Chapter 26

In less than a half hour, the foursome found themselves circling high above an island only partially visible. The wind was still, but smoke obscured a good third of the land mass, leaving them only to guess what lay beneath the layer of brown haze.

Aang circled lower toward the nearest of the fishing villages. They landed in the central courtyard of the little town and were met by several citizens. One of the men had been out on the edge of the burn and gave them some ideas as to the lay of the land. Between them, they formulated a plan to bring down a section of the forest beyond as a firebreak, creating an earth barricade that should prevent the fire from traveling further. Afterward, they would cross to the other side of the fire and hem it in with a second to protect the other village.

Once they reached the fire, Zuko was dismayed by the size and intensity of it. The heat was tremendous as the fire took its time consuming everything in sight. The vegetation burned intensely hot, but didn't seem to burn very quickly. He hoped that meant that perhaps they'd have time to corral the spread of the flames.

At the first firebreak, Zuko could only watch as Aang and Toph raised up a long, wide stretch of bare, unburnable earth, felling trees and undergrowth in the process. Then Aang and Katara covered the entire stretch with a thick layer of ice bended from a nearby stream. The process took a while and all three seemed tired. But after a quick check to be sure it seemed secure, they decided to hurry over to the other side of the blaze.

Appa circled as low as he could, but the wind began to shift, blowing the smoke directly into their path. Aang airbended as much away as possible, but they still had little visibility. Finally, they made out what seemed to be as good a place to bend a firebreak as possible and Appa set them down near a thick patch of forest while he moved further down the slope to an open field to graze.

The forest began at the mouth of a narrow valley that ran down from the central mountain. They could see the tops of trees burning in the distance near the peak, but the other side of the mountain was bare earth from an old lava flow. If they could stop the fire from leaving the valley, it would burn itself out between the two breaks and the lava flow. They walked further into the forest, Aang and Toph searching for the best place to try to bend another wall of earth. At last they found a spot narrow enough to work with in the time they had and set to work.

There was no water source for Katara to use, so she and Zuko watched from a short distance as Toph and Aang began to work on a wide earth embankment across the valley floor. Zuko climbed up on a tumbled boulder to keep an eye on the fire's progress. It still seemed to be a good distance away and he felt good about their chances of getting another decent break in place before the slow-moving fire arrived.

Aang and Toph had just really begun work in earnest when Zuko noticed a shift in the wind. Ahead, he could see that one side of the narrow valley had caught fire, but the flames hadn't spread across. The wind kicked up again, and he realized that they were in serious trouble as the flames suddenly seemed to leap across the top of the valley to the other side.

Then there came another shift in the wind, this time toward the fire. Out of nowhere, it seemed, the entire valley ahead of them exploded into flame. Zuko leaped down from his lookout point as he realized that Aang couldn't see it for the earth wall he was raising.

"We've got to get out of here," Zuko yelled to Katara, but he could already hear the roar of the fire. He looked back to see Appa in the field below and knew they'd never make it to him. "Appa! Yip yip!" he called as loudly as he could. Then grabbed Katara's hand and ran toward Toph and Aang as fast as he could.

The fire was nearly on top of them now. "What's going on?" Toph yelled.

"Firestorm! Aang, get us some air! Katara, try to keep us cool!" Zuko ordered."Stay close, sweetie," he said to Toph.

The beginnings of the firebreak were nowhere near enough to stop that kind of spread, Zuko realized. Setting his stance earthbender style, he prepared to do something he'd never even tried before.

With all his might, he pushed.

Out of nowhere, flames swirled into the treetops around them and through the underbrush beside them. He could hear Toph cry out in surprise at the sudden increase in noise and heat. He pushed harder.

It was getting hard to breathe. "Aang, keep our air in here!" he yelled out. "The fire is pulling it away." He could tell that Aang was hard at work because he could breathe again. The heat was building in intensity. He pushed harder, forcing the flames and heat back away from them, creating a bubble in the firestorm.

Katara began to waterbend ice crystals into the air around them to help cool, but they evaporated in the encroaching heat all too quickly. Flames swirled around them, nightmare tornadoes of heat. He pushed harder.

"How are you doing this? I'll help," Aang offered.

"No, you've got to keep us breathing. The fire is trying to drag our air into it," Zuko explained, a little breathless with the effort he was making.

Zuko knew they'd never outrun it out of the valley and they couldn't outwait it. The front line of the firestorm moved fast, but the fuel in the valley did not burn quickly. The fire would take its time before finally consuming everything in the valley—them included.

