Chapter 20 Dark Skies
Kozato sat inside of his temporary office onboard his borrowed airship, which was traveling south at a quarter speed back towards the Fire Nation, following The Avatar's last known heading. Looking up from his writings, Kozato saw one of his men come to the door. "Sir, we've found something."
The airship landed on an island in the middle of the sea, and Kozato, after having armored himself, went to ground with a small security detachment. All across the island there was evidence of activity. A fire pit, slit trench, and shelters made out of slabs of earth formed at unnatural angles that only a bender could create. "They were here alright." Kozato said, as he inspected matted grass beneath one of the slabs of earth. "Left about a full day ago."
Mulling over in his head where they could have found refuge, Kozato noted that the gang of miscreants had traveled deeper into Fire Nation waters rather than east toward the colonies. "The Avatar is staying near his enemy. He is still here because this is where the fight is. He's learned to fire bend by now, and he's not running anymore…" Kozato trailed off.
"Sir?" The company first sergeant asked.
Kozato turned and faced his senior enlisted advisor. "The Avatar is closing his distance on the capitol, but he's not ready to fight the Fire Lord yet, or we'd have received news of an attack… He'll be staying close, but just out of the reach of the home guard… And that narrows down where he would be staying, but we're not seeking just The Avatar."
"I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean, sir." The company first sergeant said.
"The formerly royal siblings, my cousins Azula and Zuko." Kozato said. "They would know the land better than the company they keep, and be able to advise places to hide."
"Doesn't that just broaden the area we'll have to search, sir?" A soldier near the airship asked.
"Not, if we take into consideration both The Avatar, and my family's habits and patterns of thinking. Close to the capital, but just out of reach. Hidden, but not too obviously isolated… A home away from home." Looking to the west as the wind picked up, Kozato saw dark clouds on the horizon. "We've a new heading."
The morning after their trip to Ember Island's theater, most of the gang woke up early. Connor after his bath, elected that instead of trying to cut his overgrown hair, took a strip of black ribbon, and tied it up into a crude wolf tail. He hadn't shaved since before they'd left the Western Air Temple, and wasn't sure if he liked the rougher look, or if the beginnings of a red beard would be too noticeable. Scratching the hair, he decided a day more without the razor wouldn't hurt.
After getting dressed, he joined the others outside, finding everyone down on the beach several members of the party in what Connor assumed was either beachwear or their undergarments, not that he could tell much of a difference. "Morning all." Connor said, stepping onto the sand.
"Morning Connor." Smellerbee said with a wave, as he approached one of the rocks he left on shore from his last visit, where Azula was sunbathing nearby, wearing essentially her underwear, and a sash wrapped around her chest.
"Morning, love." Connor said, as he sat down on the rock beside her.
Azula sighed in contentment, and opened one eye. "No complaints about our swimwear this time?" She asked with a smirk while stretching her arms over her head.
He rubbed his neck. "Given the circumstances, I don't think I've much room to be policing people's clothing." He paused. "And if I'm being honest… You do look nice." Azula smiled at that as she sat up. Looking around, Connor saw that some of his friends had made sand sculptures, though only two out of three were recognizable. "The Hell's this?" Connor asked Sokka, looking at what he could only consider to be a seaweed creature.
Aang and Toph also had similar questions as to the sculptures' nature. "Is it a blubbering blob monster?"
Sokka seemed to take offense to the question. "No, it's Suki!" Everyone looked over to Suki, who was seated on a towel laid out in the sand not too far away… The elegant warrior looked nothing like the sand sculpture. Mai, who was sitting in the sand near the water, smiled lightly.
Aang and Toph both burst into laughter. Connor only chuckled. "Suki, we'll all understand if you break up with him over this." Toph said through her laughter.
"I think it's sweet." Suki saud, before Sokka slid to his knees beside her, kissing her on the cheek affectionately.
