The hot air was beyond sweltering and quickly consumed them. Kuvira coughed the sand out of her lungs and blinked it out of her eyes. Mako groaned awake while Wu popped out of the sand, almost cheerful.
"Wu down," he said.
Mako said hastily, "Wu this isn't the time! We could have died!" He struggled to his feet and got sand out of his eyes.
"Uh," Kuvira groaned, getting to her feet, "I knew we should have turned back when we had the chance. Now look at us! What a disaster."
Wu said, "Maybe you wanted us to crash here all along."
Mako said sarcastically, "Right, Kuvira's master plan. Instead of escaping into the town full of people who love her when she had the chance, she decided to get us all the way out here and crash in the middle of the world's most hostile desert without any real food or water! Genius!"
"If we would have taken my advice, we'd at least be closer to the edge of this place," Kuvira said, "but with how fast we were going, now we're likely in the dead center of it. We need to come up with a strategy."
Wu gestured to himself wildly and said cheerfully, "As king I decree-"
"No," Kuvira barked, marching up to him menacingly, "what makes you think you should be in charge? You have no leadership qualities, no survival skills, and no instincts to get us all out of this sand pit! You don't have what it takes to lead us out of here alive, and you don't have what it takes to rule the Earth Kingdom! Stay silent!"
He physically backed down.
Awkwardly avoiding that confrontation, Mako asked, "Where's Korra?"
"She was still in the bridge-" Kuvira ran back inside of the cabin alongside him.
Korra laid motionless among the sand, eyes shut, body limp.
"Korra!" he shouted. Together they dug her out. He said, "I don't think she's okay. She's not moving."
"Her spine and neck are all out of alignment," Kuvira said, feeling the back of her neck. She felt her skull, and things were not in the right place. "She's seriously injured."
Mako asked, "Can you earthbend all of this sand out of here?"
Kuvira stood up and pushed and pulled at the refined pieces of dirt. It moved ever so slightly, not enough to matter. She tried again, and again. "It's not cooperating," she explained, trying again, "it's too soft and loose."
"But there are sand benders," Wu said.
"They're used to earth feeling like this," she said, "I've never been in a desert before, but maybe the engine can still get us out of here. Let's see how bad the damage is."
She walked back, Mako and Wu in tow. "Well, there's a huge crack in it now," Wu observed, pointing over their heads.
Kuvira gasped and then gestured to the massive engine filling the space and exclaimed, "Neither of you two noticed there are entire pieces missing? There are whole valves that are supposed to be here! It's a miracle we made it off the ground!"
"I don't know anything about engines," Mako said, putting his hands up in defense.
"That town sabotaged us!" Wu said, "We should have known something was up." He leaned against it for a second before pulling away. "Yow that's hot!" He blew on his hands.
Mako said, "Well if the engine is ruined, we're going to have to walk out of here. Let's go back and get Korra."
Together, he and Kuvira carried Korra out of the broken airship. Outside, the sun beat down on them. The heat burned through their skin and clothes. The shadows were still slightly long, meaning it wasn't even midday yet. They placed Korra in the blazing sand and tried to assess their surroundings. Bright yellow sand dunes, more sand dunes, and even more sand dunes spread in every direction.
"Uh," Wu said, "how do we know which way to go?"
"I can't tell," Mako said, looking around, "I don't even know where we are. Going the wrong direction could mean days of walking but the closest town might only be an hour away." He groaned in frustration.
Kuvira said, "In an ideal world it would be best to wait until nightfall to start moving, but that would be wasting precious time." She looked up at the bright blue cloudless sky, "Avatar Aang was once stranded in this desert with his friends, and they made it out alright. That means it's possible. They did it, so we can too."
Wu asked, "Really? His group was here too?"
"What were they doing in this place?" Mako asked.
