I've started this story after revistiting a concept I've sketched out years ago but never wrote after all, since I had other things to write at the time. When I picked this up again, I thought to give it a try and write it up, especially after seeing the comics and the Korra series, which finally gave me the needed ideas.
If you see the format you can by now see by my other works, that I've specialised in letting the canon story go in interesting directions by changing on factor, which ripples through the story. I found this gave me more freedom in my writing than other ways of doing so.
After positive feedback, I decided to go on with the story. I do rely on reviews to improve the story. So if you read it, please tell me your opinion.
Chapter-specific notes are always at the end of the chapter to prevent spoilers.
This one had been a pain to write due to the Jet-scenes. It also became bigger than intended.
"It's what Avatar Roku said. I'm supposed to master all four elements before that comet arrives. I haven't even started waterbending and we're still weeks away from the North Pole. What am I gonna do?"
-Aang
Chapter 8: The long Path North
To say that the atmosphere on the ship was bad was an understatement.
After hearing what exactly was ahead of them - that the Avatar needed to learn enough to defeat the Fire Lord before the end of summer and the arrival of the comet - everyone felt the pressure. They had less than nine months, or all of their efforts would become meaningless. They had expected to have enough time to help Aang find teachers for learning the three remaining elements with reasonable skill, but now they were on an almost ridiculous time table. It was simply impossible that Aang could get more than the basic training in each element in this short time.
It was simply impossible to learn all the stuff that other Avatars learned in ten years in less than nine months. No determination in the world could change the facts after all.
Yet, the only thing they could do was to make plans and hope that somehow things would go their way, despite how high the stakes were against them. One of these facts was, that they would not lose too much time anymore. Each group would take a more direct course north and try to avoid unneeded distractions. Although they knew it would be impossible for Zuko and his crew to go to the Northern Water Tribe itself, having them close by for when everything was done and they returned to the Earth Kingdom was a good idea.
Aang looked over the dark sea while pacing on the front deck. He had been unable to sleep due to the sheer scope of things resting on his shoulders. Everyone counted on him, but he knew he could not do wonders. His goal of mastery of the remaining elements had to be shelved for now; simply learning what he could in order to be able to enter the Avatar state at will had to be enough.
Yeah, no pressure. Just learn enough in less than nine months or the world is doomed, he thought sarcastically in an attempt grasp the scope of the task.
"Man, that's really, really bad..." he said to himself. Being so riled up that he was unable to relax was pretty much his modus operandi when facing something impossible.
"How am I supposed to even do that? Boy, Appa, I wish you could give me advice..." he told the big sky bison, who was resting on the deck. Appa in return gave him a look that was surprisingly intelligent and made Aang lean against the railing. "Yeah, you can hardly give me advice on this. Sometimes I really wish this whole Avatar business had been dumped on someone else."
He sighed loudly. Life had been so much easier before this whole Avatar business had been dumped upon him. "Why me? It's simply unfair..."
"That may be, but that should not stop you from making the best of it."
Aang saw Shyu approach and lean on the railing beside Aang. "Oh, Shyu. Couldn't sleep either?"
"Pretty much. After all my life got turned upside down and I need time to come to terms with it." The sage then gave Aang a knowing look. "I guess after you learned what is expected of you and how little time you have, you find this very much overwhelming."
Aang sighed and looked to the moon that was high in the sky. "Everyone expects so much of me. On top of it I now know I'm on a hard time limit or the world is doomed. I have no idea where to start and wonder if I can actually make any difference."
"I think in that regard, I can give you good advice. Right now, everything looks huge and unbeatable. However, if you take on one small task after the other, you in the end realize that you managed to solve the problem. I have no doubt you are very capable of saving the world if you concentrate on the current task and try not to take on the world in one go. However, there also is one other advice you should take to heart," Shyu told Aang.
"Really? Which one would that be?" Aang wondered.
"Despite being the Avatar, you should not forget you also are a twelve-year old boy. Others might not see it, but I'm not fooled. You are trying too hard to fulfill the expectations of others. Even though the situation is dire, you should not let this dictate who you are," Skyu told Aang.
"You know, that's the exact opposite of what the monks wanted. They wanted me to suddenly become dead-serious and just live for being the Avatar. Monk Gyatso felt they were being stupid," Aang explained.
"Then Monk Gyatso was much wiser than them. Let me tell you some words of wisdom from Avatar Roku. He said: 'Roku is, who I am. The Avatar is, what I can do'. It's a big difference; one you should always remember," Shyu explained, seeing how Aang seemed to understand now.
"It's so simple the way you explained it. Does that also mean I shouldn't let the whole Avatar-thing go to my head?" Aang asked Shyu.
"That as well. There were some Avatars who could tell you how them putting duty over everything else made them very unhappy in the end. Just being the Avatar is not enough for a fulfilled life, nor will it make you happy on its own. A little egoism that you reserve enough time for being yourself is not a bad thing in this case," Shyu explained.
Aang was a little amazed when realizing that Shyu had never met any Avatar other than him. "You learned all of this just by reading?"
"You would be amazed what you can learn from books." He then looked around. "It's still a long night and I need to prepare to leave the ship tomorrow as soon as we arrive at the mainland."
"What will you do? The whole Fire Nation is now after you," Aang wondered.
"Don't worry. General Iroh does has some friends with whom I will hide, until the time is right. I'm very sure our paths will cross again in the future. When this happens, I'm sure you will be very ready to meet your destiny. You should try to get some sleep as well." Shyu then left Aang alone.
However, instead of walking to his cot, he made his way to Iroh's quarters, where the old general and Ursa were already waiting. "I'm ready to keep it safe until the moment it is needed," he told them.
"Good. We know it will be safe with you. Far away from all eventual trouble we'll get into," Ursa said, while Iroh gave Shyu a wrapped-up item. "You know how important it is."
"Oh yes, I know..." Shyu said,
"It is most important that it's kept safe. Once the time is right, Zuko will need it in order to claim his rightful destiny," Iroh added, knowing of the importance of the item.
...a few days later, a port town...
"Great going, Katara! You just made these pirates angry!" Sokka spat, while they were running through the streets of the port town to get away from the angry pirates that were chasing them.
"How should I have known that they would notice me taking the scroll this fast?" Katara shot back, while hoping that her endurance would be enough for running away.
Sokka would have loved to give her a slap on the back of her head. "How about not stealing it in the first place?"
After parting with Zuko for the time being until they would meet at the ruins of a long-destroyed city, the group had taken off on their paths north. Not too much had happened on the way and this town would also have been rather unremarkable, if not for the fact that when shopping, Katara stumbled over these sailors offering rare items. Of course Sokka had noticed right away that these guys were pirates - it was so blatantly obvious that it did raise the question what kind of town this was - and told Katara not to trust them at all.
Too bad that they had also shown them a scroll about waterbending techniques and Katara, who had been self-taught for all her life, was desperate for anything she could learn about waterbending; especially since she feared she would not be taught at the North Pole due to her gender. That his usually proper and honest sister had resorted to theft would have made Sokka laugh, if not for the fact that said pirates were now out to kill them outright for Katara's theft.
