That Part Two that was supposed to be out a long time ago...well.
Disclaimer: Still don't own.
"What have you done!?" Azula heard Sokka cry as he grabbed his sister by the collar, nearly lifting her off of the ground. She would have helped him, if she hadn't been on her hands and knees. She hurt, but it wasn't the kind of hurt that she was used to. This pain was in every fiber of her being, coursing through her blood. She felt weak when she whimpered, glaring dangerously at the waterbending witch.
The young Avatar lay in a heap on the floor after he had been slammed into the wall. Ty Lee was crawling towards him, a desperate look in her gray eyes. Zuko was struggling to push himself to his feet and Azula forced herself up. The witch couldn't control her. Not anymore. She wasn't weak.
Azula let the fire burning in her surge to her fingertips and lunged at the old woman. But the auburn haired girl darted in front of her, baring her teeth. "I'm getting tired of you," She hissed as the older girl came at her with her iron fans. Azula fired a blast towards the girl and ducked when one of the fans came towards her. She reached up and kicked it out of the air.
Out of the corner of her eye, Azula saw Mai grab the fan from midair, throwing it towards the witch. Ty Lee was at Aang's side, lifting him up. His eyes were open, but before Azula could see if the boy was fully conscious, the fan-wielding girl came at her again.
The auburn haired girl slid forward on her back, hooking her arms around Azula's ankles and yanking them out from under her. The Fire Nation princess twisted at the waist, thrusting her legs into the air and flipping. Her rival turned on her stomach and lunged at Azula again, narrowing her eyes.
Azula lashed out with a stream of fire at the girl. Suddenly, Yue was at her side. Azula could see something that looked like fear in the waterbender's eyes. "I know you're not a traitor," Azula said to her before kicking out with a blast of flame at the bright haired girl.
Blades of ice flew by, lodging themselves in the pillar behind them. Azula turned towards the elderly witch, who glared at them with pale eyes. Azula wondered if the light in the woman's eyes was madness or hatred. Perhaps a mixture of both.
"Abandoning your people, Yue?" The old waterbender said and Azula could see Yue's fists clench. "Is this really what you want? This isn't you, Yue."
For a moment, the white haired princess was silent. Then, she narrowed her eyes and looked over at Azula. "No…" She said softly, quietly, "this isn't what I want." Her fingers twitched and the water drifted over to her, coating her hands. "I'm not abandoning my people. This isn't what I want. I don't want war." The water shifted to ice, forming sharp icicles that glinted in the moonlight. "And you're right; I'm not that Yue anymore."
Yue jabbed her fist forward at the bloodbender and Azula couldn't help but feel her eyes widen in surprise. It wasn't a conventional waterbending move, she noticed. The waterbending princess lashed out with icicles again, this time at the auburn haired warrior.
Something in the air seemed to shift, then, and Azula turned. Toph, the blind earthbender, and Zuko had moved closer to Aang, bending a wall of fire and earth around him. She could see him sitting on the floor, his hands clasped together and his eyes closed.
Mai, Ty Lee, Samira, and Sokka had all formed a ring around the other waterbender, Sokka's sister. From where Azula stood, her eyes were unreadable and her face was flat. She was a bloodbender, too, Azula remembered. She was a witch, just like the elderly one.
Aang opened his eyes and Azula couldn't help but gasp. His gaze was an unearthly, glowing white color and the arrows on his head and hands had turned the same shade. The fire around him began to tremble and the earth shook. Toph and Zuko both took tentative steps back, eyes wide.
Azula wasn't quite sure what the Avatar had done, but she knew it wasn't a mistake. She knew that this was a good thing.
Something spread across Yue's lips and Azula saw it was a smirk.
He's done it. Yue thought and she felt a smile creeping across her lips. She saw Aang, his fists pressed together and his eyes glowing. She was reminded of the time under Ba Sing Se, when the Dai Li had forced him into the state of destruction and confusion. This time, she decided, was different. This time, he was controlling himself.
He's done it. He's done it!
The earth around him rose into the air and flew about wildly. Yue ducked as a stone flew over the side of the temple. She couldn't help but look over at Katara and then she smiled. You can't stop us now, she wanted to say, just give up now. It would have been a bold thing to say, but she wasn't thinking rationally.
