Chapter 26:
The ferry left and Aang was followed by Katara, Freya, Ying, Than, Than's sister, Toph and Sokka at the back.
"I can't believe we gave up our tickets, and now we're going through the Serpent's Pass." Sokka's voice carried up towards them.
"I can't believe you're still complaining about it." Toph admitted.
"I'm coming too." The group all turned to see Suki suddenly running up behind them. She had her face makeup and Kiyoshi warrior outfit on.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Sokka suddenly asked
"Sokka, I thought you'd want me to come?" Such said confused
"I do, it's just…"
"Just what?" she asked
"Nothing. I'm glad you're coming." He smiled and Suki moved past him after the others while Sokka frowned slightly. He watched her go before following as the others all waited for him.
They moved until they reached the edge of the land. Before them was a very narrow and rather straight bridge of rock, making up the Serpents Pass.
"This is the Serpent's Pass? I thought it would be more windy, you know, like a serpent. Hmm, I guess they misnamed it." Sokka said as they looked at the rock. There was a Tori Gate before them with a sign above it and the pathway went up the rock, moving around the top.
"Look at this writing, how awful." Ying moved towards the base of the gate frowning.
"What does it say?" Toph asked as Katara walked forwards.
"It says, "Abandon hope"." she read.
"How could we abandon hope? It's all we have." Ying pressed her face into her husband's shoulder sadly.
"I don't know. The monks used to say that hope is just a distraction. So maybe we do need to abandon it." Aang said as he turned to look out of the water.
"What are you talking about?" Katara questioned stepping towards the boy.
"Hope isn't going to get us into Ba Sing Se, and it's not gonna find Appa." Aang said turning to her seriously "We need to focus on what we're doing right now, and that's getting across this pass." Aang moved to the gate and faced the group before him.
"Yes and we hope we can make it safely and without incident." Freya said to the boy. "It something that get's us through the day and gives us courage to face what scares us." Aang looked at her, the same calm and plain expression on his face. "If you don't have hope, you don't have expectations. And if that's the case, you might as well have given up on everything." Freya looked at Aang with annoyance and scrutiny before she was first to move past him and through the gate onto the pass.
Even Zuko continued to hold hope regardless of all he'd been through. What is wrong with Aang? He doesn't even have any ambition to find and save Appa! she grit her teeth.
Aang looked after his old friend and everyone did the same slightly surprised before one by one they began to follow the girl.
The path climbed up, dipped down and was carved into one side of the narrow rock. Occasionally they could see over to the other side and water stretched towards the horizon. They walked in single file with Freya at the front and Aang behind her, the others following as Sokka was at the end.
"The Fire Nation controls the western lake. Rumour has it they're working on something big on the other side, and they don't want anyone to find out what it is." Suki explained as a Fire Nation ship sailed through the waters and they turned to watch it.
"If that's the case it'll probably be some plan their hatching. After all, the Fire Nation takes Ba Sing Se and they have basically won the war. I'm sure they're trying to think of a way to do so." Freya said.
"They did try though already." Toph said
"Yes, something like four years ago or so the Fire Nation lead a siege on the great wall, Ba Sing Se has several walls, an outer and a few inners, the outer and the outer most inner wall are the greatest. The Fire Nation broke through the outer wall but gave up before they broke the next." Freya explained
"They gave up?" Katara asked surprised and Freya nodded "Why?"
"General Iroh, brother to Fire Lord Ozai and Zuko's uncle was the commanding General leading the siege. However in the battle his only son Lu Ten was killed." Katara covered her mouth with her hands in surprise. "Iroh gave up the siege because of the grief he felt from loosing his son. I'm pretty sure it was at that time that Zuko's mother went missing and his grandfather passed on. As Iroh wasn't in the Fire Nation at that time Ozai was given the crown and became Fire Lord."
"What do you mean given the crown?" Toph asked
"In the Fire Nation, it is tradition that the first born of the Fire Lord succeeds them. So Zuko is next in line for the thrown after his father. Iroh was supposed to be the Fire Lord but Ozai took it instead. I think if that hadn't happened, we wouldn't be where we are now."
