*Blatantly ignores the fact that I was unable to update on either my birthday or the third anniversary of the day I joined this website like I usually do*
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or any characters thereof. Nickelodeon, and Mike and Bryan the proud owners of the fantastic show, while I am just a Highschool student and am writing this for my own amusement. I only own my own characters, and/or any plot twists that are caused because of them.
Attack on the North
"Again!"
I let out a long groan, but did the firebending technique once again. I punched forward with my right fist, and a large - but controlled - fire burst forward. It was followed by a slightly smaller, but just as controlled flame that came from my left foot as I kicked. For the finishing move, I twisted my upper body to the right, produced a fire from my right foot as I lifted it off the ground, and as I swung my right leg forward, the largest fire of all flew over my head in an arc before I pushed it forward with a left-handed punch as the tip of the flame made contact with the ground.
As the flame dissipated into the cold air, I turned towards Umi. The older lady was watching me from where she had set up her tray of tea and breakfast snacks for herself. Nanu was sitting next to her, piercing yellow eyes watching me carefully. I put my fist to the heel of my palm and bowed to both the lady and the wolf, feeling rather pleased with myself.
Umi smiled. "I am not a master, but I am certain that that firebending move was done perfectly. Well done, Tora."
I smiled and straightened up. The past two weeks my friends and I had been in the Northern Tribe, we had all been doing our own kinds of training. Katara and Aang were waterbending with Pakku every day (apparently Katara is the best in the class, while Aang was getting along on raw talent alone and spent most of his time goofing off), Sokka was in a warrior training class and doing quite well, if his reports at the end of the day were to be believed, and I had been working with Umi. She had kept her word, and helped me with my waterbending and firebending, though my firebending training was more limited than waterbending, with how limited Umi's knowledge on it was. Most of her information came from about a decade or so of living in the Fire Nation - in a small village where firebending wasn't used for fighting as much as it was used for day to day tasks - and about seven or six scrolls she had on the different forms and techniques. I was still nowhere near as powerful as Zuko or Katara were with their respective elements, but I had a better understanding and control of my elements than I had two weeks before.
It wasn't much, but it was something, and I was so grateful for the help that I would probably be in her debt until I was fifty years old.
And that was just my bending. Umi had also been teaching me how to control myself, so if I was in a stressful or life-threatening situation, as my friends and I were known for facing on a weekly basis, I would not lose control of myself and give in to the opposing forces inside of me. I wouldn't take an innocent life again.
For that, there was no way I could ever repay Umi.
Umi stood up, brushing crumbs off of her face and her clothes. "Let us begin our meditation, shall we?" She smiled hugely at me. "The sun is in the perfect position to do so."
My smile became strained and I forced back a small groan. I mean, it was amazing and wonderful that the meditation kept the elements within me controlled, but it was boring as hell and did nothing for my actual temper.
But keeping my soul in check was more important than my own interests, so I got into the starting position without a complaint. Unfortunately, Umi insisted that we always do meditation without our coats or our gloves on, because "The freezing cold helps you focus more! Come on, Tora, you're a firebender, you should be able to put up with the cold!" And so a few seconds later the two of us were standing, coat-less and shivering in the freezing air. Well, I was shivering. Umi apparently did this on a regular basis, and she had lived in the North Pole for years, and so was used to the cold, while I had lived in the South Pole for two years, and had been exposed to warm weather over the past few months, so I was much less used to the cold.
"Warm yourself up!" Umi instructed, a no-nonsense tone appearing in her voice. This was normal for her. The moment she got involved with training or meditation or whatever, instead of just being an instructor, any softness in her disappeared almost completely. "You're a firebender, you get your heat from the sun!"
I resisted the urge to glare at her (I had made that mistake the first two or three times we had meditated and ended up facedown, three feet of snow piled on top of me until I had heated my body up and melted it off) and straightened my spine, standing tall. I closed my eyes and stretched my hands into the air, focussing on just breathing in and out, feeling the warmth of the sun.
It started in my fingertips, the part of me closest to the sun. But then it spread from there, down past my elbows to my armpits, then across my chest, and down to my stomach, then past it, to my feet, until my entire body was warmed up and it was absolutely glorious. I was still trembling a bit, but that was more because of the cold air and less because I was actually cold.
We had reached the point in our training that Umi expected me to know what to do, so unless she was planning on showing me a new technique, our meditation would be in complete silence. I cracked open one eye and saw that she had closed her eyes as well, smiling serenely in the sun's light.
