Book One: Fire
Chapter Four: Reunion on Kyoshi Island
By: Storychan
Two rows of Waterbenders sat on benches beneath the deck of the freshly-hewn wooden ship, sweating as they bent the vessel through the waves of the Western sea. Far above them in his quarters on the upper deck, Sokka paced over and over across the azure-dyed fur of his rug. He felt so impatient. "Damnit," he shouted to no-one, "why haven't we found him yet?"
Bato knocked before entering the prince's room. "About that….," he began.
"Oh, you have good news about the Avatar?" Sokka asked hopefully. "I mean, you must, because of course you're not stupid enough to bother me with bad news, right?"
"Don't get upset when you hear what I have to say, Prince Sokka," Bato warned.
"Hey, you've taught me that water is the element of calm," Sokka responded. "As leader of this mission, I totally reflect Water Tribe ideals like that. I'm chill as an iceberg. Go on. Shoot."
"We have no idea where the Avatar is," Bato confessed.
"You WHAT?" Sokka cried, throwing the boomerang he'd been holding across the room in a rage. Bato ducked.
"Give me the map," Sokka snapped. "And gimme my boomerang back, too."
"There have been many sightings of the Avatar," Bato reported, not commenting on the fact that he hadn't taken the boomerang in the first place. "But he's hard to pin down."
"How am I gonna find him then, Bato?" Sokka groaned. "Obviously he's some kind of super-evasion-master."
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"Uh, Aang," Zuko asked, peering at the sea beneath from the edge of Appa's saddle, "how are we going to evade the Water Tribe?"
"Oh, should we be trying to avoid them?" Aang blinked naively.
"Of course!" Azula snapped. "Don't you know that there are Water Tribe Armada ships on standby in the waters between each and every island of the Fire Nation?" She sighed, her expression softening. "No, I suppose there's no way you could know that, is there? Since the very existence of the war is still recent news to you."
"It's true, though," Zuko added. "The Water Tribe knows that if the people of each island could communicate with each other, they could mount a resistance against the Water Tribe's invasion. So, the Armada restricts travel between the islands. That's why Uncle hasn't been able to take a boat to visit our extended family in years."
"But, we're not travelling by boat," Aang shrugged. "We're flying."
"They can still summon some giant wave or shard of ice to knock us out of the sky," Azula pointed out.
"Ok," Aang decided, "then, we'll take the long way around to the capital." He pulled out a map and pointed to a certain area. "The Earth Kingdom still controls this part of the world, right?" he asked.
"Yes," Zuko nodded.
"Great," Aang smiled. "Then, if we fly this way," he traced a route with his finger, "and cut across Earth Kingdom-controlled waters, then hopefully we can make it to the Fire Nation capital without having to confront the Armada!"
"But," Azula frowned, "won't it take longer to take the scenic route like that?"
"Yeah," Aang admitted, "but it'll be safer."
"Keeping you safe is my priority," Zuko agreed.
"Fine," Azula decided. "To the Earth Kingdom it is."
"Hey, Azula," Aang smiled, changing the subject, "wanna see a cool Airbending trick?"
"Not really."
"Oh."
"Don't take it personally, Aang," Zuko comforted. "She's like that when she's busy. She's making chow for Appa."
"I'm just trying to contribute," Azula shrugged. "After all, you're making sure Appa flies in the right direction, and I don't want to just sit around until we make landfall."
"I'm already contributing by keeping the lanterns going so we don't have to stop flying when it gets dark," Zuko explained. "Because I'm the better Firebender."
"Says who?" Azula challenged, narrowing her eyes.
"Oh, come on," Zuko shrugged. "You have so little training with Firebending, you're practically a non-bender."
"As I recall," Azula glared, "the Water Tribe prince was a non-bender, and he mopped the floor with you."
"Bending status has nothing to do with strength," Aang agreed.
"I disagree," Zuko insisted. "I think in most cases, a Bender will win a fight against a non-bender."
"Let's not fight about it right now," Aang pacified. "Because we're about to land someplace awesome!" As he said this, he flicked the reigns and Appa dove down towards an island beneath them.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"Why are we stopping here?" Zuko asked as he stepped off the "parked" bison onto the sandy ground.
"Appa's tired," Aang explained.
"But, taking the long route is already slowing us down," Azula protested. "Do we really have time for detours?"
