Disclaimer: I don't own AtLA.
Hey, I'm alive! Sorry updates are taking so long, but education must come first unfortunately. I'm doing my best, but this is just a filler chapter. I'll try and have the next one up around Christmas.
BTW: Anako was a city in the Earth Kingdom that was sacked in the beginning of the war, with the entire population wiped out, the women assaulted before being killed.
Read, enjoy and review!
Chapter Eighteen
Arrival at Agna Qel'a
The North Pole; Rìyàorì (Sunday) 17th, zōuyuè (Dec, Win)
Asha was dreaming. She dreamed one of her reoccurring dreams, that she was in the Earth Throne Room, watching a snake strangle a bear to death before flames consumed the room. Then it changed to watching the moon go dark as the city of Agna Qel'a was drowned in blood and screams. Then it changed again, this time to her oldest, most terrifying, re-occurring dream.
A map of the world filled her vision. As she watched, a dark voice that sent shudders down her spine whispered something she could not hear, and black fire crept rapidly out of the Fire Nation and towards the Air Temples, burning them, before it spread out to crawl across the rest of the world, destroying everything it touched and making the evil voice laugh a cruel laugh. Then the scene changed a second time. This time she was hovering just above the floor in a room decorated in reds and blacks and golds. A beautiful sea could be seen from the balcony. A young woman, perhaps five and twenty years old, kneeled at a shrine to Agni. She had dark hair and wore a Consort's tiara around her topknot.
"Give me strength, Great Agni," the woman prayed in Fire Speech. "Give me strength to do what I must, to protect the world my grandfather defended, and to save my children from becoming monsters like their father and their paternal kin."
Asha blinked slowly, feeling distant and aloof from the woman she watched. She floated after the woman when she stood and walked out the door, two burly guards with their faces hidden behind the demonic helmets now worn by the Fire army falling into step behind her.
The woman walked down the hall and entered a nursery, where a toddler and an infant were being watched over by a stern looking woman whose topknot was the colour of steel. She curtsied with a subtle sneer and left when the princess consort dismissed her, leaving the princess alone with the children Asha assumed were her own.
There was a broken edge to the woman's smile as she embraced her babbling baby, nodding along and making noises of interest and encouragement as he chattered away.
"Zuko," the woman said when he finally fell silent, kneeling in front of him. "You know Mama loves you and your sister, do you not?"
Zuko nodded eagerly. "And I love Mama and 'Zula," he declared proudly. The princess smiled sadly, stroking the side of his face.
"You would do so much good if raised away from them," she said, almost to herself. "But I cannot stand back and watch them make you and my daughter into weapons for their cursed war. Spirits forgive me my sins."
"Mama?" Zuko asked in confusion. The princess forced a smile and reached out to pluck him up and settle him on her hip. Then she went over to the cradle and picked up the silent baby, who cooed at her. The woman pressed kisses to the tops of their heads, then made her way to the balcony, opening the door with her foot.
"Mama, wha's goin' on?" The toddler lisped, sounding curious but unafraid. He trusted his mother utterly. The woman let out a sigh as she gazed down at the sea.
"We are going to free ourselves, my precious boy," she breathed. She looked up and met Asha's eyes. "Avenge us, Avatar," she pled. "Remember our names; Ursa, Zuko and Azula. Remember the name of my mother, Liena, who died from mistreatment at the Boiling Rock. Avenge the innocents lost to the greed of the Kotsunagas!"
"I will," Asha promised, her numbness fading into horror. She could not look away as Ursa smiled, then flung herself and her children over the edge of the balcony to their deaths, gaining the only freedom she could for herself and her children.
Asha awoke with a scream on her lips and tears on her cheeks.
They had arrived. After weeks of travel, struggling to stay a step ahead of the Fire Nation and Admiral Zhao, the Avatar and her liegemen had at last arrived at the North Pole, days before the attack Asha had been dreaming of.
Clearly the Tulku was not the only one to fear an assault, for the small settlements they passed over were empty and soldiers lined the great wall of ice that surrounded Agna Qel'a. But those soldiers did nothing to stop Asha as she directed Appa to fly right over the defences and, following the whispers of Kuruk in her mind, guided her bison to land atop the palace where the Northern Water Chief and his family lived.
A circle of wide-eyed soldiers surrounded them and, seeing Asha's Avatar pendant marking her as the Host of Shakti, fell to their knees and bowed their heads in awe and respect, though Kyoshi whispered a warning to her. One of the younger soldiers had a contemptuous expression on his face, and was clearly reluctant to give her obeisance. It could simply be the ingrained misogyny of the North Pole, or it could be more. She would watch her back around that one. She stepped forward as Kai announced her in Northern Water Speech, which he had learned from his grandmother, Kanna.
"§Presenting Tulku Asha of the Eastern Air Temple, 183rd Host of Shakti!§" he declared, gesturing to her grandly. Following instincts from her past lives, Asha inclined her head and made a motion like she was drawing a crescent moon in the air, the Tribal sign for a blessing.
