Chapter 14:
The three water tribe members addressed the mayor in front of Aang's prison once they returned to Chin. Katara spoke up, kissing up to the man slightly as she explained what they'd spent the day accomplishing.
"Honourable mayor," she began "we've prepared a solid defence for the Avatar. We did an investigation and found some very strong evidence." Sokka leaned towards Aang and gave him a thumbs up, earning a grin from the boy in response.
"Evidence? Hmph! That's not how our court system works."
"I'm sorry?" Freya asked the man annoyed.
"Then how can I prove my innocence?" Aang wondered
"Simple. I say what happened and then you say what happened and then I decide who's right."
Freya's mouth dropped open as the other three gasped in shock.
"What?!" the older girl demanded.
"That's why we call it justice. Because it's "just us."" the four watched as the mayor walked away laughing at the four.
"Now what?" Freya demanded
"Well no one can argue with our evidence even if he wants to." Katara believed
"Exactly, there's no way Aang is guilty with the evidence we found."
"So, what is this evidence?" Aang wondered
"Well, first off; There's a tiny footprint which the Mayor thinks is Kiyoshi's, but Kiyoshi had giant feet, so that's incorrect. Second, Kiyoshi was never in the temple because it wasn't built at that time. And third, according to a painting that's dated back to today, Kiyoshi was on Kiyoshi island, she wasn't even in Chin so how could she have killed him?" Freya offered.
"As long as you present those facts there's no way they can count you guilty." Katara nodded trying to look positive.
"Well, we'll see. Depends how twisted that mayor is." Freya mumbled as she looked after him.
"Do you remember the facts?" Katara asked
"Big feet, no temple, on Kiyoshi." Aang listed and the three nodded.
"Hopefully we can get out of this town and move on tomorrow." Freya said "This has all been a lot of unnecessary hassle." the two siblings nodded in agreement.
The following day the town of Chin was gathered around the statue of Chin the Great by the temple and Freya, Katara and Sokka were amongst them. The Mayor stood before them all with Aang still locked in his pillory.
"Everyone loved Chin the Great because he was so great. Then the Avatar—" the Mayor turned to point at Aang. "showed up and killed him! And that's how it happened."
Freya rose an eyebrow.
"Not much of a case." she mumbled as the Mayor walked off to the side grinning triumphantly.
"The accused will now present its argument." another man stated before moving away from Aang. Sokka watched the Mayor before turning to Aang.
"You can do it, Aang. Just remember the evidence." he encouraged.
"Right... evidence." Aang mumbled "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm about to tell you what really happened. And I will prove it with facts. Fact number one…" the boy paused. "Uh…"
Freya sighed and hung her head.
"We're doomed." she mumbled. Sokka prompted the boy.
"The footprints!"
"Oh, yeah…" he turned back to the crowd. "You see, I have very large feet." Aang pointed down to his tiny shoes. "Furthermore, your… temple matches your statue." he pointed between them both "But… I was in a painting at sunset." Aang suddenly grinned "So there you have it! I'm not guilty!"
The crowd was very silent and looking very unamused as Katara and Sokka had fake grins plastered on their faces, worried. Freya had buried her head into her arms leaning on her knees.
"He's dead." Sokka believed as he had his thumb raised.
"Now what?" Freya asked
"If only we could get Kiyoshi to talk, then we could clear all of this up." Sokka complained.
Katara beamed.
"Sokka, that's brilliant!" the two looked at her confused as Katara suddenly got up and vanished for a second before she was back, a rather large bundle in her arms and she dragged Aang into the temple. Everyone watched for a minute before she re-emerged and turned to the Mayor.
"Mayor Tong, I'd like for the court to hear one last testimony." Katara announced.
"I've already told you! It's just me and the accused. You can't call any witnesses." the Mayor snapped, jumping to his feet.
"This isn't just any witness. I'm going to call… Avatar Kiyoshi herself!" Katara declared, swinging her arm to point at the temple.
The entire court began to mutter and talk in surprise as someone stepped out of the temple and down the stairs.
However it was Aang who came plundering from the temple, only he was covered in Kiyoshi's kimono, had his face covered in white and red makeup and was even wearing the old Avatar's giant boots. All of it was way too bit for him and dragged on the floor.
"What are you doing?" Sokka demanded in a hushed voice as Katara sat back with him and Freya.
"Well, she is Aang's past life. Maybe wearing her stuff will trigger something." Katara questioned
"It's not very full-proof." Freya believed. Sokka however adjusted his magnifying glass,
"I do believe in the power of stuff." he mumbled
"This is a mockery of Chin law!" Mayor Tong protested.