The bison yawned thunderously before curling up into a tired ball and immediately beginning to snore. Azula supposed this meant that, like it or not, they weren't going anywhere anytime soon.
"Hey, look!" Aang called out merrily, pointing to a serpent-like creature that was winding in and out of the sand at their feet. "A giant sand-snake! I'm going to catch it, Azula, watch!"
He dashed after the beast, jumping into a hole where it had just poked up its head. "Yahoo!"
First fire ferrets, Azula thought to herself, looking on in bewilderment. Then lemurs….now this. What is that boy's obsession with catching animals?
When the sand-snake leapt out of another hole, Aang was riding on its back. "He actually did it!" Azula cried, fascinated. "Is that not impressive, brother?" As she suspected, Aang had more skill than one would initially expect. That skill would be useful in the coming days.
"His skills would be impressive," Zuko said skeptically, "if he didn't waste them on goofing off like this."
"That's…." Azula's comeback was lost when she realized that Appa had started sleep-flying into the distance. "Bad Appa! Come back!" she cried, dashing after the bison before he could disappear from her sight.
When Aang and the sand-snake popped out of the hole again, Aang's smile faded into a disappointed frown when he realized he longer held Azula's attention. Then, he saw Zuko's usual apathetic scowl replaced with a look of alarm.
"There's something coming out of the other hole!" Zuko warned.
Azula, returning with Appa's reigns in her hand, saw it, too: a massive, hooded serpent twice the size of the one Aang rode, its cruel fangs dripping with venom. "Aang, get out of the burrows!" Azula cried.
Aang leapt to the surface just in time and shot back to where Azula and Zuko were standing. The monster slunk back into its hole, burrowing deeply. Azula breathed a sigh of relief.
"At last," she said, "we are safe from harm."
Just as she said that, a group of mysterious figures appeared out of nowhere, lightning-quick, and grabbed them.
Screaming, Azula fought back by hurling a blast of flame at the nearest masked assailant. The warrior dodged, and another…..poked Azula strangely. "What was that?" she snapped, and prepared to lodge another fireball at them. But, for some reason, her fire refused to ignite.
"What did you do to me?!" she cried.
"They're blocking our Bending somehow!" Zuko explained, fighting an attacker of his own.
The last thing Azula saw before everything went black was her brother and Aang crumpling to the ground.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
When she woke up, she found that she was blindfolded and tied to something. She heard muffled moans on either side of her, and realized that Zuko and Aang must be tied to the same object – some sort of pillar – as well. Was this the Water Tribe? she worried, heart pounding. Did they have this sort of power? Were they about to kill her? Or was she to suffer a fate worse than death?
"You have some explaining to do," growled a male voice.
"And if you don't answer real good," a female voice warned, "we can drop you right back in the hidey-hole of the Yǎnjìngshé, 'kay?"
The female voice sounded too bubbly to be Water Tribe. Moreover, Azula swore the voice sounded….familiar. Impossible, she thought.
"We won't answer any questions," Zuko growled, "until you tell us who you are and what Bending it was you used against us."
"We didn't use any Bending," the female voice corrected, and, obliging, removed the blindfolds from the group.
Blinking from the sunlight, Zuko's eyes adjusted and he saw a group of girls with painted faces and green armor. When he stared more carefully at the face of the female who had spoken, past the heavy face-paint and into the features, his jaw dropped as his eyes filled with recognition.
Azula saw it, too. No way….
"Ty Lee?!"
"Zuko?!" the girl realized. "And….Azula? Oh my gosh oh my gosh!" She ran towards the Firebender siblings and embraced them fondly.
"Wait, you know her?" Aang gasped.
"Ooh, I don't know you," Ty Lee realized, remembering suddenly that Aang was still there. "Hey!" she pouted, recalling that she was supposed to be interrogating them." What were you doing messing with my snakey pal?!"
"That monster is your pal?" Aang cried, agape.
"Yeah, and you better not have hurt him, you meanyface!" Ty Lee threatened. Then, she gasped. "Wait, you're not a Water Tribe meanyface, are you? Zuzu, 'Zula, you wouldn't hang out with a meanyface Waterbender, would you?"
"He better not be a Waterbender," the old man who had spoken before growled. "Kyoshi has stayed out of this war for a hundred years. I would like to keep it that way."
"Wait, this island is named after Kyoshi?" Aang asked, brightening. "I know her!"
