Chapter Three: Hurricane Season
Katara stood on the deck of a submarine. The scent of salt on the wind tickled her nose as she stared out into the distance, watching where the azure sky met the turquoise sea. She'd always found the ocean to be beautiful no matter where she was, be it the freezing waters of the South Pole or the tropical tides of Ember Island. She'd been carried around the world on too many crusades to count, but the ocean was always her link to home. Katara felt herself smile. She closed her eyes, addicted to the aroma of the fresh sea spray. When she opened them again, she gasped in shock.
"Aang? What are you doing here?" the waterbender exclaimed. "I thought you were in Yu Dao."
He didn't say a word. His orange robes fluttered as he just stood there, staring at her. Then the airbender stepped forward, planted a delicate kiss on her lips, and popped open his glider.
"Wait, don't go!" Katara yelped, but it was too late. He was already gone, flying away from her into the horizon. Suddenly, she felt fourteen again, blushing furiously, her heart twisted into a pretzel and her mind hazy with adolescent infatuation. Defeated, Katara turned and climbed down the ladder into the interior of the submarine. But she wasn't in a submarine. She was in a cavern. The space was enormous, large enough to swallow Ba Sing Se whole. Then she realized she'd been here before: this was the sunken city underneath of Ba Sing Se. Stalactites and stalagmites pockmarked with massive deposits of glowing green crystals were everywhere, rising from the ground and jutting down from the ceiling, casting an eerie emerald sheen upon everything. At the bottom of the cave were people. It took Katara a second to make out who they were, and then she realized they were her friends facing off against the Fire Nation.
"No!" she screamed, leaping from her ledge and into the fray.
Katara had jumped from a height great enough to shatter every bone in her body, but she simply rolled to standing. Her friends were arranged in a circle, all of them alert and ready to fight, fully surrounded by the Fire Nation. Everyone was dead silent. No snide remarks from Toph, no bold declarations of honor from Zuko, no helpful tips from Suki, no bad jokes from Sokka, no encouraging words from Aang. They just stood there in battle stances. Suddenly, a hysterical laugh filled the chamber, as Azula, mad Princess of the Fire Nation, emerged from the endless rows of firebenders. Her form flickered between her distinguished, collected, and ruthless appearance she'd put on when tracking Team Avatar across the globe, and the utterly insane persona Katara had put in chains all those years ago. The waterbender hadn't seen the former princess in years, but this older version was the spitting image of Zuko's mother.
"Hello, little girl!" Azula cackled, electricity arcing up and down her body. "You didn't really think you could keep me locked away forever, did you?"
"Azula? What are you doing here?" Katara demanded, confused why Zuko hadn't noticed his sister was here.
"I'm here for a rematch, since you cheated in our last Agni Kai!"
"You're deranged."
"No Water Tribe savage will refer to the Fire Lord in that manner!" Azula shrieked, throwing a bolt of lightning at Katara as all hell broke loose on the battlefield.
Katara quickly threw up a shield of water and blocked the electrical charge. No one seemed to be paying her any attention except for the crazed girl volleying lightning at her. Massive cyan flames exploded from Azula's palms like the breath of a dragon, and Katara just barely managed to pull enough water from the underground canal flowing near her feet to stop it in midair. Another fireball zipped past her head. She tried to smack the princess with a water whip but couldn't get in close enough quickly enough. It was all she could do to protect herself from the never-ending barrage of flame and water. Katara wondered if this was how Aang had felt when fighting Ozai five years prior, helpless and scared. She certainly was terrified, and she'd be lying if she said otherwise. Azula's onslaught was hot enough that the instant it contacted Katara's defensive waves, they boiled into hot air.
"Whatever happened to that fearsome warrior I fought in the Capital City? Did Zuzu infect you with his cowardice?" the firebender drawled.
"I-I'm not afraid of you!" Katara shot back.
"Then fight me!"
The waterbender paused. She tried to clear her mind and regain control of herself. She ignored the fear, ignored the adrenaline, and concentrated. Immediately, her water reformed into eight long, powerful arms that swayed in the air: octopus form. Azula's smug expression dropped for only a moment, but Katara could see the fear in those cold, dead eyes. One tentacle jabbed at the princess, which she vaporized with a blast of fire. Another one went for her ankle, which she avoided, but then another tentacle clipped her shoulder, and a fourth grabbed her by the knee. Suddenly, the madwoman was ensnared in a liquid spider's web, unable to move, her head just above the water so she could breathe. "I knew you had it in you!" Azula cheered. "You're so much like me you don't even realize it yet."
"I am nothing like you!" Katara spat.
