"Where is my uncle?" Azula barked at a soldier. She was beginning to believe that her uncle was deliberately making her upset as she'd sent for him over an hour ago and it was well past midnight at this point. She had a hunch that wherever her brother and the Avatar are headed, the people in this town will know and that's where she'll strike first.
She stood on the edge of the ship which overlooked the town infront of her with a determined look covering her face. "Damn, why won't he hurry up and get a move on! The sooner we conquer this town, the faster I capture Zuko and the Avatar. Father will finally acknowledge me as his equal."
"You wished to see me, princess?" Iroh yawned.
"Get dressed and get ready. We move on this town tonight."
Azula turned her head and looked at Iroh before scrunching her face up realizing he was about to ask one of his idiotic questions.
"But...why exactly are we raiding this town tonight? It makes no sense for us to attack during the night since that's where we are the most vulnerable," Iroh questioned.
"Precisely, uncle. Why wait for the daytime when we can ambush our enemies while they're asleep and weakened? A few handicaps for warriors such as ourselves means nothing if our enemies are levels below us," She replied in a matter of fact tone.
"It'll be like taking candy from a baby."
"Azula, I know you were chosen by my brother to lead this mission, but please consider other factors that may come into play during this plan of yours," Iroh insisted.
"Like what?" Azula asked.
"For starters, factors that you cannot see may be lurking amongst the shadows in this small island town. The fact that it's stayed out of the war for so long should tell you all you need to know about this island's ability to keep secrets in and visitors out. I know you are already a master level firebender, but if you become careless, even someone such as yourself can get bitten by a snake hidden in the grass."
"As if someone of my calibre needs to worry about something like that," she scoffed. "If anyone in this town stands in my way, my flames will be able to extinguish any hope these people have and eventually someone will talk," Azula above all else, always had utter faith in her ability to command her blue flames and stood unrivaled amongst even the most talented firebenders.
She turned and stared at the moon briefly before turning and looking back at the town. She summoned a small spark of blue flames and watched as it danced inside her palm before killing it and clicking her teeth in annoyance.
"It seems…" She really really really really didn't want to admit the old fart maybe had a pretty compelling argument about her bending feeling significantly different at nighttime. The spark inside of her just didn't feel right without the bright yellow sun shining down upon her and the perfectionist in her was already pulling at the option to postpone it until morning.
"You slightly have a half decent point about waiting until morning to attack. Combine that with us having next to no information about this little island and you've swayed my mind to postpone it."
"Now don't get me wrong, if I had to go and conquer this town in a much weaker state than normal it would cause me very little issue, but the men aboard this ship most likely can't keep up with me."
Iroh had the feeling she was lying and instead cancelled because of the original points he'd made, but decided not to question her judgement and start a fight between them. The last thing he needed was to antagonize his niece who quite possibly had a combat mentality that rivaled him and his brother. A serious fight would obviously get messy and instead of wasting time doing that, it could instead be spent trying to find and retrieve Zuko.
"Right you are, princess," Iroh smiled and yawned again before turning back towards the door leading to his chambers.
"Goodnight, Azula. I suggest you get some rest for tomorrow's mission. You never know what unexpected circumstances may arise and it'd be best to be well rested enough to react and adapt to any thrown your way."
"I'll keep that in mind uncle," Azula responded, still not taking her eyes away from the town.
So she had to wait a few more hours to take another step towards her goal. So be it. Things always went her way and fate seemed to deal her terrific hand after terrific hand that was blessed by Agni herself. This little insignificant town stood no chance against her and when the sun rises, so will her glory. She'll assure anyone who even thinks of standing in her way that might makes right and she is one of the few people who can stand at the top.
Soaring through the skies atop of Appa, Aang had the biggest grin on his face while reminiscing of the past with his friend, Bumi who from all accounts from his stay at Kiyoshi Island had now become the King of Omashu.
"Aang, smiling that hard will eventually cause your face to freeze," Katara worried. "Anyway, are you sure this is the same Bumi from one hundred years ago?" She didn't want him to get his hopes up especially if it turned out his friend was no longer alive. It had been a long time since he's been there and she just wanted to protect him from any more heartbreak if she could manage it.
"Of course it's my Bumi! I doubt anyone else with parents would name their child with such an out of the box name like his," Aang smiled.
"It's gotta be him. I just know it…" He slightly trailed off trying to stifle the small portion of self doubt that was now growing in the back of his mind.
Not wanting to push a clearly sensitive topic, she simply placed a hand on his shoulder and agreed.
"Well, you did mention something about earthbenders living much longer than other people, so maybe he is alive after all this time," Katara offered. "All we can do is wait and see for ourselves, right?"
"Exactly!" Kyojuro interjected.
Kyojuro overhearing their conversation decided to make it known that he was on Aang's side in regards to Bumi potentially still being alive.
"Aang, if you truly believe that this Bumi fellow is still around, then who am I to question the Avatar regarding matters concerning the body not following the guidelines of man's own mortality!"
Going over and embracing Aang in a tight hug, both men heartedly laughed much to Sokka and Zuko's annoyance.
"Do you two really have to be so loud?" Sokka complained.
"You should know by now that those two don't have an off switch. Once they get going it's almost impossible to stop them," Zuko doubled in annoyance.
"Hahaha! Sokka, Zuko, why so gloomy?" Kyojuro asked. "It's only natural that someone gets excited with the thought of being reunited with someone once thought lost!"
Both boys tensed somewhat, Sokka thinking of his mother while Zuko thought of his own.
"I'm not saying you're wrong, but could you do it slightly quieter?" Sokka pleaded.
"Again, you should know that what you're asking for is impossible," Zuko reiterated. "It's best if you just learned to tune it out like I have."
It had been a nerve wracking experience for Zuko, but he'd grown to relax around people he still sees as his enemy. Kyojuro especially made him feel many conflicting feelings whenever the man would try to get him to open up. He hated that. It always made him feel all weird inside and it was a forien concept to someone like him.
