Chapter 30 - The Defeated
~In which… Khan comes across starving, injured girls in the middle of the Polar Wastes willing to debase themselves for food and medicine. Surprisingly, it wasn't part of the plan. Also… what happens to the main cast when plot armour runs out? ~
(2 Days before the Armada arrives) [North Pole - Polar Wastes]
"… We're probably the only ones left, aren't we?"
Out of all the sounds around them- the deep crunch of snow under their shoes, the wind whipping at their blue parkas, the vast white tundra stretching endlessly on all sides- it was that single whisper that cut through to Katara. And it did so, because… because it echoed the voice at the back of her mind, the one that sometimes whispered the same thing. The men had covered their retreat. They had left their own warrior-sisters behind to those… honking monsters. But was all that sacrifice enough? Just to be lost and alone in the Polar Wastes? She didn't have the map that Sokka drew.
No. Katara shook her head clear of those thoughts, breaking off strands of her brown hair that had frozen solid.
She was still First Wave.
No matter what happened, it was her duty to get them all out of here, maybe even to finish the mission that had drawn them into this stupid, frozen wasteland in the first place.
Her mittened fists clenched as she turned, meeting the eyes of the brave two hundred girls and women who trudged in her footsteps. Their faces red from the cold and blue hoods heavy with accumulated snow. The injured were laying on ice sleds being pulled by girls, utterly exhausted from hours of running away. Weariness and desperation in their blue eyes as they all looked to her.
"The 10,000 haven't fallen. They can't have," Katara declared, her voice loud, firm, unbroken. She pointed into the distance from they had ran from and raised her voice louder. "Those Fire Nation soldiers, no matter how well-trained, don't stand a chance against our people. Those ten thousand men- our kin, our Tribe… They'd never lose to a thousand riders and a few barbarians! Yes, we've lost a few- "
Second Wave Nessa's smiling face flashed in her vision, and Katara stiffened her entire body to hide her wince.
"-many of our sisters, and yes, we're separated from the main force, but we're not out here, wandering alone. We'll regroup with the main army at the shadow of Nanuq's Valley!" she insisted, letting the words ring out, as if sheer force could make them true. "And when we do, they'll see we didn't give up, not once. They'll see that the Radiant Moonflower Warrior-sisters are of the Water Tribe too! That we are just as tough! That we made it!"
Most heads nodded, faintly at first, then with a touch more confidence.
The few that didn't… It didn't matter. Katara knew they'll come around once they saw the rest of the army again. She turned back, trudging over the snow again, focusing on putting snowshoe in front of the other. All across this sea of endless white, the army stood scattered, but unbroken. She knew it.
The ten thousand will come. Maybe fewer, and maybe a bit bloodied- but they'll come.
"They will." Katara repeated to herself, holding onto her own words. "They will."
[North Pole - Polar Wastes]
From the snowy plains to the jagged crags, the bodies of our enemies lay.
Thousands of them, still half-buried in red-stained snow as the morning sun shined on their frozen, lifeless faces. Some lay in large crowds where they had stood shoulder to shoulder in valorous last stands, stiff frosted hands still gripping snapped whalebone spears. Others were little more than torn open gibbets where hungry ostrich-horses had chased down cowards who had tried to run. And broken [Ice Walls] jutted out from the trodden snow- final, desperate acts of Waterbending. In vain, of course.
It was there that our horde of barbarian allies, standing over their enemies' dead bodies, raised their Fire Nation-forged (Superior) [Steel Water Tribe Spears] up to the rising sun and roared 'Victory!'
A victory that had just vindicated a hundred-year-old vendetta- a sign of the Moon and Ocean Spirits' favour. Clearly, they had sent the 'Hot Landers' to correct the grave injustice- this imbalance in the Norther Water Tribe borne of old treacheries. And for our part, we were doing a spectacular job of doing the Spirits' work. This battle we had won had marked out the right path in history for the Water Tribe- the one where they worked hand-in-hand with the Fire Nation.
However, it was far from over…
"Chief Khan! Where's Chief Khan?! We have wounded!"
… because I faced the question that every victorious military leader had to ask themselves: At what cost?
