Water
The Impersonator
When the water escaped her control for the tenth time, Katara groaned in frustration and flopped down to study her waterbending scroll again. She had been trying the same form for the past few hours, and no matter what she did, no matter how she varied her stance, the water refused to cooperate. The illustrations showed tall, elegant discs of water, and she hadn't managed to create much more than a half-hearted bulge that slid a few feet before collapsing.
"Why doesn't this work?" she mumbled, resting her chin in her hand.
"You probably drew it wrong," Sokka replied. "You're not exactly a great artist, you know."
Katara turned back to him, glaring. "I'm a lot better than you."
He poked at the campfire. "So? That still doesn't mean that you didn't screw something up when you copied that dumb scroll." One of the logs rolled over, sending a spray of sparks upward. "Why do you need it anyway? Isn't the whole point of this trip to find an actual teacher for you and Aang?"
Scowling in concentration, she looked down at the scroll again. Maybe it was the placement of her feet, or the angle of her wrists—the figure on the scroll had its feet spread as wide as they would go, and its hands bent almost backward. Frowning, she tried to stretch her wrists that way, but it hurt to push them even half as far. Maybe Sokka had a point. None of the drawings resembled the form the boy had shown her a few days ago. It's all about the movements, she reminded herself. Even the real scroll just showed the shapes. I have to figure out how to connect them.
"So?" Sokka poked his stick at Katara. "Are you going to give it a rest or not?"
"I'm not." Determined, she stood back up. "Aang, why don't you come practice with me? We both need to learn this sooner or later. I can show you what I already know, and maybe you can help me figure out this new form."
Startled, Aang looked up from the map. "Uh." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Actually, I'm a little busy. You know, figuring out our next stop."
"See? Now there's a good use of our time." Sokka hopped up to look over Aang's shoulder, and Momo chattered, reaching up to pat Sokka's face. "Hey, I'm not talking to you, peach-breath." Pushing the lemur's tiny hands away, he continued, "Where to next? A crazy mountain temple, then a sea monster island—what's your next plan? Are we going to pick a fight with a platypus bear? Try to take over a Fire Nation city?"
Aang looked back over his shoulder. "No. We're going to Omashu."
Katara folded her arms. "What's in Omashu?"
Grinning, Aang rolled up the map. "They have these huge slides built up over the whole city. It's so much fun. You guys are going to love it."
One of her eyebrows shot upward. "Slides?"
"Well, it's really a network of stone ramps. They use them for delivering mail and packages all over the city, but a friend of mine figured out that riding in the mail sleds was a lot more fun."
The siblings glanced at one another.
"Aang," Sokka began slowly. "You know I was joking, right? I don't actually want to fight a platypus bear."
"I know that," Aang answered, looking a little confused.
"I think what Sokka means is that our last field trip didn't end very well." Katara picked up her scroll and wound it shut. "Maybe we should just focus on getting to the North Pole as fast as possible."
"Exactly." Sokka settled back beside the campfire. "I don't know about you, but I'd rather not give Prince Jerkbender another chance to catch up with us. We need to keep moving for now." Turning a glare toward Katara he added, "And that means no more wasting time with scrolls full of waterbending nonsense that doesn't even work."
"Hey!" Katara stomped over to her brother and thumped his head with the end of her scroll. "I need to learn waterbending. If you can think of a better way to do it, I'd be happy to hear it."
Sokka smacked her in the leg. "Wait until we get to the North Pole. Then you can learn from someone who actually knows what they're doing instead of wasting our time."
"How am I wasting time? We already stopped for the night. It's not like I'm making you sit around while I practice."
Sokka made a face at her and then poked sullenly at the fire.
Rolling her eyes, Katara turned to Aang again. "My point is, the last time we stopped for more than a day, Zuko almost captured me. If the Kyoshi Warriors hadn't been there, he might have caught you too. We might not be lucky enough to get away next time."
Aang stared in silence for a minute. "Well," he said eventually, "then we definitely need to go to Omashu."
Sokka pointed the still-smoldering stick at Aang. "Not your best argument, Aang."
"No, really." Aang sat up straighter and unrolled the map again. "Look. Omashu isn't that far out of our way. We can be there in a couple of days, and I think—" He trailed his finger over the stretch of the map between their campsite and Omashu. "We should be able to camp by a river every night. That way you can still practice, Katara, and Sokka—" He grinned, looking up. "—you could always go fishing if you don't want to get splashed while you wait."
