Well, my first chapter of the summer! Hope you like it. (Which is pretty obvious :-) ) I have tons of ideas, so you should see a new chapter very soon. R&R pleez!
Chapter 8: The Burial
"Welcome," Oyajii greeted solemnly as a group of mourners dressed in black entered the temple. "We are greatful that you could come support the family in this dark time." Oyajii walked up to the podium at the front of the Earth Temple. The temple was beautifully adorned with green and brown curtainry to honor their holy spirits, Bhumi, the Spirit of Stone, and Hei Bai, the Spirit of Forest. The front of the temple held The Holy Scriptures of Earth.
"Hello everyone," Oyajii began. "We have gathered here to day in memory of our beloved Suki. Suki was a courageous, kind, and caring young woman. She was a loving daughter, a loyal friend, and a devoted girlfriend." During the funeral, Aang, Katara, and Sokka were seated in the front row with Suki's family, while Toph, Zuko, Mai, Ty Lee, and the Freedom Fighters were sitting in the second.
Sokka, who was hurt the most by this loss, had tears running down his cheeks and a pained look on his face. Aang and Katara were sitting hand in hand with grief stricken looks on their faces, while Mai was silently resting her head on Zuko's shoulder. Ty Lee, on the other hand, was wailing openly, despite the fact she did not know Suki very well. This was irritating to Toph next to her, who was quietly listening to Oyajii speak. Even Momo had a sad look on his face, even though he couldn't understand what was going on.
After Oyajii's sad but touching speech had finished, the entire gathering of people filed out of the building and into the cemetery. In the center of the large graveyard was an enourmous statue of Avatar Kyoshi. At the base of the statue was Kyoshi's grave. A few feet away from the Avatar's grave was a large hle in the earth, which was clearly where Suki was going to be buried. Before Suki's casket was closed, Sokka bent over and gave her body a gentle kiss. The coffin was then closed and lowered into the ground, where it would stay until the end of time.
"Raaaaagghhh!" Azula shouted in fury, causing the fire in the torches beside her throne to burn furiously. "Kai, get in here!" Almost instantly, the young man entered the room. He kneeled before the Fire Princess, aware that he was to be punished.
"Tell me now," Azula said, her anger suddenly turning into an icy, false-calm. "How exactly did you let the Avatar and his friends escape?"
"We were outnumbered, your majesty," Kai replied. "They managed to send a few through without losing their advantage."
"You have greatly dissapointed me, Lieutenant." Azula said coldly.
"Please, Princess," begged Kai. "Give me one more chance. I swear, I shall not let you down."
"Very well. Since you have proven very useful thus far, I give you one more chance. However, if you should fail, there will be dire consequences."
"I'm listening," said Kai.
"I have a plan to kill two of our most formidable foes," Azula said. "Their names are Sokka and Ty Lee."
"Well, I think its time we went back to the hideout," Pipsqueak said to Smellerbee and Longshot after the funeral. "We need to go back to fight off the Fire Nation."
"You two should stay with the Avatar, though," Sneers interjected. "They could really use the help, especially at a time like this." The five Freedom Fighters said their farewells and went into their two separate groups. Meanwhile, the others were helping themselves to some of the available food. Everyone except Sokka. He was sitting near the wall of the temple, still in shock from Suki's death.
"What's up with Sokka?" Ty Lee asked Katara.
"He's really hurt from Suki's death," Katara said. "It'll take a while for him to get over this."
"Oh my God," said Aang. "He's not eating. This must be even worse than we thought."
"He'll be okay eventually. Trust me," stated Katara, though she did not sound too sure herself. Soon, everyone began piling onto Appa's back preparing to leave.
"So, where do we go from here?" Toph asked as she boarded the massive bison.
"Well, I have to find my mother," said Zuko, remembering his Uncle's letter.
"We'll come along, too." Katara said. "Aang needs you to teach him firebending, and Appa can help you get there faster."
"Then it's settled. We're off to the White Lotus Headquarters." Aang declared. By this point, everyone except Aang, Katara and Sokka had boarded Appa and was ready to take off. Aang and Katara had noticed that Sokka was still sitting by the wall, and went over to speak with him.
"Sokka, you haven't spoken since… what happened," Katara said to Sokka. "Talk to us so we can help you."
"Alright," Sokka said. "Why didn't you use the Avatar State?"
"What?" asked Aang dumbly, though he knew where Sokka was going with it.
"You heard me," Sokka replied. "You told me in Ba Sing Se that you had mastered the Avatar State. Why didn't you use it to protect Suki?"
"You can't blaim Aang for this!" Katara interjected sternly. "It wasn't his fault what happened!"
"Yes it was," Aang said remorsefully. "The truth is, I never mastered the avatar spirit. I left before I could finish training."
"So, it's your fault that the woman I love is dead," said Sokka.
"I had no choice!" Aang shouted angrily. It was either your girlfriend, or your sister." Sokka said nothing after this. He mearly stayed sitting by the temple, his teary eyes barely open. Eventually, he got up and boarded Appa.
"Princess, do you have need of me?" Long Feng said as he entered the Great Hall.
"Yes I do," Azula responded. "Tell me, do you have news of Kai's mission. I haven't heard from him since he left 6 hours ago."
