Responses to Reviews:

RonaldM40196867: Probably their technological advances. Even if they proceed to use them for evil purposes.

TORONTOSUN: I think Yue needs them. No Avatar can do it alone and considering Yue had a rather isolated childhood it's more true for her than for others.

As Always, Please Review!

Sokka pulled his club out from his belt and pointed it at her threateningly, the cold metal of the weapon glinting in the late afternoon light. Yue backed away slightly, and dropped into what she assumed was a combat stance. She wasn't particularly sure.

Which was why she had asked Sokka to attack her, so she knew what it would be like to be in a proper fight before she had to engage in the real thing on the way south.

"Are you ready?" Sokka asked.

Yue shook her head.

"I've never done this before."

"I know, but you're going to have to do it a lot in the next few days," Sokka explained, "so-SNEAK ATTACK!"

He lunged forward with the club whistling through the air, forcing Yue to jump backwards.

"Hey!" She complained.

"What?" Sokka asked innocently even as he pressed the attack, "The Fire Nation isn't going to fight fair."

Yue ducked and rolled and weaved and hid behind a pillar. Cautiously, she turned to look, only to be greeted by the sight of Sokka swinging his club at her.

She yelped and jumped away. Desperately, she looked around for something to parry him with.

"Come on Yue!" Katara cheered. She was sitting nearby among a crowd of Airbenders who had gathered to watch the spectacle.

Suddenly, Rinzen appeared.

"Catch!" He called, and tossed something long and thin. His glider staff landed in Yue's hands. She didn't have time to reflect on it though as Sokka was back, attacking her with his club. Yue desperately raised the staff to block it and felt it vibrate with the force of the blow.

"Good," Sokka told her. Then he drew his arm back to strike again. Yue managed to preempt him by jabbing the staff at his face, forcing him to knock it out of the way, and then wildly swung the staff at him hoping to hit anything.

Sokka jumped backwards, and the staff missed.

"Nearly," he said. Then he lunged again. The two of them went backwards and forwards for some time, Sokka forcing her back until he made some mistake or Yue got in a lucky hit which forced him to retreat. She swung to the left, forcing Sokka to roll the other way, the right, which he just managed to avoid, and then she swung at his legs. He did not avoid that hit, and was sent tumbling to the ground.

Yue straightened up, brushed herself off and was sent tumbling herself when Sokka's foot leapt out to kick her legs out from under her. He scrambled to his feet and held the club over her for a moment, before putting it back on his belt

"So what do you think?" He asked. Yue got up and bent over to catch her breath.

"Is that what a real fight is like?" She asked. Sokka shrugged.

"I imagine it's something like that," he replied.

Yue narrowed her eyes.

"Have you actually been in a real fight?" She asked.

"I've been hunting!" Sokka replied defensively. "But not against people, no."

"Oh," Yue straightened up. "I suppose we'll just have to find out then, won't we?"

She knew that it would not now be long until they did. It was now three days since the night that Yue's life had changed, when the Fire Nation had attacked and forced the new Avatar to flee for her life on the back of a sky-bison. News reports had continued to flood in, of Fire Nation fleets bombarding coastal towns, landings by the Fire Nation army, and of the defence by their Earth Kingdom enemies; governors mobilising their provincial armies, messages sent back to the capital at Ba Sing Se, the first clashes between unprepared coastal garrisons and elite Fire Nation marines.

And all the while, columns of refugees, uprooted by Ozai's surprise offensive, had begun winding their way inland, desperate to stay ahead of the rising tide of Fire Nation imperialism.

And that was only the news from the provinces immediately surrounding the Northern Temple. Yue had no idea what was happening further south, whether the Southern Water Tribe had suffered a similar fate to the North, or what was going on in the southern Earth Kingdom. There had been no news from Ba Sing Se either; Yue suspected the Earth King might be panicking having been taken by surprise, but she didn't know for certain. Without orders from Ba Sing Se, it would be left to those governors in the provinces to make do as best they could with what they had, maybe joining forces with their neighbours, and maybe that wouldn't be enough.

Which left her, Princess Yue, two Southerners and an Air Nomad as the last lines of defence against the Fire Nation for millions of people. If she failed, what had happened to her homeland would be repeated across the face of the world. Not even the Air Nomads, in their solitary mountain fortresses, could be guaranteed safety. They were doing what they could to airlift some refugees to stay with them, but the Northern Air Temple could not accommodate everyone. The elders were discussing establishing some kind of system to airlift refugees to Ba Sing Se but nothing had been decided yet.

"I've been thinking," she said. "We should go. Tomorrow."

Katara walked up to them.

"I agree," she said. "I'd like to get home."

Yue could sympathise.

"Then we leave first thing," Rinzen folded his arms. "I'll get Gembul ready. If we're going to be flying all day tomorrow it'll be best if he's had a lot to eat."

The Air Nomad dashed away towards the stables, leaving the three of them standing in the middle of the square.

There was a pause. None of them seemed to know what to say all of a sudden. Their future stretched ahead of them, dangerous, uncertain- and necessary.

"Are you sure about this?" Yue asked eventually. She wasn't sure whether she did for their sake, or for her own.

Sokka and Katara shared a look, and then nodded.

"We've come this far," Sokka said firmly. "I'm not going to leave you now."

"We'll follow your lead, Avatar," Katara confirmed, smiling reassuringly.

"Thank you," Yue briefly thought about hugging them but decided she didn't know them well enough for that. "We should get some rest then. It's a big day tomorrow."

The others nodded and began to walk inside to try to find some food.

Tomorrow, the Avatar went to war.