"Can you two stop talking and concentrate more on running?!" Aang gasped, while running beside them, Momo barely hanging on his robes. With so much stress he found it difficult to get his airbending to work, something he had sworn to work on.
"Damn, where's Toph when you need her?" Sokka cursed.
They probably could have gotten out of this easily with Toph just using her earthbending. However, she and Suki were not with them right now. Truth to be told, they had no idea were these two were right now.
Toph had said at the morning that she didn't feel so hot and complained about cramps. Katara and Suki had shared a look, remembering that Toph would turn thirteen in less than half a year despite looking younger than she actually was. They knew what was going on - that Toph also had it earlier than other girls - and decided that the elder of them should take Toph aside, since her own mother had clearly neglected to tell her some things, and help her out. Toph had grumbled that growing up sucks but Suki nonetheless decided to help Toph get something she would need for it. She knew the first time it happened was always unpleasant for a girl.
Thus Suki was somewhere in town with Toph right at the moment, leaving them to fend on their own.
Running around the next corner, they were faced with a tall wall. "Dead end! Aang, can you lift us over the wall?" Katara gasped when seeing that they had reached the end of the line.
"With the way I'm panting right now? No chance I would get the breathing right," Aang said while trying to catch his breath, now regretting how he had neglected his physical fitness.
"Now we got you!"
Turning around, they were faced with four very pissed-looking pirates. It seemed that they were not in the mood to forgive and forget. Sokka drew his sword, despite knowing that he would have no chance against four men who were far stronger and taller than he was. Nevertheless, he at least had to try.
"You must be either really brave or really stupid, boy," one of the pirates laughed humorlessly, before they raised their weapons, clearly intending to kill them all.
-craaaack- "Ahhh!" At least that was their plan until a sudden hole made them fall into the dirty sewer water beneath and the hole then closed up to force them to find a different exit, revealing Toph and Suki standing at the entrance of the small dead end.
"Now, that was rude! You started making trouble without me," Toph complained, although it was clear she wasn't nearly as annoyed as she pretended to be. "So, who caused this?"
Sokka sighed, putting his sword away. "Ask Katara. It's her fault we got into trouble."
"Princess causing trouble? I've got to hear this," Toph said in anticipation.
Katara gave Toph a cold look, which the girl of course could not see. "Ha, ha. Very funny."
"Seriously, what happened?" Suki asked, taking in the whole situation. "We leave you three for less than an hour and it turns into you getting into mortal danger. What is this with Katara getting you three into trouble?"
"Big advice, Suki: never take Katara shopping in a curiosity shop," Aang deadpanned, causing Katara to give him a hard look. Aang was annoyed enough to forget his politeness for a moment. "What?!"
Suki raised an eyebrow. "All right, I bet there's an interesting story behind this. Tell me while we are walking back to camp after we are done with grocery shopping. I really want to hear this."
"Not only you," Toph added, eager to hear what kind of trouble Katara caused. After the recent nastiness, she could use a good laugh.
o
"Man, I still can't believe that Princess became a thief! Who knew that she got it in her?" Toph giggled in way that was so feminine it ran against her tomboyish image. She still found the humor in Katara doing something less-than-proper.
Katara rolled her eyes and tried not to react - difficult when Toph could easily gauge her mood by her heartbeat. Truth to be told, after the whole thing on the rig, Toph had become a bit more tolerable. She had dialed down on being... obnoxious. Perhaps being confronted with the reality of war had stomped out some of her delusions. Though Toph could still annoy the hell out of them if she wanted to.
"It's not that funny. These pirates could have seriously hurt or even killed them for the theft of the scroll," Suki reminded her.
Toph waved it off. "Nah, don't be a stick in the mud. Turned out all right, didn't it?"
"Really?" Suki crossed her arms. "Let's wait until you are in serious danger and we laugh at your peril. Would you like that? Hm?"
Toph stopped and turned to Suki, her sightless eyes open wider than usual. Toph then quickly turned away, unwilling to let the other see how her face had colored slightly. Suki did have a point. Losing her interest in talking any further, Toph let herself fall to the ground, taking solace in the familiar earth beneath her.
Suki had to remind herself that Toph still was very immature. Was I like this as well at that age? she wondered to herself.
Katara meanwhile took a look at the scroll. "Well, this looks more complicated than anything I've ever done before. Still, I won't give these jerks any excuse to exclude me."
Aang was impressed how determined Katara was to claim her rightful training. "With all what I need to learn, maybe I should get a headstart as well? I've never done waterbending before. At least not that I can remember about."
Katara felt like an idiot. "Why didn't we think about this before?" Rolling up the scroll, Katara gave Aang an encouraging look. "Come, let's go to the nearby river. I'll show you everything I can do and then we can go through the scroll together!"
"Well, we do have the entire day left. How about a little spar, Sokka? Let's see how far you have come," Suki offered to Sokka when seeing how Katara and Aang were walking off to the river in order to read the scroll about waterbending. It was best to leave the benders to their own business.
Some months ago, Sokka would have been insulted by a girl offering him training. Now however it was the most natural thing in the world to him. Sokka did like Suki because of two things. First, she was a serious warrior and had earned his respect. Second, because of Suki being Suki. He would not tell her, at least not yet, but he always felt happier when she was close by. Having grown up without any girls his age that weren't his sister, this was still new to him, although he did like the feeling a lot.
Their little spar with wooden swords soon started and Sokka really enjoyed it.
"Really good! One wouldn't even know that you're just doing this for a short time!" Suki said, while putting Sokka back into a defensive position.
"As you told me, I'm a fast learner!" Sokka reminded her, before again pressing forward.
Suki knew that his progress in this short time was insane. It revealed how capable of learning Sokka was, once he got the stimuli needed. "I see it as bigger progress that you are willing to learn from a girl."
"Hey, it's not that I have anything against girls! It's just that I couldn't imagine them as warriors," Sokka defended himself. "That, and I especially don't mind being taught by you."
"Oh?" She hadn't expected him to admit that and all of a sudden she didn't feel too confident anymore. "Really? What makes me so special?"
Blocking a strike, Sokka rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on! You are very patient and understanding and are really good at explaining everything. You didn't make fun of me when I admitted I can't fight to save my life. I like you, because..." Sokka stopped and blushed a little.
Likes as in 'like-like'? Suki wondered. "Oh... eh... So why do you like me?" she asked.
"Because... because... Suki, you are a really beautiful girl. A beautiful girl who's really nice, patient and yet is no pushover. You know how to fight, to defend yourself..." Sokka stopped when he saw Suki looking surprised. "I'm babbling, aren't I?"
"No...I... You really think I'm all these things?" Suki asked, her face starting to become red as she felt flattered by how Sokka saw her.
"Yes! It's... it's like a dream coming true. OK, the fighting thing came after I met you, but now I'm unable to respect a girl if she's incapable of defending herself. Damn, Suki, I really don't want to sound corny, but should I have a girl of my dreams, you'd be a really good fit," Sokka finally confessed.
Now that blush spread over Suki's entire face. "Oh... I don't know what to say... I wondered..."
"Eh, yes?" Sokka probed, hoping he wouldn't have to reveal more of his feelings.
Suki knew, now was her time to confess her feelings. "Back home, most boys were intimidated by me. Those who weren't, were either wimps or brutes. You... you are better than all of them."
