Three Families

by James Golen

Three Families seek the Avatar. Three Families find the Avatar. Three Families use the Avatar. The story of how three sets of siblings are changed by the Avatar, amidst an endless war. AU, Want of A Nail.

18. The Siege of the North

Jumping the gun since I'll be away for a few days. Anybody figure out the North's naming gag?

---

A wind blew up from the south. With it came water, which by all rights should have fallen as rain upon the desperate and drought-stricken East Continent. But there was very little right left in the world, and that paucity was a long time building. Instead, the water was borne north, whipped by cruel, maniac storms which blanketed much of the oceans of the entire planet. While some places upon the earth had become hotter – the East and West were identical in that regard – on the whole, the entire planet had grown colder. In a century, scientists in the fledgling purview of climatology would look back upon this stretch of years with utter confusion and scratched heads, for any amount of common sense should say that the opposite ought happen. But all the confusion, all the physics-defying blasphemy against science in the world could not deny that one simple fact. The world was cold. And when that water, borne on cruel winds, fell, it fell as ice.

That annoyed Zhao.

"What is the meaning of this?" he asked, his voice very level, for all his annoyance. It was becoming common knowledge amongst the ranks that when he was annoyed, people tended to die. That worked for him, since it meant they would clamber over their own mothers to ensure it wasn't they themselves who paid that price.

"Lord Zhao, the situation in Henhiavut is taking a lot more of our manpower than any of us could have predicted..." the regional commander, Kaji, said simply. There was a deadness behind that man's eyes that Zhao didn't like, for the simple reason that it meant he had become so bathed in horrors that nothing could frighten or intimidate him anymore.

"More than you could have predicted?" Zhao repeated. "I managed to take Great Whales with a fraction of the troops the Fire Lord has entrusted in you, and they have fifteen times the population! Nine times the army! How have you squandered this so completely?"

Kaji shrugged, slumped in his seat as he was. He pointed at the map of Henhiavut. "They control the Spikerim. The only troops we can get over that are eel-houndsmen, but they're never heard from again. They must have something ready for them. I've lost enough of them to not consider it an option."

"Then use the Ghurkas," Zhao prompted with annoyance.

"What do you think I've been doing? Sitting on my hands? Of course I've been using the Ghurkas," Kaji said, and though his words bespoke annoyance, his tone didn't alter one hair. It was quite off-putting. "They rebuild faster than we can blow down their walls. And this Agni forsaken ice ruins our weapons and causes them to backfire. If you said the land itself was at war with us, I wouldn't disagree."

"We should strike past them, at Summavut," Zhao said.

"Impossible," Kaji answered.

"It is impossible because you haven't tried," Zhao contended.

"It is impossible because even the Ghurkas cannot succeed," Kaji answered. He shook his head, very, very slowly. "The only thing we have on our side is time. They're running out of food in that fortress, and when they come out to forage, we can pick them off. It's maybe two or three a day, but that's two or three that'll never face us again."

"Two or three enemy casualties a day, and you consider that a successful effort?" Zhao asked with derision. Kaji leaned forward, then tipped a basket toward Zhao. He looked inside, before letting out a growl of disgust and pushing it away from him. "What is this barbarity?" Zhao demanded.

"A Tribesman isn't dead until his head leaves his body. Anything less, and they'll be fighting us again in two days, at most. And they've got a lot of fight in them. Had we the strength, I'd say blast this entire archipelago to a puddle and have done."

"Sadly, not possible at this time," Zhao noted. He looked at the map. "Strange how Allavut and Nunavut fell so quickly."

"So had Hanhiavut, but they pushed us back out, like they did from Allavut three years ago," Kaji said. Zhao snapped his glare up at him.

"Do you make it a habit of losing ground we've shed our blood to take?" he asked.

"Those Tribesmen... I've tried to keep the rumors amongst the men to a minimum, but sometimes it's just not possible," Zhao raised his one remaining eyebrow, a scowl still on his face. "Word around the fires is that they're not human. That they've done some sort of spirit magic. That the Tribesmen cannot be killed. Nonsense."

"They are human. It's just a matter of breaking their morale," Zhao contended.

Kaji stared into the fire for a long time. "That... might not be possible," he said.

"And why not?" Zhao asked, a vein starting to bulge in the side of his head.

"Because she's there with them."

"Who?"

"One guards their lives, the other their hearts. We can't get close to either of them," Kaji said morosely.

"Give me a name, soldier."

"Two of them, two women, as I have it figured, are the reason they retook Henhiavut," Kaji said. "A rescue mission, maybe. Probably for that spy that we'd captured a few days before their force landed."

"Names."

"You've read the Book of Movements, haven't you?" Kaji asked. Zhao glanced to the old, bound book under his fist. He'd first read it the day he arrived on a lark, but was shocked to find it scribed with the exact same cypher that Princess Azula used. And its subject matter too bore striking similarities. "For all the good it would do. It is an impenetrable mess."

"I have seen its like before," Zhao said, prompting the man to continue. "I'm running out of patience. Their names. Now."

"'Yue'... and that book's author, 'Irukandji'."

---

Chapter 18

The Siege of the North

---

The wind screamed, bouncing between flecks of seemingly razor sharp ice that flew on its malicious breath. Ordinarily, it would have been business as usual for Sokka, since he'd had weather like this pressing in on his ears since he was an infant. But today, unlike all other days before, there was one notable problem. He didn't have a hat. Even the hood from his old, long lost parka would have sufficed to cut the wind and keep those tricky little goblins from flying down his ear canal and melting painfully and uncomfortably against his eardrum.

"We should be flying higher!" Sokka shouted over the wind.

"We're close," Hakoda answered from where he leaned over the edge of the Howdah. "In this weather, we won't see the breakwater of Henhiavut unless we're right on top of it."

"I think Sokka's right on this one," Aang's opinion wafted over the rail. Unlike the others, he hadn't changed out of his yellow and orange robes, since the ice went out of its way to avoid him. There were times when Sokka was downright spiteful towards Aang, and his magical wind. "Appa's exhausted, aren't you Appa?"

Appa let its opinion be known with a bellow. Hakoda though wasn't about to be outvoted by a demigod and a bison. "We have to land here first. If this beast is tired now, he'll never make it past the Spikerim to Summavut."

"Well, I guess..." Aang muttered.

"Can you see anything?" Katara asked, huddling close around a shivering lemur.

"I can't see my own nose!" Sokka exaggerated. He pulled on the reins, intending to bear the beast upward, but the Bison gave a snort, and Sokka knew what that meant. It meant the big flying mattress had smelled something edible. How it could smell anything in this tempest was beyond Sokka's comprehension. "Wait a second... I think Appa's got something."

"Really? What?" Aang asked.

The answer loomed out of the murk and had Sokka shouting in alarm and sawing the reins away, scarcely dodging aside of some wall of rock that appeared suddenly enough to make Sokka almost wet himself. The connected shouts of the passengers sounded into the air as they were thrown about brutally. But better that than the alternative. Sokka heaved back on the reins, pulling the bison from a screaming advance to a virtual hover.

"What in the sands of Hell was that?" Katara shouted. "Sokka, you're such a terrible driver!"

"I think I've found the breakwater," Sokka said, urging the beast more gently towards that mass which they'd almost hit. The bison finally let out a low grumble as its six feet settled onto the hewn stone. Somewhere below, all could hear the waves crashing ceaselessly and greedily, trying to erode the foundations of the fortress city away. "And we're landed!"

"This is the breakwater? Isn't it supposed to be... you know... next to the ocean?" Aang asked.

"The weather is brutal up here," Hakoda answered at a bellow, because he had to. "The waves can be as tall as a Fire Nation dreadnaught is long. This was the only way to keep the whole thing rooted."

"Where'd they get the stone?" Katara asked.

"That's a long story. Better told when we're not getting eroded to death," Hakoda answered. "The doors are somewhere this way."

Following their father, and bearing a massive beast of burden, they tried to pick their way along the artificial surface which stood defiant of the near-constant storms. He wondered what this place would have looked like were it... well... visible. But that was a wish that'd have to wait, since survival was first on his agenda. Well, survival was almost assured, but his ears were not. They'd long gone past burning with cold and now felt like chunks of ice stuck to his head, which he had to assume was a bad sign. Finally, Dad let out a triumphant laugh, and beckoned the others forward. There was a tunnel, which was oddly large. Appa still had to bend its knees to get under the arch, but room was otherwise plentiful. And with the reprieve from the flying ice, visibility instantly jumped.

"Man, the weather is terrible," Aang noted.

"The storms come more frequently in the North," Hakoda said. "Nobody could ever figure out why."

"Man, this place is huge," Katara said. "What are those?"

Sokka followed her finger upward, to a series of divots in the ceiling. "Wait... I've seen things like that before. Those look like 'murder-holes'."

Hakoda nodded. "Henhiavut was always a fortress first and a city second. This is the only entrance that they'll admit to," Hakoda said, banging on the great, creosote-blackened doors. After a moment, he gave the doors a shove, and they emitted not so much as a rattle. "That's... odd."

"What is it, Dad?" Katara asked.