Most people, when they meditated, tended to sit down. Umi, however, insisted that doing it while standing was better for 'people like us', and, I'm not going to lie, it was a lot better than sitting in the cold snow for Agni-knows-how-long.
So we stood in the snow, hands to the sky. I didn't have to open my eyes to know that the two of us were doing the exact same thing. I breathed in deeply, head tilted back to face the sky, despite my eyes being closed. Breathing in… the warmth of the sun… breathing out… the sun is fire but gives light and warmth… breathing in… light and warmth are sources of life… breathing out...
I bent forward, my hands moving down to my feet, touching the snow. Breathing in… the coldness of the snow… breathing out… snow is from water… breathing in… water is a source of life… breathing out…
I straightened my spine, standing straight. My hands moved slowly to my stomach, and I interlocked my fingers. Breathing in… water and fire… breathing out… two opposing forces… breathing in… both sources of life… breathing out… working together to sustain life… breathing in… working together in harmony… breathing out… harmony.
I tilted my head back, and my hands went back to the sky. Harmony.
A low snarl from Nanu made me open my eyes and look down. I was slightly relieved to see Umi had opened hers as well. She had turned to look at Nanu, asking her wolf what was wrong, whereas my eyes had gone to the sky again. It was snowing. Perfectly normal. But there was no way to ignore the black flakes falling amidst the white.
I stuck out my hand, and one of the black flakes landed on the tip of my pointer finger. I had only one recent memory of something like this - when Zuko's ship had arrived in the Southern Tribe. "It's soot."
I looked up at Umi, and then blinked in surprise.
She looked absolutely terrified.
She was staring over my shoulder, at the wall separating the Northern Tribe from the rest of the world. But the look in her eyes made me feel as though she wasn't looking at it at all - no, the look in her eyes made it seem as though she was lost in some terrifying memory.
Before I could ask her what was wrong, she had pulled her coat back on and was charging across the grounds. Nanu had kept up and was right on her heels. I could see the tenseness in Umi's shoulders even as she got further and further away.
For a moment I just stood and watched her, shocked at the utter fear I had seen on her face. It was more than just a normal kind of fear, the kind that those at the Southern Tribe had experienced when Zuko had attacked. The kind of fear I had seen on Umi's face was more like… it was more like the soot had triggered some kind of traumatic memory. She looked like she wanted to throw up or cry but didn't know which to do first.
It was only when a gust of wind blew by that I snapped out of my thoughts. I grabbed my coat and pulled it over my head as I quickly followed my teacher. As I got closer to her, I cast a wary glance at the sky. The soot was still falling, appearing completely innocent to a person who didn't know what it meant.
The soot was still falling, appearing completely innocent to a person who didn't know what it meant.
But I knew. Katara and Sokka knew. Aang probably knew. And Umi definitely knew.
The soot had come from a fire nation ship. And from the amount of soot still falling softly, there was more than one ship. A lot more.
Umi didn't waste time. She told me to go through the Tribe and tell as many people as I could that the Fire Nation was coming, and to tell those people to either get to the palace or spread the word themselves. But in either case, get to the palace.
When I left her, she was already yelling at everybody within eyesight that the Fire Nation was coming. "Get to the main hall! Tell anyone you meet that the enemy is coming! The Northern Tribe is at war!" She bellowed, one hand at her hip and the other pointing at various people. "Nanu, you go with Tora!" The Wolf let out a growl that sounded like an agreement, before following me as I raced away, ready to follow Umi's orders for me.
It wasn't until I had told at least four people that I knew why Umi had told Nanu to come with me. Every time I told someone, they had glared at me almost accusingly, or muttered something under their breath. Every time, Nanu snapped her teeth at them, and they silenced themselves immediately before rushing off to the palace. When Nanu rubbed her head against my leg in a way that was almost comforting, I realized that Umi had told Nanu to come with me to threaten anyone who might blame me or insult me, even if they didn't actually say anything. But why...
I breathed in sharply as I realized why. I patted Nanu's head a little roughly, but she didn't protest. (Nanu, I had noticed, tended not to speak very much. Either she was shy, or she just preferred to not speak to humans.)
The members of the Northern Tribe were blaming me, insulting me, because I was fire nation. They thought I had something to do with the attack. They thought that it was my fault that the Fire Nation was at their door after a hundred years. They thought I would betray my Nation.
One of my Nations. They knew I was Fire and Water Nation and they thought my allegiance to my original home would be stronger than my allegiance to my friends or the rest of the world.
It was a logical thought. They had no way of knowing what side I was really on. But it still hurt.