"How so?" Suki asked
"Iroh has a much better look on the world, he is calm and wise and can see past himself. He see's bigger pictures. I don't know exactly when he realised what was right and what was easy but he's nothing like the rest of his family."
"Too bad Zuko hasn't worked out that way." Sokka complained
"Zuko's spent three years with his uncle, I wouldn't give up on Iroh not being an influence."
"You mean you think Zuko can be good?" Sokka asked shocked, a few other's looked at her too.
"People cannot learn and find the correct paths if they do not make mistakes." Freya believed "And I know Zuko has done a lot of shit and made more mistakes than many, and still hasn't learnt, but he's a fire bender and fire benders are head strong and hold a drive that allows them to work towards a goal no matter what. It takes a lot for one to see past that and look at the bigger picture. You might even find he needs to receive what he wants to realise it isn't what he needs." no one spoke as the girl explained and Sokka still looked like she was crazy as the girl eyed the ship moving beside them.
"You know Freya, you seem to have a lot of faith in people." Suki said
"I have faith people can be better, but that doesn't mean they'll rise to the expectations." Freya confessed "In Zuko's case, you might find he never learns and ends up like his mad sister and tyranny of a father, instead of like Iroh."
A cry sounded out and the five in front turned as the rock began to crumble and Than was falling off the ledge. Toph was quick and she stuck another ledge out of the rock to catch the man. She then bumped him up to land back on the path and the two girls grabbed him with worry.
"I'm okay." he assured smiling.
The rocks however had fallen down the side of the cliff and within the minute a fire blast was shot at them by the passing ship.
"They've spotted us!" Sokka shouted "Let's go, let's go!" Aang leapt forwards, pushing off the rock wall and with a swing of his staff he sent the fireballs back at the ship, hitting the helm and causing several explosions. Another blast shot at them anyway and hit the rock above the path. Rocks began to tumble down towards them and Suki gasped up at it before Sokka pushed her out of the way. Sokka looked shocked before Toph created a slope and the rocks tumbled off it and over the cliff, leaving Sokka unharmed.
"Suki, are you okay? You have to be more careful! C'mon!" Sokka helped the girl up from the ground and ran past Toph who stood with Momo on her shoulder.
"Thanks for saving my life Toph. Hey no problem Sokka." Toph mumbled to herself.
Freya took a stance and with a breath she began to raise her arms before she clenched her fists. Everyone ran past her and the Path dived behind a rock and out of firing range as Freya stabbed through the bow of the ship with a spear of ice before it melted away, allowing the ship to take on water. She quickly moved off after everyone else and Aang flew over her head on his glider.
"Everyone alright?" she asked and she received several nods in return as Aang landed and everyone seemed to release a breath.
The Sun had began to set before they could reach the end of the pass and they decided to call it a night and make camp. They came to a spot were the path opened up rather widely and everyone settled down. Freya collected some debris from around the place and lit fire where Yin and Than sat around it for warmth. Suki undid her mat to sleep on as everyone cycled the flames and Than gave Ying a foot massage.
"Suki, you shouldn't sleep there." Sokka moved to Suki as she shook out her map "Who knows how stable this ledge is? It could give way at any moment." he took her mat and moved away from the edge of the ledge.
"Sokka, I'm fine. Stop worrying!" she replied confused and slightly annoyed.
"You're right, you're right. You're perfectly capable of taking care of yourself…" Sokka said as he put her mat down next to his own. She came to sit upon it before Sokka suddenly shouted "Wait!" he jumped up and stood in front of her with his arms out before he sighed "Oh, never mind. I thought I saw a spider, but you're fine." he patted the girl's shoulder and she looked annoyed.
The girl moved over to Freya who was staring up at the sky.
"Okay, what is his problem?" she asked quietly as she sat down beside the younger girl.
"I think you'll find it has something to do with an incident at the North Pole." Freya said. "He was given a task, and she made a decision that was more important that compromised it. You will probably find Sokka blames himself for it."
