The four travellers looked out over Omashu, where Fire Nation flags sailed on the morning breeze, shivering slightly as troops patrolled the walls. "I can't believe it. I know the war has spread far, but Omashu always seemed...untouchable." Aang said, turning and bowing his head sadly.
"Up until now, it was. Now Ba-Sing-Se is the only great Earth Kingdom stronghold left." Sokka said as Thyra placed a comforting hand on her brother's shoulder.
"This is horrible, but we have to move on." Katara said reasonably but Aang stamped his staff on the ground with a fiercely stubborn expression on his face.
"No. I'm going in to find Bumi."
"Aang, stop." Sokka said before Aang could even move, for once agreeing with his sister. "We don't even know if Bumi's still..." He trailed off as Aang narrowed his eyes at him, mouth hardening into a thin line as Thyra bit her lip and glanced between the two boys.
"What? If he's still what?" Aang demanded to know and Sokka thought for a moment before looking away, his shoulders sagging.
"Around." He finished after a moment, though the unsaid word still hung tangible in the air.
"I know you had your heart set on Bumi, but there are other people around who can teach you earthbending." Katara said gently to Aang but his eyes turned back to the city once again with his fingers curling even more tightly around his staff.
"This isn't about finding a teacher. This is about finding a friend." He informed them all and Thyra knew that no amount of reasoning would change Aang's mind.
"We'll have to be cautious. With this place crawling with fire nation soldiers, it'll take only one trip up to get all of us caught." Thyra said as she pulled Aang and Sokka towards her. "So you boys try not to do anything too stupid, got it?" She teased and Katara giggled before Thyra winked and let them both go, jumping up onto Appa's back to take the reins. "Now come on. Let's go find that crazy old friend of yours Aang."
With a grin Aang jumped up and together, the four of them lifted off into the sky. Aang directed Appa below the city towards a large pike, blocked off from the outside however Aang instantly leaped towards it. "A secret passage?!" Sokka flung out a hand in disbelief. "Why didn't we just use this last time?" He demanded as Aang worked the cap before finally, it burst free and a wave of sludgy sewerage burst out, the first bout sloshing all over Sokka as he then squealed in disgust. "Ugh!"
"Does that answer your question?" Aang queried with a small grin before he jumped inside and led the way, spinning his staff to keep as much as the sewage away from them. Thyra pinched her nose as it wrinkled in disgust at the smell but ploughed on forwards regardless.
Aang led them all up to the streets of Omashu themselves, bursting open a manhole before he pushed it open with his hands, checking to make sure the street was empty before finally emerging and the girls followed after him, brushing themselves off.
"That wasn't as bad as I thought." Katara said optimistically before turning around at the sound of something freakish emerging from the sewer behind them. A huge greenish sludgy lump rose up, moaning and Katara's mouth drops open in horror before she quickly thrust out her hands in a fluid motion, bending the water in a nearby barrel straight at the sewer covered creature to reveal Sokka, who slumped to the ground with another groan.
Trying to be helpful Aang swung around his staff and a blast of wind slammed against Sokka, causing him to yelp loudly before he went still, glaring with an unimpressed expression as Thyra gave a little giggle at the amusing scene before her.
He lifted his head and Thyra instantly saw the two pentapus anchored to his face, going unnoticed by Sokka until he looked down at them. Instantly he screamed. "Aaahhh!" He grabbed one of them and tried to pull them off by force however their suckers gripped on, keeping them locked onto his skin and Thyra winced at the painful looking situation. "Aaahh! Aahhh! They won't let go! Help! Aaaah!" He yelled at the top of his voice so Thyra quickly slammed her hand against his mouth, silencing him quickly.
"Could you be any louder?! Quiet!" She hissed then lifted her hand off Sokka's mouth to then tickle one of the pentapus, making it squeak happily before letting go as she held it on her hand gently. "It's just a pentapus, they won't hurt you." Sokka blinked in surprise before removing the other from his face.
