we all want love/we all want honor
Part 14: lightning in a bottle
"Even in the dust we shine."
- Bea Miller, "Fire N Gold"
Sokka was so done with this day that never seemed to end. He just wanted to find someplace relatively comfortable and sleep.
But no. First they spent all night (and day) flying away from a tank of dangerous ladies, while listening to sleep-deprived Katara get annoyed about anything and everything. Then Aang had flipped out and started yelling at both of them. (Rude. Sokka hadn't been the one insulting his bison-flying skills.) And then it had taken them way too long to realize that the scary girls from Omashu were tracking them because of Appa's shedding.
So then they decided to split up, which, in Sokka's expert opinion, was a bad idea- things always went wrong when they split up. (Not that they went that well when they stuck together, either.) But because no one ever actually listened to the plan guy, Aang took off on his glider one way, while Sokka and his sister flew Appa off in another direction.
But somehow, the freaky ladies and their freaky pets (what were those things?) had managed to find them anyway.
Wait, Sokka thought, one, two... weren't there three of them before? Knife girl, the girl with the weird punches, and crazy blue-fire girl (who looked really familiar, for some reason). But only the first two were following them- the firebender had obviously decided to follow Aang's trail.
"New plan," he hissed to Katara, when it became evident that those weird animals the girls were riding could also walk on water. "Take out these two, and then we go find Aang." She nodded, and sent a wave of water... which the scary ladies somehow managed to avoid.
If he had been less tired, Sokka might have taken the time to appreciate the fact that, despite their lack of bending, the two girls were seriously talented. (He hadn't met any warriors that tough since Kyoshi Island.) Right now, however, they were nothing but obstacles, keeping him from the one thing he wanted most: sleep.
They tried. Really, they did. But the two girls (he heard Knifey refer to her pal as "Ty Lee") were just too good.
And that was when their giant, fluffy, equally sleep-deprived savior came to the rescue.
"Aah!" The two girls screamed as they were swept down the river.
"Thanks Appa," he said. "I don't know what we'd do without you." And, of course, since he couldn't move, he got a face full of bison drool.
Now, to find Aang and scary girl number three.
When they finally reached the deserted town Aang's trail led to, they found him fighting with the firebender. (Okay, seriously, why and how were her flames blue?)
As he, Aang, and Katara cornered the girl, he heard a voice behind him.
"Get up, Sparky!" The voice was female, but without seeing her, he couldn't place an age. She didn't sound familiar. "I did not come all this way to listen to Azula take your sorry rear out."
"What are you doing here?" Sokka's blood ran cold. That was Zuko's voice. Zuko, who they hadn't seen since the North Pole. (Honestly, he'd been kind of hoping the prince had died in a ditch somewhere, but nothing ever went that easily for them.)
"Saving you, obviously," the female voice said. "You owe me some answers, buddy." Jeez, that tone scared Sokka, and she wasn't even talking to him.
I guess Aang was telling the truth about Zuko having a girlfriend. He'd laughed when the airbender had first mentioned the idea, because it just seemed so preposterous, but the tone that he was hearing was one that could only come from a girlfriend, mom or...
Sister. That's why this firebender looks so familiar. She must be Zuko's sister!
"How many royals do these guys have?" Sokka muttered. No one answered.
"Well, look who it is," the princess said, looking behind him. "I wasn't expecting to see you here, Dirt Girl."
"Wish I could say the same, Ice Princess," said the girl, stepping into Sokka's line of sight. "At least I don't actually have to look at you!"
Sokka was way too tired to try to figure this out.
(Ice Princess?)
The girl was short, with dark hair. She wore a green shirt and red pants. As the female firebender shot a blue fire blast in her direction, she raised her arms, and a wall of stone rose to block the flames.
"Wait a second," Sokka said in shock as he ducked away from another of the princess's attacks. "Zuko's girlfriend is an earthbender?"
"She is not my girlfriend!" Zuko jumped forward, returning his sister's fire.
"Pretty sure it would actually be betrothed or affianced or some other horrible-sounding word," the freaking earthbender said as she moved the dirt to trip Azula up.
Wait. What?
"You do realize that we're not really engaged?" Zuko and the new girl were standing right next to each other now, alternating shots as they backed the princess into an alleyway.
"We're not?" The earthbender's voice had an amused tilt to it, and Sokka realized that she was teasing the scarred boy. "That betrothal ceremony felt pretty real to me. What do you think, Azula?"
"I wouldn't know," the firebending girl (Azula?) said. "I wasn't invited."
"What is happening right now?" Sokka hissed at Katara. She shrugged. Aang, meanwhile, was staring at the earthbender as though he'd seen a ghost.
"Oof!" Just then, Azula backed right into an old man Sokka recognized.
"Uncle!" Zuko's voice sounded... not quite happy, but at the very least, grateful.
Together (and who'd have thought together would include Zuko?) the six of them backed their mutual enemy into a corner.
"Well, look at this. Enemies and traitors, all working together," Azula said, raising her hands. "I'm done. I know when I'm beaten. You got me. A princess surrenders with honor."
Zuko's girlfriend (fiancée?) snorted, turning to the old man as if to say can you believe this?
Sokka saw how Azula's eyes narrowed as she stared at something near the tiny girl's neck. Before he could blink, she twisted and shot a bolt of- was that lightning? No one had told him firebenders could do that!- directly at the earthbender's heart.
Zuko and his uncle yelled, and the four benders blasted Azula in unison.
When the smoke cleared, Azula was gone.
The two firebenders knelt next to the tiny girl, who suddenly looked fragile. Zuko groaned in frustration, covering his face, while the old man inspected the wound.
"Get away from us!" The scarred teenager seemed to realize that they were still there.
"Zuko, I can help!" Sokka's sister reached for her waterskin, clearly hesitant to leave an injured girl like this, whoever her friends were.
"Leave!" Zuko yelled, raising his arms as though to shoot more fire at them.
"Prince Zuko!" The old man held a hand up in front of his nephew. "This is no time for your stubborn pride! A waterbending healer is what Lady Toph needs right now."
That name sounded familiar. Why did it sound familiar?
I am way too tired for this.
"Please," Zuko's uncle said, looking to Katara. "Heal her."
Katara nodded, walking towards the girl and opening her waterskin. She coated her hands and placed them over the tiny figure's chest, where Sokka could see a tiny glint of something shiny.
Metal! Sokka remembered the mechanist telling him what happened to metal in a thunderstorm. That can't be pleasant.
"I think she's going to be okay," Katara was saying. "I don't think that lightning bolt was meant to kill, just stun her for a while. Let her rest for a few hours, and she should be fine."
"Thank you," the old man said, wrapping an arm around his nephew, who was still staring down at the earthbender with an expression of shock and horror. "Thank you."
"Alright," Sokka said when they finally reached a place they could make camp. "Everybody get some sleep."
But even as he drifted off to sleep, he couldn't help but wonder about Zuko and the earthbender. How on earth did that happen?
"There is something different about you and I."
- Bea Miller, "Fire N Gold"