Holy Crap! Last Update was in 19th September 2020?!
I'm sorry for the long absence, my Dear Readers.
Having done with university, packing, flying back to home country, quarantine, getting jobs & not to mention, a freaking Writer's Block!
Oh, before I forget, i sort of changed the Title of a little. Sorry for the minor tweak.
Anyway, I finally managed to finish this piece of chapter which I feel is acceptable.
Though it's a bit shorter, I do hope you guys will enjoy it!
Oh, right. One Quick Question. Am I supposed to respond to the review you guys leave? Because I do read every single one of them. But I'm not sure whether or not I should reply when I post the new chapter. I will definitely reply when you send me messages via Private Messages.
Please Read & Leave a Review.
Your thoughts & comments are important for me improvements.
Thank You Very Much. m(_ _)m
Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Avatar or Its Characters
"… … …" Her brows furrowed as she felt the sensation of the flinty, icy floor rubbing against the back of her head. She rolled to her side and the second the frostiness hit her right cheek, she let out a short yelp and woke up. "Ugh…My head." Steadily and blearily, she blinked a few times only to be greeted by the unfamiliar surroundings. "Where–" When the young lady tried to push herself up from the sleeping position, she was shocked to discover that her arms were bound tightly together at her back.
"What the–?" At first, confusion was all she got. She had so many questions in mind. What happened? Where is she currently at? How did she end up here? Is she the victim of this kidnap? She dug deep into her memory. She remembered the boys from her class invited her to feed the turtle seals. She met up with them, but after that…Nothing. Total blankness. 'The boys! Were they also kidnapped like me?' Worried about her classmates, she quickly pulled herself up and surveyed her surroundings. No one. Not a single soul in this accursed freezing cavern.
A distant chatter caught her attention. "So what's our next step?" She vaguely caught those words. Hearing their voices getting closer to her, the young lady hurriedly lied back onto the cold floor and pretended to remain unconscious. She prayed to the Ocean and Moon Spirits that they wouldn't hear her speedy beating heartrate.
"You think she's awake yet?"
"Nah, the drug effect should last longer."
'Wait a minute…' she frowned inwardly when she recognised those voices. They belonged to the boys from her class. Now she heavily suspected that they were the ones responsible in abducting her. While she was contemplating about her next move, a dreadful news reached her ears.
"Hahn's back. He has the chief."
"Keep your hands off that bowl, Sokka." Zuko warned the young water tribe warrior as he smacked the latter one's hand with a wooden ladle. Sokka swiftly retracted his hand and hissed at the scarred boy. "Oh come on, Zuko! Katara's not even back yet and your food's going cold!" The exiled prince merely rolled his eyes and dryly retorted that he could always reheat the food with his firebending.
"Where is Katara anyway? She sure is late for dinner." Aang innocently said it after swallowing a mouthful of seaweed noodle soup. Katara's late for dinner. Those words however halted Zuko's movement. Katara's late for dinner. She is late. The longer the young airbender's voice resonated in his head, the image of Katara being dragged into the darkness flashed in his head. 'Could it be…' His heart sank at those thoughts.
Was he overthinking things? Was he being paranoid right now?
He wished his dear Uncle Iroh's here with him. He needed advice who's as wise as the Dragon of the West. Maybe he had wasn't simple nightmare, but vision, A vision of her impending danger. With the discomfort of her lateness eating him up from the inside, Zuko made up his mind. "I'm heading out to look for her." He never waited for their replies as he simply rushed out of the house. Now, the seriousness of the prince's tone began to bother the two boys.
"Father, I'm home." Yue gaily announced her return as she hung her parka onto the wall. The princess called out to her father the second time after noticing both the silence and unlit room. Feeling vulnerable under the dark, chilly roof, the sensation of uneasiness began to creep into her heart. "...Papa?" Yue nervously murmured his title of endearment. Something she would only us when they're alone. Nothing. She grabbed a lamp and lit it up before wandering into the kitchen. The princess passed through the dining room, checked the chief's bedroom as well as office. There's Nothing.
It was unusual for her father to be absent at this time because they were supposed to have dinner together. She knows her father well. Very well. Sure, their relationship was initially estranged when Arnook matched her up with Hahn. But they grew closer again after he listened to her. She knew her father genuinely cared for her well-being because he acted and investigated the allegations of Hahn's wrongful behaviour on courting multiple girls. He had freed her from a terrible future. She also knew he accepted who she was because he was willing to bend the rules for her by asking Master Pakku and got him to teach her waterbending. If the chief was to leave while his daughter was away, he would've informed the attendants. But there's none.
'Something's wrong.' Her gut churned at that thought. "Princess!" Hearing her name being called from the outside, Yue ran for the door. To her surprise, she was greeted by the wives, daughters, and sons of the councilmen. All of them donned the familiar troubled expression. Much to her regret, her concern was right. Just like her father, the elders were missing. "Yue!" Another group of two people came up to her. This time, it's Sokka and Aang. Her brows knitted even more after she realised Katara and Lee weren't with them. But as soon as the revelation of Katara never returning home, her mind was disrupted by these cases of disappearance. "Princess Yue." The blessed princess wasn't given any time to process her thoughts when one of her father's close guards approached and greeted her with a respectful bow. He then turned to inform the others that they've been summoned to the plaza.
The first thing that caught her eyes when she entered the hall was the fact that Hahn was sitting on her father's dais, with his medallion around the boy's neck. "Hahn! Why do you have the Medallion of the North? Where is my father?" Her voice rang across the glacial interior, attracting the townsman's attention as she demanded an answer from the young man who seemed surprised by her appearance.
