Responses to Reviews:
RonaldM40196867: I don't know. Zuko, maybe? I do like the colour red.
Sharpe: we will be seeing more of Zuko in due time.
Zigzagdoublezee: No, it is exactly the kind of thing he would do. He uses people, and doesn't much care about what he puts them through to do it.
As Always, Please Review! Don't worry, there are no Yangchen spoilers in this chapter.
Yue took a deep breath and opened the door, stepping out into the sunlight of the small courtyard. Sokka and Katara were sat by a fountain next to the air nomad, Rinzen. He looked like he was telling them some funny story. Katara was idly waterbending in the fountain next to them, pulling the water backwards and forwards.
"So what do you think?" Yue called. Their heads all snapped towards her to take in her new appearance.
Gone were the thick blue furs Yue had worn as a Princess of the North; in their place was a snow-white long sleeved top and baggy white trousers, with the cuffs and collar both coloured the dark blue of her nation. Around her neck she wore a small pendant with the symbol of the moon on it. The ensemble was finished off with a fabric sash of similar dark blue, tied around her waist, and a long white skirt worn over the top of the trousers made of a thin material which went down to her ankles and could be removed quickly to allow Yue to move and fight better in a combat situation. While she wore it, it presented a more dignified image in a formal setting.
The others took her appearance in for a moment. Yue judiciously pretended not to notice Sokka blushing.
"I mean, it's... it's nice," Katara told her eventually. "But shouldn't it be blue and white?"
"It is blue and white!" Yue pointed out. "I just reversed our national colours."
"Won't it stand out?" Rinzen asked. "Apparently the Firelord is after you."
"Standing out is the idea," Yue explained. "And with this hair I don't think I have much choice about standing out either way."
Rinzen frowned.
"Have you considered wearing a hat?"
Yue ignored that comment.
Sokka hadn't said anything so far, but now he cleared his throat.
"You look lovely," he said.
"Thank you," Yue bowed her head to acknowledge the compliment and hide the blush on her face. By the time she had raised it again she had composed herself.
"I've got two as well," she said. "So I've always got one to wear!"
The others nodded encouragingly.
"Now," she came towards them. "I think we should have nearly everything we need, shouldn't we?"
"The Elders authorised you to take a couple of days' worth of food and enough money to buy two weeks' worth. That's enough to make it to the South if we fly quickly."
"And if we get distracted?" Katara asked.
"Then we're going to have to improvise," said Yue.
"Oh yes!" Sokka reached into a bag he had acquired at the temple and pulled out a scroll. Yue took it and unrolled it.
"Avatar Aang's Guide to the Four Nations," she read. Below it was a picture of a smiling air nomad with a goatee holding his hands one above the other as two stones rotated around each other between them.
"Aang wrote this?" Yue frowned.
"He helped," Rinzen told her. "It's a guide for young air nomads. Everything fun there is to do in the Four Nations."
Yue rolled the scroll up again.
"Why do we need this?" She asked.
"Because it has a map!" Sokka pointed out. "We do need a map. And it could tell us genuinely interesting things. And it was written by your predecessor!"
Yue handed the scroll back to him and nodded. She could understand that reasoning. She turned to Katara.
"Can you teach me how to do that thing you were just doing?" She asked.
"What thing?" Katara frowned.
"The waterbending. The push and pull."
Katara's face lit up in realisation.
"Oh! That! Don't worry, it's simple! Look!"
She scrambled to her feet and stood next to Yue.
"You've got to stand like this," she demonstrated the posture. Yue copied her, and then Katara walked around her critiquing the stance.
"It'll do," she decided. "Now, hold your arms like this."
Again, Yue copied her. Again, Katara was satisfied with the way she held her arms.
"Now, push and pull slowly," she said. "Like this!"
Yue watched the water's surface respond to the southerner's movements, pushing back and forth in a slow rhythm. She began to do the same thing, glancing over every so often to check whether she was doing it right.
At first nothing happened. Yue frowned. Surely she was doing it right. A quick glance over confirmed that she was pretty closely matching Katara's movements.
For a few more moments, the water did not seem to respond to the Avatar's commands. And then she saw it; a tiny wave, lapping back and forth in front of her.
"I'm doing it!" She called. "I'm waterbending!"
The boys crowded around to see.
"Well done!" Katara called. "Now, maybe see if you can make it bigger! Like this!"
Katara's wave grew, and Yue copied her again. The steady push and pull caused her wave to grow again, until it was even bigger than Katara's.
"Now you're getting it!" Katara called approvingly.
Yue grinned. She was a waterbender! The water continued responding to her commands, pushing and pulling and pushing and-
Her next pulling motion was stronger than she expected, and a surge of water rushed towards the group. Yue yelped and retreated, managing to avoid everything but a few droplets. Rinzen airbent away, and landed a few feet away. But Sokka took the full force of the wave to the face, and got drenched.
"Oh come on!" He stomped his foot petulantly as the others laughed. Even Yue, who felt bad about it, couldn't help but join in. "That was on purpose!"
"I promise, it wasn't!" Yue held her hands up in a conciliatory gesture even as she tried to suppress giggles. She was normally good at this, why couldn't she stop now?
"Right," Sokka folded his arms. "The next time you two decide you want to waterbend, I'm staying away. Far away."
But eventually even he couldn't resist joining in a little, and a small smile appeared on his face.
"I'll get you back for this, Avatar," he promised. But Yue did not dread the prospect of his vengeance too much. She was standing with friends having a laugh. It felt good. Despite what was going on in the world, suddenly everything felt like it was going to be alright.
