Chapter 27

Return to Omashu

It was devestating to see the hopless acceptance in the eyes of my friends when they saw the red flag on the wall of Omashu.

"Is this always going to happen?" Aang asked softly. I assumed it was a rhetorical question as he continued on. "Will we always end up two steps behind the fire nation?"

"No." Katara promised, her eyes were hard, "We won't." Sokka and I shared a nervous glance. While it was great to see those two determined I was worried. By the end of this war any innocence would be long gone. Then again, innocence was always gone after a war. My generation in North America was lucky to be born in a time of peace and than as war did arrive it was off shore and only the army and volunteers got involved if they chose to. No one in Canada was forced to join the army. Here though, none of us had a choice. It was either join the fight or be killed from the effects of the war. There was silence for a moment before Sokka took action.

"Come on, there has to be a way in."

"There is." Aang and I said together. We looked at each other. I grimaced and quickly gestured for him to continue.

"There are several emergency exits in Omashu that lead underground," Aang explained, "Bumi and I used to explore them all the time. Well, none of those exits directly leave the city. The only way to leave besides the front gate…" Aang smiled looking very guilty as he explained that sewers lead out of the city but we could use them to go into the city.

"So how are we going to get into that ravine anyway? Is Appa going to fly us down?" Katara asked as we walked to the edge, peering down. Aang nodded.

"When Bumi and I played here we created a set of stairs. Problem is I don't know if they're still going to be here. Appa's probably the best idea. What do you say boy?" The bison grunted, sinking into position for us to clamber on. Once we were secure the bison hopped down, descending in a controlled manner that made the huge canyon a lot less intimidating.

Once we landed Aang guided us to the sewer exit. My nose wrinkled at the foul scent coming from the grate. If it was that foul from outside the sewer I didn't want to know what it would smell like inside. Appa took off, flying away and leaving us standing beside the metal lid. I grimanced, suddenly feeling very green as Aang opened the lid. I felt even sicker when I got a good look of the stuff that was running out of the tunnel.

"You know what, I've changed my mind, how about we fly over the walls," I suggested, backing away from the sludge. I could tell that my friends weren't excatly happy about this either. Aang shook his head and stepped in, calling.

"Come on, Bumi's waiting for us." Katara quickly vanished in after him followed soon after by Sokka. I remained frozen to my spot. That was sewer sludge, I had forgotten since Haru's village just what that meant. Back in Canada, heck, back in North America sewers held water, debris and garbage. We had a separate system for plumbing. Not here though, here we had chamber pots which were than promptly dumped into the streets along with the bathwater, kitchen scraps and everything else. I was suddenly very aware of how dirty that would be. A breeding ground for all kinds of disease and bacteria. I had never been paranoid over germs before but this terrified me. I quickly pulled the fabric of my dress up, covering my nose and mouth before stepping in.

I was careful not to look anywhere but Sokka, my eyes riveted to his back. Each step I took I shivered in disgust. We finally made it to the top, I scrambled out so fast that I nearly knocked Sokka over. I dropped the neckline of my dress, taking large gasping breaths. My dress was soaked with sewage up to my knees and my small shoes only covered up to my ankles. I was better off than Sokka. He was covered in the stuff from head to toe from Aang and Katara's bending. Luckily for us there was a barrel of rainwater nearby that Katara used to wash Sokka and I. Aang than dried us off. I was still slightly traumatized by the experience of the Omashu sewer system and I was feeling like I would never eat again when Sokka shouted. I jumped in shock.

"AHH! Get it off! Get it off!"

"Calm down Sokka," Aang stated, quickly dealing with the issue. I laughed gently when I realized that it was a pentapus, this worlds five armed version of an octopus. Aang easily rubbed the little creature on its head, causing it to detach from Sokka, a star shaped mark of purple splotches. I snickered as Katara removed the second one on his arm, than yelped myself when I felt something move on my leg. Lifting my skirt I glared at the offending pentapus and gently pulled it off. There was a shout, causing me to drop the pentipus and shoot upright. Two fire nation guards came running up to us, spears pointed at us.

"Hey! What are you kids doing out past curfew?" Katara was the first to reply.