Sokka leaned forward, seeming to consider it. "I would enjoy having some fresh fish."
"Right." Raising an eyebrow, Katara settled down on the opposite side of the fire. "Because you've never been splashed by a fish before, Sokka." She pulled her pack closer and tucked her scroll carefully away. "I know you're really looking forward to this, Aang, but I'm still not sure that it's a good idea to stop anywhere for more than a day. If Zuko could find us on Kyoshi Island, he must have connections feeding him information about us. He'll probably figure out that we're in Omashu."
"That's the best part," Aang replied, sliding the map toward her. "Omashu is landlocked. Even if he finds out where we are, we'll be long gone before he can get there."
The walls of Omashu nearly put the towers of the Southern Air Temple to shame. It was less elaborate, to be sure—while the spires of the Air Temple were remarkable for their simple, soaring elegance, Omashu's sheer size was impressive. The city seemed to form a cone spilling upward from the outer walls, and from the mountainside where they landed Appa, it almost blended in with the surrounding peaks.
"We can to go on foot from here," Aang announced, sliding to the ground. He looked back at Katara. "Unless you guys change your mind about taking Appa in with us."
"No chance, kid." Sokka jumped down and made an exaggerated display of stretching. "I may not be an expert on the Earth Kingdom, but I'm pretty sure they don't have a lot of sky bison running around. If we're trying not to get noticed, the ten-ton furball stays here."
Appa rumbled.
"It's okay, buddy." Aang scratched the bison's chin. "There's plenty of grass for you to eat here. And we'll be back tomorrow." Grinning, he turned toward the city. "Come on, guys!"
"Wait, Aang!" Katara hopped down from the saddle. "Don't you think we'll still look a little conspicuous walking into Omashu like this?"
He stopped, looking confused. "What do you mean?"
Sokka held up a hand to stop his sister before she could respond. "I've got this. Aang, how many bald, tattooed twelve-year-olds have you seen so far in the Earth Kingdom?"
"Oh." He stopped, rubbing a hand over his shaved head. "So what am I supposed to do? It's not like I can just grow hair on command."
Smiling, Katara climbed back up into the saddle and began rifling through their supplies. "I'm sure we can come up with something."
Less than an hour later, they were on their way, Aang bundled into several layers of Sokka's clothes, looking like a hunched, shriveled old man with tufts of Appa's fur sticking out from under his hood.
"You look ridiculous," Sokka grumbled. "That outfit isn't going to fool anyone."
"Hey!" Katara jabbed him with her elbow. "Be nice, Sokka. I think we did a great job."
"Yeah," Aang added in his best impression of an old man's voice. "Mind your manners, young man. Don't you know that I'm a hundred and twelve years old?"
Sokka rolled his eyes. "You still look like a twelve-year-old. The bison fur doesn't change that."
"Fine." Aang reached up into his hood and pulled out a tuft of fur. Pinching it between his upper lip and his nose, he turned to Katara. "Do you like my mustache?"
She grinned. "Very distinguished."
"Really?" Sokka scowled harder. "Now you look like my grandfather."
"Mission accomplished!" Aang said gleefully.
"Relax, Sokka. He doesn't need to look like anyone specific as long as no one can tell that he's an airbender."
They came within sight of the road—a broad cobbled path which wound down from the mountains and across a long bridge to the city gates. Several earthbenders guarded the gates, and Sokka turned back to scowl at Aang.
"This had better be worth it, Aang." He folded his arms. "That's a lot of guards."
"Don't you worry about it, sonny," Aang answered in his creaking, croaking impression of an old man. He hunched partway over and grabbed the back of Sokka's tunic. "We're here on our own business, and that's no concern of theirs. Now slow down so your old grandpa can keep up."
Katara covered her mouth to suppress a giggle, and Sokka groaned.
Aang didn't wait for the guards to approach them—he marched straight up to them, thumping his staff like a cane.
"Open up, my boy." He waved his staff under the guard's nose. "Let us through the gates."
The earthbender looked down at him, bemused. "What business do you have in Omashu, old man?"
Aang swung his staff back to point at Sokka and Katara. Sokka kept his face half-hidden in embarrassment. "Showing my grandkids the big city, of course." His false mustache wobbled, almost ready to fall from his face. Aang grabbed Sokka by the shoulders and propelled him forward. "My grandson here loves architecture."
With a stiff, pained smile, Sokka said, "Oh, yeah. I can't get enough of these—rocks. And walls."
