Chapter 10 First Battle
I accepted the cup of tea with a small smile. Haru's mother took her own cup and sat across from me. The atmosphere was tense but not because of the relationship between us, or lack of one, but because we both had our minds fixed upon someone we cared for. Katara was with Haru in that metal abomination that I was tempted to drag Toph to the second I could. Fifteen minutes after Katara was taken away I had given up Sokka and Aang as lost causes and went to Haru's mother.
"So what did your young friend do to convince the soldiers that she was an earthbender?" I looked up from the tea into the withered face of the woman across from me.
"We pretended to get into an argument about which one of us deserved Sokka's attention more. Then Aang used the ventilation shafts in the mine to lift a rock and make it look like earthbending." I took a sip of the warm liquid and allowed myself to relax.
"That was quite ingenious, who made the plan?"
"Katara came up with the false bending idea, I wrote the script. Otherwise they would have gotten into an argument that would peak with insults about Sokka's ear size."
"Oh dear." I laughed at the look on her face. She smiled warmly before taking another drink, her eyes suddenly dark.
"Are you okay?" I asked softly, "I promise we won't let anything happen to Haru."
"I'm not worried that Haru will be hurt…" she trailed off, suddenly refusing to meet my eyes.
"Then what's bothering you?"
"I'm worried that Haru will be there… and won't find his father." I frowned, why would Haru's mother fear something like that. If he was dead wouldn't she know? I took a thoughtful sip of tea before voicing my previous question aloud.
"Wouldn't they bring the body to your village for burial?"
"No. When someone dies on that thrice accursed place their bodies are thrown overboard and left to the mercy of the tides. We only know all that because two bodies were washed on shore five years ago. We still have others come in all the time but no one knows how high the death count really is. Many of us say prayers to the spirits, the same ones that we would repeat at funerals when someone is caught earthbending." I stared at Haru's mother, tea forgotten. I had known thing were bad here but I had no idea of how bad. The knowledge that the warden threw anyone who pissed him off overboard had been bad. I had never connected the action with the death that ultimately would follow. All the soldiers were dressed in thick, heavy armour. They wouldn't have had a chance. Now I learned t hat the people back home would never know if their loved ones were still alive… it reminded me of my situation. Perhaps, in a way, my family and I were living like that. I was on the boat, lost in worry and confusion never knowing what had happened to them after I had left. They were here, on the other side hoping, praying that I was alive but slowly, losing hope.
"I'm sorry, burdening you with my troubles while you have a friend on that abomination. I shouldn't have said that, I've kept it from Haru, and you two are of a similar age." I shrugged, trying to push away the sudden feeling of dread that had made a home at the bottom of my stomach. I knew full well that this world was real but had somehow forgotten what it meant to be caught in a middle of a war. An image of Suki laying barely conscious on Kyoshi island flashed through my mind.
"I guess…" I added suddenly, "that we all have our own demons to face and sharing them with others can ease the burden for a while." Haru's mother sent me a piercing glance before asking shrewdly.
"And what are the demons that you yourself face?" I sighed and looked away , finishing off the cup of tea too quickly for my taste.
"I… I'm not ready to share them yet." I admitted quietly. Haru's mother smiled and patted one of my hands.
"Give yourself time, and when your ready tell your friends. They're good kids, they'll listen to you." I smiled softly unwilling to admit that was part of my fear. That they would listen and truly see the sort of person they called their friend. A lair, a coward a confused and scared little girl in a woman's clothes. Or worse yet not see that and begin to use me as a guide on how to live their lives. I wanted my friends to listen to me but not because they would fear the choices they would make otherwise.
That night I sat on Appa's back with Sokka, both of us tense. Aang sat on Appa's head, face unusually serious.
The metal bars were spaced far enough apart that anyone would be able walk through. They merely served as a reminder that beyond was a body of water that no one but a healthy well trained athlete, a waterbender or a large flying animal could cross. Katara stepped outside and joined us on the four foot wide metal edging.
"Where's Haru?" Sokka asked, looking around as if the teenaged earthbender would be around somewhere.
"He doesn't know yet," Katara replied, "and I'm not bringing him."
"What happened?" I approached the water tribe girl feeling worried.