"Trauma Igloo!" My deep voice boomed from inside said expansive igloo. My red boots crunched softly on the packed snow floor as my armoured, seven-foot-tall frame navigated between rows of fur beds, each occupied by barbarian soldiers in various states of injury. The cold air was thick with coppery scent of blood and fragrant herbal salves. Ice window panes allowed the yellowish sunlight to stream in, illuminating the barbarian women who moved with me, their blue parkas adorned with long red strips of cloth that fluttered as tended the injured, their hands glowing with [Ocean's Waters], soothing bruises and mending wounds before they updated the ice tablets hewn with the patients' medical status.
The last part was my edict, because I was going to impart intuitive organisation and efficient operations management into this world even if it killed them.
"Chief Khan!" A second group of barbarian women rushed into the trauma igloo.
"I heard the horns." My skull helm turned towards them, "How many this time?"
"Just one, but-"
"Get your hands off me, woman! I don't have time to be coddled with waterbending!" Chief Essin barked as he was helped inside the trauma igloo, his toothless scowl as fixed as the icicle jutting from his shoulder. Blood had frozen into a brittle line down his parka sleeve, but he gave no sign of pain, only irritation, as though he'd merely stubbed his toe rather than had a spear of ice lodged halfway through his shoulder. Likely still high off the Red Bull that I gave him.
One of the healers tried to ease him back onto a bed, only to receive a swat for her trouble as if she was an irritating fly.
"I said leave it to me!" he growled, gesturing dismissively. The glistening icicle bobbed slightly from the movement. "Like I told the women of the other clan, just hand me some bandages and fermented buffalo-yak milk and I'll tend to it my damn self! I've been wrapping wounds like these since before you were weaned from your mothers' teats!"
He stopped abruptly as he saw me.
"Khan? Why're you here?" he asked, squinting. "You haven't learned to waterbend, have you? With how you handled those city pukes, I wouldn't put it past you."
"No, not waterbending." I shook my head. "But I have something just as useful: the [Surgery] skill."
"Bah, I don't have time for you to sew me up like a torn pair of pants-"
"This will only take a moment," I said, kneeling at his side. "I'm not healing it 'right,' I'm healing it 'now.' The quick and dirty way."
The old man squinted up at me, and settled back. "Quick and dirty? Sounds like my kind of treatment," He echoed, his heavily wrinkled brown face clearly considering it, "Alright, show these women how to do it fast."
"Hold still," I said, stepping forward. I pulled out my surgery toolkit… and a chewy puffin-seal steak, which I promptly stuffed into my patient's mouth, "Bite down on that. Scream if you must, but don't forget to breath."
"Nnnn? Nggghhh!"
With a yank on the icicle, I went to work. The bloodied piece of ice was barely out before my suture needle was already on the muscles. My notable Dexterity went to work, stitching the tissue together at a speed that no licensed medical professional would dare to go. The muscle tissue closed first followed by the subcutaneous fat layer. Each time, pouring [Dew of the Mountain: Frostbite] directly onto the wound, before finally moving onto the wrinkled skin, and closing the wound shut.
Surgery Level 11 Reached!
[Surgery] Lvl 11 - Expert
The skill- and subconscious body of knowledge to perform it- to keep broken bodies working, or at least functional enough to keep going. From battlefield triage to salvaging mobility from crushed limbs, [Surgery] is the gritty, hands-on approach to repairing or altering the messy canvas that is the organic body. Other medical-adjacent skills (e.g. Herbalism) increase XP gain.
At higher levels, [Surgery] transforms the human body from something stabilised and rebuilt into something almost malleable. Reconstructive procedures and cosmetic surgery to circumvent the limitations of the human body. Even prosthetics to restore limbs. Some would even argue that they'd be improvements even- replacing weak flesh with the strength and certainty of steel… If you can find or even fabricate such things.
Level 5 - Apprentice Skill Perk
Sterile Zone (Passive & Active): Washing hands and wearing gloves for surgery is for other, less cool surgeons… Passively reduces infection risk in a radius around yourself. This perk can also be activated to actively sterilise your surroundings, especially around your hands. Intensity, duration and cooldown scales with [Surgery] skill level.
Level 10 - Expert Skill Perk
Fool-proofed Medicine (Passive): Better double the stitches, this one looks like he has a favourite flavour of crayon… Upon successful initial treatment, your patients gain a constitution bonus for healing rate and for preventing injury relapses (e.g. tearing open stitches, rebreaking a healing bones, etc.) Intensity and duration scales with [Surgery] skill level.
