4
Hoshiko looked around them and saw a small pathway leading up to an arctic wilderness outside of the city. "There!" She cried, pointing, "He must've gone up that way."
"I can't believe I lost him." Katara despaired.
"You did everything you could." Sokka said, "And now we need to do everything we can to get him back." He started walking back to Appa, "Zuko couldn't have gotten far. We'll find him. Aang's gonna be fine." Katara looked back at her brother and wiped away the tears in her eyes.
"Okay." She said, getting up. Hoshiko was about to help pull her up onto the bison, when she stopped. She looked down at Momo, who was chirping sadly at the sight of the pond.
"Should we grab him?" Hoshiko asked, seeing her stare at the lemur.
"It's alright." She said, she turned to the lemur, "You stay here, Momo. In case Aang comes back." Hoshiko pulled her up and Sokka snapped the reigns, making Appa lift off into the sky as they flew to the wilderness ahead. The snow around them began falling faster and harder as a blizzard began to stir up.
"Ugh, there has to be a blizzard now of all times?" Hoshiko groaned.
"It won't be easy to find Aang in this weather." Katara said, "This is bad." Hoshiko looked over at the water bender and saw she wasn't just upset over the weather, she was worried about how Aang would fare in this blizzard. She put her hand on Katara's shoulder.
"We'll find them." She assured, "One way or another, we'll find them."
After searching around for a few hours, Katara cried out, "I think I see him!" Hoshiko looked over the side of the saddle and saw a huge trench near a few snow covered rocks. Sokka landed the bison and jumped off his place on the bison's head. He treaded a few feet of snow, and didn't see anything. He turned back to Katara and shook his head. Katara became downcast and looked at the floor of the saddle they sat on. Hoshiko jumped off the bison and walked over to where Sokka was.
"What are you doing?" He asked. Hoshiko took a deep breath and lifted up her arms, making her shadow rise before her. Sokka yelped and jumped back at the sight. Hoshiko stretched her shadow out, so it stood high at ten feet, then she had it land on the ground. She placed it over different spots of snow, Sokka seeing where parts of the snow had been dented easily as they shone white against the blackness. Then, she came upon a spot where there were many round-looking rectangular spots heading towards the trench. She ran forward a little farther, and saw the same kind of dents on the other side.
"He was here!" Hoshiko called, she pointed to the trench, "He must've found some thin ice and ran across it. We're on the right track." Sokka nodded and they both headed back onto the bison.
"How did you do that?" Katara asked, Hoshiko shrugged casually.
"I'm a shadow bender." She said, "In some places, we're considered the best trackers in the world because we can see the imprints of something on the ground using our shadows." Katara nodded, though she didn't look like she fully understood, "You kinda have to be a shadow bender to get it." She said, "But we're getting close, the imprints must've been made maybe thirty minutes ago, given how hard it's snowing." Katara smiled at the prospect of finding Aang.
Iroh stood next to Zhao as they watched the battle of fire benders versus water benders take place on the icy ground. "I don't need to remind you we have a time limit." Iroh said, "If we don't defeat the Water Tribe before the full moon rises, they will be undefeatable."
"I assure you, I have everything under control." Zhao said, "I intend to remove the moon as a factor."
"Remove the moon?" Iroh repeated, "How?" The door that led to where they were creaked open.
"Admiral Choy!" A voice called, the two men looked to see a young man, probably Water Tribe, come in. He was dressed in an old-looking Fire Navy uniform and holding a spear. He took his helmet off dramatically and aimed the spear at Zhao, "Prepare to meet your fate!" He ran towards him, but Zhao stepped to the side, grabbed his arm, and threw him over the side. Iroh looked after him as he fell into the icy water, shaking his head at the poor attempt to take Admiral Zhao's life.
"As I was saying," Zhao continued, "Years ago, I stumbled upon a great and powerful secret. The identity of the moon spirit's mortal form." Iroh's eyes widened.
"What?" Iroh gasped.