"I'm not leaving anyone behind." Katara replied. I had seen Katara get passionate before but I had never seen her this determined.
After a small argument, one that elicited a look of betrayal from Sokka when I sided with his sister, we sent Appa off and hid behind a large pile of crates.
"We don't have a lot of time," Sokka pointed out. I nodded. Hunkered down like this behind the crates was causing my back to hurt, and from the grey colour of the sky dawn would be approaching soon.
"I wish I could make a hurricane or a storm of any kind," Aang muttered, "the warden would run off and leave the keys."
"And go where? He's on a metal rig. He'd just hide and wait out the storm while we soaked his guards and the prisoners."
"What we need is some sort of earth that we can get up here for them to bend anything really." Sokka murmured turning to look at us.
"But this whole place is made out of metal." Katara pointed out, running her hand over the freezing surface of the metal rig. I shivered, suddenly reminded just how cold it was when not surrounded by the sheer wave of heat that came off Appa.
"No it's not." I looked up to see Aang pointing at the huge column of smoke coming from the centre of the rig.
"They're probably burning coal, in other words… earth."
"That's great and all, but how are we going to get the coal up here?" Sokka snapped. I could feel the frustration radiating off him in waves
"Well what are they using the coal for?" I asked. Sokka and Aang fell silent. Katara perked up.
"Forging. This rig revolves around metal work. But they only use old metal and recycle it, they can't have any raw materials within easy access." I nodded.
"That makes sense." We fell silent.
"I'll go." Aang said, standing and looking down at us. I blinked, go where? What on earth was Aang talking about? This wasn't making much sense.
"Go where?"
I shifted uncomfortably, feeling exposed standing out in the courtyard. In a little less than five minutes the prisoners would be coming out, accompanied by guards. Aang was deep in the bowels of the rig, shutting off all the vents to the coal except one, the one that opened up to where we stood now. I was clutching my fans tightly, knuckles white. My heart was pounding. There was a battle coming and I felt worry bubble up from deep within. In the portrayal of Kyoshi island no one had been injured. In the real story several Kyoshi warriors had minor to mediate injuries and Suki was almost critical. Here in this story I knew that the villains died, being dumped overboard in heavy armour and not knowing how to swim made that obvious. That didn't give me any answers about what was going to happen to the 'good guys'.
"There are the intruders!" I jumped and spun around, my back pressed against Sokka's. My eyes widened when I saw how many firebenders there were. In the TV series it was a dozen firebenders in total, leaving them vastly outnumbered. Here there had to be nearly a hundred leaving them outnumbered only two to one. Two to one with elderly people and children being the firebenders main opponents.
"Give it up little girl." the warden mocked, his eyes focused in Katara. His eyes reminded me of how a starved wolf would look like, ravenous and desperate. It was impossible not to understand what this man was feeling for a beautiful and exotic girl. The very thought made me shiver and want to step in front of Katara, to protect her from this man's gaze.
"He's right Katara you can't win this." A man with a long white beard and green eyes called from the crowd. That must have been Haru's father. I knew his name was mentioned in the series but for the life of me I couldn't remember.
I felt the rumble before I heard it. The vibrations shook the ship and I felt my heart leap into my throat. Coal exploded out of the vent, showering everyone standing nearby in black dust. There was a lot more then I had expected, even standing several feet away from the grate the coal covered my ankles. Aang appeared last, coughing and covered in black soot. With a gust of air the dust was gone leaving Aang's bright coloured outfit to catch everyone's attention. Katara didn't let it stay that way for long. She ran up to the highest point of the mound, grabbing a thick chunk of coal on her way and shouted.
"Earthbenders! Now is your chance to take control and free yourselves! It's up to you!" Whatever she had expected, silence and avoidance hadn't been it. I felt both embarrassed and proud of Katara, one for her courage and the other for how corny the speech was.
"Give it up girl, these people were broken long ago. They will never be what you want them to be… oh, but you still believe in them." He paused then smiled at Katara, before leaning over the shoulder of a soldier and whispering in his ear before turning back.
"Take them away." I raised my fans and slid to stand closer to Katara. Aang spun and gripped his staff. Sokka raised his club.
