Aang ducked down from the howling rain and pulled his shirt over his head, a feeble attempt at protecting himself from the stinging winds. Katara grabbed his wrist, clutching her hood and running blindly towards the dim light that glittered off in the distance - their soon-to-be refuge for the night. Sokka yelled something behind her but his words were carried away with the storm, and after getting choked several times with rainwater, he gave up trying to reach his sister's ears. Aang's eyes were stinging and Momo hid himself beneath the folds of his shirt, though he was already soaked and the act only caused masses of fur to pile onto the Avatar's clothes. Katara finally reached the light and ducked inside, finding herself standing, soaked to the skin and shivering, before the wide-eyed miniature owner of the antique shop.
The woman stared up at her, bewildered at the sudden appearance of her. Aang stumbled in the door after her closely followed by Sokka, who fell forward onto a dusty red rug and sighed his relief. Aang himself nearly knocked over a vase on his entry and the woman, shocked, ran to catch it before it smashed to the floor.
"Excuse me, ma'am, I'm so sorry, the storm was just so - I mean, we were trying to find shelter and -"
"Calm down, miss, calm down!" said the woman as Katara mumbled on in desperate explanations. She replaced the vase with a little help from Aang, who felt slightly embarrassed at the destructive entry, and kicked Sokka so he would stand up and stop dripping on the carpet. When the vase was secured the woman turned back to her with a cheerful little smile.
"I quite understand you were caught up in the rain. A storm like this is very brutal. Would you children like some tea? It would be just the thing to warm you up."
Katara's face relaxed as the woman shuffled to a door in the back of the room, through which a round table stood set with several tea cups. Pulling Sokka into the room, Aang took a seat beside Katara, who watched as the woman lifted a tea pot off the stove. As she carried it to the table, she held out her cup for the woman to pour - but the old lady shook her head.
Slowly she moved her hand, and the steaming water from the tea kettle drifted through the air and into her cup of its own accord; the sight made everyone at the table gasp and the woman almost dropped the tea.
"You're- you're a water bender!" Aang finally exclaimed, and the woman gave out a low, laugh.
"Not much of one, you see. If I was, the Fire Nation would have gotten rid of me awhile ago. And you should talk, with all those Airbender tattoos on you! Who do you think you are, impersonating a Nomad?"
She glared at Aang but Katara quickly leapt between them in a desperate effort to explain.
"No, no ma'am, he really is an Airbender. He's the Avatar..."
"Oh! Oh, I see, ah yes, I'm sorry," said the lady quickly as she continued to pour the tea. "It's just the Fire Nation destroyed all the Airbenders I knew of, and well, you've been gone so long...nevermind! Where were we? Ah yes, tea..." she shuffled around and gave the rest of them tea, taking special care to make the water form a little arrow for Aang before it went into his cup. As she crushed the tea leaves into their drinks, Katara's curiosity got the better of her.
"Excuse me, but if you don't mind me asking, how did a water bender like you get so far north? The Fire Nation -"
"Oh, the Fire Nation only cares about you if you're a threat, dear," said the woman as she sipped from her cup. "My family moved here a long while ago, and back then none of seemed to have any water bending skills. My grandmother married a man of Earth Kingdom, you see; I was about your age when I started showing talent in water bending, and my parents -"
There was a low ring from the front of the shop and the woman paused, listening.
"Oh dear, customers. Excuse me moment, will you?"
Katara nodded to the old woman with an amazing sense of pride and respect growing in her heart. As the woman left the room, she looked at the tea kettle and began to bend it from inside, just as the woman had. The feeling was one of content; the water was steaming and she could feel the warmth flowing through her fingers as she twisted it into shapes of bison and lemurs in the air, much to Aang's delight. As she continued to bend it back into the kettle, the woman's voice drifted from the front of the shop.
"...we have pipes, very nice ones, and in wonderful condition. Would you like to try them out? Here are some silver ones...your nephew may enjoy them..."
"Oh, no, but thank you. Zuko does not seem to have a taste for music, you see..."
Sokka stopped swallowing his tea half-way and choked, splattering the remains out onto Aang. Aang made a face of disgust but Katara knew there wasn't time to complain about her brother's table manners. She leapt to a nearby window and opened it, so that the raging winds thundered through the opening and rain whipped at her face.
"Go, Aang! Sokka, come on!"
Sokka crawled through the window and Aang made a motion to follow, but paused as Katara bent over the table and began to write a hurried note.
"Katara what're you -"
"It's for the old woman to thank her. Go! We can't let them catch you!"
Aang hesitated but crawled through the window as Katara finished scribbling a thank you on a nearby napkin. Suddenly the doorknob turned and the old woman stood there, innocent, kind, and all together their ironic doom.
"We have flutes in the back room...why, what's wrong?" she stuttered, catching sight of the flushed Katara and the open window. "Where are your friends? The Airbender boy -"
"Airbender?" said Iroh suddenly, jumping at the term. Katara, knowing they had been found out, sped away wide eyed and leapt through the window with assistance from her brother. Iroh ran back into the shop and confronted his nephew, who stood sullen at the doorway, lost in his own thought.
