Disclaimer: All rights belong to Nickelodeon, Bryan Konietzko, Michael Dante DiMartino, and all the men and women that created the A:TLA show, books, and comics. I take no credit, and I do not mean to break any copyright rules. This is simply a work of fiction made for enjoyment. No money is being made. The lyrics are from the song "Just One Yesterday" by Fall Out Boy
Rating: General Audiences. Warning: some scenes contain dark themes and minor violence
Author's Note: In case you thought I was sticking to the original storyline too much...
Chapter 10: The Deal
Anything you say can and will be held against you
So only say my name
It will be held against you
"Today's the day!"
Aang hops around the campsite, unable to control his excitement. Sokka and Katara are still fast asleep, wrapped up tightly in their blankets.
"After all that time searching for a teacher, you're finally going to start learning how to earthbend!"
Katara groans and pulls her blankets over her head. Aang doesn't let the action get him down. He knows that she likes to sleep longer than him normally. Besides, she probably doesn't realize how important today is. Last night probably seems like a dream to her. It still feels that way to Aang sometimes!
"This place is perfect," Aang continues, motioning to the plateaus above them. The entire valley is full of rock. Nothing but rock. No better place to learn earthbending. "Don't you think, Sokka?"
Sokka copies Katara and turns to the other side, pulling up the blanket. Aang accepts his mistake.
"Sorry," he whispers.
He glances over at Toph's tent, which she had made herself out of rock. It suddenly bursts apart and she emerges, fully awake.
"Good morning!" she declares.
"Good morning," Aang says, bowing in respect.
Katara sits up, her hair a tangled mess. "Hey," she protests weakly, still half-asleep. "You never get so excited for me to wake up."
Aang blushes a bit. The truth is, he'd just gotten used to seeing Katara every day. "I'm sorry. If you want, I can do better."
"Not the same if I have to ask," she grumbles. Then she yawns widely.
Sokka groans loudly but doesn't sit up.
"Sorry, snoozles," Toph says sarcastically in response. "We'll do our earthbending as quietly as we can."
Then she looks over at Katara, who is stifling another yawn. She narrows her eyes and stomps the ground with her foot. A pillar of rock bursts up underneath her body, sending her flying into the air. She lands with a thud and instantly rolls over and jumps to her feet.
"Hey!" she shouts angrily at Toph. "What was that for?"
Toph doesn't even blink, although Aang is cowering behind her. Katara is scary when she's angry.
"You want to learn earthbending? Can't learn it if you're sleeping."
Katara doesn't say anything more but her hand clenches into a fist at her side. Aang looks between the two girls and he gets a feeling of dread deep inside. He has a feeling that unless things drastically change within the next hour, he might have to deal with a grumpy Katara for the rest of the day - or, and the thought sends chill down his spine: a grumpy Katara until she masters earthbending.
To his surprise, she takes a deep breath and unclenches her fist. She bows stiffly to Toph. "However you think best to teach me, Sifu Toph."
Aang is impressed by how she's handling the situation. It shows how dedicated she really is to learning. Maybe things won't be so bad after all. Katara learned her lesson about sleeping in late and hopefully that incident won't happen again.
His fears relieved, he turns excitedly to Toph. "So what is she going to learn first? Rockalanche? The trembler? Or maybe she can learn to make a whirlpool out of land!"
Toph stands with her hands on her hips the entire time. When he's finished, she shakes her head.
"We're going to start with just moving a rock."
Aang nods. "Sounds good, sounds good." Inside, he thinks that's a little boring. Hopefully Katara will pick it up faster than when she was learning from General Fong. Now that was boring to watch.
He takes a seat off to the side while Katara and Toph find a clear space to begin. Toph summons up two large boulders, one in front of her and one in front of Katara.
"The key to earthbending is your stance," Toph begins. "You gotta be steady and strong."
Katara makes the stance that she had learned from General Fong. Toph watches wordlessly.
"Rock is a stubborn element. If you're going to move it -" she pushes against Katara's side and the latter girl stumbles away - "you gotta be like a rock yourself."
