Katara's prediction came true. The Fire Navy breached the wall. Soldiers streamed out of the ships. They met fierce resistance, and they had a long way to travel before they would reach the city proper, but there was no doubt that if fighting continued at this exact pace they would eventually get there. At least the bombardment stopped, freeing up Master Pakku and his waterbenders for battle. Master Pakku smiled as he swept a half dozen soldiers off their feet. Ah, this was fun! But when he found a moment to look over the battlefield, he frowned. As many soldiers as there were, there still seemed to be too few.
In the palace, Iroh and the king discussed strategy. "Zhao is crafty," Iroh said. "He can be hotheaded and rash, but if he's given time to prepare, he prefers clever strategies. I would expect the force out there fighting your warriors to be only a distraction."
"Could he be… No… How could he know…"
"What is it?" Iroh asked. "This is the fight for your tribe's survival. It's no time to keep secrets."
"You're right. And I know I can trust you, Mushi." The king sighed. "It has to do with the oasis your nephew mentioned. Behind the palace, surrounded by steep glacier on all sides, is the source and aim of our people's entire existence. Long ago, the ocean and moon spirits took mortal form. Nobody knows why. But ever since, we have protected and nurtured them. For all their power, they are only defenceless fish. If he reaches them…"
"If he kills the moon spirit, you will lose your waterbending along with all hope of resistance," Iroh said. "We must protect them at all cost."
"But I can't spare any men to defend the oasis," the king said, looking out the window. Battle raged below, just beyond the inner city. "We need everyone to keep the soldiers at bay."
"I will help defend the spirits," Iroh declared.
"And your nephew?" the king asked. "He, too, is defenceless right now. I shouldn't have asked him to protect the whole wall. It was a shortsighted decision. I should have -"
Iroh placed a hand on his shoulder. "You did what you thought was best. You must not second guess yourself. We don't have time for that."
"Go," the king said. "Keep him and our guardian spirits safe." He told Iroh the way. Iroh nodded and left. The king, alone, looked out his window again. The battle had entered the city. He whispered, "Avatar or not, if our spirits go, there will be no hope for the world."
.
Aang flew out on his glider to rejoin the battle. Katara clenched her fist. "I'm going with him."
"Wait," Princess Yue called. "What are you going to do about an entire army?"
"The same thing everyone else is doing about an entire army," Katara said. "I may not be the Avatar, but I have to do something."
"You really are a warrior," Princess Yue murmured.
Speaking of warriors… They heard footsteps on the stony path. "Yue!" Sokka called.
"Sokka!" She ran into his arms. "Oh, Sokka, I was so worried for you! How are you here? We saw the warriors leave."
"Your dad took me off the mission so I could protect you," Sokka told her. "I was hurt at first, but now I think he made the right call. Everyone else put on outdated Fire Navy armor that looks nothing like what the soldiers wear now and tried to sneak aboard to assassinate Zhao. They're probably all dead. Including your fiance."
Yue took several steps back, tears in her eyes. "They were all brave, honorable warriors. They didn't deserve to…"
"I'm sorry," Sokka said. "But we have to focus on what we can still protect. That means you. And everyone else too," he added hastily.
"Stay here with Yue," Katara told him. "This is the heart of the tribe, the one place most defended. If the Fire Nation overruns the city, we'll make a last stand here. Aang's out there fighting to make sure they don't make it this far, and I'm going to go out there and help him."
Iroh squeezed himself through the door at the far end. "Ah! You're all here." He crossed a bridge and joined them. "The fish that swim in this little pond are the moon and ocean spirits. If Zhao sneaks through the city while his soldiers keep the warriors distracted, which I have no doubt he is doing as we speak, and he kills the moon spirit, the tribe will lose their waterbending. The battle will be over."
"Sounds like you're needed more here, Katara," Sokka said. "I can't fight off Zhao alone."
"You won't be. That's why I'm here," Iroh said. "He can't have too many soldiers with him. We can handle it."