The guard narrowed his eyes. "Likely story, grandpa."
At that, Aang's eyes brightened, and he drew himself up as tall as he could without unhunching his back. "I'm not your grandpa, sonny. My business doesn't concern you." He rapped his staff against the guard's forehead. "Now open up before I give you a real piece of my mind."
"That's enough, Grandpa," Katara said, resting a hand on Aang's shoulder. She smiled at the guards. "We don't want any trouble, sir. My brother and I are really excited to see your city."
"Right." Sokka's tone was slightly more convincing this time. "We're just visiting. And Gramps is always cranky in the morning."
"You," the guard said, pointing at Katara. "Think you can keep these two out of trouble?"
"Absolutely, sir!" Katara replied with a smile.
"Watch the attitude, young man," Aang interjected as the guard motioned for the gates to open. "Old man Bumi doesn't make trouble." He thumped toward the gate.
Katara and Sokka trailed after him as the guards glanced at each other, muttering amongst themselves.
"Nice move, Grandpa Bumi," Sokka grumbled as they rounded a corner. "Did you need to talk back to the guards like that?"
"Relax, Sokka," Aang replied in his normal voice, letting his false mustache fall to the ground. "Omashu is one of the greatest cities in the world. Nothing's going to go wrong here."
Katara couldn't help but look back over her shoulder. As much as she wanted to believe that Aang's optimism was justified—after all, he had been right about the past few days of their journey—there was a sense of uneasiness that she couldn't shake off. Maybe it was because the city gates were so heavily guarded, or maybe it was the way that the guards' eyes lingered on them a little too long once the gates finally opened, but something felt wrong about this place.
Aang was still talking, gesturing excitedly as he pointed out the stone ramps overhead. Katara tried to smile and nod along with him. But as they turned toward the upper reaches of the city, she couldn't keep herself from glancing back one more time. And for an instant, she thought she saw someone following them.
"The next time that kid tells me to relax," Sokka muttered to his sister, "remind me not to listen. I'm not letting my guard down around him again unless he's—asleep, or something. And we're on Appa, hundreds of miles from another living person. I doubt he could cause any trouble then."
"This isn't Aang's fault," Katara hissed in reply. "He had no way of knowing that this would happen."
"How do you think we got arrested in the first place? He argued with the guards!" Sokka's voice slid upward. "He should have realized—" One of the king's guards scowled at him, and Sokka lowered his voice. "Seriously, can't you do anything to get us out of here?"
Katara glared, trying to wriggle her arm inside the ever-growing sleeve of jennamite. "Quiet, Sokka."
"I'm just saying. You could always try—you know. Going glowy?"
"Shush!" Since she couldn't move her arm enough to elbow him, she rammed him with her shoulder. The second guard raised an eyebrow at her, and Katara gave her most charming smile in response.
"Bring me my Flopsy, Avatar!" the king called over the edge of the balcony. "Poor Flopsy-boy missed his din-din last night."
Aang yelled and shot a blast of air at the huge, toothy creature bounding after him. "I think he's going to be dinner in a few minutes!"
"Oh, now that isn't very cheerful," the king replied.
"See?" Sokka hissed, leaning down toward Katara's ear. "He's completely nuts. If you'd just break us out, I doubt he'd even notice."
"Shhh!"
"Well, we have to do something!"
"I know!" Katara leaned anxiously to the side to get a better view of Aang. He was holding his own against the hopping monstrosity, but he didn't seem to be getting any closer to the long-eared rabbit. "This is insane."
With a yell, Aang launched himself up over the beast and sprinted, staff in hand, toward the rabbit. The rabbit turned its head in his direction, then hopped away, unconcerned, and wedged itself into a small opening in the wall. Aang poked his head into the hole. "Flopsy!" he shouted. "Come here, boy!"
The beast skidded to a stop, making harsh snarling sounds. Aang gave a small yelp and spun back around. The beast growled and slobbered over him, but it hung few feet back. Aang cocked his head to the side.
"Flopsy?"
Drooling, the creature bounded the last few feet toward Aang and pinned him to the ground. It snuffled at him, tendrils of greasy saliva dangling from its jowls. Aang laughed and patted its wrinkled snout.
"I found Flopsy!"
"Excellent work, Avatar." The king motioned him over, and Flopsy crossed the courtyard in a few long hops. Aang scampered back toward the balcony, grinning.
"Are you guys okay?"
"Perfect," Sokka said. "I love being slowly encased in solid rock."