She asked, "You never read the story?" They shook their heads. "It's been a while, but I remember the gist of it. They went to a spring on the edge of this place. They met a college professor there who told them about a spirit library run by a giant owl spirit in the middle of this desert, so they decided to check it out themselves, hoping to figure out how to defeat the fire nation. They got the information they needed, but while they were inside, sand benders stole Avatar Aang's sky bison. They had to walk their way out of the desert. Out of desperation, one of them drank water from a cactus, and they hallucinated on it for over a day."
They both stared at her in suspicion.
Wu raised a skeptical eyebrow and asked, "All of that really happened?"
Mako said, "There's no way! I bet they made some things up just for legend's sake and to tell stories. Who drank the cactus water?"
"I don't remember off of the top of my head," she confessed, desperately trying to remember, "I haven't read that story since I was 10."
"I bet it was Avatar Aang," Wu said, "too bad Korra's not awake. She could tell us."
Mako asked, "You really think a cactus can be that dangerous? What if the story never actually happened, or they exaggerated parts of it? I don't buy it."
She said, "In case it was real, don't drink it no matter how desperate you get."
Mako shrugged, clearly not believing her.
Kuvira measured the distance with the width of her fingers of how high the sun was off of the western horizon. "It's at least nine hours until sunset, give or take an hour. It's still morning, this heat is only going to get worse. The only thing we can do is pick a direction and hope for the best."
"We came from the east," Mako said, "but that puts us further away from Republic City. Maybe, west?"
"From what I remember from looking at a map," Kuvira said, "this desert is wider east to west than it is north to south."
"Ba Sing Se is to the north," Mako said, "and Republic City should still be northwest of here."
Northwest it was. Kuvira took the lead, carrying Korra's shoulders behind herself while Mako stayed at her legs to keep her as level as they could. The sun only burned hotter as time went on. The sand blazed the heat back up to their faces, making it feel like the sun was on both sides of them, above and below.
Wu eventually asked, "What about a nice song to pass the time? Something about ice, and winter, and being cold, to take our minds off of this unbearable heat." He wiped sweat off his brow. "Anyone know any water tribe songs?"
"Don't bother wasting your energy," Kuvira said.
"Kuvira's right Wu," Mako said, "no songs this time. But you're not wrong about this heat being intense. It feels like I'm on fire inside and out." He blew fire out of his mouth.
Kuvira said, "No use in making us hotter, keep your fire to yourself." Distracted, she stepped on the edge of a dune wrong and lost her footing. She dropped Korra, and tumbled halfway down the dune, the rough sand burning against her legs. Her ankle strained, but ultimately uninjured.
Mako asked from the top of the sand dune, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she said, getting back to her feet, "what about Korra?"
"She's the same," he answered, wiping sweat off of his face, "maybe it is time to take a break." He set her legs down carefully.
"Look!" Wu shouted with absolute glee, "A cactus!" He pointed to one at least 100 feet away from them off to the right.
"Really?" Mako asked, "I can't take it anymore, I'm getting some water!"
Kuvira tried to intercept them, turning and falling onto the dune. "No!" she said, "Stay away from the cactus! Don't!"
Mako used fire bending to cut the plant open. He carefully grabbed it away from the spikes. "Leave some for me!" Wu demanded as he pulled on Mako's clothes, "Hey! That's not fair!"
Mako sucked the water down carefully and munched onto the edge of the cactus. "Oh, that hit the spot. Kuvira, it's just water, nothing to be afraid of."
She finally made it to the top of the dune and said, "It's too big of a risk."
"I want some," Wu whined, trying to take off his own piece. He got cut and flinched. "Ow!"
Mako said, "See Kuvira...you're just...being...paranoid..." His pupils dilated and he arms went limp at his sides. He dropped the cut up cactus onto the ground.
"Mako?" Wu asked, stepping away from him anxiously.
"Oh no," Kuvira said, finally reaching him, "Mako, why did you have to drink the cactus juice? Try to snap out it. Come back to us."