Katara returns and tries her stance again, this time crouching a little lower and spreading her feet a touch wider. When Toph pushes against her again, she doesn't move.
"Like a rock," Katara repeats.
"Good." Toph moves sideways. "The motion of this move is actually pretty simple." She takes one step forward and punches one arm. The boulder follows her command, sliding along the ground and crashing against the canyon wall.
"Okay. You ready to give it a try?"
Katara takes a deep breath before staring at her boulder. She lowers back into her stance and narrows her eyes. "I'm ready," she says. She punches her arm forward. The rock doesn't move. Katara yelps and cradles her throbbing hand to her chest.
Aang wants to say something, but Toph just watches Katara. He trusts that she knows what she's doing so he stays silent.
"I don't understand what went wrong," Katara says a few moments later. "I did exactly what you did." She thinks for a moment. "Maybe I can come at the rock from a different angle."
Aang thinks that idea is great, but Toph shakes her head. "No. That's your problem. You're thinking like a Waterbender. Water flows easily and is always changing. It can be manipulated in many forms. Earth isn't like that at all. There's no different angle, no other way, no clever solution, no tricky trick that's gonna move that rock." She shoves Katara's chest and the girl falls backwards. "You gotta face it head on. And when I say head on, I mean like this!"
Toph jumps onto the boulder. It explodes under her. Aang flinches as she makes contact, but she stands as if nothing happened.
"Hey, uh, Toph?" Aang calls out, watching as Katara stands, brushes herself off, and gives the other girl a death glare. "Can we talk for a sec?"
"Sure, Aang. What's up?"
Aang lowers his voice. "I've been around Katara for a long time now. She doesn't respond well to...well, let's say, aggressiveness. Maybe just try to give her a gentle nudge in the right direction."
Toph smiles. "Good idea. Thank you, Aang."
He doesn't know what she heard him say, because ten minutes later Toph is yelling at Katara while she struggles to carry a heavy boulder on her back. Not exactly the "gentle nudge" Aang had in mind.
"Bend those knees, Princess!" Toph shouts. "And step higher!"
She summons up little rock pillars to push Katara's feet up. Katara struggles under the weight of the boulder, sweat trickling down her face. Her teeth are bared. Finally she stumbles over and the rock falls off of her back.
"Alright! Next exercise!" Toph leads Katara over to a formation in the earth that is almost like a natural table. She rubs her hands together and then starts slapping right through the rock, the consistency changing to sand to allow her hands safe passage.
Katara rubs her hands and then slaps down. She bites her lip as her hand connects with solid rock. Aang winces and looks away.
"Now you have to feel," Toph says. She grabs Sokka's club. He's still sleeping somehow, despite all the earthbending racket. She gives it to a blind-folded Katara. "I'm going to make little rock bursts. I want you to hit them."
Katara tries, but she's always one second too late. As she grows more frustrated, she begins to smack the ground. Aang winces each time the club connects with the ground.
Toph creates a narrow alley with walls of rock. Then she builds up a suit of rock armor. Katara's eyes widen as Toph starts approaching her. Katara tries to push back. At first she slips backward, but then she narrows her eyes and strains harder. She eventually pushes Toph back over to the spot where she began. A surprised smile flashes quickly across her face.
"This next exercise is to build up your balance." Toph creates two pillars, one under each of Katara's feet and raises her up into the air. Then she gives her a rock weight. "You're going to do squats with this. You better keep a solid stance because at any moment I'm going to send tremors up these pillars."
Katara does as told. When Toph yells out and shakes the pillars, Katara stands firm. Toph nods in satisfaction. Aang feels as though he achieved the victory himself. He's just so proud of Katara for finally getting the hang of it. Her struggle with General Fong as a teacher had really worried him as to her ability to actually learn earthbending. But apparently all she needed was the right teacher.
Zuko is escorted by two guards from the cell at the bottom of the ship to the deck. He gets his first breath of pure air in a long time. The air at Boiling Rock is always humid. He feels like his lungs have to work hard for every breath. Here, though, the air is crystal clear.