Walking over, Kyojuro sat down beside Zuko and Sokka while grabbing them both into a bone crushing hug, "Both of you should learn to open up more! There's nothing weak about showing happy emotions once and a while!"
"Can't….b-breath!" Sokka choked.
Zuko already being somewhat used to this, simply relaxed in the embrace and huffed, waiting until this torture was finally over.
Before much more shenanigans could be had, Appa glided over a final mountain sized hurdle to reveal an entire city built among the mountains themselves.
"Wow...Aang, this place is beautiful," Katara gazed. Since she had only been raised in the South Pole, so many of these sights were nothing short of breathtaking even if it wasn't for most others.
"So this is the Great City of Omashu! Such a beautiful place indeed, Katara!" Kyojuro joined.
"So where are we gonna land? Normally aren't there guards that prevent trespassers from breaking into the city?" Sokka asked.
Aang and Kyojuro both turned their heads towards Sokka with massive grins on their faces.
Uh oh. Why did he get the feeling that something extremely stupid was about to take place.
"Land? We don't have time for any of that!" Kyojuro answered.
"I know Bumi and I'm sure he'll remember me so we aren't gonna land just anywhere…" Aang started before turning back around and forcing Appa to continue to fly past the now angry guards below them.
"We are flying straight into Bumi's place of residence!" Kyojuro finished. Sokka, Katara and Zuko's eyes widened when hearing this absolutely insane plan the two of them had cooked up, most likely when everyone was asleep.
Picking up even more speed, they could see multiple earthbending agents, shooting chunks of rocks at them wanting to bring them out of the sky. Aang maneuvered Appa to avoid all of them while yelling and laughing along with Kyojuro as if this was all just a big game to them. The others who were riding with them however, weren't so amused by this.
"Are you two insane!?" Sokka shouted.
Katars was holding on for dear life as Appa tossed and turned in the air avoiding even more rocks while Zuko did nothing but scowl at the two idiots in his line of sight. Although he'd be lying if he said he wasn't beginning to feel nauseous with the constant movement.
"What is wrong with you two!?" Zuko barked.
"Why waste time going through all those annoying checkpoints and then having to deal with a bunch of snappy old men when we can just bust past all that and go straight to the source!" Aang smiled.
"Hahaha! That's right!" Kyojuro agreed.
Appa flew through the city for a few minutes dodging everything ranging from small chunks of rock to literal boulders being flung at them. "Kyojuro, do you see Bumi's royal palace I told you about?"
He used his enhanced vision to scope the area which wasn't a problem for him even while flying at such a high speed. His eyes spotted a small door that the Kiyoshi warriors had mentioned led to his home and knew that was where they must go.
"It's there!" He pointed straight ahead to a large earth shaped door and as if reading his mind, Aang sped up even more, almost barreling toward it with no sign of stopping.
"We're gonna crash!" Sokka yelled in fear.
"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Kyojuro assured.
He leapt off of Appa and used the momentum they had to double his own speed while cocking his fist back. He brought his fist forward and collided into the stone door, smashing it to pieces allowing everyone else to follow him through without any issue. Landing on the floor in dramatic fashion, Kyojuro gave Aang a bright thumbs up while everyone else on board looked like they all had heart attacks.
Landing Appa along the decorative floor, Aang reunited with Kyojuro who gave him a resounding high five and the two of them smiled at each other as if what they did was perfectly normal.
Crawling out of the saddle and slumping onto the floor, Zuko was livid that these two knuckleheads decided to endanger their lives with such an idiotic stunt. Being from the fire nation inside of an earth kingdom city was bad enough, but if they found out he was the fire nation prince, they'd probably try and kill him.
"Have...you...two... lost your MINDS!?" Zuko ran over and grabbed Kyojuro by the collar and shook him although it looked extremely funny to both Aang and Katara as Kyojuro towered over him.
"Zuko, you must understand our position. We only did this to speed up the process and make sure we had enough time to see this Bumi fellow and find Aang an earthbending teacher!"
He heartedly laughed and placed a hand on Zuko's shoulder, "If you're afraid of the rumors about crushing fire benders hands if captured, think nothing of it as long as I'm here! I'll protect all my pupils, no matter what!" He posed dramatically while spewing nonsense in Zuko's own mind and earned more laughter from Aang and Katara.
Sokka quickly ran up and placed hands on both of their mouths, still weary of the whole situation they were now in.
"Shouldn't we all be a bit more quiet since we just broke in!" He warned. "We should stay quiet, move fast and quickly, find this Bumi guy and then get out of here as soon as possible. The mess we made is surely gonna be costly."
"Eh, I'm not so sure about that," a voice interjected.
They all turned to see a tall, extremely old tan skinned man with a green robe standing before seemingly coming up through the floor itself using earthbending. He had an aloof, jolly and somewhat crazy look on his face and Aang immediately recognized it.
"It's really you," Aang said in disbelief.
"Really who? I have no idea what you're talking about, airbender. I'm just a little old king with a crown that makes my head heavy and a kingdom that I rule with a rocky fist," the old man teased.
"Oh really...well I guess I'll have to go mail sledding with my new friends since you're not my Bumi," Aang desperately wanted him to take the bait.
Almost as if a flip was switched, the old man slightly tensed, but continued as if to keep up this charade Kyojuro could obviously see going on.
"He looks so harmless and senile and yet...he's giving off this aura of someone extremely powerful!" Kyojuro continued to smile at the back and forth conversation the two were having, but kept his guard up in case things turned bad. Whoever this man is, he's clearly above all of them except himself of course. Kyojuro could hold his own, but his pupils stood no chance against this man if his aura was correct.
"C'mon guys!" Aang said while turning away from the old man who looked sad, "I guess we'll leave since this isn't the person I thought it was. The King of Omashu probably is very busy with all sorts of interesting things like paperwork and politics," he said this last portion with extra emphasis.
Before Aang could take another step away from him, waved his arms and stopped him in his tracks using earthbending to bury his feet into the ground. "Hey what's the big idea?" Aang asked, trying to free himself and failing.
