-=6=-
"My Lady?"
Katara started at the unexpected and sudden question, tearing her gaze away from the man lying lifelessly on the deck an arm's reach away.
"Hmm - I mean, Captain? What is it?"
"You seem distracted, My Lady. Would you like to tell us what happened out there - are you alright? Did the man hurt you? Is that it?"
Katara's eyes hardened. "No," she responded curtly, turning her back on the captain and facing the endless white and blue that was the South Pole. Reflecting on recent times; the day after her capture. The euphoric sense of freedom... Not only when she had escaped Zuko, but when she realised she had been freed from the Water Tribe. When she was no longer a prisoner within her own life.
And now she was headed back there.
To the left, a pair of penguins shot out of the water, beaks filled with fish. Katara envied them, unrestricted as they were. A feeling she had never experienced. Born into the rapidly deteriorating Water Tribe, responsibilities had been thrust onto her since childhood. At a young age, she had come to understand that Fire Nation raids were nothing out of the ordinary. A couple times a year, they would come, burn down the flimsy huts, and disperse any of the food that the tribe had managed to hoard over the past months. People died, occasionally. Others were taken as slaves, or for other, darker uses. Katara was hidden from sight, taken out of the settlement along with the other women and children. But even so, the system wasn't foolproof. Women were taken by the Fire Nation soldiers, their screams piercing through the wind and battle cries of the Tribesman and Fire Nation soldiers. Her mother was one of the first to go.
Sometimes the Water Tribe even won the small skirmishes; until the next one, where the attacking forces would double and the Tribe would almost be wiped out once more. In either situations, the following day was spent dragging the corpses away from the tribe. They didn't need to bury the bodies too thoroughly.
The snow did it for them.
The Fire Nation never attacked during the Arctic Winter. Without firebending, they would be next to helpless against the hardened warriors of the tribe.
The process repeated itself every year.
Until the Northerners arrived.
During the winter of Katara's ninth year, a massive fleet of ships was spotted approaching from the east of the Earth Kingdom, waters rarely used by any nation. The village was evacuated once again, in preparation for a massacre... And then recalled mere minutes later. After over seventy years of waiting and pleading, after all hope had disappeared, the Northern Water Tribe had finally answered the calls for aid. The military camps set up by the Fire Nation were destroyed, their naval forces in the Southern Hemisphere all but eradicated.
Thus began a new era at the South Pole. But Katara hadn't been there to witness it. Being recognised almost immediately as a high potential waterbender, she was deported to the Northern Water Tribe, crowned Princess of the South, and forced to study the arts of healing. A near master by the age of fifteen, she dedicated herself to the study of battle and military tactics, despite her mentors' assurances that such work was unsuited to that of a Lady.
Two years later, she co-ordinated the attack that would permanently remove Fire Nation Navy from the North Pole.
After eighteen years of raids, scouring the land for food, studying, training, and then politics, she'd never truly had a day for herself in the last decade.
o-o-o
Zuko stirred, eyes fluttering as he came to. His head ached numbly, his vision blurring as his eyes adjusted to the glowing sunlight. The steady, rolling feel of the boat was nowhere near as pronounced as the constant heaving of a Fire Nation Vessel. Craning his neck backwards, he eyed the chains cuffing his hands together, and tying him to a section of the deck. He could firebend using his feet, if he got into a stance, but against nine capable waterbenders, there was no chance of a successful outcome. Surveying the crew, Zuko was slightly surprised to discover their speed. They literally flew across the water, barely skimming the surface of the waves. Six of the eight were waterbending to speed the boat, the skipper and his second in command working in conjunction to steer and coordinate the group. The Princess was standing, facing away from everyone else, unmoving as she cast her gaze out towards the sea. Was she actually seeing the deep blue of the ocean, Zuko pondered. Or was her mind showing her something else entirely. And then suddenly, she flinched backwards, turning around eyes wide in fear, flinging her hands up in a waterbending gesture, launching the small boat several metres into the air... Seconds before an icy spear shot out of the water, passing through the space the canoe had just exited, eliciting startled cries and a collective, strangled gasp from the eight waterbenders. Zuko grunted, keeping his mouth shut as he braced himself for impact back onto the water... But with a change of stance and subtle, cautious hand movement, the water reached up to cradle them gently back onto the surface.