~~Water~~
"The day we have feared for so long has arrived." Chief Arnook announced, his voice echoing through the palace. Every human being in the Tribe was present, listening in silence as their ruler spoke to them. "The Fire Nation is on our doorstep. It is with great sadness I call my family here, knowing well that some of these faces are about to vanish from our tribe. But they will never vanish from our hearts. Now, as we approach the battle for our existence, I call upon the great Spirits!" Arnook raised his hands, tilting his head back slightly as he called to the heavens. "Spirit of the Ocean! Spirit of the Moon! Be with us!" There was a long moment of silence, and as I looked around I saw many people in the crowd with their hands clasped together and their heads bowed, praying. I sent a quick prayer to the Spirits, to Agni as well as the ocean and moon Spirits, asking them to spare my friends and have mercy on both sides of the war. I didn't normally pray, but in the current situation I thought I may as well.
Arnook lowered his hands. "I'm going to need volunteers for a dangerous mission."
Sokka immediately stood up from his seat next to me. "I volunteer." Katara looked up at her brother, horrified, but he made eye contact with me only. We exchanged meaningful looks that meant different things.
Mine said, 'Don't die.' His said, 'Keep them safe.' We both nodded at each other, before Sokka marched to the front of the room, where several other volunteers were lining up to receive Arnook's mark. "Be warned," Arnook announced, "many of you will not return."
On instinct, I grabbed Katara and Aang's hands, squeezing them tightly. They didn't say a word, but they squeezed my hands back. Sokka would come back. And if he didn't, well… I didn't know what we would do.
What would I do? If Sokka was, Agni forbid, killed by Fire Nation soldiers, how would I react? Sokka was easily my best friend, but how would I feel if he was killed by people from my Nation? Or, worse, how would Katara feel? She'd already lost her mother to a Fire Nation soldier, but if she lost her brother? How would she take that? Would she lose common sense and hate me because I was Fire Nation, even though I had nothing to do with it?
I felt Katara squeeze my hand again, and when I looked over to her, she was frowning at me, but then she smiled gently. Like she knew what I was thinking, but was trying to assure me wordlessly that my fears were unfounded. I gave her a small smile, and looked back to the front of the room, straightening up. Sokka had been given the chief's mark, and was walking to where the rest of the volunteers were lined up, staring straight ahead, knowing that some of them would die and some would live but not knowing who would live and who would die and whose family would be mourning the loss of a son, father, or brother in the very near future.
I knew that none of the people in this room, except for me, knew that the Fire Nation soldiers on those ships heading for the Tribe were thinking the exact same things as the volunteers were. No, the Tribe thought that the Fire Nation soldiers were fearless monsters who would die before they let an innocent life escape their evil fire-filled clutches. They didn't know that the soldiers on those ships heading for the Tribe were people too, that they had families worried sick for their safety, that they were just doing their jobs. They were just doing what they signed up for. They didn't enjoy killing innocent civilians, they were just doing their jobs.
That was why I couldn't bring myself to even think about volunteering. Besides the fact that there's no way they would let me fight, being a female, I couldn't even think about joining the battle. I knew that probably a large portion of the Water Tribe thought that I would betray my friends to save my own skin, or that I was more loyal to the Fire Nation than I was to my friends, and if I chose not to fight I may be proving exactly what they thought, but I didn't care. I couldn't fight my people. I couldn't become a traitor. I couldn't become more of a traitor than I already was. I couldn't just enter a battlefield and prove to one side that I was a traitor to their side. I couldn't join one side of a fight that had both of my Nations in it. I just couldn't do that.
~~Water~~
"I don't see why we can't just drown them all in one wave and be done with it!" Umi roared, slamming her fist against the council table.
Arnook sighed, looking less than impressed. "Umi, try to calm yourself. You should remind yourself you're only here because the council thought that with your previous knowledge of Fire Nation attacks, but if you continue with your outbursts, I will have to remove you from the room." The elderly men sitting around the council table exchanged exasperated looks at the woman's anger. "And as tempting as your idea sounds, that wouldn't be enough. The amount of soot shows there must be dozens, maybe hundreds of ships. We don't have nearly enough waterbenders for your plan, and the ones we do have aren't trained well enough to do what you're suggesting, even if they joined together. The energy it would require would exhaust them all after two tries."
"So, I'll take them down by myself! I've trained more than any other warrior, and I have at least ten times the amount of hands-on experience with the Fire Nation than any other waterbender here has. I'm fully capable of what I'm planning!" Umi said, crossing her arms and glaring at the chief.