"Hmm, let's see: a young woman with a missing mother, daddy issues, an annoying older brother, and a lust for control. Am I talking about you, or me?"
Katara's eye twitched, and, without realizing what she was doing, she found one hand around the princess' neck, and a particularly pointy icicle in her other.
Azula laughed and laughed and laughed. "Kill me, Katara! Do it!"
The waterbender lifted the makeshift dagger high with a trembling hand. She was shaking violently. She'd only felt like this once before when she'd stared her mother's murderer in the face. Suddenly her knees buckled, and she collapsed, crying. "I can't."
"Tsk tsk. A shame," Azula tutted. In a flash, her arm was free of the octopus' grasp, and then as Katara's concentration disintegrated, so too did the aquatic prison. She braced for the end, but when she looked up, expecting Azula's hollow eyes to be staring back at hers, she saw she was not the target.
Aang was.
"No!" screamed Katara.
It was too late. Azula's lightning flew through the air, up to where Aang hovered above the swarm of Fire Nation soldiers. It struck him in the back, ripping through his pale skin, sending off a cloud of smoke and the odor of burnt flesh. Katara felt like her heart had exploded. She flew to her feet, bowled over Azula, and summoned a tidal wave to carry her as fast as possible. The waters flooded the battlefield, crashing over enemies and allies alike, but Katara reached the falling Avatar just in time, catching him in her arms and hugging him tightly. For a single moment, she thought everything would be alright. Then she realized she couldn't feel his heartbeat.
"No," she whispered, putting her ear to his chest. "Nononononono…"
There was nothing.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Katara looked up, tears streaming down her cheeks, and saw Princess Azula approaching her, laughing uproariously. "You… you… how could you?" she choked.
Azula just kept laughing, doubling over in absolute hysterics.
The waterbender's gaze bounced around her friends, who all stood there doing nothing. They didn't even look fazed by Aang's death at the hands of the insane princess. "Do none of you care? Am I the only person around here who cares about him?" She felt the anger within her rising, flowing through her, overtaking her. The rage built until it was rage no more. Katara's pain was blinding, but she could hardly feel it. A great wind picked up around her, which was strange, given that she was underground. Her feet lifted off from the stone floor as she slowly ascended into the air. Her eyes turned a blinding, shocking white, a color spilling over into her brown hair. She glowed like a new sun. Katara had seen something like this before, but she'd never experienced it. Somehow, she'd entered the Avatar State. The four elements wrapped around her, and in her arms, she held Aang.
"You have slain the Avatar," Katara boomed, her glowing eyes unfeeling but the tears streaming from them betraying her true emotion. "You have killed the man I love. And for that, you must now pay the ultimate price."
Water, earth, fire, and air swirled into one tendril, and from her guiding hand it lashed out with calculated precision, embedding itself in the throat of the giggling Princess Azula. She fell silent. The only sound left was the roar of the sea in Katara's ears, and the nagging tone of her brother. She tried to block it out, but Sokka's voice grew louder and louder, commanding, "Katara, wake up!"
She jolted awake, her chest heaving. The waterbender kicked off her blankets and sat up and pulled her knees to her forehead, trying to forget the nightmare.
/ / | \ \
Private Riza stalked the decks of the HMS Tinder, following the steps of her patrol exactly. She was a new recruit to the navy, having sought a life different than her mother's in the misogynistic Fire Nation, but she knew her superiors would not hesitate to send her back to her small town and condemn her to a monotonous existence as some man's wife if she stepped out of line. Riza was always on high alert and hyperaware of every disturbance on her patch of deck. So, when she heard the strange noises by the rail, she naturally assumed the worst. It had to be intruders.
"Halt! Put your hands in the air!" she ordered in a shaky voice, leaping out from behind the corner and thrusting her spear towards the lone, shadowed figure.
"Gah! What did I do?" squealed the girl, throwing up her arms.
At the sight of her cerulean eyes, Private Riza knew she'd just made a terrible mistake. "Master Katara of the Southern Water Tribe? Oh spirits, I'm so so so sorry! I didn't know it was you up here!" she babbled, falling to one knee. "Please, can you forgive me for this most inappropriate conduct?"
Katara frowned. "Of course. You were just doing your job, after all." The waterbender extended her hand, which, after some hesitation, Riza took and let herself be pulled back up.
"I didn't know there were women in the Fire Navy."
She laughed nervously, scratching the back of her neck. "Yeah, it's kind of a new thing. It's part of Fire Lord Zuko's Great Reforms."
"Oh, right. I suppose I've heard all about those, but I've never had the chance to see the product of one in person."