"This thing is barricaded."

"Well, that's alright. We'll just drop in from above," Aang said.

"Not possible," Hakoda said. Sokka raised a brow at that. "This place was built to be proof against aerial attacks for some reason," Hakoda shook his head. "Of course, who'd attack from the sky, I couldn't possibly guess."

"We've got a pretty good idea," Sokka said, sharing that unsteady glance with his sister and the Avatar. "How are we going to get in?"

"Well, we could knock?" Aang offered, then gave a pair of flicks of his staff toward the door, airbending a battering ram against them. Two crisp blows. Then, he twisted his glider back behind him, and waited.

"Somebody must be watching the gate," Katara said.

And she was proven right when the hall beside her dropped away, an arch appearing out of nothing. Dark figures reached through that void and grabbed her, dragging her in before she could even scream. Sokka got about a half second further before he felt himself similarly grappled. Sokka, though, wasn't about to be taken like that. He twisted inside his jacket, sliding out of it and staggering back, leaving an ill illuminated figure holding his green coat and leaving Sokka with the mobility to hurl a boomerang at him. It spanged off the man's head with a lovely noise, sending him staggering back, before the weapon crudely returned; it wasn't exactly Sokka's best throw, after all.

Hakoda didn't put up a quarter of the fight Sokka thought he would. Well, Sokka altered his estimation when he remembered that Dad was still hurt. Still, that these brutes were hurting his family would not stand. Aang, of all of them, got taken out with embarrassing ease, tied and dragged into the hole which sealed behind them. Sokka could see Dad being dragged to one of two remaining holes, and he started to run. With a tackle, he slammed his mass against Dad's uninjured side, which in turn threw all three through that gap and the assailant into the wall hardest of all of them.

"Can you make it back to..." Sokka began.

He trailed off when he felt the points of spears and knives encircling his neck. He glanced down, to the points which were pricking hard enough to draw blood. Then, back up to his father.

"What's going on?" Aang asked from where he was bound.

"OW Damn it! This one bites!" a voice called out in Sokka's native tongue from where Katara had been pressed to the floor.

"What's going on here?" Sokka asked.

"You speak our language pretty well for a foreigner," a husky voice said. "How much did they pay you to spy on us?"

"We're not here to spy on you," Sokka said, retreating a step, to find his back against an ice wall. He could just barely hear Appa's mildly unsettled bellow on the other side of it.

"That's the only reason you people come here nowadays. We know who fills your pockets, outsider," that knife wielding brutal said with an audible sneer.

"Outsider? I'm a Tribesman!" Sokka said.

"I've never seen a Tribesman dressed like that," a woman answered from nearby.

"I... kinda lost my clothes on Kyoshi Island," Sokka said. "I haven't exactly had a chance to replace them."

"A likely story," she said.

"Alright, how about this. I'm talking in your language without an accent and without hesitation. Dad, why aren't you telling them this?" Sokka asked. Then he saw that Dad had gotten gagged just as his sister no doubt had. "Oh. What's going on here?"

"Just rooting out some spies," he said. "And that makes four."

"Wait! I'm the Avatar! I'm trying to find..."

"The Avatar he says?" a peal of rough laughter rose up at that. "That would make the fifth which came a-knocking at our gates. Funny that people never figured out it wouldn't work twice. I'm pretty sure Avatars don't get reborn that quick, am I right Malys?"

"But I'm really the Avatar!"

"You are spies and enemies of the Water Tribe," he snapped.

"What is wrong with you? Can't you recognize your own kin?" Sokka asked.

"We have no kin but those who bleed with us," the man said direly. There was a murmur coming through the ranks, and the man turned away. Sokka noted that a great many others did as well. With a grit of his teeth, he swept his arms up, knocking aside the many spearpoints, and rushed the man with the knife. His hands were strong, but Sokka had long ago learned that using somebody's strength against him was an incredibly valuable lesson. When he tried to put Sokka back at knife's point, Sokka bent, using the man's thrust to twist him off of his feet, spinning down and levering the man's knife, still in his own hand, against the vein of his neck.

"We're just here to find the Tribesmen of Henhiavut! We aren't trying to hurt or destroy anything! We're not spies!" Sokka shouted. The spears leveled toward him again. "Stay back! I didn't want to hurt anybody but if you don't let my family go..."

"Release the girl and the old man," the man on the ground said, in entirely too calm a voice, given his position.

"She's coming!" a voice said from down that darkened hall. And as he did, light began to fill the passage, making it actually capable for Sokka to get a look at the people who were trying to kill them. Sokka didn't like what he saw.

They were wearing armor, but it was all in patches and hastily inserted repairs. He wagered that despite their covering over with skins of local wildlife, they were mostly salvaged firebender armor. But it wasn't the armor which gave him alarm. It was the eyes. Some were brown, but the vast majority were as blue as Sokka's own. But they all glared with an unearthly, inhuman fire which would have made anybody uncomfortable. They all watched Sokka like they were deciding if they should eat him. Twenty Tribesmen, all dark skinned and bright eyed, glaring at Sokka like he was their enemy.

"Make way for the Princess!" a voice came from behind again.

"Sokka, I don't like this," Aang said.

"Plueh! Why do they always gag me?" Katara complained.

"Because you always bite people," Hakoda said unsteadily. He clutched his head as though he'd been struck there. "And I'm proud of you for that."

"Back off, I'm serious," Sokka said.

"No you're not," the man said. "You're just a coward who thinks he's got the upper hand."

"She's here!"

"Whoever you are," Sokka began, looking up as the brutish Tribesmen began to part. "I swear, if you don't let us go, I'll... I'll..."

He trailed off because the girl who stood before him was the most radiant human being he had ever seen in his life. Her skin was dark as chocolate, but her hair was white as snow. Her armor, unlike that of everybody around her, was pristine ice-blue, bearing a heraldry of the waxing moon. As far as he could tell, she wasn't carrying a weapon, but then again, considering how the expressions of those Tribesmen around her turned from sociopathic apathy to outright worship, she probably had all the weapons she'd ever need in them. And her eyes, so bright and expressive, spoke so clearly of kindness and mercy and strength that Sokka could as easily turn away from her as could anybody else.

He looked at her once and fell stupidly in love with her.

Which gave the Tribesmen under Sokka all the space needed to buck Sokka off, rotating that knife back into his hand. He landed harshly with a knee on Sokka's ribs, driving the wind from his lungs, and that knife halted a whisker's-breadth from the surface of Sokka's left eye. He had a feeling that if he blinked, he might cut himself.

"Shakt, that's enough," that glorious woman said, her voice sweet as bells in the morning. She couldn't have been more than a year older than Sokka, but every part of her seemed beyond time itself.

"Princess Yue, these intruders are..."

"They are not intruders," Yue said. What a lovely name. She looked past the sprawled Tribesmen before her, to where Sokka's father was reaching for his own secreted weapon, only held back because Katara happened to be standing in his way when the great flip-aroo happened. "Chief Hakoda, it has been... too long."

"Yue?" Dad asked. "Is that really you?"

"I heard you had become chief. Congratulations are in order," she said. "Shakt, get off of our guest."

"As you command, Princess," he said, sheathing that blade and getting off of Sokka's chest, letting the teenager have a long-overdue inhale.

"What's going on here?" Katara asked. Yue turned to her, then back down to Sokka.

"The Siege is going on here," she said quietly. "Chief, please, come with me. Your presence here is probably the best news we've had in a while."

"What about me? I'm the Avatar! Don't I count for anything?" Aang complained.

"Is he?" Yue asked.

"Yup," Katara said.

"He is," Hakoda agreed.

"Oh yeah, he's an airbender and a waterbender, and there was one time he punched a volcano in half and I'm rambling aren't I?" Sokka said, terminating with an awkward laugh. But Yue smiled just a bit at that.

"Well... then he should come, too. How many men have you brought?"

"None," Hakoda said. Her brows twitched just a bit at that, but she held her composure.

"Why?"

"We were struck and dispersed by the Fire Nation almost a month ago. Where is your father, or Master Pakku? What are you doing here?"

She turned, and sighed just a little. "That's why you have to come with me," she said. She looked up. "At ease. These men are to be given every courtesy of Henhiavut."

"So... no eating the bison outside?"

"You are not eating Appa!" Aang shouted, moving to Sokka's side.

"Of course you aren't," Yue agreed, looking a touch annoyed. "The beast is given the same treatment."

"This is all very strange," Hakoda mentioned.

"Welcome to Henhiavut," one of the Tribesmen said around a rough laugh. When they began to file away, practically vanishing into the side passages like ghosts, Aang was not alone in swallowing nervously. But for all that, there was only one image in Sokka's brain. The perfect face of the white-haired girl.

---

Despite the Princess' assurances, Aang was still dreadfully uncomfortable leaving Appa and Momo under the hungry eyes of these odd Tribesmen. Thus, it wasn't until Katara offered to keep an eye on the big fuzzy galoot that Aang allowed himself to wander, the lemur clinging to him as though it understood the culinary peril it was in. It wasn't long until Hakoda took up with him, walking the same path as the Avatar, looking at the same sights.