They're at a port in an Earth Kingdom town. He estimates he was in the brig for a few days - not the most ideal way to travel.
Azula appears and scans him up and down.
"Get him a set of armor," she orders one of the guards. "Better to keep him in disguise so he can't bring any more shame upon our family."
After Zuko is dressed in armor, Azula, the Fire Nation soldiers, and he disembark the ship. Zuko can easily see that this town is under Fire Nation control. Soldiers are everywhere and all the Earth Kingdom citizens keep their heads down so as not to attract any necessary attention. It makes Zuko angry to see. The Fire Nation used to have pride. Now they just bully everyone into submission.
In the center of the city, two familiar faces approach them. Zuko stares at the one on the left, but she completely ignores him.
"Hey, Azula!" Ty Lee chirps. "We have everything ready. We were just waiting on you and your backup."
"The komodo rhinos are armed and ready?"
"Yep!"
"You're positive the Avatar is still at the same location?"
"Positive!"
"All the supplies are packed?"
"When she said everything was ready, she meant that everything was ready," Mai says, examining a fingernail. "We're not some incompetent soldiers."
"Good," Azula says. "And I brought my weapon." She looks at Zuko. "We'll see how much the Avatar really does care about you."
"You're crazy," he replies. "And sick. You should have just handed me over to Dad."
Azula pouts at him. "But that wouldn't be any fun, now would it?"
He narrows his eyes. "Because you're all about fun."
"Can we gag him? His voice makes me sick." Mai holds up a handkerchief.
"That's a good idea. We can't have him trying to talk the Avatar into doing something she'll regret." Azula ties it around his neck and stuffs it in his mouth. "The quiet is actually really nice. We should have done this earlier."
Zuko has to listen in agonizing silence as Azula and the girls review their plan. He hates that he can't do anything. He's just a pawn in Azula's little game.
And that's the truth - this is just all a game to Azula. She doesn't see real people fighting and dying and getting hurt. This whole war is one big game where she tries to impress their father and hopefully win his love. Except that he never had love to give so she's fighting for a prize that doesn't exist. And as smart as she is, she seems to not be able to realize that.
Zuko wonders if this is exactly how Uncle Iroh and Katara had thought about him.
"How far is it?" Azula asks. "Two hours?"
"Two to three, depending on how fast the rhinos go," Ty Lee answers. "But they've set up camp out there. They won't be moving until nightfall at the earliest."
"Good. No need to wait longer, then. By nightfall we'll have the Avatar, and hopefully by next week we'll have conquered the last of the big Earth Kingdom strongholds." Azula smiles. "And then we can turn in both the Avatar and my traitorous brother to my father."
"Let's just get going. Sitting around talking is boring," Mai complains.
"You're right. The sooner we have the Avatar, the better."
"This time we're going to try something a little different." Toph walks a few feet away from Katara and then turns to face her. "Instead of moving a rock, you're going to try and stop a rock. Get in your horse stance!"
Katara falls into the firm position Toph had taught her. Then she follows Toph's finger as the other girl points to the top of the plateau.
"I'm going to roll that rock down right at you," Toph explains. "If you have the attitude of an Earthbender, you'll stand your stance and stop the rock."
Katara looks up with wide eyes. She'd been struggling all day to learn the proper stances and how to maintain balance, but she had no luck with actually earthbending. And now Toph wants her to risk her life to prove a point?
This is going too far. Katara stands up straight and shakes her head. "I'm sorry, Toph, but I don't think this is the best way to teach me earthbending."
Toph frowns. "Hm. You're right. I'm glad you said something! There is a better way." She rips out the blindfold from earlier and ties it around Katara's eyes. "Now you really have to sense the vibrations of the boulder to stop it."
Katara rips off the blindfold instantly. "No! That's not what I meant and you know it!"
Toph puts her hands on her hips. "If you don't like my teaching, then why did you want me as your teacher?"
Katara throws the piece of fabric to the ground. "I don't know!" she shouts. "I've been trying to do everything your way for the entire day and nothing has happened besides me getting dirty and sweaty and beat around. I can't move the earth any better than before!"