But it was too late for him. "Woo!" he shouted at the sky, "That was refreshest! Re-fresh-er-ing! Try some for yourself! Nothing's better!" He started spinning in circles.
"Mako stop," she commanded, "I need your help getting out of here! I knew you shouldn't have touched the cactus!"
Wu went down on his knees and asked the sky, "What are we going to do now!? He's my rock, the reason I can go on, and now he's a goner! We're doomed!" He dramatically flailed his arms in the air.
Meanwhile, ignoring him, Kuvira tried to grab Mako and stop him from spinning around. "Mako we can't leave you in the desert alone," she said, "we still have to get out of here and you're not helping! At least attempt to focus!"
"You can't stop the fire within me!" Mako shouted. He froze; his eyes glazed over. He went into a stance and raised his arms. She knew what was coming next.
"No, don't!" Kuvira pleaded. She tried to earthbend him away, but the sand hardly moved.
She put her hands up in self-defense and turned away as his flames engulfed her. First, the palms of her hands. The heat spread across the outside of her right arm, all the way up her neck to her face and hair. She screamed in agony at the top of her lungs as the fire seared her skin. She tripped and hit the ground. Her back and right side fully exposed to his attack. The scent of burning flesh and the sounds of her screams filled the air.
Wu watched in horror. "No!" He shrieked. He ran up behind Mako, taking his fabric belt and tying his hands up quickly. The fire disappeared.
"Help!" Mako yelled, "I'm being kidnapped!"
"Shut up!" Wu snapped. He took a deep breath. "Kuvira, are you okay?"
He watched her writhe in agony against the sand. Her hands, her right arm across the shoulder, up her face, across her eyes, and nearly her entire back and right side was burnt. She shook violently and struggled to catch her breath.
Wu grabbed the canteen and sprinkled some water onto her, not wanting to waste any. He knew it wasn't going to help but he had to do something.
"Kuvira," Wu said, "I'm so sorry."
"Weeee!" Mako said, "Why is the sky purple?"
"What made him stop?" she finally asked, the strain of pain in her voice.
"I used my belt to tie up his hands," he said, "it was the only thing I could think of."
She asked, "You used a fabric belt to tie up a firebender's hands to get him to stop firebending, and it worked?"
"He's really out of it," Wu said.
She wiped away the tears escaping from her closed eyes. Her eyelids fused shut, refused to open. "We have to get out of here," she said, struggling through the pain to get back to her feet. Every move she made pushed and pulled against her newly burnt skin. She took a few steps, testing the ground.
"Where are you going?" Wu asked, "You can't see."
"I'm going to go and pick Korra up, somehow, and then drag Mako out of this desert kicking and screaming if I have to," she said, the strain in her voice still there, "it's all I can do." She took a few more steps.
Wu stepped in front of her and held his hands up against her upper chest, careful not to touch her fresh burns. "Stop, you're in no condition to carry anyone."
"Who else will?" she asked, "You're too weak."
He said, "You're not even going in the right direction. Korra's the other way." He pointed behind her, then realized she couldn't see that either.
She stopped. "I'm not?" she asked, "But the sun...it's..." She tried to turn around and figure it out. All she could tell was it was hot. The heat was all around her, and her burnt skin could barely take it. "I'll figure it out."
"No," he said firmly, "you won't. You can't. You're too injured and you can't see. I get why you don't trust me, Kuvira. I know we'd be better off with you guiding us out of here, but now you can't. I'm all we've got, and if I mess this up, I know we're all going to die here. I'm going to be the one to pick Korra up and I'm going to drag Mako by the ankles and get the four of us out of here alive."
She didn't need to see his face to hear his genuine and serious attitude. She nodded ever so slightly. "Let's hurry up and get out of here," she said.
Mako asked, "How did we end up in this ice storm?"
"Stay there," Wu said to Kuvira, "I'll get Korra first." He walked away. While picking Korra up onto his back he grunted and struggled. "Wow, she's a lot heavier than she looks," his voice straining. He struggled back over to Kuvira and Mako.