"Oh... wow...wwooooaahh!" Sokka had stopped, thus causing Suki's strike to almost connect. Sokka stumbled and fell into her, in return causing her to lose her balance. With a loud -thud-, both of them hit the ground.
"You know, this is kind of familiar," Sokka said, when seeing how he was lying on Suki, their faces almost touching.
Suki couldn't help but to laugh a little. "Yes, only that this time you are lying on me. I have to admit, it's not as uncomfortable as I thought it would be." She then noticed that their faces had inched even closer together. "Uhh, Sokka? I know this is kind of a personal question..."
"You want me to come even closer?" he guessed.
Suki blushed a little. "The past years I had been more warrior than girl. Now the girl wants a bigger share of me." She stopped when she realized how she was babbling. "Just be careful, all right?"
"Don't worry." Sokka said, before their lips gently touched.
It was not a deep or intense kiss, but for both of them it was the very first one and that made it special. When they parted again a little bit later, they were both blushing and smiling. It was clear that they had enjoyed this a lot.
"I guess this answers the question?" Sokka suggested.
Suki took a deep breath. "Well, it seems we both like each other. I really want to do more of this."
"Oh boy..."
It effectively killed the mood when they heard Toph sigh. The earthbender was groaning as if she was enduring horrible torture. "Must you guys do that while I'm present? You know I can feel everything through the ground. I don't get what's so great about it."
Suki sighed while she and Sokka got up. "Trust me, Toph, once you are a little older, you'll see the appeal of it. Then you'll understand why people like doing it."
Toph rolled her sightless eyes. "I still don't get what's so great about it."
Sokka gave Suki a look that made his thoughts clear. 'She will understand sooner than she might think, once puberty fully kicks in' was the message.
At the shore of the nearby river meanwhile, Katara and Aang were reading through the scroll after Katara was done showing Aang her skills at waterbending - which currently were not that impressive as everything she could do was self-taught.
"Man, while the art on this thing is really nice, the movements look rather complicated," Aang said, while looking through the scroll.
"As much as I want to start doing these, we should start slow. After all, you've never done waterbending, did you?" Katara asked, while rolling up the scroll.
"No, not even once. Where do we start?" Aang asked, looking at the lake in anticipation.
While Katara knew Aang was eager, she doubted he would get results right away. After all, it did take her a long time to do so. "Let's start with the basics. If you want to control the water, you first have to get a feeling for it. Water is always changing and you need to keep a firm hold on it. Here, let me show you."
Katara drew some water from the river, moving it around while seemingly violating the laws of gravity. Recently, her bending powers had improved a lot compared to how of little use they had been before. Katara felt proud how far she had come with no help at all - just hard work.
"Hey, Katara, look at this!"
Katara's water splashed down when she looked in shock at how Aang was imitating her easily. He seemed to have lots of fun playing with the floating water. Katara tried to find words. "Aang?... How?... On your first try."
Aang was oblivious to her shock, being too happy at these fast results. "I have no idea. I just did as you said and it worked right away. Man, you're an awesome teacher."
"On your first try..." Katara had to sit down.
"Hey, Katara, what can you teach me next?" Aang ask enthusiastically, still oblivious to her worsening mood.
"Do you even care that you did this on the first try, while I needed years to come that far?" she growled, feeling deeply hurt in her pride of her waterbending abilities.
In the tribe she was the only waterbender left, thus she - of course without noticing - had put herself on a pedestal and thought of herself as the norm. After all, she had no one to compare herself to, just old stories. It was utterly shocking to see someone doing so much better than her at what she had thought was her destiny. She had not imagined it to be like this.
"Oh?" Aang needed a moment before he understood. "OH!" The water splashed down when when his joy evaporated, ending his concentration as well. "Katara, believe me I didn't plan to upstage you!"
"Too late," Katara hissed. "I should have known. You are the freaking Avatar. Of course it comes easy to you."
"Eh..." Aang couldn't exactly deny that and he deflated. "Yeah, the Avatar. I bet I just tapped into the knowledge of a previous Avatar, while you worked really hard for it."
Katara looked up when hearing how downcast Aang sounded. "Aang?"
"You know, being the Avatar cheapens a lot of stuff you accomplish. Remember how I said I was an airbending prodigy? Guess what many of the other boys said after it was announced I'm the Avatar. Suddenly everyone thought it wasn't such a big thing anymore. That's one of the reasons I don't like being the Avatar," Aang explained.
"Oh, Aang, I..." Katara's anger left her. "Sorry... I was just so shocked that you had such an easy time doing that."
"You know, water is a lot like air. It always changes and is very flexible. I guess that's a big part why it came so easy to me," Aang tried to explain. "You said that was easy to you. Maybe the harder stuff won't come that easy to me?"
Katara knew that any kind of jealously was misplaced. "Well... Let's see about that."
Interestingly, further in Aang did start to have trouble when it came to the finer points of waterbending. He had real difficulties with forming the water into a specific shape and it was next to impossible for him to actually keep that shape for longer than a few seconds. That told Katara that while Aang had great potential for waterbending and had little trouble actually doing it, he had next to none of the relatively fine control she had gained over the years.
"Man, looks like experience DOES make a difference," Aang finally said once they had went through all of the things Katara could do with waterbending.
Katara would never admit that this had been good for her ego. "Well, at least we know what the problem is. You could possibly do the water whip from the scroll easily enough, but as soon as it gets more complicated..."
"Yeah, my control sucks. Guess I have to leave out the really cool stuff until I'm better," Aang admitted, remembering how Monk Gyatso had told him to improve on his concentration.
"Let's try the water whip from the scroll first. It doesn't require very fine control and then you can defend yourself with water," Katara said, taking a look at the scroll. "Let me try it first, you can then imitate my movements."
Katara gathered the needed water and tried the move. However, something went wrong and instead of the desired target, the whip hit Momo, who had been watched everything, throwing the lemur into the river. Of course he didn't stay there for long. Jumping out, he let of a stream of screeching which Aang and Katara guessed could be curses, while looking angrily at Katara.
"Momo, believe me I didn't plan to hit you," Katara pleaded.
Momo gave Katara one last, mean look, before before he ran to where Appa was sleeping, hiding in the thick fur of the sky bison in order to dry off and be left alone for a while. They wondered again what had happened to this lemur that he was seemingly much more intelligent than he should have been. Aang had a feeling his late mentor was responsible for this.
"Oh, well. Let's hope we won't have more accidents," Aang said.
...at the same time, in a different part of the Earth Kingdom...
"Now of all times we suffer from engine failure! We're supposed to scout ahead, not be behind them," Zuko complained while they walked through the streets of a coastal colony.
"Well, that had to happen. You can only run on full speed for so long before it damages the engines," Iroh said, while taking a look around. "I wonder what treasures I can get in this town."
"Oh no! Not again!" Zuko groaned, having forgotten his uncle's love for shopping.
"And I thought according to clichè it's women who are obsessed with shopping," Mai commented dryly, while Ursa was hard-pressed to keep down a giggle.
Zuko hoped it wouldn't get worse.
