A/N: After all the action and plot thread resolving of the last chapter, I think this story could use a breather chapter right about now.
Chapter 32: The Blockade
Riding the prevailing winds above the northern Earth Kingdom Appa raced towards the Fire Nation, ignoring everything on the ground below them. During the trip Aang was brought up to speed on everything he had missed while behind enemy lines, having no memory of anything after the revolt in Ba Sing Se. Along the way Suki removed the Fire Nation insignias stitched into Aang's shirt, restoring the shoulders to the proper orange color.
At first Katara had wanted to get Aang to the Eastern Air Temple to meet Guru Pathik, but Sokka's information about a coming solar eclipse overruled that option. With so little time before the eclipse Sokka wasn't certain if they could even reach the capital in time to exploit the opportunity, but he definitely knew they wouldn't be able to use the eclipse if they made a detour to the air temple. And Sokka had no way of knowing when another eclipse was going to come, so this was their only chance to take out the Fire Lord at his weakest.
"So let me get this straight," Haru said, his hair whipping around in the high winds. "You want us to just barge into the Fire Nation, use an eclipse to disable firebending, knock down the Fire Lord's door, and have Aang kill him right then and there?"
"Pretty much," Sokka answered. Looking over the side of Appa's saddle Sokka saw the coastline appear on the western horizon. "This is our only opportunity to assassinate the Fire Lord."
"Do I really have to kill him?" Aang asked, not wanting to violate his beliefs even if the world required it.
"One of us has to," Sokka answered. "It's our only option right now. Without the time to make an army killing the Fire Lord is the only way this can work."
"Will it really end the war?" Katara asked.
"It will at least slow them down for a while," Sokka said.
"Yeah," Toph said, starting to feel dizzy in the air. "Hopefully some sibling rivalry will keep Sparky from taking the throne for a while."
"Sozin's Comet is only a few weeks after the eclipse," Aang commented, hoping that politics could prevent the Fire Nation from using the comet effectively.
"Sozin's what?" Sokka asked, having no idea what Aang was referring to.
"Oh yeah, you weren't there," Katara said, thinking about when Aang learned about the comet from a past life in the Foggy Swamp.
"Basically, it makes firebending unbeatable," Suki explained.
"All the more reason to use the eclipse while we still can," Sokka argued.
"We need to get to the Fire Nation first," Aang said.
Appa reached the west coast of the Earth Kingdom early in the morning and flew over the sea. Counting on being too high up for any Fire Nation ships to spot, Sokka believed they could slip into enemy territory unnoticed. As Earth Kingdom shores disappeared behind the eastern horizon, Aang spotted something in the west. Flying further west Katara and Suki could see ships in the water, sailing in formation resembling several straight lines across their path.
"Why would ships sail like that?" Haru asked.
"It's a blockade," Sokka guessed. "It must be there to guard Fire Nation shores."
"Can we get past it?" Toph asked, feeling vulnerable at the moment.
"Maybe," Aang said.
"We have to," Sokka said.
Unfortunately there weren't any clouds to hide behind in a sunny day, and the sun was too low in the sky to hide in the glare. All it took was one casual glance upward from a sailor to see a white bison moving against a blue sky. Alarm bells sounded on the ship, which spread up and down the entire length of the blockade. Firebenders on every ship within range set tar soaked boulders aflame, launching fiery projectiles from catapults into the air at Appa.
Appa swerved in the air to avoid getting hit, but soon the sky was filled with boulders on fire. Haru started breaking apart the projectiles with earthbending, while Aang put out the flames that got close to Appa. Several boulders approached at once, their flames combining into a moving wall of fire. Appa dived straight down to get out of the way, giving almost no warning to the passengers that started to rise out of the saddle in the sheer drop.
Losing her grip in Appa's descent, Toph was blown out of the saddle in the wind. Screaming as her world shrank to just herself Toph tumbled in the air as she fell away from Appa. "Someone catch me!" Toph screamed, completely helpless in free fall.
Aang handed Appa's reins over to Katara and jumped off the bison with his glider in hand. Bending away the wind in front of him Aang flew faster than Toph fell, getting beyond terminal velocity and quickly catching up with Toph. Aang caught Toph with his legs while holding onto the glider with his hands, trying to get as good a grip as he could on both. While dodging attacks Aang flew back to Appa, dropping Toph into the saddle while the bison struggled to advance through the barrage of fire.
"Turn around," Aang ordered, and immediately Appa flew back towards the Earth Kingdom.
As Appa flew away from the ships the attacks ceased, as none of the ships dared to change course and weaken the blockade. Before long the shores of the western Earth Kingdom reappeared on the horizon, and Appa gradually flew down to land. Immediately after landing Appa fell asleep, exhausted from the effort trying to stay alive in the fiery barrage. Almost as quickly Toph stumbled out of the saddle onto the ground, throwing up once she could stand.
