Shattered

Chapter Five

The mule naturally wanted to head for the barn, but Anko corrected his course to steer him to the nearby house instead. Moving swiftly she unhitched the mule and, leaving the wagon in front of the house, led him to the fenced in paddock next to the barn. Max was covered in sweat from their hasty journey home. Anko took the time to ensure he had enough water in his trough before tossing him a bundle of hay and leaving. Max called after her. The mule deserved better treatment and they both knew it. "Sorry Max, I'll make it up to you. I promise."

Anko jogged back to her house. Feeling around with her hands, she found and lit an oil lamp. More followed, soon the house was brightly lit. She stirred the banked down fire in her cast iron stove until flames once again licked at the wood she tossed in. She pumped some water into a kettle and left it on the stove, crossing the room to open the door to the spare bedroom. Anko made a face as the stale air assaulted her nose; still the room was her only spare, it would have to do.

She swiftly went back to her wagon and checked the Fire Nation soldier. Still unconscious, still breathing. She carried him into her spare room and laid him down on the futon. Now in the light, she finally got a good look at both the soldier and his wound. As she had guessed on the dock, his skull was still intact. The blow had been glancing, instead of breaking his skull it had peeled part of his scalp down towards his right ear. "Well boy, the good news is I've seen worse. The bad news is, it's still pretty bad."

Anko left the room to get some supplies. Returning with arms full, she set about cleaning up the excess blood. His head was already swollen; he was going have one monster of a headache when he finally woke up. Anko pulled the loose flap of skin upwards. Pulling out a curved needle and some thread she made a neat line of stitches across his scalp. "You're lucky you're unconscious," she informed him. Still she frowned. He had been a little too still for too long. It didn't bode well.

Finished with the stitches, she brought in the now steaming kettle. She poured the hot water over a mix of dried herbs. The pungent steam rising from the bowl made her eyes water. As she waited for the mixture to cool down, Anko examined the soldier a bit more carefully. Saki had been right about one thing, he was only a teenager. The burn mark on his face was clearly an older wound though, discounting the whole "Earth Kingdom spy, burned and marooned" theory.

Anko gave a thoughtful frown as she touched the skin with gentle fingers. Experimentally, she pulled back his left eyelid. The eye was rolled back towards his skull, but it looked healthy enough. Amazing. He must have gotten immediate care, and expert care at that, or else this eye would have been lost. For him to have gotten care that quickly, it had to have been a training accident or… Anko shook her head to refocus her thought on the job at hand.

The herbal poultice was ready; she took some and bandaged it around the teen's head. "That should help with the swelling." Remembering that he had been kicked as well, she opened up his blood stained red and brown tunic. Sure enough, the skin above his ribs was already discolored to a nasty purplish hue. Hm, he's thin. Anko took the same poultice and applied it to the bruises. His skin's taunt; his lips are cracked, so he's dehydrated too. No wonder, with him sitting out in the sun all that time.

Job finished, Anko leaned back and rubbed her tired eyes. It was late. She was surprised to see how much oil the lamp had burned through. She sighed and regarded the teen through narrowed eyes. One thing bothered her more than anything else. She had seen him turn in time to see the blow coming. Even if the boy wasn't a firebender, even if he was a raw recruit, straight out of training; hell, even if he was just some kid off the street, he would still have had time to try to block the villager's club. Anko's frown deepened. Raising an arm to protect one's head in self defense was a purely instinctual reaction. The fact that this soldier hadn't done that, the fact that he had just sat there and taken the strike, that, to Anko, spoke volumes.

She rose, knees popping, and stretched. Seizing the lamp she gave the soldier one last long look. If what she suspected was true, all the work she had just done might all be in vain.

"Well… live or die by your own accord, boy. I've done all I can do."

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Sokka stared up at the starry sky. The deep, dark expanse was finally beginning to lighten up a little to the east. He rolled in his sleeping bag to look at his sister's still form. "Hey Katara, are you awake?"

"No", her grumpy voice responded.

Sokka sighed. Grumpy seemed to be Katara's standard mood, ever since Aang had been taken. He rolled back to face the more friendly stars and cleared his throat. "Listen Katara, I've been thinking…"

"Did it hurt?"

He tried again, "Look, I know you don't want to hear this… but this flying around in circles thing isn't working."

Katara sat straight up out of her sleeping bag. "We are not flying around in circles! It's an outwardly spiraling search pattern; the same one that Father and the village men used to find you that time you got lost on the tundra!"

"Hey, I was only ten, could you stop bringing that up?"

"Whatever!" Katara folded her arms across her chest. "It worked then and it'll work now. You just have to give it more time."

Sokka sat up to face his sister; the last thing he had wanted to do was to get into a shouting match with her. "Alright, fine…just one problem Katara; Aang isn't lost, he was captured. I think it's safe to assume at this point he didn't manage to escape them…"

"So what?" Katara's angry voice interrupted him. "I suppose that you want to give up and go home, huh? We'll just go home and say "Whoops, sorry Gran-Gran, sorry everyone; we lost the world's one and only hope. Oh well, what's for dinner!" Katara stood up. "Well I'm NOT giving up on him! Besides, Appa is on my side so good luck swimming home! She turned her back on her brother.

"You know, I really hate it when you get like this." Sokka also rose and crossed his arms. "Look, no one is suggesting that we give up on Aang. I'm just saying that we need a better plan."

Katara looked over her shoulder at him. "Have you got a "better" plan?"

"As a matter of fact…It starts off with us taking a break.

"NO!" Katara whirled around to face him. "You want a better plan? Fine, you can think of one while Appa and I continue searching. Right, Appa?" The large bison gave an affirming rumble.

Sokka closed the distance between them and grabbed her wrist. With a tug he pulled her to the bison's side. "Look at him Katara. This wound should have closed up by now, and you know it." He could feel the fight drain out of her. He softened his tone. "I know you're worried about Aang. I'm worried too. But we won't be able to do anything about it if something happens to Appa. We're all exhausted; let's just rest here a couple of days and see if it doesn't help him get better. Okay?"

Katara reached out to touch Appa's side, the fur matted stiff from the continually oozing wound. After their escape from the firebenders, she and Sokka had pulled out the arrows embedded in Appa's hide. All of the other wounds had closed up; all save this one. This was his first wound, the one where arrow after arrow had hit the exact same spot. Katara let her hand drop. She wrapped her arms around herself in a hug. She knew that Sokka was right, but her worry for the Avatar was almost overwhelming.

She felt her brother's warm arm drop over her shoulder. Sokka gave her a reassuring squeeze. "Hey, come on, it'll be alright. I bet Aang has got them running around in circles by now."

Katara spared him a wan smile. "I hope you're right, Sokka." She gazed upward towards the vast, lightening sky. Oh Aang, Please be safe.