Katara rolled her eyes. "We're fine, Aang. Just focus on whatever his next challenge is, okay?"
"Wise advice, young waterbender." The king gave a cackling laugh. "Move quickly, Avatar. We wouldn't want your friends running out of time, now would we?"
At that moment, the crystal expanded around Sokka's arm, stretching up to the side of his face and down, clamping his hand to his leg, simultaneously. "Argh!" he yelled, nearly losing his balance in surprise.
Aang spun to face the king, eyes blazing. "You can't do this. Let my friends go!"
"Aang!" Katara grabbed his arm with her free hand. "Let's just go, okay? The sooner you finish the challenges, the sooner we can leave."
The king smiled crookedly, and Aang glared at him. "Fine," he snapped. "What's next?"
"Oh, you'll see." With a chuckle, the king waved them all after him.
The guards closed in on them, grabbing Sokka and Katara both by the shoulders.
"Hey!" Sokka turned as far back toward the guard as he could. "Take it easy. Seriously, where do you think we're going to go? If we try to run away, we'll just suffocate in a few hours anyway."
"Are you sure you guys are okay?" Aang whispered to Katara as the guards herded them back into the palace and down a corridor.
She nodded. "We're fine. Sokka's just being dramatic."
"Oh, I'm being dramatic?" Sokka's voice squeaked on the last word. "This stupid rock won't stop growing, and you won't do anything about it, but obviously I'm just being dramatic."
"We're not going to suffocate, Sokka."
"So you have a plan?" Aang asked eagerly.
Katara hesitated. "Sort of."
"She doesn't have a plan," Sokka hissed.
"Fine. I don't have a plan." Her eyes widened when the crystal suddenly spread to the side, enveloping half of her torso in an instant. "I have an idea. That's better than nothing."
"Great." Sokka tried to turn his head in her direction, but the tallest crystal jabbed him in the eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure I had the same idea, but somebody didn't want to break us out."
Aang shot a glance at Katara. "How were you going to do that?"
"Easy. Because she's the—" Sokka caught one of the guards looking at him and he corrected himself mid-sentence. "—the best waterbender I've ever met. I mean, she's also the only waterbender I've ever met, but still—"
Katara rammed him with her hip, and the king cackled. "Behave yourselves, children. If the Avatar can succeed in this last challenge, you will have nothing to worry about."
"And if I don't?" Aang snapped. "What happens then?"
The king seemed not to hear that—he led them into an enormous arena and stopped, grinning, on the spectator's platform. "Now, young Avatar," the king said and Katara stiffened involuntarily, "you will need to learn to fight very soon."
"I can already fight," Aang snapped, crossing his arms.
"That is very good. Perhaps you wouldn't mind giving me a demonstration." The king gestured to two men who flanked the door.
Katara turned around, and her heart sank. The men at the door were massive. Even the smaller of the two was taller than either of the king's guards, and what he lacked in size—compared with his companion—he made up for with the number of weapons strapped to his arms, his chest, his back. The guards themselves had vanished, but Katara hardly noticed. Their absence made no difference now that the two warriors had taken their place.
With a smile, the king clasped his hands behind his back and rocked forward on his toes. "Choose your opponent wisely, young Avatar. Remember, this duel will decide your freedom."
The thinner of the two men grinned ominously, and the broader man merely blinked.
"Choose the big one, Aang," Sokka hissed.
Aang stared, mouth half-open, at the two men. "Why would I do that?" he whispered.
"Fewer knives. And he looks slower than the other guy."
Katara shook her head. "Aang, don't rush. Take a second and make sure you make the right decision." The crystals grew downward, almost to her knee.
"Great idea, Katara. Take all the time you need." The blue crystals had now grown up to resemble a tall collar around Sokka's neck—almost a crown. "It's not like we're going to suffocate or anything."
Aang looked uneasily at the king. "Do I really have to fight someone?"
"I've never heard of any other way to duel." The king cackled. "Your friends are right, Avatar. Think carefully, but don't take too long."
"Okay. Then I want to fight you," Aang said, pointing to the king.
"Eh, heh-heh-heh-heh! Heh-heh-heh!" The king's eyes crinkled up as he laughed, then his expression went abruptly serious. "As you wish, Avatar." He straightened, tossing off his robe.
Sokka's jaw dropped, and although Katara hid it better, she was equally surprised. The king's physique would have intimidated a man a quarter of his age.