"I was a young lieutenant serving under General Shu in the Earth Kingdom." Zhao said, "I discovered a hidden library; underground, in fact. I tore through scroll after scroll, one of them contained a detailed illustration and the words 'moon' and 'ocean.' I knew then that these spirits could be found, and killed. And that it was my destiny to do so."
"Zhao! The spirits are not to be trifled with!" Iroh hissed.
"Yes, yes, I know you fear the spirits, Iroh." Zhao replied, "I've heard rumors about your journey into the spirit world. But the ocean and moon gave up their immortality to become a part of our world, and now they will face the consequences."
It was getting late. Sokka, Yue, Katara, and Hoshiko had already spent a good few hours looking for the missing avatar. Katara becoming more and more downcast as time went on.
"Don't worry." Yue said trying to lift her spirits, "Prince Zuko can't be getting too far in this weather."
"I'm not worried they'll get away in the blizzard," Katara said, "I'm worried that they won't."
"They're not gonna die in this blizzard." Sokka said, "If we know anything, it's that Zuko never gives up. They'll survive, and we'll find them."
After another hour or so, the snow died down and stopped. All seemed quiet until a bright light soared over them.
"Look!" Katara called, "That's gotta be Aang! Yip yip!" The light went down into a small crevice that the four of them would have missed because of its snow covering. The space inside the crevice glowed for a few seconds, then it disappeared. After another moment, something came shooting out into the snow. They saw it was Aang, but his hands and feet were tied. He tried to crawl away like a worm, but another form, a young man with a large scar on his face, came out and gripped him by the collar. As the group flew over, Aang saw his giant bison.
"Appa!" He called happily. Sokka landed the bison a few feet away from the two. Hoshiko looked to see the man called Zuko was young. He had long, dark hair pulled back into a ponytail and had a huge scar across the left side of his face. He glared at the group as Katara jumped down from the saddle. He tossed Aang aside and went into a fighting position.
"Here for a rematch?" He asked.
"Trust me, Zuko." Katara said, "It's not gonna be much of a match." Zuko shot a blast of fire at her, which she blocked by bending the snow around her. As Zuko sent out another blast, she bent the snow around him so that he went ten feet into the air. She turned the snow into ice and dropped it back down. He collapsed against the snow, unconscious. Sokka ran over to Aang, taking out his machete to cut the ropes he was in.
"Hey, this is some quality rope!" Sokka said happily, holding the cut ropes in his hands. Aang quickly untied his feet.
"We need to get to the oasis." He said quickly, "The spirits are in trouble." They ran back to Appa, Aang at his head and Sokka sitting in the saddle. Aang took the reigns in his hands, but looked back at the unconscious Zuko, "Wait, we can't just leave him here."
"Sure we can." Sokka said, "Let's go."
"No." Aang insisted, jumping off, "If we leave him, he'll die." He went over to Zuko and hefted him up onto his shoulders, making his way back to Appa's saddle.
"Yeah, this makes a lot of sense!" Sokka said sarcastically, "Let's bring the guy who's constantly trying to kill us!" Appa took off into the air and they flew in the direction of the oasis. Sokka quickly tied Zuko up so that, should he wake up, he wouldn't be able to hurt any of them. As they flew past the sky, Hoshiko stared in horror as the moon changed from white to blood red. Yue held her head and groaned.
"Are you okay?" Hoshiko asked, putting her hand on the princess's shoulder.
"…I feel faint." Yue replied weakly.
"I feel it, too." Aang said, holding his head. He looked up to the moon with worried eyes, "The moon spirit is in trouble."
"I owe the moon spirit my life." Yue said, startling everyone around her.
"What do you mean?" Sokka asked.
"When I was born, I was very sick, and very weak." Yue said, "Most babies cry when they're born; but I was born as if I were asleep, my eyes closed. Our healers did everything they could. They told my mother and father I was going to die. My father pleaded with the spirits to save me. That night, beneath the full moon, he brought me to the oasis and placed me in the pond. My dark hair turned white, I opened my eyes and began to cry, and they knew I would live." Hoshiko stared at the princess with wide eyes, why had she never heard of this before? "That's why my mother named me Yue, for the moon." The rest of the ride was silent as they went toward the oasis. Looking down, they saw a few Fire Nation soldiers, one of them didn't have a helmet and was holding a small brown bag. Hoshiko's sharp ears picked up on his words as they moved to land.