One of the other council members spoke up. "Umi, you don't really believe-"
Umi interrupted him by abruptly standing up. "Believe?! Believe what?! Believe in not letting what happened to the Southern Tribe happen again?! None of you know what the Fire Nation is like in battle! They're ruthless, merciless, willing to kill anybody who gets in their way! I may have spent years in the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom, but the Water Tribe is my blood, and I won't let it die out!" Her eyes were practically blazing, she looked so furious.
There was silence for a few seconds, before Arnook coughed quietly into his fist and looked at Umi sternly, but softly. "Your patriotism is admirable, Umi, but we still can't go through with what you've planned. That's why we have brought this council together. So we can figure out a reasonable plan for battle, which will hopefully not shed too much blood on our side."
Umi's eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped. She sputtered incoherently for a second, but then she was bursting with fury once again, jabbing a finger at the council members furiously. "What- how on earth could any of you geezers come up with a reasonable plan?! When was the last time any of you saw any real battle?! 85 years ago? And then you hid yourselves behind your ice wall like a bunch of cowards! You didn't even participate in the war when my Tribe asked for your protection when it was being ravaged by the Fire Nation, weeding out any waterbenders they could find!" Umi froze. Had she really brought that up? Had she really just told the council something that still haunted her, even after more than fifty years? She closed her eyes, squeezing her hands into fists. She couldn't speak for a moment, but then her eyes snapped open and she had found her anger again. Only, this time her anger came from fear. "Those soldiers killed anyone who got in their way, they captured or slaughtered our waterbenders until there were only me and another left! And I was five! They captured me and kept me in captivity when I was only five! Leaving the Southern Tribe without waterbenders, leaving my pupil and her friend without anyone to teach them! All because you cowards wouldn't lift a finger to help!"
Umi's voice echoed through the chamber. She was pointing towards the council, not really at any specific member, but just whoever was sitting across from her. All of the men stared at her, shocked at the woman's outburst. Umi's breathing was shaky, and her face had lost colour. After a moment, she stood up, brushing imaginary dust off her clothes as she regained control of herself. When she finished, she looked down at the council coldly, fists clenched."You old farts can hash out plans all you want, but when the army breaks down that wall I am going to attack with all of my power, and I fully intend to use any means necessary to win."
Without another word, Umi stormed right out of the council room. She did not look back.
~~Water~~
The first attack came at midday. Aang was sitting on Appa's head, reins in hand, ready to take off into the air. Katara had one hand grilling her water canteen. Sokka didn't hold a spear, like the other warriors, but he was clutching his machete hilt tightly. I had my right hand ghosting over the hilt of my sword, while my left was clenched in a tight fist. The warriors of the Northern Tribe stood apart from us, faces hidden behind cloth masks tucked into their parka hoods, all of them bearing the mark of Chief Arnook and holding spears. We all stood on the wall, watching the sea's horizon with fierce determination, waiting for a sign of attack in a nearly deafening silence.
The women, children, elderly and the ill had been evacuated to a safehouse where the Fire Nation soldiers wouldn't find them, unless there was a spy in the Tribe. For obvious reasons, I had not been told where it was. My friends hadn't been told either, most likely because someone on the Tribe's council thought they would tell me. But in any case, the ones that couldn't fight were out of harm's way.
A single ship appeared over the horizon. Shortly after it appeared, a fireball was launched at us. It soared through the air, a fiery tail right behind it.
Before anyone really could react, the fireball struck the wall. In an explosion of fire, ice and snow, a hole had been blown in the wall. I knew then that no one was prepared for this kind of attack. They had been prepared for anything else - weapons, firebending, hand to hand combat even - but this kind of attack was something they weren't ready for.
Aang took off. The fireballs kept coming, one striking the wall again while another sent into the city. Sokka ran off to join the non-waterbending soldiers. Pakku and his students, being the only one who were capable of defending the city from the fireballs, took over defence. Katara and I joined them, raising shields of ice whenever a fireball went over the wall and threatened to destroy even a minor part of the city. (I didn't want to fight the Fire Nation - that didn't mean I couldn't defend the Water Tribe from attacks that didn't involve actually harming any soldiers.)
I would eventually forget all of the smaller details of the battle - the number of fireballs we stopped, the beautiful way the fire clashed with the colour of the sky, the faces and identities of my fellow waterbenders.
