They came from the sky.

Aang awoke to ash falling like snow, coating the ground in a cloying, musty topcoat and poisoning the air with an acrid tange that made you cough in the back of your throat.

They came from the sky like blades in the rain, sharply spinning down to strike.

They came from the sky like a thunderstorm blistering in suddenly, thrashing trees and wind whipping everywhere.

They came from the sky and from the very beginning, there was no mercy.

Aang stumbled out onto the main deck of his house, fingers clenched at the railing, watching people scream as the fire of Zhao's fury rained down upon all that took shelter, creating craters in the earth and killing anything within a five-foot radius.

"How did they find us?" Ty Lee said, blasting a powerful airstream at a few rocks that rained against the roof, shoving them into the streams instead.

"It must have been my fault," Aang said, "After Shoji, I was so depressed...they must have followed us back!"

"Not a chance, it's been days, Aang," Toph said, joining him on the porch. "I kept track of your back; no trails. Nothing, not a single baddie following us. I didn't fuck that up, I couldn't have," she said firmly, "It could have been a traitor...or a slip-up...or hell, I don't know." Toph began running off the porch. Ty Lee pulled her back.

"What are you doing?" she asked frantically.

"Fighting, Ty! What does it look like!" Toph snarled, "I'm not gonna sit around!"

"You're blind!"

"I've always been blind!" Toph thundered, eyes alight with fire, "That's not a big surprise! I gotta help, I gotta!"

"She means you can't see anything in the Swamp, Toph. You're as good as literally, truly, blind," Aang agreed. "I just saved you from the Spirit World, so no, I'm not going to watch you die again."

"I'll go to High Hill. I'll...I need to help!"

Aang and Ty Lee exchanged looks. "Take some children there. Protect them on the hill," Aang instructed. "And don't try to be the hero."

Toph saluted. "I'll leave all that to you, Twinkletoes."

They watched Toph run off into the fight and Aang looked at Ty Lee. He kissed her, just once, because he didn't know if he could let her go if he gave her another. Ty Lee pressed her forehead to his. "Aang, let's go."

Those that could fight were already knee-deep into trying to fend off everyone. Iroh was casting fire back at the blimps, and already he'd felled one, which was falling swiftly towards the trees. Shen and Dhakiya fought side-by-side, forming a protective barrier for those that couldn't fight to flee. Aiga was helping guide everyone away. The swampbenders were creating huge monsters from the vines and leaves as they tried to bat or grab fighters from the sky.

A few men shimmied down on ropes and Ty Lee quickly jumped and rolled over to incapacitate them as they hit the ground, making their bodies jelly as they flopped helplessly on the wet soil. Had it been a humorous moment, Aang might have compared them to dogfish freshly caught from the ocean.

Aang jumped into the line with the swampbenders, helping them create giant arms and monsters from the earth. The entire forest seemed ready to help them; sending large animals to attack the men, having vines and foliage swallow those that stepped in the wrong places, and sending alligator cats with their huge jaws to snap and bite off limbs or a sabermoose using his gargantuan horns to send men in packs flying through the hair.

But even that was not enough.

"We're losing," Aang yelled to Iroh, watching as the people that he felt a need to protect screamed and yelled as they bled out, or as they sobbed over unmoving bodies, or as they cowered. These were refugees...they were not fighters, not most of them, and they were kind. They were against a team that was ruthless and seemingly endless. "Where is Zhao?" Aang asked, spinning around.

"Doubtful he'd come down here right now, he'd wait until the grounds are all but won," Shen sneered. Aang shielded his eyes, staring up. There were two blimps still in the air; the third had already been taken down by Iroh, but he hadn't been able to get the other two. Zhao would be in the biggest one, Aang was sure.

Aang ran and grabbed his glider.

"Aang, what are you doing?" Ty Lee asked.

"I'm going to give myself up. He wants me, Ty! It's me he wants!" Aang yelled back over the bedlam.