Hahn shifted his glare onto the guard beside Yue and lashed out on him, "I told you to bring the Elders' family and the Avatar here! Why did you call the princess and the southern boy?" Undaunted by the boy's outburst, the guard merely straightened his back and blankly answered that they were already with the chief's daughter when he found them. Hahn silently clicked his tongue in annoyance after Yue once again demanded an explanation from him.
"Silence! As of now, I am the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe! All of you should pay your respect to me!" Hahn roared at her and the crowd. His outrage caught most of the people off guard but none of them heeded his words. After a brief silence, everyone could feel as though the temperature in the room dropped before Yue finally spoke out again. "Where. Is. My. Father." With her voice as cold as the North's blizzard, the boys that were supporting Hahn stepped out to create a space between Yue and their new chief. "Do not speak to me with that tone of yours, woman." Hahn chided the princess while he hid behind his boys while trying his best to maintain his imposing "chief" atmosphere.
"I am the Chief! And you will listen to my command! Leave now and take that Southerner with you!" Hahn bellowed one last time. "What?! What's your problem, you piece of yak cr–Hmm!" As much as he wanted to argue, Sokka never had the opportunity to finish his sentence when the young monk hastily covered up the former's foul mouth. While he disregarded the little commotion, guard that escorted them to the plaza lowered his back and whispered some advice to her ears, "Princess, we should leave…for now. It's clear that the boy is hiding things. But right now, he has the Chief's medallion. Though you may be our future chieftess, Chief Arnook and the Council have yet publicly announced it to the people. We must find your father and the elders first." Yue solemnly heeded his advice and left the hall along with the adult and Sokka.
'Where are you, Katara?' Zuko anxiously trampled through the snowfield as his search for the water maiden has led him nowhere. "Damn it. I should've known that the dream was a warning. Why was I so stupid?" The exiled prince cursed for his mistake as his frowned in frustration. He had scouted the town and asked anyone who might have seen her. But none knew where Katara was and it's really stirring up his apprehensiveness.
"You seemed distress, child. Did you lose something?" The young man's eyes flickered towards the direction of the unfamiliar voice. There, his amber eyes met with the wise gaze of a short, rotund old man. Zuko noted the distinctive black spot marking on the man's forehead and long white whiskers for a moustache.
The prince momentarily stared at the elderly man before finally opening his mouth, "I'm…I'm looking for my friend. Her name's Katara. Have you seen her?". His eyes were filled with both hope and despair. After hearing his question, the elder hummed with his throat and rubbed one of his whiskers as though he's recalling his memories. He then waved at the boy, signalling the latter one to come closer.
Once the firebender's close, the elder mumbled at a tone that only the two of them could hear. "…Is this the little girl that challenged Young Pakku?" Zuko initially lifted his brow in question the second the old man referred the waterbending master as young, but he quickly affirmed the man's statement with a nod. The old man crooned again as he shifted those sagely eyes of his onto the tip glacier that's behind the city and back to the young man before him. "Find Young Pakku's students, and you'll find the girl."
That made the prince to lean back and eyed at the stumpy man suspiciously. "How did you–" The elder abruptly raised his hand to stop the firebender from asking any further question. "Time is of the essence, child. But tread this search of yours carefully. Because there are forces working against you." Done with his cryptic warning, the old man began waddling off into an alley.
"…Find Master Pakku's students and I'll find Katara." As he recited the elder's words, the young man's dark pupils sharpened as those amber eyes of his gleamed dangerously in the cold night.
With the absence of her father and the councilmen, Yue tried seeking help from her waterbending master. Her last hope was also shattered when they found out the master was missing. With the Sokka and the guard's little investigation, they've discovered and concluded that Master Pakku was drugged. Not knowing what her next move should be, she sought advice and ideas from Sokka and her guard. It didn't take long for the youngster to suggest that they should head back to his place, wait and meet up with Lee.
However, when they finally reached the shack, they were greeted by the flying lemur, Momo who was playing the note that was tied to his tail. "Momo, what's that on your tail?" The young warrior went and took the note from the lemur to read it. The note said:
To Sokka & Aang,
The boys from the waterbending class know where Katara is. I'm hunting them down and I promise I'll bringing her back.
You have my word.
While leaving their leader, Hahn and the remaining boys to deal with the Avatar and the councilmen's families, Sangok and Gansu decided to head back to their hideout to check on their captives. The two were casually having a regular conversation when both boys thought heard an indefinite flapping sound.
"?!––Aaaaaaaaaaaah!"
It took them several seconds to only realised that something big and swift had abruptly snatched them off the snowfield. Though their screams were loud and clear, no one was there to save them.
"W-w-w-what's going on?!"
"I don't kno– Hieeeeeeeeeeh!"
Sangok immediately let out an unmanly scream when he found out the claws that's gripping him and Gansu belonged to the firebreathing dragon who was now staring at him with his eyes narrowed as it clearly indicated that the creature was annoyed by his scream. "I'll ask you two a question, and you better answer it correctly." The growl of a young man had caused the boys to flick their heads upwards. There, they saw Lee who's mounted on Druk staring into a distance as the dragon ascended further into the dark night. "Where is Katara?" The boys gulped when he gazed the captives with his soul burning glare.
Please Read & Leave a Review.
Your thoughts & comments are important for me improvements.
Thank You Very Much. m(_ _)m
Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Avatar or Its Characters