"This place is incredible," Aang said.

"It used to be... better," Hakoda said.

Aang raised a brow at that. "How?"

Hakoda pointed up above them, where the light of the scant lanterns vanished into darkness. "They used to have lamps all the way up the dome. And I can tell just by looking at it that this dome's been rebuilt at least twice since the last time I came here."

"Really? How?"

"It used to be carved," Hakoda said. He shook his head slowly. "This place used to be one of the more beautiful creations of the North Water Tribe, even if it was a fortress. The war hasn't been kind to beautiful things."

Aang shook his head. "No, it really hasn't."

Better not to tell the older man who Aang was thinking about when he said that. It would have upset him, surely. The two walked in silence, rounding the great promenade which lay at the heart of the fortress city. Even now, Aang could see that there were fragments hinting at a past of splendor and glory. But they were only that, fragments. Everything wooden had probably been busted up and burnt for heat and preparing food. Everything metal had been repurposed into armor and blades. Only long empty pots, scaffolds made of some old and patinaed bone and canvas showed that there would have been a market here. Now, everything was still, and quiet. The only sounds were the grindstones off in the distance somewhere, the low popping of cool fires. The hushed talking of people who no longer had much to say.

"This isn't what I expected," Aang said.

"Nor I," Hakoda admitted. "It's like the place has died and rotted away," he shook his head slowly. "This is not the Henhiavut that I resented."

"Everybody looks so... ragged," Aang said.

"They would be. They've been fighting non-stop for six years," Hakoda said. Aang swallowed nervously at that thought. "They didn't have the numbers to do what the West can. They have to fight, day in and day out, without rest or cease. I wonder how much there is left to them, outside of the fight?"

"This doesn't feel right," Aang said quietly.

"You're right in that. It does not," Hakoda agreed. The hushed talking died down even further, leaving an eerie silence in the vast space, lasting only a few seconds, but such unsettling seconds they were. Then, there came a slamming of a door, and a woman's voice muttering in a tongue which Aang couldn't understand, but from the tone of it, it reeked of outright annoyance. Hakoda gave a glance to the Avatar. "That's odd. From the way they acted, I thought they'd only let Tribesmen in here."

"Well, maybe they needed a skilled cook?" Aang offered. That tongue certainly wasn't Tianxia, and the only other need that Aang could see here would have been earthbenders. For a moment, he regretted leaving behind Toph, but he steeled himself. Up here, she could get hurt or worse if anything went wrong.

Another door slam, much closer this time, and both men, young and old, turned to the incoming source of that din. Momo let out an frightened shriek and ducked inside Aang's kavi, which made him a bit befuddled, doubly so when he saw what prompted that behavior. First to be seen was a woman whom Aang was fairly sure epitomized the Tribal standard of beauty. Her hair was so black it shined in blues, her eyes like ice chips, and her body held the contour of an hour glass. Even Hakoda couldn't help but let out a low whistle of appreciation at the sight. Behind here came others, though, rough and ragged as the other Tribesmen seemed to be. She spotted Hakoda first, and her expression became one of confusion.

"Wait a second... what the hell are you doing here?" that woman asked.

"And very pleasant to meet you, too," Hakoda said with a smirk. The woman rolled her eyes.

"Stow the South Water Tribe charm, pal. You're not supposed to be here," she said.

"Where I come from, it's traditional to introduce yourself. I am Hakoda, High Chief of the South Water Tribes. And you are?"

"Alarmed," she answered.

"That's an odd name," Hakoda muttered, glancing behind him.

"That's not my name, numb-nuts. I swear, the world is trying to mess with me," She shook her head, tweezing her brow tightly as though warding off a headache. "I am, apparently, the High Shaman of the North. Why are you here?"

"Does the High Shaman have a name?" Hakoda asked.

"Are you seriously trying to charm me?" she asked. Then she bent back and let out rib-bursting laughter. Hakoda and Aang shared a very confused glance, then he turned back to her. She settled down, wiping an involuntary tear from her eye. "Oh, if you knew what I did, you'd find that hilarious."

"Lady, you're acting crazy," Aang pointed out. "And rude, too!"

"Ah, and the Avatar shows himself at last," she said. "Finally, something goes according to plan."

"Plan? What plan?" Aang asked. The Shaman waved his question away.

"My question stands, neighbor. What are you doing this far north?" she demanded.

"I'm seeing the situation in the North for myself," Hakoda said.

"Why?" she asked.

"I don't need to explain myself to you," Hakoda said, annoyance in his voice.

"Eh. You might want to consider it," she said, and Aang could feel some sort of dire energy in those words.

"The rumors say that the fight is going very badly up north, that people are losing themselves to sanguinary intoxication, and I need to know if I can trust them at this point," Hakoda said, his voice flat, but his eyes growing tight as though the words were being extracted from him.

"See, was that so hard?" the Shaman asked. Aang, though, felt a strong surge of alarm. He closed his eyes, calling to mind the lessons he'd taken in Senlin. It might have only been the first step of a long journey, but he'd learned how to open the World Eyes, and when he opened his own, it was to see beyond the veil of the simple physical.

There was something inside her. Something made of lightning.

"What are you?" Aang asked, interposing himself between the High Chief and the High Shaman. As he did, a number of those rough Tribesmen did likewise with her. "Tell me what you are!"

"Really? You've figured that out already?" she asked. She shook her head, and waved a dismissal to her escort. "Go on. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to get into a fist fight with the Avatar, now am I?"

"Whatever you say, mistress," a woman's voice said, and the group dissolved away. But as they did, their eyes stayed locked on the outsiders until their bearers vanished from line of sight. She smiled up at Hakoda.

"You can leave, too. This is better said between people who might understand each other," she said, dismissing Hakoda. He turned and walked away briskly. Aang made a strangled noise, and raised his staff toward her. "Don't be so suspicious. That's what he wanted to do."

"You're some kind of spirit, aren't you?"

"And points away for improper thinking," she chastised. "Technically, I'm two beings. Or one, depending on your math. Walk with me, kid?"

Aang raised a brow, but started walking. He was fairly sure it was of his own volition, anyway. "So what are you? And what am I supposed to call you?"

"Huuni, or Irukandji. I prefer the latter," she said. "So you woke up in the South Pole, right?"

"Yeah... why do you have two names?"

"Long story, I'll get to that later," Irukandji said. "And the first person you saw was that little Tribal girl, right?"

"What? No..." Aang said. "Where are you getting your information?"

Irukandji stopped, staring at Aang for a moment. "You do have a crush on Katara, don't you?"

"Ew! That's like wanting to do stuff with my sister!" Aang said with distaste. Irukandji looked utterly confounded. "But there is somebody... But I shouldn't talk about her."

"Avatar, I'm not asking because I'm a gossip. This is actually pretty important. Who are you crushing on?" she asked, with a level of gravitas which ran quite contrary to the content of her words.

"Um... Princess Azula?" Aang said quietly and unsteadily. "I mean, she's a good person, she just..."

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," Irukandji interrupted. "She dug you out of that iceberg, didn't she?" Aang gave a small nod. She let out a weary sigh, and a shake of her head. "You know, you're just like a duck, kid. You fixate on the first pretty face you see. Things are a lot more off than I could have realized. And I'm thinking that if even the little stuff is so different, I can't reasonably say how far we are off course by now. I'm going to need to consult some of the Tomes," Irukandji said, walking away with a brisk step and an annoyed expression.

"...I am not a duck!" Aang shouted after her. It echoed in the vast and open chamber, returning back to him with embarrassment. Momo peeked back out of Aang's neck, turning to face him with large, fearful eyes. He let out a string of nervous chatter, before ducking back into the kavi, just in time for the strange Shaman to glance back. She was smirking at something, something Aang didn't quite understand. With another creak and a slam, she vanished from sight, and Momo crawled back out and onto Aang's shoulder. "I'm not a duck," Aang repeated, much more quietly this time. He was pretty sure even Momo was laughing at him as he walked toward where Hakoda had retreated.

---

It was remarkably easy to find her. All Sokka had to do was follow the wave of reverence which followed behind her like a trail in the woods. Actually reaching her, though? That was an entirely different difficulty. A difficulty not made easier by a sister who stayed unusually close at hand. "Don't you have somewhere else you'd like to be? Like grilling one of those waterbenders back there for tips on... waterbending?" Sokka asked.

She shook her head minutely. "They make me very uncomfortable," she answered in a low tone. "The way the look at me..."

Sokka could appreciate that. His first attempt to continue his conversation with the Princess had been rebuffed by one of her worshipers throwing him out a window. That was, in fact, how he rendezvoused with his sister. "I'm starting to think something's a bit funky with the North Water Tribe," Sokka admitted. "I mean, I wouldn't go around defenestrating my cousins, would I?"

"Really?" Katara asked. "And what about that time you dangled Tula from that balcony back in Glacier Plane?"

"What? She kept throwing things at me," Sokka said. "Besides, I didn't let go of her. It's the letting go that makes it defenestration."

Katara let out a chuckle at that, the first happy sound he'd heard from her since they entered this dim, damp, cold, and oppressive fortress. "Gotta say, I have no idea how Mom could have put up with Agho for a brother. Tula's a chip right off his block."