"I am… a legend, now." Zhao said, holding up the bag, "The Fire Nation will, for generations, tell stories about the great Zhao who darkened the moon! They will call me Zhao The Conqueror... Zhao The Moon Slayer! ...Zhao! …The Invincible!" With a loud screech, Momo jumped on Zhao's head, tugging his hair and biting his skin, "GAH! Get it off! Get it off!" When the soldiers moved to get the lemur away, he flew to Aang and landed on his shoulder, baring his teeth at Zhao. Aang, Sokka, Katara, and Hoshiko stood in fighting stances as the Fire Nation soldiers did the same. "Don't bother." Zhao said, he held his fist to the bag, which had the squirming moon spirit inside it.
"Zhao! Don't." Aang said, dropping his staff.
"It's my destiny." Zhao said, "To destroy the moon and the Water Tribe."
"Destroying the moon won't hurt just the Water Tribe." Aang said, "It will hurt everyone. Including you. Without the moon, everything would fall out of balance. You have no idea what kind of chaos that would unleash upon the world!"
"He is right, Zhao." Another voice said. All heads turned to see an old Fire Nation man in a red cloak standing on the bridge near the oasis.
"General Iroh." Zhao said, addressing the man, "Why am I not surprised to discover your treachery?" Hoshiko looked to the old man in shock. He was the great Dragon of the West? The powerful general who killed the last of the dragons? He was nothing like she thought he would be in appearance. Then again, he was pretty old…
"I'm no traitor, Zhao." Iroh said, "The Fire Nation needs the moon, too. We all depend on the balance." Hoshiko was glad the Fire Nation had men with some sense. Iroh pointed at Zhao before getting into a fighting position, "Whatever you do to that spirit, I'll unleash on you tenfold! Let it go, NOW!" Zhao glared at Iroh for a moment, but then he lowered his head, seeming to surrender to the old man's threat. He knelt down and placed the white koi fish back in the pond. Light returned to the moon and everything became as it was. But Zhao did not surrender. For the moment after he placed the fish in the water, he let out a wild cry as he brought down his hand and let out a blast of fire onto the fish, leaving a big, black scar against its scales. Everyone looked up and saw that the moon had disappeared from the sky, turning everything black.
Iroh let out multiple powerful fire blasts at Zhao, who ran for cover. When the soldiers who had been guarding Zhao fought back to defend him, Iroh retaliated the defeating every last one of them with a few blasts of flame. No one noticed Zhao slip away, or that the prince that they captured had now escaped. The black koi fish, obviously the ocean spirit, swam around the dead body of the moon helplessly, trying to get it to swim with it. Everyone walked forward to the pond. Iroh gingerly picked up the white koi, looking at the scar sadly.
"There's no hope now." Yue said, beginning to cry into Sokka's shoulder, "It's over." Aang's tattoos suddenly began to glow. Hoshiko jumped back at the sight.
"No." He said, sounding as if a thousand voices were speaking his words, "It's not over." Aang then proceeded to step into the pond. Katara moved to stop him, but Iroh held out his hand to her. Aang stood in the center and the black koi swam circles around him. Eventually, it stopped in front of him, the fish's eyes glowing as well before the entire pool lit up in a bright, white light. Suddenly, as if a hole had opened up directly beneath him, Aang went into the water. The water around the oasis began to glow a bright blue. Waves forming in the water, becoming higher and higher and making some kind of form. Everyone stared in awe as the form was the ocean spirit, a giant fish man, with Aang at the center of it. The spirit walked through the city, wiping out different fire benders and their machines and rhinos.
As the battle raged outside the oasis, Iroh put the fish back in the water. It did not move. "It's too late." Katara said, "It's dead." Iroh had a solemn look on his face as he pulled back. Everyone sat around the pond, sad and depressed over the loss of the moon spirit. Iroh looked over at Yue and saw her white hair. His eyes widened and he turned to her.