"No, you can't," Ty Lee cried, furious, "You can't do that, Aang."

"They're going to kill all of us if we don't! I can't unlock my spiritual side here, I hardly know how to do it without interference! The only way to stop this is to give Zhao what he wants."

"He'll kill you," Ty Lee said, grabbing his hand, stopping him from taking off.

"He might," Aang agreed with a grave nod.

"Who is to say he won't kill us all anyway?" Shen questioned. "Aang, don't be foolish."

"I have to believe I can make a deal with him. We're out of options, sir," Aang said, feeling as hopeless as he had that moment when he'd had to kill Roddon, the Airbender who was found in the Earth Kingdom, to keep everyone else safe. He'd started to feel like he could regrow his nation here, but if there were no one left…

"There is always another option. We just need to keep fighting," Dhakiya said, "Let's go and meet them! We've been on the defensive for far too long, Aang," she said, grabbing her glider fashioned from the dark wood of the Swamp.

"I'm with you, Avatar!" One of the older Airbenders named Diki agreed. She had lost both her children in a city raid to find airbenders, and held the truth- that it was she and her husband who were true Airbenders- in her heart. Though she was as old as Iroh, her loyalty and might were strong. Her husband Dechen gave a 'hear-hear'. Ty Lee nodded warmly.

There were only five, but it had to be enough.

"Okay," Aang relented, "Let's go. Quickly now- before they realize what's happening. We take out the blimp, alright? And we will try to capture Zhao."

"We will get him," Dhakiya said with fury. "I won't let us not."

"Bargaining chip," Iroh said with an agreement. "We'll continue to fight down here, Aang. Go, now!"

Aang jumped and ran off the porch, his acolytes taking to the air behind him. He rose higher and higher, showing them how to grab an airstream to bolster under their fabric wings. He headed for the smaller blimp first; as they approached, they ducked and danced in the air to avoid arrows, canons, and firebombs sent hurtling their way. As they landed on the top of the blimp, Ty Lee quickly incapacitated the guard and he bounced onto the cover...and then right off the side. Only Aang leaped to try to save him, but he slipped through his fingers.

"Guys!" Aang said, eyes wide with a sense of horror.

"He was going to be dead in a few moments anyway," Dechen said uneasily, wincing. As he stood to rip a hole in the fabric, an arrow caught him right between the bones, straight into his heart. He gasped, falling back off the blimp and into the endless sky.

Everyone stood in shell-shock horror. Diki only gave a whimper to watch the remainder of her family pass on, but Aang could see her rearranging her heart entirely to their goal. She would not back down now.

"C'mon!" Ty Lee was the first to speak, her whole body shaking hard. "We gotta rip this!" she said, sending little blasts of air at the fabric. It was heavy-duty fabric and this was not an easy task. They were sitting turtle-ducks up here, however, and they had to work fast. With little air darts, they poked hundreds of little holes into the gigantic balloon. As soon as Aang began to feel it deflate beneath his feet, he waved them off.

"Gotta go!" he said, and just to be safe, he used his firebending to create a huge fire on the basket, engulfing the bottom of the balloon in flames.

"They're fleeing over to Zhao's," Dhakiya said, pointing at the people who were scurrying over a line to the biggest blimp. Diki pushed her to the side, shooting a tiny art dart to break the line, no mercy on her face.

"We're going to have to blow it up from the inside," Diki spoke in a waving voice, her first words since watching her husband die.

"Then we will," Ty Lee said brightly, "Of course we will."

They jumped off and flew over to the second blimp. Immediately, Fire Nation soldiers were upon them as they landed on the walking deck. They struggled and fought and Diki managed to break free.

"Destroy it!" Dhakiya managed to yell as the tiny, mousy woman managed to wriggle away, taking off down a hallway and shooting two guards off the side of the blimp.

Aang was trying not to outright kill anyone, but they were certainly not giving him the same respect.