"If you don't mind my asking, what are you doing on deck this late, Master Katara?" Riza questioned. "No offense meant, it's my job to know."
"None taken. I couldn't sleep, had a bad dream. So, I came up here to hang out with Momo. And you can drop the 'master', by the way."
"Of course, Ma— Katara. Who's Momo?"
"The lemur I came with. You spooked him, so he's gone now."
"Oh."
The two young women stood there quietly for a moment, just enjoying the starry night sky. "I should probably get back to my rounds," Riza finally announced. "Don't want the captain finding out I'm shirking my duties."
Katara began to nod, but stopped, sighing, "Can you stay and talk with me? I'll speak to the captain for you if he finds out. I'm just worried to give my thoughts free reign over my mind."
The private bit her lip but agreed to stay with her. She leaned her spear against the railing and tried to strike up a conversation with the living legend to her right. "So… your life must be pretty exciting. Travelling all over the world, dating the Avatar, being a waterbending master… you're practically a celebrity."
"I hope you're not starstruck," Katara chuckled.
Riza blushed. "You're certainly not the untouchable and distant heroine the stories paint you as. They paint all of Team Avatar that way, really."
"That's a shame," the older girl lamented. "There's not a single person in our merry band I'd consider aloof. Even Toph is pretty down-to-earth, and she's the one who won't shut up about being the 'greatest earthbender of all time'." Riza let out a shouting laugh, but Katara just looked at her like she'd grown an extra head. "What was that for?"
Suddenly, Private Riza was tongue tied, as she tried to explain that she thought the waterbender had made a pun, which she now realized was wholly unintentional. Mercifully, Katara laughed, lifting the crushing weight of embarrassment from Riza's shoulders. "That joke is worse than something my brother would dream up."
"Is it true that Sokka is the greatest swordsman of our generation?" she gushed.
Katara giggled. "Who told you that, Sokka himself?"
"Um, no, but rumor has it that he fended off three firebenders at once during the Battle at Wulong Forest while saving Toph Beifong," she recounted.
"Well, that's not exactly true. My brother is a great swordsman, but I'm not sure I'd consider him the best. And for what it's worth, he did save Toph, just not quite in that way."
"How did he save her?"
"Well, he—what's that on the horizon?"
"Hmm?" wondered Riza.
"That, on the horizon," repeated Katara, pointing into the distance. "Is that a Fire Navy ship? It looks kinda old."
The private followed her finger and saw the rapidly approaching steamer she was talking about. Katara was right, it did look old. Its design was distinctly different from the modern, postwar paintjob. But still, it flew the new colors of Zuko's Fire Nation. It more than likely it was a repurposed wartime vessel coming into the Northern Outpost for refueling, something Riza told Katara, who still seemed suspicious. "When is the Northern Water Tribe supposed to pick me up, again?"
"At daybreak. The captain says he wants to hand you off while we're still en route to the outpost, to throw off the scent of any undesirables who may be waiting for us there." Riza squinted at the moon, which was low in the sky. "It shouldn't be too long until dawn, to be honest."
For the next few minutes, they returned to their conversation, though Katara kept one eye on that ship the entire time. It, the HMS Meteor, according to the name on the side, was quickly closing the gap, which, Riza reckoned, would likely make someone accustomed to Fire Nation ships firing at them on sight nervous. Still, it really was nothing to be worried about. The sun eventually peeked into the sky, turning the atmosphere vibrant colors befitting of an oil painting. As Riza was transfixed on the sunrise, though, Katara was watching something else.
"Oh Spirits, look! They're changing their flag!" she yelled.
Riza whirled around and grabbed her spear. Sure enough, the battleship, now just a few hundred yards away, was taking down its banners and hoisting new colors. The Fire Navy recruit had only ever seen something like that once before, when a particularly rowdy bunch of pirates had snuck up on the Tinder down south. But this flag that was being unfurled was like no pirate flag Riza had ever seen before.
"Is that some sort of bird?" she wondered.
"Not just any bird," Katara said through clenched teeth. "They're sea ravens. Go wake up the captain. Get the ship on high alert, and everyone on deck who can hold a weapon."
"Do you know these pirates?"
Katara grimaced. "They're not pirates, Riza. They're worse. These are the Southern Raiders. They're the men who murdered my mother."