Tiny red spots were left behind as Sokka rubbed his face and Aang removed the hidden pentapus on Sokka's neck, grinning at the cute little creatures but then a gruff voice called out, causing them all to freeze in place. "Hey!" Thyra glanced quickly over her shoulder to see a patrol of guards closing in on them and she swiftly stepped in front of her brother to shield him as he grabbed a hat from a nearby stall and used it to hide his tattoo as the kids all grinned innocently up at the men. "What are you kids doing out past curfew?" The guard in front demanded to know, peering down suspiciously at them all.
"Sorry. We were just on our way home." Katara said sweetly and they all turned around, intending to walk away to escape further questioning, however the men then noticed the red welts on the back of Sokka's neck from the pentapus.
"Wait! What's the matter with him?" The guard demanded and froze in place, unsure of how to answer however Katara stepped up, placing a hand on her brother's shoulders.
"Uh...he has pentapox, sir." She told them as the guard moved closer, reaching out with the intent to get a closer look at Sokka. "Um...it's highly contagious!" She warned and instantly the guard hesitated as Thyra nodded her head, placing her hand on Sokka's other shoulder.
"That's right. He's delusional and near insane because of the pentapox. It doesn't help that he sleep walks, which is why we're out so late. We're very sorry for causing you a disturbance." Thyra told them and instantly the guards all recoiled in horror as Sokka began to groan.
"Ugh…it's so awful...I'm dying…" He droned, reaching out towards them but the guards all moved back again with horrified gasps.
"Wait, I think I've heard of pentapox. Didn't your cousin Chang die of it?" The guard asked one of his companions as Sokka began to cough, moving towards them again and the guards all yelped in fear before retreating. "We'd better go wash our hands...and burn our clothes!" They all ran away, making Thyra smirk proudly as Sokka straightened up and Aang laughed, rubbing the head of one of the pentapus.
"Thank you, sewer friend!"
"Come on Aang, quit fooling around." Thyra whispered, grabbing his sleeve. "Let's find Bumi!" When she yanked him forwards with considerable force, Aang yelped and lost hold of the pentapus, who instantly crawled back towards the sewer.
Thyra led the way, keeping low to the ground and stopping at every corner to check that their way was clear before moving on, however when a patrol neared them, they all dove behind some construction equipment to keep out of sight. Katara clenched her fist with worry, glancing around her before whispering quickly.
"Let's find Bumi and get out of here."
"Where would they be keeping him?" Sokka wondered and Aang thought for a moment before looking around.
"Somewhere he can't earthbend. Somewhere made of metal." After the guards had gone, Aang stood up, still keeping low. "Come on." They kept moving, avoiding being seen as they climbed higher and higher through the city, trying to locate Bumi hoverer Aang stopped when he noticed a family of fire nation people walking towards them at a lower level, completely unaware of the tray of rocks that were heading straight for them. Without even pausing to think, Aang swept out his staff and sent a gale force wind against the cart, tossing it off the slope however this rescue now put them all in full attention of the family and their guards.
"Run." Thyra advised after a pregnant pause, grabbing her brother to yank him back out of the way of the girl's attack of small arrows, shooting her a glare before they all turned and fled.
"The resistance!" The mother screamed and Thyra instantly pushed Katara out in front of her, bringing up the rear but slowed down slightly. With a powerful strike, Thyra leaped up and spun, slicing a wooden beam that helped support some tall scaffolding and instantly it collapsed, blocking the way of the guards however the girl from before leaped up over the debris and shot several spikes straight at Thyra, who froze in place.
Suddenly a wall of ice appeared before her, stopping the weapons from hitting Thyra and she turned a grateful smile back at Katara who smirked and nodded before both girls continued to run, passing Aang who stopped to give them cover. He collapsed some more scaffolding and the girl was forced to halt, however a throwing star managed to slip through and Aang instantly twirled his staff quickly to catch it, staring in shock before looking up.