"Ha!" the old man snorted. "How could you possibly know Avatar Kyoshi? She was born here 400 years ago! She's been dead for centuries!"
"I know," Aang revealed, "because I'm the Avatar."
"Nuh-uh, no way!" Ty Lee protested. "The last Avatar was an Airbender who disappeared, into, like, thin air a bazillion years ago!"
"Actually, it was only a hundred," Aang replied. "Not a bazillion. And that Airbender was me."
"Yeah right!"
"Throw this impostor to the Yǎnjìngshé," the old man waved a hand dismissively. "Block their Bending again so that they cannot escape!"
"No, don't do that!" Aang cried. "If you block my Bending, I can't use Airbending to show you I'm the real deal!" Suddenly, he leapt out of his bindings and into the air!
As he slowly floated back to the ground, the old man and the warrior girls stared in shock and awe.
"He is the Avatar," the old man proclaimed. "Spirits be praised – the Avatar has returned to Kyoshi Island!"
The girls and the gathered townspeople cheered excitedly. One even foamed at the mouth.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"The Avatar is on Kyoshi Island?!" Sokka gasped when his informant entered the officers' dining room on the ship to reveal the news. He immediately shot up from the table to make preparations.
"Are you going to eat that roasted Artic hen?" Bato asked.
"I'm saving it for later!" Sokka snapped. "Just because I have a mission to take care of right now, doesn't change the fact that I need my meat!"
Sokka loved meat. The only thing he loved more was victory. Soon, he was certain he would taste both.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
A scrumptious banquet was laid out before the Avatar and his friends at the finest house on the island. Aang ate hungrily, but Zuko and Azula couldn't stop staring at the smiling girl before them.
"How is it possible that you're here?" Zuko asked in wonder. Ty Lee had been a childhood friend of him and his sister, spending many long afternoons playing in the back of Uncle's tea shop with them, or chasing fire ferrets across the town. His childhood memories were full of this girl. But the memory that clouded them all with a painful shadow was the memory of losing her.
He had chased her in some game of tag to the edge of the shore. Azula was sick that day, he recalled, and couldn't play. Then suddenly they had appeared on the horizon. Waterbenders. Not a whole war band, like Sokka had brought with him. No, these were lost Waterbenders adrift in a small canoe, separated from their ship and tribesmen. Who could say how they had drifted to the Fire Nation coast? It didn't matter.
What mattered was as soon as they saw Ty Lee, they grabbed her and stuffed her into the boat with them. "She'll make a good slave girl for the captain when we find the ship again," one had leered.
He remembered how Ty Lee had screamed, how her eyes had shined with fear. Zuko, help me! he remembered hearing her cry – he heard that cry still, sometimes, in his nightmares. But though he had leapt into the water to save her, he couldn't swim fast enough to catch up to the canoe that was taking her away.
He nearly drowned trying. Uncle found him washed up on the shore the next day, sobbing. He had failed to protect her. Perhaps that was why he had become so protective of his sister, Azula – he didn't want to lose her, too.
"I….I thought the Water Tribe had you," Zuko stammered, voice choked with emotion. "I thought you were dead, or worse….I…."
"I escaped," Ty Lee smiled. "Before those goons could take me back to their ship, I got away from them and jumped into the ocean. I tried to swim back home to you, but…." She frowned. "We were already too far out to sea, and I couldn't find my way back. I swam for a long time, and finally I washed up on the shores of Kyoshi Island. The Kyoshi girls took me in, and taught me the art of chi-blocking."
"Is that the technique you used to stop our Bending earlier?" Azula asked.
"I don't get it," Zuko said. "How could a non-bender like you possibly defeat us like that?"
"You don't have to sound so surprised," Ty Lee pouted. "Just because I'm not a Bender doesn't mean I'm not as strong as you."
"Yes, it does," Zuko insisted. "You only won because you ambushed us. In a fair fight, a Bender will always win."
"Wanna bet?" Ty Lee challenged, and suddenly she was dragging Zuko off somewhere, chattering that she'd "show" him.
Left alone with Aang, Azula was oddly quiet.
'I'm happy you found your friend," Aang smiled.
"Yeah," Azula muttered, still in shock. "I still can't believe it."
"This place is amazing," Aang smiled. "I bet she's been really happy here all these years. Did you hear they're repainting the Kyoshi statue in my honor?"
"Lovely," Azula replied. "But, you know we cannot stay here long, yes?"
"Why not?" Aang shrugged. "It's perfect here."