"We've got to move out of here," Zuko called to the others. "We've got to get behind the fire line. I can't keep holding this back for much longer."

In a quiet voice behind him Toph asked, "What can I do?"

"Just stay close until we get to the edge of this thing," Aang had to answer her, because Zuko was grimly concentrating on bending the intense heat and flame away from them. The four of them pulled closer together and began to walk up the side of the valley toward the lava flow on the other side.

Each step was a trial, each push into the flames caused him to draw more and more energy away from himself. Firebenders produced flame; they didn't reject it—at least not on this scale. He could feel himself growing colder as he distanced himself from his element, shoving it away from him with all his might. If his concentration slipped and the flames engulfed them, they would all die—not even his natural resistance to heat could protect him from the kind of inferno that surrounded them.

The air began to grow thick again. Zuko realized that Aang was nearly out of bendable air. Katara's water had long evaporated and the heat began to grow inside their little insulated bubble. Only a few more steps, he thought. The fire line was just ahead of them. He pushed the flames away from them anew, bringing all his abilities on line to keep them from roasting in the heat.

At last, he could see the edge, but the edges of his vision kept going fuzzy. Every movement took a tremendous effort, as if he were pushing through a stone wall. His feet and hands were completely numb, as if all the life had left them. He realized that he'd pushed so hard that the fire inside him was cold as well. He felt empty and sick and dead.

Suddenly they were through. Relief flooded through him when he knew that the others could get safely away. That relief was nearly their downfall, as he felt his hold on the flames slip. He didn't have much time.

"Get away from me," he shouted hoarsely. "Run!"

Toph reached out for him; his skin felt like ice and his heart beat was slow and erratic. She reached out to hold onto him.

"Go! Please!" his voice was harsh as he sank to his knees, his hands still outstretched against the flames. "Aang!" he called.

Aang realized what he wanted and grabbed Toph, pulling her hands off Zuko and dragging her away from him. "No!" she screamed. It took all his strength to hold her as she fought against him. "Tell me what's happening! Zuko!"

As soon as Toph and Aang were at a safe distance, flames rushed into the void around Zuko, swirling and cascading in a vortex of heat and fire. He soaked it in, letting the fire fill his body, renewing the cold energies inside him with its heat and life. The flames wreathed around him as if alive and created their own wind currents in the heat, lifting his hair and blowing his clothing against him. The heat currents pulled him to his feet, drawing him up, almost weightless. He was bathed in his element and it spoke to him in a voice he'd never heard before.

After a few moments, he let the fire die away. Little trails of smoke rose from his clothing and he bended enough of the heat out so that he didn't burst into flame. He looked ahead to see Toph, Aang, and Katara standing at a good distance away on a smooth rise of old lava. The looks on Aang and Katara's faces were priceless—a combination of amazement and admiration. Toph, however, looked terrified.

He made certain that his skin was cool enough to touch, then went to take her in his arms. She was shaking all over. "It's okay, sweetie," he murmured comfortingly. "We're safe now."

She just stood there, arms by her side, still trembling. He stroked her hair and kissed her forehead. Then he looked at Aang. "That was the single most incredible experience of my life," he stated, still heady with the exhilaration of the encounter.

Toph suddenly shoved herself away from him. "I'm glad it was so much fun for you," she snapped, her voice breaking. "I had no idea what was going on with you—with all of us! There was all this noise and heat and your heart kept getting slower and slower and I had no idea what was going on except that you yelled at me to get away from you and I had no idea why!"

Zuko tried to pull her back to him again, but she pushed him away even harder. "I hate being blind and I hate you taking risks and I already told you I'd kill you if you scared me like that again and you did it anyway!" she yelled furiously. The three others just stood and watched in surprise as Toph unloaded on him.

"I wish I couldn't earthbend at all if it means being able to see it when you're dying!" Her voice was rough and hoarse, and tears poured down her face. "Maybe it didn't happen on the beach and maybe it didn't happen today, but someday you will die and I will watch every second of it and not be able to do a thing. Well, you think I will but I won't! I swear I won't do it! I will not watch you die on me again—ever!" She walked several steps away from him and put her face in her hands, weeping.

Zuko was completely dumbstruck. He had no idea of what to say or do. He looked at Katara for guidance. She pointed rapidly toward Toph and mouthed the word "go."

Even though he was afraid she'd push him away again, he walked over to place his hand on her shoulder. She spun toward him and held him tightly, her hands grabbing at the back of his tunic. He breathed a little sigh of relief that it was all over as he held her close to him.

Then she spoke. "Zuko, I love you. I love you so much. But I don't think I can do this anymore."