But there were also things I would never forget as long as I lived - the grateful expression on one man's face when he saw that I, a known citizen of the Fire Nation, was helping them rather than harming them. The limp hands I saw poking out from the debris of the wall, belonging to warriors who were past help (I nearly went to try and dig them out, but the man who had looked at me gratefully grabbed my shoulder, holding me back, and I knew there was nothing I could do). But the thing I would remember most of all was the look I saw on Umi's face as she appeared out of nowhere and leapt over the wall. I couldn't register it at the moment, too shocked by the fact that my teacher had jumped over a wall and was plummeting to the icy waters below, but when I rushed to the edge of the wall and looked down to see her riding on top of a small tidal wave and heading straight for the Fire Nation ships, I finally could relax (as much as I could in the moment) long enough to process what expression had been on Umi's face.
It was the expression of a person who was willing to do anything to defend their home.
We did what we could. Eventually, as the sun began to go down, Pakku ordered Katara and me to go to the palace, where we could rest. His reasoning was that we had never used our powers the way we had, and he and the other waterbenders were used to using the amount of power they had during the attack. Katara and I both tried to argue with him, but eventually Katara gave in, and I followed immediately after. I was convinced she only gave in because of how exhausted I must have looked. She and I had both trained the same amount in the past couple weeks, but while she had focused solely on waterbending, my training was waterbending and firebending and the meditation.
Using a large amount of power, the amount of power you needed in a battle, took time to get used to. Katara and I had never, in our whole lives probably, used the same amount of power we had just used in an afternoon. So we were drained of energy and needed to rest.
As Pakku had ordered, we went to the palace. Yue was the only regular civilian there, probably the only civilian in the whole Tribe still in the city. The warriors still remained, naturally, as did the healers. When I asked, she had explained herself - her father had tried to convince her to go to the safehouse with the other women, but she had stood her ground and refused to leave, on the grounds that she was the princess, and if she fled in the face of danger, she was no more fit to be a future Chieftess than Appa was. Even if the Fire Nation did kill her, she would die with honour, as the Princess of the Northern Water Tribe.
I decided right then and there that I liked her again.
But then Katara and I furiously demanded to know just why exactly she had turned Sokka down the other week. Sokka refused to tell us, which had us both pissed of, but we still saw him hanging out with Yue in his spare time, so clearly it hadn't been bad enough that she had scared him off.
And it turned out Yue was engaged. She had gotten engaged literally the day after she turned sixteen. To Hahn, the guy I had met when Yue had took me to Umi's cave. The guy who reminded me of Jet. When she told us this, I was torn between feeling sick or angry on Sokka's behalf. Sokka was obviously still in love with the princess, and she really liked him, and she was engaged to some asshole, but Sokka was trying to act like it was nothing.
But Katara and I had to rest. There was no time to get angry when we had to relax and focus on recuperating for the battles we would be in the next day.
That was hard to do, though. Though Katara tried to get me to sit down next to her, I kept getting up and pacing, every few seconds glancing at the sky. The sun was slowly sinking lower in the sky, and the sky was beginning to turn orange and pink and red. It was beautiful, but I was too busy worrying about Aang and Umi. Were they both safe? Were they hurt at all? Had they been captured? Were they going to come back any time soon?
I could tell Katara was worrying just as much as I was, but she was doing what she was supposed to be doing and lying down, eyes shut and breathing deeply. "Tora, you've got to sit down. You're not going to be any help if your strength gives out in the middle of a fight." She said in an exasperated tone.
"I know!" I snapped, running my fingers through my hair. "But I'm worried about Aang! And Umi. Do you think they're alright?"
"Aang is the Avatar." Yue said, smiling at me comfortingly. "And Umi is one of the best fighters in the whole Tribe. They'll be fine. I'm sure of it."
I didn't know what it was, but her smile and her attempts to comfort me made me want to finally rest. So I did. I pulled up my hood and laid down on the floor on my back, grimacing a bit as my spine straightened out. The odd look Yue was now giving me told me that people usually didn't lie down on the floor (Katara was lying on the wide window sill), but I was too tired to care at this point.
So we laid down in complete silence for about an hour. Maybe longer. I may have fallen asleep at some point, I wasn't sure, because I felt as though I was sleeping, but I was also aware of every time Yue would move a bit or whenever Katara coughed. My parka was warm when I regained complete consciousness - I must have heated myself up in my sleep. But, I was no longer tired, I was rested and I was ready to go.
Katara had been completely recharged before I was, probably because she had been less tired than me in the first place and had also rested when she was supposed to, instead of getting up to pace every few seconds. She and Yue were staring out at the horizon, watching it for signs of - anything, really. "They've stopped firing." Yue said softly, her voice quaking a bit. It must have been hard for her, watching her Tribe be attacked and knowing she couldn't do anything to stop it.