"Well, I am happy to see you take pride in the role of the Avatar," said Azula. She never understood why Aang had seemed so unhappy about it thus far – if Azula had the awe-inspiring power to command all four elements, she would crush the Water Tribe beneath her feet, avenge her family and revel in her strength. With that sort of Bending power, one could even take over the world! No, she reminded herself. That sort of arrogant thinking isn't good at all. Uncle always used to tell you that. She was glad Aang had never exhibited any sort of tendency for arrogance. It was one of her worst flaws, and she would hate to see the young Airbender begin to act like that, as well.
Aang opened the window and the room was filled with the sound of a chorus of fangirls screaming his name.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Those girls were hanging all over Aang all the time now, and Azula felt the urge to bend a wall of fire right into their stupid, giggling faces. No, she thought, hands shaking. That sort of violence is wrong. Very wrong. But, why did she want to commit violent acts of Firebending against these girls so badly? What was this feeling she got when she saw Aang smiling at them? Why should she even care? Her childhood friend, who she thought she would never see again, had just resurfaced. She should be focusing on that, not on what Aang was doing with those girls.
Why couldn't she? She threw a lick of fire at the wall, furious at her inability to understand her own feelings.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"Come on, come on, I wanna show you something!" Ty Lee said merrily, dragging Zuko by the arm towards a dojo where several other Kyoshi chi blockers were training.
"Those moves look very interesting," Zuko complimented, "but, Ty Lee, I still say you should let Aang take you home, where you'll be protected."
"I don't need protection," Ty Lee argued, looking offended. "I'm not a little girl anymore, Zuko. I can take care of myself."
"You need to let us Benders help you," Zuko insisted.
"I don't need to be a Bender to be strong," Ty Lee said defiantly. "That's what I brought you here to show you."
"What are you talking about?" Zuko asked, perplexed.
"Fight me," Ty Lee challenged.
"What? No!" Zuko refused. "I- I could hurt you!"
"What do you think, girls?" Ty Lee laughed to the other armor-clad women who had crowded around them. "Should I be afraid of being hurt?"
"This boy may be your friend," one girl snorted, "but he has no idea how weak he is."
"Weak?" Zuko repeated, growing angry.
"Even if your Firebending is powerful," another woman pointed out, "it means nothing if we block you from using it."
"I could burn any of you to a crisp before you got close enough to block my chi!" Zuko argued.
"Oh really?" Ty Lee giggled. "Then prove it, Zuko: fight me."
"If that's really what you want," Zuko relented. "But don't blame me if you get burned."
He shot a ball of flame at her…or, rather, he was about to. But, lightning-quick, before he could react, Ty Lee's hand shot out and pinched one of his nerves, and suddenly his bending arm was flopping uselessly by his side. He no longer had control of the limb.
Eyes wide, he reached out with his other arm and summoned another fireball. But, the fire disappeared into smoke when, with an acrobatic leap, she struck another one of his chi points and, for good measure, kicked him in the face, giggling.
"Ow!" Zuko cried, his pain turning to anger. "That's it!" This time, he lashed out at her with all his strength – he almost scored a damaging hit. But, she ducked down at the last second, and gracefully struck at his ankle. His legs, like his arm, became suddenly useless, and would no longer support his weight. He tumbled face-first to the ground.
Grinning wide, she touched a finger softly to the chi point on the back of his neck, just to prove she could. "Well, Zuko," she tittered, "do you believe non-benders like me are strong enough to defend ourselves now?"
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Aang stared up thoughtfully at the statue of Avatar Kyoshi that towered over the village square.
"There she is, ladies," he announced to the gaggle of girls who were still following him around, "me in a past life."
"You were pretty," one of the girls flattered.
"Yes, pretty foolish," Azula snapped from the corner, where she was leaning against a wall, arms crossed. "Much like in this life."
"Hey!" Aang frowned, excusing himself from his circle of admirers and walking over to where the Firebender girl stood. "What's with the attitude, Azula?"
"I don't know," Azula muttered, refusing to look at Aang.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Aang said, eyebrows narrowing.
"Just what I said!" Azula screamed, throwing a flame to force Aang to back away from her. "I. DON'T. KNOW!"
Aang looked horrified as he backed away from the flames, from the look in Azula's eyes. Her expression immediately changed into one of remorse and self-disgust. "Aang," she stammered, "I'm sorry…I…I didn't mean to…."