"Don't worry," Sokka said comfortingly. "We'll get home someday."

"I know, Sokka," she said with a tone ten thousand miles away.

"Where is home, anyway?" a third voice asked, which caused Sokka to emit a slightly girlish shriek, to his dismay. When he turned to see its source, his half-composed implication that his sister had created it stumbled to a standstill when the target of his roving was standing before him. Her eyes, Tui La, her eyes, they were so bright and kind. He felt fairly sure he could drown in them. Unfortunately, that eye-drowning had the unfortunate side effect of making him utterly insensible and unable to answer her very simple question, so he could only offer the following:

"I, uh, I mean we... So we were... I'm..."

"We're from Chimney Mountain," Katara broke in, obviously not beguiled by her spell. Not that Sokka was particularly annoyed at being so beguiled. There were many, far worse manners of beguilement, and he had a sneaking suspicion that he would be subjected to at least a few of them before this whole 'chumming around with the Avatar' business was done for.

"Well, that's nice to know," the girl said to Sokka. She smiled warmly. "I'm beguiling, then?"

"Did I say that last part out loud?" Sokka asked. Katara answered him the most succinct way possible, by palming her face and shaking her head slowly. The Princess then turned to Katara.

"Chimney Mountain? I hear that is one of your larger cities. How does it fare?"

"It's... not a city anymore," Katara said, shooting a glare to Sokka to keep his internal dialog internal. He honestly hoped he didn't make the same mistake twice. "It fell a long time ago."

"I'm sorry to hear that," she said. She moved past Sokka, to where a window obviously once stood facing the outside world. Now, it was clogged with cloudy ice. Sokka noted that she even smelled beautiful. "I remember when the Fire Nation attacked us. I was only ten. They struck us like a storm, and they pushed us all the way back to Summavut. We were going to lose our city, our people, everything. Every drop of blood hurt Father more and more. I could tell it would kill him to lose Summavut as we'd lost everything else."

"Is there any place that the Fire Nation hasn't pretty much ruined?" Katara asked.

"How come you're here now?" Sokka asked. "If all this happened six years ago, I mean... That's a long time to..."

"I took up the standard," she said. "I could barely carry it, but I took it out into the battle. And every warrior rushed around me, determined to the death to not let any harm touch me," she looked down. "We lost good people. Not just warriors."

"That must have been terrible," Katara said. "At least you don't need to do that anymore."

She glanced back to Sokka's sister. "Yes, I do. I am the heart of our people. The soldiers never break and surrender when I'm on the field. If it weren't for me, there would not be a North Water Tribe."

"So you actually go into battle?" Katara asked.

The Princess nodded. "Every battle."

"But you don't have any weapons," Sokka noted. Her armor had no harnesses for spears nor clubs or even a beltloop for a sling. She smiled lightly.

"The standard is my weapon," she said quietly.

There was a long moment of silence.

"So... you're a Princess. That's great, huh?" Sokka opined. She glanced toward him. "Y'know, back where I come from, I'm something of a prince myself."

Katara immediately made a brat of herself and scoffed. "Prince of what?" she asked.

"I'm prince of a lot of things!" Sokka snapped back. "D'ya mind? I'm trying to have a conversation here!"

"Oh, my humblest apologies, great Prince Sokka," she said with a sarcastic bow.

Sokka turned back to the princess, trying his damnedest to make his smile look less nervous. "So... we're going to be around the North for a while. I was hoping that we could maybe... engage... in an activity... together?" Sokka said, his confidence waning sharply as he tried to reach the end. Yue arched an ivory brow at his pathetic offering.

"Engage in an activity?" she asked.

"I..." Sokka stammered.

"Very smooth," Katara noted.

"That man you came with, Chief Hakoda," Yue said. "It's been a long time since I saw him. He wasn't Chief back then. I'm sorry, but I admit, there's not much I know about my sister tribe. I never really understood how different from us it could be."

"We've had a hard century," Katara said quietly.

"That we understand," Yue agreed. She turned to Sokka, which made him want to both swell up and shrink away, both elevated and envervated by her attention. "How is it that the son of the High Chief isn't a prince? Surely you must be children of status in the South?"

"Well," Katara said, rolling her eyes.

"Status... doesn't go very deep back home," Sokka managed to say, his mind engaging once it had a topic he could discuss without fixating on how very, very, very, very pretty Yue was. "There's pretty much just the normal folk... and that's about it, really. Our warriors aren't exactly in a different caste, and we've only got the two shamans, and I'm pretty sure they're just making it up as they go along," Sokka said with a chuckle.

"I'm a shaman," Yue pointed out with a small smile.

"Well... ah..." Sokka said, derailing.

"What's it like up here?" Katara saved him by asking.

"We've got the shamans at the top, with the military just below them. Under those are the non combatants, the old and the young, those who keep us fed. At the top, though, is Father," she said. "He was born to be Chief, and his chosen son will inherit after he passes on," she said.

"Chosen son?" Katara asked. "Do you have a brother?"

"...no, I don't," Yue answered. Katara looked a bit annoyed at that.

"So you're not allowed to be the Chief? What kind of crap is that? Let me guess, women aren't allowed to be waterbenders or warriors either," she said, obviously gearing up for a tangent. Sokka raised a finger to point out that a heady number of the savage Tribesmen who handed them all their own collective rear ends were women.

"Five years ago, you'd have been right," Yue said. She nodded slowly. "It's been a hard few years. But now that the Avatar is here, we might finally see an end to this. First, we break the siege at Henhiavut, and then, we can use his strength to force the Fire Nation away for good," she said, finally smiling again. Oh, what a smile...

"Use the Avatar?" Katara asked, suspicious. No! don't antagonize the pretty pretty princess, Sokka thought loudly.

"You know what she means," Sokka said with a forced laugh. The laugh trailed off. "But... if I'm allowed to ask... what is everybody doing here?"

"We lost somebody important to us," Yue said, walking down the corridor. The siblings walked with her. "Pakku, our greatest waterbending master came here. We're not sure why. But he was captured by the Fire Nation. Irukandji demanded we rescue him immediately, even though I'm fairly sure their intentions aren't exactly altruistic."

"Iru-who?" Sokka asked.

"You'll meet them eventually," Yue said. "Soon, I think. We will have to leave soon. I don't doubt the Fire Nation will take the first break in the weather to get back to shelling us. And we're all tired and hungry. We can't last here. We don't have the Spikerim to keep the navy back, here. Some days, I really worry."

"It'll be alright," Sokka said. She smiled at that.

"Maybe you're right, now," Yue admitted. She looked around. "Where is your father, anyway? I'd very much like to catch up."

"I'll find him," Katara said. As she walked away, though, she shot Sokka a look which clearly said 'don't do anything stupid'. Sokka defied that by immediately attempting something stupid.

"You know, I'm still hoping that we could see some more of each other," Sokka said.

"Really? Would you like to engage in an activity?" she asked coyly. He let out a nervous laugh once more.

"Yeah... at a place! For some... time," he stammered. She was just too beautiful to keep a clear head around, this girl was. If he'd been fixating on something besides her practically inhuman beauty, something like, for example, the flash of intense sadness which crossed her features in a moment he was too distracted to notice, he might have wondered about what she said next.

"I think I'd really enjoy that," she said, leaning in close and laying the briefest kiss on his lips. He went shock still, and she glided away practically unnoticed. He stood like that for almost a minute after she left, his brain unable to work through what had just happened. And when it finally did, if in a terribly undercompehended way, it was to a cry of glee and a happy dance.

He was falling for the girl in blue. And at the moment, he didn't care that it made that crazy old bat in Makapu right.

---

Despite what Sokka said frequently and loudly about any mention of ghosts, Aang couldn't help but feel like this place was haunted. Not only were the claustrophobic halls of this fortress city so devoid of signs of life to make the place seem a tomb, those that still moved through it did so with the brusque, callous nature of the shuffling dead, their eyes no more lively than anything else in this place. Well, that wasn't quite true. When he came close to them, they watched him, and when they did, Aang felt an entirely different chill running through him. He didn't like those eyes. He didn't like the fire which burned in them, cold and bitter, but so very very sharp. They were like knives made of ice, and every instinct not just of an Avatar but as an Air Nomad told him to stay away from them. That they were dangerous monsters, not entirely on the leash.

So focused on those savage Tribesmen, even going so far as to watch them pass behind him as he walked, that he managed to blunder straight into somebody. "Oh! Sorry! I didn't..."

"You should be more careful," the into-bumped admonished. Aang looked up at the Tribesman. He was balding, with his grey hair receded completely from the top of his pate and forming a ring that ended right above his ears. It hung limply and in strings, thinning even where it still clung, and his blue eyes were darkened by heavy bags below them, his pallor pale – despite being a Tribesman, he was almost the same complexion as Aang! – and sallow. He looked about ready to launch into a whole other tirade, but caught himself, staring at the kid. "I am awake, am I not?"

"I couldn't tell you," Aang said. "Who are you?"

"You are the Avatar, correct?" the man said.