Rushing towards the border near Crescent Island had taxed the engines of their old ship to the maximum and they were now suffering the forseeable engine failures. They had managed to get into the port of this colony, but for the moment were grounded until the repairs were done. Even hiring the best workers the colony had to offer however, it would take a day or two before they could set sails again. It was a reality that Zuko didn't like at all.
"Uncle, this is just an excuse to again buy all kind of junk you'll never need," Zuko protested.
"You might call it junk, but I call it a relaxing experience. That, and I have always found a use for the things I buy," Iroh reminded him.
"Like this dreadful music instrument of yours?" Mai asked, making no secret that she remembered this incident all too well. "It certainly did have a use: making the entire crew dislike you."
"Ursa, dear, I know you'll come to my rescue," Iroh asked, giving her a hopeful look.
"Well, I wouldn't know. Something on that day caused me to have a migraine and I locked myself in my quarters," she said, revealing an amazing level of snark in the process.
Iroh looked defeated, knowing he would never again get a chance to touch that music instrument. Her being snarky was a side of his mother that Zuko didn't see often, but it showed why Mai did like her so much. It was a reminder that his mother was an outsider to the nobility, sporting character traits no noblewoman would ever have. It also again reminded him how poor of a fit she had been for life in the palace. In retrospect he now knew how much she must have hated this cage of rules, to never be allowed to do the things she liked. Also, like him she lost her home but gained her freedom in the process.
Suddenly someone ran from around the corner, directly into him! He and the other man fell to the ground.
"Damn it! Don't you have eyes in your head?!" Zuko cursed.
The other man, who looked like a farmer in his thirties, looked downright mortified. "I'm sorry! I didn't look where I was going, I was too dis..." He stopped when finally looking up. "You... you are Prince Zuko!"
The sudden change of the man's mood threw Zuko off-balance. "Yes? So what?"
Suddenly the man fell to his knees in front of him. "Please, you have to help our village! I'm desperate and the guard has laughed me away!"
"Young man, I think you should calm down and stop degrading yourself like that," Iroh told the man. "I think this will be important, so we should talk about this in a more fitting atmosphere."
A bit later, they all set in a tea house at a secluded table.
"Only you would think of a tea house as 'fitting atmosphere'.," Mai said, while once again understanding why Zuko at times wondered about his uncle.
"Only in time you'll understand how calming a tea house can be," Iroh told her, then took a taste of the tea. "Well, acceptable." Everyone translated that as 'good enough to return'.
Zuko finally had enough and looked to the man who had begged him on his knees. "Well, I have no sense for tea. Let's get to business. Who are you and what could be so bad that you begged me on your knees?"
The stranger looked nervous to actually be in company of so much royalty. "My name is Ze-Long and I am a representative of the recently established farming village of Gaipan some hours up the river. Our community entirely consists of farmers who have moved to this part of the colonies after being forced to sell their small parcels of land in the Fire Nation to the crown due to them no longer being able to work economically with so little land."
"An old problem," Ursa sighed.
The truth of the matter was, that the ancient inheritance laws of the Fire Nation concerning farming land caused it to be split between the children of the deceased. That rule came from a time when people died often and the land would merge back once distributed under the surviving siblings. However, with people living longer and becoming more healthy, it resulted in the farming land splintering until farmers were left with uneconomically little pieces land.
The government did know of the problem... and did nothing. It instead opted to buy the land when the small farmers had to give up. By now the government had gathered considerable farming land and made the former owners mere workers. Therefore it was no wonder these people left.
"At first it was a peaceful place. However, recently out village gets terrorized by a gang of teenage brigands who hide in the forest surrounding our village. They kill or steal our cattle, burn our crops and attack people outside the village. Thankfully there are no deaths yet. I was sent to get help from the guard but they simply laughed me off; said they have no time to care for some peasants," Ze-Long explained the problem.
Ursa let out a very un-ladylike snort. "They are paid by the government for the safety of the colonies. Of course in their mind this means nothing at all."
"We're desperate. Of course we have heard the news of your banishment, but I hope it means you won't brush aside our suffering like it's nothing. We don't have weapons and no firebenders live in our village. Please, you are our best hope in this," Ze-Long said, obviously trying hard not to sound too much like a beggar.
"Well, I don't know..." Zuko was unsure, especially since this came out of nowhere. He looked to his companions for advice.
Iroh set aside his cup. "Prince Zuko, remember that our ship is still grounded until the repairs are done. This means you will have more than enough time to take care of this matter."
"Also, since you do want to take responsibility for our nation in the future, you have to start somewhere. Now you can show that you do care," Ursa reminded her son.
Mai rolled her eyes when Zuko looked to her. "What? You know I'll help you, no matter what you decide. So stop being so indecisive and finally get on with it."
Zuko looked back to Ze-Long.
...the next day...
"Well, this is something different for once. Good thing we don't have to get there on foot," Mai said, while watching the surrounding landscape move by.
Since the village of Gaipan was only a short distance away from the river it was decided to use the small steamboat normally stored deep inside the ship to drive upstream. Not only would it save them lots of time, but also lots of strength. There really was no reason to walk the entire way after all and Mai had even remarked that the only thing it would accomplish was, to give them blisters on their feet.
"Is your village close?" Zuko asked Ze-Long while looking around.
"Yes. The pier for the fishing boats should be nearby, right after the next curve of the river," Ze-Long told him, while observing their surroundings. However, looking around, he became confused. "Strange... Normally the boats should be out on the river at this time of the day."
Once the pier came into view, it was clear why there weren't any boats out. They spotted what had been several boats pulled ashore, now burnt-out hulks, while on one side of the pier there were signs that some boats had been sunk outright. In silence they docked, then inspected the burnt-out remains of the boats.
"This is fresh, barely a day old," Iroh observed, after taking a closer look. "These were all thew village's fishing boats?"
Ze-Long looked close to despair. "Yes, and it will be almost impossible to replace them. Why are they doing this? What have we done to deserve such hatred? We are just peaceful farmers!"
Ursa could only shake her head at such senseless destruction. "Whoever it is, they seem to have a problem with the Fire Nation in general."
Nothing more was said while they walked through a short stretch of forest which separated the pier from the village. Whatever small doubts had remained at Ze-Long's tale were now gone. At the same time it made them wonder what these teenagers were thinking they were going to accomplish with this. It seemed totally senseless and without any form of higher goal. Terror for it own sake.
Then Gaipan came into view. It was a fairly average village and the wall surrounding it was a reasonable security measure. Other than that, it didn't look any different from the other villages Zuko hd seen during his travels. Of note was an almost empty riverbed, a bridge leading over it into the village.
"This looks very recent," Mai observed, before spotting a large dam a bit in the distance. "You dammed it off?"
"Oh yes. The whole area had been rather swampy before the dam was built, reducing the flow to the main river into a mere trickle. Without the dam, the whole village would vanish into the mud," Ze-Long explained, while they walked through the gate.
They hadn't expected to get crowded by the villagers as soon as they entered. They were bombarded with questions and the faces of the villagers showed surprise and hope when seeing them. It was a very strange experience for Zuko, who was not used to people actually appreciating his presence. After all, while he no longer got looks of scorn in the colonies, people now tended to look at him in pity. It was a nice change to be appreciated like this.
It took a while before order was restored and they sat together with the village leader, who gave more details to their problems.