"But it doesn't even look like her." Aang said in confusion before the sand sculpture he was standing beside was blown to pieces by a fireball. Aang was fine, but sand had been kicked up everywhere, and only the only four people who weren't hit by the flying volcanic particulates were Katara who was out surfing on the water with her bending, Toph, who bent the sand away, and Connor who did the same to protect himself and Azula from getting grit in their eyes.
Everyone turned their attention to Zuko, who jumped down from the beachside cliff, throwing fire at Aang from his fists, before the young Avatar ran away, bounding across the beach, before leaping deeper inland, Zuko giving chase behind him.
"What happened?" Katara asked, voicing the question almost everyone had.
Sokka was quick to respond. "Zuko's gone crazy, I made a sand sculpture of Suki and he destroyed it…"
"Well at least you have your priorities in order." Azula said as she got to her feet.
Connor looked at Katara. "He just started attacking Aang."
"What!?" Katara asked, before the redhead of the group led everyone back up the stairs towards the manor. As they reached the top of the stone steps, the group watched Zuko get blasted out of one of the house's second story windows. He smacked into a palm tree's leaves, before falling into the underbrush.
Katara was the first to approach Zuko, as he got to his feet. Connor, being cautious, kicked a rock up into his hand from the ground, ready to hit Zuko if needed. "What is your problem?" Katara asked loudly. "You could have hurt Aang." She said like a mother scolding her child, as Aang dropped down from the window he'd thrown Zuko out of.
Zuko turned to face everyone. "What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? How can you all be sitting around having beach parties when Sozin's Comet is only three days away?" Connor looked down to his hand, and counted on his fingers for a second, as Azula cringed. Everyone else just blankly looked at Zuko. "Why're you all looking at me like that?"
"About the comet…" Aang said, stepping forward. "I was going to wait to fight Ozai, after it came. I haven't mastered fire bending, and my earth bending could still use some work. If I fight Ozai right now I'm going to lose… Besides, there's not really a point in facing him before the comet, with the war basically being over."
"Ummmm. Slight problem with that." Connor said.
"Why? What's the problem?" Katara asked.
"We didn't tell them." Azula said to her brother.
Zuko's jaw dropped, before he slammed his hand to his forehead. "Oh, Agni, we are idiots."
"Tell us what?" Sokka asked.
Zuko ignored the group and focused on Azula. "I thought you told them?!"
"ME?! You're the one who's been primarily teaching Aang fire bending. You should have brought it up!" Azula said.
"It's not exactly a topic that comes up in normal conversation!" Zuko shouted.
"What are you two yelling about?" Toph asked.
"Either way, this is something we probably should all have mentioned when we first joined this merry band of misfits so it wouldn't slip our minds as it apparently has." Connor said.
"Yeah, well, we kinda got sidetracked." Zuko said with an eye roll, remembering how Combustion Man nearly dropped them off the air temple cliff. He turned to the group, and sighed. "I guess now's as good a time as any to explain… My father has a plan to destroy the Earth Kingdom, and the Northern Water Tribe. He's going to use the comet's power and the new airships to completely burn down a section of rebel held territory, and melt the Northern Water Tribe."
"That's completely insane." Yumi said.
"Or completely logical if you don't care about the cost of victory." Mai said flatly.
"And that's not the end of it…" Azula cut in. "He wants to kill everyone of Earth Kingdom descent, and with every fire bender on the ground in the Earth Kingdom given the power of one hundred suns no one would stand a chance."
Connor sighed. "And afterwards, they plan on hunting down the stragglers."
"The army's probably been preparing for this since the invasion." Zuko said, his shoulders slumping, as he sat down on a rock.
Sokka's eyes went wide as he remembered the grocery run he made with Aang. "They have been." He said, catching everyone's attention. "Aang and I saw soldiers rounding up people in South Chuli… I mean, we knew whatever was happening was bad, but we didn't think…" He trailed off.
"Didn't think that the Fire Nation would herd people like cattle to slaughter?" Azula asked. "They've probably already started."
"That's just…" Katara muttered. "How could someone be evil enough to come up with that?"
"Or go along with it?" Smellerbee asked. "Not every soldier in the Fire Nation is ok with this, right?"