Aang let out a squeak. "I changed my mind," he said. "I want to fight the big guy instead."
"Too late, Avatar." Effortlessly, the king flung himself over the edge of the platform, and a column of stone came up to meet him halfway. "You asked for a fight with an earthbender, so a fight with an earthbender is what you'll get."
"It was nice knowing you, Aang." Sokka whispered. Aang looked back at him, wide-eyed.
"You can do this," Katara said. "Just be careful."
The guards reappeared, one carrying Aang's staff, the other lugging the lop-eared rabbit in a cage. Still wide-eyed, Aang accepted the staff and hovered down to the floor of the arena.
Anxious, Katara shuffled closer to the railing. It was difficult to tell who struck the first blow of the duel, because in an instant, Aang was launching himself into the air, staff swinging wildly as the king threw boulder after boulder in his direction. Her jaw clenched, and she slid back toward her brother.
"We have to get rid of the guards," Katara hissed.
Sokka's eyes were fixed on the fight below them. "What?"
A boulder flew toward Aang's head, and Katara winced as he dodged to the side. "We're going to help Aang."
"So you want a distraction?"
She nodded.
"On it." Since he was unable to turn his head, Sokka turned fully around to face the guards. "So… uh. What's with the rabbit?"
The guard glanced down at the cage. "It's one of the King's pets."
"Right. So this must be Flopsy Junior." The comment earned him a glare, but Sokka persisted. "Are Smashy and Slashy on guard duty too?"
The two warriors glowered at him too.
"No," the broader man—apparently Smashy—answered.
"We're here to duel, nothing else." Slashy added.
"So why are you still here?" Katara asked. "Aang's fighting the king. He doesn't need you two here now."
The warriors glanced at one another.
"Right!" Sokka looked excited for an instant before the crystals expanded again, stopping short at his chin and his eyebrows, then stretching upward instead. He froze for an instant, then let out a small, nervous breath. "You guys must have something more important to do than watch two kids turn into statues."
Smashy rubbed his chin. "We do have a tournament to train for."
"You should do that." Katara tried to shift her weight, but her legs would no longer bend—the crystal had almost reached her ankles now. Her eyes flicked between the warriors and her brother. The jennamite was coming dangerously close to blocking off his nose and mouth—she would have to act quickly once the guards were gone. "We're not going anywhere."
Slashy looked at Smashy and shrugged. As they turned to leave, Sokka turned just enough to smirk in Katara's direction. "Two down, two to go," he whispered. "You'd better have a plan after that."
"Get rid of the guards and you'll see," Katara hissed in response.
"Oh, no!" Sokka said loudly, maneuvering himself toward the rabbit's cage. "This cage looks pretty flimsy." He couldn't move his head in any way, but his legs were still mostly free. Tipping from side to side with each step, he lumbered into the cage. "Whoops." With a clang, the cage tipped over. The door didn't open, and the rabbit rolled up onto its feet again, looking offended. "Uh." Sokka's upper half tipped into the wall, and he kicked at the cage.
"Hey!" One of the guards stepped forward. "What are you trying to pull, kid?"
"Nothing!" Sokka kicked the cage harder, and the door caved in. The rabbit hefted itself onto its hind legs and poked its head through the opening. Its nose twitched, and it tumbled out onto the floor. After a pause of an instant, it took off at top speed down the corridor.
"Flopsy Junior is escaping!" Sokka shouted. "I don't think the king would be very happy if he lost another pet today! You two had better catch him!"
"Princess Fluffer!" One of the guards shouted, and in an instant, both men were out the door, sprinting after the rabbit.
"That was your distraction?" Katara snapped. "Really smooth, Sokka."
"It worked, didn't it?" He couldn't straighten, so he rolled against the wall until he faced his sister again. "You can complain about my methods after you break us out."
Taking a deep breath, Katara closed her eyes. Her heart was racing despite her best efforts to calm herself. She kept imagining Sokka's expression when the crystals closed in so close around his face—the flash of horror, though short, was overpowering.
"Are you doing it? Are you going glowy?"
Her eyes snapped open again, and her concern dissipated to make room for annoyance. "I don't think I can do it if you can't shut up!"
"Fine," Sokka grumbled, and Katara closed her eyes again, doing her best to concentrate.