"Please! If you could just wait one more second, I'm sure Kiyoshi will be here." Katara pleaded.
Tong sat back down and everyone turned to Aang. He'd pulled out one of Kiyoshi's fans and covered his face with it.
The boy began to speak while airing his voice to make it sound lighter.
"Hey, everybody." He dropped the fan ever so slightly and blinked as he smiled. "Avatar Kiyoshi here."
"This is ridiculous." Mayor Tong snapped as he walked towards the Avatar. "For the murder of Chin the Great, this court finds the Avatar…"
There was suddenly a flurry of wind and Aang was surrounded in a tornado beside the Mayor. The sky darkened considerably and everyone clutched to one another in sudden surprise. Freya blinked excitedly as she grinned, watching the sudden wind funnel closely.
Within a second the wind vanished and suddenly standing in Aang's place was Avatar Kiyoshi.
"I killed Chin the Conqueror." she suddenly spoke, looking up at them all with a fierce piercing gaze that Freya had only seen worse of once, on Azula back in Omashu.
"A horrible tyrant," The avatar continued "Chin was expanding his army to all corners of the continent. When they came to the neck of the peninsula where we lived, he demanded our immediate surrender. I warned him that I would not sit passively and while he took our home, but he did not back down. On that day, we split from the mainland."
Freya gapped. Kiyoshi was confessing!?
"I created Kiyoshi Island so my people could be safe from invaders." Kiyoshi closed her eyes and with another flurry of wind she was surrounded. Light reappeared around them and the small whirl wind vanished to leave Aang standing back in place.
Katara ran forwards to catch Aang who groaned and dropped Kiyoshi's fans on the floor.
"So… what just happened?" he wondered
"Kiyoshi took over you, seeing as her spirit's in you." Freya mumbled as she approached the two as well.
"So?" Aang asked and the girls shared a look.
"Uhh… you kind of confessed. Sorry." Katara admitted. Mayor Tong got up from where he was cowering on the ground and brushed off any dirt.
"And I find you guilty! Bring out the wheel of punishment!" he declared. The crowd began to cheer and shout as Momo looked around before hiding himself behind his tail.
A wheel was brought forth before them all and on it was several different punishments. The three water tribe members stared and read the options surprised as the crowd was excited. Of the eight options upon the wheel, only one was not deadly.
"The accused will now spin the wheel of punishment to determine his sentence." Aang stared at the wheel before glancing at the three behind him.
"I said I would face justice, so I will." he decided strongly, before he moved over and reached up to spin the wheel.
"Come on, torture machine!" on man shouted
"Eaten by bears!"
"Razor pit!"
"These people are terrible!" Freya mumbled as Katara and Sokka hung on to one another beside her.
"Community service! Please stop on community service." Katara chanted in worry.
The wheel began to slow down and moved past eaten by sharks and very slowly came to a stop on a picture of a man burning in hot liquid over a fire.
"Looks like it's "boiled in oil.""
The entire town erupted into cheers. Katara had her hand over her mouth, Sokka had his mouth dropped open and Freya stared as Aang looked worried at the crowd.
Before anyone could do anything though something suddenly flew through the air and went bouncing along the ground towards the temple, Freya eyed it in confusion before suddenly the entire temple was blown up.
"What was—?" Freya began
"We've come to claim this village for the Fire Lord!" Everyone turned around to see the men who had attacked the group early the other morning riding their rhinos around the top of the stands. "Now show me your leader so I may…" one of the riders and his rhino had made it's way to the statue of Chin, he sliced through it twice with his halberd and the statue shattered into pieces. "…dethrone him." the man smirked
"That's him over there!" one of the towns members pointed at Mayor Tong who turned and ran behind the wheel of punishment in which Aang was still standing beside.
Freya looked at the rhinos before she huffed and crossed her arms.
"You! Avatar! Do something!" Tong demanded
"Gee, I'd love to help, but I'm supposed to be boiled in oil." Aang responded calmly.
Mayor Tong spun the wheel so that the needle now stopped on Community Service.
"There! "Community service." Now serve our community and get rid of those rhinos!"
Aang turned to Freya who rose an amused eyebrow before the boy smirked.
He suddenly ran forwards before jumping and kicking off Kiyoshi's boots and kimono, still holding onto her golden fans though. He ran at the man with the halberd who turned to run at him with the rhino. Aang dodged the Rhino before he blew the man off of the beast and up into the air. He sent him flying over the edge of the cliff. The Rhino however continued walking towards the wheel of punishment and Mayor Tong coward behind it only to have the Rhino's horns pierce the wheel on either side of his body.