"You have been touched by the moon spirit." He said to her, "Some of its life is in you." Yue looked at him, her sapphire eyes seeming to glow in the dark.
"Yes, you're right." Yue said, "It gave me life… Maybe I can give it back." Sokka stared at Yue wide-eyed as she said those words, as did Hoshiko. Yue stood and was about to walk over to where Iroh had picked the fish back up.
"No!" Sokka cried, his hand shooting out and grabbing hers, "You don't have to do that!"
"It's my duty, Sokka." Yue said solemnly. Hoshiko stood up, her crystal eyes blazing.
"There's no way we'll let you!" Hoshiko cried, "We were both given our duties by your father to protect you! We can't do that if you're dead!" Sokka's grip tightened around Yue's hand, hoping that it would keep her there.
"I have to do this." Yue said, releasing her hand from Sokka's grip. Hoshiko and Sokka gaped at her as she placed her hands on the corpse of the moon spirit. The fish glowed the same shade of white that the pond had when Aang entered it. A moment later, Yue fell to the ground.
"No!" Sokka cried, catching her. He put his hand to her face and felt her skin, "She's gone…" He said softly. He held her close, holding back tears, "She's gone."
Unlike Sokka, Hoshiko could not hold back her tears. She didn't sob aloud, but her tears ran down her cheeks as she gazed at the body of her now dead friend. No longer feeling her legs, she collapsed onto her knees. She stared at the ground as her tears kept coming, gripping at the cloth on her legs. It's happening again, she thought to herself, I lost someone else. First, my family, then Kotaro, and now… Yue. The very thought of it made tears pour faster. She put her hand over her mouth to keep herself from sobbing and falling apart altogether.
Suddenly, Yue's body disappeared into nothing. The fish Iroh held began to glow, and he placed it back into the pond. It swam for a moment, then a light seemed to emanate from it, lighting up the pond. The light moved into the air, like an ethereal smoke, and it showed Yue in a beautiful white gown. Her eyes shining with emotion.
"Goodbye Sokka." She said, her voice sounding somewhat distant, but also sounding as if she'd never been closer to someone. She went down and took his face in her hands, "I will always be with you." They shared one final kiss, before Yue disappeared again. When she did, the moon shone brightly in the sky once more. Sokka gazed at it sadly. He rested his hands on the patch of grass she had been on previously, and felt something underneath his hand.
"What's this?" He asked as he picked it up. He held it up for everyone to see it was a bracelet. It had a small plate with a drawing of a crescent moon, and inside the crescent was a white star. Hoshiko recognized it immediately.
"Give me that!" She demanded, snatching it out of his hands. Everyone stared at her as she looked at the bracelet, her tears coming even faster now, "This… I gave her this bracelet… To celebrate her… Sixteenth birthday…" She said no more and shut her eyes tight, her shoulders shaking as she silently sobbed. Katara came over to her and put her arms around her. Hoshiko gladly welcomed the gesture and turned into Katara's embrace. She sobbed aloud at the loss of her dear friend.
She cried for the loss of Princess Yue.
Dear Xana,
Thanks for the letter, I needed a little of your
comforting words. I'm glad to hear you found a safe
way to Ba-Sing-Se. As it turns out, I might be heading
there, myself. The North Pole's not much good to me
at the moment, seeing as how I lost my job, but
hopefully, I might be able to find other work elsewhere.
Yes, the avatar's at the North Pole, but he'll
be leaving any day now. And he's taking me with him.
I talked it over with him and his friends, they're going
to let me travel with them so I can have a better chance
of finding my family (I also think they might be doing
it out of pity, but I really don't care at the moment).
Maybe we'll run into each other someday,
and don't worry, I gave Tao-win plenty of rest
before I sent her back to you.
Yours truly,
Hoshiko
Hoshiko rolled up the scroll and stuck it on the back of Tao-win. She sent the bird off with a smile and she gazed down at the bracelet she had given Yue. It was her reminder that Yue was not dead. She simply lived as the moon, bringing balance to the world. It was a big job, but hey, somebody had to do it.