Thyra instantly leaped forwards, throwing out a hand to protect her brother as the girl flung out her hand and several more spikes shot towards them, however the ground suddenly gave out beneath them all and with a yell, they plunged into darkness.
Rubbing their heads, everyone looked up to see a bearded man step from the shadows, glaring down at them fiercely. Thyra gave a little shiver but she hid it by clenching her fists and narrowing her eyes, hearing the occasional drip of moisture from the ceiling. "Come with me." He finally said and began to walk away. Aang glanced back at Thyra, who paused a moment before nodding her head, helping Katara to stand up.
"Ah great. We're back in the sewers again. Next time we break into a fire nation occupied city, remind me to bring a peg just in case this happens again." Sokka complained as he pinched his nose and tried to block out the smell as the others followed after the resistance soldier. "Why're we following this guy again?"
"He did just save our lives." Thyra reasoned, shooting Sokka a look. "So be quiet." Sokka grumbled under his breath but did as Thyra had told and he didn't speak again. Suddenly Aang perked up.
"Maybe Bumi's here!" With that he sped forwards to catch up with the resistance fighters and the others all ran after him, only slowing down as they reached an underground cavern filled with men and women, all looking tired and hungry. "So is King Bumi here? Is he leading the resistance?" Aang questioned hopefully but the bearded man only bit back.
"Of course not! The day of the invasion we readied ourselves for battle, we were prepared to defend for our city, to fight for our lives and for our freedom but before we even had a chance, King Bumi…surrendered." Thyra lifted her head as Aang's face fell and she glanced around the cavern. "The day of the invasion I asked King Bumi what he wanted to do, he looked me in the eye and said 'nothing'. It doesn't matter now. Fighting the Fire Nation is the only path to freedom. And freedom is worth dying for." The resistance leader declared however Thyra shook her head.
"You don't have to fight. Sometimes waiting for a better time to strike is better than trying to make it happen by force." She told them and Aang nodded his head in agreement.
"My sister is right. You could leave Omashu and secure your freedom that way. You're directing all your energy to fight the Fire Nation but you're outnumbered. You can't win. Now's the time to retreat, so you can live to fight another day."
"You don't understand." The leader said with a growl, clenching a fist. "They've taken our home and we have to fight them at any cost!"
"I don't know, living to fight another day is starting to sound pretty good to me." One of the other resistance fighters said thoughtfully and the other leaned forwards with a nod of his head.
"Yeah, I'm with the kid." With a sigh the leader glanced around the cavern where all other fighters where murmuring in agreement, wanting to take back their freedom and escape the clutches of the fire nation that had taken control here.
"Fine. But there's thousands of citizens that need to leave. How're we going to get them all out?" Quite unexpectedly, it was Sokka who came up with the ingenious idea.
"Suckers!" He announced loudly and everyone looked at him in confusion, though the leader looked just about ready to knock him out, thinking that Sokka had just insulted everyone. "You're all about to come down with a nasty case of pentapox." He announced before explaining his plan for everyone to cause welts to appear on their skin by letting a pentapus touch them, then convince the guards that the earth nation civilians were completely infected with the highly contagious disease.
"You know Sokka, maybe you are a genius after all." Thyra said, her arms folded across her chest as she leaned into her hip, arching a smooth eyebrow with a smirk. "This might actually work."
"Oh yeah! Who's the most awesome guy you know? Me! Alright, uh huh…" Sokka began to celebrate so Thyra gripped his shirt and pulled him around to face her, giving a serious look with the smirk gone from her face.
"Just don't expect it to last. Come on, we'd better get to work." Marching him away, the people joined them in collecting pentapus and started to cover their faces, necks and arms with the angry red spots. Once they were all finished, Sokka began to instruct them in how to act sick as well as look sick before leading them towards the main gates.
"Aang, what are you doing? Aren't you coming with us?" Katara questioned and Thyra paused, turning to look back at her brother who shook his head.