Toph and Samira stepped back, dragging Mai and Sokka with them. They moved away from the Avatar and Zuko followed. Yue saw that Ty Lee stayed, though, her eyes wide and awestruck. For a moment, everyone was motionless, paralyzed in place.
Aang was the Avatar. Aang was the Avatar.
There was no doubt about it, now. Aang was the Avatar and now the whole world would know it, if they didn't already.
The air spun faster and Yue felt her mouth fall open as Aang rose into the air, his hands loosening and his brow furrowing. The Avatar, she thought and the phrases became a mantra in her head, the Avatar. The Avatar. Aang's the Avatar.
At some point, Yue felt someone wrench her hands behind her back. A Water Tribesman, her mind told her, but that was irrelevant. She could escape, she knew she could. The Avatar State was more important, Aang was more important. The earth beneath them rattled. The air was spinning fast- oh so fast, Yue thought- and whistled. He's done it, she wanted to scream.
But then, there was a flash of silver in the moonlight. Something whistled by Yue's ear and she saw blades of ice flying through the air. She closed her eyes in what felt like a long blink and then there was a sickening sound. When she opened her eyes, she saw Aang falling. Falling oh so slowly, she thought, and she felt her stomach lurch.
The earth stopped rattling and the air grew still as the young Avatar's tattoos dimmed, along with his eyes. They closed as he slammed against the hard stone of the air temple, motionless, and from Yue stood she could see a long, angry tear in his clothes against his stomach.
"No!" Someone shouted and Yue noticed that it was Ty Lee. The Northern Water Tribe princess looked over at Katara, whose arms were still in formation of the blow that had felled the child Avatar. She looked surprised, as if she too hadn't suspected such a thing. Her fingers trembled and Yue could hear Hama laughing in the background.
Yue felt sick.
The white haired princess raised her foot and kicked backwards as hard as her tired muscles would allow her. The soldier gripping her arms screamed and released his grip on her. Azula threw a blast of blue fire that died almost as soon as it met the air.
"Sanjiv!" Azula screamed and it took Yue a moment to realize that she calling her dragon. "Sanjiv! Appa!" She launched another kick of fire and Yue saw something that looked like fear in her eyes. "Sanjiv!" The Fire Nation princess bellowed, her eyes searching the sky.
Finally, finally, the great dragon swept down from the sky. He let out a breath of fire and Appa followed in his wake with a roar. Sanjiv landed down in the courtyard, lashing his tail and flapping his wings. In the moonlight, Yue could see his glistening teeth. She was glad Azula was on her side.
"Retreat!" Someone cried and the warriors scattered. Out of the corner of her eye, Yue saw Katara standing motionless. She smirked then, and followed behind the Kyoshi Warrior and her puppetmaster, down the stairs that lay within the side of the mountain. "Retreat!"
Zuko lunged forward and grabbed Aang's limp body, slinging him over his shoulder. Blood stained his orange clothes, turning them a deep, ugly color that Yue couldn't describe. Aang's face was frighteningly pale and his eyes were tightly closed as the firebending prince carried him towards Appa.
"Get out of here!" Samira cried and dropped her weapon, pushing Ty Lee forward. "All of you, you have to get out of here! Save the boy," she said and Yue jolted, feeling the Air Nomad's eyes on her. "You have to save the Avatar. I have to make sure my own family is safe."
"Come on, Yue!" Sokka grabbed her arm, taking her attention, and pulling her towards Appa. Toph was already in the saddle, holding Aang's body gingerly. Zuko, Mai, and Azula were already on Sanjiv's back while Ty Lee was scrambling up onto the beast. "There's no time!"
No time for what?
Yue heaved herself onto the flying bison and she noticed her hands were shaking. Sokka grabbed Appa's reins, urging him into the sky. She looked back at Aang, his features calm and loose, and she reached up to touch her neck. She wasn't sure when they rose into the sky or when Toph passed Aang's body into her arms, but she did remember holding him in her lap.
The moonlight made her blood hum and the moon pushed and pulled. Yue snatched the necklace from her neck and pulled the vial open. Kya had given her the amulet to heal a shattered mind, but Yue thought this was more important. This, right now, seemed right.
"I believe in you," Yue heard Kya's voice say as she guided the water into her hands. "It's not always easy, but I believe in you." She gasped as the water glowed in the light of the full moon and she moved it towards the wound in Aang's abdomen.
No human could survive that. No human ever had.