Dhakiya, Ty Lee, and Aang all fought their way into the main brig, falling into the glass-covered room where the pilot was.

"Ah, Avatar Aang, how kind of you to finally make an appearance," Zhao said in his icy voice, the tone chilling even the warmth from the fires in this room.

"So what? All this was some bait to get me out?" Aang snarled, throwing a hand down to the swamps on fire below him.

"Hardly. We do mean to eradicate all of you, but you took much longer to face me than I thought you would. I'm disappointed."

As Aang stared into his eyes, he knew at that moment, that even if he gave himself up, Zhao would not stop. Aang had made a fool of this man, and not only that Zhao believed more than anyone that airbenders were a vermin. If Aang gave himself up...he'd be handing Zhao the fight.

Well, Aang was here, and so there was only one option left.

To the death.

"You won't win," Ty Lee hissed, blood on her cheeks and arms, but her eyes still bright. "Good wins. Always."

"How naive, but then again...you always were a bit too optimistic," Zhao sneered at her.

"No more talking!" Dhakiya said, sending a swinging disc of air at one of the fire benders. It sliced his hand clean off and he stared at his bleeding stump for a silent moment of shock before he started screaming.

That's what it took for this leg of the fight to commence.

And boy, were they outnumbered. But if Aang was going to die anyway, he'd die fighting. He wasn't going to so easily. He knew being the Avatar gave him an advantage, but they were also fighting Zhao, who was nearly matched to Aang. Not only that, but about a hundred Fire Nation soldiers rushed in to help.

Ty Lee took down many, freezing their movements and leaving them dropping to the floor like flies. Dhakiya was neverending in her fury, pushing men with powerful blasts off the side of the blimp or severing hands. Aang was just trying to keep everyone alive; always watching his own back as well as the two girls that fought beside him. The Avatars in his head were helping him move like a well-oiled machine, and he fought the best he had since he could recall, but his attention was always split between three.

He should have known that this was not sustainable.

Someone barreled into him. Aang hit the ground hard, his head knocking against the wooden floors.

As he was scrambling up, he felt the Avatars shake in his head like they were marbles in a jar. As he pushed himself up and watched blood dribble from his lips, splattering on the floor of the dirigible next to his tensed palm, someone sent a dagger through his hand.

Aang cried out, grabbing the dagger and throwing it across the room. He turned to see Zhao above him, one of his soldiers getting up and brushing off his robes.

"Kuzon." Zhao looked deranged as he stared down, grabbing Aang's tunic and hauling him to his feet, shoving him against a wall. "How long? How long did you sit there and undermine me and everything we were working towards?" he demanded, spit flying from his lips.

"I-"

"You could have been great! You could have succeeded me as the most fearsome military captain ever. You could have been an Avatar that had everyone cower before you if you had just stayed with me!"

"I save people, not destroy them," Aang said, horrified at Zhao's fantasy. Zhao gave a cruel smile, leaning in close, chuckling.

"I know you killed Rodden," he said, making the hair on Aang's skin rise and he felt sick. "You kill your own kind and you have the audacity to think we're any different? You have spent far too long masquerading as a Fire Nation Royal, Aang. You are tainted...rotten...and we both know it," Zhao laughed. Aang swallowed, but his lips were tied up, unable to speak.

There was a long pause, then, Zhao smiled. And this unsettled Aang beyond anything else.

"No, we're not so different," Zhao said with a quiet laugh, "And you may not believe me, but perhaps you will. You were, after all, my most trusted right hand. We've saved people, and you know that. And I am just doing what I believe to be right to save my people. How are you any better than me, when your Airbender fighters are killing my people too?"

Aang stared at him, and felt bile rise in his throat.

"No-," Aang whispered, horrified at Zhao's thought, but hell...could he be...right? Zhao wholeheartedly believed that Airbenders were bad people. That was Ozai's puppetry, casting them as scary shadows in the night. Zhao did belive they would ruin his Nation, kill those that lived under his protection. So in a twisted way, Zhao did believe he was saving his friends and family by killing Aang and the likes of him.

