Chapter 9:
Aang stood holding the Fire Nation Baby as he looked over the mountain range to where Omashu stood amongst them. He walked down the slope towards Freya, Sokka and Katara standing before Appa who was crouched down and awaiting passengers.
"You realise we're probably walking right into a trap?" Sokka said
"I don't think so. I'm sure the Governor wants his son back as much as we want Bumi. It's a new day." Aang smiled as he looked down at the sleeping child in his arms. "I have a good feeling about this."
"Well that makes one of us." Freya sighed
"Yeah cause it's not like we're walking into a city full of Fire Nation." Sokka nodded
"I'm sure it'll be fine." Katara said
"Well every time someone says that, it's not." Freya added
"Come on Freya, be a little optimistic."
"I am optimistic something may go wrong." she smiled and Aang looked at her annoyed.
"Come on then, let's get this over with." Sokka decided and he moved towards Appa with everyone following.
"Where did they want the exchange to happen?" Sokka asked as Appa took off.
"The tip of the city." Aang relied
"Where they're building what ever it is." Freya pointed to the scaffolding that sat on the top of the highest peak of Omashu.
Aang still had the cloth wrapped around his head to hide his arrow and he held it in place as Appa flew them over the city. They landed on the wooden slats near the scaffolding of what looked like a statue underneath. Aang stood ahead as Freya, Sokka and Katara stood behind him and Appa took off away from the city.
Sokka held the baby as they watched the smog at the other end of the platform. Eventually three girls appeared. The arrow throwing girl from earlier was in front. On one side of her was a pretty girl with wide brown eyes and her hair pulled back into a braid. She wore light pink unlike the other two who wore tradition Fire Nation outfits. The last girl had her hair pulled up into a bun aside from her bangs on either side of her face. Her eyes were narrow and amber and if not for the intimidating expression on her face, she'd have been really beautiful.
A crane stood on top of the statue being built and as the girls walked forwards the end of it lowered down towards them. Freya watched along with Aang, Katara and Sokka before it turned around to reveal Bumi's face. They had encased him in a metal box, in fact it was almost like a coffin.
"Hi, everybody!" Bumi laughed as he was lowered behind the three girls.
Aang smiled at the King confidently.
"You brought my brother?" the middle girl asked
"He's here. We're ready to trade." Aang assured as her brother played with Sokka's face.
"I'm sorry, but a thought just occurred to me. Do you mind?" the mean-looking girl said to her friend.
"Of course not, Princess Azula." the first addressed.
Freya's eyes widened in surprise as she looked at the Fire Nation princess.
Princess… Azula… she's Zuko's sister! she could see the similarities in their eyes but Azula's face was not nearly as troubled or as kind as Zuko's was, even when he was fighting.
"We're trading a two year old for a King." she turned to Bumi who smiled "A powerful, earthbending king."
"Mmm hmmm!" Bumi nodded as Azula turned back to her knife throwing friend.
"It just doesn't seem like a fair trade, does it?" Azula said.
She turned back to Sokka and her brother who seemed quite content in Sokka's arms. Freya was too busy staring at Azula.
And I was told that Azula was the Fire Lord's favourite… and Zuko was always being compared to her… Freya's expression hardened. She glanced at the other two and her defence rose as the girl thought over the Princess' thought.
"You're right." and she turned back to them before walking slightly forwards towards them. "The deal's off." she decided and she raised her hand. Bumi began to rise up as the crane reeled him back in.
"Whhhoa! See you all later!" Bumi laughed.
"Bumi!" Aang ran forwards, kicking up dust behind him and Azula struck at him. Freya moved and water pulled from her pouch as blue fire flared over the deck. Aang jumped as Freya blocked the flames.
Aang jumped onto the scaffolding before he shook the fans from his glider. The cloth over his head came undone and Aang looked worried as his arrow was exposed. He grabbed it with his teeth but the girls had already seen it.
"The Avatar! My lucky day." Azula grinned as Aang spiralled his way up after Bumi.
"We'll see about that." Freya seethed as Azula ran forwards. She waved her arm and as Azula jumped she was thrown back to the ground as Freya caught her ankle. Azula looked at Freya angrily as she ran and jumped to catch a rope. Azula threw a fire blast after her but it missed as Freya jumped and the blast hit a leaver to reel on the other end of the rope and hoist Freya into the air.