"Doesn't matter if they're ok with it or not." Connor shook his head. "Ordinary people will commit atrocities without any care, awareness, or say in the matter."
"This is so bad." Aang said, as he dropped into a squat.
"It's worse than bad, this is… This is horrible." Suki said.
Azula quickly sighed. "We should have told you sooner, and that is on us, but this shouldn't be too much cause for concern."
"Why not?!" Katara shouted. "You just told us that in three days your dad's going to kill basically everyone who's not Fire Nation, if he hasn't started already."
"It's not too much cause for concern because we still have three days to stop him, and that's more than none. Azula said.
"Yeah." Toph said. "I'm with Spice Queen on this one. We've got three days to go find the Fire Lord, and Aang doesn't have to kick his ass alone." She said, putting a hand on Aang's shoulder before he stood up.
"Yeah." Sokka said. "Toph's right. I mean, we've come out of situations before with less going for us. We've got masters of every bending art now, and enough weapons between us to fight an entire company of soldiers on our own."
Zuko chuckled. "Well, there's that, and the fact we've got a few tricks up our sleeves." Aang raised an eyebrow curiously.
The gang had gone to the summer home's enclosed courtyard, where those involved in the practice of fire bending, being Aang, Azula and Zuko, (Azula having changed into her day clothing once more,) stood opposed from each other in a triangle, as everyone else sat on the sidelines in the shade.
"Shall I go first, brother?" Azula asked, before Zuko stepped back half a pace, as Azula cleared her throat. "There is a secret firebending technique, once lost to time, and rediscovered by the Royal Family, powerful enough to ensure that any reigning Fire Lord dare not be challenged to an Agni Kai. The form is it's own subset of fire bending, that bends the fire within, bends the positive and negative energies that exist in all life…"
"Lightning bending." Zuko said.
"That thing you did to Combustion man?" Aang asked Azula.
She nodded. "My father taught me the form, and he has far greater mastery over it than I do."
Aang rubbed his head. "So… Are you going to teach it to me?" He asked almost nervously.
"Something tells me you don't want to know how to create lightning." Azula said, before smirking.
"I… It just seems a little…" Aang remembered how Combustion Man had splattered everywhere. "Extreme."
"You'll still need to understand how to create it if you want to learn what I have to teach you." Zuko said.
"And what exactly would that be?" Azula asked her brother.
"How to redirect it." Zuko said with a grin.
Azula crossed her arms. "And who taught you to do that?"
"Uncle did." Zuko shrugged.
"Uh…" Aang said. "Yeah I'd rather learn how to do that."
Zuko rolled his eyes. "I just said you should learn how to lightning bend first."
"Right…" Aang muttered.
Azula stepped back a pace, putting her hands behind her back. "To start from the beginning. Inside every fire bender, every person, exists positive and negative energy, which is intertwined and constantly flowing throughout the body in balance with each other. The two energies being separated creates an imbalance, and in an effort to restore balance the two energies try to recombine. Creating lightning is to separate the energies, then allow them to violently collide, and direct them at the time they do." Azula looked up to the sky, and saw darker clouds forming over the horizon to the west, reasoning that no one would notice a few bolts here and there. "Observe."
Azula widened her stance, before pulling her index and middle finger away from her body, beginning the circular motions that separated negative from positive, blue static gathering at the tips of her nails, as her left hand as well began to crackle amid its own opposing arc. She swirled her arms, bringing the tips of her fingers near together, then directed her right arm towards the sky, casting a bolt of lightning toward the heavens, thunder clapping and echoing off in the distance.
Bringing her hands back to her center, Azula bowed, and stepped back further. "Try it if you wish."
Given his space, Aang tried repeating the sweeping circular motions that Azula had gone through, static gathering at the tips of his fingers, before he directed his right hand towards the sky, and a bolt of lighting was cast, though far smaller than Azula's. "How was that?" Aang asked.
Azula tilted her head back and forth. "Adequate for a first attempt. Though I imagine you won't be using the form very much."
"Yeah… Can I learn how to redirect it now?" Aang asked.