/ / | \ \
Katara watched as Private Riza ran off at top speed, then got to work. She stretched out both arms and concentrated, pulling from the most basic of movements in waterbending: the simple push-pull of the tide. She found her rhythm quickly, and soon the entire ocean in front of her was under her command. Back and forth, back and forth, she thought. Her mind strayed, flitting back to the day she'd taught Aang how to do the very same thing, but then she shook her head. Focus. The enemy ship was close enough that she could hear the commotion on deck, but she tuned all of that out. The ocean was her sole point of attention. She was it and it was she. Back and forth, back and forth. The water began to move, slowly at first, then accelerating, until a wall of water had been summoned from the depths. Back and forth, back and forth. With a cry, Katara pushed and the tsunami slammed into the side of the Southern Raiders' ship. It bobbed like a toy in a bathtub but refused to capsize.
Behind her, the HMS Tinder came alive. Dozens of crewmen flooded the deck, Captain Nizen and Private Riza leading the mob. Those that couldn't firebend held swords, spears, clubs, pipes, monkey wrenches—anything they could get their hands on.
"Dammit, this was supposed to be a safe passage!" Nizen growled. "All crew to battle stations!"
As the sailors fanned out, Katara approached the captain. "Sir, if you don't mind, I have my own ideas to—"
"Do whatever you want, Master Katara. Just don't interfere with my men's jobs."
The young woman nodded and sprinted away. "Momo, where are you?" The white lemur popped his head out of a barrel of berries. His cheeks were stuffed full of the sweet fruits, and his ears flopped to one side. "There you are," she sighed. "Go fly somewhere safe and up high. I can't have you getting hurt."
He squeaked in agreement and zipped into the sky, flying up to the rim of one of the ship's smokestacks. Satisfied, Katara saw no point in staying on the ship any longer and vaulted the railing. Before hitting the water, a surfboard of ice had appeared under her feet, and she propelled it forward at high velocity. The first exchange of flaming boulders was catapulted across the ever-shrinking gap between the two ships as Katara frantically raised a wave that reached the deck of the Southern Raiders' boat and froze it. She jumped from her board and practically flew up the hill, scaring the bejesus out of a Raider that was promptly ensnared in a cocoon of water and then frozen in place. Katara popped the cork on her canteen of bending water and formed a ring of liquid that orbited around her in much the same way that an asteroid belt flew around a planet. Anyone who came to close that she didn't get the drop on first was immediately smacked by a water whip and had their feet frozen to the deck.
With the horrific sound of metal scraping across metal, an enormous arbalest fired, launching its great arrow across the canyon separating the Fire Navy from the Southern Raiders and piercing the hull of the Tinder. The arrowhead popped open into a grappling hook upon entry, and the chain it was attached to tugged on the Tinder, pulling it closer. Katara smacked an advancing Raider with a ball of water, pinned another to the ground with ice daggers, and ran to the side of the ship. Some of the firebenders she had disposed of were freed from their icy prisons by their comrades and were now exclusively targeting her. Katara dove overboard and grabbed the thick chain with a grunt.
"FOR THE PHOENIX KING!" roared the soldiers of the Meteor. She looked up and watched in horror as the Southern Raiders leapt from their deck and impacted the side of the Tinder. Instead of falling into the sea below, they hung there on the hull, and she realized they were wearing steel claws on their hands that dug into the ship. The first wave of Raiders began scrambling up.
"Katara, what do we do?" Private Riza yelled down. Over her head, another volley of burning stones was thrown at the Meteor.
"Tell Nizen to turn hard to the right! Full steam! Everything this thing's got!" she shouted back, pulling herself up onto the chain.
The younger woman nodded and disappeared back on deck. It was all Katara could do to trust her as she began to execute her plan. An orb of oceanwater was raised to envelop the center of the chain and then frozen into a block of ice. She then bent the liquid into a curved, deadly sharp blade that she hurled into the chain with as much force as possible. Katara did it over and over, each time slowly chipping away at the center link. She almost fell into the sea when the Tinder abruptly lurched to the right, straining the chain even further. The plan was working.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the savage girl," rumbled a gruff voice.
Katara emerged from her bubble of concentration to notice a Raider had snuck up on her. He moved deftly, like an acrobat, keeping perfect balance as he stalked her down the chain. She flailed wildly, trying to keep her own footing on the slippery, swaying metal. "What do you want?" she demanded.
"Do you want the official mission statement or the object of desire of this specific raid?" replied the Raider.
"Uh, what?"
"Never mind, I'll just tell you both. Officially, we, the Southern Raiders, seek to topple the boy-king Zuko and bring the rightful ruler of the Fire Nation to power."
"And what is your 'object of desire'?" Katara implored, trying to move backward as the Raider advanced.
"Right now? You."