o-o-o
Eyes narrowed, heart racing due to the sudden attack, Katara turned to the logical origin of the attack; the frozen landscape to the south. Sensing another disturbance in the water below the boat, she flayed her hands, solidifying the water and shielding the boat from the unknown projectile. Another ripple in the waves alerted her to success, and she brought the temporary shield down, reluctant to use up valuable energy. From over the icy cliffs and ledges, a large group of thirty men - or women, for their faces were covered - dressed in thick white furs, were dropping into a bizarre collection of sea vessels. A sleek, water tribe styled canoe, a number of single man kayaks, and a larger, slower, triangular masted sailboat. Wryly, Katara condemned herself for allowing them to travel so closely to the shore; but moving out in the open sea had its own dangers attached. With the massive white glaciers shielding the attackers from sight, it was no surprise they had remained undetected so long.
"Bounty hunters, probably." Katara announced. Not that it mattered. "We can't outpace them. May as well fight."
The captain grimaced. "Fifty against eight? And we know they have waterbenders."
"It's closer to thirty. And they can't have too many waterbenders, otherwise we'd have been attacked in far more ways than these. The majority of them will probably be a bunch of soldiers; they can be easily disposed of, and then we can take care of the benders... Wait, no. Have the crew take care of the smaller boats. That's where the waterbenders will be. I'll watch the two larger ones, and take them out when they get too close." In saying that, she brought her hands up, palms facing outwards, and closed her eyes. Giving a sudden shove and then tugging the air backwards, the treacherous slopes of the icy cliffs collapsed onto the unsuspecting attackers. With cries of panic and fear, many flung their hands over their head in a futile attempt at self-protection... While the rest, maybe two thirds of them, moved in collaboration and in an awesome display of reflexive thinking, broke apart the massive chunks of ice falling from above, defending their forces and showering the ice behind them.
Katara's eyes grew cold. "Now you know which ones are waterbenders. Go."
Surging to their feet, the rabble of defenders entered their stances swiftly and within seconds a suppressing barrage of water and icy projectiles were being hurled at the enemy, in a seemingly random sense of direction. Closely observing the onslaught, Zuko quickly picked up on the waterbender's strategy; three were attacking in a general direction, effectively slowing down the enemy. Three were defending and blocking the shards that hurtled towards the fragile vessel. And the other two crew members fought individual battles, targeting a single enemy and taking him down before moving onto the next. Somewhat simple, but effective none the less.
A jarring wave slammed into the sailboat, sending at least half of the men sprawling. Katara followed up on her advantage, solidifying a disc of water and sending it slicing through the sail, crippling the boat and rendering the resident warriors useless. Suddenly, an icy javelin shot up through the deck towards her, forcing her to break her stance as she rolled to avoid it. Cursing, Katara diverted her attention to the six masked enemies, now shaping more and more troubles her way. Weaving past a slice of water, she released a jet from behind the attackers, striking him in the back of the neck. Twirling out of the way of a torrent of water, she blasted another attack backwards off of his boat, leaving her completely vulnerable to the attacks from the fifth and sixth bounty hunters. Working as a pair, they delivered blow after blow, shattering Katara's stances and leaving her desperately blocking to save herself, as the deadlock continued between the remaining benders.
Noticing her situation and increasing struggles, more and more of the attackers sought out Katara as their target. With nowhere to back up to, the attacks started to come from all sides as her allied benders desperately and futilely tried to help bear the brunt of the attacks. Two, six, nine attacks on her, all in the space of a few seconds. Her situation becoming unsalvageable, Katara wondered bleakly what their chances of a peaceful surrender would be when a hardened globule of water thrust towards her chest at nearly unstoppable speed. And then her view was blotted out as her vision was filled with a blaring red light, black spots dancing across her eyes.
A vivid streak of bright, red and yellow fire tore past Katara connecting with the oncoming strike from the waterbender, followed by a series of smaller, faster jets of flame and an arc of orange that swerved into an attacker, sending them sprawling.