She didn't know how to do this. She remembered the absolute clarity and calm that came over her when she had gone into the Avatar State before, but try as she might, she couldn't recapture that feeling. She was scared. The harder she tried to concentrate, the more she could feel the crystal closing in tighter around her chest, creeping down toward the floor as if to root her in place, and up over her shoulders, spreading toward her face. And she could hear everything. She couldn't block it out the way that Aang did when he meditated—she heard the duel, the rumbling of the ground shifting and breaking apart, and the roar of the wind as Aang did his best to hold his own against the king. And she could hear Sokka—despite her insistence that he stay quiet, he kept making little grunts and mumbles as the fight continued.
And then there was a muffled shout. Katara opened her eyes. Her brother's nose and mouth were entirely encased in blue jennamite. No. She tried to approach him, but her legs would no longer move. For a horrible, endless moment, she could do nothing but watch Sokka's eyes grow wider as he ran out of breath.
"Sokka!" And then she felt it. The light, the clarity, the calm washed over her, and without effort, without thought, she raised her arms from her sides. Hundreds of green shards burst from her limbs, and an instant later, she was on the opposite side of the platform, tearing long, jagged strips of crystal off her brother until he was free. Sokka drew in a long, sharp breath and staggered, rubbing at his face and his arms.
Katara was left reeling too—her consciousness slammed back into her own body, and the void left behind by the power of the Avatar State was immediately filled by an aching tiredness. But when her eyes met Sokka's, the tiredness didn't matter so much.
"I did it!" Katara said throwing her arms around Sokka's neck. "We're okay!"
"Yeah." Sokka caught his breath and returned her hug for a second before shoving her away. "Give me a hand here," he said, crouching to gather up the fallen pieces of crystal.
"What are you doing?" Katara hissed, halfway to the railing. She wasn't sure how she was going to get down to the base of the arena—she had come out of the Avatar State too quickly to think about airbending them down or earthbending a set of stairs to the ground. Maybe if she could find enough water, she could freeze it into some sort of ramp?
"I'm blocking the door." Sokka wedged one of the shards crossways into the doorway and swung his armload of crystals to beckon her back. "Aang's doing fine avoiding the king, but he'll need help to beat him. I'm buying us some time."
"Sokka, that's a dumb idea. There are earthbenders all over Omashu! For all we know, the guards are earthbenders too!"
He shot a glare back over his shoulder. "It's only a dumb idea if it doesn't work. Are you gonna help or not?"
With a groan, Katara scooped up one of the crystals and shoved it diagonally into the wooden frame. Under their combined grasp, the shards expanded, splintering the wood trim and embedding themselves into the surrounding stone.
"Just a few more," Sokka muttered, frowning with concentration. Katara passed a heavy slab-like piece to him, and he jammed it into place. "Perfect." Grinning, he looked back at his sister as the crystals expanded again, closing the last remaining openings. "Let's see Smashy bash his way through that."
"Nice work, Sokka. You're going to feel pretty silly when the regular guards break through." She handed a stubby, club-like chunk of crystal to Sokka and selected a longer piece for herself. "Now let's go help Aang."
Sokka hefted his translucent club onto his shoulder and joined Katara at the edge of the balcony. Neither the King nor Aang so much as glanced in their direction.
"After you, Avatar."
Katara gave him a fierce look, but obliged, swinging one leg, then the other over the railing, and lowering herself until she was dangling by her fingers from the bottom of the platform. It was still a fair distance to the ground—but taking a breath, she dropped, tumbling to her knees. Sokka followed a moment behind her, less graceful, but somehow more energetic in his drop to the ground. He landed almost flat on his back and sprang to his feet without a moment's pause.
"Remember," Sokka whispered into her ear. "Don't make a sound until you're close enough to strike."
"Sokka, we're dealing with an earthbender, not a leopard seal."
"Just shhhh!" Baring his makeshift crystal club, he darted forward, ducking and dodging from side to side to avoid the flying stones as they drew closer to the fight.
Katara hesitated before following him—this was Zuko all over again. She wanted to fight, she needed to fight, but she didn't quite know how. The shard of crystal that she had chosen as her weapon was a decent enough replacement for Sokka's hunting spears—or it had been before it abruptly doubled in width—and yet she couldn't picture any confrontation with the king ending well without the help of the Avatar State. And while she had just accessed the power, she was convinced that it was by no means a matter of free will.
Aang saw them approaching, but when Sokka held a finger to his lips, Aang dragged his eyes away, dodging to the side. With a wild swing of his staff, he shot a blast of air at the king. The king threw a stone column in the way of the gust, and the wind swirled out to the side instead. Katara couldn't help but gasp at the force of the gust when it struck her—it was all she could do to jam the sharper end of her makeshift spear into the ground to keep herself from falling. Sokka wasn't so lucky. The blast knocked him into his backside, and he slid until he was beside his sister again.