The others, save for Zuko and Kyojuro tried to make a dash for Aang, but also found themselves trapped in the earth below them unable to move.
"Stuck...can't get out," Katara pulled on her legs, but alas she was stuck just like her brother who completely gave up on the situation. He wasn't able to run and build up fatigue so his usefulness basically plummeted in his own eyes. Kyojuro would save them though, there was no doubt in his mind about that.
Zuko, seeing an opportunity to flee, took it. He used his firebending and propelled himself backwards, half levitating off the ground dodging the few attempts to catch him.
"You taught me something useful after all…" When they sparred, Kyojuro mentioned that Zuko lacked in mobility and that made him extremely prone to getting caught by attacks that he should have no problem of dodging. He took inspiration from his sister who used this quite a lot when they fought each other during fire bending practice, but he lacked the amount of spark she needed to pull this off consistently so for now, only using it in spurts was the best option available to him.
"Zuko! You are actually using the technique from our training efficiently! Hahaha! I knew my pupil could do it!"
"Of course…" Kyojuro himself dashed forward, grabbed him and plopped him in front of the others and allowed Bumi to place both of their feet into the ground.
"What the heck was that for!?" Zuko snapped. Was he insane? Why did he get both of them caught?
"I hoped you weren't trying to skip out on our bet. You have to land five consecutive hits on me to gain your freedom. Running away does nothing but earn you more training and from the shakiness of your technique, it seems like you could use it!"
Kyojuro lifted his feet from the ground kicking up specks of rock and dirt everywhere which brought a confused look to Bumi's face.
"How did you do that? Are you an earthbender too?" the old man asked, confused as to how he escaped.
"No, nothing of the sort! I simply pulled my feet out of the ground! Nothing more, nothing less!" Kyojuro boomed.
"Interesting," the old man responded. He removed his robe and readied his stance with a smile on his face.
"This should be fun. You seem quite strong for someone who looks like a chicken," he snorted.
"I look nothing of the sort!" Kyojuro jabbed. "You may be a friend of Aang's but I cannot allow you to imprison them for something so minor!"
"Minor? I doubt barging into my home and trashing it could be considered minor, don't you think?"
"Hmm, I suppose you're right about that…" Kyojuro removed his sword, kneeled down and placed his head along the ground.
"Forgive us for intruding, but my pupil desperately wanted to see a man named Bumi who he believes is his long lost friend! If you are truly not that person then I alone take full responsibility for the damage we've caused here today and will accept any punishment available."
"However!"
"I ask that you acknowledge whether or not you are the person he's been searching for!"
The old man watched with bated breath at the very odd scene before him. Many thoughts ran through his head before a much simpler one broke through the rest. He laughed. He laughed and laughed and laughed until tears came out of his eyes and he fell on his back laughing.
Slowly everyone who had their legs trapped, slowly rose back up through the floor and sighed in relief of being able to move again.
Finally catching his breath, he made another motion of his hand and Aang sank through the floor before popping up near the old man. He looked down and snorted before responding.
"You always did attract the strangest company, Avatar."
Aang took a moment to understand what he meant before breaking in a massive smile. He leapt into the man's arms in pure happiness.
"It's really you! Isn't it Bumi?"
"It's been such a long time, Aang...I've missed you."
The embrace became deeper and deeper as both men reminiscenced of the fond memories they had of each other and savored the reunion for as long as they could.
"Where are my manners?" Bumi released a very emotional Aang before diving through the floor and popping up between the others.
"My name is Bumi and I am the man Aang was looking for. Of course I definitely might have aged a few years since he's been away," he snorted.
"I kinda figured that when you two got all teary eyed over there," Sokka responded before being elbowed in the side by Katara.
"Goodness, where are my manners? Please come along and join me for a feast! I'll have my chefs cook up the finest foods imaginable for my long lost friends and his guests."
Leading them away to the dining hall, Bumi gauged Kyojuro before continuing to guide them to their location. Kyojuro didn't miss the way he tried to watch him while they walked, but decided to leave well enough alone for Aang's sake as this was his friend and any friend of his pupil is a friend of his.
"The sun has finally come up. Now the fun can begin," Azula said to nobody but herself. Taking a moment to let the sunlight bathe upon her, she summoned the spark of blue flames which felt far different from last night. The way they danced around her palm felt livelier and stronger than then and she knew the right choice had been made. It seems like her uncle had more uses than just serving terrible tea and spewing worthless riddles.
Annoyed that she still has yet to see the man who supposedly was going to follow her into battle, she felt her nerves grow hectic and her anger began to rise. "Can somebody please wake up my bumbling Uncle so we can get today's plan underway?" she barked at the soldiers behind her.
"Yes, mam!" They all nearly ran towards the door hoping to reach Iroh before Azula tossed them overboard for incompetence.
"Is everyone around here a moron?" She rubbed her temples in annoyance. Finally her dear Uncle wandered out to the deck in his normal clothing as if he completely forgot about what they were supposed to be doing.
"Why aren't you dressed?" Azula asked. "We move on this town in ten minutes."
He simply sat on the deck and began pouring some tea to calm his mind for what was sure to be an insightful day to say the least. Iroh always could tell when things would become complicated for him.
"It seems my niece has forgotten about my own firebending abilities and status," Iroh chuckled. "I could go out completely naked and still conquer this town without breaking a sweat. Although I wonder how I would feel moving around with no clothes on at all-"
"Alright that's enough!" Azula clearly didn't want the mental image of her Uncle running around shooting fire at people naked.
"Just...get ready to move and follow my command," she ordered. Smirking again, she eyed the town in front of her and signaled her troops to begin the operation. Moving on both sides, soldiers moved to both sides of the village where they slowly got into position for an ambush.
The few remaining on the ships had stationed the Komodo Rhinos along the outskirts of the village where Azula then commanded them to go and retrieve so they had an animal to ride into the village on.
Finally she looked at her uncle who, for all intents and purposes, she planned on leaving on the ship. He used to be such a capable man among the fire nation generals, but now he was nothing more than a fool who'd only get in her way.