"What's going on with you?" Aang asked, concerned. "You haven't been acting like yourself since we got here."
"Neither have you," Azula retorted. "You've been getting a swelled head, preening for those girls like a peacock."
"That's not true," Aang argued.
"Then, can't we just leave this place already?" Azula asked. "What about your promise to find me a Firebending master? Are you going to do that, or are you going to stay here with your little fan club forever?"
"Look, I can't put my finger on it," Aang shrugged, "but I feel like something's telling me to stay here."
Across the way, the fangirls giggled and waved.
"Yes," Azula said sarcastically, rolling her eyes – Why did this boy even concern her?-, "whatever could it be?"
"Maybe you're just jealous," Aang accused.
"Of what?" Azula denied, her face burning as if all the fire she'd ever bended had gathered there. What was wrong with her?
"Of all the fun we're having," Aang elaborated. "It wouldn't kill you to have fun too, once in a while, you know."
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Zuko found Ty Lee practicing alone in the dojo. He tapped on the paper walls before entering.
"Ty Lee," he said softly, his earlier pride gone from his expression. The girl stopped and turned to him.
"Ready to stop all that non-bender discrimination?" she asked.
"Yes," he said, sinking to the floor. "I'm sorry. I…I was given a miracle when I found you again, after all these years. I don't want to spend this amazing reunion we've been blessed with fighting with you."
"I don't either," Ty Lee said, looking serious for once. "You know….I missed you."
"I missed you, too," Zuko said emotionally. "I…blamed myself for what happened to you back then. I thought if my Bending were just a little stronger, I could saved you."
"But now," Ty Lee guessed, "you see that Bending isn't the only way to get stronger."
"Yes," Zuko admitted. "I should have known I'm not the only one who's grown since…that day. You've become a strong fighter, too, Ty Lee, and I shouldn't have treated you like the child I lost. You're not the same person you were then."
"Neither are you," Ty Lee smiled. "You've gotten so big and manly-looking that I didn't recognize you at first! I wouldn't have attacked you and blindfolded you and tied you up and stuff if I knew you were…you."
"I know," Zuko replied. "Accident or not, you got me good. And so….I want to learn your technique."
"What?" Ty Lee gasped. "You're already a Firebender, but you want to learn chi-blocking, too?"
"If you will let me," Zuko pleaded.
"Avatar Kyoshi taught chi-blocking to non-bender girls because she knew we were at a disadvantage," Ty Lee explained. "She knew that Benders like herself had all the power. She wanted to give those of us that weren't blessed with Bending a fighting chance."
"Are you saying you won't teach me because I'm a Bender?" Zuko asked.
"Nope," Ty Lee smiled. "Like, how hypocritical would I be if I judged you on your bending status? Besides, we're old bestest pals!"
"So, you'll teach me?" Zuko beamed.
"Yuppity-yup!" Ty Lee giggled. "But you gotta go by all the traditions – and I mean all of 'em."
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"Was the dress necessary?" Zuko grumbled an hour later, face caked with paint.
"Totally," Ty Lee replied, giggling so hard she could barely stand. "For realsies tho – the uniform is a symbol of the warrior's honor!"
"I do love honor," Zuko smiled.
"Nice dress, Zuko!" Aang laughed, happening to walk by.
Zuko scowled.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Aang found Azula moodily bending the fire in and out of a lantern hanging above her head.
"Hey, Azula," he said, "Remember how the Yǎnjìngshé almost got me before?"
"I recall," Azula replied, not even casting her eyes down from the lantern.
"Well, I'm going to go ride it now," Aang announced. "It's going to be really dangerous. I hear his venom is so strong, when it hits a puddle, the puddle evaporates."
Azula said nothing.
"Don't you care?" Aang asked.
"Why should I care?" Azula snapped.
"Fine," Aang said harshly. "I don't care that you don't care. I'm going now."
After he left the room, Azula angrily extinguished the lantern. "Why," she whispered to herself in the smoky darkness, "do I care?"
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Ty Lee watched with a glimmer in her eye as Zuko ignited a fireball in one hand, and tried to strike his chi points on his wrist to force the flame to extinguish with the other hand.
"There's no way you're going to get all zoom-zoom fast-ity fast," she laughed. "You're just going to make your aura turn blue."