Katara sighed. "Sorry, Zuko. This isn't the restful oasis you were hoping for."
Zuko groaned. "As long as I'm alive, I can still fight. I won't ever give up. Just…tell me when Zhao gets here."
"Perhaps I should be somewhere else?"
Sokka grunted in frustration. "You're right, Yue. I'll take you into the palace. You'll be safer with your dad." He looked at Katara. "But that means I won't be here."
"We'll hold out," Katara told him. She wore her fiercest look.
"I trust you," Sokka said. "Come on, Yue." He took her hand and led her toward the circular door.
Just before they got there, Zuko cried out. "Don't! He's -" He groaned. Sitting up took his breath away.
"Alternate plan!" Sokka yelped. "Defend you, Jerkface, and the fish all at once." He guided her behind the trees that stood behind the gate.
The door exploded. Zhao strode in, accompanied by half a dozen soldiers that immediately fanned out to either side. "Well, well. I see we have company."
.
Aang saw something as he flew over the city. Repeated waterbending and his own blasts of wind were scouring the ice. Several times, he saw Fire Nation soldiers slip. His eyes widened. He searched out Master Pakku and blasted away the soldiers surrounding the old master. "Much appreciated, Avatar," Pakku panted.
"Master Pakku, I have an idea. If we turn the entire city into a flat, slippery field of ice and push the soldiers down it, they'll slip and slide. It'll take them a long time to get back up here. By then, we can find Zhao and capture him."
"Do you have any idea how much waterbending power that would take?"
"Can you and all your students do it if you work together?"
Pakku panted. "It's risky."
"But if it works, it'll be worth it."
"What if it doesn't work?"
"Sometimes you have to take a chance," Aang said.
Pakku looked down at him. "Something about you kids is inspiring. All right. Let's do it. With your help, we might succeed. We'll start at the palace and work our way out. Tell everyone, and I mean everyone, to retreat." Aang flew off to gather every other waterbender in the tribe while Pakku ran to the palace.
When he finished gathering everybody, he met Pakku at the base of the steps. He broke out into a gigantic grin. Pakku wasn't alone. Every female waterbender in the tribe stood with him. Aang recognized Kalika standing right behind Master Pakku. "Wow! I never realized there were so many women waterbenders in your tribe. We'll send the Fire Nation packing in no time!"
"The messengers spread the news," Kalika said. "We know the plan. We're ready." A group of young girls nodded fiercely. Aang blinked. They were too young to fight, but the looks on their faces made him think twice about trying to stop them. That was probably why they weren't still sheltering in the glacier.
"Places!" Pakku called. "Women, ice everything behind us and raise the ground level as we advance. Men, flatten everything ahead of us and knock those soldiers off their feet. Avatar, join the men for now."
"Everything?" a student exclaimed. "You mean -"
"Yes. We're going to level our own city." Pakku narrowed his eyes. "Pupil Semil, would you rather let it be captured?"
"No sir!"
"I see people coming!" Aang called. All at once, because they would of course have looked for each other, the warriors of the Northern Water Tribe left the cover of the buildings and ran to the palace. Pakku's students froze the canal to let them all across. "Stay behind us!" Pakku called. "This is a job for waterbenders."
The warriors were confused. "Do we protect the women?"
"No. Stay behind the women."
"What?" "But we should be fighting!" "Why did we retreat in the first place?"
Aang leaped up in the air. "Just DO IT!" That quieted them.
"They're coming," Pakku called. "Go!"
Aang and all of the male waterbenders bent simultaneously. Every nearby building exploded into large, deadly pieces of debris that rained down on the Fire Nation soldiers below. They all shoved as one. The debris flew backward in a wave of solid ice, carrying the soldiers with it. The women shoved the warriors up the palace stairs to the first landing, then turned the staircase as smooth and slippery as they could. The waterbenders advanced throughout the city. Before them, canals froze as buildings exploded and buried Fire Nation soldiers in debris that was then swept up in a quickly-growing ice wave. Aang saw an opportunity to perform a unique service. He soared up and knocked the top of the wave off, keeping the load the other waterbenders had to push to a manageable level. Behind them, the female waterbenders coated everything in a slippery icy sheen and reworked the ground into a slope.