"Prince Zuko! The Avatar is here! He is in the back!"
"What?" Zuko snapped. His previous thoughts vanished and his adrenaline kicked in with sudden vigor; he felt his veins sear with sudden fire and he roared as he turned away from his Uncle to begin his pursuit. His hands burst into flame as he sped out into the storm, but the howling winds thrashed his body so brutally that flames became more of a nuisance than an advantage. The rain was to thick and constant, and a fog was appearing that blurred his already strained vision. To use any fire bending tricks was completely out of the question, a thought that made his already maddened insides fume from a sense of helplessness. But the disadvantage was soon forgotten as he drew the twin blades he always carried with him, a fallback weapon in any case fire bending could not be used. As he caught sight of the tattooed boy helping Katara through the window, he drew back his arms and sped towards them with a speed supplied from his own raging determination.
Aang saw him coming and gave Sokka the job of rescuing Katara; drawing the Prince's attention away from the others he ran towards the woods, blowing hard on Appa's bison whistle. Zuko knew this trick by now and registered that he had little time; he aimed a blow at the boy's side to render him injured, but alive. The attack failed when Sokka, blade in hand, blocked the blow and aimed his own straight into the Prince's neck. He dodged it like a snake, hissing at the intrusion, and slid the side of his blade across the warrior. Sokka's arm burst into a brilliant flash of dark red and he blood spilled to the ground. He cried out and fell just as Appa soared down to meet them, roaring with a voice that promised safety for the three companions.
Zuko ignored the flying beast and made another leap at Aang, tossing a small pellet before him which burst into a blinding smokescreen that stung the Avatar's eyes. Aang slid through the mud from the sudden onset of dark smoke, but his concentration returned as he stirred the air around him and wiped the smoke away with one tremendous effort.
Zuko lost some of his footing on the slippery ground and slipped down into the mud, where he tripped Aang with the flat of his blade. Momo, however, had suddenly come into the picture; the lemur made a valiant jump and landed square on Zuko's head, and the Prince roared in frustration.
Sokka puled Aang onto Appa and beckoned for Katara. She was still struggling to get to them, slipping through the mud half-sliding towards the giant bison; Momo leapt onto her shoulder and Zuko, enraged, flew towards her. But Katara sthrashed him down with a water whip from a nearby puddle and grabbed the reins of Appa, who flew off into the storm only half-steady and tossed about by the fierce winds.
Zuko did not waste a second. There was no time for mistakes. He practically vanished from the store front and pulled up to his ship with uncanny speed; he yelled at the Captain to move the ship, but the crew had seen the bison and were already under way. Iroh, wide-eyed and still completely confused over the matter, stood on shore watching, is newly-bought wind pipes in hand.
"Can't this bison go any FASTER?" screamed Sokka as the wind thrashed his red face. "That lunatic's right behind us, and this thing won't go any higher or any quicker! Isn't there some button we can press to speed it up or something?"
"Knock it off, Sokka!" said Aang, pushing the warrior away from the reins and giving Appa another encouraging Yip Yip! But Appa could not be spurred on; the winds were too fierce and it took all the great bison's will to keep a clear course in the rain, and speed would only cause mayhem.
Zuko's ship was rocking terribly, but he did not heed the Captain's orders and head inside. The arrow in his hand was quivering, anxious to leave the string and sink into the flesh of the monstrous beast that flew, mockingly, before them. That bison was the reason they escaped him, and with the chase growing old, he sought a definite end to the Avatar's evasive steed.
There was a pluck and the arrow flew; lightning flashed through the sky and the ship gave a great moan.
Appa roared as the deadly point sank into his leg. Katara, scrabbling for something to hang onto, grabbed a piece of Appa's saddle as the great bison turned heavily on one side, dropping down in the sky from pain and exhaustion. But the rain had made the packs slippery, and her fingers slid down the side of the great beast in an effort to hold on. Aang was yelling her name; Sokka was trying to crawl to her whily clutching to one of Appa's great horns.
The ship turned terribly on one side and Zuko was caught off guard; he flew from one end of the ship to the other, dropping both bow and blade as he slid. From shore, Iroh watched the scene helplessly as his nephew's hand caught the edge of the deck and he clung, barely, to the dripping railing. He squinted from pure strain on his body and the rain fell, heedless and painful, into both eyes. He yelled from the merciless sting as the wind whipped his body, and the crew, hearing him, began to make a run for him.
The saddle slipped from Katara's grasp and in desperation she clung, briefly, to the long white hair that grew from Appa; but it was slick as oil, and her fingers ran through it like butter. Zuko clawed at the smooth metal with his fingertips but there was nowhere he could regain his grip; the iron had no faults for him to grab and the strength in his hands faded.
Katara yelled Aang's name as her grip slipped and she plummeted from the sky; Zuko called out to no one, but let both fate and gravity take him without a struggle. It was moments before both of them were lost in the raging waters beneath the storm.