Chapter 10 – Point of no Return
Katara was in an seemingly abandoned room in the palace, the mess hall was surprisingly a little too public and having a interesting evening assembling the note of Ozai's in the chamber pot, not just because it was ripped to shreds but also because it was in a very used chamber pot that wasn't cleaned since ever, but with her water bending and meticulous assembling skills she managed to complete the message, well the portion with writing on it at least and started to read it.
-Yu Dao will be taken by time you receive this.
- Avatar's reaction to the Zuko & Katara news was exactly as you said it would be, he was angery and he briefly went into the avatar state (but no destruction of any kind) amongst the Earth King and his generals.
- Refugee operations have stopped, thanks to the blue-spirit and his army. We don't have many hostages and the ones we have keep getting liberated by the blue-spirit and his militia.
-Earth Kings is looking to press Zuko on the colonies but not ready for a full-scale conflict
Zuko came in an outfit similar to the one he wore when he helped her find her mother's murderer. He sat beside her and looked down at the letter and his eyes squinted and his mouth was in a frown.
"of course, he would do this… I can't believe I let that… that! Demon to manipulate me into this!"
and he down kick on a heavy wood table breaking it in half like a twig and he sat back down on a chair and put his face in his palms and was breathing heavily.
Katara sat beside him and gently pulled his hands down to see his face, and she looked him in the eyes.
"he manipulated all of us, Aang, Toph, Sokka, me… it wasn't just you"
She kissed his facial scare and Zuko with a look of desperation and disgust with himself
"I have to take the Fire Nation army to Yu Dao, I literally have no choice"
Katara nodded with tears in her eyes and she looked at the letter
reading the portion on Aang, she knew that he had a crush on her, he wasn't exactly subtle about it. Katara knew she was going to have a discussion with Aang on this it still saddened her to now know that he still had feelings for her, but what concerned her even more is that Ozai knows of this and seeks to exploit it.
she then asked Zuko on how extensive this network of Ozai's was
"he has contacts, couriers, every where, most of them don't even know what they are delivering"
Katara laying her head on his shoulders then suggested
"we shouldn't pursue this…"
Zuko looked down at her confused but then figured out what she was getting at
"that we let my father and his henchmen… well mail men think we are still in the dark on all this. if we confront them now, we will get no new information of how far this goes"
and Katara then added
"and all information on your mom…"
Zuko was a little astonished that he didn't think on that, but she did. It was actually a little emotional for him, but he was happy
"yes… I… we can't risk losing that opportunity"
Zuko then paused and Katara fidgeted with her necklace and asked him
"what should we do?"
Zuko thought for a good minute then came up with a plan
"tomorrow I'll go to the council, news of Yu Dao will probably be public by then thanks to my father's network… now you… what do you think you should do?"
Katara looking at her feet and the guard helmet
"I think I should stay behind and maybe monitor this network and feed you all the intelligence I gather"
Zuko Nodded then smiled then caressed her face
"I don't know how I could ever do this without you"
Katara smiled
"you couldn't"
and the two of them laughed
Aang just walked back into the Palace, he looked very down his cheeks were red from tears running down them, Tylee felt an urge to hug him, comfort him but when she approached him he just gently pushed her aside with his staff, and before she could attempt it again Iroh just held onto her shoulder and was quiet and they went into the meeting room to listen to the Earth King and his generals.
the meeting seemed to be business as usual until a courier came in with a couple of scrolls "Sorry… but we just got news of Yu Dao, it has fallen"
King Kuei then stood up
"to who?"
the messenger then continued
"to the Eternal Earth Enclave… they have defeat that fire nation army there but the colonies is in pure pandemonium"
then a general got up and looked to the Earth King
"what is your decision earth King?"
Aang didn't know what to do, this was getting worse and worse but King Kuei thought for a minute then stood up
"I have been putting this off for far too long, I have been lied to by my council during the war to keep me and our elite oblivious to the 100 year war, and now the Fire nation and Fire lord Zuko have deceived us again by withdrawing from the Harmoney Restoration Movement. I'll have you all know that I will not tolerate these deceptions anymore, and now the Fire nation lost those colonies as a result their deceptions. We must go and restore order to those colonies and let all…"
but then Aang interrupted
"if you do that, it will be considered an act of war"
the Earth king looked at Aang with a stern face
"maybe, but it will show that the Earth kingdom is not one to be pushed around again"
then he looked at his generals
"you have my permission and order to advance into the colonies"
Aang, Tylee, and Iroh got up and Aang tried to convince Kuei to not do this
"please just at least hear out Zuko…"
but then Kuei the shouted at him
"and have him do what exactly? Have him demand more colonies, to have him lie to me like he did with the Harmony Restoration Movement! No, that time has passed. If he has anything to say to me, it will be on the battlefield."