R
"And done." I said, tightening a white bandage around the elderly chief's shoulder, who blinked at me.
"That was it?" His old, raspy voice asked.
"Yes, quick and dirty as promised." I replied, stowing my Surgery kit back into my [Inventory]. My skull helm turned, looking at the healer women. "Healers, Chieftain Essin's stitches are made from puffin-seal intestine and will be absorbed by his body in a few days just like everyone else's. Keep up nightly treatments with [Ocean's Waters] and his recovery time will be down to a third or a fourth of what it normally would be."
"Yes, Chief Khan." The women nodded, updating the chieftain's ice tablet.
With my [Herbalism] skill to support my [Surgery] skill, potential death sentences turned into manageable injuries under my care. Some injuries were still far too severe however, as I was still some ways before I could perform neurosurgery and heart surgery. But for anything less than that? For shattered bones, deep lacerations, and visceral trauma? As long as I reached them while they were still breathing, I could save them. Warriors who might have otherwise filled graves were instead patched up and sent back to fight, saving precious resources and manpower.
So ultimately, the cost of defeating ten thousand Water Tribe warriors? Quite small, actually. But I'm certain our enemies feel very differently with the loss of their ten thousand.
Meanwhile, Essin rolled his shoulder, testing the newly stitched flesh, and grunted with satisfaction. "Can heal almost as good as you can fight, Khan."
"Yes. But if that icicle had struck you closer to your heart, not even I could have saved you."
"Bah! You think we don't know the risks of waging war with those sea leeches?" He glanced around at the wounded and then up at me, grumbling. But a toothless grin did spread on his wrinkled face. "It's worth it though. A hundred years of wrongs definitely can't be righted in one night… but this victory does feel good. Especially when more of us are living to see it. And while we're talking about it… my men and I retrieved something on the eastern flank that you need to see. You definitely deserve it."
… And here it was, the best part of the post-battle process: The looting.
Did the enemy army bring ceremonial scrolls in the hopes that it will confer to them blessings? Maybe some rare artifacts that have special effects? Maybe a Fire Nation relic weapon or armour from their last clash 85 years ago? I was long overdue for one after all!
"Lead the way!" I immediately agreed, rising to my feet.
What rare loot did they find?
"Oh… it's women." My deep voice rumbled disappointed as we strode into my abode.
Not a rare weapon or legendary armour in sight... Just some captives. Brown-skinned girls who were stripped down to the casual blue underclothes that Water Tribe wore under their parkas. They sat on the dark metal floor of my abode, heads bowed low, their wrists clapped in irons that were chained to floor. Helpless, defeated and clearly lootless. This entire world suffers from a terminal lack of it, I'd say. Of decent loot.
"Aye, women." Essin grunted, before handing me a piece of pale white whalebone- no larger than a playing card. "They were wearing these whalebone charms. In our clans, those that wear it mean that they're the chosen warriors of their chieftains."
I turned the piece of whalebone over in my armoured hand, seeing the Water Tribe runes etched into them. "So, they fought well?"
"Spirits no! They fought like a otter-penguin droppings!" He gruffly replied, "I don't know what those city pukes were thinking giving these small fry the Warrior's Sigil! Should've seen that army in action, Khan. When they saw your cavalry stomping their way, they barely managed to push up an [Ice Wall] in between soiling their drawers. Left these girls on our side too- Now, that move took right guts, I'll give them that! …Or it could also just been an accident with some right sloppy waterbending."
At that last part, the girls collectively hung their heads lower at that.
"Aye, I'd wager a sack of salmon on it." Essin chuckled, apparently hitting the nail on the head, "Anyway, the men remembered that you wanted some 'Northern Water Tribe' women. So, we brought them back- thought they could… amuse you."
With that sly grin and a wink from his cloudy eye, the old chieftain left without another word.
However I was not, in fact, about to be amused by these girls who were sitting in the place where actually valuable treasure and loot should have been.
I had no use for them, not even as concubines. Between a sobbing, unwilling girl who was going to be a dead fish in bed (Like Azula was)… and six girls who were going to compete in eagerly pleasuring me with every inch of their lithe bodies just for the honour of being the one I creampie, I'd save my sexual appetite for the latter every time. Suki and her Kyoshi Warriors truly set the bar; and now, it was difficult for me to settle for anything less. Besides, the quest [Welcome to the Ice Fields!] demanded the death of all soldiers in the Water Tribe army.