A piece of coal bounced off the warden's forehead. I turned slightly to see Haru spinning a handful of coal in his hands through earthbending. The firebenders attacked. I quickly lost track of everything happening as I locked eyes on a firebender advancing towards means chose him as my target. If this was a real battle then Kyoshi island barely qualified as a skirmish. I dodged a bolt of fire that was sent towards my head and attacking, flipped the firebender into his back. As things escalated I focused solely on dodging, attacking, and surviving. I heard a cry and one of the earthbender's fell at my feet.
"Don't just lie there," I called, rushing forward, "get…" my words died as I took in the scene before me. The earthbender's skin was unnaturally pale, the eyes were glassy and unfocused and his neck… was clearly broken. I felt bile rise in my throat as I stumbled back. Looking around I noticed at least a dozen people laying on the ground, earthbenders and firebenders alike. A jet of fire streaked past my ear. I cried out and suddenly survival was much more important.
Time seemed to pass both slowly and quickly, taking eons and seconds at the same time. I had no idea how long I had fought for what I now realized was my life when Haru's father shouted. I finished the soldier off by knocking him aside and giving him a good dirty kick where it hurt before taking off. I stopped beside Aang, Katara, Sokka and Haru who were helping the last earthbenders take down the remaining firebenders. Haru's father moved all the remaining coal underneath the uninjured soldier and warden before moving it over the water and dumping them in. We turned and fled.
If I hadn't been feeling so ill I probably would have been disgruntled at how it was only Aang and I puking our guts up over the side of the ship. While Katara and Sokka were pale and shaky, Haru and the other earthbenders merely were counting the dead and tending to the injured like this was nothing new.
"Tyro!" I heard Katara exclaim over the sounds of Anng and I… well you know.
"Hello Katara," Haru's father answered, "how are they doing." I surfaced for a moment, clutching the sides of the metal boat tightly.
"Fine," I groaned hoarsely, my voice cracked and raw. I brushed a strand of hair aside.
"Here, this should help." Tyro held out two cups I took one quickly and swished my mouth out with the water, spat, then drank the rest in a few gulps. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Aang was doing the same.
"I'm sorry that it took a group of children to make us realize that we had the power and ability to free ourselves. And I'm sorry that you had to experience all that, as necessary as it was."
"Was it necessary?" Aang challenged shooting a glare at Tyro, "Those people had families too, they didn't deserve to die."
"Neither did the six hundred earthbenders who were murdered for looking at the warden in the wrong way or denying his advances." Aang and I both fell silent under Tyro's heavy gaze. Six hundred killed for pissing off the warden. How many had died from starvation, cold or sickness? I didn't want to know.
"As for the firebenders, the warden killed at least three of his own a week. In the long run we saved hundreds of lives on both sides." Tyro stated firmly before softening and gesturing Sokka, Katara and Haru to join the avatar and I.
"I know this is hard and I know that it seems like you will never move on. In a way... you won't. The first man you kill will always dance behind your eyes, taunting you, making you wonder if there was any other way... It is the same for me. Every man I have killed will never let me forget him, no matter how necessary it was to kill him. Even though he is my enemy, even though he wouldn't hesitate to kill me, I'll never forget." Tyro turned to look at us firmly.
"You're right Aang, those men did have families and people who cared for them but in the end it comes down to you or him, your own life needs to come first." I looked out onto the ocean and began to hum softly, a song from back on earth that I had heard so often now playing in the back of my mind. Quietly I added the words to the tune, thinking of how well this song described the situation I was in, the war I was in.
Now if you load your rifle right
And if you fix your bayonet so
And if you kill that man, my friend
The one they call the foe
And if you do it often lad
And if you do it right
You'll be a hero overnight
You'll save your country from her plight
Katara's voice caught my attention, she was talking to Haru a small smile on her face. Then she froze as her hand grasped at her neck, eyes wide.
"My mother's necklace!" She cried, panic in her voice. I groaned, I knew I had forgotten to do something.
Remember God is always right
If you survive to see the sight
A friend now greeting foe
A/N: The song is Roger Whittaker's 'I Don't Believe in If Anymore'. I do not own the song or Avatar the Last Airbender.