"To think a gang of teenagers can cause so much trouble," Iroh mused, giving Zuko a very knowing look.
"Well, one of them is certainly no teenager. Some giant of a man who's favoring brute force," the village leader explained.
"Is there anything else we need to know? Every information could be important," Ursa asked him, once he was done with explanations.
"Not to my knowledge, I only have some general information about this village to offer. It was settled only recently and there are the ruins of an Earth Kingdom village a bit further down the river. As far as I know it got destroyed around eight years ago. Ever since then there's an army path through the valley, but the soldiers generally never bother us on their way to the front."
It was a start. After all, every lead could be important.
A little bit later they walked through the forest.
"You really think a destroyed village will tell us anything?" Mai asked, making no secret she found it to be a waste of time.
"These teenage brigands have to come from somewhere. Maybe we'll find some answers in the ruins," Zuko told her, while the forest opened up to reveal the ruins of the village. "Although considering the state of the ruins, I have to doubt it."
The only thing that had survived the attack were the walls. Everything else had been burned away, leaving charred wood and a mixture of mud and ashes. If there had been any hints in these ruins - as unlikely as that was due to the sheer destruction - they were long gone by now. A superficial inspection was enough to show that any attempt to look further would be useless.
"Well, at least we can take a good guess what made them this aggressive," Ursa concluded, wanting to leave this depressing place. "If they fled from this there is no doubt it'd have made them incredibly hateful towards the Fire Nation, although that's no excuse for their actions... Is something wrong, Mai?"
Mai had become a little tense, something only noticed by those who knew her. "Yes..." Her voice was a whisper. "We are being watched. Over there in the trees."
They tried to not act any different while pretending to look through the ruins. "There are two of them. One is armed with a bow, the other one with swords. Both of them are around Zuko's age," Mai told them what she had observed while they walked behind a wall.
Zuko took a look to where he knew these two were hiding. "The one with the bow is our main concern. Let's see how they'll react..."
In the trees, every of the movements was observed.
"Clearly Fire Nation. What's your impression, Longshot?" a teenage boy asked, clearly itching for a fight.
"Hm, we should be careful," Longshot, a teenager with a guarded expression that could rival Mai's, grunted while taking a closer look. "The men are wearing uniforms. No weapons, so they could be firebenders. The woman doesn't move like a warrior. However, that girl makes me nervous."
"A girl making you nervous? You've been hanging around Smellerbee for too long," the teenager snorted.
"No, it's not that. She moves like a predator ready for the kill. She's dangerous, Jet," Longshot warned, never stopping taking aim with his bow.
"I've never seen you this nervous, despite knowing you all my life. As for them, I really hate how they are snooping around our old home. Let's get the others. I want reinforcements when we deal with them," Jet decided.
They retreated, thinking they had not been seen, walking through the forest back to their home. They were silent, not only to not attract attention to themselves, but also since Longshot wasn't one for conversation. He only spoke when he felt his input was needed, but otherwise he kept silent. Jet knew this unnerved the others, but having known him for all his life he didn't mind any longer. He was already occupied with ideas how to deal with the intruders and therefore paid little mind to such things.
In the heart of the forest, they finally reached their settlement. Built amongst the trees it was quite a good hideaway. On a first look, one could even mistake it as the sanctum of people who wanted to live in peace with nature. No one was in sight, but Jet and Longshot knew that their friends were too good to be caught when someone approached their hideout.
"Smellerbee, Sneers, Duke, Pipsqueak! We've got a job to do!" Jet called.
Four people walked out of the shadows. The first was a teenage girl with short, reddish hair and painted-on face markings who looked very boyish. Next was a teenager who was bulky enough that one could think he was older than he actually was. The last two were a really strange pair; a huge and muscular man in his early twenties and a teenage boy that was way smaller than most of his age.
"What's up? You sound like someone pissed you off," Smellerbee said, taking in how tense Jet looked.
Jet didn't look too thrilled. "Yeah. Fire Nation. Four of them with at least two firebenders. Snooped around the ruins of my old village. I think they are trying to find us. Let's better give them what they deserve."
"You mean...?" the Duke said with wide eyes.
Jet smirked. "We put that off long enough. Since the Fire Nation sees us as enemies anyway, we now go all out. Get your weapons, we leave right away."
Seeing the others scramble, Jet turned to Longshot. "You think they can get themselves to do it?"
Longshot grunted. "They agreed with your bigger plan. They are ready to draw blood."
o
"No one yet. I wonder what they are waiting for?" Zuko wondered.
They had went through the forest and around the village, now getting close to the dam that was stopping the village from getting flooded. Just looking at the dam already revealed it to be far bigger than they'd thought. Should it burst, the entire village would be flooded in mere seconds.
"They are watching us..." Mai cautioned, being better at tracking than Zuko was. "They keep to the trees and are clearly waiting for a good chance to attack us. I've spotted six of them."
"Are they any good?" Zuko asked.
"Let's put it this way: they clearly think they are hiding well but obviously have never met someone with more than just rudimentary tracking skills," Mai explained, almost looking offended. "As for fighting. One's so small, he'll not be much of a threat, two are packed with muscles but clearly have no clue about anything beyond hitting hard and the only girl in the group is like a weed. Really the two who watched us earlier are the most dangerous."
"Too bad we left our weapons behind," Zuko curse, feeling his swords could have been useful against the swordsman.
True, Mai didn't like using a sword, but considering she otherwise would have been helpless in melee, she felt the need to learn using one. Still, the weapon's weight always bothered her. "It's not like I'm weaponless. They won't expect what they can't see."
Zuko knew this to be true. Some time ago Mai had actually shown him exactly in which places she was carrying throwing weapons. Zuko had blushed at that time since it clearly also was Mai's version of a striptease, even though Mai's underwear had stayed on. But her slowly shedding the outer layers had made him aware of two things. Mai clearly found a liking to teasing him and she was carrying more weapons than he'd thought, some in places better left unmentioned.
They then finally reached the crown of the dam, the forest ending there.
"Die, Fire Nation scum!" someone screamed, before the attack happened.
...
The sad 'fight' that followed was too humiliating for descriptions. Therefore the curtain of silence is lowered.
...
Some time and violence later, all six attackers were on the ground; disarmed and covered with bruises. They also looked utterly humiliated while their leader looked downright pissed. Since he was the only one still trying to make trouble, they had tied him up with their own rope - which obviously had been intended for them - to stop him from getting violent again.
The fight had been very one-sided. The bowman was essentially useless after one projectile from Mai had cut the string of his bow. The small teenager and the girl were obviously not used to fighting someone on equal terms and were quickly subdued. The two heavy bruisers were great melee fighters, but clearly not used to go one-on-one against trained firebenders - good for them that years of training just resulted in some singed hair as the worst injury.
The leader had been the only real problem. He was a good swordfighter and they didn't have any melee weapons. Still, in the end him clearly not knowing how to battle a firebender caused him to lose. Getting kicked into the balls from behind by Mai hadn't hurt, either.
"Well, now that all of you are more or less peaceful, you can finally tell us what you intend to accomplish with your actions," Iroh told them, acting as if nothing of big interest had happened.