The moment the wind subsided, they were both up again, darting forward as Aang struck again, his attack more focused this time. While Sokka approached the king from behind, Katara ducked behind an elevated stone ridge and scrambled toward Aang. She reached the end of the ridge just as Aang finally came within striking distance of the king. The airbender whipped his staff toward the king in triumph, seeming not to notice that a boulder the size of Appa's head was hovering over him. Katara managed to catch her brother's eye for an instant—Sokka gestured wildly, waving his arms and nodding. It certainly wasn't subtle, but the signal to move was unmistakable. While Sokka leapt onto the king's back, club bared, Katara darted from her hiding place and wedged her shard of crystal into the ground. The king gave an odd, almost animalistic croak of surprise, and the stone dropped—though the crystal held it up at an angle just long enough for Katara to wrap an arm around Aang's waist and drag him clear of it before the shimmering pillar failed.
The king shook Sokka off, and he fell with a yell. Aang sprang back into a fighting stance, pointing his staff at the king, and Katara came to his side, mimicking his stance. There was no water for her to bend in the immediate area—she would have felt it if there were—and earthbending deliberately without the help of the Avatar State didn't seem likely, but she could try. Between the three of them, they might have a chance.
For a second, they stood tense, staring at the king, not daring to strike first. Sokka scrambled back to his feet and came to stand at Katara's side, still wielding his crystalline club, which had doubled in length and now looked more like an oar for their old canoe than a weapon.
And then the king chuckled. Low at first, almost a sensible laugh, then sliding upward, growing manic and punctuated by snorts. Katara shifted uncomfortably, glancing at Aang, then at Sokka. They both looked as bewildered as her.
"Eh-heh-heh-heh-heh!" The king snorted, bending over to slap his knobby knee. "That'll teach me! He-heh-heh-heh! Avatar indeed! Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh!"
"Let us go!" Aang shouted, jabbing his staff toward the king's face. "I'm not finishing your challenges. My friends and I are leaving, and that's final."
The king looked toward the balcony—which had been the arena's only open entrance. The crystals had expanded even farther, forming a great, jagged bulge of blue and green. "I'm sure you could do just that, young Avatar." His eyes fixed back on Aang, then landed on Katara. "I have no doubt that you have the ability to break yourselves out."
"We're going to!" Katara announced, sounding far more confident than she felt. "Come on, guys. We're leaving." As they edged back around the king, side-by-side, still poised to fight, she glanced at the balcony again. She didn't have the faintest idea of how they were going to get back up there—to say nothing of how they would break through the jennamite—but there had to be a way. If it took a week, they would find a way out.
"How?" Aang asked in an undertone. "You can't just—use the Avatar State, can you?"
Katara shot a glare in his direction, but Sokka missed the look and answered on her behalf.
"Hard to tell. She tried to just do it, but it didn't work until I started suffocating."
"Sokka!"
The king continued watch them, his bushy eyebrows shifting up and down with each word that passed between the children. "Suffocating, you say?"
Aang planted himself in place, pointing his staff at the old man's well-built chest. "That was the idea, wasn't it? Crystals that grow to completely cover my friends? What were you expecting?" He paused, confusion overtaking the rage in his eyes. "Wait. That's the part you're going to comment on?"
The old man shrugged. "I have never known a waterbender to have the ability to shatter jennamite. Give an old man credit for having an imagination." Though his eyes remained as wild as ever, the king's tone took on more gravity than before as he faced Sokka. "You would have been wise, young warrior, to not drive away my guards."
Sokka folded his arms, letting his piece of crystal—now almost the size of a young tree—drop. The implication was clear enough. The guards must have been holding the growth of the jennamite back from their faces. "How were we supposed to know that? Your Royal Craziness didn't seem to have a problem putting Aang's life in danger, why not ours?"
"The Avatar," the king replied, looking between Aang and Katara, his hands clasped behind his back, "will face far greater foes than an old earthbenders. Greater dangers than these tests as well." He rocked forward onto his toes, his expression becoming slightly crazed again. "But if you agree to answer one simple question, the city of Omashu may be able to offer you some very valuable assistance."
Katara planted her hands on her hips, staring mistrustfully at the king.
"What kind of help are we talking?" Sokka asked.