Push, her mind told her as she moved her hands over the gash. The water began to seep into the wound. Pull, she thought and she imagined pulling Aang back down to earth. Back down to her and the world that needed him, that needed him even though he was a child.
Aang's eyelids flickered and his fingers twitched before he lay still again, and if Yue hadn't been watching him, she would have thought that she imagined it. But she gasped and pulled the half-alive boy to her chest, feeling her stomach flip. Sokka looked back at her and on Sanjiv's back, she could see the others watching her anxiously.
He's alive, she wanted to say but the words wouldn't come out.
"Is this what you meant, Kya?" Yue whispered and something broke, then. "Is this what you meant?" And she sobbed.
"You killed the Avatar!" The words came out before Suki could think and she looked over at Katara, whose blue eyes flickered. The Kyoshi Warrior willed her body not to ache, but she was tired. Everything seemed to ache all of a sudden.
Katara's shoulders seemed to slump, but her expression didn't change. "No," she whispered and Suki had to lean in to hear her, "I didn't." She pulled herself onto the cheetah falcon's back and Suki slung her leg over the animal's spine. "I didn't kill him."
Suki wondered if her eyes had deceived her, if she had imagined seeing Katara's arms move smoothly through the form that had sent the ice blade at the child Avatar. She remembered Hama laughing and she decided that she couldn't trust the woman, not after seeing her bloodbend the rebels like that. "Did you do the right thing?" Suki asked, spurring the beast forward.
For a long time, Katara was silent and Suki wondered if she had fallen asleep. But when she turned her neck, she saw the waterbending princess looking off into the distance as they rode away from the air temple. "No," Katara said finally, "I didn't."
Suki wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean. She had been certain that the Southern Water Tribe princess would smile and proclaim that she had done the right thing. The Kyoshi Warrior laced her fingers together and cleared her throat. "Do you want to stop so Hama can…help you?"
Katara wrinkled her brow and sniffed ever so slightly. "No," she said, "I don't." She looked down at her hands, at her palms and her fingers, and then back up at Suki. "Do you want to know how I am aware that the Avatar is still alive?'
The auburn haired girl thought for a moment and then nodded. To her eyes, there was no way the Avatar could survive such an attack. No one could and she was sure that no one ever would. Katara had killed the Avatar while his eyes had been glowing; Suki remembered something about how killing the Avatar at a certain time would end the cycle.
"I am aware that the Avatar is still alive for one reason. That reason is my mother." She leaned in closer to Suki, narrowing her eyes. "My mother taught Yue how to heal. Yue brought the Avatar back to life. I don't know how she did it, but I know she did. She's a traitor."
Suki recalled the white haired Water Tribe princess and blinked slowly. "What about Sokka? You were supposed to bring Sokka back with us." She turned to face the younger girl, watching with mild disinterest as she pulled her fingers through her hair. "Or was there a change of plans?"
Katara wrinkled her nose, "Sokka's too far gone. Besides, I've thought about it for a while, and I think it might be easier being an only child. I'll miss Sokka, but he doesn't see things the way I do. The way we do, Suki," she looked up at the moon and smiled softly.
Even though she didn't say it, Suki thought that she would never see things the way Katara did. She let the matter drop, though. "What are we going to do now, since the Avatar isn't a threat?" Even if the boy did survive, it would be a while before he could do anything. He wouldn't be much of a problem to them, to the Water Tribes.
"Wait for summer," Katara said and clenched her fists, "and watch Yue's pitiful resistance fall apart. This is the way things are supposed to be, Suki. I hate fighting, you know. So when I'm chief of the Water Tribes…."
"There'll be no war and prosperity will rise." Suki finished because she had heard it ten thousand times before. "This is the way it's supposed to be."
"Where are we going?" Sokka asked, holding the flying bison's reins with shaking hands. Azula looked over at him, her gaze flickering over to Yue and the unconscious Avatar. The Water Tribe prince followed her gaze and sighed. "We have to get Aang some help."
Azula cleared her throat and looked back at her friends. "We're going to Garsai and then we're going to the Fire Nation naval base. There'll be someone there who can help heal the Avatar. There has to be." She said and she didn't want to admit that she was surprised at Yue's healing abilities. She had brought the Avatar back to life. But it still wasn't enough.
"Garsai," Azula heard Mai whisper as she held the map out before her. "The city of lights." The Fire Nation princess looked over her soldier at her friend and then at Ty Lee, who was nibbling on her thumb nail nervously as she looked at the half-dead Avatar. "Are we going to stop there?"
