Harbor City, capital of the Southern Water Tribe, so unlike the other Palaces it wasn't in the center and that worked to Dominique's advantage today. It allowed her to run straight out of the back, along a winding path, and pop out on the tundra. The South Pole, where she could see the Spirit Portal, was in front of her but a long ways off. Of course, it wasn't going to be that easy.

As soon as she hit the open tundra, the snow falling around her, Dominique heard the roar of snow mobiles and cursed loudly over the sound of the wind whipping her in the face. Whoever this Princeps was, he had strong ties to the South because their military had fallen or been infiltrated similar to how the Enlightened had done to the Fire Nation all those years ago and was ready for someone to be here. They must have been patrolling behind the Palace while she had been with her father and were now convening on her.

They were going to pay for their attack. Veela could run as fast as the machines, though as an animal she would tire before the machines ran low on gas, so even with their head start they wouldn't out run them. Good, Dominique was looking for a fight and these fuckers weren't going to capture her.

"Run for the portal as fast as you can girl." Dominique said as she leaned forward in the saddle and whispered to her polar bear dog. "Mama is going to take care of these fuckwads. Whatever happens, don't stop."

Her companion barked in agreement and picked up her speed but keeping it at a level she could maintain for a while. Dominique removed her feet from the stirrups on the animal's saddle and gracefully turned around in it without falling out of it. Then, as quickly as she dared, Dominique got onto one knee in the center of the saddle before standing and facing the approaching machines, the wind whipping her hair about as she extended her arms to steady herself.

While Dominique had the skills to stand in the saddle like this she couldn't keep her balance and fight efficiently so she popped the corks in her water skins and used the water to freeze her legs to the saddle to secure her position. It would be cold but her clothes would protect her from frostbite though if she kept this up for too long she would get freeze burn from it.

That didn't matter to Dominique right now. It was time to show these fuckers who attacked her nation what the Crown Princess of the Southern Water Tribe could do. The fact that there was smoke rising from the Capital in the distance only fueled Dominique's desire to escape and avenge what happened today.

"Come on then bitches." Dominique yelled despite the fact that they almost certainly couldn't hear her as Veela sprinted towards the Spirit Forest. "Bring it on! I will show you what it means to fuck with the Southern Water Tribe."

Dominique waved her arms in a wide arc the way her mother and sister had taught her but instead of air, Dominique's target was the snow that was in the air. She pulled it around her and coalesced it into a whip before she struck at the nearest snowmobile. It was manned with a driver and a pillory soldier armed with a crossbow; they all were Dominique realized not that it mattered. They would all go down regardless.

The snow slammed into crossbowman and sent him flying from the machine and into the tundra. The force of the blow also sent the driver off track before it twisted too far and rolled over almost certainly killing him. Dominique didn't care, she had a lot more to deal with.

Raising her arms, Dominique focused on the ice in front of her and began bending it. Veela was going too fast to allow Dominique to be accurate or precise so instead of attacking she simple created as many obstacles as possible. They were ice walls, spikes and hills, basically anything she could think of that would slow the attackers down that she could hastily create as they ran. It partially worked.

Several of the chasing snowmobiles crashed into the ice barriers she had created and blew up in explosions that lit up the landscape or swerved too hard to avoid them and rolled over. A few even crashed into one another as they tried to dodge Dominique's bending adding to the destruction. Alas, several more avoided her work and kept coming after her.

As two snowmobiles that had avoided her attacks came up alongside her, Dominique timed her move and pillars of ice erupted under the machines sending them flying, though not before one of the crossbows fired at her. The force of Dominique attack had thrown the aim off and instead of it hitting Dominique in her shoulder as it should have, the bolt hit the sapphire at the base of her braid. The sapphire was no match for the bolt and shattered, breaking the band in the process and causing her hair to cascade outwards and whip around her as the braid came undone.

Before the snow skis had crashed, Dominique was back on the offensive. Again, she pulled the snow around her again and forming it into a mini vortex, she began sending out blasts of it at everyone she could see. She took out three more snowmobiles this way and dodged two more crossbow bolts fired at her before Veela barked at her.