"No. I'm not leaving until I find Bumi." He told them both determinedly as Momo jumped up onto Aang's shoulder and began to chitter, grabbing Aang's mouth but Aang lifted him off his shoulder, making him let go. "Sorry Momo, I'll feed you later." With that he leaped up into the air and bounded away by the rooftops as Momo scampered up Thyra's arm to sit on her shoulder, flattening his ears in disappointment.
"Don't worry Momo. He'll be back soon." Thyra promised before taking Katara by the hand and leading her away after the others and Momo flew off as the girls caught up with Sokka and began to pretend to be faint with sickness, walking towards the guards who all instantly backed away in terror.
"Plague! Plague!" The citizens continued to advance and Thyra glanced around inconspicuously, watching as the guards all backed away, refraining from touching anyone who had so much as a speck on their skin. The gates were flung open and the guards began to move around everyone, driving them out at spear length and the Omashu citizens did not hesitate to allow themselves to be herded out of the city.
"Do you think Aang will be okay?" Katara whispered to Thyra who smiled and nodded her head.
"Of course. He knows that place like the back of his hand. They'd be hard pressed to catch him if he accidentally gets himself noticed." Thyra said as she and the two water tribe siblings led the procession out towards the hills. "Let's just find somewhere secure and safe to camp for the night. We'll wait for Aang then plan our next step." Thyra decided and everyone head for the rocky hills where they would be able to shelter as the sky grew dark.
Thyra instantly went to Appa, hugging his face as he greeted her, opening his mouth wide and his huge tongue licked her face as she smiled then wiped herself off. "We're fine. Aang will be back soon." She promised before setting out to collect firewood.
Aang didn't return until way after dark with a familiar face at his side, only it wasn't Bumi. It was his pet, Flopsie. "We looked everywhere. No Bumi." He informed us sadly so Katara gave him a reassuring hug as Flopsie whined, missing his master and Sokka gave him a hug too just as the resistance leader approached.
"We've got a problem. We just did a head count." He announced and Katara spun around.
"Oh no. Did someone get left behind?"
"No." He replied to pointing to the ground where Momo appeared, racing along the ground whilst dragging a fire nation baby along with him. "We have an extra." Everyone stared in shock at the little boy who gurgled happily, letting go of Momo's tail to flop back on the floor, gripping his little toes and rolled backwards whilst continuing to grin.
"You have got to be kidding me." Sokka deadpanned as Thyra blinked.
"How did a baby escape from Omashu all on its own?" She demanded to know, walking over and picked up the little child, holding his head in one hand as she sat him on her hip. "You're one of the noble's children aren't you? I saw that woman carrying you with her back in Omashu." Thyra murmured to the boy as he gurgled sweetly up at her again and she smiled as he reached up and started to play with the loose locks of her dark brown fringe, giving gentle tugs as Katara moved closer.
"What are we going to do with him? He should go back to his mother, she must be worried about him." She said but Sokka flung out his hands at the boy.
"Uh, hello! That's a fire nation baby! There's no way we're helping it." He said but then Thyra gave him a fierce glare.
"You sure about that Sokka?" She questioned and he gulped, realising that he was in trouble if he chose the wrong words.
"Uh…no?" He tried so she nodded her head then sat down near the fire to keep the baby warm, placing him down on the ground and held out her hands to help him stand up, the boy bouncing up and down cheerfully as Momo perched well out of reach of the traumatising child.
The baby started to crawl away so Thyra picked him up as he crawled and set him down in a path away from the flames and watched him carefully as he moved towards Sokka, stopping to sit down and began to suck on Sokka's tribal club, however the boy quickly snatched it out of his grip. "No! Bad Fire Nation baby!"
Instantly the child began to cry and Katara glared at her brother, smacking him up the head before placing her hands on her hips pointedly. "Oh alright." He groaned, caving in and handed the club back to the baby who instantly stopped crying and continued to suck on the club head, making Thyra chuckle.