"Well with that attitude of course you won't be able to do anything!" Toph crosses her arms and turns around. Katara storms off in the other way, wondering why she ever had a vision of Toph in the first place.
Aang takes this chance to jump in. He follows Katara, catching her arm. "Hey, Katara. It's okay. You've just been working really hard today and you're tired. Why don't you take a break and then come back to earthbending when you're ready? There's a little oasis nearby - why don't you clean up and do some Waterbending exercises to calm down and refresh?"
"Yeah, whatever, splash around until you feel better," Toph mocks. Katara can't help the tears that spring to her eyes.
She sees Aang looking at her with wide eyes and she waves him off. "I'm just going to take your advice," she says quickly and hurries off, trying to put as much distance between her and the others. Right now she just wants to be alone.
Aang was shocked when he say Katara on the verge of tears. She's faced way harder things than stubborn teachers and elements, so why should that hurt her so badly?
Then he realized that Katara's anger and frustration is only partly from the earthbending lessons. In all the excitement of the Tournament and finding Toph and then the day's lessons, he had forgotten about what she'd revealed to him and Sokka.
He finds Toph earthbending in an abandoned part of the plateau. She's throwing and kicking rocks against the walls and then creating earth walls just to destroy them again. It appears to him as though she's frustrated, too.
As he steps closer, he has to dodge an oncoming rock that whizzes just past him. He decides he better announce himself before he gets crushed.
"Hey, Toph! It's me, Aang!"
Toph releases the earth and turns his way. "Hey, Aang. What's up?"
"Can we talk for a few minutes?"
"Sure." She walks towards him. "What's up?"
"Well, I know you're still really new to the group and don't really know a lot about us, so I wanted to catch you up. Especially on Katara."
Toph's eyes narrow. Aang can tell she isn't pleased about his choice of topic.
"The thing is," he says quickly, "Katara is actually a really tough person. I know she has the attitude to be an earthbender. She's the toughest person I've ever met."
"No offense, Aang, but I haven't seen that side of her at all."
"That's because she's going through a lot right now." Aang sits down on a relatively flat boulder he finds. Toph summons up a seat for herself.
"So tell me," Toph says. "I'm listening."
"I'm going to start at the beginning of the story. This is before I met her, so I only know what she's told me." Aang clears his throat and begins. "Katara was one of the only Waterbenders in her Southern Water Tribe village one hundred years ago. She taught herself how to bend. Then she and Sokka travelled to the North Pole to learn from the masters there. The people there were really sexist and didn't want to teach her to fight, so she had to prove herself by facing the master there in combat. He was so impressed that he agreed to teach her. Not long after she returned to her tribe, the Fire Nation attacked. She and Sokka escaped but were frozen in ice for one hundred years."
"Fighting sexist men sounds pretty good," Toph admits.
"Katara was found by the prince of the Fire Nation when she woke up. He was on a mission and was searching the South Pole for something. She discovered that her entire village - and not just her village, but every single village in her tribe - had been destroyed. Everyone she knew was dead. So she stayed with the prince."
"I thought the Fire Nation was the enemy. Why would she stay with them?"
Aang shrugs. "She had nowhere else to go. At this point she didn't know that Sokka was still alive, so she thought she was completely alone. She travelled with the Fire Nation for several weeks and she trained with the prince. She learned to fight without bending and she honed her bending skills against a Firebender."
Toph frowns. "She was friends with the prince of the Fire Nation?"
Aang grimaces. He doesn't like this part so much. "They were pretty close," he explains. "So one day, there was a hurricane that threatened the ship. Katara went up to use her Waterbending to try and save them, and she ended up going into the Avatar State and controlling the hurricane. She didn't know that she was Avatar before then, but afterwards she had a vision with the former Avatar who explained her mission to her. She told the prince of the Fire Nation because she trusted him. But he betrayed her and captured her to take to his father."
Toph's sightless eyes widen. "How did she escape?"