"You'll be staying here. I need someone to guard the ship," Azula lied.
Iroh was no fool and knew exactly why she didn't want him tagging along for this little plan she formulated. That was fine as that meant he had more time with his tea, pai sho set and to figure out just where in the hell his nephew could be. If things turned sour, he'd step in to save her neck, but Iroh understood from personal experience that sometimes, it's best to just let this shit play out.
"I will guard this ship like my life depends on it, princess. I only ask that you try and keep the casualties to a minimum. There's no need to terrorize these people if they give you what you want."
"Putting fear into their hearts means that they won't lie to me when I ask them the hard questions and secrets they don't want getting out. As long as they follow my rules and answer all my questions, they'll be fine."
"But if they decide they want to fight back and put up meager resistance efforts…" Azule smiled and summoned a small sharp flame from her finger tip, "Then I will show them no mercy."
Suki had woken up extremely early once again and had been training her Serpent Breathing along with Total Concentration Breathing and suffice to say, she wasn't making the kind of progress she thought she would've. Attempting to replicate that feeling was damn near impossible and as it'd only been a day since Kyojuro originally left, she didn't have anyone else to show and coach her through everything.
"Damn it! What am I doing wrong?" She threw her fans on the ground in frustration and sighed. "Kyojuro made everything look so easy, so why can't I just do what he told me?"
In actuality, the only thing Kyojuro had shown her was his Flame Breathing and how it felt for him when using it. Sokka was another case altogether just like her. Different breathing techniques require different steps to get them to work and for her, this was something she'd unfortunately have to figure out on her own.
"No use in pouting. Gotta get up and try again. At least that's what the big guy would be telling me," Suki smiled a bit when reminding herself of how bright and cheery Kyojuro normally was. It'd only been a day, but she already missed his enthusiasm.
Standing up and dusting herself off, she picked up her fans and started the motions again, but screams coming from her village along with what sounded like flames, forced her to drop what she was doing and rush over to where she was needed.
"What the heck is going on?" she thought.
Upon arriving back to the village, she saw flames spreading everywhere at a rapid pace, civilians lined up with fire nation soldiers surrounding them with weapons in hand. "Not good...how did they even get here so quickly?" Hiding away before she could be seen, she looked for signs that her warriors were okay and unharmed. She needed them to be ready to fight these invaders back and if necessary, eliminate them at all costs. Her people came first and foremost over the lives of people willing to harm others as easily as they breath.
She dashed behind and through houses with swiftness and elegance, while keeping her eyes peeled for enemies and allies. The flames grew hotter and larger the longer she waited for her counterstrike and unfortunately for her, she didn't see any of her allies. Stopping to catch her breath and think about the situation she was in. She heard one of her sisters scream and without hesitation she dashed over to where the sound came from only to see a shocked sight with her own two eyes.
"So, are you the last of these female fighters I heard so much information about?" the woman before her smirked.
"Let my people go. I won't ask you again," Suki responded while taking her stance. "Focus, Suki, Focus. This girl means business and I can tell she's strong." The woman in question leapt off the Komodo Rhino and landed among the defeated bodies of her sisters.
She just hoped that they were still alive.
"You know I only was going to ask them a few questions, but they insisted on resisting," Azula shook her head and slinked along the bodies as if they were nothing but obstacles to her which pissed Suki off to watch, "Unfortunately, they were so weak that they barely put up any sort of a fight. Don't tell me you're planning on joining these weaklings."
"Things didn't have to be this way. All they had to do was be obedient and do as I say, but they wanted to play the hero so I had to play the villain to keep them entertained."
She squatted down and grabbed ahold of one of her sisters and lifted a flame to her face, threatening Suki to make a move. "If I wanted you all dead, then you'd be dead by now. You must know that, right?" She released her and stood back up smirking again which continued to piss Suki off.
"What's with this chick?" Suki lowered her fans seeing she didn't have much of a choice and the only thing she could do at this point was simply watch as Azula continued to walk over to her.
"I broke all your friends here, don't tell me you want to be next? If you answer a few of my questions, then we can be on our way and your friends can begin healing whatever it is I've broken."
"Fine. What do you wanna know?" Suki reluctantly asked.
"Where did the Avatar and his companions headed and what purpose did they see in coming here?" Azuka responded. "Answer these questions and this will be over before you know it."
"Oh and if you're thinking of lying to me, I'd probably reconsider doing that when I saw them fly away from here with my own two eyes. Combine that with the odds of me potentially killing your sisters for you trying to lie and now you can answer with hopefully the truth."
"She saw that." Suki mentally kicked herself, but didn't let it show on her face that she was sweating bullets over the fact that she saw them leave. Now unless she wanted to really risk their lives, she had no choice but to tell the truth.
"The Avatar and his companions stopped by here for a few days to restock on food and rest."
"Really is that all? Nothing else?" Azula pushed.
"If I knew more I'd tell you," Suki pushed back. Of course omitting Kyojuro training them wasn't a detail she was about to give away when it might actually be the thing able to get her out of this predicament.
"Well we'll just have to see whether or not your info checks out. Moving on-"
Suki eyed one of her sisters moving quietly from the side of a house along with two others to her right and Suki could put two and two together.
"She didn't get all of us. Good. Now we can begin our own little ambush," She smirked to herself before making eye contact with Azula who seemingly paid no attention to anything she was doing. Instead she was in her own little world bragging about how smart this plan of hers was and how grateful she should be that the fire nation princess herself graced them with her presence today. Fine, if that's the way it's gonna be then, it looks like it's time to show why the Kiyoshi Warriors protect this island and have continued to protect it for centuries.
Plus it'll be fun wiping the smirk off this girl's face. She was almost as bad as Sokka.
"How's the food, everyone?" Bumi was watching as everyone dug into the food as if it was the best thing they'd ever eaten. To be fair it was most likely the best thing they'd ever eaten as he personally made sure the chefs brought their A game and cooked the finest and most expensive items Omashu had available.