"What happened?" Suki asked
"It's a little complicated." Freya admitted as she sat up "But you should probably ask him about it." she smirked slightly and Suki slumped
"Yeah, just conversations with him at the moment…"
"At the moment?" Freya mumbled and Suki chuckled slightly, letting the girl grin.
"Thanks Freya."
"Any time." she shrugged.
Freya sighed and laid back down to look upwards as Suki walked off.
"People cannot learn and find the correct paths if they do not make mistakes." Freya believed "And I know Zuko has done a lot of shit and made more mistakes than many, and still hasn't learnt, but he's a fire bender and fire benders are head strong and hold a drive that allows them to work towards a goal no matter what. It takes a lot for one to see past that and look at the bigger picture. You might even find he needs to receive what he wants to realise it isn't what he needs."
But what's his mistake? Freya wondered Constantly chasing Aang… or… Freya frowned slightly.
Freya sat up and ran her fingers through her hair as she glanced around.
The girl noticed that Aang was gone and Katara caught her eye questionably. Freya rolled her's and shrugged. If she had to guess she assumed he was off sulking, but not sulking considering he'd chosen that being emotionless was better. Katara looked around and then back at Freya who sighed. The younger girl followed Freya as she stood and moved to find the airbender. She found him easily, standing at the tip of a ledge and looking out over the water. They shared a look and Freya nudged Katara forwards. She knew she wasn't in the mood or head space to deal with him. He was frustrating her with his stupidity.
Katara walked forwards and paused behind the boy before she spoke.
"You know, it's okay to miss Appa." Aang said nothing "What's going on with you? In the desert, all you cared about was finding Appa, and now it's like you don't care about him at all." she moved up beside him.
"You saw what I did out there. I was so angry about losing Appa, I couldn't control myself. I hated feeling like that." Aang frowned. Freya sighed.
"But now you're not letting yourself feel anything. I know sometimes it hurts more to hope, and it hurts more to care. But you have to promise me that you won't stop caring." Katara said before she smiled "C'mon, you need a hug." Aang turned to the girl and put his hands together before bowing to her.
"Thank you for your concern Katara." and he walked towards Freya.
"You know you're not the only one who feels that way." she stopped him and Aang looked at the girl. "I lost it too if you forgot. But hiding and locking away all of your emotions does not solve the problem. All you're doing is pushing it away to deal with later. You need to learn to control your emotions. Not ignore them." Freya said to him. "Holding your emotions in is just as bad as holding in your bending, and we both saw how that ended up." Aang turned his gaze away from her and Freya glanced at Katara before she walked back to the camp fire. There was nothing more she could say.
The group continued on the next morning with not much to say and the path began to slope downwards. Eventually it was clear why. They all came to a stop as before them was a small stretch of water, and the path continued on the other side of it, a little ways before them.
Freya and Katara shared a look and both shared a nod before they stepped to the front of everyone.
"Everyone behind me." Freya said and they grouped behind her as she spread the water before them and began to bend it as she walked down. "Katara, close it off." Freya said and the younger girl went to the back behind everyone to do so.
"Aang hold the middle." Freya ordered and Toph took the boy's staff before he began to bend with them.
They walked along the bottom of the lake as the water cased around them like a little bubble. Fish swam past them and Momo stared before he jumped off of Toph's shoulder to swim after them. They watched him try and catch the fish before something suddenly swam straight past the lemur. It was large and black and cast a shadow. The lemur jumped back onto Toph as the object moved past them and Freya stopped. She held her hands up and held the water as Katara and Aang looked too.
"What is that thing?" Katara questioned.
A giant lizard like creature launched at them and through the bubble. Freya moved her hands quickly to hold off the water that began to spill in and she froze the water around them quickly.
"Toph!" she shouted. The girl stomped her foot and raised her hands to have a round platform of earth shoot upwards and rise them out of the water. Freya broke the ice when they reached the surface and Toph handed Aang his staff back.
Everyone turned as a fin poked out of the water and began to circle them. They waited and then out shot a giant serpent. It was green and purple with feelers from it's nose and it roared angrily before leaning down towards them.
"I think I just figured out why they call it the Serpent's Pass." Sokka said as he pointed at it.