"First she was in prison for a long time. Several weeks, maybe even a few months. I'm not entirely sure. But then Sokka and his friend Suki got the news of her imprisonment from an inside source. The monk who taught me Airbending, Monk Gyatso, also got the news. He sent us to help rescue her. Sokka and Suki broke her out of the prison, but they were stopped by the princess of the Fire Nation. Apparently she's the second best Firebender in the world. Katara was weak from her time in prison and fighting off the other guards but she still tried. At the last minute the Fire Nation prince showed up and fought his sister to give them the chance to escape. Appa and I were waiting for them and then we flew away."
"Wait. I thought the prince betrayed Katara and put her in the prison in the first place. Why would he help her escape?"
Aang shrugs. "Good question. I have no idea. Katara says he felt really guilty about what he did. But anyway, he got captured and most likely charged for treason against the Fire Nation. Katara, Sokka, and I have been travelling around since then, trying to find an earthbending teacher. She acts like she's okay, but sometimes she gets really sad."
Aang remembers when she was crying while watching the fireworks at the New Year's Festival. He thinks of how she acted after they escaped the swamp.
"But Katara is really tough. One time we were in a town occupied by the Fire Nation and all the Earthbenders had been rounded up and taken to a prison. She made a friend there who got captured and taken away because he revealed that he was an Earthbender to save a person. Then I got captured because they thought my airbending was earthbending. And Katara got herself captured to come and rescue us. You should have seen her. All the Earthbenders had given up hope but she stood up and gave a really good speech and inspired them all to fight again."
"Why didn't she learn earthbending from one of them? If she was such good friends with them."
"Because they had to go back to their village and fight the Fire Nation off. After that we visited a citadel in the mountains owned by a prominent Earth Kingdom general and he offered to teach Katara earthbending. But then he threatened Sokka to trick her into entering the Avatar State. In the end it turned out that he just wanted to use her as a weapon."
"So she has trust issues," Toph sums up. "Look, Aang, I see what you're trying to say - Katara is actually tough. But why is she being so sensitive right now, then?"
"Remember how I said the Fire Nation prince was captured and most likely tried for treason? Well, Katara had a vision that implies that he was killed by the Fire Lord for helping her escape. She's pretty upset about it. I think she feels guilty."
Toph is quiet for a long moment. When she speaks, her voice is not as harsh. "I can understand why she's upset if her friend died, but why does she feel guilty? It was his choice. And honestly, he put himself in that position."
Aang could not agree more. But he knows that Katara doesn't exactly see it that way. "I just think that maybe the way you're trying to teach her is reminding her of how the general tried to teach her. And that reminds her of how she was betrayed, which reminds her of the prince - you can see what I'm getting at."
Toph nods. "Thanks for telling me, Aang. I'm not going to go easy on her because that's just not how earthbending works, but maybe I can try a different way of teaching her. You said she taught herself Waterbending, right? Maybe I can work from that angle."
Toph finds Katara sitting by the edge of the oasis, her feet dipped into the water. Toph can sense Katara's feet moving back and forth because the ripples from the motions tickle the ground. She walks up to her and takes a seat.
"Maybe you're having trouble because you're not used to being taught by example," Toph begins. "I think your problem is that you can't feel the earth, so you can't work with it."
Katara sighs. "How do I learn to feel the earth?"
"Let me tell you a story. It's about the original source of earthbending. The first Earthbenders were the badgermoles. They taught the first two humans, Oma and Shu. Also known as the two lovers, although that isn't so important."
"Hey, I know this story!" Katara exclaims. "Sokka told me about it. When he was trying to find me he stumbled into the cave of the two lovers."
"Good. Then I can skip over that part. When I was little, I ran away and hid in a cave. I was hopelessly lost. And that's when I met the badgermoles myself. They were blind, just like me. We understood each other. I was able to learn earthbending, not just as a martial art, but as an extension of my senses. For them, the original Earthbenders, it wasn't just about fighting. It was their way of interacting with the world."
Katara is silent for a while. Toph lets her think.
