Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Avatar characters.
It was a while before I had to leave and the rest of that time was spent in silence. I don't think he liked me as well as maybe one of the other girls, but I dismissed it from my mind. It didn't matter to me anymore. In fact, it had never mattered. The only reason I had wanted to talk to him in the first place was to find out about the Avatar. And I had learned much about him. To free him would be an unthinkable…no, impossible task to accomplish and I was a fool if I once thought that it was possible.
The Avatar, my last desperate hope.
But for what? What was there to hope for now? I sat, back in my room, not knowing how to feel after my encounter with the Prince of the Fire Nation. I had closed my door and not even talked to Ren, only asking for a cup of tea from Kiku.
Holding the warm, steaming cup of tea between my two hands, I stared into it's depths as if could tell me the answers of life. I couldn't live like this, with the Fire Lord and his war. I didn't know how to feel about anything now. The Avatar….
I took a sip of tea. The hot drink burned my tongue and I relished the pain. That, at least, was something I was sure about. My tongue burned and I knew I felt pain. At this, I almost laughed. That laugh turned into tears and suddenly I was crying into my cup of tea. I didn't know why, but I just couldn't get a picture out of my head; a young boy chained against a wall, arms hanging uselessly at his sides, clothes torn, face bloody. There was a knock and I must've said something because they soon left; I could hear footsteps walking away. I cried for a few more minutes, and when I couldn't cry any more, I stood up. I wiped the lingering tears from my eyes and face, and then went to the door. Slowly, I opened it and looked down the hallway. Just as I suspected, I could see Ren, Kiku, Aki, and Sokka standing in a little group whispering quietly to each other. Kiku saw me first and rushed over to where I was standing.
"Oh, Aya, are you alright? What was the matter? What happened?" She hugged me tightly, a bold move for her, but I barely noticed.
"I'm so sorry. Please, forgive my actions." I said, trying to make for the fact that I had ignored them all before. Kiku shook her head, muttered that it was nothing to be worried about. My eyes traveled over Ren who was looking worriedly at me, Aki who was watching me intently with something like understanding, and Sokka. I could tell he wanted to say something and I knew exactly what it was. I motioned to him and he stepped hurriedly forward, emotions raging beneath his composed features. Kiku stepped away.
"Would you leave us please? I need to talk to Sokka alone." Kiku looked at me strangely and opened her mouth to say something but Aki hushed her.
"Let's go, Kiku, Ren. Lady Aya needs to be alone." Aki said in a quiet tone. Ren looked at me and I smiled to reassure her. Though she didn't look like it, she smiled back as though comforted and followed Aki and Kiku downstairs. I could hear them talking as I looked back at Sokka.
"Come." I said and began to walk back to my room. I wanted to sit down and thought he might need a chair as well. Hesitantly, I heard his footsteps behind mine. I went into my room and sat heavily on the cushion that had been out earlier.
"You can sit, if you want." I said to Sokka, who was looking uncomfortable standing in my room. He nodded curtly and sat cross-legged on the wooden floor. I sighed and passed a hand over my face, rubbing my forehead gently.
"Sokka," I began, and then stopped. What was I supposed to say? That there was no hope for his sister, that they had, in fact, killed her like so many other unfortunate prisoners? I could hardly bring myself to talk but realized that it was not going to be the hardest on me, but on him.
"Sokka, I'm so sorry." I think he knew then, for sure at least. He put his head in his hands and made no more noise. I think he knew it was coming, but that didn't make it any better. Truly, it made it a whole lot worse.
"I don't think she is…" Alive, I wanted to say. She's not alive. But he knew and I could tell that he was crying now, silent sobs shaking drooping shoulders. Poor Sokka. Poor, poor Sokka. I could do nothing for him, nothing at all. That painful feeling of helplessness washed over me once again and my eyes began filling with tears. I swallowed, reached out for him, thought better of it, and withdrew. I wanted to tell him that the Fire Nation was not bad; we were not an evil people. I wanted to tell him about the beautiful mountains here, the sweet-smelling blossoms that bloomed every summer. I wanted to show him the sunsets we saw every night, fiery red and orange colors lighting up the clouds. I wanted to let him know that there were good people here, loyal people, who didn't want to kill or to hurt others; who didn't hold children captive and murder young girls.
I couldn't. I really couldn't.
Why would he believe me? His sister had most likely died at the Fire Lord's own hands, or murdered on his own orders. I couldn't tell him that we did not inflict death and destruction on his people, because we did.