Beneath them, Sanjiv blew a breath of smoke and Azula turned her attention to the moon. Waterbenders would feel more alive, now. She looked over at Yue, who had opened her eyes and then again at Aang. "No," she said finally, "we're going to fly over Garsai and land on the naval base. They'll help us." Normally, she would think that she didn't need anyone's help.
But right now, that would have been a lie.
"Yue." That was Zuko, leaning as close to the flying bison as he dared without losing his balance. Azula blinked slowly when the Water Tribe girl loosened her hold on Aang, looking up. "You know, when that girl said you guys had originally been working together…" He raised his eyebrows at her and Azula thought she saw the waterbender flinch.
"Zuko," Azula said, "just shut up." She wasn't sure when she started trusting Yue, but she knew that had been a lie. Yue was quiet, but Azula was sure she would never do such a thing. She didn't seem like a person who would do something so…treacherous.
"It's not true." Yue cleared her throat, looking first at Zuko and then at Azula. "I would never side with her…" Her gaze slid towards Sokka. "After what she did to Aang…I think I hate her."
"Me too," Ty Lee said that and everyone looked at her, except for Toph. The gray eyed girl took them all in her wide gaze before looking away. Azula hadn't really thought that Ty Lee was capable of strong negative emotions like hate and pain.
Well, you learn something new every day.
At some point, Sokka shook her arm fiercely and whispered for her to wake up. Yue opened her eyes and realized that she had fallen asleep. She was aware that someone's head was in her lap and when she looked down, she saw Aang's head. Asleep, or unconscious. It didn't matter which one, but she knew he wasn't dead.
"Look, Yue," Sokka said softly and pointed at something over Appa's saddle. "Look down there, it's Garsai." He pulled gently on her arm and Yue struggled to sit up, wiping the sleep from her eyes. Sokka gestured again at the earth below them and Yue looked down.
The city of Garsai stretched out below them, cast in the gold light of what had to be ten million lanterns. An amazed breath slid between her lips and her eyes widened. The city itself was plain, not nearly as elaborate as the structures of ice in the Northern Water Tribe, but the lantern lights. They lit the city and Yue wondered how long it took to light them all every night.
"It's beautiful…" Yue whispered. The city was nestled on the coast and she could see the ocean lapping at the shore. Garsai seemed to be nestled in a sea of darkness, a single flickering light when the stars didn't shine. "I've never seen anything like it!"
Toph tugged on her sleeve, catching her attention. "Tell me what it looks like," she said, gesturing rather wildly. "Tell me what whatever you guys are looking at is like. I hate being left out."
Yue looked at the younger girl and caught her hand. "We're looking down at Garsai," she explained, "and it's still night time, but the moon is further across the sky. Garsai isn't that big of a city. It's bigger than Taku, though. There are lanterns everywhere, lighting up the whole city. It's like its glowing, Toph. It's so bright."
The blind earthbender nodded, as if she was truly seeing the city. Yue wondered if blind people dreamed in color, like people who could see. She wondered if they could register lightness and darkness in their dreams and thoughts, even though they had never seen the colors in the real world. If they did, did they know the names of them?
"We're passing over Garsai now, and there's the ocean. There are more lights just beyond us, Toph, and I think that's the naval base Azula was talking about. I guess that counts as part of Garsai, too, even though the Fire Nation has control over it. It's an island."
Toph nodded once more and sat back, her hands laced together. "Do you think the people there will be able to help Twinkle Toes?" She asked and her face fell. "Is he going to make it? He's my first earthbending student and I don't want him to die."
Yue glanced at Aang, still deathly pale. He was alive, but just barely. "I really hope so," she answered and looked back at the sea, moving gently. Above her- above them all- the moon pushed and pulled. The waves danced with it and Yue decided that everything had a rhythm. The moon's rhythm was to push and to pull. "I don't want him to die either."
Part of her wondered if that was her rhythm, too. The Moon Spirit had given her life, had shown mercy on her. Yue wondered if she was to move with the moon, to push and pull. The moon commanded the tides of the ocean and Yue thought that maybe she could command the tides of the war.
That thought scared her a little and she pushed it out of her mind.