She asked, "Are you sure you have her?"
"Yes," he said, clearly not convinced, "Mako, get up and get over here now!" He walked over to him.
"Oo," Mako said, "can I give Korra a hug too?"
"Get up!" Wu commanded, straining to pull on his sleeves.
Mako said angrily, "Hey! I'm swimming here!"
"Here," Wu grabbed Kuvira's elbow, "link your unburned arm with Mako's. I'll hold your right elbow in my hand and with Korra on my back, together we'll we're getting out of here."
As they walked onward, Mako pulled them backwards as Wu pulled them all forwards.
Mako said, "We're a train! Choo! Choo!"
"Hey," Wu called, "caboose! Stop resisting! This is hard enough as it is without you pulling us the wrong way!"
"I'll make us go faster!" Mako replied. He blew fire out of his mouth, causing Kuvira to flinch and look away despite being unable to see.
The sand dunes burned brighter as time went on. The intense heat unrelenting. It continued to burn the more they walked. Her skin bubbled and felt every movement they made. She struggled to keep herself together as they continued on through the desert.
Once the sun was on the far side, nearing sunset, Wu said, "We'll stop for now. It'll be better if we sleep during the day and walk at night when it's cooler." He put Korra down against a dune and collapsed into the sand.
"We can use the stars to guide us at night," Kuvira said, then frowned as she remembered she couldn't see them. She wondered to herself if she would ever see again.
"The stars?" Wu asked, "How would they help?"
She explained, "The stars stay in the same place, so we can navigate using them if we point out the right constellations. You've never heard of mapping out the stars?"
He shook his head, then realized what he did. He explained, "I've never heard of it. How did you learn to do that?"
"I had to figure it out by myself," she answered, "when I was all alone."
Mako finally stopped his firebending breath, and said in a hoarse voice, "Can you make the moon come out already? I'm sick of seeing the sun."
Wu asked, "What happened to his voice?"
"I imagine holding fire breath for hours on end takes a lot out of the voice," she said.
"Nap time for flowers," Mako croaked.
Wu sat down beside her and asked, "Kuvira, do you want some water?"
Of course, she wanted water. She desperately needed it. The parts of her that weren't in pain were dry. She didn't ask before because her hands were so burnt, she couldn't get it herself. "I can't hold the canteen," she answered, attempted to show him her burnt palms.
"Tilt your head back," he said.
Her first instinct was to not trust him, but it wasn't as though she had a choice. She desperately needed and wanted that water. She wanted to drink the entire canteen, but she knew they still had a long night and day ahead of them. Instead, she did as he said, and he let her have a few gulps. Some water trickled down her face and hit the burns on her right shoulder. Despite the water being nearly as hot as it was outside, it felt great against her skin.
"Sorry," he said, "I'd put water on your burns but..."
"We need it to drink," she said.
He replied, "I never actually thought we'd be able to sit down and have a real conversation, especially after everything you've done." He drank some water and gagged. "Hot water tastes terrible."
Kuvira said, "You're doing a good job leading us out of here."
He looked her over and could tell she was still in pain. Her voice was still strained, and she wasn't getting comfortable on the ground. She couldn't. "Thank you," he said, "I'm trying to be a good king, but I don't seem to be getting anywhere."
"You've been in power for two months now," she said, "how have you helped anyone in that time?"
"Well, nothing really," he confessed, "no one in the earth kingdom is giving me a chance. I'm not like you, Kuvira. I don't know how you did it, but you managed to uplift millions of people at the same time. How am I supposed to be inspiration all the time like you?"
She answered, "You don't have to be inspire everyone in every moment. You need to tap in to whatever people need at a moment's notice. Right now, the four of us need a leader to get us out of this desert and you stepped up have done exactly that. Back in that town in Shan, those people needed someone to quelle their fears of the future and assure them they weren't going to lose everything now that you're in power. Korra and I failed at that today."