"Yup," Aang said, grateful that he was having a conversation. His attempts with those ruffians were all rebuked with quiet glares. It was highly uncomfortable. "And you are..."

"Wondering where you spent the last century hiding," he answered. With a roll of the eyes at Aang's blanch, he sighed. "I am Pakku, the Moon's Consul, master of the Summavut Waterbending Hall. If you're here, I have to assume it's because you want something."

"Well," Aang said uncomfortably.

"There you are, Aang," Katara's voice broke in. "You wouldn't believe what an idiot my brother's being."

"More than usual?" Aang asked with a chuckle.

"I know! It's like when there's a pretty face around he forgets how to use his... who is this?" she trailed off.

"This," the waterbender said testily, "is Master Pakku. And who exactly are you supposed to be? His nurse?"

"Nurse?" she asked, humor falling into outrage in a heartbeat. "Just because I'm a girl, you immediately think that..."

"Oh, you," Pakku said wearily. "She warned me about you."

"Who warned you?" Aang broke over Katara, who was still trying very hard to explode into a proper tirade.

"Irukandji. That... 'woman'... is an unsettling presence in the North. She's been around entirely too long as it is."

"Why?" Aang asked.

"She was High Shaman in the year I was born," Pakku said. He turned to Katara. "So you're the pugnacious South Water Tribe waterbender who is willing to pick a fight with anybody to get what she wants. Interesting. I wasn't even aware that the South still had waterbenders."

"I'm the last one," Katara said, her voice still hot and angry.

"Isn't that a pity," he said, not asked.

"Wait..." Katara said, as something dawned on her. "Master Pakku? As in waterbending master?" Pakku nodded impatiently. Her eyes went wide for a moment. "You could teach me waterbending! Proper waterbending!"

"I could," he said. But then, her eyes narrowed.

"But you're not going to, because you're probably as sexist as..."

"Katara, don't do this," Aang warned.

"You know very little about what we've become," Pakku said. "If you want to learn waterbending, then I suggest you watch closely. If you want to fight, on the other hand, you must learn everything."

Katara finally started to wind down from her outrage, if only because outrage was mutually exclusive with bafflement, and the latter was moving in in force. "What do you mean?"

Pakku flicked his head toward a passage which lead into the heart of the fortress town. They followed after him as he walked. As he moved, he passed one of the chambers where the ragged soldiers were bunkered down. Amongst them, two of them were running healing hands over the wounded. "Six years ago, women were absolutely forbidden from combat, even to learning the elemental martial art of water. They were all foist upon Mistress Yugoda to learn the healing arts," he said, pausing before one door, where a shaven-headed Tribal woman was moving through a kata which sent razor-like discs of ice flying at her gestures. "But within a year of the Fire Lord's invasion, we were pushed back to the gates of the Citadel, having lost even the streets of Summavut. Irukandji and I had a long talk. And she was right. The women were... underutilized. There weren't enough fighters to push back the Fire Nation without them. And then, they started to get better. Fully half of my best students were women," he glanced down. "I'm still not used to seeing dead women on the battlefield. It feels... wrong."

"How did you push them back?" Katara asked. Pakku continued walking.

"Every adult is a fighter. Every waterbender is a healer. The fallen are healed and returned to the fight," he said, his tone hollow. "They've gotten very good at... healing. Some of them fall a dozen times in a day, and get back up thirteen. Sometimes I wonder if it'd be better if we just let them die," Pakku shuddered. "Their eyes... sometimes they look at you, and you're not even sure if they're still human."

"That's..." Aang said.

"Creepy," Katara answered. Pakku glanced her direction.

"And that is the Siege of the North," he said. "If you want to fight, look upon the face of your future," he said, waving toward a blue eyed woman who stared at a wall, beyond it, at nothing at all, that they passed by in their walk. "Glorious, isn't it?"

Katara looked anxiously at that woman, then back to Pakku. "It doesn't matter. I've got to learn how to protect what I care about."

"Many have said the exact same thing."

"I need to learn, too," Aang said. "The Avatar has to be a waterbender."

"Yes. He does," Pakku said grimly. "And if we survive the escape, I will have time to teach you. But there's the problem, isn't it? If we survive."

"Escape?" Katara asked.

"There's no holding Henhiavut," Pakku said quietly. "They'd never admit it. They probably don't even believe it. We've lost this city."

"Why did you come here, then?" Katara asked.

"Irukandji left something here," Pakku said. "Prophecies, she says. I don't believe it, but whatever they were, they couldn't fall into Fire Nation hands. She said they were too important," He shook his head. "Important enough to put Princess Yue's life in jeopardy, it seems."

"But they were in Fire Nation hands," Aang pointed out. Pakku nodded. "Then this was..."

"For naught. Just like most of what I've been doing the last five years," Pakku said. "The only thing we can do is escape with our lives, and a... tale of glory, to appease Arnook."

"Why are you still here, then?" Aang asked.

"The storm is too powerful for us to control," Pakku said. "The Avatar might have been able to control it, if you were realized, but I'm just an old man. I've never felt so old. When it lessens, we were going to pack our ships and brave the flotilla outside."

"Flotilla?" Aang asked.

"Always questions with you, isn't it?" Pakku's voice took on an annoyed tone. "Didn't you see them on the way in?"

"We didn't see much of anything," Katara admitted.

"Then you are in for an unpleasant surprise," Pakku said. He raised a brow. "Whatever the case, it will happen soon. This storm will not last forever. Its strength is lessening even now."

There was a sense of quiet dread as Pakku flicked a wrist, opening a hole in the ice wall, staring out into the storm. The two teenagers couldn't help but stand at either side of him as he wearily watched the grey darkness.

"This will be over soon," Pakku said.

Aang couldn't help but shudder at the finality of how he said that.

---

Azula packed much the same way as how she lived; with great fury and very little control. Iroh watched as she constantly reevaluated her decisions, throwing certain things aside, only to reconsider. Only once did she pause, stopping the mad, seemingly rote movements, but when she did, he noticed that her hands were shaking. It was telling that he couldn't tell whether that shake came from excitement, or from terror.

"I think I'm ready, Uncle," Zuko said, walking over somewhat stiffly to Iroh's side. Unlike Azula, Zuko had opted to pack the clothes on his back and what he could easily carry in a pouch at his hip. "Is she still packing? I thought she'd be pacing a hole in the deck plating waiting for us by now."

"You should speak to her," Iroh said simply. Zuko raised a brow, but opened the door and stepped inside. At the groan of the door, Azula's head swung toward him, before she rolled her eyes.

"Well? Aren't you going to pack?" she asked.

"I have," Zuko said, patting his pack. "You're the one holding us up."

"What did you say?" Azula asked.

"Is something wrong? You're not like this," Zuko mentioned.

"Nothing is wrong, dum-dum," she said, tearing apart her bundle again. "I just need to be prepared for anything. I can't let anything destroy this opportunity."

"Why not?" Zuko asked.

"Because I..." she paused, and glanced to the door. Iroh sighed, and took a few clomping steps away, before creeping back to the threshold to eavesdrop. When she spoke again, it was much more quiet. "Because I can see it in my mind, and it's all so clear. That place with the arch, and the two of us. The Avatar, waiting. But there's... No. No it isn't."

"Azula..."

There was a long pause. "For some reason, I have this... fear... that something will go terribly wrong. Humiliation and pain and... I can't afford to lose. Not this time. I want to go back home. I want to see the pride in Father's eyes when we hand him the Avatar. I want to have my family whole again," the last said so quietly, that Iroh could barely hear it.

"Our family hasn't been whole in a long time," Zuko said.

"Well... wholer than it is now," she said, her tone rising in annoyance. Iroh made a few tromping noises and then leaned past the threshold.

"We're in sight of the Spikerim. Are you ready? Or should we take some time to reconsider?" Iroh asked.

"No reconsidering," Azula said. She pressed her eyes closed for a moment, then looked around at her things. With a sigh, she swept most of them off the end of her bed, leaving only her armored bracers, a hair-fob, and a few minor effects, which she bound into her own pack. "If I find myself lacking something, it's your fault," she said, glaring at her brother.

"Duly noted," Zuko said with his usual sarcastic humor. The two of them turned toward the doors, then followed Iroh into the skiff bay. The walk down was met with silence, not just from the siblings, but from the crew, which gave them a clear path and a wide berth. Everybody knew this day would come, if not when or under what circumstance.

Azula bounded up into the skiff and glanced back at the two males behind. "Come on, Zuzu, we've got to move while the sky is still dark."

"There's been a slight change in plans," Iroh said. Both turned to him. Azula with shock, Zuko with annoyance. Mostly because the latter knew what was coming, and the former didn't. "You might think you're up to storming the great citadel of the north, but Summavut is a dangerous place, and it will be even more dangerous if the Avatar is truly there. I cannot allow you to do something so reckless."

"Uncle, if you're standing in my way..." Azula began.

"Not without my help, I mean," Iroh finished. Azula stopped, glaring at him. "I know that city. I know how the fighters think. Since I don't want the Tribesmen killing the only people left in my family that I care for, I'm not letting you go into that city unless I come with you."