And Aang had always wholeheartedly believed there was that fine line between good and evil, and even more so, he'd believed he was on one side of it, firmly.

And not that he was wrong about this, no, Zhao was a murderer and sadist. But could it be true there were other things he was on the wrong side of?

Zhao leaned in, interrupting his personal questioning, as though he was about to tell Aang a secret, "I am going to kill you. I'm going to kill you with my bare hands, squeeze your heart in my fingers, and be lauded as the God Killer by everyone back home. And I'll smile thinking of it."

Is this how the full weight of death feels? Aang asked, seeking solace from all the lives before him, to ask if this was the moment of his demise.

He had seen a thousand deaths; from Roku on that volcanic ledge, to Kyoshi feeling her life slip away after hundreds of years, to Yangchen with a dagger to her heart, Kuruk drained of lifeforce, all the way to Wan, killed in battle.

And it all echoed and warbled that yes, perhaps, this was his time.

Aang, look!

Gopan was not pointing to something in reality. He was pointing to something churning on the edge of Aang's mental field, something in a wrath, struggling and strangling and ebbing a rhythmic ghostly blue. Aang reached out for it and was pulled through.

Something clicked in Aang's mind. Something like a floodgate opened and with a sense of startling clarity, he understood how to be the bridge between worlds. He felt like his bones were made of thin air and his entire world opened, drawing in the spiritual residue that lingered between moments. Just as his entire mental state shifted, he saw the glow on his arrows and saw the flash of fear on Zhao's face.

In the Avatar State, Aang was invincible. He was a thousand feet tall, and he felt like he could pinch this world in his hands and roll it around, doing what he wanted. He felt the strength of all the Avatars in his fingers as he reached out to Zhao, inches away from ending it all right here and right now.

By then Ty Lee screamed.

Aang snapped away, looking to see one of the soldiers break one of her arms like a twig. Even though Ty Lee managed to kick the soldier off the blimp, she was crying hard, cradling her arm.

It was enough to rattle Aang away from his focus. The Avatar State was gone, and he desperately tried to gain it back, reaching frantically at the wisps that were vanishing, the knowledge of how to go back to it disappearing like water on a hot summer day.

"Experiencing difficulties? How sad...how underwhelming," Zhao said with a disgusted tone, grabbing Aang's head and throwing it against a wall. The second hit pretty much knocked him silly, and he was still trying to figure out what happened when Zhao flipped him on his stomach, planting a hard, heeled boot over his hands and ripping the back of his tunic open.

"I'm going to cut out your organs from the back now, mangle you up inside and fly you like a flag on my ship as we come home," Zhao said, pressing the knife to his spine as he started to drag it down.

The ship jolted. A few men slid across the floor and Zhao stumbled away for just a second.

Aang was woozy, the Avatars in his mind screaming for him to get up.

It's Diki! She must have managed to destroy the engine room! Aang, get up, get up! Roku yelled, and though Aang recognized the words, he only managed to weakly raise his head. From the windows, he watched Diki swooped away on her air glider as the whole blimp shuddered and rocked as it began losing altitude. A sort of fail-safe kicked in, heavy metal doors starting to slam and close the exits off.

"Ty Lee! The Avatar has to survive!" Dhakiya yelled to Ty, and if Aang had been more cognizant, his brain less scrambled, he would have seen something like an understanding pass between them. Ty Lee got up and scrambled to Aang, grabbing his arm. Dhakiya helped flip Aang over, pressing her hands to his cheeks. She was crying.

"Avatar Aang, thank you for all you've taught me. You've given me a place of belonging in this world I thought I didn't have, and I'll never be able to repay you for this, but consider this a token of my gratitude."