"We were just heading home, I'm sorry it won't happen again sir." The soldier nodded.

"Make sure that it doesn't." We nodded and quickly turned to walk away when one of the soldiers noticed something.

"What's wrong with him?" We turned back in confusion. I frowned, looking at where the guard's finger was pointing. Sokka's face. I suddenly remembered the ruse Sokka would use later. In an instant I found myself blurting.

"Pentapox sir." The soldiers looked worried so Katara added quickly.

"It's highly contagious." Nodding her head as if to make the lie more believable.

"Oh it's awful I'm dying!" Sokka quickly added, catching onto the ruse. I could see the panic grow in the eyes of the soldiers as they took a few cautious steps back.

"Didn't your cousin Chang die from that?" One asked the other nervously.

"Maybe we should go," the other suggested. Sokka coughed dramatically causing him to jolt.

"And burn our clothes!" The guards took off running as fast as they could, vanishing from our site in a few seconds. Aang laughed at how well the lie had worked but I was caught up deep in thought. The pure fear in the eyes of those men worried me. They really had been scared for their lives. Once again I was reminded how I was immune to many diseases that would kill in this time. Polio, small pox, and so many others that were killers here could never touch me.

"Come on, we need to find Bumi." Aang called as he walked away. We followed after him. After a moment I broached the topic with Sokka.

"How many people die from disease here?" I asked softly. Sokka looked at me in confusion before shrugging.

"Well I don't know about Omashu or much about the earth kingdom but back home I'd say about fifteen in a good year. If there was a plague or something else it could be in the hundreds." He paused and looked off, eyes unfocused as he admitted.

"A single plague could wipe out an entire village." I shivered in terror. Back at home disease wasn't something to fear, not that much anyway. Diseases like AIDS, STD, Ebola, they didn't seem real, like they would never effect us. Some of my old friends used to joke about Ebola, thinking it funny. Now I felt ill just thinking about how many people could die from a simple flu.

"Don't you have disease where you come from?" Sokka asked noticing my silence.

"Yes," I admitted softly, "But we had ways to stop it, medicines that would kill the virus or antibiotics to get rid of the bacteria. Very few people ever die from illness anymore. We even have a special way to stop ourselves from every getting sick from certain illnesses." Sokka shook his head.

"Sometimes your world sounds like paradise." I forced a laugh.

"Sokka my world has problems, just as many as yours, the only difference is the type of problems we face." We fell silent. A few minutes later the sound of heavy footfalls alerted us to soldiers coming our way and we quickly hid behind a bunch of scaffolding. Three fire nation soldiers passed by us, completely unaware.

"So where would they be keeping Bumi?" Katara asked softly turning to face Aang.

"Somewhere he couldn't earthbend," the young avatar replied, "Somewhere made out of metal." I felt a touch of curiosity and this comment. While I was well aware that most earthbenders couldn't metal bend I couldn't' help but wonder if Toph really had created the bending style or if it had been lost for centuries and she rediscovered it. One of the most prominent sayings in my childhood had been that there is nothing truly original, if you have thought about it someone else has too. I didn't know whether that saying had any truth in it but it defiantly made me think.


We were walking along an elevated road that pressed against one of the walls in Omashu when I noticed a yellow glow below us. I desperately tried to remember this part but only came up with a blank. My knowledge of this episode was limited almost exclusively to the battle between the Gaang and Azula. As I peered down I realized that it was two people, surrounded by guards. In a flash memory hit me. It was Mae, her mother and her little brother Tom-Tom. A loud rumble from above us alerted me to what appeared to be a rock slide. I shot backwards, away from the ledge as Aang destroyed the boulders. This of course also caught the attention of the people below us.

"The resistance!" I heard a woman, probably Mae's mom shriek. The other figure, Mae began to run straight at us. I knew that there was a steep incline slope to slow her down but I doubted that would do much.

"Crap," I hissed before turning to my friends.

"We got to go!" I cried, grabbing Katara's hand and tearing across the elevated road as fast as I could. Aang and Sokka were close behind but so was Mae. I could hear the sounds of small daggers implanting themselves in the wall, only failing to reach us because of Aang's airbending.