For a long time, they were silent. The ocean rippled underneath them, churning and murmuring. Yue was reminded of watching the sea from her window back at the Southern Water Tribe. That was a long time ago, she decided. It seemed like a lifetime ago, before she had known Toph and her Fire Nation friends. When it had just been her and Sokka, and Katara, and Aang.
Did Avatars remember their past lives? Yue liked to imagine that Aang was exploring the millions of memories that weren't quite his, instead of suffering here. He was probably buried somewhere deep inside his mind while his body struggled to heal, away from the pain and uncertainty that would follow when he finally woke up.
Yue knew he would wake up; it was just a matter of when.
There was a flash of light below them and then there were sparks of fire dancing through the sky around them. Appa let out a growl and slammed his tail down, throwing them against the other side of the saddle.
Sokka scrambled to grab the reins, steadying the beast. Yue grabbed Toph's arm as she slid towards the back of the bison's back; the blind earthbender slammed into her chest, causing her to gasp. The fire faded and Yue looked down at the lights below them.
"The Fire Nation naval base." Sokka said and Yue nodded, turning her attention to Azula. The firebender was smirking as she guided her dragon towards the island that glowed against the sea, her eyes glittering. "Also known as the Firebender Hangout."
"Take us down, Sokka." Yue said and she wondered what the naval base would look like. She could see Fire Nation ships settled against the island's pier. They were war ships, almost like those of the Water Tribes. "Let Azula land first."
The flying bison let out a growl and angled his nose downward, moving towards the island after Sanjiv. Yue craned her neck to see, her eyes widening. She had never seen a naval base before, let alone a Fire Nation one.
As Appa stretched his forelegs out to land, Yue caught sight of the Fire Nation soldiers surrounding the stretch of land. They moved back and clustered together when Sanjiv landed; amazed at the sight of the dragon and the beast they had never seen before.
Part of Yue had expected the soldiers to be big and intimidating, but as she stared at them, she found that they were normal looking people underneath their armor. She watched as they all dipped into bows at the sight of Sanjiv and the Fire Nation prince and princess on top of him.
"Well," Sokka said as the Fire Nation teenagers slipped down from their dragon. "They certainly seem at home." Yue thought she heard a sort of longing in his voice, like he wished that they were being welcomed as warmly as their friends. He probably missed the luxuries of home.
They had given all that away to help save the world. And the sad part about it, Yue thought, was that they were probably hated by their own people. That their own families probably viewed them as traitors and liars.
Yue moved to slide down from Appa's saddle, stepping aside as Toph scrambled down next to her. She watched as Sokka scooped up Aang's body, passing him down to her before sliding off Appa's tail. Yue looked towards Azula and Zuko, who were surrounded by their nation's soldiers, and she felt a pang of jealousy.
Ty Lee walked towards her, her eyes wide and she called out to Azula. "The Avatar still needs help," She said. "They have to help Aang!"
The Fire Nation princess turned and pointed to Yue. "This," Azula said, "Is our Water Tribe ally. She is the princess of the Northern Water Tribe. In her arms is the Avatar-" she raised her hands as a murmur spread through the crowd, "Yes, he is an Air Nomad. He is the Avatar and he is near death."
Yue watched them, her grip tightening around Aang's body. She took a slight step back when a female soldier moved towards her, holding out her arms. The woman advanced forward again, reaching for Aang, and Yue tentatively handed the boy over to her.
The woman, the soldier, smiled softly at her. "We can help him," she said, "He's our Avatar, too."
The naval base wasn't exactly what Azula had expected. In her mind, she had expected to see buildings like those in the Fire Nation capital. The naval base was still Fire Nation, though. She saw that the structures of the buildings were still distinctly Fire Nation, with just a hint of the Earth Kingdom style. The warships, however, were Fire Nation.
There was nothing as fine or as efficient as a Fire Nation warship.
Azula watched as the female soldier took the Avatar from Yue, holding him gingerly. She moved to step away and Yue moved after her. There was an infirmary on the island, Azula knew, and she mentally checked over her body. Her muscles were sore and she had a scrape on her knuckles, but that would heal. The rest of her was uninjured. She was grateful for that, but unsurprised.
"Take us to the chief of command," Zuko said and Azula turned to look at him. "We have very important information to pass onto them concerning the Avatar and the Water Tribes." Her brother glanced over at her and then towards Sokka. "I think they need to hear it immediately."