And for the first time in my entire life, I wished I was not a citizen of the Fire Nation.
………………………………..
Later, Aki told me that Sokka had run away to the coastline. There was a moment in which my heart jumped to my throat, but Aki reassured that he was going to come back. I could see the obvious doubt in his eyes but nodded and, for a little while, believed him.
That night, almost as I fell asleep, the house shook. I woke with a start and I could hear screaming in the streets below. Unbelievably scared, I climbed out of bed and rushed downstairs. I was met by my father in his night clothes yelling that there had been an explosion at the palace. My stepmother was crying and Kiku was trying in vain to comfort her. I felt light-headed and confused. An explosion? At the palace? My thoughts went immediately to Sokka, but I saw him a second later following Aki to check on the Rhinos. I could hear them lowing loudly from outside.
My stepmother rushed over when she saw me and latched onto me, crying into my shoulder. Rhythmically, I patted her on the back and watched my father run outside, somehow now in his armor. I could hear cries from outside and could just see a large cloud of smoke rising above the palace roof. I felt so numb. Who could have done something like this? Who really could have? The palace was nearly like a large armored tank. It was like trying to save the Avatar…impossible.
Then I understood.
The Avatar. Someone was trying to free him.
………………………………………..
In the morning, the fire had been put out. Several of the nobles homes had been burnt along with the palace and the families were staying with whomever they could find. So far, my father learned that a kind of explosive had been created and was placed close by the Avatar's cell. The prison had exploded, of course, but two soldiers had died and they had not found the Avatar.
No one was allowed to talk to the Fire Lord.
Apparently, he was in the worse mood he had ever been in since he had been alive. That's what my father had said anyways. He had nearly strangled one of the generals and was now locked up in the Throne Room, fuming and throwing fire at anyone who dared even knock. We were not allowed out of our houses, not even to buy food. Not that we needed to but others did. Luckily, and amazingly, there were soldiers sent out to make sure everyone was okay…and to search our houses for the culprit. The Fire Lord believed that the arsonist must have been an inside man to be able to have such access to the Avatar's cell. On the third day, it was our turn.
We all had to stand in the middle of our living room, watched by soldiers, until they had scanned the entire household. Then, they gave us the okay and we were allowed to resume….living.
"The Fire Lord told his second in command to search every house each week until the criminal is found." My father said as the soldiers left. Kiku immediately began to bustle about, cleaning up anything the soldiers had knocked down or put out of place while searching. She ran upstairs and we could all hear her rummaging around. I looked back at my father's face, a slab of stone set on top of a mountain of dough. He sighed and picked up his red, spiked helmet. He looked fine in his amour, at least, that's what I used to think when I was younger. Now, it looked grotesque to me. It made me think of death.
"The Fire Lord wants all available hand s to search for the criminal until he is found. Everyone who is not leaving to the Earth Kingdom or busy elsewhere is employed to search the Fire Nation." He sighed and kissed my stepmother gently on the cheek. "I won't be back for a little while. A couple of month's maybe, at the most." I nodded, looking down at my feet. That meant he would miss my birthday. I was turning nineteen and I hoped he remembered.
"Aya, my dear, I'm sorry." He said, as if he could read my mind. I looked up and there he was, smiling fondly down on me. "Don't worry my girl. There's something special for you later. Your mother knows." He winked in her direction and my stepmother smiled knowingly. Behind his hand he whispered quietly, "Don't worry. I'll be back for your wedding as well." I blushed a little at his mention of Yoko. Turning to face Aki and Sokka, he smiled sadly.
"Take care." With that, Aki led him outside where a rhino was waiting to take him to the palace. He would join up with his unit there and move out in an hour or two. They would be briefed and then each team would leave. I sighed and watched him go, the rhino swinging its tail back and forth. A raindrop fell and I looked up. The sky was one dark cloud, hanging over us like an ominous sign. Aki sighed and pushed me inside.
"No visiting the palace today, Lady Aya." He said as he shut the door. No indeed, I thought. Not with the mood the Fire Lord is in. I sat on one of our soft cushions at our little polished table. Kiku made my stepmother and me tea and then sat down with us. Aki and Sokka had gone outside to make sure the rhinos were not getting wet. As I sipped my tea thoughtfully, I figured we had been lucky not to lose my father so far. Through one of the larger windows, part of the burnt palace came into view; a straight tower, half charred black and the inside getting wet in the rain. I sighed again and thought of the Fire Lord, looked a large room, charring the walls the same color black with his fire.
I was beginning to wonder if the Fire Lord was completely sane.