"Appa needs seatbelts," Toph said, still trembling from her experience of free fall.
Following Toph off the bison Haru looked towards the western horizon. "How are we supposed to get past them now that they know we're trying to pass?"
"We could bend some water into clouds and hide in them," Katara suggested.
Sokka shook his head. "They'll notice a single cloud that isn't moving right."
"Do you have any better ideas?" Suki asked.
Looking up and down the coastline Sokka spotted a village on the southern horizon. Thinking that it could be a port Sokka pointed it out for the others. "Let's check out that town. If nothing's there we can just wait until night."
Leaving Appa behind to rest, everyone else headed for the nearby village. Toph formed one of her moving earth mounds to carry Sokka, while Haru and Aang imitated her technique to carry Katara and Suki. At first they traveled slowly along the coast until Aang and Haru got used to the form of travel. Just outside the village they stopped earthbending and strolled into civilization at noon.
Finding the village somewhat familiar, Sokka started leading the way to the marketplace. "Let's get some supplies while we're here."
A nearby notice board caught Katara's eye, spotting a wanted poster on display. She walked up to it and saw sketches of two people, familiar yet slightly off. One looked like her brother with a beard, and the other was only the top half of Toph's head. "What the…?" Katara muttered, perplexed by the obvious mistakes in the poster.
"What'd you say?" Sokka asked, turning towards Katara. Then he saw the wanted poster Katara was staring at. "Aw crap, we've been here before."
"We have?" Haru asked.
"Not all of us," Sokka corrected himself, walking up to the poster. He discretely tore it off the board and stuffed it inside his shirt. "Let's just keep a low profile."
Taking care to avoid attention Sokka and Toph led the way to the marketplace, hoping that no one would recognize 'The Runaways' back in town. Haru and Suki purchased the supplies needed to top off what was left with Appa, as well as a handful of leather belts to attach to Appa's saddle later. While shopping they came across a lovely merchant couple selling cabbages and radishes together, who were working their hardest to earn the money for a wedding. Once they had everything they needed to buy they wandered to the village port, where Sokka recognized a docked ship and a mustached man outside advertising a shop in the ship.
At the moment the mustached man was giving a familiar speech to attract customers. "Earth Nation, Fire Nation…"
"Shut Up," Sokka interrupted.
The mustached man made a rude gesture at Sokka, but then recognized the top half of his face. "Hey, you shaved."
Cursing under his breath at being recognized Sokka grabbed the mustached man's shirt and pulled him close. "Not another word."
"Only if you buy something inside," the mustached man bargained.
Sokka let go and headed for the ship, while his friends followed behind him. Inside there was merchandize from every existing nation, something for everyone to get interested in. Katara found a scroll with waterbending forms on it, thinking that it would have been far more useful a year ago. Aang and Haru spotted a monkey statue with rubies for eyes, something they would like to have if they had a home to display it in. Suki found a new pair of war fans to replace the ones she lost in Ba Sing Se, except that they were made of grey metal instead of the gold plated steel from Kyoshi Island.
The captain of the vessel saw Sokka browsing the goods, remembering him from the last visit. "Ah, a returning customer, have you found anything you like?"
"Not in here," Sokka answered. Looking at the captain's outfit gave him an idea. "Say… you guys are pirates, right?"
"We prefer the term high risk traders," the captain admitted.
"I don't suppose you like to hedge your bets?" Sokka asked.
"Uh oh," Toph muttered, having a vague idea of where this was going. "Sokka, what crazy scheme are you thinking about this time?"
"A high risk scheme," Sokka answered. "Captain, are you interested in doing a blockade run?"
A grin spread across the captain's face. "I do have some… unorthodox business in the Fire Nation."
"So do we," Sokka said, trying to be just as vague as the captain. "Your crew sail while we fly. We split the Fire Nation's attention, allowing both of us to get through the blockade."
In an hour Appa was back in the air with Haru at the reins, and the pirate ship was sailing beneath the sky bison. Favorable winds pushed the pirate ship just as fast as Appa could fly, straight west towards the Fire Nation. The blockade reappeared on the horizon, still on alert for the sky bison. The sailors on the ships saw Appa long before they saw the pirate ship, and started aiming the catapults to launch fiery boulders at the bison first.
While Appa dodged the first salvo of flaming rocks the pirate ship below was safe from the bombardment, the projectiles falling into the water far behind the ship. Already the ship was getting closer to the blockade than it could have without the bison distracting the Fire Nation, improving their odds with each passing moment. But the ship could only avoid attention for so long, and the blockade spotted the pirates before the ship could get through the blockade.