"Thank you!" she grinned and Azula ground her teeth before she grabbed the rope below Freya and they were lifted up through the scaffolding.
Freya waved her hand and the blue fire Azula shot up at her was cut through by her water as Freya simply deflected the Princess' attacks with her single hand instead of attacking.
Below Sokka called for Appa before he ran with the baby as Katara took on both of Azula's accomplices by herself.
Azula didn't stop and the two girls were swaying all over the place as Freya moved, her hands tight on the rope, to avoid all the blue fire. The girl could feel the heat from the intense flames, she'd never seen blue fire before nor had she heard of it.
As the two girls swung around Freya continued to move their rope to throw Azula's attacks off. She instantly noticed the difference between Azula and Zuko. Zuko let his frustration and anger get in the way while Azula was able to stay level headed.
Freya glanced up to see the end of their track above and she glanced down at Azula only to see more blue fire coming her way.
Freya raised her hand and her stream of water cut through to grab a slat of wood which blocked the fire as Freya grabbed her own ankle with the water and proceeded to throw herself up into the air.
Dust spiralled everywhere as she blasted up through the roof of the scaffolding. She went flying over the edge and she saw Aang standing on Bumi's coffin, icing the chain, as well as Katara bending against the two girls below. Her eyes widened slightly though as she saw the entire city and nothing below her.
"Freya!" Aang shouted. Freya's water stream grabbed her wrist before it lashed forwards to grab Bumi's chain and hoist her up beside Aang.
"Freya, how nice of you to join us," Bumi smiled "I need you to listen…"
There was a bang and the three turned to see Azula jump out of the flooring of the scaffolding and thrusted her foot forwards. Freya clapped her hands together to separate the fire while Aang swung his staff and the metal below Freya's feet fell away.
Air rushed past them as Aang had broken Bumi's chain and they began to fall to the city below.
"Aang!" Freya shouted. Aang grabbed her arm and he turned Bumi's coffin around so that the two were standing on it before he made a sphere of air and the coffin fell onto it before they went sledding down the mail shaft.
Freya grabbed the boy's shoulders as she caught her breath from the sudden scare.
"A little warning next time!" she demanded.
"Sorry." Aang chuckled and Freya rolled her eyes at his attitude, causing the boy to just keep laughing. "Just like old times, isn't it, Bumi?" he grinned
"Aang, I need to talk to you!" Bumi confessed
"It's good to see you too!" Aang misinterpreted Bumi's words as Freya glanced back to see how Katara was doing. Unfortunately she was greeted by something else instead.
"Aang!" Freya shook his shoulders as they turned to see Azula riding on one of the mail carts on the slide beside them.
The princess shot several blue fire flames at them and Freya ducked as Aang spun his staff around to disperse it. Their paths dropped away before the two slides joined together and Freya turned to watch the princess as she crouched on the meal coffin.
"Like brother like sister." she grumbled as Aang sent a blast of air at the girl. She slapped her hands together and the air split on either side of her. She grinned before Aang gasped at the blue fire that Freya blocked with a shield of ice that melted back into her pouch as Aang swung his arms to make the coffin slide faster.
Aang sent them faster as Freya blocked the fire while they slid under some arches that caught Aang's attention.
"Freya!" she looked at him as he looked around them and she glanced at the arches too.
They shared a nod before Freya and Aang each knocked a side down and the arches fell over the path as Azula came sledding down the shoot. The princess entered the heap of dust they'd created and the box came out empty.
Aang released a sigh of relief before Azula stood up from inside the cart and stood on its edging.
Freya jumped and Aang ducked the blue fire before Freya sent a large stream at the princess who just caused an explosion by sending fire at it as well.
Freya began to grow frustrated before Aang twirled his staff to block the next wave of blue flames, spinning himself and Freya so they switched spots.
Appa flew threw the air and descended down beside them with Katara and Sokka sitting at his head.
"Hang on, Bumi! Our ride's here!" Aang shouted as Freya blocked another fire blast. Azula sent one at Appa who dodged before Aang swung an air blast at one side and the coffin jumped out of the shaft. Katara and Sokka reached up to grab Bumi's cage as it flew over the bison's head and proceeded to fall down the edge with Bumi and Freya crying out. Freya crouched herself low and reached to grab Aang as he lost his footing before they smashed sideways into another shoot.
they fell through it and onto the shaft below only for Azula to slide along behind them again.
She created a compressed disk of fire and shot it down the shaft towards him.