Aang was about to speak again but Kuei interrupted him
"and if you interfere with me or my generals… you'll be treat as enemies of the state… you are dismissed"
Aang, Tylee and Iroh left the Palace feeling defeated Aang blew his whistle to call Appa
"what are you going to do?"
Iroh asked Aang
"I'm going to Yu Dao to see what I can do"
Aang then turned to Iroh
"how long do I have?"
Iroh then thought for a moment
"for the smaller earth kingdom armies already at the border to advance into the colonies, about 2 days, for the main earth Kingdom army to be rallied and ready to march about a 2 weeks"
Tylee then wondered
"and how soon will Zuko have a army ready to well…"
Iroh sighed
"roughly a week… but the real question is what do we do"
Aang thought for a moment and came up with a plan
"we need to get in contact with the Blue Spirit"
Tylee then asked
"isn't Zuko the blue spirit?"
Iroh then shook his head
"no, Zuko is currently at the fire nation capital. This has to be someone else"
Aang then spoke up
"yes, and whoever the blue spirit is, he is our best hope… not an ideal hope"
Aang then asked Tylee
"do you want to come with me, I can really use any help I can get"
Tylee perked up
"yea"
they looked to Iroh and he smiled
"as a member of the white lotus I think I need to help in the best way possible, but that isn't going with you to Yu Dao, I'll stay here and try to sway the Earth King and his council as best I can"
Tylee then held Iroh by the shoulders
"but you're a fire bender, dragon of the west at that!"
Iroh then took her hands off of him
"yes I know, but I am a high ranking member of the white lotus, and liberator of this city. The Earth Kingdom authorities won't persecute me without caution. Now go before they decide to arrest you"
Aang and Tylee with Momo hopped on Appa and flew off in the dead of night, not too far away a young woman was placing a message on a messenger hawk and sent him off
"I hope our, Yu Dao branch gets thin in time… the Avatar desperately need our help"
The situation in Yu Dao was stabilized in the following morning after Sokka's army had taken it and Morishita was reestablished as Mayor, Sokka's Blue Spirit army was now routing out the last of the Eternal Earth Enclave hideouts in the colonies with the help of the rest of the colonial militias that came. unfortuantly his scouts now have informed him that the first of the Earth Kingdom armies were massing at the borders and some were advancing from the north and south and he was going to have to intercept them immediately.
Sokka was now in the ruined city hall with the rest of the leaders of the colonial militias, and even Toph now a captain, newly appointed general Yasuaki, and Suki were also in attendance, and Sokka was giving the appropriate orders to this army and its commanders
"Yasuaki, you and Toph will take 2 divisions to the north and intercept that Earth Vanguard army. They have a few of those Earth kingdom tanks, so Toph you will need your two older metal bending students to go with you. If you can capture any that will be nice but for the more part destroy those tanks beyond repairability."
Toph Smiled
"yes commander, s… Blue spirit sir"
Sokka then looked to the both of them
"Its war now, but spare as many lives as possible, use our procedure for taking prisoners"
Yasuaki started to bow, but then did a salute
"yes sir"
and they left and Sokka talked to the other generals
"the rest of you will take your 6 smaller divisions and rout out the last of the EEE hideouts in the eastern portions of the colonies, there is little Earth kingdom activity there so it shouldn't be too hard but still be cautious. If you find any prisoners encourage them to join our cause but don't force"
they all saluted and went on their way, and Sokka then turned to Suki and Morishita
"I'll take Suki and her Kioshi warriors with the 1 st boomerang division, that will leave you mayor with 3 divisions 2 of witch are fire bender divisions"
Mayor Morishita chuckled
"fire, earth, it doesn't mater to me. as long as they keep my family and people safe I fine"
Sokka and his whole army rode on ostrich-horses to quicken their pace, Suki noticed that Sokka was determined to get there in good time, like he had an objective, so she rode her steed close to him to talk"
"ok Sok… blue spirit, what is it now"
Sokka not looking at her because he knew she could read him despite being masked
"if we get there in good time we might meet up with the swamp water benders, they have yet to show up but the more important part is finding the Fire Fighters"
Suki was confused
"um I think the city has plenty of Fire fighters to keep things safe"
Sokka let out a laugh not realizing that she hasn't met the fire fighters yet
"no this is a rebel group during the war, though some call them freedom fighters now"
Suki took in what he had to say but then had to inquire
"why them, and don't they hate us"
Sokka turned to face her with his response
"because they only see the world as fire and earth, I want to show them that they can have true freedom, freedom from their hatred and be able to move forward. I believe that with their help we can stop this earth-fire colonial war before it has a chance to start… and getting some water benders might help as well"
Zuko got up early in the morning, he knew what was his council meeting was going to consist of but he didn't want to call the meeting himself, he still wanted his father's informants (who ever they are) to believe that he was in the dark on this and no messenger came for him he decided to go to the kitchen and get some breakfast for himself and Katara.