"What…?" Aang asked, lights dancing on his fluttering eyelids. Ty Lee grabbed under his arms, pulling him across the floor as everyone tried to regain their stance. She lugged him to the porch, gave a silent whistle, and before Aang could process, she jumped off the side of the blimp with him, the metal door tearing off a piece of her skirt as she scarcely escaped.

Anag was free-falling. He felt the air rush around them, and wondered if he was dreaming. He watched as Zhao tried to grab him as they fell, but caught himself before he fell at the last moment too.

Then, something happened. Aang watched as the entire blimp seemed to...collapse in on itself. The blimp's balloon pulled in and shriveled like a raisin, becoming a wrinkled ball of nothing. From the windows, Aang saw men drop all at once like someone had commanded them to sleep at the same time. The air gone from the vessel, as though it was easy as flicking on a candle's light.

And there was no movement, until, like a star exploding in front of his eyes, the blimp burst into color, fire, and black clouds of rolling smoke.

Aang hit something hard and sturdy. His bones felt like just a collection of rattling toys, nothing connected to each other, given a hard shake by a curious child.

"Good Appa, good boy!" Ty Lee said, but her voice was very far away, flickering in and out of reality. He felt himself being pushed over and her horrified gasp, but Aang had already slipped into a cold, soundless expanse of black.

XXX

Amongst the yelling and questions, Zuko abruptly turned. "I have to go and speak to my father."

"Zuko," Katara pushed forward, grasping for him, but he was gone before she got the chance.

"Oh my Agni," On Ji warbled, "They're all gonna die, aren't they?" She slid down against the wall, shaking her head.

The door slammed and Zhi entered.

"Ladies, you all did wonderfully," she said, a rehearsed bit. However, with everything happening, no one cared about how their presentations had been anymore.

"What's going on? What do you know?" Mai demanded.

"I just know that there is some military news. Nothing to concern ourselves with, ladies, though Prince Zuko does ask that you remain in the Ladies' Room. I'll guide you there. Chop, chop!" Katara and Suki exchanged looks. It was obvious that Zhi didn't even know what was happening and knew less than them.

As soon as Zhi deposited them in the Ladies' Room, the doors were shut behind them.

"I don't get it. Why would they want to kill the Avatar?" Nadhari paced. "If they capture him alive, they know where he is. If they kill him, he's just re-born again," she argued.

"Maybe they aren't worried. Maybe they think this Avatar is too much trouble and it would be easier to subdue and watch a baby," Suki said, scowling.

"What's the next in the line?" Ratana asked. "How does the cycle go?"

"Water." Yue found her voice, trying not to cry, as she threw a frantic look to Katara across the way. "Next is the Water Tribe."

At first, Katara was about to brush it off, pointing out to herself that no one in her tribe had given birth in years due to the lack of sustenance, but that wasn't true anymore, was it? They had been getting more food ever since she joined the Choice, and she'd been gone a year so yes, there could be new Water Tribe members coming into the world right now.

Yue frantically tried the door. She pounded on it. "They'll raze my home looking for whoever it is! My father would never just hand the next Avatar over."

"He would if Ozai told him too," Alcina said to Yue before she turned, looking at Katara in a sorrowful way. "But your tribe...that's the one he never got."

"They'll attack us-" Katara's throat went dry. "He's going to attack the South, isn't he?" She began pounding too. She needed to warn her father! She needed to go home!

"If Kuzon is dead, the new Avatar has already been born, right?" Besu looked around, no one sure how to help or what to do.

Katara had just frozen over the lock and heard it shatter when the door pushed open. Katara took a few stumbling steps back to see Zuko walk in, his steps confident.

"My tribe! They're going after my home next because they need the Avatar and-"

"They aren't," Zuko said, his face pulled, but still unreadable. "Katara, take a breath. You too, Yue."

"But if they're killing Kuzon-" Yue said, the closest she'd ever gotten to really arguing with someone.

"They won't be attacking anywhere," Zuko yelled above the pair of girls. "Zhao and his men are dead."

"Kuzon...won?" Mai breathed a sigh of relief. "How? Zhao had half the Fire Nation army with him."