"Freya?" Katara asked. The girl sighed and stretched, reaching her hands upwards.
"Fine. I guess I could release some frustration." she decided before smirking as Aang turned to the leader of the rhino riders. The two stared for a second before the man turned.
"Rough Rhinos, to the town!"
They turned and fire was sent shooting into the town with flaming arrows before the fire benders began to burn the buildings.
People ran and screamed and Freya ran up into the houses, loosing the two siblings and Aang. With a shoot of her arms the fire began to gather around her and stopped burning the houses before she threw it at a rhino. The fire exploded the ground and sent both it and the rider flying.
Katara moved beside a rhino as several explosives went off and she was almost tied up by a chain. She created a sheet of ice and the chains bounced back and wrapped around the man himself instead. Katara whipped the rhino and it went running off. Sokka moved over to the archer and moved his monocle to shine a bright light in the man's eye. He turned and fired his arrows, missing Sokka but catching his hat. The boy gasped as the arrow went flying into a pouch on another Rough Rhinos Rhino. The pouch was full of explosives. Sokka grinned before he covered his head and ducked down. The man threw the pouch of explosives at the house beside him and the explosion went off, knocking him sideways. Freya jumped onto a house, staring down at the expanding explosion before she thrusted her hands towards one another, holding them mere inches apart. The fire stopped, freezing unnaturally for a moment, before it began to fold in on itself. The fire was stopped from burning anything and the explosion was stopped from ringing out, it didn't explode or damage anything before it simply began to fizzle and disperse. Several debris went flying however and Sokka looked up as a bag fell at his feet. Out toppled his boomerang.
"Boomerang! You do always come back!" He grinned as he picked up the weapon. He turned however as the archer pointed his bow at the boy.
Sokka's quick thinking had him throw his dragon pipe at the man and it landed on the end of the flaming arrow, putting the fire out. Freya jumped down in front of Sokka and with a whip of water the bow in his hand was split at the front and through the string, breaking it in two and making it useless. The girl waved her hand and a heap of water washed in to then push the rhino over and away.
Katara moved through and sliced the saddle of one, causing the man to fall off and with another whip the rhino ran off while dragging the man behind.
Aang came to a street and stopped as he faced the leader. They stared at one another for a second before the rider flamed his fist and Aang ran forwards.
Fire flamed out of the man's hands as he leaned over the rhino which ran at Aang but the boy jumped up onto a few barrels and blew out the man's fire aimed at him. Aang went flying over the rhino, he skidded along the ground and lost the head dress and fans which went clattering off beside him. The boy continued though by balling up his air scooter and zipping back towards the rhino which spun around. Fire went flying but it was drawn around and away from Aang as Freya stood at one end of the street. Aang zipped underneath the rhino and out the other side before he blew a funnel of air at the man. He dodged it and Freya skidded under the Rhino as it ran at her before she summersaulted her way over to Aang.
The two shared a look before staring back at the man. He ran first and a giant fire ball was thrown at Aang the size of the street. Freya moved first and slammed into the fire with a wave of her hands, dispersing it before Aang jumped over her head and crashed straight into the man, knocking him off the back of the animal. The fire bender went flying through a wooden wall at the end of the street and his rhino ran off through the town.
"Nice." Freya nodded. Before earning a grin from Aang.
Fireworks went off through the sky as night had fallen and confetti fell from the rooftops. The entire town was gathered in the square. Mayor Tong stood up beside Katara, Sokka, Freya and Aang as he addressed the crowd cheerfully.
"From now on, we'll celebrate a new Avatar Day in honour of the day Avatar Aang saved us from the Rough Rhino Invasion." The mayor declared as Aang grinned at everyone, each of them had a bowl in their hands and Sokka and Katara watched the younger boy as Freya eyed what was in the bowl in her hands.
"What is this?" Sokka asked as he looked at the contents as well. It looked like human shaped cookies, only they were melting all over one another.
"That's our new festival food: unfried dough. May we eat it and be reminded of how on this day the Avatar was not boiled in oil." The four looked at the contents and then up at the cheering crowd who were brimming with excitement.
"Ugh…" Freya mumbled as the four shared a look and each picked up the uncooked dough. It began to loose it's shape and stretched as Freya put her's in her mouth and swallowed before pulling a face.
"Happy Avatar Day, everyone." Katara wished. She ate her's as well as Aang put some in his mouth and then slurped it up while Sokka eyed the stuff.
"This is by far the worst town we've ever been to."
"I second that, can we leave please?" Freya asked as she looked at her bowl and debated cooking the dough.
"I think so." Katara mumbled.