"Waterbending has been a part of me for as long as I can remember," Katara finally says. "My tribe practically lived on the water. When I was young, I would waterbend without even realizing what I was doing. Nothing big, just adjusting the current of the water to float my canoe where I wanted it to go or deflecting snow from flying directly into my face. When I realized that what I was doing was waterbending, it was easy for me to add in the martial arts aspect to increase my range of abilities."
"So all you need to do is figure out how to feel the earth." Toph stands. "That's not something I can help you with, Katara. But if you're really the Avatar, you'll figure it out. And as soon as you do, I'll resume teaching you."
"Hey, Toph?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry I yelled at you. It wasn't fair of me to take my frustrations out on you."
Toph has tough skin. She wasn't offended by Katara yelling at her. But she is pleased to hear the apology anyway. That's something friends do, isn't it? They feel bad when they hurt their friends.
And friendship goes both ways.
"It's okay. I'm sorry I wasn't thinking about how you would learn best. But don't think I'm going to go easy on you."
Katara laughs. "I wouldn't dream of it," she replies.
Toph is distracted by a strange set of vibrations coming through the ground. It feels like a thundering herd. She kneels down and presses her palm to the ground to try and get a better reading.
"What's going on?" Katara asks.
"Something's coming toward us," Toph says. She stands up quickly. "Something big. We need to warn the others."
They run back to the main camp, where Aang and Sokka are snacking on nuts and sharing stories. Toph can hear their voices but it's hard to concentrate on them when the ground is going crazy underneath her.
"We need to go!" Toph shouts. "We're in danger!"
Aang and Sokka don't even question what's going on. They instantly begin to pack up camp. Katara helps. Toph continues to feel the vibrations.
"It's getting closer! We have to go now!"
But the echoes in the plateau have thrown her senses off slightly. She knows it even before Katara slowly says, "It's too late."
Toph doesn't know exactly what danger is facing them, but based on the racing of their hearts, it's big.
Too big.
Katara spots the Komodo rhinos on the top of the adjacent plateau. She sees the dozen Fire Nation soldiers with their generic masks. The red armor and black horns of the beasts don't scare her. The spears and fire of the men don't threaten her. It wouldn't be an easy fight, but they'd manage.
No; it's the smirking girl seated at the very front of the pack. Katara narrows her eyes at the girl she now considers her nemesis.
Azula.
Behind Azula are her two friends, Mai and Ty Lee. Mai is glaring at her with pure hatred. Ty Lee simply has a fierce expression. Azula nudges her rhino forward and the entire squad follows her.
"I thought we lost them after the Western Air Temple!" Sokka complains, watching the girls and soldiers descent the plateau.
"We did," Aang says. "They must have picked up our trail again. Probably after we rescued those Earthbenders from prison."
"It doesn't matter when they found us," Katara says, backing up. "We need a plan to escape."
"Why don't we just fight them off?" Toph asks. "There's only about twenty of the beasts that I can count. I could take out about half of them. That would leave ten for you and Aang and Sokka."
"But these aren't just normal soldiers," Sokka explains. "Azula's here."
Toph frowns. "So we just need to hold them off long enough to escape."
"If only it were that easy," Katara says.
Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee detach from the big group and ride up closer. When they're a few feet away, Azula jumps off her rhino and walks right up to them.
"Long time no see," she greets them. "We haven't caught up in a while."
"And it was a good while," Sokka grumbles.
Azula ignores him. "I see you found a new friend to replace that other girl. How sweet. It's almost like you've got a full family here."
Katara is already opening the cap to her water skin. Azula turns to look at her.
"Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you," she says.
"Why not? Afraid to fight me?"
Azula smirks. "No. But you're not really worth my time and energy, so I'd prefer if you would cooperate and just come with me. Make it easier for all involved parties."
"You're delusional." Katara draws out a stream of water.
"Or I just know something you don't." Azula turns and waves to her soldiers. One of the men leans over to another rhino and takes the mask off the rider. The water levitating around Katara drops and splashes against the ground.
Katara can't believe what she's seeing. Zuko is sitting atop the komodo rhino, wearing Fire Nation armor. Upon closer inspection, Katara can see that his hands are chained in front of him, tight around the rhino. A gag is fastened around his mouth.