The soldier in the front was a small man, smaller than Azula, and was about as thin as a reed brush. Azula looked at the emblem on his uniform. A commander, but she didn't recognize him. He brought his right hand into a fist, pressing it against the palm of his left and bowed to her. "Yes, your highness," he said and gestured over his shoulder.
"Hey Azula," Ty Lee said quietly and Azula turned her attention to her friend. "I think I'm going to go to the infirmary with Yue while they help Aang, okay?" She smiled softly and Azula could see Yue standing just beyond her, her hands laced together. "Come get us when you have things figured out, alright?"
Azula cast a glance over at Mai and Sokka. She nodded, then, because something in Ty Lee's eyes told her that she needed to go. "I understand," Azula said to her and Ty Lee smiled softly, nodding her head to her. Azula realized that she had never seen Ty Lee truly sad, at least not like this. Never like this, before.
It was almost hard to believe and Azula liked to think she was a practical person, so she knew her head wasn't in the clouds.
Ty Lee and Yue moved after the woman carrying Aang, pressed close together like they were supporting each other and perhaps they were. Azula stiffened her shoulders, because even though she was the princess of the Fire Nation, she still had to make a bold impression on the base's leader.
She didn't need to lean on anyone.
The commander led the rest of them away from Sanjiv and Appa. Two other soldiers had moved forward tentatively to tend to the beasts. Azula looked up at the lanterns that were lighting the streets on the naval base and she wondered how they kept them lit so long. They were the same kind that lit Garsai. They had flown over the city on their way to the island, but Azula hadn't put much thought into it.
"Is that boy really the Avatar?" The commander asked, looking back at them. "How are we to know that those waterbenders are really your allies?" He narrowed his eyes at Sokka and Azula noticed that Zuko put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "The girl has white hair."
Surprisingly, it was Mai who spoke. She stuck out her arm and Azula took note of the tear in the sleeve of her clothes. "Oh, they're our allies, alright, considering we just fought his sister. She was also the one who killed the Avatar, until Yue brought him back to life."
The older man looked incredulously at the teenagers. "So…" he looked over at Sokka once more, "He's the Water Tribe prince and his sister, who I can only assume is not affiliated with you, was the one who killed the Avatar. The other waterbender, that white haired one, healed him." He blinked slowly, grinding his teeth.
Sokka shrugged and smiled sheepishly, "My sister has a few…issues going on. Don't worry," he said, "they don't run in the family." He looked down, then, and Azula glanced over at the brown skinned boy. He had stopped smiling, though, and she figured that it had never been a smile in the first place.
He was good at faking his emotions when he needed to, she decided.
For a long time, they were silent. They walked towards one of the buildings and Azula saw that it was a two tiered pagoda with lanterns hanging from the roof. She wondered how long the Fire Nation had had complete control over the island for. If they had fought over it, it must have been a minor battle. She didn't remember learning much about it.
"The chief of command is in here, your highness." The commander pulled hard on the door, holding it open for the teenagers. "Feel free to enter as you wish. Is there anything you might need?" He asked as Azula passed through the door, followed by Sokka and the others.
The interior of the building was small and extremely simple, when Azula thought about it. There was a long table in the center and a map of the known world on the floor. The walls were painted a deep, swirling shade of red and black and there were paper lanterns dangling from the ceiling.
There was a man standing alone at the table, his shoulders hunched as he looked over at sheets of paper and scrolls that were scattered about. He raised his head at the sound of their entrance and for a moment, Azula wondered if her eyes were deceiving her.
Or perhaps Lu Ten had a look-a-like who happened to be chief of command on the naval base.
"Lu Ten?" Zuko was the first to speak and out of the corner of her eye, Azula could see his eyebrows raised. "What are you doing here? You're still supposed to be in Ba Sing Se."
Azula cast a glance at Sokka, the Water Tribe prince. She wondered if he had known that firebenders had been in his precious city, especially when they were Fire Nation royalty. Perhaps in his head, he was fitting everything together. Perhaps, she thought, he was even getting angry.
Lu Ten straightened and took a step forward. "There was a sharp change of plans a day after you left. It seems that you were the ones who took a detour." His voice deepened and he furrowed his brow, "a very long detour." He looked over at Sokka and narrowed his eyes, "Is this a Water Tribe prisoner? Is this what took you so long?"