This task got more and more difficult as the waterbenders expanded outwards, spreading farther apart. Aang was soon exhausted, having to fly across the entire line and back to keep the wave of debris down. He saw part of the line stop, moaned, and immediately turned around and flew back to see what was wrong. He found them trying to convince a stubborn Appa to move before the stables were flattened. Aang ran and buried his face in Appa's soft fur. "Appa! I need your help, buddy. Yip yip!" With Appa's help, his task became much easier. The tired and spread-apart waterbenders would not have been able to continue advancing without them clearing the debris.
Soon, they reached the canal that surrounded the inner city. The waterbenders managed one last burst of bending, sending the wave of debris soaring over the canal. Aang and Appa flew around its far side tearing down all the ladders the Fire Nation had raised. The entire Fire Navy, most of them bruised and shaken, stood or lay among a debris field where sure footing didn't exist. Aang took Appa back around to fly the waterbenders up to the palace. After innumerable trips, the two of them collapsed at the top of the stairs, just outside the palace itself. The stairs were strewn with waterbenders who had done likewise. This was it. If the Fire Nation somehow mounted a counterattack, the tribe would be helpless. The warriors took up position all along the staircase and in front of the palace anyway.
The king and his daughter emerged from the palace. The king uttered a low sound, and Yue grabbed his arm in case he should faint. "By the elements… What has happened?"
.
Iroh got into a battle stance. "Stay back, Admiral."
"Or what?" Zhao stood inside the broken door, smirking as 3 soldiers approached the oasis on either side. Iroh faced the right bridge, and Katara the left, the two of them back to back. Sokka put his back to the pool and brandished his sword, desperately trying not to glance at the trees. Zhao cleared his throat, holding his men back from stepping onto the bridges. He came around the right side, making eye contact with Iroh the whole way. He stepped onto the bridge. "You wear treachery like a tailored cloak, Iroh. And your nephew, Prince Zuko, seems to be following in your footsteps. His father would be so disappointed."
"The only traitor here is you, Zhao," Iroh replied. "Your navy sailed here on the back of the ocean. At night, you were guided by the moon. Have you forgotten that?"
Zhao snorted. "As softhearted as ever, I see. It is my right to sail upon the ocean, just as it is the right of the Fire Nation to rule over everyone in this world. Fire is the greatest element. It is power incarnate. It is innovation and illumination. Who needs the moon? It's just another light source. I have a better one in my hand right now." He held up a fireball.
"You don't know what power is." Zuko reached out a hand. Sokka took it and helped him to his feet. "You don't know what light is. You're talking nonsense."
Zhao sighed. "The last time I saw your father in person, he trusted you. He didn't have high hopes for you, but he expected that you, his son and heir, would faithfully continue to serve your nation. Even though you screwed up at every turn, he knew you were trying. He respected that. Where, oh where, did that loyal son go?"
Zuko's eyes filled with tears. It was everything he had ever feared. He respected me? He saw that I was trying? They rolled down his cheeks. I'm sorry, Father. I wasn't strong enough. I couldn't survive your expectations. You deserved a better son. Forgive me. "Where is he? He's… He's dead."
That caught Zhao off guard. Iroh glanced back. Even the soldiers looked up. In that moment of distraction, a fire flared inside Zuko's chest. He hissed from pain. It was searing. Angry. "And you don't know what Fire is." Zuko made a fireball in one hand. It leaped from his hand, lengthening and coiling and filling the air above their heads. Wings and legs sprouted, then a beard, then horns. The fire dragon dipped its head into the water, then raised it high and roared. Its roar sounded like the crackle and whoosh of flames exploding outwards. It looked directly at Zhao, its water eyes shining white from refracted firelight. It snarled.
