Author's Note: Hey, guys! I'm here with another chapter AND another list of people to thank! So here goes. Thank you to these people for favorting and following my story: Emotionless Girl32, NightSky98, Nube2013, The One I Use To Know, xxxANIMExROCKSxxx, InTheWrongEra, ReadAholic94, and Yoshizawa Ayumu. You guys are great and inspire me to push on! Thank you so much and I am flattered that so many people are enjoying this story. We're almost to the end of Book One! (Again, as before, those people who I have already listed in previous thank you notes are not listed here - but that does not mean I appreciate you any less). Enjoy the chapter! - Fira
Forty-Five
Finally. Maya could see Aang sitting there on the grass, meditating. His eyes and tattoos were glowing. Maya figured he was probably communicating with the Spirits or something, since he didn't even seem to be breathing. He was still as a statue and completely unreactive to anything around him.
Maya wasn't particularly happy about this situation, but she knew that Zuko's goal was directly in front of him now. And, as much as she hated herself for it, she wasn't going to try to stop him from capturing the Avatar. Just as she'd done before, she was going to stay out of the way – unless someone tried to kill anyone.
"Well," Zuko said, standing from his hiding place and breaking into Maya's thoughts. "Aren't you a big girl now."
Maya was confused for a second, thinking that he was talking to her. Then she noticed the other two people in this little sanctuary. Katara was here, along with some white-haired girl in fancy clothes. The white-haired girl screamed and ran away. Katara just said, so quietly that Maya almost didn't hear her, "No…"
"Yes," Zuko replied.
Maya stood and walked beside Zuko. Katara glared at her. "You too, huh?"
Maya held up her hands in surrender and backed away. "I'm just here to intervene if either of you goes for blood. That's all. Anything else that happens will happen. Fight on."
Zuko and Katara faced each other. Maya didn't know who made the first move, but she could tell immediately that Katara's waterbending skills were extremely impressive. They fought back and forth, neither of them gaining the upper hand for very long. And then Katara began making windmill motions with her arms and there were big columns of water surrounding Zuko. Then she froze the water and he was encased in a giant ball of ice.
Maya was about to intervene, afraid that Katara had not given him space to breathe, but then she heard Zuko's voice muffled inside the ice. "You little peasant," he said.
Maya choked on laughter. What the hell was it with Zuko and the word peasant?
"You've found a master, haven't you?" he continued.
And then Maya noticed that the ball of ice was slowly turning a red-orange color. Suddenly, the ice shattered, and she ducked so as not to be cut by it. And then the two were fighting again. At some point, Zuko managed to knock Katara down long enough to grab Aang's collar, but a split-second later, he was on his back from a particularly forceful blow from Katara. Secretly, Maya was impressed.
Before Zuko could stand completely, Katara was pushing him farther and farther away with her waterbending, until suddenly he was up in the air, held aloft by a blast of water that Katara quickly froze in place. Now Zuko was trapped. He couldn't use his hands or feet to firebend. He looked beaten.
It was a little boring after that. They all sat there for about ten minutes. Katara couldn't leave because Aang was still in his glowy-spirit-meditating-thing, and Maya couldn't leave because Zuko was still ten feet off the ground and covered in ice. So, they sat. And waited. No one said a word. It was actually quite peaceful, despite the circumstances under which all of this had happened. Maya smiled to herself. Why couldn't they all have nice moments like this more often?
The lightening of the sky heralded the coming dawn. She looked up, at the same time as Zuko. He inhaled deeply, and when he exhaled, steam came through his nostrils and the ice holding him in place melted. Katara didn't notice, and Maya didn't say anything. It wasn't her job to help or hinder anyone. Unless – again – someone was going for blood and murder.
When did it become my job to police people, anyways? she asked herself.
Zuko suddenly let out a burst of fire from his fist. Katara turned around just in time to get the full blast of it. The fireball knocked her backwards into a tree, and she hit her head and did not get back up. Quickly, while Zuko grabbed Aang, Maya went over to Katara and put two fingers to her neck. Her heartbeat was steady. She sighed with relief and stepped back.
"You rise with the moon," Zuko said.
Maya turned and saw that he was looking at Katara.
"I rise with the sun." With that, he yanked Aang up onto his back and carried him out of the sanctuary, calling behind him, "Come on, Maya. Time to go."