"Hurting the Fire Nation, what else !?" the leader screamed, again trying to break the rope to no avail.
"Man, Jet, calm down! Don't give them any reason to kill us!" the girl hissed.
"Kill you?" Mai snorted, looking offended. "If we had wanted to kill you, you would be all dead by now. We actually had to try hard to not hurt you too much."
"You expect us to believe that?" Jet snorted, clearly not buying it.
"I honestly don't care what you believe. We want to know why you are terrorizing the people of Gaipan," Zuko said, giving Jet a hard look. He knew this kind of people.
Jet said nothing and just gave him a look that said: 'Do you really have to ask?'.
Ursa sighed when seeing that this Jet was intentionally difficult. She took a look at the other five. "Well, since this is getting us nowhere. Perhaps we should first know how all of you come to live outside of any village."
They clearly hadn't expected being asked how they come to live in the forest. They had expected a swift death or torture. Surprisingly, it was Longshot who first broke his silence. "Well, Jet and me lived in the same village. You've seen what happened to it. We escaped just in time. The others joined us later on."
"Well, my parents were killed by firebenders... I could live with my uncle in Yu Dao, but I don't want to, as it's in the middle of the colonies," Sneers said.
Smellerbee sighed. "When the Fire Nation seized my parents' land to make them simple peons, I ran away."
The huge Pipsqueak shrugged. "Lost everyone early. Grew up on the road until I met them."
That left the Duke. "I was a street rat; never had anyone. They took me in when I tried to steal food from them."
"It does explain why you joined him. He offered to give you the home you were missing in your lives. However, I still wonder what you were trying to accomplish by destroying the livehoods of these people. Surely there is a better way than terror?" Iroh asked them, having an idea what could be going on.
That finally made Jet break his silence. "Shut up! We accomplished a lot against the Fire Nation. We are a constant thorn in their side! We are constantly hiding from them; wanted enemies of the Fire Nation!" He stopped when Mai actually laughed, finding the sight disturbing for some reason. "What...?"
"You really think that?" Zuko asked, wondering if the guy was a bit delusional. "The only reason we're here is because the guard couldn't be even bothered by the whole thing. They think of it as not worth their time. I doubt they even know who you are. Not exactly wanted by the entire Fire Nation."
"Jet, you told us we have to stay hidden because there are wanted posters of us!" Smellerbee complained.
"Also, was it your idea to prey on those who can't defend themselves?" Ursa asked, seeing the first crack in the group. There clearly was something wrong.
Jet's anger began to rise. "So what? They are Fire Nation. They all have to pay!"
Ursa shook her head t so much anger. "Remember why you ended up here. Now look at what you are doing. You try to hurt and kill those who can't defend themselves. You destroy their livehoods, use terror and violence and excuse it with the greater good. Honestly, you are becoming just like the people who ruined your lives."
"Damn it, shut up!" Jet shouted, becoming angrier by the moment. To his annoyance, his companions did not speak up, clearly hit by these words. "Don't give in! Not so close to final victory!"
Mai raised an eyebrow. "Any of you know what he means with that?"
There was silence before Longshot spoke up. "We planned to steal explosives and blow up the dam."
"Traitor..." Jet growled, feeling betrayed by his oldest friend.
Iroh gave Them a thoughtful look. "You wanted to destroy the dam, therefore destroying Gaipan and killing everyone inside. Were you really ready to accept so much blood on your hands? To be responsible for mass murder? Think about it. Had you done it, you would have become no different than those who you despise. No different at all..."
"No, there is a difference! The whole valley would have been freed!" Jet shouted, seeing that the others started to crack.
"Really? And then what? Be proud of a valley full of dead bodies?" Iroh knew he was starting to get through to the others. "You can't guess how many times I've heard officers making flimsy excuses before they commit the most horrible of atrocities."
"Silence! Just be silent!" Jet screamed, finally losing it. "They all have to die! They are the scum of the world and I can't rest until every single of them is a corpse!"
"Jet, you are scaring me..." the Duke whimpered, trying to find refuge in Pipsqueak's arms. The big man said nothing but looked disturbed.
"Jet.. I.. I don't even recognise you anymore. You... you really think they all have to be killed?" Smellerbee asked hesitantly, starting to become afraid of their leader.
"Every single one! They are all guilty!"
"Damn, no!" Sneers decided, moving a bit away from the others. No one stopped him. "I... thought you were right. I thought nothing about blowing up the dam... Now... No way I would kill children! Forget it!"
"Then you don't have what it takes to do what needs to be done! I knew right from the start you're not as dedicated to the cause as the others" Jet accused him.
"He's not the only one." Pipsqueak was carrying the Duke, walking to Sneers. "My main concern is protecting the Duke. He's scared and wants out and I go with him."
Enraged, Jet looked to Longshot and Smellerbee. "And you two? What's your decision?"
"Jet... you.. you are really serious? Killing them all... even the children?" Smellerbee stammered, having difficulty to recognise their leader of years.
"They are all guilty by birth. You agreed to the plan and now you chicken out?" It seemed Jet would take her leaving him especially hard.
"I... I agreed and thought nothing of it... I ignored what it would mean..." Smellerbee had become pale and then jumped up, running to the others. "No, I don't want to end in that place where you are!"
Jet growled in disappointment. "I guess that means it's again just the two of us, right Longshot?"
"No."
"What do you mean, no?" Jet gasped, seeing in shock how his oldest friend joined the others.
"I thought I know you... I saw how you changed over the years. Excused it and tried to look away when thinking about the final consequence... I can't anymore. You're no longer the Jet who was my friend. I see that now."
"You can leave. We won't stop you," Ursa told them, seeing that there would be no need to hold them back.
Together, the five of them started to leave. "...maybe my uncle in Yu Dao needs some help. Not the best place, but if you are desperate..." They then vanished in the woods.
"TRAITORS! And I thought you were dedicated to the cause!" Jet screamed, then looked at his captors in fury. "Well, go on! Kill me!"
Zuko snorted, then gave Mai a look and she slammed a stiletto handle-first into the ground. "There's no need for this. You're beaten. Without them, you are nothing. You can cut your ropes on that but by that time they are long gone... Come, let's leave."
"You damn Fire Nation scum!" Jet screamed while they left. "I'll find you and then you'll be sorry you ever crossed me! You made yourself an enemy, you hear!?" To his rage, they ignored him.
Iroh shook his head while Jet's angry shouts faded with the distance. "This war is tearing the world apart. The seeds of hatred are falling on fertile ground. Now you see how anger and hatred can twist even the best intentions into something very dark."
Despite having saved Gaipan from destruction, they felt a bit somber at seeing where Zuko could have ended up without support.
...some days later, a coastal town...
"I told you we would miss nothing if we skip the Divide. We are well ahead of schedule," Sokka said with a hint of pride while they were taking a break in a small coastal town, before they would continue their journey to the meeting point.
"But the Great Divide did look interesting. It could have been great to explore it," Aang complained. "It's not often you see something like that and we simply skipped it."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah... You know that for me, that's just a big hole in the ground. It's hardly anything to get excited over," Toph snarked, before taking a bite out of a chunk of melon, causing melon juice to splatter everywhere.