"What is that?" Zhao asked, gritting his teeth and encasing one fist in flames.
I don't understand. I can feel that you're angry, but why? He's one of your best people. You should love him. But I know how it feels to be seen for what you should be instead of what you are. I'm guilty of that too. I made you invisible by projecting my own beliefs onto you. I won't do that anymore. Not because I like you; I don't. But I want to be a person that sees the truth. Show it to me.
The fire dragon lowered its head toward Zhao, seemingly about to eat him alive. At the last moment, it stopped. It opened its mouth, held its mouth open for a couple of seconds, then closed it. "What…?" Zhao muttered.
His fire went out.
"What the -" Zhao clenched his fist. No fire erupted from it. He tried to throw a fireball. None came. He looked up at Zuko with fear in his eyes. "What did you do to -" His sentence was cut off as he screamed in pain. He fell to his knees, clutching his right arm. A fire visibly wormed its way out of him, coiling and growing larger and larger. Zuko's fire dragon shrank back. Zhao's fire spirit took the form of a warrior, a glowing fire sword in each hand. It faced Zuko and raised its head in a dignified way.
Zuko's mouth fell open. "You dishonored your element. Because of you and people like you, Fire has a reputation as a destructive brute with no taste, no grace, and no gentleness, clumsy and stupid and breaking whatever it touches. You…" He looked down at Zhao with utter disgust. "You insulted the element of pride. You moron."
"What are you babbling about?" Zhao hissed.
"I have no objection," Zuko told Zhao's fire spirit.
His own fire spirit lowered itself into his field of view. It snapped its jaws once. Good. We were going to go ahead anyway. Zuko smiled.
Zhao cried out again. His fire spirit put its fiery swords away in a fiery sheathe, then lunged forward. It surrounded Zhao in a whirling firestorm. The heat was so intense that Iroh and the soldiers on that side were forced to back away. Everyone closed their eyes against the light. When they opened their eyes again, the bridge was destroyed and both Zhao and his fire spirit were gone.
There was silence for several long moments. Then the glacier creaked. They looked up in time to see a sliver of it break off, crashing down into the water and drenching everyone. Zuko's fire flew in circles, curling tighter and tighter until it shrank down to the size of an ordinary fireball. He held out a hand to catch it and put it out, but the damage was already done. A second section of glacier calved off. This one struck the wall on the way down and tilted, nearly crashing into the grass of the oasis. "We've got to get out of here!" Katara exclaimed.
Zuko looked down. "I won't leave them."
"Zuko -"
"I can't abandon my family. I'm not as strong as you are." More tears rolled down his face.
The pool, and the fish in it, lifted up out of the earth. Katara grabbed his hand. "You don't have to. Now let's run." The Fire Nation soldiers, Iroh, Sokka and Princess Yue, Katara and Zuko, and the ball of water with spirit fish inside hightailed it out of the oasis. The glacier creaked ominously behind them.
They gathered, panting, inside the palace. "We have you surrounded!" the king cried. "There is no escape. Spirit talker, are the spirits…" He trailed off as he saw the floating ball of water. Whatever plan he'd been waiting to spring, it hadn't included that.
Zuko's knees wobbled. Not yet! He gasped for breath. Then, in his most royal voice, he declared, "I'll take it from here." He forced himself to stand straight and walked around until he was in front of the Fire Nation soldiers. They had been scattered and looking around. Now they stepped into line and stood at attention. "You all witnessed Zhao's fate, and you all know why he deserved it. Because of that, you live. I, Twospirit Zuko, speaker for the elements, hereby send you back to your fleet. Tell them that Zhao has been defeated. Take your ships and leave. On the ride back home, as you visit each ship to check on the wounded, make repairs and eat, spread word of what happened here. I want every ship in your fleet to be filled with people who know exactly what Zhao did wrong by the time you make port in the Fire Nation. As soon as you make port, as soon as you possibly can, release all of them on shore leave. Make up some story if you have to. When you're questioned about what happened up here, tell the investigators whatever you want. I don't care. At that point, you'll have fulfilled every demand of mine and you can go free. Is this understood?" The soldiers nodded. "If you don't do this, I will know it. Air is a huge gossip." They all nodded again. "Release them."