But then Katara pointed to the sky and announced Aang's return, and I couldn't think of Yue for any longer. I was on my feet, right next to Katara as we ran out into the courtyard where Appa had landed. Aang was on the ground, head in his hands and knees against his chest, breathing heavily. "Aang!" I cried, racing to his side. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
Aang looked up at me, his grey eyes huge and his expression absolutely terrified. "I can't do it, Tora." He said, sounding out of breath and nearly hysteric with panic. He looked at the three of us. "I can't do this. I took out a dozen ships but they just kept coming. I can't do it."
"But you're the Avatar!" Yue cried, clasping her hands together in desperation. "You have to save us!"
I turned to glare at her. "He's also just a twelve year old kid who has been forced into a huge responsibility. Give him a break!" I snapped, planting my hands on my hips. Yue look surprised by my sudden outburst, but if she had been planning on saying anything she never got a chance to. A shadow was cast over us, and when we looked up, Umi was standing in Appa's saddle, holding her right arm gingerly. Her hair had come free of its bun, and now fell to her waist.
"Umi!" The and I cried at the same time. The older woman didn't spare us a glance as she slid down Appa's leg to the ground. She walked past us like we weren't even there.
"Umi, are you alright?" Yue asked, trying to grab her shoulder. The moment the princess's hand made contact with Umi's shoulder, however, Umi spun around and shoved Yue's hand off of her.
"Don't touch me!" She snarled. Yue took a step back, looking confused. "Where are the healers? I broke my arm, I need to be ready to go back to the ships tomorrow!"
"What were you doing?" I demanded. "Why did you attack the ships like Aang did? Why would you want to go back?!"
Umi gave me what was possibly the filthiest look I had ever received, and turned back to Yue. "Tell me where the healers are!"
"They - they're in the medical room, just down there." Yue said, still sounding shocked at Umi's outburst. She pointed down the hall, and immediately Umi had taken off towards the medical room.
I nearly took off after her, but Yue took hold of my arm, gently stopping me. "I think she needs to be left alone for now." She said softly, following Umi with her eyes as the older woman turned a corner and disappeared from view.
I looked at Yue, and slowly nodded. Umi was too distressed by something to properly deal with other people at the moment. I turned back to Aang, who was being comforted by Katara. Without a word, I got down on the ground next to him, leaned against him gently so our heads touched, and wrapped my arm around his shoulders.
We didn't stay in the courtyard forever. Eventually, as the sky got dark and the moon started to appear, Yue brought us to a room in the palace, with a balcony overlooking the city. From there, we had a perfect view of everything - the city, the wall, and everything past it. The moon hung in the sky, glowing white against the dark blue of the night. It was beautiful.
Aang didn't seem to notice it. He was leaning against the balcony, head down, looking dejected. I had one hand on his shoulder, the one Momo wasn't perched on. "Legends say the moon was the first waterbender." Yue said softly, staring up at the moon with an expression I couldn't place exactly. "Our ancestors saw how it controlled the waves and they learned how to do it themselves."
"I've noticed my waterbending gets stronger at night." Katara said, looking at the moon with the same expression as Yue.
"Umi told me the Spirits gave us the power of bending. We learned how to do it from the nature around us." I said.
Aang suddenly jumped as though I had burned him, but the giant grin on his face let me know I hadn't. "The Spirits! Maybe they can help! I just have to find them!"
Yue frowned slightly. "But how are you supposed to do that?"
"Aang is the Avatar! He's the bridge between the Spirit world and our world - he can talk to them!" Katara exclaimed.
"Why didn't we think of that before?" I nearly shouted in excitement.
Yue was now looking at Aang with an excited, hopeful expression. "They can give you the wisdom to win the battle!"
"Or maybe they'll unleash a crazy amazing spirit attack on the Fire Nation!" Aang yelled in excitement, spreading his arms wide.
I felt sick at the thought. Yue and Katara merely looked at them blankly. "Or wisdom. That would be good to. Who doesn't love wisdom?"
"But," I said, coughing into my fist to try and shake off the slightly nauseous feeling in the pit of my stomach, "the last time, didn't you get into the Spirit World by accident? Unless you have a panda bear monster to chase again, I don't see how you can do it again." I hadn't been present for that, as Sokka and I had been too busy being trapped in the Spirit World as well, but Katara and Aang had told us the story after we had been freed.
Yue grinned. "I know a place. Follow me."
We followed her out of the palace. The moment we had stepped outside, I grabbed Aang by the edge of his orange shawl. "Aang, I want you to promise me something." We kept walking, but at a slower pace than Katara and Yue.
Aang looked at me, confused. "Uh, sure. What is it?"