"You'd slow us down," Azula said.

"You know that isn't true," Iroh said. She chewed her teeth, unable to create a cogent reason to say him no. "I have already handed over the deed to this ship to the cook. Since he's the only one not in the military, as of now, this vessel is a civilian craft, and all of its crew are off duty."

"What?" Azula asked.

"Do you really think that anybody would try court-martialing them all?" Zuko asked, understanding Iroh's thinking. "I mean... what could they know?"

"It's not what they knew, but rather who they served," Iroh pointed out. "We do not lack for enemies whose pettiness runs deep. They are protected, now. And besides, it's better this way than having the ship scuppered by pirates," Iroh said. "Am I right, Azula?"

Azula stared at him, her eyes locked and wary. Zuko, though, frowned at the oddly specific way of the ship's demise. "Pirates? Why would pirates scupper our ship?"

"Just get in the skiff, dum-dum," Azula said, but her eyes remained on Iroh. Good. So she was still canny, for all her obsession with those arcane symbols. Either she was better at hiding behind a mask than Iroh thought possible, though, or else that mask ran far deeper than he believed.

Iroh pulled himself into the craft, and took his place at the tiller, pulling a kettle from his sleeves and placing it over the spot on the engine where heat built up. "Before we set out, there is one more thing," Iroh said. "Ever since I lost Lu Ten, you have both been a comfort and a joy... yes, even you, Azula," he cut in when she got an utterly disbelieving look on her face, "and I wanted you both to know, that to me and Shou... We cared for you because..."

"You don't need to say it, Uncle," Zuko said quietly.

"We thought of you as our own," he finished anyway. He looked up at his nephew and niece, his pride and his worry and his joy. "But enough of this. We're not here to listen to an old man become weepy. We've got a city to break into!" he said with a level of gleeful enthusiasm he hadn't felt since the last time he infiltrated Summavut, and that was when he was scarcely older than Zuko. The ship began to slide into the surf. "Now hoods up, children. Remember to keep your ears warm!"

"Yes, Uncle," both of them said with the same bored tone and rolling of golden eyes.

---

"Do we have a plan here?" Sokka asked. Pakku, weary old fart that he was, shot a glare in his direction. "I know get out alive, but how exactly are we going to do that?"

"The Princess will deliver us," one of the brutes said with no tone but utter surety.

"What my son is saying, is that the Gods have always helped those who helped themselves," Hakoda said. "And from what I've heard of your earlier plans, they mostly relied on brute-force and incredible luck."

"Are you calling us idiots?" the soldier who almost cut Sokka's throat asked gravely, stepping into Hakoda's face. Hakoda, though, was not about to be intimidated.

"You lack cunning. You lack craft," Hakoda said. "I led around a thousand non-bending warriors, and until this month, had lost no more than could be counted on one hand. You, on the other hand, seem content to fight a war of attrition against a force that outnumbers you five hundred to one. If that isn't stupidity, I don't know what it is!"

"I've had just about enough of this entitled shit telling us what to do," the fighter answered.

"Entitled?" Sokka asked with complete disbelief. "We live in blocks of ice! We're not exactly from an economic hub!"

"Shut your mouth, outsider," he snapped, thrusting a spear toward Sokka. Hakoda smacked the spear away.

"Don't threaten my boy," Hakoda said dangerously. Where most girls would probably on the verge of fainting, Sokka was pleased to see that Katara had an expression that she was about ready to smack some sense into both of the men. It wasn't until the frail looking Master Pakku stepped between them that the violent grumblings slipped off.

"Shakt, that's enough," Pakku said. "Hakoda is a canny leader, and we will need him to evacuate the Princess safely. That is what we all want. Isn't it?" he asked with a glare.

Shakt backed down, and nodded. "Yes, Master Pakku."

"Good," Pakku said. He turned to Hakoda. "If you have a clever plan to run the barricades, you'd best give it now."

"Flight won't be an option," Aang said uneasily. "The instant they see me and Appa, they'll be launching everything they've got at us. Appa might be able to get through it, but not if there's anything but me and the saddle for burden."

Sokka let out a triumphant laugh. "And that's how we're getting out!" he said. Even Dad turned his way. "With all of their attention focused on the Avatar over there, they won't be paying any more than a passing notice to us! We'll be able to slip between their boats with only token resistance."

"And what about the Princess?" a different fighter asked. This one, though, didn't share the same glassy eyed look as the others. He was at most a year or two older than Sokka himself.

"She'll ride with us," Sokka said, "But the Fire Nation will think that she's with the Avatar. You can spare your armor for a couple hours, can't you?"

Yue nodded without hesitation. He took that and continued, somehow managing to focus through the happy, dumb haze she tended to put him into when she was nearby. "A straw-figure in her armor, tied to the saddle. They'll launch everything, and we run the gauntlet back to the Spikerim."

"But what about the fleet? We can still sink those ships," Shakt said.

"With what? Scorn and harsh language?" that younger warrior asked.

"Don't lip me, child. You might be Pakku's lineage, but that doesn't mean..."

"ENOUGH!" Aang shouted, which took everybody by surprise. "Can we not go two minutes without somebody yelling at somebody else? This is important!"

"The Avatar is right," Hakoda said. "And so is my son. Attempting to retake Henhiavut right now is... too ambitious. And attacking the fleet as we leave is suicide. When faced with overwhelming force, always take the bolt hole until there's nowhere left to run. A glorious death won't help the Tribe, and it won't comfort your families. We flee, and live to fight another day."

"It is cowardice."

Sokka turned to Yue, and forgot his question for about a second before managing to scrounge it back up again. "Yue, it's your life and your people. What do you want to do?"

She looked at Sokka, then his father, then her men. She looked back at Sokka, as though she wanted to know what to do. But with a slow sigh, and a moment of pulling up her courage, she faced her soldiers. "The plan is sound. In Henhiavut, we have been shelled to within an inch of our lives. We will return to the Spikerim and prepare for the next battle."

"As you wish, Princess," Shakt said, bowing and dispersing the crowd down toward the sea gates. One of them, that teenager Sokka had noticed before, took a moment to shake his head and mutter something under his breath before heading down after them. Sokka leaned toward Pakku, about to ask the obvious question.

"My grandson, Hahn," Pakku said. "The warrior's life does not suit him."

"Is he a waterbender like you?" Katara asked.

"No," Pakku said.

"We should go," Hakoda broke in. "Pakku, we could use you to sow a little chaos into that fleet as we go."

Pakku shook his head. "I'm showing a brave face, Chief Hakoda. The Fire Nation was... not kind to me. I have only begun to recover, despite their ministrations."

"Then you'll travel with us," Sokka said. "Man, this isn't how I pictured the fight with the Fire Nation."

"It seldom is in war, Son."

"So... this is it? We're going to battle?" Aang asked.

"We fight for the right to flee," Hakoda said. "Hardly ideal. But that's the way it goes."

"I have one request," Yue said from where she'd been standing with remarkable silence. All eyes swung over to her, Sokka's alone of the goo-goo variety. "I wish for Hahn to join me on your vessel," she said.

"Quite doable," Hakoda asked. "Can I ask why?"

"You may not," she answered. Hakoda just shrugged, and she took his answer with a nod and walked away. There was a moment after she left that the others stared at their feet, pondering who would still be standing tomorrow.

Pakku was right. It was a quiet dread, and it was everywhere these days. Not just in the North, but across the whole wild world.

---

Zhao watched the city on its battered stone hill, barely visible for the snow which now fell at an angle driven by the winds. Better than ice, definitely. He could see far farther than he could even an hour ago. "Why haven't you started firing the trebuchets and cannon at the town?" Zhao asked with a level of annoyance.

"Because they're probably frozen shut," Kwon pointed out quietly. "Breaking ice is a full time position on ships this far north."

"I didn't ask your opinion!" Zhao snapped, but Kwon took it without ruffled feathers. Zhao glanced down at the Book of Movements, which he held in one hand, a finger marking his place. Where Azula's prophecy was disjointed, often jumping between locale, subject, and time, Movements was impeccably structured. Wrong, in many places, but still useful in others. He considered taking it outright; if nothing else, it would serve as a useful primer in decoding Azula's works.

"There is movement," Kaji said, his haunted look receding for a moment, and he pointed at the to-Zhao's-eyes amorphous block which was Henhiavut at this distance. "But... that can't be."

"What is it?" Zhao asked. Kwon cleared his throat quietly, and Zhao turned to him. Kwon then handed him the spyglass he'd procured. Zhao decided that Kwon had payed back his earlier sarcasm in his mindfulness, and looked through that lens with his good right eye, well above the sea-level.

That eye went wide.

"He's here," Zhao said. "The Avatar is here!"

"That shouldn't be possible," Kaji said. "When did he get here?"

"During the storm, you dolt," Zhao said, tossing the glass aside. "Your incompetence has gone beyond the pale. As of this moment, I am assuming command of all forces in the Northern Fleet. We will intercept the Avatar here and now. He will not move one inch further north today!"

"But, on whose..."