Sokka was tearing through multiple plates, Katara simply ate normally, Zuko grumpily took bite after bite still pissed that Kyojuro foiled yet another one of his escape plans in such a humiliating fashion while Kyojuro and Aang spent their time playing with their food instead of eating it.
"Aang what on earth am I eating? It's absolutely delicious!" Kyojuro said with his mouth full.
"I have no idea, but whatever it is, I want seconds," Aang happily answered.
Both men scarfed down food like no tomorrow even out pacing Sokka who was supposedly the glutton of the group.
Kyojuro moved over to the desert and grabbed a plate of cake before taking a bite of it. His eyes lit up in excitement as it, in all honesty, might even taste better than the sweets Mitsuri used to bake for him.
"Tasty!" He took another bite.
"Tasty!" He repeated as he took another bite.
"Tasty!" He continued as he finished it off and picked up another piece to fill his stomach.
Aang looked confused as to what he was doing, but decided to join in nonetheless seeing Kyojuro enjoy the sweets this much.
"Tasty!, Tasty!, Tasty!, Tasty!, Tasty!, Tasty!, Tasty!, Tasty!" Aang and Kyojuro repeated in sync.
Bumi did nothing, but snort in laughter while Zuko and Sokka groaned in annoyance at the far too loud display they were putting on. Katara just found it sweet that Aang wanted to emulate Kyojuro to such a degree.
"Tasty!" They both shouted before finishing their slices of cake with hearty smiles on their faces.
"More please!" They cried.
"*Snort* Well who am I to deny my guests requests when they enjoy our food so much," Bumi said. He clapped his hands and turned backwards as if to summon someone.
"Now where or where could my pupil be? I told him to stay close as he'd be helping serve food, but it seems like he's gotten away from me again," Bumi sighed.
"Sorry sir," Someone said. They couldn't tell, but it sounded like they were coming from the walls themselves. "I just wanted to keep an eye on these people as I don't trust them. If you feel capable enough to eat with them then I guess they're ok."
Dislodging himself from the ceiling, he landed near Bumi and immediately bowed to everyone at the table.
Staring at everyone in silence, Bumi nudged him hoping he'd introduce himself. Suffice to say, the boy had no intention of doing anything of the sort and instead, started to walk away. Bumi frowned and used earthbending, to move the floor tiles in a way that basically forced him back in the same spot he attempted to leave from.
"Now, now, where are your manners, boy?" Bumi teased. "I expect you to at the very least introduce yourself before going back to brooding. All that angst isn't healthy for someone so young, you know?"
The boy clicked his teeth and bowed his head before introducing himself, "My name is Haru. I am happy to meet all of you." He lifted his head and gave Bumi a look before turning away in annoyance and anger. "If you'll excuse me, I have better things to do than chit chat with these people."
"Jeez, what's his deal?" Sokka asked. "If he doesn't wanna talk to us, he doesn't have to."
"Don't mind Haru," Bumi tried. "He's just...still processing a few things and I try my best to give him space while including him with socializing. He's had it pretty hard this past year."
"What do you mean?" Katara asked.
"Well...I don't know if it's my place to tell his business, but it is my place as the King of Omashu to inform the Avatar of any changes that I come across in an already tumultuous world. Physical or Spirit related…"
"Haru came to me about a year ago, when he showed up at my doorstep covered in blood and with a horrified and dark look on his face."
Everyone at the table grew cold and tense when imagining just why an earth kingdom boy may have showed up looking like that. Each of them came to different conclusions, but the answer, no matter what, wasn't pleasant.
"When we calmed him down and asked him what happened, the only response we could get out of him was, "Demon". We figured that a fire nation soldier had burned down his village, killing everyone there, but when we asked him about this, "Demon", Haru started spouting absurd claims like this soldier was eating the corpses and snarling like an animal. It didn't make any sense, but Haru was adamant that's what he saw."
Kyojuro dropped his plate on the table and leaned forward as if he'd seen a ghost. A ghost that in theory shouldn't exist here, but to his confusion, he's hearing from someone not from his own world give a recollection of what a demon normally does when eating humans. "This can't be! He must be mistaken! There is no way a demon managed to follow me back here, right?"
Everyone at the table didn't miss his posture and demeanor change to one of extreme stress and seriousness.
"It was such an odd detail to add that I almost didn't believe him…"
"After I calmed the boy down and he was well enough to fall asleep without having night terrors, I dispatched some of my soldiers to investigate the area to see just how bad the damage this soldier had caused and to say what we discovered was horrifying was an understatement."
"Severed corpses scattered across the ground, blood and guts splattered everywhere and to top it off, everything was charred. It was burned to such an extent that attempting to identify the bodies was a futile effort. Whoever did this was surely powerful enough that their flames didn't leave much to be discovered. Now this wasn't the oddest thing we found, however, that would be for Haru to inform you."
"It seems like he's been listening in," Bumi said.
"Do you always go around telling people about my past!" Haru exploded through the floor, grabbing Bumi by the collar and yanked him forward angrily, "You have no right to tell these people that!"
"I know you must feel extremely agitated, but this boy is the Avatar and he may be able to discover just what exactly happened that day," Bumi offered. "If he can't then what chance do you think we have of finding the person responsible."
"That's-"
"Please, let him go and tell me about this odd thing you noticed. I may be inexperienced, but I'm still the Avatar and I'm sure I should be able to tell you something," Aang broke.
"I mean...It's not…" Bumi placed a hand on Haru's shoulder, calming him down and forcing the boy to take a deep breath and a seat at the table. "When...when that monster was burning down my village, I saw him…"
"I saw him…" Haru felt tears welling up, but forced them down as he'd done enough crying over this incident already. He would only cry again once the monster in question was killed.
"He steeled himself and looked Aang straight in the eyes, "He was eating the corpses of the villagers."
"What!?" Kyojuro shot out of his chair, exasperated. "What do you mean he was eating them?"
"It's not hard to comprehend! I saw that monster-no that Demon taking chunks out of their bodies as I ran away hoping he wouldn't kill me next."