Bumi looked between Freya and Aang's legs at the ascending fire before he rose his chin and grit his teeth. Freya noticed the bolder that shot out of the ramp and stopped the fire before looking down at Bumi surprised.
Azula had to jump to avoid the collision her cart made with the boulder where she skidded down the shaft a bit and came to a stop.
"You…" Freya began turning to Bumi
"You could earthbend… all along!?" Aang asked surprised
"Well, they didn't cover my face." Bumi grinned. He rose his chin again and a boulder grew at the end of the shoot. Freya and Aang jumped off of the coffin as the boulder spun it around to stand Bumi up straight.
"I don't understand." Aang said as he began to get frustrated. "Why didn't you free yourself? Why did you surrender when Omashu was invaded? What's the matter with you, Bumi!?" he demanded
"Listen to me, Aang. There are options in fighting, called jin. It's a choice of how you direct your energy." Bumi began
"I know!" Aang counted the jins on his fingers "There's positive jin when you're attacking, and negative jin when you're retreating."
"And neutral jin when you do nothing!" Bumi grinned.
Freya blinked as Aang looked at his hand, now adding a finger to his count, surprised.
"There are three jins?" he asked
"Well, technically there are eighty-five. But, let's just focus on the third." Bumi decided, earning a chuckle from Freya. "Neutral jin is the key to earthbending. It involves listening and waiting for the right moment to strike."
"That's why you surrendered, isn't it?" Aang understood
"Yes, and it's why I can't leave now." Bumi admitted
"Ha! I told you!" Freya grinned and Aang looked at her annoyed "I knew he wasn't in danger."
"Sure, that's why you decided to come here in the first place." Aang said
"Fine, I wasn't that worried after I heard he surrendered." Freya rephrased and Bumi chuckled.
"As a water bender, Freya has the understanding of neutral jin. Water benders wait for their opponent to strike in order to turn their attack against them." Freya nodded in agreement.
"I guess I need to find someone else to teach me earthbending." Aang realised turning away and frowning.
"Your teacher will be someone who has mastered neutral jin. You need to find someone who waits and listens before striking." Bumi instructed. Momo suddenly jumped down and landed on Aang's shoulder, earning a grin from the boy.
"Hey, Momo!"
"Momo's mastered a few jins himself!" The lemur cried out at the idea and Freya and Aang laughed at it's reaction.
"Goodbye, Aang. I'll see you when the time is right."
"Take care Bumi!" Freya said as she and Aang waved.
The earth bender leaned backwards and fell onto the shaft before a boulder began to roll and push him back up the shaft towards his original holding place. His laugh echoed through the city as he went.
A growl sounded behind the two and they turned to Appa with Katara and Sokka on board.
"What happened? Where's Bumi?" Katara asked
"He's staying." Freya said as she and Aang climbed onto the bison.
"He's what?!" Sokka demanded
"He's staying so that he can reconquer his city when the time is right." The older girl explained
"He's waiting to fight another day." Aang smiled
"So we went through all of this for nothing. Great. Just great." Sokka complained as he flicked the reins and Appa moved to take off.
"Not nothing. At least we know our friend is safe."
"He also told me something about my earth bending teacher. Someone who listens and waits before striking." Aang said
"Listens and waits? What kind of fighting strategy is that?" Sokka demanded
"I don't know, I find I have the upper hand when I let my opponent strike first." Freya confessed with a grin.
"Well we still have one problem." Katara admitted, earning the girl and both boy's attention. Katara pointed to the saddle where the baby was still rolling around pulling their contents from the saddle where they were packed away.
Freya sighed.
"We'll take him back." Aang said
"What?" Sokka demanded
"Well we didn't kidnap him, we don't need him and if we kidnap him what would we do with him?" Freya asked "You want to babysit for the rest of our trip? I bet that'll be a piece of cake."
Sokka looked at her annoyed.
"Fine." she grinned and Aang chuckled himself.
"The next question is where do we find Aang an earth bending teacher?" Katara wondered.
"Well there are earth benders all over the earth Kingdom, I'm sure we'll run into one at some point." Freya shrugged
"We don't have time for it to take long though remember." Katara said
"Yeah but knowing our luck we'll get into trouble and one will come to save us." Sokka shrugged
"Don't say that so lightly I don't like feeling like I need saving you know." Freya confessed
"Yeah, we've noticed." Katara smirked in which Freya poked her tongue out at her.