Zhao grabbed Kaji by the collar and pulled his face very close. "If you have a problem with that, then take it before the Fire Lord. He will show you where his orders lie. Now get out of my way, or become a stain on the bulkhead."

"Yes, Lord Zhao," Kaji said, before leaving Zhao behind on the iced-over balcony of the flagship. Kwon looked through the lens himself.

"The rest of the north fleet won't reach us for a week, and with this weather, it'll take another week to reach the Spikerim," Kwon pointed out.

"Then this had better be a good day, hadn't it?" Zhao pointed out, before turning on his heel and stomped back into where it was warm and civilized. Behind his back, Kwon gave one more, bone-weary sigh, and then followed.

---

"Remember where I said this was going to be a good idea?" Sokka asked from the tiller of the boat that the few of them had all piled onto.

"No," Katara said.

"That's because it wasn't," Sokka finished. "How are we going to get through all of that!"

Dad, though, looked forward from the prow. "Son, remember how I never got a chance to take you ice-dodging?"

"Ice dodging?" Yue asked.

"You can't be serious," Hahn said snappishly.

"You can't go ice-dodging with Fire Nation ships! That's... insane!" Sokka shouted.

"Why not? Every boy has to become a man at some point," Hakoda said with a smirk. "Sokka, you stay on the tiller. You've got a keen eye and a cunning mind. Use them both. Hahn, you and my daughter will work the Mainsail. Obey my son's orders, because your life will depend on it. Yue, you and I will control the jib. The others will live or fall as they must. But for us, it rides on your shoulders, Sokka."

"This is madness," Hahn pointed out.

"Madness? This is the Water Tribe," Hakoda answered. "Lead wisely, be brave, and trust your fellow Tribesmen. You could do far worse than that."

Sokka looked out at the fleet before him. Hundreds of ships. Hundreds of catapults and trebuchets, and possibly worse. Tens of thousands of soldiers and firebenders. He took a deep breath, his eyes lowering for a moment. He should have felt crippling doubt. He should have been paralyzed with fear. But he knew the way forward was no way but through, and that his family was depending on him. If he'd had time, he might have wondered if this was how it felt to be a real soldier.

"There he goes," Pakku said from the prow, as Appa and Aang rose into the sky. "May Yer Tonri shelter him."

Nothing left to it, but to do it. "Full sails. We've still got the gale of a storm, we might as well use it," Sokka shouted. "Ease the jib, we're going to need to slow down really fast once we reach the line."

"Line? I thought we were going through that gap?" Hahn shouted, pointing ahead as the boat started to surge. Sokka found himself grinning, even as fire rose into the air, trying to intercept the airbender above. And as Sokka's craft advanced, so did dozens of others, away from the forsaken fortress of Henhiavut.

"That's a trap," Sokka said. "We're heading for that gap," he indicated a sliver of room between two hulks, where one black iron stern almost touched another. "More sail! We've gotta cross that breach!"

The craft bucked on wind-thrown seas, sometimes launching whole from the breaker as it threw itself perpendicular to the shores of stone. It was the worst kind of sailing, and the most ill-advised. Never sail across the waves, that was the order given by every fisherman Sokka had ever heard. But today, he didn't have much choice. He couldn't sail into the wind without being swamped. He couldn't sail with it without being swarmed by Fire Nation. So Sokka did something stupid.

And it looked like it was going to work.

The first of the projectiles which missed the Avatar began to rain down, smashing into the surf and sending bursts of icy water up into the air, flash-freezing as soon as it was free of its mass. None of the projectiles smashed a ship, yet, but the day was young. And a few of them landed entirely too close for comfort to Sokka's little boat. But Sokka held that tiller, holding the course, tunneling through the curl of breaking waves which would have swallowed any building they'd produced in the South Water Tribe in decades. He barely even noticed that Katara had released her line, and was now working the water itself, but once he did, he got an idea.

"Katara, force the wave behind us," he shouted. "Let's get gravity working for us instead of against us!"

"You're going to get us all killed!" Hahn shouted, hauling the lines Katara had forsaken.

"Or he might just save all of our lives," Hakoda answered with a laugh.

Katara rushed to the back of the craft, and began to do her bending, and the wave, which had been curling over them, began to slip back, mounting under them and raising them onto the crest of the wave, moving forward as a sloped plain, constantly propelling the ship toward that minute gap. It was close, now. She let out a cry, as something small and red landed in the surf, only to detonate with a force Sokka hadn't seen before. She bound the length of the constantly-falling ship, and did something which looked more like earthbending than waterbending. The momentum faltered, but the plume of frozen water parted and shot aside, letting them travel through a cloud of rancid black smoke, rather than be crushed under a mass of frozen water.

"We're getting close now," Hakoda noted.

"Ready the jib. We're going to need to break fast!" Sokka shouted from his spot. They moved with remarkable speed, so quickly in fact that the firebenders on those ships looked more like streaks, and their attacks fell far too late to burn anything but sea. It should have been alarming to have so many of the enemy so close. The gap was maybe twenty five feet wide. But they wouldn't be able to close it. It wasn't the shooting through the cleft which held Sokka's attention, though. It was the dreadnought perpendicular to the two before it which lay directly beyond it. "Break break break!"

All hands but Hahn's abandoned the mainsail, and let the craft's sails dump wind. But it wasn't enough. Katara and Pakku shared a briefest glance, but then both began to move with simultaneity such that Sokka couldn't believe. Their arms spun, twisting the water before them up into a twisted mound, which the little Water Tribe vessel curled up into, until it was riding at a severe angle, but now parallel to the side of that dreadnaught. The water they bent actually reached up to the deck line, and Sokka's ship began to shoot through the gammut once more. Katara let out a shout, her sinuous bending giving way to an almost brutish shove. The water which had danced along the edge of the dreadnaught spilled across the deck, and instantly turned to thick, hostile ice.

Pakku slumped over where he stood, and Katara had to run to him. Sokka, though, could see that there were other problems ahead. Namely, a lot more ships. And the projectiles were still falling. "Is he alright?" Hakoda shouted.

"He's still breathing," Katara answered at a shout. The sound of explosions above and before them was almost deafening. Either that dreadnaught was blowing up for no readily apparent reason, or there were more of those 'mortars' on this fleet than Sokka liked to think about. There was another break in the line ahead, but it would take a nasty turn to get through it. Then, Sokka noted that they were not alone in these gaps.

"They've got skiffs on the waves!" Yue shouted. Thundering ahead, polluting the air with black smoke, they came in a mass. Sokka ran some calculations in his head, and he honestly thought they could make it.

"Helm to lee, Dad!" Sokka shouted. Hakoda nodded and heaved hard over. Katara let Pakku rest, and began to bend once again, creating another bend of sea to aid this ugly change in direction. This time, when they were taking the turn, there was an unpleasant creaking sound. Obviously, these craft weren't produced to withstand this kind of treatment, not for long. And then, fire began to explode through that mound, and the boat slipped a bit, sliding out of its turn early and forcing Sokka to pointlessly but subconsciously duck aside to keep form hitting his head on the blade-like prow of a Fire Nation corvette. A glance behind showed that those steamers were still on their tail. One of them was pulling ahead quickly, but the second held Sokka's eye. The helmsman was exposed. Easy shot.

Sokka held the tiller in place with a foot, and pulled his boomerang from his back. Painfully easy shot. He'd done harder to catch dinner. A snap of the wrist, and the blue projectile was away, cutting through the air until it struck the driver in the center of his head, before continuing on its circuit back toward Sokka. So struck, that skiff veered off course until it rammed hard into the side of a cruiser, not sinking, but making about as sea-worthy as an average brick. Of course, Sokka misjudged the distance he'd travel, so it was Dad who caught it.

"Be more careful with this," Hakoda said, and Sokka nodded. Then, he glanced aside and noted that the closer of those steamers was now drawing abreast. There were two of them aboard it, one of them wearing armor unlike Sokka had seen on a firebender before. This one wasn't red and black, but rather red and purple. His face was not anger or wrath, but simple focus, as he rose from where he'd been holding on, and drew out a saber. Sokka snatched the boomerang from Dad's grasp, and as that soldier launched himself toward the boat, Sokka snapped a hasty throw. The weapon smashed just below the neck of that fighter, sending him tumbling down into the water. The steamer immediately cut power, and spun around to collect his fallen comrade. But Sokka's boomerang was flying far wide of the boat he'd thrown it from.

"No! Boomerang!" he shouted.

As it cut awkwardly toward the water and an ignominious end, Sokka was mildly shocked to see Hahn vault over the rail, supported only by the sail line he was manning. He snatched the weapon the instant before it vanished into the rough surf, and let his momentum carry him back to the ship. He had to haul himself back over the rail, but when he did, he tossed the weapon back to Sokka.

"You owe me one, pal," he noted. Sokka nodded, then looked ahead. The thickest part of the gauntlet was passed, but it was hardly open seas.

"Katara, give us speed! Full sails and keep the jib loose!" Sokka shouted. The blasts of mortar fire sounded, and Sokka weaved evasively through the choppy water between the now much further spread ships. The impacts of trebuchet balls and mortar shells still sent the water pluming, but Sokka could see above them that Aang, unencumbered, had gotten Appa through that maelstrom as well.