"I was a coward and when he made his way over to me after he had finished eating, he smiled at me before walking away as if this was nothing more than a simple errand for him! Damn it! Damn him!" Haru got louder and stood up from the table.
"I don't know if you can help me Avatar, but I promised my mother before she died to all the burns she had accumulated that I would avenge her! I will not fail and if you cannot help me then so be it!" He walked away from the table leaving everyone else stunned about the claim he had made.
"A soldier eating people? That's insane…" Katara grew nauseous, imagining what type of person would be capable of such a thing.
Zuko sat quietly, but racked his brain trying to make sense of what he heard coming from Haru's mouth. He eventually came to realize that maybe his people weren't completely truthful about their involvement in the way, but believing that one of their own is a cannibal was far too much to handle.
Sokka knew the fire nation was full of monsters, but he'd never heard of them eating people whole. "That's sick even for them," He said, not meaning for it ever really come out.
Inside of his own headspace, Kyojuro was being sent in a frenzy trying to rack his brain for some sort of answer to the now many questions he had for the boy. Why here? Why now did they show themselves if they really were here and have been for all this time? How come they've been so quiet? Did my appearance give them a chance to be brought here as well and if so, did I just get an entire group of people killed?
Eventually his mind drifted over to Agni remembering her talking about trying to keep something back. She seemed extremely worried and didn't want Kyojuro to know what she was doing, but it seems like he now knew what it was she was so fearful of. "If Demons have really invaded this world then I don't have even a second to waste messing around! I need to go and-"
"That has to be spirit related," Aang said. "Maybe he saw a fire spirit and that's what destroyed his town. Although that doesn't really explain why he attacked that village in particular."
"In all honesty, I'm not so sure either. Spirit related issues are normally dealt with by you, but something about this just doesn't sit right with me," Bumi said. He stroked his beard with a curious expression, "Maybe it'd be best if you all had a look for yourselves at the horrors we investigated firsthand. I don't understand what sort of fire this spirit possessed, but the flames burned so bright that the fauna and environment never regrew around them, leaving constant scorch marks everywhere."
"Yes we should leave immediately to go investigate!" Kyojuro hurriedly got out of his seat and sped off toward Appa leaving everyone confused as to why he was so eager to see everything first hand. Katara who had noticed him acting weird the entire conversation decided to keep quiet and continue to observe him.
"Kyojuro, just what are you hiding from us? What aren't you saying?" She figured whatever he was hiding from them must be important enough that it'd make a motor mouth like him short for words which was a rarity in and of itself.
They all left the dining hall and made their way over to where Appa was stationed.
"Haru, are you sure you don't want to join us?" Bumi asked.
"I have no reason to set foot in that place. There's nothing left for me there anyway…" He turned away and left which made Bumi wince. He reached out in an attempt to stop Haru, but was interrupted by Kyojuro who impatiently rushed them to leave.
"We do not have time to deal with him! We need to get moving!" Kyojuro stated. "King Bumi, I understand your feelings towards this young man, but if he doesn't wish to investigate further then leave the rest to me!"
"Doesn't he mean us?" Katara wondered.
"Sorry, you're right, Kyojuro. If Haru doesn't wish to go then I cannot in good conscience force him along. We should hurry before sundown. A king being away from his castle for so long wouldn't be good for my health," Bumi snorted.
Appa lifted them off the ground before taking off towards the town Haru was originally from to see what sort of clues they may be able to find a full year later. Kyojuro bit his lip in silence as his anxiety was skyrocketing. If Demons had made their way over to this world as well, then it was now his duty to stop them. He prayed that this wasn't the case.
Continuing to stare each other down, both women didn't so much as take another step towards each other, knowing that the other could strike at any moment. Her warriors slinked around slowly incapacitating soldiers guarding the area while Suki grabbed hold of her fans in anticipation to strike.
"So what'll it be? Surrender and live to see another day…" Azula opened her hand, summoning her signature blue flames once again and smirking, "Or will you perish? Your choice," She shrugged.
Suki took her stance before answering, "How about neither?"
She dashed towards Azula who instinctively shot forward a small fireblast anticipating such a straightforward attack. Suki dodged this by a hair and continued forward, taking a few glancing swipes at her and missing all of them. Azula jumped backwards and shot another small blue fire blast at Suki who dodged it no problem, but failed to notice Azula shooting forward and punching her in the face causing her to stumble.
"You don't seem so skilled for someone who's supposed to be a leader," Azula jeered.
She followed up with small flurries of fire infused punches and kicks which Suki was having a hard time dodging or blocking for that matter. "Hot, hot, hot!" Suki attempted to jump backwards to minimize the potential burn damage and was swiftly spin kicked in the ribs causing her to stumble.
Not one to give an opponent time to breath, Azula kicked forward sending more fire blasts her direction causing her to stumble. Azula spin kicked her legs from under her causing her to completely fall and cough as the impact hit her hard. "Aw, it's not too late to quit. I promise I won't hold it against you if you decide you've had enough."
"Screw you!" Suki shouted before kicking back up and making another dash at the princess. Azula dodged everything that was being thrown at her with next to no effort while simultaneously taking pot shots at Suki every chance she got.
"Really, this is almost-," Azule ducked under a punch and delivered a swift kick to the jaw and leapt backwards, "Embarrassing."
"Damn it, why can't I fight like Kyojuro...at the rate I'm fighting, I'll lose without landing a significant hit on her. Think, Suki, Think!"
The other Kiyoshi warriors decided they'd seen enough and leapt into action, somewhat catching Azula off guard. The few members remaining swiped at her hoping to at least injure her to slow her down, but it was all for nought as she began handling them the same way she was doing to Suki.
"Did you think trying to ambush me with fighters of this caliber was going to make a difference? Ha! Don't make me laugh." Azula took them on with combination strikes infused with her blue flames that were blowing them away like nothing. She was ready for anything and would not be denied her victory against mere peasants today.
"Is there anything I can do?" Suki pondered while watching her sisters take a thrashing from Azula who wasn't even breaking a sweat. The toll this fight was taking on them quickly caught up as eventually the members who went down, stayed down as Azula completely wore them out to absolute exhaustion.