"No one knows. None of Zhao's men lived to tell the tale. Not a single one," Zuko said darkly.

"Great Spirits." Ratana made a sign of the spirits on her forehead and arms. "I guess Airbenders really aren't pacifists."

"What were they supposed to do?" Mai spun, her voice rising slightly, "Invite them in for tea and lay their necks down to be chopped off?"

"And the Avatar?" Suki said, reigning the conversation back.

"Gone. Not dead - at least we think - but gone. Along with any other Airbenders. Hiding, I suppose. The reports from the battle scene are...not for the faint of heart." Zuko winced. "So no, my father isn't going after the Water Tribes, as the Avatar is still alive. The Sages confirmed it."

Katara slumped, though her heart still raced.

"For your safety, though...you should all go to your rooms and remain there," Zuko finished.

"Our...safety?" On Ji echoed, looking like she was seconds away from a break-down.

"Fire Lord Ozai must be furious. Zhao was very close with him, and that's a large part of the military just...defeated," Cillia reasoned, and from Zuko's frown, she had guessed right.

"Oh, Alcina, please...stay," Zuko said as the girls started back toward their rooms, "I have some news."

This stopped everyone. Zuko turned, annoyed. "Private news."

"Chances are they'll know soon anyway," Alcina said, looking at Besu with a half-grin. "Just tell us."

Zuko seemed to internally argue with himself for a few moments before giving a grim nod. "It's bad news."

Alcina gulped, playing with the hem on the sleeves of her dress. "I figured."

"I'm very sorry for your loss, but one of the confirmed casualties was your sister," Zuko said in one breath, and Katara could tell how awkward and uneasy he felt to be giving such news.

"What?" Alcina said, as though she didn't hear him.

"What was Dhakiya doing anywhere near there?" Ratana whispered, confused. Katara recalled that as far as they knew, Dhakiya had gone home for a personal reason.

"There were some civilian casualties," Zuko lied, "and Dhakiya was one."

Alcina fell, and everyone jumped to keep her from hitting her head, as it seemed all limb control had been lost. She let out an ear-shattering scream, and Cillia began to rub her head, hushing her.

"Let's bring her into her room," Zuko said, and with the help of Cillia and Suki, placed Alcina on her bed. "Cee, I'm so sorry," Katara heard him say as he closed the door quietly. Katara stood to talk with him, but Zuko shook his head.

"Everyone to their rooms," he commanded, but On Ji raised a hand.

"Prince Zuko, I'd...I'd like to leave the competition," she blubbered. Zuko, knowing he was going to send her home soon anyway, just gave a tired nod.

"Pack your things. We'll find an escort for you tomorrow."

All the girls went into their rooms, but almost no one closed their doors. Not daring to defy Zuko, they all sat in their thresholds, speaking in quiet whispers across the halls.

When Alcina staggered out of her room, the whispers hushed.

"I can call for someone if you want," Yue offered.

"My sister was an Airbender," Alcina announced, chin raised and ignoring Yue's words. "Yes, she was an Airbender, and she was not safe here, and that's why she left."

Everyone, sans Katara, greeted Alcina's announcement with a mixture of shock, horror, and sorrow.

"And I know in my heart she was not just a civilian tragedy. Dhak, she is - no, she was - such a caring person. But she was determined; once she set her mind to something, she worked harder than anyone. And she never felt like she fit as a Fire Nationer...I have no doubt she took on this identity and did everything she could to become a true Airbender. And if they were attacking innocents...my sister would have fought. I know it in my heart," Alcina insisted, clutching her chest. "I'm leaving the competition."

"Alcina, no-" Ratana said, "Hey, think this through-"

"I have!" Alcina snapped, then quieted. "Oh, I have."

"She should go home and mourn," Nadhari agreed. "They must prepare her sister's funeral."

"I am in mourning, but I will not go home," Alcina said with a sense of passion and a direction she hadn't before. "I must continue whatever my sister began."