"Are we clear?" Pakku asked from where he was collapsed at the prow.

"More or less," Sokka said. A glance to the side showed that other Water Tribe boats were beginning to clear the lines as well, that Sokka was only the first, hardly the only. "Let's get some place safer than this."

As they raced away from the Fire Nation lines, to where only a few ships picketed out toward Summavut, Aang began to descend, until Appa was hovering just beside their vessel. The Avatar leaned over, looking at the group in the boat. "Is everybody alright in there?" Aang asked.

"We are safe, now," Yue said.

"We should go," Aang said. "I can get us to Summavut by tomorrow."

"What? Leave the others behind?" Hahn asked.

"I can't bring everybody. But everybody here?" Aang gave a nod. "Come on. We've got to get to the north fast."

"The Avatar has the right idea, Hahn."

"But... the boat?" Hahn complained.

"If you want, you can steer it home," Hakoda said. "You've got the skills, correct?"

"Yeah, but..."

"Bring it home," Yue said. "You have my faith."

"But... yes, Princess Yue," he acceded. With that, everybody else began to pile onto the saddle of the great bison. As they flew away from the ship manned by one, everybody let out a breath they hadn't been aware they were holding. They had gotten through. They'd escaped the Siege of the North.

"I'm proud of you, Son," Hakoda said, pulling both of his children close to him. "Even I didn't have that kind of run with my ice-dodging test."

"Yeah, well, what about that time with the 'ghost octopus'? You must have had to run pretty fast after that went wrong," Sokka asked.

"Oh, I'd like to hear this one," Yue said, causing Sokka to emit an odd, strangled sound in his throat.

"Well, for the record, it might have been my idea, but I got Bato to do the spooky voice," Hakoda began. Pakku just shook his head with fatigue as the story continued. But Sokka couldn't have been more content. The niggling doubts had been cast off. Sokka was a man, he'd saved the Princess, and his family was together again.

---

"They've escaped," Kwon said, lowering his spyglass.

"So Azula predicted," Zhao noted. "But that's irrelevant at the moment. There's only one place left they can go. We will assemble our fleet, and then we shall strike out their heart."

"The Moon plan, sire?"

"Indeed," Zhao said. "With some... slight... alterations."

"Sir?"

"Not your concern, Kwon. Just send word to ready for the journey northeast. The journey to victory."

In a way, Zhao pondered, the Moon plan wasn't even wholly necessary, merely a force multiplier. And even then, considering that the force assembling to bring down the Spikerim permanently would have five hundred soldiers and three ships for every single Tribesman, it was less a war at this point. It was more of an extermination.

---

The great city of Summavut, the last of its kind. It was the only surviving city of the North Water Tribe. Its streets shone white in the light of the waxing moon, great canals cutting through it flowing clear and pristine. But there was a harsh edge to this city. Once, it had been graceful and beautiful ice, delicate and sublime. Now, harsh, rough-cut stone showed through the facades more places than not. To Aang, it was like looking at the scarred face of an old woman who had once been beautiful. There was still some glimmers of it left, but those glimmers had dulled significantly. He wondered if even they remembered the way things used to be.

"There," Yue indicated from the howdah. "That's the palace. Father will be waiting for me there."

Aang nodded, and brought the bison down. It landed with a thump, no doubt exhausted from its break-neck weaving. After only a few seconds, blue-armored soldiers began to file out of that building, spears readied, and encircled the beast. Those spears only became un-readied once they beheld that Yue was amidst them. There came a tsk-tsk from the walkway ahead of them, as Irukandji walked out and shook her head.

"I told you they were coming, idiots," she said. Aang furrowed his brow.

"How'd you get here ahead of me?"

"Shaman; hello~o?" she said as though it were the most obvious thing on the planet. "Good thing you got her back in one piece, though. Arnook's in... well..."

"WHERE IS SHE!" a voice smashed through the quiet din of the soldiers. Stomping past Irukandji came another Tribesman, this one with grey hair and a long face. But there was something else about him which made Aang want to retreat a couple of steps. Or maybe miles.

It was those eyes.

"Yue!" he shouted. "Where did you go?"

"I needed to rescue Master Pakku, Father," she said. So this was Chief Arnook, was it?

"Let him go," Arnook said. "He's not important."

"Glad to see your opinion of me has not altered," Pakku said sarcastically as he descended from the howdah to Yue's side. Arnook stared at him, unblinking, then turned to Irukandji. The shaman shrugged, so he turned back to Aang.

"And who is this outsider?" Arnook asked. Still no blinking, though.

"This is Aang, he is the Avatar," Pakku said.

"That cannot be. The Avatar is dead and gone," Arnook answered.

"He is the Avatar," Yue stressed. "And he brought with him Hakoda of..."

But Arnook started moving so swiftly that it took the others aback, getting right into Hakoda's face, those blue eyes unblinking as he measured Hakoda top to bottom, and found his value wanting. "So you're the incompetent that got chosen to succeed Qejay. I am not impressed."

"And there are things I see here which I'm not happy with either," Hakoda said, not backing down. Obviously, suicidal bravery ran in Sokka's family.

"Whatever you want, outsider, you won't find it here," Arnook said, continuing with his surely-world-record not-blinking duration.

"You don't know anything about what I'm looking for," Hakoda answered.

"Father, please," Yue said. Arnook swung his head toward Yue, and Aang shivered at the look he delivered. It was hollow of any paternal feeling that Aang could see. It was so divorced from the way that Hakoda looked at Katara that Aang could scarcely believe Yue and Arnook related. "They've brought me back, safe and sound. Master Pakku is back, and when he recovers, can lead the fight once more. Surely this is for the best, isn't it?"

"I have my doubts," Arnook said. "When victory comes over the Fire Nation, it will be my hand which shapes it, not yours, Hakoda," he said.

"Victory?" Hakoda asked.

"It is only a matter of time," Arnook said, before turning away. "Forgive the lack of welcome. We have more important things to deal with right now."

"More important than the Avatar?" Aang asked. Arnook didn't answer, only storming away. Pakku sighed, then, and shook his head, as the soldiers ringing the bison began to break off and drift away. Yue moved ahead, after her sire, into that cold, dark citadel.

"So you see our direst problem," Pakku said.

"What is it?" Aang asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Hakoda prompted. "The High Chief of the North is out of his goddamned mind."

---

"What are you looking at?" Tzu Zi asked, as Nila lowered the stolen spyglass once more. The brown cloud rising just over the horizon wasn't any sandstorm, she knew that much.

"Trouble," Nila answered. She then raised it a little higher, and spotted something yellow and orange flying toward them all. That thing turned into a Malu, which landed lightly on the dune next to them.

"You were right, they're right behind us," Malu stated.

"With conditions in the Grit Ocean as they are, and the speed they would be able to cross the sands, they might reach this point in a week," Nila answered. She turned around, and pointed at the horizon. "We will need to travel through the night and into the morning, but we can make it well ahead of them to Sentinel Rock."

"Your home?" Tzu Zi asked. Nila nodded.

"It seems Mother will have more on her mind than my fate when I choose to leave," Nila said.

"Whatever, shouldn't we get moving?" Malu prompted. Nila nodded at her sensible decision, and started walking. There was a growling sound as they moved, bringing Patriarch and Aki with them through the sand. Nila frowned, turning to the airbender.

"What exactly is wrong?" Nila asked.

"Oh, nothing. I'm just hungry," Malu noted.

"You ate less than two hours ago," Nila stated. "You ate more than the rest of us combined!"

"Well, I'm hungry again," Malu said, but then clammed up. So much the better. Nila had to keep her mind on navigating the Grit Ocean. There was a reason Sentinel Rock was named as it was. Now, she just needed to reach it.

So close. But a few hours away.

---

This was another chapter I didn't feel hit its stride in terms of pacing, but was far better than it could have been. Honestly, The Mountain King was the worst offender of this season. Hey, if canon got The Great Divide, I figure I've got some leeway with my take on it. At least it wasn't bloated.

I can see a couple of you cringing already at Irukandji's return. Fear not. Just like I can take Azula and turn her into a Woobie, I can take a jackass like hir and make hir if not likeable, then at least not the sort of person one'd murder at the first opportunity. Bear in mind that from a certain perspective, CoW-verse is in the future; it could be said that that Irukandji was a character derailment. Or something.

The whole situation of the North is altered because Ozai wanted 'an easy win'. Unfortunately, it proved to be anything but. And that misfortune applied to everybody involved. Ozai's lost a glut of influence and credibility over this debaucle, true, but Arnook lost his mind. The North is a culture suffering a state of collective traumatic stress. Asymmetrical warfare is messy business. Nobody knows that better than the tribesmen right now, and it's far worse on the warriors who don't have a 'y' chromosome; men were raised from kids to think they'd have to fight to the death against their enemies, potentially. Women were never subjected to that mindset. Whatever comes from this war of the North, it's shadow will be cast over an entire generation of Tribesmen.

The next chapter sees Nila and company returning home, and Zhao attacking Summavut. I'll probably drop that in about a fortnight.

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