"Toph, you have disgusting manners," Katara complained, while knocking against another melon to check if it was OK, before she would buy it.
"What's your point? I was forced to play the part of the well-mannered girl for years. Guess what? I feel far better with being one of the guys. Guys can piss on good manners and do the stuff they like doing. That's what I can relate to," Toph remarked, before spitting out melon seeds.
Katara could only shake her head. "You are impossible."
"Oh, I am. But after years of all the crap I had to endure to become a 'proper lady', I have earned this," Toph said, closing the matter.
Katara by now knew that getting Toph to act more feminine was a lost cause. "Feels strange. We're in the middle of Fire Colony territory, yet I don't spot a single soldier."
"Oh, you really are foreigners," the melon vendor said, shaking her head. "Technically we all here are part of the Fire Nation colonies. They claimed this areas many decades ago and we arranged ourselves with it. They don't bother us, we trade with the bigger cities and everyone accepts this status quo."
Katara was surprised by this. "If this had been colony territory for so long, then why...?"
"There are no colonists living here since this is really as unimportant as it could get," the vendor explained as if this was the most normal thing in the world.
Katara felt a bit uncomfortable that technically they were walking around a Fire Colony. "Uh, thanks." Paying for the fresh melon, she took a look around. "Where's Suki?"
"Oh, she's down there at the docks. Looks like there were this fisherman and his wife arguing and she couldn't help herself and wanted to be the peacemaker," Sokka told her, then looked down the docks. "Looks like she doesn't have much success, however."
Indeed, Suki looked a little desperate, standing between the fisherman and his wife, who were both verbally sniping against each other. As much as Sokka liked Suki, he would not get near this one and instead opted on carrying some of Katara's purchases. Aang however didn't have such reservations and walked closer, only to hear the arguing.
"...and I told you, what you say is rubbish..."
"...you'll bring yourself into an early grave..."
"Hi," Aang said, causing a stop to the shouting.
Suki sighed when seeing him. "Aang, maybe you can get these two to stop arguing."
"Sure. What's the problem?" Aang asked.
The fisherman's wife found her voice first. "This old fool wants to get out for a fishing trip and he's angry I won't come with him. I know there's a storm approaching but I can't convince him not to throw away his life!"
The fisherman snorted. "Storm? Just look around, woman. The sky is totally clear and we have next to no wind. You honestly want to tell me there's a storm approaching?"
"You see the problem?" Suki told him, already looking exhausted. "Aang, as an airbender, can you take a look if there is a storm approaching, or not?"
"Sure. We didn't see anything on Appa, but that was hours ago. Let me take a look around. I'm right back." Unfolding his glider, Aang took off, not even noticing the astonished look the married pair was giving him. Thankfully for Suki, it made them shut up.
Manipulating the currents, Aang quickly gained height. Others would have been deathly afraid with a fear of heights at this point, but not Aang. For him it was the most normal thing in the world and a fear of heights was next to unknown with the Air Nomads. It was at times like these, where he felt truly free and only the sky was the limit - a moment to ignore all his troubles. Free as a bird.
Up here, he could let his thoughts wander to other things, as operating the glider pretty much was a reflex by now. While the whole thing about ending the war should have occupied his mind, it was something else he dwelled on.
How can I even tell Katara how strange I feel around her? Well, strange in a good way, he thought, while ascending higher.
Aang was in a bit of a dilemma. He was not ignorant about the facts of life - Gyatso had made sure to teach him these before his twelfth birthday to make sure puberty would be less confusing - but actually starting see a girl with something more than just friendship was plain confusing to him. He did like being around Katara and there was a deep sense of friendship. However, at the same time he caught himself looking at other parts of her anatomy and had some interesting dreams about her.
What would she think of me if she knew I find her that kind of beautiful? he wondered.
Granted, he saw how the interactions between Sokka and Suki had changed. It was nothing blatant, but still noticeable. It also seemed to have made the two of them happier. He could have sworn Katara had looked a little jealous of them. He wondered what that meant. Still, Sokka and Suki were both three years his senior, so it made sense they would be less reserved about such things. It however also made Aang wonder if he was too young to have such thoughts about Katara.
Toph is right about one thing. Growing up does suck.
Aang stopped his introspection when seeing something at the horizon. "Oh, that's great..."
Descending took far less time. "You better stay! There's a huge storm front approaching! I honestly have no idea how this could have happened on a clear day."
The fisherman's wife gave him a look that said: 'I told you so'. The man grumbled in defeat but even his pride would not make him go out on sea with a storm approaching.
"Thanks. I had no idea I would step into the middle of a war when I tried to settle their argument," Suki told Aang while they walked back to the others.
"No problem. It gave me some nice quiet for thinking, " Aang replied, then saw the others. "Guys, we need to go back. There's a storm coming up and I want neither our stuff nor Appa getting soaked through. You know how much soaked sky bison fur smells."
Sokka and Katara didn't need to be told. They had smelled soaked Appa once and were not keen on a second time.
o
While the storm was still approaching the coastal village, it was already raging over Zuko's ship. Thankfully, Zuko did listen to his uncle's advice and ordered the ship to be anchored in a bay that would shield them from the heavy sea. The waves and wind were still rocking the ship, but not nearly as much as on open sea.
Deep inside the ship, almost next to the big furnaces that ran the ship's steam engines and which now were running low to just power the ship, Lt. Jee was enjoying a drink with some of the stokers. Even if not for the fact that the years at sea had made them a tightly-knit community, he had always been more comfortable with simple crewmen than with officers. In the navy, officers looked down on everyone below them. He couldn't, which had been a contributing factor in making his career a dead end.
"Man, that's really strong but good stuff!" he remarked, after tasting the alcohol one of the stokers had brewed in a small distillation beside the furnaces.
"My whole pride. It took me lots of patience to get the right mixture and brewing it takes time," the stoker said, clearly proud of his accomplishment.
"Better not let Prince Zuko catch you brewing it," Jee cautioned him.
The stoker laughed. "Oh, no problem. He knows; wanted to taste it first. Man, poor Mai had to drag him to his bed after he took a swing and it blew him off his feet. A teenager shouldn't drink this stuff. Granted, this was a year ago and I think he can take it now."
"Could you imagine him taking a drink with you at the start of the journey?" another stoked joked, playing on how useless Zuko had been.
Jee snorted. "No way. He's come a long way since then. He has developed from a royal pain to a worthy crown prince."
"Very nice what you think of my nephew."
They all jumped up when they saw Iroh and Ursa approach. "General Iroh, Lady Ursa, we..." Jee tried to say, but was stopped by Ursa.
"No, you have done nothing wrong. You have spoken very good about my son and frankly, we both don't want you to treat us different from the others." She then spotted a full tankard. "Ahh, exactly what I need. You don't mind?"
"No, we don't. But are you sure you want to? It's really... strong..." Jee stopped when Ursa picked up the tankard and took a deep swing from it. Jee couldn't believe it how she'd downed that much without any trouble. "Wow..."
"Ahhh, I needed that!" As soon as she had said that, she seemed to hiccup and... -boooaaarrp- "Ooops, sorry," she excused herself after letting out a loud belch.
"I haven't seen many women who can drink on ex like this without any ill-effect," one of the stokers said in awe.