She heard knocking at her door and she went over to open it. She was surprised when she saw Hahn, battered and bruised, standing there.
"Lord Hahn…" Hoshiko greeted hesitantly, "What are you doing here?"
"I heard you were leaving." Hahn said, "I came to say goodbye." Hoshiko narrowed her eyes.
"Well, then, goodbye." She was about to shut the door when Hahn's hand shot out and stopped it.
"I know you don't want to see me." He said, "And I don't blame you. I wanted to apologize for my actions." Hoshiko looked to see Hahn was being truly genuine. "It was wrong of me to try and defile you, and you have my utmost apologies." Hoshiko looked at him dubiously for a moment. Hahn had been told that he would not be marrying the princess, they told him she sacrificed herself for the benefit of the world. Once he heard that, he seemed to sober up, he apologized to everyone he'd been an ass to, and now, he was apologizing to her. Hoshiko sighed and looked at him.
"Apology accepted." She said, Hahn smiled at her, but not in a way she found disgusting. It was actually, kind of, grateful. "Now, I'd like to finish packing in peace."
"Of course." Hahn said, he bowed slightly towards her and walked away. Hoshiko stared after him sadly, knowing that Princess Yue's no longer being human affected him somehow. She turned back to her clothes and kept packing. She took only the necessities, and a couple extra things. Just Yue's bracelet, and some Earth Kingdom money, should she need it.
She walked outside to where she was told to wait on everyone to get ready. They would leave by boat, Pakku had already told her about his plans to rebuild the Southern Water Tribe, and she thought it was a good idea. She looked to see Pakku looking out at the city, Katara behind him. She couldn't hear their words, but she assumed he was telling Katara about the plans to go south. She looked in the other direction to see Sokka talking with Chief Arnook. She could hear their words as she moved closer.
"The spirits gave me a vision when Yue was born." Arnook said, "I saw a beautiful, brave young woman become the moon spirit." He took in a deep breath, "I knew this day would come."
"You must be proud." Sokka said.
"So proud." Arnook said, "And sad." Arnook looked out of the corner of his eye and saw Hoshiko standing there, "Sokka, could you give us a moment alone?" Sokka looked to see Hoshiko standing there and nodded, going to join his sister and Aang. Hoshiko walked up to the Chief, giving him a sad smile. "This is the last I will see of you?"
"Maybe." Hoshiko said, "Who knows? I might come back someday." She shrugged nonchalantly. She looked up into the Chief's eyes and saw the grief from losing his only daughter, "I know how you feel, sir. I've lost plenty of important people in my life, Yue is no exception. But she is not truly dead, she still lives."
"I know." Arnook said, "But it feels as if she has disappeared entirely." Hoshiko nodded solemnly. "If you have changed your mind about going…"
"My mind is set." Hoshiko said, "Besides, I get restless when I stay in one place for too long. Who knows what I would do if I stayed?" The Chief smiled at her humor, "I need to know for certain if my family is truly dead. I know I lost my father, but I'm not sure about my mother. There's always a chance."
"There is indeed." Arnook said, he stared at the young Shinjun for a moment, "You were my daughter's closest friend… I would be lying if I said I wouldn't miss you at all." Hoshiko nodded and held her hand out to the Chief. He clasped his hand around her forearm, the typical greeting for any Water Tribe warriors.
"I'll miss you, too, sir." She said, "Do me a favor, and tell Shin-jii and his men goodbye for me?"
"Certainly." Arnook replied. He looked behind her, and Hoshiko followed his gaze. They saw some of the benders and healers getting ready to leave for the South Pole. "You should get going." He bowed slightly towards her and she did the same for him, "Goodbye, Hoshiko."
"Goodbye, Chief Arnook." Hoshiko replied. She gave him one last smile before running after some of the benders, following them down to the ship where she would be staying with the avatar and his friends. She was sad she was leaving, but couldn't help the excited butterflies in her stomach.
There was a change in the winds, and this change was good.