Zuko nodded. "Of course… I just wanted to make sure you could create it before going further." He took a step forward. "Redirecting lightning, in principle, is less complicated than creating it. The energy from lightning wants to flow through you, and if you guide it, by allowing the energy within you to flow along with it, you can carry the lightning, and discharge it safely." Zuko stood with his feet wide, before joining both index and middle fingers and extending his arms. "In." He put his hands near each other to his left, "Down." He brought his right hand down to his stomach, trailing his left arm as he went. "Up." keeping his right hand close to his torso, he moved it near his armpit. "And out." He finally thrust his two fingers towards the sky. "It doesn't have to look exactly like that, but the idea is to guide the energy away from your heart."
Zuko repeated the movement, and Aang, as well as Azula practiced the form with him. Raising an eyebrow, Aang made a comment. "This feels like a waterbending form."
Zuko chuckled. "That's because my uncle created the move by studying water bending."
"Well that stands to reason." Connor shrugged from the sidelines, catching the group's attention. "Electricity and water both have a path they follow, the one of least resistance, and one can travel through the other."
"So they both flow like water." Azula mused.
Aang bit his lip. "Sooo… Have you ever actually redirected lightning before?" He asked Zuko.
"Once. Against my father." Zuko said, as he stopped practicing the form.
"What did it feel like?" Aang asked, eyes wide with wonder. Behind Zuko, Azula listened intently.
Recalling the only time he'd felt the shock of a bolt of lightning, Zuko shuttered. "It was exhilarating… And terrifying. Taking that much more power than you already have. Your heart will race, and your skin will crawl. It's like cheating certain death."
Aang's look of wonder disappeared. "Yeah… I've kinda' tried that already."
"Well don't worry, I'm not going to have Azula shoot lightning at you for training." Zuko said, ruffling his hair.
"Well that's boring." Azula said with a faux pout.
Zuko sighed. "Hopefully if everything goes right, you'll only have to use the technique once. When you face my father. He doesn't know the move exists, so when you face him, he will try to kill you with lightning if he thinks you're enough of a threat, and when the time comes, you can throw it back at him."
"Yeah…" Aang said, rubbing his neck.
The day drove on into the evening, and soon night came. Thunder rolled across Ember Island, and as the warm winds picked up, the gang stayed inside for the rest of the night, having dinner around the manor's kitchen counter space. Connor had cooked and served everyone, unknowingly putting a slab of meat on Aang's plate along with everything else. The young Avatar felt it would have been rude to refuse the dish, and so picked around the pan seared food that was once a living being.
Katara had showed up late to dinner, but as she was rooting around in the attic for clothes that might fit someone in the group, the absence was expected. "Guess what I found?!" She asked rhetorically, holding up a scroll, before opening it up, showing the room an adorable portrait of a young baby. "It's baby Zuko." She said, earning a few "aws" and laughs. Zuko didn't so much as smile, nor did Azula, but the room's attention wasn't on her. Katara rolled her eyes. "Oh lighten up, I'm just teasing."
"That's not Zuko…" Azula said. All eyes turned to her, then back to Zuko.
"It's my father… That scroll's probably been here since the house belonged to Fire Lord Azulon." Zuko said, before taking a sip of his tea.
Not many could believe the portrait was one belonging to a genocidal maniac. Suki raised an eyebrow. "How is it that something so adorable and innocent can grow up to be such a monster."
Connor, having raided the house's forgotten wine cask, knocked back the rest of his glass, before shaking his head at the bitter concoction's flavor. "We're all products of our environment, Suki… Still, what we chose to do in that environment is what makes us who we are."
"And my father chose to become evil." Azula said. "Just as I did, I suppose."
"But he's still a human being." Aang said, finally speaking his first words since dinner began.
Zuko raised his good eyebrow. "Are you taking his side?"
"No, I agree with you all. Fire Lord Ozai is a horrible person, and the world would probably be better off without him." Aang said as he set his plate down on the counter beside him. "But there is some amount of good in everyone. Azula and Zuko are proof that even the most lost and twisted spirits, can be redeemed. There has to be another way. Killing Lord Ozai goes against everything the monks ever taught me."