"Quick, this way." A strange voice called. I didn't even pause to think, following the voice and vanishing along with my friends from Mae's sight.

It was dark and quiet for a while before a torch lit up. I blinked in shock to see three men in earth kingdom clothing with scarves around their mouth and nose and hats to cover their eyes. Right, the resistance, of course, in all the excitement I had forgotten temporarily.

"Thanks for saving us." Katara told one, standing and dusting herself off. I quickly followed, moving to stand beside my friends.

"Who are you?" Aang questioned, not looking entirely comfortable with the disguises the men were wearing. After a moment the hats and scarves came off, revealing two men in their mid-forties and one young man about my age. One of the older men, who I assumed was the leader bowed formally.

"My name is Yalan and I am leader of the resistance here in Omashu. Welcome Avatar. " We bowed back, not having to introduce ourselves as it was pretty obvious who we were. Something about Yalan's sentence interested me but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"What happened here?" Aang asked. Before anyone could reply Sokka added.

"How did the fire nation win, and how long have they been here?" There was silence. Yalan sighed and gestured down the tunnel.

"Follow me and I'll answer your questions." He took the torch from the other man and began the decent. My companions and I followed close behind while the other two benders watched our backs.

"Four days ago the fire nation came to Omashu. I was the leader of the king's elit guard so I approched him and asked him what was to be done. He told me to sit back and do nothing." I could feel the anger radiate from Yalan at the prospect of his king practically giving up.

"Bumi just... gave up?" Aang asked softly, not seeming to believe it. If I hadn't known that this was already going to happen I would have been upset as well.

I forgot the conversation as we came into the main cavern. Hundreds of people were here, talking, sitting around cookfires and hundreds of other various activities.

"It doesn't matter now," Yalan stated softly, "The only path to freedom is to fight the fire nation."

"That's not true," Aang pointed out, "There is another path to freedom, leave Omashu. Reatreat, leave so you can fight another day." Yalan looked bothered by that.

"How can we? Omashu is our home, we cannot just abandon it."

"I don't know Yalan," his other companion stated looking thoughtful, "Living for another day sounds like a pretty good option about now." Yalan frowned in thought before he finally agreed.

"Fine, but there are thousands of people who need to leave. How are we going to get them all out?"

"Suckers!" Sokka exclaimed, drawing our attention to him. Grinning like a maniac Sokka explained.

"You're all going to come down with a nasty case of pentapox."


Acting sick had been pretty fun actually although I felt a little as if we were participating in a zombie walk. It was getting pretty hard not to laugh at the terror in the eyes of the guards. However, I was careful to keep an eye out for a little fire nation toddler. I didn't see him but I wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.

It was late at night when Aang returned and the headcount had been finished. Tom-tom had made it to us without my noticing and I had quickly taken the infant into my care, releasing Momo from babysitter duty. Katara couldn't help but try to maul the little guy. I had to admit the eight-month old was adorable but my focus was distracted from him when Yalan spoke.

"Sure he's cute now but he'll grow up and join the fire nation's army. You won't think him to be so cute then, he'll be a killer." I jerked and glared at Yalan.

"Do you not think that the fire nation feel the same way about our children? This little boy's nation does not mean he will be a killer. There are fire nation scribes and shop keepers just as there are earth kingdom scribes and shopkeepers." I pointed out sharply.

"You can't blame the children for the mistakes of their parents and you have no right to group all fire nation citizens as ruthless killers. Did it ever occur to you that there are fire nation soldiers who have no choice in what they become? Did you ever think that there were fire nation villages that are slowly starving to death as all their food goes to the war effort that has no purpose except to hold a tradition started by a madman?" I stated. Yalan frowned at me. I could see he was thinking about what I said. I decided that just having him consider my words was enough for now and left the conversation, gently bouncing Tom-tom on my knee.

"A messenger hawk!"


I walked beside my friends, for the first time since Kyoshi island dressed in my full warrior regalia. Tom-tom was being held by Sokka who didn't seem to mind that much. We stopped when we saw the three girls approach. I couldn't help but gasp when I saw Azula as it suddenly really hit me. These girls were no older than fifteen, maybe sixteen where Mae was concerned. Sokka stood slightly behind me to my right, Aang stood to my direct right and Katara to my left. I was actually surprised at how well the orange cloth hid Aang's tattoo.