"You mean...aid the Airbenders?" Yue asked, her eyes wide with panic. "They'll kill you if you're a sympathizer."

"I won't sit in the palace doing nothing while my sister gave her life for this cause," Alcina said firmly. "You can't talk me out of this. It's been decided."

No one spoke, but no one tried to stop her. This surprised Katara...surely, she imagined that maybe Mai, who clung to her beliefs of Fire Nation words as gospel, would have called her a traitor for announcing something that was so decidedly unpopular and possibly suicidal. But none of the girls did. Everyone was looking at her, as though contemplating perhaps the fragility of everything, the weight that was pressing down now, and the realization that this had grown them all closer together than they'd thought.

"How will you find them?" Katara asked, "If they're all gone."

Alcina turned, smiling. "I've always been good at following clues. I'll start at the site of the battle, wherever it was. Write to my father." She paused, shaking her head. "And Katara, I'm really sorry. I've been a bit of a jerk. I would hate to leave on bad terms, because well, you've been a good friend," she apologized, hiccuping with tears. "Will you forgive me?"

Katara's heart ached; one friend regained only to see them leave. "Of course I will."

"What can we do, Alcina?" Suki stood. "I doubt any of us really believe what Fire Lord Ozai claims about the Avatar or airbenders." It seemed everyone was in agreement, or at least ready to see the other side.

"I don't know," Alcina admitted, "But maybe I'll write to you all once I do figure it out. The airbenders that survived need allies more than ever now."

"If any did survive…" Cillia whispered, and no one moved to disagree.

XXX

Katara woke up to a clamber. Mai's handmaid threw open her door and set a khaki canvas bag on her bed.

"Get dressed, Princess. The Fire Lord requires your attendance."

"What?" Katara asked, rubbing her eyes, but the handmaid was already gone.

Katara grasped the bag and watched the girls in the hall asking questions no one could answer. Handmaids tried to placate, but also get everyone dressed in a quick fashion. Only Alcina and On Ji were not being shoved into the garb, as they stood with their things packed, ready for the carriages to take them home.

Katara opened the bag to find a pair of pants, a shirt, a jacket, and armor. As she stared at the olive green and black contents, she heard Cillia gasp.

"This is military gear," she said, holding the shirt out in front of her, "Why are we being given this?"

"Ladies, now!" Ratana's handmaid commanded, "We are to have you in front of the Fire Lord in five minutes, do not make us late!"

If Aiga were here, Katara huffed, she'd let them know what was going on.

"Hair pulled back," Nadhari's handmaid said as she began braiding Nadhari's hair, which was often worn loose and free, "Tightly."

"What in the name of the Great Spirits…" Yue muttered, shakily zippering her garb. She looked extremely out of place without her usual finery of soft colors. No one had time to even put makeup on, and they all stared with tired, blotchy faces at the bags they'd been handed. They didn't look like Princesses or noblewomen now, just nameless fighters.

The handmaids let nothing slip as they pulled them into the Throne Room.

"Ladies, don't you all look lovely. It is time to make good on your wins in the tournament," Ozai announced.

It took a second, but Katara recalled...they had been weeding out those who could not fight in the hope that if war came to the steps, those who remained could.

"You're sending us to war?" Cillia choked, "Against the Equalists?"

"We must attack them now, instead of waiting for them to murder us," Ozai snarled. "And we know they are in a pass-through plain town in the Earth Kingdom. With Zhao and most of my army slain in their attempt to exterminate those terrible airbenders, the job falls to you. This is your sworn duty; you must protect your Nation."

"I...what?" Ratana dropped her helmet.

"Or, you may choose to leave like these spineless cowards. And forfeit your place in the competition." He stared Ratana right down. "Pick up your helmet, soldier, and choose your fate."

"I'm staying," Ratana said in a mousy voice.