It was a simple breakfast, just some cut fruit, a couple of biscuits and tea of a water tribe blend. Was it an unnecessary romantic gesture, sure but the world seems to know of it and he and Katara for that matter wasn't going to keep it a secret (unlike how the Ember Island players described it).
Entering her room he could see that she was still sleeping, so he quietly pulled up a chair to the night stand and decided to wake her, and she asked
"what time is it?"
Zuko just smiled as he placed the tray on the night stand
"just a little after dawn"
he was about to take a seat, but then Katara took his hand in a tight grip and he looked down at her as she spoke
"I had a dream of you, you and Aang… you were in battle, to a scale that even eclipsed Ozai's battle with him. The destruction was so great, Air creating wind that erased whole cities, water that climbed drowned mountains, earth divided into canyons, and Fire so intense that the land was made into glass"
Zuko then couched down as she sat up a little with tears forming as she continued
"you and Aang battled and battled until you destroyed each other, all I could do is watch and accept this fate before me"
Zuko helped Katara to sit up on the bed and he held her face
"We make our own fate Katara, we are not fated to start another war, we are not fated to destroy the world"
he smiled and gently kissed her on the lips
"as we are not fated to be together… we choose to be together and we will choose to not destroy this world or start a new war, not as long as I draw breath… that is my promise to you"
Katara hugged him, still feeling a little emotional from her dream and he hugged her back, this continued for a good ten or so minutes.
The two of them enjoyed their breakfast together, it was surprisingly filling. They talked on things outside of this whole colonies, potential wars and even Ozai. They just talked about their child hoods while they were still good, Zuko shared his story of helping that village from those thugs that should have protected them, Katara talked about her time as the Painted lady helping the people, the two of them brought up their mothers.
Katara couldn't help but smile with tears in her eyes as Zuko talked about his mom and seeing the tears in his eyes as he did, and Zuko did the same as Katara talked about her mother with sorrow but joy as well.
they then cuddled for a bit, then a messenger came in with a note
"Sorry Fire Lord Zuko, but the council has just called up an emergency meeting"
Zuko reluctantly got up and took the note then told the messenger
"I… thank you, you can go now"
the Messenger bowed, then left. Zuko and Katara looked and saw that indeed there was a emergency involving Yu Dao and the colonies and the two of them just looked at each other with knowing looks and they gave each other chased pecks on the lips and they parted.
Zuko went to this meeting and yes it was exactly as he expected, the news traveled really fast and Zuko was wondering if the royal messengers were part of Ozai's little conspiracy network, but he felt he shouldn't play his cards too soon.
the council was talking about the Eternal Earth Enclave and their activities, as well as the activities of the Blue Spirit and his militia as well as the militias of the colonies seemingly becoming an independent party in all this, a third faction was the last thing this Pease talk needed.
but it was clear on what he had to do, he had to lead his armies into the Colonies before the Earth Kingdom does, and according to his spy network he has to act fast, and he made his choice, and he walked onto the table and talked about his plan.
"this Eternal Earth Enclave needs to be crushed before it is allowed cause more chaos so Ill lead a vanguard of 50,000 to accomplish that"
one of the councillors then asked
"what will you do with them?"