"Wait…" Her mind went into overdrive trying to remember the feeling she had against Sokka and the technique Kyojuro wanted her to learn.
Flashback
"Suki, I acknowledge your potential as my student and your potential for growth exceeds that of your sisters. But! There is a fundamental aspect of Serpent Breathing you aren't understanding!"
"And what would that be?"
"It's simple! You cannot simply stand still and wait for an opportunity to strike. Instead you have to take whatever chance you have and attack with full force!"
"But that's what I'm already doing. Why is Serpent Breathing different from our normal fighting style?"
"Serpent Breathing is one of immense patience, but also one of the more proactive styles to master! Understanding Total Concentration Breathing is a key factor to understanding it entirely and without one, you cannot and will not be able to master it entirely. The way you fight is one of constant movement and using an opponent's movement against them however when utilizing Serpent Breathing, one cannot simply wait for an opponent to strike to change the tides, you must move like a slithering snake and take any chance you get to strike!"
"Did what I say make some sort of sense?" Kyojuro asked.
"I think so, but how am I supposed to learn anything when I can't enter the state I was in normally."
"I believe I have an answer to that. Similar to Sokka, I noticed how focused you were and the moment you went into that zone of yours, the technique flowed from you like water itself! In order to replicate that feeling, your focus and concentration must be at an all time high!"
"So basically you're telling me that I need to constantly focus while I'm fighting and hopefully, somehow, someway, I should be able to temporarily tap into that feeling again?"
"Exactly!"
"Hmmm, seems simple enough," She responded.
"Great! Now until you get the hand of Total Concentration Breathing, I wanted to teach you something that both utilizes your fans and body! You will be developing something that I'm sure will come in handy if you're fighting a fire bender whose flames exceed the capacity to be near and will also buy you a few seconds to counterstrike and finish them!"
He unsheathed his sword and flames danced around them, catching Suki off guard. "Kyojuro, you're a firebender!?" She tensed slightly, but the warmness she felt from him caused her to calm down instantly.
"Yes I guess you could call me that! Although I don't ever use my flames against the innocent, so I hold the right to refuse any association with the nation of demons called the fire nation!"
"More importantly, we'll be training using my own flames and I will drill this technique hundreds no thousands of times until you get it right!" He smiled and readied his stance.
"Here I come!"
"Wait!" Suki shouted. "Aren't you supposed to teach me the technique first?"
"Hahaha! Actually you'll be developing your technique entirely on your own! I will only be using my flames to attack you until you figure out something to counter them! I hope you're ready because until you figure that something out, I'll continue to attack you until sundown!"
"It's still morning! You can't be serious!" Suki dreaded.
"Hahaha! I'm afraid so! Ready yourself, here I come!"
She motioned for the final two warriors still fighting Azula to hold out just a little longer. If everything went well, she'd finish things off in a single strike. If it failed...then I guess she'd be captured and most likely covered in burns.
"All or nothing, huh Suki," She grimaced.
Grabbing her fans and rushing forward, her warriors saw what she was attempting to do and continued their assault on Azula hoping that the window of opportunity that Suki needed would appear.
"It seems you people are just as thick headed as you are dull. I'm through playing games," Azula strengthened her flames and a large conglomerate of fire out indiscriminately, hitting the remaining warriors, sending them crashing into walls around them.
She smirked as Suki finally entered her range with a calm and focused look covering her face. "What? No more spunk left in you?" She teased while throwing a flurry of fire attacks at Suki who didn't even utter a verbal response to the girl.
"Focus, Focus, Focus, Focus, Focus, Focus, Focus, Focus," She chanted repeatedly trying to enter the zone again. Keeping her movement at a steady rhythm, she decided to leap into the fire so to speak which put her in even more danger as now Azula barely had to extend any fire to hit her. Feeling the flames touch her skin did very little to deter Suki who continued to chant internally and looked for any available opportunities to finish this woman off before her body gave out first.
"This is getting tiresome. If all you're going to do is circle me and dodge then I'll simply wrap this up. You are boring me." Azula gathered her flames and prepared to end this farce of a fight that was taking far too much of her time already. Suki didn't miss the way her body slightly changed and she could feel her opportunity had finally shone through.
"Don't blame me if you end up a charred corpse," Azula spat.
"I've gotta take it! It's my only chance!"
Azula expelled her flames outward and as strange as it was for Suki, such flames didn't hit her. Her focus was beyond the limits she'd exhibited in training and maybe it was the adrenaline or something else entirely, she wasn't exactly sure, but her body moved on its own in reaction to the attack. Like a hidden instinct had kicked in for her.
Much faster than the flames could burn her, her arms moved at an angle and faster than the eye could see. She could feel it. The same feeling she felt all the way back when she knocked out Sokka. She could never fully pull this move off in training, but whatever factors were in play currently, were most definitely in her favor.
Serpent Breathing, First Form…, Suki flurried her fans in such a way that it caused the massive wave of flames in front of her to completely dissipate into the air, "Flurry Of The Venomous Snake!"
The moment the flames dissipated, Suki launched herself forward while dropping her fans and cocking her entire arm back. Kyojuro told her this attack was better launched from behind, but as the leader of the Kiyoshi warriors, what sort of example would she set if she took out her enemy like that.
Serpent Breathing, Second Form...
Faster than Azula could react too, Suki had already entered her range and pulled her entire arm forward and struck.
"Visualize your entire body as a snake and strike!"
"Kiyoshi Lariat!, Suki's entire arm along with her body weight crashed into Azula's face sending her flying backwards. The devastating attack completely knocked her unconscious and just before her body was about to hit the side of a building, Iroh swooped in and caught her.
Unbeknownst to them, he had observed the entire affair from afar wanting to see how his niece's arrogance would come back to bite her. Suffice to say he wasn't surprised by the outcome, but this Kiyoshi Warrior who managed to beat someone as skilled as his niece was someone to be very wary of. Even if he believed he would have no issue dealing with her, the condition Azula was in took priority over conquering this village.