"Maybe I could have helped," Wu said, then yawned.
"Get some sleep," Kuvira said, "we have another long day ahead of us."
Mako and Wu slept, and Korra stayed unconscious through the few hours of the evening. Kuvira actually managed to relax enough to catch some sleep here and there. In the middle of the night, it was time to get up and walk among the stars.
"Look for the north star," Kuvira explained, "It's a bright one right above us, next to a dimmer one."
"I'm sorry Kuvira," Wu said, "but they all look the same."
"But they aren't," she insisted.
The stars didn't help Wu. Instead, they kept walking through the night until sunrise, Mako blowing fire out of his mouth for hours once again. By first light, Mako was starting to finally get back to his old self.
"Why does it feel like I've been breathing fire for hours?" he asked, his voice almost completely gone.
Kuvira answered, "Because you have."
He gasped. "What happened to you!?" His chocked and coughed, his voice cracked as he recoiled from Kuvira's appearance.
Wu said hastily, "Well Mako, you're the only firebender here who's conscious and Kuvira's now covered in burns. What do you think happened to her!?"
"I did that?" he croaked. He stroked her left arm gently.
"Wow Wu," Kuvira remarked, "I had no idea you had so much attitude hiding in your cheerful silly demeanor."
He cried, "I can't help it! I've never gone this long without food before! I feel like I'm going to go crazy! Why aren't you guys losing it?"
Kuvira said, "This isn't my first time."
"Same for me," Mako croaked.
Wu asked, "You guys have both gone without food for over a day before?" Kuvira nodded. "How did you manage?"
"You keep going," she explained, "The pain is there to remind you you're still alive, so you have to keep going, or else fade away and all of that hard work was for nothing."
Mako jumped away from her and croaked, "Look out!" He took the fabric belt off of his hands.
"What!?" Kuvira asked, panicked, "Where!?"
"Mako there's nothing there!" Wu said.
"The sand isn't moving under our feet?" he asked, still walking away from Kuvira.
Wu said, "No."
"Huh," he croaked, "never mind." He walked up to Wu, "I'll carry Korra."
As the sunrise came and went, they stopped and attempted to sleep again. Wu was too hungry, Mako felt too guilty, and Kuvira was in too much pain. The stop wasn't completely useless, but it only reminded them how far they still had to go.
The sun beamed on throughout the day, still burning hotter than ever. Another night passed, and Mako couldn't figure out the constellations Kuvira tried telling him either. By then they decided to forgo the idea of sleep just to get out of the sandpit. Just as they saw another sunrise, Korra stirred awake on Mako's back.
"What?" she asked, "Mako?"
He croaked, "Hi."
"What happened to your voice?" she asked.
"He ate a plant and blew fire out of his mouth for hours and now can't even speak," Kuvira answered, "you've missed a lot."
Korra tried to sit up on her own and gasped in horror at the sight of her. "Kuvira!" she shouted, "What happened!"
Wu answered, "Mako did that to her."
"What?" she said, "Why?"
"Cactus juice," Kuvira answered coldly.
Wu asked, "Korra, are you okay?"
"My back and neck hurt so bad," she answered, "I think they're definitely broken, but I can still feel everything okay." She wiggled her hands and feet. "Can I have some water?"
Kuvira said, "We just ran out an hour ago. This is the second day of walking through this hell hole."
Korra asked, "Is that why I'm starving?"
"Yeah," Wu said sadly, "join the club."
The wind picked up around them. Mako's voice cut out, "-Look!-" He pointed to the dust cloud headed straight for them.
Wu gasped, "Sandstorm!"
Sand instantly whirled around them, cutting into their skin and eyes. It tore at Kuvira's burns. She screamed in pain. They sat down on the ground, Mako laid Korra down and took off his shirt to put around Kuvira's burns the best he could. Wu tried to help too, shielding her face and head. She took a deep breath.
