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The moon seemed so full it would burst.
Katara had never seen it shine more brilliantly as it hung low in the dark blue sky. It was slowly rising higher, granting the waterbenders more and more control over their element.
Katara smiled slightly at the thought of Yue helping them win the war.
Katara did not stop her waterbending though. She continued to shift her weight through stances to help the rising of the giant swell of ocean water that was lifting up all the waterbenders along with Toph's company.
The dark mountains of the Fire Nation loomed ahead on the horizon. The last of the sun's red rays shot out from behind the blackened landscape.
"Hey!" Toph shouted over the spraying ocean and whipping wind, "I hate to ask this again, but are we close to being there yet?! I'm getting tired of holding onto this mast!"
Katara kept going through the waterbending motions but turned her head back toward Toph, "I see the harbor defenses ahead of us now! They're firing!"
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Aang watched calmly as the Fire Nation defenses launched fireballs at them. They were missing horrendously.
He smirked.
All of the fireballs fell short and sizzled as they hit the front of the giant swell of water he rode on.
It seemed so futile to him.
He then turned to see King Bumi leading the other Earth Kingdom vessels as they struggled to keep up with the leading waterbenders.
Turning to his left, he could barely make out Katara going through bending motions.
He would know her form anywhere.
Quickly, he forced himself to look straight ahead. The mountains of the Fire Nation loomed above them, but the beaches where below them.
In an unforgiving second, the Fire Nation soldiers on the shore were swept up into the wall of water, which was quickly becoming a crashing wave.
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Katara let her waterbending go as she ran to the ships railing. "Brace yourselves!" she shouted.
Katara could hear Toph scream as they began a free fall. Her own stomach seemed to have been left in the air several feet above her head. And then they hit the ground.
Katara's hold on the railing was ripped away as she hit the deck, hard. She then went flying back up. She watched in horror as the boat seemed to pass beneath her and was then replaced by Fire Nation soil, which was a good twenty feet below her.
She tried to gather all the water she could around her, to catch, slow, or soften her fall.
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Aang looked around. They were now behind enemy lines, as planned.
Now the second line of Fire Nation defenses was dispatched. He looked ahead. Only a million to go.
He hopped on Appa, "Yip, yip!" Time to get my team.
Appa flew to Katara's ship. It lay partially on its side. "Toph! C'mon, let's go! Where's Katara?"
"Not on the ship!" She shouted back after stomping her foot once. Aang helped to hall her into Appa's saddle.
He then flew to the other side and looked down. Katara was sprawled out on her back.
Worry flashed over his face as he quickly went to her. Jumping off of Appa he knelt down, "Katara?"
Her face was contorted in pain. She gathered swirling water around her hands and they began to glow. She pressed them to her ribs and grimaced. The glowing brightened, then faded. "I'll be alright." She said as she shakily got to her feet. Aang helped her. "Everything's still on schedule, right?"
He gathered her up in his arms, airbended them up to Appa's saddle and set her down. He lightly brushed his lips across her cheek. "Yeah." He stood up as Appa rose into the air. Looking off into the distance, he watched as Toph's company was filing out of their ship and into ranks, preparing for battle. "Everything's still going as planned."
The elite earthbenders will march further into the Fire Nation while the waterbenders keep the beach clear of hostility until Sokka arrives. They then will follow the path that the earthbenders have made to the capital, again rebuffing any further hostility that the earthbenders may have missed. In the meantime, as soon as King Bumi lands, he will sweep outward and secure the surrounding areas. For the sake of time, Aang will go with his team to the capital ahead of everyone else.
Civilian casualties are to be kept at a minimum. The sole objective is to take out military units and their commanders.
With the Fire Nation's government being centralized on an unpopular belief enforced cruelly by a single minded dictator, defeat has been made all the more palpable. If Azula weren't so devious herself, she might have trusted power to other people, and her nation would not have to be so dependent on her for its success in the war.
Aang took the reigns, "It's time to cut the head off this snake."
Without any bending, the wind began to whip faster, pulling thin clouds across the sky.
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