"To begin with, an easy way out of this arena," the king croaked. They all glanced at the balcony, which was gradually being taken over by the crystals' growth. "And," he added. "The North Pole is a long way off. My kingdom can offer supplies to help on the journey."
Aang lowered his staff a fraction and exchanged a look with Katara. They had been doing fine so far, but the farther they ventured from the South Pole, the more obvious it became that being equipped for life on the ice wouldn't be sufficient for their whole journey. "What sort of question is it?"
The king grinned, his eyes and his smile going wild again. "My question is for you, Aang. I want you to tell me my name."
"Huh?" Aang glanced from Sokka to Katara, then back at the king. "You mean you forgot your name?"
"Seems about right," Sokka said, narrowing his eyes.
"No." The king rubbed his chin. "Not today, at least. Now, tell me, Aang. What is my name?"
"How am I supposed to know? Everyone just calls you 'Your Majesty' all the time."
Katara grabbed Aang by the elbow and pulled him a few paces back. "Come on, Aang, there has to be a reason he's asking you instead of us."
"Right!" Sokka came around to Aang's other side. "He must have given us a hint that only you would understand."
"So what do we know about him?" Katara said. Nothing stuck out to her as particularly meaningful.
"Well," Sokka volunteered, "He named one of his pets Flopsy, and another one Princess Fluffer. And Flopsy could have killed you if he wanted, and Princess Fluffer was just a lop-eared rabbit."
Aang raised an eyebrow at him. "And what exactly does that tell me?"
Sokka considered that for a second. "That he's a really weird old man?"
Rolling her eyes, Katara shook her head. "That's very helpful, Sokka. Thanks." Turning her attention to Aang, she went on, "You've been here before, Aang. Maybe it has something to do with that. Were there any really common names in Omashu? Or did you know anything about the royal family?"
"I don't know." Aang looked up and the king grinned at him. Aang squinted thoughtfully. "Exactly how old are you?"
"I'm told that I look good for my age," the king answered with a cackle. "Go on now. Put the pieces together." He rocked from his heels to his toes a few times. "What is my name?"
If anything, Aang looked more confused than before, but he cocked his head to the side. "Bumi?" Despite his uncertainty, it didn't sound like a guess. His tone was more—hopeful than that.
The king's smile grew slightly less manic. "It's been a very long time, Aang."
As Aang ran forward to give his old friend a hug, Sokka smacked his forehead with his palm. "So your old friend from a hundred years ago is the king? You forgot that you were friends with the crown prince?"
"I wasn't the crown prince in those days, young man," King Bumi answered. "My father was. And that is a very easy fact to forget after a hundred years."
"But it hasn't been a hundred years for Aang! He was frozen for a hundred years—he thought he had only been gone a few days when we found him."
Katara nudged her brother. The reunion—as strange and lopsided as it looked, seeing the twelve-year-old embrace a man more than old enough to be her great-grandfather—was sweet. Aang had lost so much, but at least he had this. "Relax, Sokka. It all worked out."
Sokka grabbed her arm. "Don't you see? Aang got us arrested. By impersonating the King! Because he forgot that his old friend was the prince!"
"Oops," Aang said with a sheepish smile.
Sokka shook his head. "You'd better watch yourself, kid. Next time you get us in trouble like this, I will seriously tie you to Appa's saddle until we get to the North Pole."
Author's Note:
Well, this chapter definitely took a lot longer than I hoped. For anyone who's been waiting, thanks for sticking around! I can't say that I'm particularly fond of this chapter, but after several months of being busy in real life and getting distracted by every passing shiny object, at least it's done.
I've made a start on Chapter 8 (and I have an actual outline this time, which helps the process a lot—and frankly, I missed writing my favorite firebenders—I'm really excited to pull them back in next time!), so I'm hoping to get that one done faster than Chapter 7 (I'm going to try to have this thing ready in 3 weeks or so). Oh, the joys of starting this incredibly long fic from the very beginning. Don't get me wrong, I love the beginning of Season 1, it's just that basically every story was so disconnected from the one that followed that it's quite a balancing act to write the characters reasonably consistently while dealing with the extra Avatar. Not to mention the fact that events will start diverging more from canon within 4-5 chapters, and there's a lot of necessary development that I have to squeeze in before then. So I hope you all stick around, but there might be some waiting involved while I iron out the details.
As always, reviews are much appreciated!
Thanks for reading,
SooperSara
Chapter 8: Coming soon!