"Well, we have news, but nothing too exciting," replied Long Feng. "He just reported that the Avatar is nowhere to be found."
"I guess I will have to take matters into my own hands," Azula said, "I expect you will watch over Ba Sing Se while I am gone."
"As you wish, your majesty," Long Feng said.
"I will leave in the morning. You will take over then," Azula said, ushering Long Feng to leave. "And remember, I will have Fire Nation soldiers guarrding you every second, in case you try to betray me and assist the Earth Kingdom. Let's hope that does not happen.
It was dark, and the group decided to camp out for the night in the woods. One by one, everyone got off of Appa and set down their equipment to make camp. While the others set up, Aang and Katara went to practice waterbending.
"You're doing pretty good, Aang," Katara complimented as Aang successfully altered the direction of the nearby stream. "There's only one thing left for you to learn. Its called the ice tornado." Katara proceeded to go through the steps. Afterward Aang copied what Katara did. First he summoned the water from the stream and bended ir into a whirlpool. He turned the whirlpool to ice, and shot icicles in akk directions. The icicles chopped through some of the nearby trees, and even smashed through rocks.
"Great job, Aang!" Katara said. "You've mastered Waterbending.
"Well, I had a great teacher," Aang said. Soon, their lips were locked in a loving kiss. When they separated, each had a distraught look on their face.
"Um, Aang?" Katara asked nervously. "What did you mean when you talked to Sokka before. You said you had to choose between saving Suki, or me?" Aang sighed. He clearly did not want to answer this question.
"Okay the truth is," Aang began, a story ensuing. "Back at the Eastern Air Temple, Guru Pathik told me that in order to master the Avatar State, I had to let go of my earthly attachments. I had to let go of you." He paused. "I tried to let go, until I had a vision of you, trapped in the Crystal Catacombs. The Guru told me that if I left, I wouldn't be able to use the Avatar State at all. But I left anyway. That's why Suki's dead."
"I can't believe it," Katara stated. "It's because of your attachment to me that you can't use the Avatar State."
"Katara, I-" Aang began to say. He stopped speaking when he realized he didn't know what to say.
"I need some time to think about this," Katara said. "You go back, I just need some time alone," Aang walked back to camp, a gloomy expression on his face.
"So, how did your lesson go?" Toph asked, sensing Aang's slow, depressing movements.
"Oh, it went great," Aang said with fake-enthusiasm. He flashed a phony smile for the others. "I'm now a master waterbender."
"That's great," Smellerbee said. "Now we're one step closer to taking back the Earth Kingdom." Everyone agreed that this was good news. However, Toph could tell from his breathing and pulse that Aang's lesson didn't go as perfectly as he had claimed. She decided not to bring it up at the moment.
"Aang, can I talk to you for a minute? Katara asked Aang after coming back to camp. She pulled him away to talk in private.
"What is it, Katara?" Aang asked.
"Well, I've been thinking about what you said," Katara said, letting out a deep sigh. "I really don't want be the reason you can't enter the avatar state."
"But Katara, the chakra's already been locked." Aang stated "I won't be able to master the Avatar State whether I'm with you or not."
"Well," Katara said. "Until we know that for sure, I think we should stop seeing so much of each other." By this point, both Aang and Katara were completely depressed. They exchanged one final kiss that lasted for what seemed like hours. At last they parted, and began to walk back to camp.
"What's going on with you and Aang?" Toph asked as Katara entered camp. "You both seem really depressed. Did you two break up or something?" Katara didn't respond and merely lowered her head in grief. "Oh," Toph said in realization.
"Well, we sort of broke up, except that we were never actually together."
"Come on Katara, I'll help you through this." Toph said, when Zuko ran up to them.
"We have a problem," Zuko said to the girls. He walked them to the beach. "Sokka's not eating."
"This is getting serious," said Aang.
"Come on. Eat!" Ty Lee shouted, while trying to shove a fish in Sokka's mouth. "Why won't you eat?"
"Well, it might be partly because that fish is still alive," Mai stated sarcastically. Ty Lee dropped the fish, and it began flopping around on the beach.
"Sokka," Katara said to her brother, assuming a comforting tone. "I know why you're doing this. It's because you miss Suki. But we all miss her. You don't have to do this to yourself."
"Please Katara, don't talk down to me," Sokka said coldly. "I'm the older brother, I should be the one helping you."
"Sokka, just because I'm your younger sister, doesn't mean I can't help you when you need it. We all want to help you, Sokka, so let us." Sokka remained silent. "Do you think this is what Suki wants? For you to starve yourself?"
"Well what can I do?" Sokka shouted. "I don't know what life will be like without Suki. I'm not sure I can live without her."
"You can, Sokka," Katara said calmly. "I know you can. I may not have known Suki quite as well as you, but I knew her enough to know she would have wanted you to move on with your life. Just let us help you." Sokka said nothing for a while, until he finally spoke.
"Give me that fish," he commanded. Ty Lee picked up the fish and handed it to Sokka, which he took a big bite out of.
"Um, Sokka, that fish was still alive, you know," Aang said awkwardly. Instantly, Sokka spat out what he had bitten off and scrubbed off his tongue with his hand. Everyone laughed. It seemed that that everybody was cheerful once again. Everybody except for Aang and Katara.