Half of the Fire Nation ships adjusted their aim for the pirates, firing their catapults at a lower angle and slower velocity. The pirate ship was less agile than Appa, and the flaming boulders were on course for a direct hit. But on both sides of the ship streams of water rose from the sea and intercepted the projectiles, protecting the ship from harm.
The pirate captain grinned as he watched Aang and Katara on the deck of his ship, using waterbending to maintain a shield. "Keep it up, we're nearly there," the captain said.
Several signal flares rose from the Fire Nation ships, used to coordinate the actions of the entire blockade. In response the ships closest to the pirates changed course, aligning to make a wall too wide for the pirates to avoid. The blockade resumed firing all of the catapults at Appa, counting on the pirates being unable to maneuver around the makeshift wall of ships.
"I got an idea!" Aang yelled to Katara. "Follow my lead!"
Aang started focusing his waterbending down, pushing away the water beneath the pirate ship. As a void formed in the sea the ship dropped into it, making it appear to sink beneath the waves. Katara realized what Aang had in mind and started bending the water rising up the sides of the ship, shaping the water into a dome holding a large bubble of air. Momentum kept the ship moving forward as it dived, while the waterbending allowed it to sink beneath the surface without filling the ship with water.
Below the surface the pirate crew could see the hulls of the Fire Nation fleet, having a view that few dared to see. The ship was directly beneath the blockade when the strain of bending so much water exhausted Aang. When his bending failed the water below pushed up on the ship, and it quickly rose back to the surface. The ship burst out of the water just behind the blockade, right when Katara collapsed from exhaustion.
Crewmen on the Fire Nation ships panicked when they saw the pirate ship rise out of the sea behind the blockade, as their captains would blame them for the unauthorized ship getting through. They started turning the catapults around to target the pirates, but it took several minutes to rotate the large weapons and aim them properly. And while they attempted to regain control of the situation Appa flew over the blockade, momentarily safe in the skies directly above the Fire Nation ships where the catapults could not reach.
By the time the Fire Nation ships were firing at the pirate ship again it was already sailing away, becoming harder to hit with each passing second. Appa followed the pirates while dodging more flaming boulders, which was getting easier as the bombardment thinned with distance. When both Appa and the pirates were outside the blockade's firing range the sky bison descended, making a landing on the deck of the pirate ship.
Haru and Sokka hopped off Appa and onto the deck of the ship, while Toph stayed behind in the saddle. "We made it!" Sokka yelled, hurrying to his sister once he was on the ship.
Aang slowly got to his feet, still feeling tired from all the waterbending. But he was glad to see that his friends and Appa were alright. "Now that we're in the Fire Nation, what's our next move Sokka?"
Sokka hummed as he thought about the plan to use the solar eclipse. "We need to find out where the Fire Lord is going to be on the day of the eclipse. It's probably going to be the capital, but we can't be certain about that."
"Where is the capital?" Haru asked.
"Umm…" Sokka muttered, not having a clue. "I really don't know."
The pirate captain approached Sokka and the others. "The capital is on the biggest island, which is about as far west as one can get before ending up back east," he answered.
"Thanks," Sokka said. He paused for a moment while a thought popped into his mind. "How do you know that?"
With a grin the captain answered the question. "I did some tea smuggling several years back for the Dragon of the West. Earth Kingdom blends are hard to come by in the Fire Nation, especially the ones that add a hint of cactus juice to the mix."
"Neat," Sokka commented. He looked towards the western horizon and could already see land appear. "Well we better get flying."
"One more thing," the captain insisted. "When you're finished in the Fire Nation, rendezvous on the island that Piandao lives on. It's the one in the middle of the Fire Nation, just a little west of the island that has a badly polluted river. That's where this ship will be in a few weeks and we can repeat the blockade run on the way back to the Earth Kingdom."
"Assuming we're all still alive," Sokka said.
The captain laughed for a moment. "There's that," he agreed.
From Appa's saddle Toph yelled at everyone. "Can we get out of here already?" she demanded, wanting Appa to get off the ship as quickly as possible.
"Hold your ostrich-horses!" Haru yelled back. He helped Aang get into Appa's saddle while Sokka helped Katara, both of which were too exhausted to climb in by themselves. Once everyone was in Appa's saddle Haru took the reins, as Aang was still too exhausted to do it himself. "Appa, Yip Yip."
Appa took off from the pirate ship and flew towards the nearest island, leaving behind their alliance of convenience. The pirate ship set sail on a different course, going around that island to head for another destination. Before long they lost sight of each other, heading their separate ways for entirely different goals. For good measure Sokka counted the days they still had before the eclipse, and felt much better about their chances of reaching their destination in time.
In the meantime Sokka sat back in the saddle next to Toph, where he found one of the new belts attached to the saddle. "Why in the world didn't we think of these before?" Sokka wondered aloud, buckling himself in for the ride.