Before either Azula or Zuko could speak, Sokka cleared his throat. "No, I am not their prisoner," he said, "I'm their friend. And…we've got a lot to tell you." He stepped forward, meeting the Fire Nation Crown Prince's gaze.
"I bet you do," Lu Ten said and leaned against the table. He looked at Sokka, a distrusting light in his eyes and just a hint of a frown creasing his face. "If you're with Azula, then I suppose this isn't a trap. So, you abdicated?"
Sokka shrugged, "Something like that." He held out his hands, "Look, we have the Avatar with us. He's gravely injured right now and Yue and Ty Lee are with him. But that's not the point why I'm here. I'm here to give you a message that I think you need to hear." He leaned forward and Lu Ten took a tiny half-step back.
Lu Ten crossed his arms in front of his chest and Azula thought she saw his eyes brighten at the mention of Yue. She wondered if he remembered the waterbending princess from Ba Sing Se. "Well then, this certainly is a lot to take in. The Avatar is on the island and is half-dead, you're a turncoat Water Tribe prince, and then there is more?"
"There's a solar eclipse coming," Sokka went on, "And you already know what happens to firebenders if the sun goes out. You can't firebend. On the day of the solar eclipse, your country is going to be invaded by the Water Tribes. I don't know who's leading it, but I have a pretty good idea."
Lu Ten's gaze flickered over to Azula. She nodded, confirming what Sokka had said. They could intercept the waterbenders and destroy them before they even got close to the caldera. They would destroy them, if they acted soon enough.
"Well then," The Crown Prince said, "I suppose I should go see the Avatar, then, to see him with my own eyes."
"Yes," Azula said and smirked, "I think you should."
"I can heal," Yue told the female soldier as she stretched out a long strip of cloth. She looked down at Aang, whose body was stretched out on a cot. "I'm not an expert, but I know a little." She looked at her hands, then, and back at Aang.
Beside his body was a pile of materials. There was a cloth that had been used to wipe his wounds and was now dyed a pale pink color. Beside it was what the soldier had called a suture and thread. She had used the needle- for that's what it was- to stitch the lacerations in Aang's abdomen, leaving it puckered and pale.
Yue had never seen such a practice before and when the woman had first started stitching Aang back to together, she had to look away. The soldier had told her that it was a common practice on the battlefield and when the skin healed again, the thread could be removed. It had to be kept clean and covered, to avoid it being tampered with.
Through the whole thing, Aang hadn't moved.
The soldier looked at the waterbender and then nodded. "That's good. You'll have to keep it clean and covered, and monitor him for bad signs. You waterbenders know more about the body than we do, I suppose." She took the stretched out cloth and pressed it against Aang's stomach, lifting him by his shoulders gently. "Hold him up."
Yue leaned forward and put her hands on Aang's shoulders, propping him up as the woman wrapped the cloth around his stomach and chest. Behind her, she could hear Ty Lee shifting. The acrobatic girl had been strangely silent since they had entered the infirmary.
"He'll live, won't he?" Yue asked and bit her bottom lip. She had used the water from Kya's amulet on his wounds, he had to live. The world needed him. "Won't he? He's only twelve."
The female soldier finished binding the boy's chest, helping Yue lay him back down. "Most likely. It's all up to him, though, if he wants to wake up or not. When will he wake up, I don't know. But when he does, whoever did this to him will have some trouble on their hands when he fully recovers."
Katara. She was going to get what was coming to her.
Ty Lee stepped forward, then, and stopped at Yue's side. She put her hand on the Water Tribe girl's shoulder and Yue reached up to grasp the younger girl's hand. "He's going to be okay," she whispered, "I know he is."
"I know," Ty Lee said and Yue looked up to see her smiling. "You worry too much, Yue. I know he's going to make it. And when he does wake up…" she shrugged, "I'll just be so happy!" She turned her head towards the door, her hand squeezing Yue's shoulder ever so slightly. "Look, here come the others."
Yue turned to see Zuko walking through the door. Behind him were Mai and Sokka, followed closely by Azula. She was trailed by another Fire Nation man and when she looked at his face, she felt the blood drain from her head.
She was reminded of the nightmare of Ba Sing Se, of being surrounded on all sides by enemies. She couldn't bend and she had been scared, and it all came flooding back now. She looked at the man behind Azula and she didn't remember his name, but she knew his face.
A tiny part of her was scared of that face.