"You still haven't decided which principle you hold as higher than the other? Balance or nonviolence?" Connor asked, setting his glass down. Aang shook his head. "Well then the answer's the same as before. You don't have to kill him, but you're under no obligation to save him from one of us either."
"But no one else should even have to fight him." Aang said, putting a hand to his chest. "Facing the Fire Lord was always supposed to be my responsibility."
"And you can bear that cross all you like, but you'll be nailed to it in the end if you only ever turn the other cheek." Connor said, the metaphor going mostly unrecognized.
"How am I supposed to maintain peace if I just wipe out whoever I don't like?" Aang asked the room, looking around at everyone who'd he'd personally talked to about stopping Ozai. "What kind of example is that setting for the world?"
"Well what kind of example would you be setting if you don't defend yourself either?" Smellerbee asked, catching everyone's attention. "Killing someone who's trying to kill you is exercising equal force, it's self defense."
"But it isn't always necessary." Aang argued.
"Aang…" Sokka said. "This might come off as a little insensitive, but… Not even monk Gyatso followed his oath of non violence in the end… I mean, how many Fire Benders do you think he took with him when he died?"
Aang turned away from Sokka and closed his eyes for a moment, before pleading for Katara's support. "Katara, you told me that after facing the man who killed your mother, you'd never do harm to another person again… You can't possibly advocate for Ozai to die."
Katara reached up to hold one of her hair loops, somewhat anxiously. "I… I mean, I won't personally hurt anyone, and I'd even try to save Lord Ozai's life if someone tried to kill him… But I think it's safe to say that there's only so much that healing can do."
Connor spoke up. "You're arguing the semantics of the difference between being peaceful, and being harmless."
"Is there a difference?" Yumi asked.
"Being harmless is to be completely incapable of hurting someone." Azula said. "Which would mean Katara is not harmless, merely peaceful."
Connor scoffed. "Because to be peaceful, you first have to be capable of great violence, and then choose not to act violently."
Aang clenched his fists. "Then if I have to choose, I choose nonviolence." He said, before storming off towards the other end of the house, stepping out onto the building's side deck.
Katara moved to follow him, but was stopped by Zuko, who just shook his head. "He needs time to figure this out on his own."
The next morning, the gang had begun to pack Appa's saddle, planning to make headway towards the capitol at nightfall, the dark clouds from the night before having come to cover the sky from east to west, sure to create a shadow at night that would help keep them from being spotted.
"We got everything?" Sokka asked.
"Everything but Aang." Connor said absantly, before everyone stopped what they were doing and looked around. "He wasn't at breakfast was he?"
"And I didn't see him leave his room." Katara said, before the group dropped everything and went back into the house to search for the Avatar. After several minutes of poking around, the only trace anyone had managed to find was Sokka discovering his staff left to rest against the railing of the deck he'd gone out to the night before.
"That's no strange… It's like he didn't come back inside last night." Katara said, upon seeing Sokka standing on the deck with the staff.
"Maybe he went down to the beach?" Zuko suggested.
The short walk down to shore had proven to be worth it, as the gang found a set of footprints in the sand leading out to the water, the tide having only washed away the last few steps in the trail.
"So he just went for a midnight swim and never came back?" Suki asked.
Connor looked out to the sea, and watched as the waves broke further out. "Dangerous thing, swimming at night. It's possible he drowned?"
"As a master water bender?" Katara asked.
"What if he was captured?" Smellerbee asked.
Sokka looked down to the set of footprints, and shook his head. "No, that's not right either. There's only one set of prints and these are Aang's judging by how lightly he walks. If he was captured there'd be drag marks, or the footprints would be twice as deep as ours if he was carried off. Plus there's not a single sign of struggle anywhere."
"Maybe he just ran away again?" Toph said, crouching down in the sand. "Walked along the waterline so the waves would wash away his trail."
"But he left Appa, and his glider." Sokka reasoned.