First she feels relief. He's not dead! She had been sure that he was dead after her vision in the swamp, but luckily she'd been wrong. He's still alive and he hasn't been killed for helping her. She feels a huge weight fall off her chest.
The second thing she feels is anger. She's mad at Azula for bringing him here to manipulate her into giving up. And she's mad at herself for knowing that she'll give herself up to protect him. And she's still mad at him for betraying her in the first place and causing this whole mess.
"What do you want, Azula?" Katara asks in a hard voice.
"Katara, no!" Aang protests. She ignores him. This decision is already hard enough to make.
"It's simple, really. You hand yourself over without a fight. Your friends are free to go. They mean nothing to us. And Zuzu gets to live a little longer."
"You wouldn't kill your own brother," Katara says, but she's bluffing. She has no idea exactly what Azula is capable of.
Azula crosses her arms. "Do you really want to bet on that?"
Katara glances back at her gang. Sokka is looking at her worriedly. Aang stares at her with wide, begging eyes. Toph's expression is unreadable. Appa glares at Azula, and the hair at Momo's neck is raised.
Then she looks back at Zuko. He looks like he's been banged around a bit. She remembers her prison experience and knows exactly what he's going through.
She can't risk the lives of her friends. And she knows that if she fights here, the gang might make it out alive but Zuko won't. And although she's still struggling with how she feels about him, she can't just let him die.
"Alright. I'll go with you. But my friends get to go free before I give myself up."
Azula waves her hand dismissively. "Fine. I already told you, I don't care about them."
Katara turns to the gang. "Go," she tells them. "We'll see each other again."
"I'm not leaving you," Sokka says stubbornly.
"Me, either," Aang says.
Katara takes a deep breath. There's only one person she can trust right now to get the others to safety. Only one other person who understands the need to let go.
"Toph," Katara says. The girl nods. She kicks the ground and uses pillars of rocks to shoot the boys up onto Appa. Then she climbs on and slaps the reins.
"Appa, yip yip!"
Appa takes off with a mournful groan. Katara watches them fly away. Then she turns back to Azula.
The princess is smiling. "Aren't you the perfect little hero?" she asks. "Too bad you can't save the world because you love your friends too much."
She waves her hands. Ty Lee and Mai hop off their rhinos and walk over. Ty Lee does a Chi block. When Katara falls to the ground, Mai grabs her wrists and slaps chains on them. Then two Fire Nation guards carry her over and hoist her up on a rhino.
She tries to catch Zuko's eyes as they travel, but the motion of the rhinos makes it hard. She can see him sitting up stiffly. She knows he hates being used this way. Even if she wasn't the Avatar, if it was someone else, Zuko would still hate being used by his sister.
They stop for a break after a few hours. The guards escort Katara and Zuko off their rhinos and seat them on boulders. They're only a few feet away. The first soldier takes off Zuko's gag and the second soldier gives them water.
"You shouldn't have given yourself up," Zuko says while his mouth is still free. He looks at her with his golden eyes. "I'm not worth it."
Katara shakes her head. "It was my choice, and I think you are worth it. I wouldn't leave any of my friends to die."
Mai comes out of nowhere and motions at the guards. "Don't let the prisoners talk," she orders. She shoots a glare at Katara before her eyes move to Zuko. Her gaze softens and then she turns sharply and walks away.
One of the soldiers shoves the gag back in Zuko's mouth. They sit in silence for a few more minutes. When the break is coming to an end and the soldiers are escorting Katara and Zuko back to their rhinos, Azula stops by.
"Take Zuko back to Boiling Rock," she orders the soldiers. "The Avatar is coming with me. We have one more stop before we return to the Fire Nation."
"Yes, ma'am," the soldier says, bowing deeply. Katara watches sadly as they split off and head in the opposite direction.
"Where are we going?" she asks.
Ty Lee is the one to turn around, a huge grin on her face. "We're going to Ba Sing Se!" she exclaims, clapping her hands together. "It's going to be so much fun!"