"Ah," Azula said as she entered the room, "I told you she would remember you!" She stepped aside so the man could fully enter the room. "Yue, this is Crown Prince Lu Ten. My cousin. I think you would recognize him."
Oh, she did.
The Fire Nation's Crown Prince dipped his head to her. "It's a pleasure to be properly introduced to you, Princess Yue." He said. "I suppose we met on…less than diplomatic terms last time, though I'm afraid this time isn't much better."
Yue nodded. "I suppose it's not," she said and cast a glance at Aang. "This is the Avatar, Aang. He's an Air Nomad." She stood, then, wringing her hand. Suddenly, she felt very much like the shy princess she had once been. "Did Sokka and the others already tell you about…the eclipse?"
Lu Ten nodded and Yue thought she saw Azula smirk. "Indeed, he did, which is why I've ordered a ship to head straight for the Fire Nation archipelago when dawn comes. I want all of you to be on that boat. My father needs to hear this information straight from its source, so we can act as appropriately as possible."
He wants to know the Water Tribe's weaknesses. He wants to know just how to defeat them. To destroy them. Yue pursed her lips. Was she willing to give that information? She would put her family at risk, but if she did nothing, they would continue to threaten the world.
Sokka had said "blood before water". Family came before alliances.
Not this time.
"When do we have to be ready?" Ty Lee asked. "We have to gather our supplies."
"What supplies?" Toph chimed in, shaking her head. "We don't have anything."
Yue realized how painfully true that was. Despite all being nobility, they had very little with them. She wondered how Appa and Sanjiv were supposed to fit on the deck of a war ship, but she knew enough to count her blessings.
The Northern Water Tribe princess looked over at her friends. Sokka nodded at her. We have to take this opportunity, his eyes said, we have to. This is what we've been waiting for. What we've been fighting for.
It was. And it would give the others a chance to go home again. Yue wasn't sure if she would ever be able to go home again, but she wanted to see them happy. They deserved it.
"We'll be ready," Yue said and she knew she spoke for all of them. "I promise, we'll be ready."
Katara had a nightmare. When she thought about it, though, it wasn't so much as a nightmare for she had been sleeping lightly. It was a bad dream, but not a nightmare. She hadn't woken up terrified or sweating like normal nightmares. Her heart hadn't raced and she hadn't gasped.
She dreamed about a little Water Tribe girl running through a field. She had smelled ocean water, even though the sea was nowhere in sight. She had seen the Water Tribe girl looking back, as though someone was following her. The little girl had tripped and the scene had melted into a more familiar setting. There had been the Southern Water Tribe coast and the ocean lapping at the ice.
After that, Katara had dreamed about a necklace floating in the water and when she had reached to grab it, she had lost of her balance.
She woke up shivering and when she looked up at the sky, she saw the moon was nearly across the sky. She raised her head from where she lay on the cheetah falcon's flank. Suki was leaning beside her, her knees pulled up to her chest and one hand resting on her war fans. They had stopped for a little while, to get their bearings and to rest.
Katara allowed her thoughts to travel to the Avatar and Yue. Something in her twisted a feeling that couldn't really be described. It was very clear though, this emotion of not right that went through her. There was no other way to describe it.
Yue had brought the Avatar back to life. That wasn't right. Then again, Katara supposed, that she hadn't done the right thing either. She wasn't sure how she knew that, but when she had seen the Avatar fall, she hadn't felt right. She had felt wrong.
Suki stirred next to her and opened one eye. "Is it time to get up?" She murmured and shifted, stretching out one leg. She glanced at the sky, at the darkness and then closed her eyes again. "Wait until first light, and then we can talk about world domination…"
"It's not world domination…" Katara began but the Kyoshi Warrior waved her hand and let her head fall back against the cheetah falcon's side. Katara pulled her knees up to her chest and looked down at her hands. She wondered what it would be like to raise someone from the dead with healing, like Yue had done, instead of bloodbending.
There was something dark and alluring about bloodbending. Hama had told her she had to distance her from her target when bloodbending, because it required a certain type of control and stability. It was a beautiful and eerie art, Katara thought and she remembered how she had felt when she had bloodbent Yue just hours ago.
She had felt a type of power that she had never felt before. She had felt a surge of ultimate control then.
Control. In order to have peace, she needed to be in control.
That was it.
"Suki," Katara whispered, even though she knew the Kyoshi Warrior was asleep, "I've figured it out."