I glanced ahead, to make sure Katara and Yue were far enough ahead that they wouldn't hear me if I spoke quietly, and then took a deep breath. "Aang, promise me that you won't harm too many of the soldiers."
Aang looked at me blankly. I continued. "I know, you have to protect the Tribe, and I know that, but you have to promise me you won't harm or kill too many. If you have the choice, don't take them all out. Don't take too many out. Please. I know what they're doing is wrong, but they're just doing their jobs, they're following orders, and they're from my Nation, Aang, please promise me you won't kill them."
"Kill them?!" Aang squeaked, eyes going huge. "Who said anything about killing?! I won't kill them - I'm an Air Nomad, we don't kill! I'm not going to kill them! I'll - convince them to leave, or I'll scare them off and they'll leave, but I'm not going to kill them!"
"So you promise?"
"I promise!"
I let out a long breath of relief. "Thank Agni. Now let's catch up with the ladies." I flashed him a grin, and we both quickened our pace to reach Katara and Yue. Aang had no idea how grateful I was for the promise he made - I know he just did it because he was a pacifist, not because he didn't want to kill the soldiers I called my fellow countrymen, but I would take what I could get. It looked like we were in the same boat. Neither of us wanted to kill, but we were in the middle of a war and expected to kill at least one person. But we would avoid doing that as long as possible.
Yue led us through a courtyard behind the palace, stopping in front of a wooden door frame with a circular door half her height. Aang stepped up to it and looked at it curiously. "Is this the door to the Spirit World?"
Yue giggled. "No, sorry. You have to get there on your own. But," she leaned down to pull open the door, "this does lead to the most spiritual place in the entire North Pole."
Momo leapt onto my shoulder as Aang bent down to pass through the door. I heard him gasp and leaned down to follow him, only to gasp myself when I stepped onto the other side.
It was warm. That was the first thing I noticed. So warm, in fact, I didn't even need my parka, so I took it off as quickly as I could. When it was off, I tossed it to the ground, smoothing my hair back into place - and then I realized I had thrown my parka onto grass. There was no snow anywhere, it was all grass. Somehow, in the North Pole, there was a small chamber that was completely different from the environment outside. But I could still see the palace, and the sky, so how it was so warm and yet so close to a place so cold I had no idea. At the back of the chamber, nestled in between the place where the two cliff edges met, was a small island with a small, lush bamboo forest at the back. A waterfall came from the glacier high above it, and steam was rising from behind the island, where the waterfall made contact with the water surrounding the island.
"I never thought I'd miss grass so much!" Aang exclaimed, running his hands over the ground.
"How is it so warm in here?" I asked Yue as I ran across one of the bridges to the island. I ran my hands over the wood of the torii at the edge of the bamboo forest, humming to myself in excitement.
"It's the center of all the Spiritual energy in our land." Yue explained as she and Katara crossed over the bridge together.
I leaned against the wooden post, watching Aang as he sat down at the edge of a small pool, where a black and a white koi fish were swimming in circles. "I think you're right, Yue." He said. "I do feel something here."
As soon as he had mentioned it, I felt something too. I couldn't exactly explain it, but it was like there was some sort of presence in the air around us. It was unexplainable, but it made me feel slightly on edge.
Katara and Yue came to stand next to me as we watched Aang get into his meditation pose. "Why is he sitting like that?" Yue whispered to me.
"He's meditating." I whispered back. "He should be able to get into the Spirit World."
"It takes all of his concentration, though." Katara added.
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Yue asked.
"How about giving me some peace and quiet?!" Aang suddenly yelled, turning his head to glare at us. "I can hear everything you're saying, you know!" Katara put her hand over her mouth, looking slightly embarrassed. Aang turned back around, looking down at the koi fish in the pond.
After a few seconds, his tattoos and his eyes began to glow white.
"What's happening?" Yue asked, sounding concerned.
"He's crossed into the Spirit world - he's in the Avatar State." I explained, grinning at Aang's body.
"He'll be fine as long as we don't move his body." Katara said, also smiling. "That's how he'll get back here, to the physical world."
"I think we should go get some help." Yue started for the door, but Katara caught her by the edge of her sleeve.
"We'll be fine." She said, taking her eyes off of Aang finally as she looked at Yue. "He's my friend; I'm perfectly capable of protecting him."
"We are perfectly capable of protecting him." I corrected instantly.
"Right, we are perfectly capable of protecting him."
"And don't you forget it."
A voice I hadn't heard for weeks cut through the brief silence. "Well, aren't you two big girls now?"
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I turned my head so fast I was in danger of whiplash. "Zuko?"