"I think I'm getting it," Zuko insisted. He struck the chi point harder, and the flame went out – but then, a moment later, it sparked back to life. "That's only happening because my firepower is so strong," he excused. He hit the chi point harder. "Ow!" All he'd succeeded in doing was making his wrist ache.
"It's not about hitting hard until you break something and cause a boo-boo, silly," Ty Lee advised. "You've got to sense where the chi flow is, and gently tell it, 'Hey, stop!' M'kay?"
"Like this?" Zuko asked, and, before Ty Lee could blink, pressed a gentle thumb to her elbow. Her arm immediately flopped around, no longer controlled by her brain.
"I – I let you do that!" Ty Lee maintained, grabbing her stunned hand with the other to try and make it stop flopping.
"Admit it," Zuko smirked. "I bested you."
"One hit, Mr. I'm-So-Cool-Because-I-Can-Warm-My-Tea-Without-A-Kettle!" Ty Lee giggled, and suddenly they were both doubled over with laughter. Ty Lee was the only person who had ever made Zuko laugh like this. He didn't think he would ever be able to laugh like that again. Kyoshi Island was full of miracles.
"Now, let's see if you can do it again!"
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"What's taking so long?" one of the fangirls complained.
Aang's head poked out of the hole in the sand. "I'm sure Mr. Yǎnjìngshé will be here soon," he promised.
"This is boring," the fangirls began to mutter, turning to go one by one. "Let's go home."
As he watched them walk away, Aang frowned. But then, he saw a figure clad in crimson approaching from the other direction. It was Azula!
"You came!" Aang cried, his smile returning in an instant.
"I wanted to see what all the fuss was about," Azula shrugged. "Why those girls cared so much about what you were doing."
"Well, they left," Aang sighed.
"I see that."
"I thought you weren't like them," Aang muttered. "I thought you didn't care what Iwas doing at all."
"I'm not like them," Azula confirmed. "I'm not fickle enough to stop paying attention to you when you're no longer exciting. In fact, for whatever reason, my eyes have been on you almost constantly."
Aang blushed. "I'm sorry," he said, "I was acting really arrogant."
"I'm sorry, too," Azula apologized. "And it's alright – I've been arrogant as well. I thought I was too good to care about someone like you. But, even though I don't know why, I know I do care, Aang."
Aang looked away, scratching at his shaven head. "So," he said, "can I get out of this hole now?"
"You may," Azula permitted, but then suddenly she gasped, because in the hole behind Aang was the Yǎnjìngshé, hissing and showing its fangs!
It wrapped its scaly body around Aang and hoisted him into the air, constricting and dragging him towards its hungry mouth. Aang screamed, eyes wide with terror. Azula rushed towards the hole.
"Release him this instant!" she cried, and sent a massive tongue of flame shooting into the creature's eyes. Blinded, the beast cried out in pain and dropped Aang before disappearing back into its hole.
Aang landed on the edge of a hole and almost fell into after the monster. But, in the nick of time, he grabbed onto the hole's edge. "I'll pull you up!" Azula called, rushing to his side. "Take my hand!"
Aang did, and, using all of his strength, she hoisted him out of the hole and onto solid ground. He fell into her lap, and her face flushed. She let go of his hand and stood quickly, looking not at Aang but at the shore beyond the hole-peppered sands.
That was when she saw it barreling towards the coast - a wooden ship with blue sails. "Sokka," she hissed.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Sokka disembarked from the ship, mounted on an armored buffalo-yak. Bato and a handful ofWaterbenders, also on buffalo-yaks, accompanied him. "I want the Avatar alive," Sokka commanded.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Azula dove into a hole, dragging Aang with her, so that Sokka and his men would not spot them. He clung to her hand, shaking.
"Azula," he whispered softly.
"What is it?" Azula asked. What was worth risking a sound to say?
"Thank you for saving me," Aang murmured. "I couldn't have gotten away without you."
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"Waterbenders have invaded our shores!" the old man from before shouted, racing into the dojo where Zuko and Ty Lee stood. "Hurry, and make them as incapable of harming with Bending as yourselves!"
"Hey!" Zuko protested. "I'm not…."
Ty Lee looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"It doesn't matter," he sighed, and, taking Ty Lee's hand, the two of them rushed into battle.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"Come out, come out, wherever you are, Aavtar," Sokka called from the village gates. "I can play hide and seek all day."