The waterbender's eyes widened in terror. The Raider quickly took the opportunity to throw a fireball at her, but Katara managed to barely block it with a jet of water. She stumbled back, eyeing the ocean below as her last resort. The firebender reared back to ready another pyre of flame, but Katara was too fast.
"You're in my domain now," she grumbled, throwing her arms high as the sea exploded and swept the Raider into the rough waters.
Desperate, Katara froze the chain one last time and kicked it as hard as she could. The weakened metal groaned and snapped, and the waterbender had just enough time to loop her wrist through a link and hold on as she fell. She hit the hull of the Tinder and felt the air leave her lungs, but she powered through and ascended as fast as she could. The decks were already overrun by Raiders, but if they could manage to get some distance on the Meteor…
Katara flipped over the railing and pulled water up with her, enough to make pentapus form, the weaker cousin of octopus form. A handful of Raiders charged her, but the five arms were more than enough to fend them off. One of them was thrown overboard, while another was tossed into the wall and glued there by a thick coating of ice. If I can just hold out a little longer, we'll have enough distance to—
The sound of an arbalest launching its payload rang out one more, and Katara spun on her heel to see a second chain had embedded into the back of the ship. Apparently, the Meteor had more than one.
"Surrender now, and we'll let you live!" shouted one of the Raiders, who wore more lavishly decorated armor than all the others.
"Never!" shrieked a Fire Nation sailor, before getting his stomach carved out by a well-placed sword strike.
The lead Raider snorted. "Have it your way then. Benders, concentrate your fire on the savage!"
Concentrate their fire they did. If Katara hadn't been one of the best waterbenders in the world, she would have been charred to a crisp immediately, but she was far, far too good for that to happen. Two tentacles fused into one and swept aside a trio of benders, while a fire blast was extinguished by another. But for every fireball stopped, two more took their place, and Katara soon found herself overwhelmed. Seeing an opening, the firebenders threw one last wave of flames at her defenses and boiled the water away. Utterly exhausted, she collapsed in a heap.
"Your waterbender is felled," the lead Raider declared. "Surrender, and you will be allowed to live."
"We're not abandoning her to some traitors!" shouted Private Riza, charging the leader.
He just sighed and casually shot a fireball at her, which melted through her armor and burnt Riza's skin away, deep enough to see bone. She wailed in pain and fell over. Some of her crewmates moved to help, but the leader shot them all threatening looks and they stepped back. The lead Raider said plainly, "Now, we will not hesitate to slaughter you all right where you stand. If you just let us take the girl, you will be allowed to live. Either way, the savage comes with us."
Katara was vaguely aware that they were discussing her, but she was so tired from bending so much water that she was fading in and out of consciousness. She hardly struggled as her shoulders, wrists, knees, and ankles were bound.
"The choice is yours," said the leader.
Captain Nizen looked at Katara, then at his crew, the war in his mind evident on his face. "I, uh…"
"We can't," whimpered Riza, clutching at her thigh.
The captain hung his head in shame. "Take the girl."
The leader's thin, cracked lips curled into a cruel smile. "This is the wisest decision, captain. I'm happy you could see that."
"Just… just get the hell out of here!"
A Raider slung the half-conscious Katara over his shoulder and made his way to the boarding platform that had been erected between the Tinder and the Meteor. She fought to stay awake, to free herself, to summon the power of the oceans and use it to take her home, where the sea always led. But she couldn't.
Another Raider derailed her train of thought. "Look, out there! Water Tribe skiffs!"
The leader spun and saw three ships of Northern Water Tribe origin pivoting in the waves and turning to go north, to the Pole. "Spirits be damned!" he shouted. "I want no witnesses! Get those boats!"
"No witnesses?" mumbled Captain Nizen. "What do you mean no—"
"No hard feelings, captain, but your boiler is fit to blow any second. Think of it as a parting gift from some of my engineers."
"You lying son of a bitch," the officer hissed.
"Toodle-oo!" the lead Raider chuckled, waving goodbye.
The Raiders walked back across the boarding platform, careful to keep a constant stream of fire behind them so they couldn't be followed. Back on the Meteor, the bridge fell away, and the chain was retracted. The rebel ship lumbered off, steaming north. Behind them, the HMS Tinder's boiler exploded in a flash of orange and a BOOM that threatened to blow out eardrums. The ship sank in minutes.
"What should we relay back to the Admiral?" a Raider grunt asked the leader, as Katara was unceremoniously dropped into a pile of ropes and canvas.
With a poisonous grin, he said, "Tell him we've found the last Southern waterbender. And tell him we're coming home with it."
Then the world went dark, and Katara was out.
Author's Note: And so the story truly begins! Thanks for all the kind words, people of the review tab!