"When she awakens and realizes she has lost, my niece will not be happy. Not in the slightest."
Before Suki could make a move for them, Iroh was already retreating and the many stationed soldiers around the village were following his signal to leave. It was confusing to many of the people why they seemingly just gave up after causing all this havok, but in actuality Iroh had no plan on staying here for long. He wanted to go back to searching for Zuko and these people did nothing to earn the wrath of Azula or his people. Azula may not like it, but then again she wasn't awake to stop him.
"S-stop! Don't run away-" Trying to move forward was a mistake as her body was already much past its limits and the use of Serpent Breathing along with Total Concentration Breathing for the short time it was used, had basically ruined her body. It was beginning to shut down on her and she collapsed on the ground with the rest of her sisters.
She tried to get back up, but she couldn't even move a muscle. Her eyes began to close and she could feel her consciousness start to slip away from her. The last thing in her vision was Iroh running away with Azula in his arms as her nose was gushing blood.
"Looks like I won…" Suki smiled to herself before closing her eyes, finally giving in to her body's demands and couldn't bear witness to the fire nation scurrying away to their ships. The last thought crossing her mind was of Kyojuro and what kind of face he would've made if he saw her pull off two techniques back to back.
Reaching Haru's village only took a few hours, but to say that it was deserted wasn't even an accurate description. The jet black scorch marks still covered the lands as if they had cursed the earth themselves to never be able to heal again. It looked horrible to Kyojuro and the others as they grimaced thinking about the scene that must've transpired here for this to happen.
"How awful…" Kyojuro looked over the land and his heartbeat just wouldn't calm down. Why? It was asif he was in a nightmare he thought he escaped from, but instead just pushed it onto others. This wasn't right. This wasn't right at all.
Landing Appa and everyone stepped out of the saddle, they slowly trekked their way through the remnants of Haru's village in search of some answers to the questions building within them. Was it really spirit related as Aang thought or was it demon related like Kyojuro suspected. One way or another, the answer had to be hidden here somewhere.
"Do you guys see anything?" Katara asked.
"No, nothing other than burn marks everywhere. Seriously! What kind of firebender is able to do this?" Sokka wondered in disbelief. Even for someone who wasn't big on spirits, a sight like this would make even a non believer wonder.
"Maybe we aren't looking hard enough," Aang chipped in. Looking around and deciding it'd be better if he gained a birds eye view, he opened his glider and soared through the air hoping to spot something that would help them out.
"Aang do you see anything?" Kyojuro shouted to him.
He looked around before spotting something to his right. A small house on the ground that remained stable somewhat even as the flames ravaged through it. "Yeah, head to your right and follow me!"
Aang dropped in front of the damaged house and waited for the others to arrive. Once they got there, he tried to reach for the door to go inside, but was stopped by Kyojuro who grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back.
"Stop! Do not open that door!" Kyojuro insisted. He moved forward and pulled his sword out which confused everyone around him.
"Kyojuro, what are you doing? There is nobody inside that house. It's basically falling apart," Katara tried.
"Yeah, what's the big idea," Sokka said.
"Do you all trust me? Yes or no?" Kyojuro asked with a slight seriousness, riding his tone.
"Of course we do," Katara answered.
"I mean all of you," Kyojuro looked at Zuko, still unsure just what was going through the boy's head.
"Why's he asking me? What do I care…", Zuko thought. He hadn't known Kyojuro for long and couldn't stand being around him for extended periods of time, but he'd be lying if he said the man if nothing else was honorable.
"Hmph, sure whatever, I guess," Zuko huffed.
"Then all of you must stay outside! If my hunch is correct then the thing responsible for this could kill all of you without a second thought. Bumi! Please stand guard outside while I inspect the contents of this house!"
"I'll be honest and say I don't see the reason why we can't follow you inside of this house, but from the short time I've interacted with you, you have been nothing, but honorable and respectful to me and I haven't felt even a hint of wrongdoing within you. As long as you promise to report anything you find inside of this house, I will allow it," Bumi relented.
"Yes, sir! You have my word!" Kyojuro boomed.
He walked inside and closed the door behind him, immediately noticing something that made his heart drop to his stomach almost instantly. Skeletal remains trailed along the floor. They were scattered everywhere and it heavily reminded his excursions to towns that had been ravaged by demons from his own world.
Upon closer inspection, the heart that had dropped to his stomach was now making its way to the floor and his blood began to boil.
"This is…" He could barely force the thought into his head. This was cruel. Unnecessarily cruel indeed.
He kneeled down beside a small skull that greatly resembled a small child's and he grew even more numb than he already was, "This is a small child's skull.." Veins began to pop up around his head signifying he was greatly upset at this revelation. He moved it slightly from the floor and whatever feelings he had about the current situation were now tripled as there was no doubt in his mind that this was the work of a demon.
The demon in question had bitten clean through the back of the child's skull, killing him instantly. "What an awful, awful way to die!" He could only imagine the terror in this child's last moments before being killed in such a horrific way.
"There's no doubt about it. Demons exist here…" For the past two years he's been here, he had been relaxing in the South Pole while people were being slaughtered like they were mere cattle.
"What have I been doing all this time? What was the point of wasting my time half way across the world if I was needed in places like this too!" His mind wandered over to Agni and he remembered her wanting to hide something from him the last time they spoke. Was this what she was talking about?
He knew he needed to speak with her and regardless of how she felt about the situation, Kyojuro needed answers and he needed them quickly. Lives were being lost at an extraordinary rate and as the Flame Pillar, every death and counting was on his head. And that made Kyojuro feel like he was the worst person alive.
Send a small prayer out for Kyojuro's mental health. You just know someone as big hearted as him must feel like absolute shit because in his mind, HE should've been here to stop demons from killing people. I don't really have much else to add here other than getting ready to write one of the most important chapters Book 1. Jet is coming up next chapter and it will be a point of no return type deal where the plot will really start to take shape.
PS: Suki is now 2-0 against people who look down on her lmao.