"Where is Prince Zuko?" Suki demanded, "Surely, he wouldn't-"

"Zuko has already been sent there ahead of you with Azula. He will understand our need for fighters, and as it turns out, you are the best of the best," Ozai said mockingly. "The military caravan is waiting. Do not disappoint me, girls."

The cart to take them was slapped with the Fire Nation Military insignia and was dingy and dusty inside. Lu Ten stood in his military garb too, his expression was furious. Not at them, of course, but at Ozai.

"I will be traveling with you to the front. I will keep you safe, I promise," he said, though it seemed he was having trouble forcing the words out. "You won't die, and Zuko and Azula will be watching you too."

With a sense of dread, Katara sat in the transport van as she calculated exactly what was happening. Ozai had commanded the Equalists to gather here. He was taking this competition into his own hands; whoever he wanted to get rid of would be killed, and heck, they died in battle, what could he do? It was like the tournament but with less accountability. If someone was too scared and dropped out, that was exactly what he wished. If he wanted to take Katara out, along with anyone else he did not want as the Fire Lady, this was the opportunity.

The transport van brought them to a blimp, which would cut their travel time in half. A three-day journey was now a day and a half. As they were given bunks and rations, Nadhari stifled a barfing sound.

"This is how the soldiers live? Barbaric! We should be reforming the military," she said, wiping her finger across the dust on her seat.

"Most soldiers are under the age of twenty-one in the Fire Nation Military. The average age is nineteen," Cillia said with a cold tone. "I'm sure most of those that died in the Airbender skirmish was nothing more than children."

Lu Ten said nothing at the front, his face drawn into a deep, troubled frown.

"Prince Lu Ten, sir." Mai rose. "What are we to expect out there?" Katara was sure Mai had been in fights before, but it was unlikely she'd ever been conscripted as a soldier. Of the remaining contestants, the only one that had a guess of what to expect was Cilla, who had curled onto her bunk and turned away.

"Imagine hell," Lu Ten's voice was tight, as thin as a razor, "and you'll have only the faintest idea of what we're walking into. And for that, I am truly sorry," he said, shaking his head.

"Why though?" Suki demanded. "I know why we're going, but why are the Equalists attacking this town? What possibly could they want?"

To this, no one had an answer.

The trip was spent in a heavy, fog-like silence. Katara found an old deck of Pai Sho, with half the tiles missing, but spent her time playing this. Even though her heart was racing and her teeth couldn't stop chattering, they were nearly there. Her options were to fight or desert and Katara was a fighter. Katara was also terrified of Zuko's safety. The closer they got, the more likely he was already there, fighting for his palace and his life.

The blimp hit turbulence early in the morning, or so Katara assumed. The way it moved was so violent she was thrown from her bunk. As she and everyone else staggered awake, the captain came rushing in.

"We're taking fire! It's the Equalists! You have to jump!"

I'm trying to be on a two week schedule, as is my beta, until the end of the book, so the tentative next update is the 23rd of July! If not then, look for it on the 30th :)

We're also getting into some deep shit. Plot wise and emotional wise. This next chapter is going to reveal two secrets/truths that, well, I think people have been waiting for since Book One. Any guesses what it is?

Also, on a funny note…sometimes you write a book so long that canon overtakes things XD It's happened to me with Harry Potter and now it's happened with Atla lol. The Avatar in Aang's head that WE call Kasata has actually been given a name… Szeto! I'll keep calling him Kasata here, but I do always think it's funny when things like that happen! I'm sure that much of my own world-building of the Avatar universe will probably be 'unwritten' by the Netflix and new Nick shows, but alas, that's how the cookie crumbles, so enjoy it now!

And finally, as we're nearing the end and keep ramping up to bigger and bigger things (jeez, I just had the thought that I have no idea how I'm gunna one-up the end of this book for the finale of the trilogy…ahh that's another bridge to cross later!) any predictions to how you think the story will end? I've only seen three people across ALL the places I post this start to guess a BIG part of the ending!