"Maybe this won't last long," Korra said.
"Actually, I've read that sandstorms can go on for days," Kuvira said.
Korra said, "Do me a favor and keep that kind of knowledge to yourself." She created an air pocket of wind around them, initially shielding them from the storm, but the winds were too strong. It quickly fell apart and attacked them again. "Great."
As much as they wanted the sandstorm to quickly pass, the hours went on. The sun went low in the sky, and then disappeared entirely. With the new moon, there wasn't anything to see anyway as the storm continued into the night, nearly burying them into a sand dune. Korra tried to keep them on the surface, but more and more sand piled up throughout the night.
Once the sun rose again, the winds finally died down for good.
Wu asked, "Is it over?"
"The sun is back out," Kuvira said.
Mako tried to croak something, but nothing came out. Korra said, "Finally."
"Hey," Wu said, standing up, "Is that?" He looked carefully into the distance. "It is! It's a town! We finally got out of here!" He jumped into the air. "We did it!"
Together, they rushed into the Misty Springs Oasis to find a healer. They found the one water bender in the middle of the town. She gasped in horror at the sight of four of them.
"Who's first?" the older woman asked.
"Kuvira," Wu said, "help her first!"
Mako tenderly guided her into the back room and helped her down onto her back into the pool of water before leaving. The healing lady covered Kuvira in water and worked on the burns. "These burns are so embedded into your skin," she said, "I don't know how much damage I can reverse."
"It happened days ago," Kuvira said, "I wish we were here sooner."
Water rushed over her eyes. The pain and the heat lifted across her body at the same time. She opened her eyes and saw the ceiling. Tears welled up. "I was so scared I would never see again."
"If the burns were any deeper you probably would have lost your sight," the healer said, "the burns on the rest of your body have much more depth. It's going to take some time for me to work on you."
She stayed in place for nearly an hour, feeling the soothing water against her freshly healed skin. When she stood up, she the pain was gone. No more blisters and tugging and pulling and searing pain.
The healer said, "The burns on your back were the worst. I didn't get to you in time. I'm sorry. Your right side is now permanently scarred."
Kuvira stood in front of the mirror and looked at her exposed back and right side, the fabric long gone, and saw the scaring herself. A red strip followed her curves and muscles nearly completely down her side. "Now I'm scarred for life," she said, her face in her signature unimpressed look, "and I don't even have a good story behind it. Just a random firebender lost his mind on me while hallucinating on a plant he shouldn't have eaten."
The healer got to Korra next, restoring her spine easily enough. Mako went after her, restoring his voice quickly. As he walked out of the room he said, "Kuvira, I'm so, so, so sorry for burning you! I've never hurt anyone so badly before! I'm so sorry! I don't think I could ever make it up to you, but please accept my apology."
She stood up to face him. "Remember when you told me you're smarter than your brother?" she asked.
"Yeah?" he said anxiously.
"Bolin knows to listen to me!" she said, making him shrink in size.
Mako had no comeback. He knew she was right. If he had listened to her in the beginning, he wouldn't have tried the cactus and he wouldn't have burned her so badly. Instead, he ignored her, and she paid the price.
He said, "That's fair."
"And Wu," Kuvira said, turning to him.
"Yeah?" he asked nervously, stand up to face her.
"Thank you for saving my life," she said, walking up to him and giving him a hug.
"Oh," he said, hugging her back, "this is nice. Yeah, you're welcome...I mean, I'm glad I did because I didn't want to die in the desert either."
Korra said, "You know what? Thank you for saving my life too, Wu. Come here!" Kuvira stepped back to let her join the group hug. Korra turned around, arm still around Wu, and said, "Come on Mako, get in here!"
As Mako stepped forward, Kuvira forced his arm back towards himself and glared at him. Korra got between them and said, "Here." In a line of Wu, Kuvira, Korra, and Mako they all hugged each other.