"Don't worry Sokka. He doesn't have any teeth sharp enough to make marks." She assured him as Katara hugged the little one from behind with a wide smile.
"Oh you're so cute!" She cooed, lifting him up to help him stand on his own two feet.
"Sure he's cute now, but when he's older, he'll join the Fire Nation army. You won't think he's so cute then. He'll be a killer." The resistance leader said darkly as Katara lifted him up higher, arching an eyebrow.
"Does that look like the face of a killer to you?" She demanded to know but then the baby began to cry, kicking out at the air and Katara gulped, unsure of what to do. "Uh…help me!"
"Here." Thyra said, walking over and held out her hands so Katara quickly handed the boy over. Thyra wrapped him up in a blanket then rested his head against her shoulder before beginning to rub his back in slow, soothing circles.
Suddenly there was a cry of a hawk and everyone turned to see it settle on a rock near to the campfire. "A messenger hawk!" The resistance leader blinked in surprise as Aang approached carefully and retrieved the message as the boy continued to whine, however slowly he began to quieten down.
"It's from the Fire Nation governor. He thinks we kidnapped his son. So he wants to make a trade. His son…for King Bumi!" Aang's eyes shot wide open in shock and Flopsie lifted his head. "A trade…do you think they mean it?" Aang asked, turning to his sister who sat down against Appa to rest.
"I don't know. Maybe." Lifting the boy back to look at his teary yet tired eyes, Thyra sighed. "Guess we'll have to find out." With that she tucked the child against her again and started to sing quietly, the melody sounding warm and welcoming to the ear as several heads lifted up to listen. The baby stopped crying, hushed by the silky voice which hummed to him, yawning quietly before falling asleep against her.
Katara smiled, shifting closer to listen and Aang also jumped over, quietly sinking to the ground beside his sister and rested his head against her other shoulder, smiling up at her as she wrapped her other arm around him, both leaning back against Appa's warm fur.
When Thyra finished her song, she gave a loving smile down at her brother who was already sound asleep, snoring against her with his mouth hanging open so she shifted him down to sit in a more comfortable position as Katara and Sokka regarded her curiously. "That was pretty, where'd you learn it?" Katara asked and Thyra blushed.
"Our mother used to sing it to us." She admitted, turning her gaze towards the fire. "When Aang was just a little baby, she would hold us both in her arms at night and sing to us, helping us go to sleep." Grief passed over Thyra's face as she clenched her eyes tightly shut. "It was hard enough losing our father, but when mother died, it was like losing a part of myself. I was suddenly alone with no one to run to for comfort. No one to hold me when I was cold or scared." Thyra opened her sad eyes and looked at Katara, whose own eyes were glittering slightly with tears. "I know how you feel, Katara. Sokka. You miss your mother too, don't you?" Silently they nodded their heads and Sokka placed his hand on his sister's shoulder as she leaned against him. "But that's why family now is so important. We need to be able to stick to one another no matter what."
"You're right." Katara said with a firm nod of her head, taking a deep breath to toughen herself up. "I miss my mother, but I'm glad I have you guys now." Giving a smile Katara crawled over then rested her head on Thyra's lap, making her blink before smiling, gesturing to Sokka who came and sat down next to her, careful not to jostle the baby as he too leaned back against Appa.
Finally Momo jumped down onto Thyra's head, making her chuckle as he paced around to get comfortable then settled down like a nest, soon starting to purr as he swiftly fell asleep. Thyra stayed awake a while longer, watching the flames as she struggled to recall the faces of her parents. With frustration she couldn't even remember her father's name, or even what colour his eyes had been.
Turning her head away from the fire Thyra exhaled, finally closing her eyes and let her mind drift into dreams, where she could hear her mother's voice singing her to sleep as she cuddled a baby Aang, a soft hand stroking through her hair and a warm smile blurring in her vision before finally she was encased with complete blackness.