"No!" Katara whispered in horror.
It was Zuko, coming across the bridge on the other side of the island, dressed in all white clothing, a black eye and several small scars on his face. I couldn't say I felt the same horror as Katara did. Mostly I was shocked that he had managed to get into the Tribe (but not really, because this was Zuko after all, and he always found a way), startled to see him at all, pissed off that he thought he was going to try and take Aang again (which he announced very loudly and very clearly), and mildly concerned for the injuries on his face.
Katara instantly moved into a waterbending stance. I moved to copy her, but as Zuko lunged forward, furiously kicking and punching fire from his feet and hands, and Katara pulled a stream of water from the pond to form a shield, Katara shouted at me. "Go with Yue, Tora! Get help!"
"No! I am not leaving you-"
Another fireblast nearly struck us, but Katara raised another shield, snarling furiously. "This is not up for debate! You - go - now!"
It was after living with Katara for two years that you learned not to argue with her when she used that particular tone. And, as much as I hated to admit it, I was woefully unprepared to fight Zuko when he was so pissed - even at night, when waterbenders were supposedly at their strongest. I had been able to fight him just fine several times before, before I became aware of how unskilled I was when it came to bending, but as soon as I became aware… I was suddenly less sure. So, grinding my teeth a bit, I grabbed Yue's arm and ran with her across the bridge, back towards the door leading out of the chamber.
"Who was that?" Yue gasped as I climbed through the door after her. The moment I was on the other side and the door was safely shut, we were running again, trying to find someone -anyone - who could help.
"He's-" I paused. "He's Zuko."
"Prince Zuko? Of the Fire Nation? The one Sokka told me about?"
"Yes!" Sokka. I thought. Sokka is our best option. "Where is Sokka, anyway? He can help!" I cursed. "You wouldn't know, would you?"
"He should be in the barracks, with the other soldiers." Yue said quickly.
But Sokka wasn't in the barracks. When we got there, we were informed by another warrior that Arnook had taken Sokka off the mission because he had attacked Hahn. If Yue hadn't looked so distressed when we had been informed of this, I would have laughed loudly and asked the warrior how badly injured Hahn was. But that would have wasted time, even if Yue hadn't looked so distressed, and so I instead asked the warrior if he knew where Sokka was. He told us that the last he had seen him, Sokka had been heading for the palace. We had just missed him.
We ran, trying to catch up with Sokka. We eventually did, and he had flipped out when I had told him that Katara was alone with Zuko. But that didn't matter - the sun was rising. Firebenders rose with the sun. I could feel my energy rising slightly as the sun appeared over the horizon, its warmth washing over us. But it was not a good thing. Zuko was a firebender, and a better one, and he rose with the sun. Waterbenders were most powerful at night, when the moon was at its highest. Firebenders were most powerful at daybreak. Ergo, there was a very slim chance Katara would be able to beat Zuko when the sun rose.
Knowing that Appa would be helpful with taking down Zuko if things got too bad, we rushed to the courtyard, where Appa was still resting from his and Aang's attack on the ships the day before. Luckily he had rested enough for us to use him to get back to the chamber behind the palace.
But when we arrived, we all knew as soon as we landed, we were too late. Katara was standing unsteadily, Zuko wasn't there, the signs of battle (shattered ice columns and melting ice and smoldering grass) were there, but Aang was not there.
Aang was gone. Zuko had taken him.
And we didn't know where they were.
You know, I had every intention of adding the scene between Zuko and Iroh to this chapter, and the scenes where Zuko was sneaking into the Water Tribe, but then I realized, as they had no real importance to Tora's story (because this is her story), there was no real point. I know I did that in past chapters, but I had no real motivation to add the Zuko scenes to this chapter. Idk, maybe I'll start adding his scenes again in the next book, maybe not, I guess we'll see.
Also, not important, but does anyone reading this watch Supernatural? I recently started watching it, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. So far it's kind of… boring? I heard it gets better, and I am going to continue watching it because I heard it gets better, but so far I'm not too impressed.
I also started watching The Mindy Project and Sherlock, and if you don't watch those shows I would definitely recommend them.
(Also Sherlock may be the reason this is so late, I got distracted by searching through the Johnlock tag on tumblr.)(also ATLA is no longer on Netflix and I had to take time to mourn my loss.)
And if anyone has ever read the Maximum Ride series, I may or may not be thinking about writing a fanfictions for it featuring lesbian OC's. I hate the series, honestly, but I am so obsessed with it and I don't know why.
A lesbian Avian-American and a lesbian former-assassin with an Avian-American 'son'. That's it. So yeah.