He motioned for his men to ride further into the village and seek out the Airbender. The men stomped through the streets on their buffalo-yaks confidently. Suddenly, from above, Zuko and Ty Lee appeared and struck their chi points before they even knew what hit them, sending them crumpling helplessly off their mounts into the dirt.
Ty Lee rushed to chi-block Sokka next, but he hurled his boomerang at her, knocking her to the ground. The prince leapt off his buffalo-yak, sending a spinning kick in the fallen girl's direction, but Zuko leapt in front of her, intercepting the kick with a burst of white-hot flame.
Scorched but saved by his seal-leather armor, Sokka fell to the ground. Zuko, Ty Lee, and one other Kyoshi chi-blocker surrounded him, but his boomerang flew back into his hand and he swung it in a wide arc, causing all three of them to go reeling backwards to avoid being struck.
Sokka leapt up and shouted, "Sorry, Avatar, but if you send non-benders to fight me, I'm the strongest non-bender there is!"
"Well," Aang asked with defiant eyes, revealing his position at last, "are you stronger than an Airbender?"
"Let's find out," Sokka smirked, and hurled his boomerang at Aang. The Airbender parried with his staff and scampered out of range. Sokka's boomerang returned to him again, and he advanced, slicing at Aang's side. Aang dodged, and bended a strong breeze, blowing Sokka into the side of a building.
"Bet you think you're a tough guy, don't you, Avatar?" the fallen prince laughed, despite his injuries. "Why don't you look at what my men have done to the town that shielded you?"
With a stricken look, Aang took to the sky and looked down at the state of the village. The Waterbenders had recovered from the stunning the chi-blockers had given them and, in retaliation, flooded the streets, the houses, everything. The floodwaters had damaged people's property, wiped their crops off the map. The people stood on their roofs to avoid drowning. Worst of all, the waves had toppled the statue of Avatar Kyoshi. Aang looked on in horror and guilt.
He landed, splashing, in the water beside Azula, who was helping a little girl climb to higher, dryer ground.
"Look what I've brought to this place," Aang said ruefully.
"Let us leave this place, then," Azula suggested. "If we go, Sokka will leave Kyoshi in order to pursue us. I hate it – I want to stand and fight more than anything. But, we can't endanger civilians in our battle."
"I'll call Appa," Aang sighed defeatedly.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"You have to go, Zuko," Ty Lee urged as they dog-paddled, waist-deep in the floodwaters.
"No," Zuko protested. "After all these years, I've finally found you, Ty Lee! I won't lose you again!"
"I won't be lost," Ty Lee said, eyes wet, "if you take part of me with you."
"What part?" asked Zuko, confused.
"My heart," Ty Lee replied, and pressed her lips to Zuko's cheek. Zuko turned redder than the clothes he wore, and was so shocked he almost forgot to stay afloat. Before he could say anything else, Ty Lee dove into the waters and swam away. She had gone, Zuko realized, to hold off the Waterbenders.
It was time for him to go, too.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Sokka was the last to swim to Appa, and once he clambered aboard, Aang cried, "Yip yip!" and the bison soared into the sky.
"Ugh, I hate this!" Azula cried, shooting a fireball into the sky in her rage. "I want to stay and destroy those Waterbenders for what they did to this place!"
"You can't," Aang reminded. "But, I can."
"What?" Azula gasped, but, before she could stop him, Aang jumped off of Appa into the hole by the shore.
"You fool!" Azula cried. "The impact is going to kill you!" Zuko held her back from jumping off the bison after him. As she struggled in his grip, the golden eyes of both siblings widened as Aang leapt out of the hole again on the back of the Yǎnjìngshé.
I hear his venom is so strong, Azula remembered Aang telling her, when it hits a puddle, the puddle evaporates.
"Of course," she cackled.
"What?" Zuko blinked, bewildered. "What is Aang doing?"
Aang tugged at the Yǎnjìngshé's jaws, forcing it to open its mouth and spit massive quantities of venom into the village streets. Wherever the venom hit, the floodwaters steamed and receded. Sokka and his Waterbenders ran for cover to avoid the venom's sting.
"Thank you," the old man cried from the roof of the dojo, "thank you for saving us, Avatar!"
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"I know exactly what you're going to say," Aang said as he flew back into Appa's saddle. "That was pretty foolish."
"It was," Azula agreed, "and that is why I shall not let you out of my sight again." Just to be sure, she grabbed the Airbender's hand tightly, but gently, and did not let go for the rest of the flight.