"Well he couldn't have gotten very far then could he?" Azula said, eyebrow raised. "The closest landmass from Ember Island is the mainland, and it would be suicide for him to go there alone."
"I think it's kinda obvious what's going on." Sokka said, resting Aang's staff on his shoulder. "He's on a spirit world journey."
"But wouldn't his body still be here?" Zuko asked.
"He's got to be somewhere on the island." Katara said, looking around at everyone. "We should split up and look for him."
"Ay." Connor said. "Teams of two, and try not to draw any attention. If he has been captured, we don't need to wind up caught along with him."
"I'm going with Zuko." Toph said, before she wrapped her arms around his torso. Everyone gave her a weird look, but the second of silence was what cued her to their confusion. "What, everyone else got to go on a life changing field trip with him."
Connor sighed. "Fine, Toph can go with Zuko. Suki, Yumi, you know each other. Sokka with Smellerbee. Katara keep an eye on Mai. Azula, you're with me darlin'."
"Wouldn't have it any other way." Azula said, before everyone split into their pairs, and began to wander.
Sokka and Smellerbee took to the air on Appa surveying the land for a birds eye view, as Katara and Mai went into town. Toph and Zuko walked the distance of the island's north beach, while Suki and Yumi walked the south. Azula and Connor were left to traverse the rural hills and forests deeper inland.
The hours of searching resulted in little progress, Mai and Katara having the most technical success, finding the Ember Island Players in the street, promoting the play while in costume. Exhausting themselves, the gang began to make their return to the Fire Lord's summer home. Having the shortest walk, Katara and Mai were the first to arrive.
Coming down the hill as they made their way back to the manor, Azula and Connor walked in silence, before Azula shivered as a gust of wind gave her an unusual chill. Something was not right, far from just The Avatar disappearing. Looking north, Azula went wide eyed. "Oh no." She said, catching Connor's attention.
"What?" He asked, turning back to face her, before looking north towards the sea, finding an airship approaching.
"He knows we're here." Azula said, before she took off into a run down the hill.
Standing on the bridge beside the helmsman, and the ship's communications officer, Kozato, fully armored, with his helmet held under one arm, smirked. As the airship neared the Fire Lord's summer home, he could see figures moving around down on the private beach. Taking the helmsman's spyglass, Kozato looked through the lens, and his smirk widened. "As expected the former Prince and Princess returned to the place they felt safest as children… How… Poetic." Kozato turned to the communications officer. "Have the cannons fire on the home. Shell it until the ship's directly over the ruble, and have the men prepared to land. And do check your fire… We've got one of our own down there."
"Sir, won't they just run away?" The communications officer asked.
"Take note, that their bison isn't here." Kozato said. "They can't run, not just yet."
By the time Connor and Azula had returned the rest of the gang had already regrouped, save for Sokka and Smellerbee on Appa.
"Uh, Azula, please tell me that isn't who I think it is." Katara said.
The first muzzle flash from the ship's chin cannon could be seen, and Yumi shouted. "INCOMING!"
Toph kicked the sand in front of her, and spread her hands, splitting the volcanic ground, and creating a five foot deep trench for everyone to jump into. Connor of course needed to duck down to feel remotely safe. Overhead the concussive boom of an explosive shell could be heard, and not long after, pieces of tile rained down from the summer home's roof.
Two more cannon blasts echoed out, and twice more explosions rocked the beach. "I guess they don't have us zero'd in?" Yumi asked.
"I wouldn't count ourselves that lucky." Zuko said, peeking over the edge of the sand trench, watching as a fourth and fifth cannonball impacted the home, causing the right wing of the house to collapse. "They're just bombing the place."
"Taking away the only defendable location we could have holed up in." Suki said.
"Well it doesn't look like it would have done very much." Mai said, poking her head out.
Two more cannonballs screamed through the air, blowing out the building's central hall, and everyone ducked down, and wood splinters from the door peppered the stone walkway and edge of the beach. "So what, we just sit here until they blow us to shit next?" Connor asked.