Dominique turned to see what had got her friend's attention and saw that they were approaching the Spirit Forest. Melting the ice around her legs, Dominique twisted and fell down to her saddle with a thump that would have hurt if she was a guy. She pulled up one last ice wall behind her as they plunged into the forest.

Dominique was glad that she had manage to flee before the Spirit Portal could be surrounded by the invaders. Had the attackers managed to block it she would have been likely been fucked but now that she was in the forest she knew that she no matter how evil someone was, only a fool attacked in one of the Spirit Forests. The ire of the spirits had been made clear during Korra's era and no one was going to fuck with them again.

Dominique rode through the forest as fast as possible, the snowmobiles not following her which was good. It meant that she was safe and would get out of the South alive. In a few minutes she burst out of the forest and into the small clearing that surrounded Spirit Portal. With a little encouragement, Dominique ordered Veela to jump into the Portal and pass into the Spirit World.

Dominique had been in the Spirit World a few times, mainly as a way to travel quickly between the poles, and always via one of the Polar Portals. No matter how many times she was her, the barren landscape between the two Portals and the Tree of Time always unnerved her in comparison to the rest of the Spirit World. Still, Dominique pushed on with her goal, Veela could make it, she knew it.

As she approached the Northern Portal, Dominique noticed a stream of people walking towards it, shepherded by airbenders on bison and uniformed RCPD officers for some reason while Northern Water Tribe soldiers poured out of their portal to help it. This wasn't a good sign but it was something that Dominique could deal with later, she had to get to the Avatar first and tell him what had happened to her father.

Regardless, that didn't make the sight of her blood splattered Uncle Ron and her cousin Lily, the Avatar's only daughter, standing at the lip of the Northern Portal guiding the people into the Northern Water Tribe any less strange. However, all they could was gawk as a charging Dominique, the now exiled head of the Southern Water Tribe, tore past them, her loose red hair trailing wildly behind her as she scattered the refugees and leapt into the portal and out of the Spirit World without saying a word.

Landing in the clearing around the Northern Spirit Portal, Dominique was grateful that it was clear for her as Veela dove into the Spirit Forest here. The refugees who had seen her approaching as they passed through had helped clear her path as they could see her urgency. She was on a mission and she couldn't stop, she needed to get to the Northern Palace.

Knowing that there was only one way to get there without a challenge, Dominique bent down as they ran and carefully withdrew her father's spear. It had the Royal Chest on it and would serve as a signal to get her through without being stopped by anyone.

Still as she approached the outskirts of city she noticed that the Northern Military had been mobilized and augmented with the United Forces and were being careful with the refugees approaching the city. This would be a problem had she not been a known figure on her mount and raising her father's spear high over her head as she bore down upon them.

As she came to the nearest entrance, Dominique noticed that a path had been cleared for her to get in without stopping, somehow word had come that she was on the way and to let her through. Still she knew what she had to do and called out to the soldiers as she approached hoping they would hear her and understand what she was telling them.

"I am Crown Princess Dominique, exiled ruler of the Southern Water Tribe, and I need to get to the Palace unimpeded." Dominique yelled as she neared them. "Clear the way, I must speak with the Avatar and Chief Sirius right away."

Somehow she was heard and the soldiers scattered to allow her to charge into the city without being stopped or slowed down. Well that or they just didn't want to deal with the crazy looking redhead brandishing a spear overhead and riding a polar bear dog at near full speed. Dominique knew that she was running Veela to the edge but she had to do it, she had to reach the Palace and then her friend could rest for as long as she wanted.

The streets were mercifully clear as she rode through the city. The assassination attempt on Sirius and the attacks on the other nations had likely forced temporary martial law and people were inside waiting for whatever was going on settled down. That was why she was able to reach the massive fucking Palace that Lucius had built when he was named Chief without any problems.

Again, there were soldiers guarding it but again they cleared for her as she yelled at them. She hoped that it was because someone had radioed about her approach but it could just be because she probably couldn't be stopped by anyone short of the Avatar. Whatever the case, they cleared and she urged Veela up the stairs and to the grand front doors of the Northern Palace, damaging the stairs in the process.

