Responses to Reviews:
Zigzagdoublezee: Yes, ideally it's what they should do.
RonaldM40196867: No, I wouldn't change any of the names of the four nations. They're named after their elements, which is an important and thematic part of the worldbuilding, so I'd leave it as it is.
As Always, Please Review!
It was obvious, as the group descended from the wall and into the courtyard, that the fort had taken an absolute beating during the first assault.
Engineers swarmed around the section of wall that had been demolished by the Fire Nation artillery just prior to the assault; an improvised barricade had been earth bent out of the ground around it to hold off the attack, but now they were engaged with removing casualties from the breach and using their bending to create a new section of wall to replace it, a fairly time-consuming process.
The hospital was overflowing; so many soldiers had been injured in the attack that their stretchers were being piled up outside. More moans of pain could be heard from within the building. Katara saw this and immediately rushed over to help, squatting down next to the nearest one and bringing water out to heal his wounds.
And those were just the ones who actually survived, Yue thought darkly.
Once the wall had been collapsed, it had offered a clear shot to the Firebenders into the interior of the fortress, and now several buildings were on fire. A huge earthen pot floated past, being manoeuvred by several Earthbenders, and then upended itself over one of these fires, depositing a huge quantity of water onto it.
All around her, the Fire Nation had left devastation, suffering and pain in their wakes, and now Yue didn't know what to do about it.
There was a smashing sound against the wall as the enemy artillery opened fire again.
"Avatar!" Da Gao, the governor, approached them. He seemed tired. "I hear you had a narrow escape on the wall."
Yue nodded.
"Sir!" Jet saluted. "Permission to attack sir!"
"Attack?" Da Gao asked. "We're barely holding on as it is. We don't have enough men, I'm getting reports of hundreds of casualties! We can barely man the wall at this rate!"
"But sir," Jet said. "We can destroy those barrel things they're using, if they can't destroy the walls they can't do anything-"
"We don't have the men for that," the Governor shook his head. "Or the time. The General said he had thirty thousand men at his back. I see no reason to disbelieve him."
Yue narrowed her eyes. Was he giving up already?
"But if we don't, they'll just force their way through the walls!" Jet pointed out.
"Thank you Private, I'm well aware," the Governor growled. "But leave the tactical decisions to me."
"What about the refugees?" Yue demanded. "If the fort falls, what happens to them?"
"Are you just going to let the Fire Nation take them?" Katara added. "Chain them up and use them as human shields at the next fort they come across?"
"Of course not!" The Governor looked outraged. "We need to do something, but just throwing ourselves at them to die a pointless death is not the right course of action!"
"They have men behind us, but not as many, didn't you say?" Sokka said. "You could try to force your way through them and escort the refugees away."
"That would be abandoning my post," the Governor shook his head. "The refugees would be saved but the road to Ba Sing Se would be open. Besides, leaving the fort just means we'll be caught in the open. Our lack of numbers will be even worse for us there. And we'd probably have to leave our wounded behind too."
"I could try to get a message to my people," Rinzen butted in. "I'm sure they would be happy to come and fly the refugees out of here."
"I don't know if we'll have time for that," the Governor grunted. "They could attack again at any moment."
"So what do we do?" Katara asked. "We can't go and attack them. We can't run away. We can't ask for help from the Air Nomads. But if we do nothing, we'll just be overrun anyway. If all of our plans won't work, what's your plan?"
Da Gao looked back at her helplessly.
"... I don't know," he said. "The only thing we can do is hold the wall as long as we can and hope that reinforcements are on the way."
Yue didn't much like the thought of more pointless death. But what could she do? She wasn't much of a competent fighter yet. Sure, she had got some good hits in before, against the occasional Firebender and against the Pirate Captain, but the Firebender had been off balance and the Captain had been focussed on someone else. Against multiple opponents with their attention on her, her beginners' waterbending would not be sufficient. Katara wasn't much better, Sokka had only ever hunted animals before and Rinzen was a pacifist.
Jet and Longshot seemed more competent fighters, but there were only two of them and they were non-benders.
It seemed that if Yue was going to turn this around, saving the fort and everyone in it, she wasn't going to be able to do it by punching her way out. Which led her back to a previously unthinkable solution.
"There is one thing," she said slowly. "I can give you a way out, without having to fight at all."
"That's great!" Sokka started, and then his eyes narrowed, noticing that she hadn't included herself in that statement.
"Hold on, what do you mean, you?"
Yue took a deep breath. She absolutely hated what she was about to suggest, but it seemed there was no alternative. She had no reason to doubt the General would be true to his word, he seemed obsessively interested in his honour even if he was ruthless.
Besides, her duty was all-important. It had been drilled into her all her life, first as Princess of the North, and then as the Avatar. And as the Avatar, her duty was saving lives and protecting the stability of the world. This seemed the best way of doing that in this situation. Even if she did absolutely detest it.
She looked around at her friends and at the Governor.
"That Fire Nation General said he'll let you all live, leave the fort alone," she said. "On one condition."
She sighed, and gritted her teeth.
"I need to go out there and hand myself over to the Fire Nation. Then they'll go home. With me as their prisoner."