"They know exactly where we are and would have fired on us by now if they wanted to." Azula said. "What's your game Kozato?" She asked herself quietly, as the airship turned, and began to descend, landing in the footprint where the summer home used to be.
Mai glanced around, and realized that with the airship on the ground now, she would be capable of returning to Kozato. Looking up and to the west, she saw the Avatar's bison flying low towards them, and narrowed her eyes. Grabbing the edge of the trench, Mai jumped up and over the top, taking off up the beach towards the airship. "Mai, wait!" Zuko shouted, trying to climb out after her.
"No! Leave her!" Connor said, taking Zuko by his shoulder and pushing him back down, just as Appa landed behind the trench. "They won't shoot this way if they might hit her. She's our ticket out."
Glancing at Mai one last time as she took the stone steps up the house in twos, Zuko turned, finding Sokka on Appa's head. "Come on, what are you waiting for!" Sokka shouted, holding his hand out for his friend to take. Zuko grabbed Sokka's arm, and was pulled up, just before everyone else climbed out of the ditch and up onto Appa's back. Before Toph left the trench, she punched the wall, kicking up a cloud of sand to mask their escape. Once the sand cover was thick enough, Sokka whipped Appa's reins and took off into the sky at a steeper angle than the cannon's could hope to traverse, heading east.
As Kozato stepped off of the airship's catwalk he saw The Avatar's bison zip up into the air and begin heading east. He put his helmet on to hide his face from the world, and smirked as he watched the gang run. "Oh how you do play your part in all of this masterfully." He said quietly.
Turning his attention now to the sound of footsteps approaching, Kozato saw Mai running up the stone walkway towards the remains of the building he was standing in. The men who'd already stepped off the ship with him leveled their carbines as they saw her, but Kozato up up his hand, and they held their fire. "As you were, soldiers." He said, stepping towards Mai, his men lowering their guns.
Mai slowed her pace, as the two came to stand in the smoldering frame of the building's skeletonized doorway. Kozato looked around and then down at her. "I see you've escaped capture?"
Mai stood upright. "They made it easy." She said.
"Did you manage to kill any of them?" Kozato asked.
Mai maintained a look that conveyed only mild irritation. "They took all my knives."
"I'm sure you could have found a way." Kozato said, eyes narrowing within his helmet.
"An opportunity never presented itself." Mai lied.
"The Avatar. What do you know? What is he planning?" Kozato asked.
Mai swallowed a lump in her throat. "Zuko, Azula and Connor told him about Lord Ozai's plans to wipe out the stone chuckers with Sozin's Comet. They were all going to fight the Fire Lord before… Before The Avatar disappeared…"
Kozato raised an eyebrow, and tilted his head. "Disappeared? What do you mean disappeared?"
"He vanished last night. Took to the water and left." Mai said.
Kozato looked east, then hummed, before he looked up, seeing a shadow cause the sunlight to flicker for a second, before a hawk landed on his messenger sergeant's outstretched arm. The NCO pulled the letter from the bird's back and started to read it. "It's for you, sir." He said, handing the scroll over to Kozato.
Kozato took the letter, and read the message over, before burning it in his hands. "Seems Fire Lord Ozai is requesting we return to the capitol in preparation for the attack… Perfect timing…" He turned to Mai. "Seize her." Kozato said flatly to his men.
"What?!" Mai shouted, before two men approached with their pistol drawn, and a set of handcuffs ready. "But I-" Mai started before Kozato cut her off, and the irons were put on her wrists.
"You did exactly as I expected you to do in the event you were captured, darling." Kozato said, reaching out and petting her cheek with the back of his armored left hand. Mai pulled her head away before Kozato grabbed her by her chin firmly. "And now that you've provided me with assurance that The Avatar, or at the least his gang of rebels, will be facing the Fire Lord before the comet arrives, I can begin to take more active measures… Which means keeping you out of my way." Kosato pushed Mai's head away with his hand, and turned to his company, as Mai was pushed along behind him. "Throw her in the brig. We're moving out!" Kozato said as Mai was pushed past him.