Dominique knew she had made it as she approached the vast entrance doors. Lucius had built the Palace to be ostentatious and showy and as part of that, he had ensured that the entrance opened into the Throne room itself so you knew right away who the Chief was. With what had happened, the Throne Room would be in use and the Avatar should be there.

As she reached the doors, Dominique used the last of her adrenaline augmented strength to blow open the doors with a push of her waterbending. Not the best entrance she could have made but it was all she could think of doing. She had made it but her ordeal wasn't fully over yet, she still had to report in.

As Dominique entered the Throne Room she got one glimpse of the large ornate room, though the rug from the door to the dais that had the throne on it was gone leaving only the ice floor, and saw Sirius sitting on the Throne at the far end. Next to him was his wife Daphne who was also the Tribal Healer who was examining a wound in his side as his son stood to the other side as they looked sadly at a body wrapped in a shroud lay at his feet though it looked like it had been recently placed there.

They weren't the only people present, however. On the steps leading up to the Throne stood the Avatar, his wife and her aunt Ginny, Ron's wife Luna and her brother-in-law General Teddy. She had made it to the Avatar at last.

Dominique saw all of this in a glimpse before the ice beneath Veela's feet shifted and stopped the polar bear dog dead in her tracks, though didn't do any damage to her. Dominique saw that it was the Avatar who had his hand raised and realized the he was the one bending to stop the sudden intruder into the Throne Room as Dominique should have expected. It didn't do much for her situation though.

The force of the sudden stop sent Dominique flipping head over heels over the head of her companion, the spear flying out if her grasp and clattering away as she instinctively pinwheeled her arms to no avail. Dominique was so exhausted and drained that she didn't have the energy to break her fall or even yell out. She was here, so long as she survived she would have succeeded in her mission.

The Crown Princess of the Southern Water Tribe unceremoniously hit the unyielding ice hard, her left wrist hitting first and shattering on impact but allowing her to bend just enough to prevent anything worse. She then bounced off it, going limp to avoid causing herself too much damage, but still landing on her head the second time hard enough to daze her. Finally, the bouncing stopped and she began to slide face first on her chest across the slick ice towards the dais.

Her momentum had slowed but the ice meant that she travelled a lot farther than normal. Finally she came to a rest only a few feet from the dais as ice came up to trap her in place, capturing her just in case she was there to attack them. If she wasn't dazed from the head injury should would have respected the quick move to take her in alive.

Blinking away stars, Dominique saw the Avatar's metal boots running towards her, the marks they made indicated that there were little spikes in them to keep his balance on the ice. As soon as he got to her the restraints melted and she was rolled over to look up into the aged, bearded and deeply worried face of Avatar Harry.

"Dominique? What are you doing here? What's happened in the South." Harry asked quickly to her, concern and surprise in his voice.

Dominique felt her strength leaving her but she had enough to get out what happened in the South. She got it out just before she passed out on the floor of the Northern Throne Room.

"Dad is dead, the South has fallen."

There she is, the last of the characters important enough to merit inclusion in the title page. Dominique plays a major role in Book 4 and that will begin to be scene over the next few chapters, as well as couple of other arcs that are part of the major arc when it begins around chapter 16. Dominique falls under the same category as a character like Pyrites from past Books, she is canon and we know a little about her but not much so I am taking plenty of liberties with her. The same is with basically all of the children of the main characters from Harry Potter minus Albus and Scorpius who are more well developed thanks to 'The Cursed Child' so hopefully they come off well. Also Harry's back after his longest absence in the series to date, even if it is just a cameo. Don't worry, the Avatar is still the main character he just wasn't needed for the set up but is back now that it is pretty much done with only chapter 14 left for that purpose. The only thing left to mention is that this is the first time that the attempt on Sirius's life is mentioned and that is because the Uniques didn't know of it, it was a separate order by the Princeps to keep the Northern Water Tribe occupied during the other attacks as he knew the North wouldn't fall but needed them distracted. The assassination attempt isn't going to be in Book 4 but is planned for the 'Lost Adventures' collection that will be released after Book 5. Anyway, I will end my long ramblings for now and as always please follow and favorite both this and myself so that you can stay up to date with new releases (chapters and stories) and please keep the reviews coming. Until next time.

Stringdog