The familiar sound of Bumi's laughter attracted my attention to the elderly earth king being lowered to the ground from a crane.

"Hi everybody!" The insane king laughed. I felt a touch of disappointment. I probably wouldn't get a chance to talk to him but I wanted to. I wanted to know how it had been so obvious to him that I was from another world. Aang smiled at the sight of Bumi than turned and projected his voice across the area.

"We're ready to trade." I saw Azula turn to Mae. Her words were loud enough that the voice could be heard but the words weren't. I frowned, I wasn't going to leave my fiends in the dark.

"They're going to break the trade." I warned, "Sokka we need to be ready to get the baby out of the way." I could feel the shift in the atmosphere among my friends. Katara's hands readied to bend, Sokka began shifting back and forth preparing himself to run. Aang relaxed his muscles in preparation to begin his main form of bending. I shifted the position of my arms so with one movement I could slide my bow off my shoulder and notch it. All my practice was about to pay off.

"The deal's off." Mae called, her voice loud enough for us to hear. In an instant they realized that we had expected that. Aang ran straight towards them as the crane began to lift the metal sarcophagus that held the aged king, Sokka ran in the opposite direction, protecting the child while Katara and I moved closer, reading ourselves for battle. I noticed the shock in Azula's eyes at how fast we had moved and I could almost see the cogs turning in her head. She had figured out that we knew what was going to happen before hand, she just couldn't figure out why. She didn't have time to think long, she lunged forward, shooting a blast of blue fire at Aang. To her shock he shot up into the air, far higher than any normal human would. My attention was distracted from the fire nation princess by Mae raising her arm. I knew what she was going to do. In a instant my bow was down and strung, the first arrow shooting towards her hand. Despite my practice I wasn't a perfect shot, the arrow just clipped the edge of one of her fingers. Judging from the yelp of pain though I had managed to make a cut. I kept my eyes wide open, looking for the girl in pink who was by far more dangerous than her companion in black. There! Ty Lee was trying to get at Katara from the back while she battled Mae. A single arrow was sent flying at the girl, only to miss completely when she dodged. I grimaced and notched another one sent it flying than sent the next. The first arrow was for her to dodge, which she did. The second was close behind but in a slightly different direction. Once again it missed the acrobat as she flipped out of the way. I snarled and switched weapons, replacing my bow with my fans from Suki. I charged forward, my entire focus on Ty Lee.

We engaged in a flurry of quick blows. Ty Lee was fast and it was a struggle to keep up with her acrobatic tendencies. One moment she would be in front of me, the next behind me trying to hit pressure points. I quickly began to follow her technique and just kept moving, making it hard for her to figure out where my pressure points were.

"Need a hand ladies?" I ducked as a blue boomerang flew over my head, managing to smack into Ty Lee, giving her a gash across the cheek. Katara quickly abandoned her fight with Mae to charge onto Appa. I followed behind, shooting two arrows to make sure that the two fire nation girls remained where they were. Once I was on his tail Appa took off, causing me to scramble onto his saddle with much more haste than I would have liked. For a minute I laid on the familiar leather, taking a breather. I was covered in sweat and I was pretty sure I had lost at least seven arrows. I sat up, keeping my eyes open for Aang and Azula, knowing that they would be on one of the mail chutes. Sokka spotted him first and directed Appa in the right direction. It didn't matter, Aang shot Bumi and himself off the road towards us. Either adrenaline of overestimating the weight of Bumi caused Aang to completely miss, shooting over our heads and into the city below. Appa flew up, needing to get a better look at where to land nearby. I allowed myself to relax slightly, pushing sweaty bangs out of my face.

We finally found a place to meet Aang but we were to late to catch up to Bumi. Despite the disappointment on Aang's face he didn't question my reasons for not telling him everything that was about to happen. I found myself smiling. My friends respected me and cared for me and we would all give our lives for each other. In my mind there was nothing better in the world.