Zuko sighed but then got an look that knew exactly what to say
"they have killed, robbed, and violated way too many people both Earth kingdom and Fire Nation to negotiate with them. they shed the blood of our people, men, women, children, even babies weren't too far for them. we must not show any mercy to these monsters"
Zuko then takes a deep breath
"I'll try to negotiate with both the Blue Spirit and the Earth king with help from the Avatar, but we have to be ready for the worst possible outcome"
he turned to his generals
"I need you to assemble several reserves and have them ready for deployment by the end of the week , how many can be assembled by then"
one of the generals replied
"200,000, though the earth kingdom will have assembled and army of 300,000 by then"
Zuko then asked his intelligence officer
"and what of the Blue Spirit?"
the Officer then looked through some documents
"its hard to put an exact number but we calculate about 50,000 but it could be less or more"
Zuko went back to his seat
"you have your orders, carry them out"
Katara in her prison guard disguise had delivered Ozai's breakfast and was walking around waiting for the 30mins to pass so she could take it and the chamber pot and get more on his little plot what ever it may be.
She knew that Zuko was probably assembling an army to stabilize the colonies, she honestly felt it was the least bad of all the options, the thing that has her confused is Ozai's interest in her and Zuko's relationship, what was his plan with that, and from he is most likely associated with that EEE group though they most likely don't know that.
Katara came to the inner cell and took the tray from the slot, and she could see the chamber pot was next to the door of then inner cell and she took it as well, she looked and could see Ozai just facing the wall, one would think he was dead with how still he was, but she could see he was breathing. Not wanting to stay any longer than she needed to be, she left with the tray and pot.
Katara opened the secret chamber on the cup, and there was a letter in it, and when she opened, she held it over a candle there was a message for her
Come visit me Katara if you want more information regarding my plans for Yu Dao, the Avatar, the Earth king, and Zuko.
If you don't, Zuko will never find his mother.
Katara felt her blood freeze, he knows, he knows they know. She felt an urge to just run as fast as posable to Zuko and let him know of this, but she restrained her self, she knew that Zuko and his mother's reunion was now on her shoulders, so she brought the chamber pot and left for Ozai's cell.
enter the outer cell she placed the pot back into the inner cell and after closing the door she looked at him, he was facing her sitting like a fire lord on his throne with very cold stare, gathering her courage she then spoke first
"I'm here now, what do you want?"
Ozai just sternly spoke
"take off your helmet, I want to have a good look at you"
Katara feeling a little I'll at that, took it off and let her hair cascade down. Ozia just looked her over from head to foot then back to head again and has a look of mild disgust
"I do say, my son has an interesting taste in women, but after all he spent his teenaged years out of the fire nation"
Katara then narrowed her eyes and spoke in a firm voice
"what does this have to do with what you promised?"
Ozai just stared at her
"ok, what do you want to know"
Katara had to choose her words carefully but then asked
"what is your connection to the Eternal Earth Enclave, and who are they?"
Ozai had a ghost of a smile
"I'll answer the second question first, they are a group of around 10,000 or so Earth-benders and non-benders who feel that the only justice after the war was to kill as many fire-nation people as posable. My associates and I were able to manipulate them easily, after their actions and the fact that most of them are from the non-colonial earth kingdom, Zuko and his army will have no choice but to pursue and slaughter them and intern the Earth King and his armies will defend them, the war will start anew"
Katara was shocked at his detailing of this, he obviously isn't lying, despite his words being poisonous
"why are you using those stories of mine and Zuko's relationship to hurt Aang?"
she had a feeling on why but she needed to know for sure
"I desire to destroy the Avatar… but not in the way you think. If I kill him, he'll just become a martyr and be reincarnated. No, my desire is to destroy the illusion that the Avatar is the paragon of humanity , all that is good. I want to show the people of the world that the avatar is every bit as tyrannical as any Fire lord, Earth king or water Chief"
he lets out a little laugh
"and with his feelings for you, I will show that he will kill to get what he wants for no more of a noble reason than what a Fire Lord would do. Once Zuko is dead or has his bending taken, and the Earth king deposed for his incompetence the world will erupt into war and the people will never fully trust any Avatar again"
Katara then pulled the water out of her pouch and formed an ice spear and launched at him stopping just in front of him but he didn't flinch
"only you would use my love for Zuko as a weapon"
Ozai smiling still staring at her
"I use what ever resources I have available, but now is the point of no return… and killing me will accomplish nothing apart from never finding Ursa again"
Katara liquefied the ice spear as Ozai had a smug smile on, she then noticed the chamber pot and she quickly threw the water in it then pulled the contents out and then launched it at Ozai covering him in his filth and causing Ozai to be very enraged
"You filthy water tribe peasant!"
but Katara has left the room before he could say anything more, she was rushing for the harbor before the Fire Fleet left.