The king hesitated, then nodded. His warriors lowered their weapons, but didn't look happy about it. Zuko looked at Katara. "I'll escort them," she said, using her waterbending to wrap icy chains around their wrists. "What are the conditions outside?"
The king's eyes bulged. Yue ran to his side. Together, they ran out the palace steps to see what was going on. And, well, they saw it.
.
As the last waterbender in the tribe who hadn't exhausted her bending, Katara cleared a walkable path down the slope for the soldiers. She used waterbending to lift them over the canal and down onto the debris field, where the wounded soldiers were still trying to find each other and hadn't even begun to prepare for another attack. She released the shackles on the captured soldiers and watched them scramble away, calling for everyone they passed to retreat. That, the wounded army was only too eager to do. Katara re-iced her path up the slope, just in case.
The king obviously wanted to know what had happened to Zhao, but nobody was in a condition to tell him anything. Zuko had passed out in Iroh's arms. A giant bowl made of ice had risen up out of the king's usual seat in the audience chamber, and the fish swam inside. Katara and all the warriors carried people up the steps and laid them on the floor of the chamber. Someone eventually remembered to tell the citizens hiding below that the siege was over and it was safe to come out. The hidden entrances to those caverns were at the base of the stairs for ready accessibility. The entire staircase was made climbable again so the citizens could come up and visit their wounded loved ones. All of them paused first, staring in shock at the open field of what used to be their city.
The king's advisors demanded to know what had happened. Katara used water healing on Master Pakku so he could give a basic explanation. The old master smiled. "We used our own buildings as a scouring brush to clean our land of the Fire Nation infestation. It sounds like it worked. Don't look so sour, Ola; rebuilding is a lot easier than reviving the dead."
Pakku knew he was going to get in a lot of trouble for making such a drastic move, regardless of the fact that it had worked. Old men, advisors, people in charge: they were not supposed to make drastic moves. Ever. That kind of person was trusted to provide stability. Regardless of why he did it, regardless of whether it worked, the fact was that he couldn't be counted on for stability anymore. He had joined the ranks of revolutionaries and youths: people who could be counted on to shake things up. He was surprised to find that he did not mind that. Perhaps he had been too stable since Kanna left.
Once Aang woke up, Katara apologized to the king and promised to tell him what had happened to Zhao. They sat together in a private office. There, she told him everything, beginning with Zuko's request to Aang and ending with the soldiers being turned free. The king looked thoughtful. "What a calculating move… Katara, I must ask you something."
"Anything."
"Who are Lee and Mushi? The time has come for me to know their real identities."
Indeed it had. Katara didn't hesitate. "Mushi is General Iroh, the Dragon of the West, the leader that led the Fire Army past the walls of Ba Sing Se and nearly conquered the city. Lee is his nephew, Prince Zuko, heir to Firelord Ozai. Or rather, former prince - he's decided not to inherit the throne."
The king's jaw dropped. "I hosted the most dangerous people in the Fire Nation in my own city? They -" He took a moment to recover his composure. "They fought on our side today. Without them, the Fire Nation would have overrun our city. I must thank them, though I have no idea why they did that."
"Fire Nation politics are complicated," Katara told him. "They aren't unified like we are, Your Majesty. The glue that holds the Fire Nation together is fear, not love. Zuko and Iroh were both exiled when they refused to give in. Firelord Ozai doesn't tolerate anyone who won't obey his every whim, even if they have the best interests of the Fire Nation at heart."
The king smiled. "That is a critical flaw. That is the reason why the Fire Nation will fall. I have no doubt of it."
Katara smiled back. "Neither do I."
WIth the air cleared…the rebuilding began.