Ursa had to laugh. "Despite living on this ship for a long time, there are some things you don't know about me. I'm certainly not like the noblewomen who cry when they break a nail."
Iroh had watched everything in amusement. "Would you mind if we sit at the fire? We wanted to give the young people some room. Especially now, since young Mai is suffering from the storm and my nephew is helping her through it."
"She still can't keep it down during rough sea," another stoker laughed, remembering that while Mai got used to living on a ship real fast, the rough sea still caused her stomach to revolt.
Ursa and Iroh sat down at the fire. "In case you are still curious, you have to remember I grew up in an insignificant village under very average circumstances, lived for years as a hermit and have traveled with you for a long time. I can keep my alcohol down, even though I try to not make it a habit. I was a poor fit for life at the royal court."
"I remember how much you suffered. The isolation from everything you knew, the tight rules and finding yourself with literally nothing meaningful to do. You were very unhappy," Iroh remarked, remembering these times all too well.
"I have to admit, I still wonder where our journey will go. Oh, I know for sure that the Avatar will rush through his training, but what will come after that?" Lt. Jee wondered.
"Well, we asked this ourselves. As far as we understand, our biggest task besides helping the Avatar to get his needed training - and I have to add the trainers for the two remaining elements won't be as difficult to find - is to gather a force large enough that we can back the Avatar while he forces the decision," Iroh explained.
"Well, that means we will obviously become involved in that. Does it mean he wants to gather forces from the Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom as well?" Jee asked, interested in these developments.
Iroh nodded. "Oh yes. While the Avatar alone has enormous power, it still would be futile without others to back him up." Iroh gave Ursa a meaningful look, signaling that they had something else in mind as well. "That, and we are needed to show the other nations that the Fire Nation does not consist solely of bloodthirsty monsters."
The stoker who distilled alcohol laughed. "You mean we have to be role-models? That's rich."
"Well, we can hardly call ourselves role-models. Not with our tack records," Ursa said, clearly including herself. "We just have to show we can be reasonable."
She at least hoped it would work out this way.
At the same time, some decks up, Mai suffered silently.
She prided herself on being able to defend herself, on not being whiny and certainly not being like these others girls she had met in the capital, who were prone to being the damsel in distress due to being useless in general. However, right now she couldn't help but groan, feeling awful due to the rocking of the ship. She had already emptied her stomach, but the urge to expel more overcame her regularly. Right now she really felt like shit and was glad that Zuko was holding her during her suffering.
"I hate this... I hate being weak..." she groaned, fearing that too much motion would upset her stomach yet again.
"I would never think of you being weak," Zuko said, while one of his hands made circular motions on her stomach to calm it down a bit.
"You only say that..." She stopped, gasped and her face became paler than it already was.
Zuko already knew what to do. In one quick motion he shifted their weight and bent her over, so that her face was directly above a bucket at the bedside. He held her hair out of the way while she choked and retched, coughing up some foul stomach juices from her already empty stomach. Finally being done, Mai was pulled back up by Zuko, looking downright miserable.
"Here..." Zuko said, helping her drink some water from a cup to cleanse her mouth and ease the burning sensation in her throat by the acid.
Leaning back after she was done, Mai groaned again. "I feel like shit."
"Well, you certainly look like it at the moment," Zuko remarked, knowing she wouldn't be offended by blunt honesty.
"You really know how to talk to a girl," Mai weakly remarked, some of her normal sarcasm getting through.
"You know, this reminds me of something my uncle told me. He said that no one can be strong all the time and that you appreciate those close to you when you have a weak moment."
"You uncle talks... way too much." Nonetheless she allowed Zuko to hold her a bit closer. She did hate being weak or sick, but Zuko caring so much for her made it more bearable.
Zuko for his part, while hating Mai being miserable due to being sick, still enjoyed the closeness they both shared at the moment. He knew that Mai could as well have locked herself into her quarters to suffer privately. That she trusted him so much that she allowed him to witness her in such a weak moment showed how close they had grown over time.
Zuko wondered what he would have become without her and decided to not even think about it.
...meanwhile, in the Fire Nation palace...
"You ordered for my presence, father?" Azula asked, while kneeling before the throne. The flames surrounding it were so familiar to her that they by now had lost any intimidation factor on her.
"Yes. I want your opinion on something," Ozai said, before getting up and walking through the flames.
Azula knew this was her cue to get up. She couldn't help but to be deeply satisfied that her father was asking her for her opinion on a matter. It was stroking her ego and gave her a feeling of importance. She had never let down her father before and his trust in her was one of the best rewards she could get. Now she could serve him again. She waited for him to go on.
"You see, My trusted Commander Zhao has already failed two times in capturing the Avatar," Ozai started to explain, while looking over the map on the war cabinet table to where Zhao currently was stationed.
"To be honest, father, I never understood why you hold this man in such high regard. He's an upstart and favors the brute force approach way too much," Azula said, her opinion of the man having decreased over the years.
"Oh, he does have his uses," Ozai explained. "Him following every of my orders without ever questioning them is a quality that can't be underestimated. Also, while his approach often is like that of a blunt club, it does get the point across and serves to show our enemies the power of the Fire Nation."
Azula knew what the problem was. "However, his recent failures gave you some doubt about his continued usefulness."
"Yes." Ozai looked over the map, where the recent sightings of the Avatar were marked. "His first failure I did accept, since after all he did add to the territory we control. His second failure however casts doubt on his abilities."
Azula of course knew of the little fiasco on Crescent Island. Although they knew Zuko and those around him were involved as well, even the Fire Lord could hardly force the issue since they had managed to get out again without being arrested. Her father had been quite unhappy about these events, especially since it also meant the loss of the main temple - a fact that was kept secret from the public at all costs. Zhao not being able to either capture the Avatar or arrest her loser of a brother had not helped his reputation.
"However, he has proven to be too much of worth in the past. Thus I now have to consider how to deal with his embarrassing failures," Ozai finished, then waited for his daughter's thoughts on the matter.
Azula thought about it for a while. "We should see the whole thing rationally. We know the Avatar still has to learn waterbending, since our nation eradicated the art in the south. Thus we know where he will go. Commander Zhao actually catching the Avatar before he manages to get there would be good. However, I think we need to kill the problem at the root."
Ozai was turned to a world map hanging from a wall, thus she couldn't see his face. "Destroy all waterbenders before they can teach the Avatar too much. Catch the Avatar while we know for sure he is present... Yes, there is a plan growing in me... Our Commander Zhao will get the chance to prove himself. Should he fail, he won't even have to bother with returning."
to be continued...
Next Episode: "Enemies of the Fire Nation"
Notes:
In case you worry that Jet is written too much as an extremist, it was just because of the TV-rating that the true depths of his hatred of the Fire Nation were never seen. Such people do exist in real life. I wanted to show that being confronted with people who won't take his crap, unlike in canon, his group will quickly fall apart. While the others won't return, we haven't seen the last of Jet.
I tried really hard to explain the original discrepancies in Katara's and Aang's waterbending skills. I think the explanation is quite good. Also, it helps to explain Katara's rapid progress later on.
There was less about Sokka in this one, but don't worry. The next chapter we see and hear a lot more from him, together with humor and sarcasm.