Looking at the NCO with a bird on his arm, Kozato started walking. "Messenger Sergeant, take a letter, in code, and I don't want to know which you chose, address your demolition technician friends in Ozai's Purge Air Fleet Group… They can set the trap."
Wind whipped by as Appa flew east, making headway for open water, putting distance between everyone and Kozato. The poor mood was almost palpable. Katara was the first to speak. "What now?" She asked.
"What do you mean, what now?" Zuko asked in return.
"I mean, we've got two days until Sozin's Comet arrives, our only hiding place near the capitol's been blown up, and Aang is gone. So what are we supposed to do?" Katara asked, rephrasing the question.
She was met with blank faces, before Azula set her jaw. "We stick to the old plan."
"Without Aang?" Sokka asked, turning his head to look at everyone from his seat on Appa's neck.
"Are we just supposed to stop looking for him?" Suki asked.
"I don't know, something tells me that boy'll show up sooner or later, but still, he might be good to have if we're going to fight your dad." Connor said.
Azula shrugged. "I'm not saying that we could all face my father and expect to come out unscathed either way, but we know what he's planning, and we've got two days before the worst portion of it goes into effect. I say we do what we can to ruin as much of that plan as possible before the comet arrives."
"And how do we do that?" Toph asked.
"The brunt of the damage is going to be done with airships, and if I'm right, The Imperial Guard, the strongest fire benders in the army, would accompany him to cause the most destruction. It would take too long for the airships to launch from the main island of the Fire Nation if they left today, so they've either already been flying towards the Earth Kingdom, or will be taking off from a base out in the eastern islands of the archipelago." Azula reasoned.
"What about the attack on the Northern Water Tribe?" Connor asked.
"The tribe's at an even greater risk of being wiped out." Katara said.
"But because of that, the group heading there is probably going to be smaller…" Zuko said, before looking around. "I think it's more likely the airships would be staged at a base further east. We should head north east first, and try cutting off the fleet that's going towards the Water Tribe."
"Alright then, let's go save the world." Sokka said, before pulling on Appa's reins to adjust their course.
After the short two hour flight, Kozato stepped off of his airship which had docked beside The Fire Lord's personal warship, a Falcondor class frigate, modified at his request to be the fastest vessel in the navy. Making his way up the steps of the ceremonial boarding ramp that had been erected in the city's port plaza, Kozato found his uncle waiting, back facing him. Knowing himself to be the taller of the two, Kozato, helmet under his arm, knelt before the Fire Lord. "I hope I've arrived in time, my lord."
"Your timing could not be more perfect, Kozato…" Ozai turned to look at his nephew, seeing the black metal suit of armor he was encased in. "This is the first time I'll have ever left the Fire Nation, and fittingly, it will be the only time I do so as Fire Lord."
"I don't understand what you mean, my lord?" Kozato asked, tilting his head up slightly.
Ozai smirked. "The world will have changed much after it's rebirth from the ashes, and I believe that I as well will require change. Fire Lord Ozai is no more, I have been reborn as The Phoenix King."
Kozato raised an eyebrow, before Ozai turned to face him. "Does the change in title change it's function, sire?"
"It does." Ozai said, as two Fire Sages adorned him with cloak, it's shoulder pauldrons gilded in gold. "As The Phoenix King, I will be the ruler of the world, but for administrative purposes, I realize that positions of lordship are still required."
"The title of Fire Lord is being passed on then, your highness?" Kozato asked.
"Indeed. I see it right to grant you the position given your efforts thus far. As the closest living fire bender within the bloodline, there is no one else I can entrust the job to." Ozai said.
Kozato lowered his head, concealing a smirk. "I'm honored, my king."
A golden open face helmet was lowered onto Ozai's head, and he grinded, as the banners of his new title were raised beside those of the Fire Nation. "A great new era approaches, Kozato, and I shall be the one to usher it upon us." He said, before turning, and boarding the frigate at it's bridge.
Once Ozai was out of earshot, Kozato stood, his smirk remaining. "Whatever you say, my king." Above, a clap of thunder punctuated his words.