"§Greetings and the blessing of Tui and La be upon you all,§" she said in a soft, but firm, voice. "§I would see your chief.§"
"Great Tulku, you honour us with your arrival and blessings," a man called in Trade Tongue. She saw a tall man with a weathered, stern face, come striding out of the palace onto the terrace, followed by a slim young girl with a shock of white hair and a woman in her early twenties who was clearly pregnant. The man wore a familiar necklace made of fangs that Asha recognised as being the symbol of the Northern Chief, while the pregnant woman and young girl were probably his family.
"I am Chief Arnook," the chief introduced himself as he helped his wife carefully kneel, before gesturing to the two women who stared at Asha in amazement. "This is my wife, Chieftainess Suluk, and my daughter from my first wife, Princess Yue. The Northern Water Tribe is honoured to host you, Great One, and you have our eternal loyalty. We are at your service."
"You may rise," Asha smiled, before turning serious. "There are things we must discuss, Chief Arnook, and preparations to be made. You can remain neutral no longer. Neither I, nor the Fire Nation, will allow it."
"What does a woman know of war?" Someone sneered, causing several gasps of horror as Asha turned to face the boy who had sneered at her earlier. Her three younger liegemen were swift to enact retribution, speeding across the icy ground to grab him, Lu Ten grabbing his neck and Kai and Sokka each taking an arm and wrestling it behind the boy's (for now she saw his face, it was clear that he was only about the age of Sokka) back.
She allowed her eyes to glow with power and age, staring the boy down. He swallowed audibly and refused to meet her shining gaze. "My spirit has seen more years that days you have lived, more wars and battles than history cares to remember," she told the boy in a steely tone. "I know more of war than you shall ever have the chance to learn." She turned back to the horrified chief, waving off his apologies. "Little boys with big heads are of no concern to me," she told Arnook. "Now, shall we talk?"
"Indeed we shall."
"We have been preparing for several weeks now," Arnook informed her. "Our angakkuit foresaw an attack the day of your return. I ordered all our surrounding settlements emptied with the people being housed anywhere the city can hold them. We have upped the training regime for our warriors and are continuing to stock up on supplies for a siege. We have enough supplies to hold out for a month, but it is winter and food is scarce this time of year. The angakkuit expect a battle, so we have focused on preparing to fight. Even our women have been training to defend themselves in the event of the walls being breached. Agna Qel'a will not be another Anako."
An elderly man with the piercing of a master waterbender, Pakku, Arnook had introduced him as, grumbled at the mention of women fighting, and Asha gave him a sharp look. Just a few hours in and she already could tell that the misogyny the North had always been prone to had worsened significantly in the century she had been gone. Pakku had protested her being a part of the war council on account of her gender, and several others had actually had the audacity to agree with him! She had been scandalized at the lack of respect towards her station, but had not said anything as Arnook had allowed her in over their protests. But Pakku was being snide about her presence and she was going to lose her temper if he continued. Her liegemen were outright glowering at him, hands curled into fists and if looks could kill, the insolent misogynist would have died a dozen times over.
Asha herself felt extremely insulted, and she could feel the warmth of Mahadevi in her eyes as they glowed with power, a reminder to all that she was the Host of Light, and she was the most powerful person in the world. They would do well not to cross her. She was not a violent person, but many of her predecessors were, and she held their pride and tempers as well as her own. Kyoshi, for example, whispered pleas to teach the man a lesson, and even Yangchen bristled in indignation at the lack of respect.
"I will help defend your people, but I must undergo the mastery test first," Asha stated. Pakku scoffed.
"You jest, surely," he said in disdain. "You are a girl of fourteen years who has been in training for a few months. It is ludicrous to believe that you would successfully undergo the mastery test." It was clear from his tone that her gender was the biggest mark against her abilities in his eyes.
Asha turned to look at him, feeling her eyes intensify as she put up a hand to stop her esnes as they bristled in indignation, Kai beginning to rise to his feet in anger. She could not deny to herself the hint of satisfaction she felt when he flinched on meeting her glowing eyes and looked down at the table. "I am the Tulku," she reminded him coolly. "I invented waterbending. Bending is to me what breathing is to you. Once I have undergone the test, the memories of my Water selves will awaken in my mind, and I will be able to destroy the Fire flotilla singlehandedly. Now, make arrangements for my test. I wish to go to my quarters and rest beforehand."
With that, she rose to her feet, feeling her eyes stop glowing, and strode out, relying on instinct alone to guide her feet to the Quarters of the Tulku.
To Admiral Zhao,
We are sending you a navy of five hundred ships, including two empire class ships. Use this to breach the walls of Agna Qel'a and sack the city. Raze it to the ground and bring us the Avatar in chains. Do not kill the girl, as that will activate the reincarnation cycle and force us to begin hunting her successor all over again. As for the northern savages, make another Anako of it. That will teach the filth of the Water and Earth nations to fight against the glory of the Fire empire.
Fire Lord Ozai, Third of My Name, Emperor of the Fire Empire, Agni's Chosen, Head of Clan Kotsunaga