The path forward was clear: interrogate, and then possibly, execute.
My armoured step echoed as I crossed the quiet room. My shadow stretched long, seven feet of it falling over the face of one girl in particular- the one all the others had glanced toward. Their leader, no doubt. Chocolate-brown skin that was darker than Katara's, and black hair with a tint of midnight blue flowing past her shoulders.
"You. What's your name and rank?" My voice was low, almost a growl.
She didn't answer, only looking up at me with her Water Tribe blue eyes. The fight hasn't left her yet.
"This is an interrogation. And depending on your cooperativeness, it will lead to either you getting fed and cared for, or possibly to a drawn-out execution." I calmly explained, but loud enough for all captives to hear clearly. It has been proven time and time again that the looming possibility of a painful and drawn-out death makes prisoners talk more than the actual torture. My armoured fist creaked as I tightened it. "Name and rank. I will not ask nicely again."
She looked away, clearly intending on staying silent, but her grumbling stomach seemed to sap the fight from her. "… Nessa." She admitted in a soft voice, "Second Wave of the Radiant Moonflower Warrior-sisters- was Second Wave."
Ah yes, the proud, first ever, all-female unit of Northern Water Tribe warriors. But before I could even begin my line of questioning, the door behind me abruptly swung open, followed by a girl's familiar voice.
"Khan, I came as soon as I heard that you had captives!" Princess Yue panted breathlessly, her ice blue eyes immediately resting on the bound girls who sat in my shadow. "Oh, thank the Spirits, I made it in time!"
Meanwhile, the group of women gaped in disbelief. "Princess Yue! You're alive!" the waterbender leader, Nessa, gasped. Previous interrogation reports claimed that the Northern Army believed propaganda painting me as evil, abusing the poor princess. So, It must have been a shock to see her now, neither harmed nor starved for a prisoner of 'The Fire Nation Giant'.
"Yes, as you can all see: she's unharmed." My rumbling voice continued, before placing a hand on the Princess' shoulder, "More than that, the Princess is in charge of Water Tribe Prisoners-of-War. She oversees food distribution, shelter, medicine and other concerns. She's proven invaluable to us."
At that, there was some bitter glaring from the women, likely a feeling of betrayal from seeing Princess Yue without shackles or without bruises. In fact, she was practically glowing. Her snow-white hair soft and silky, her royal purple dress clean and freshly laundered and her brown skin flawlessly smooth. As if Yue had never left the Royal Palace. Certainly, it wasn't only because she practically insisted that I 'permit her to attempt to convince me' (i.e. creampie all of her holes) at least twice a day. No, as the days crept closer to the possible disaster at the Spirit Oasis, her importance as the backup life energy for the Moon Spirit only grew, along with need to keep her close and safe.
"May they at least have the antidote?" asked Yue.
Nessa tilted her head in confusion. "An antidote? But what-" Her blue eyes widened, "The meat at that abandoned base!"
"Deliberately abandoned; because the quality of the bait is irrelevant when the prey is starving," I grunted, taking four [Antidote] vials from my [Inventory] and handing it to them, "You should all consider yourself very fortunate that I did not have enough ingredients to make it concentrated enough to be lethal."
Vials in hand, the Water Tribe girls looked at the starchy white liquid before popping off the cork and downing it in one gulp. I did not miss the suspicious glances that they sent my and Yue's way though. And I decided to nip the prisoners' defiance at the bud. "Yue, they need to hear the reason why you and the chiefs surrendered, and they need to hear it from you."
Yue's ice blue eyes widened in surprise. "… I can tell them?"
"Consider it practice if we manage to find the Avatar's location early."
"Thank you." She whispered before turning back to the still-bound prisoners and told them. About the Armada. About the forty thousand. About what awaited Agna Qel'a should they not surrender. It was barely a few sentences, but they carried with them a world of implications, and a world of consequences. The uncaring fact of the Northern Water Tribe's inevitable defeat washing away whatever bitterness these 'warrior-sisters' held for the princess. Their expressions paling everywhere that the frostbite hadn't already nip at.
"Why?" Nessa's blue eyes squeezed shut. Her voice raw with anger as she wrestled with the infromation, "Why didn't you just tell us about your Armada?! If we knew… if we thought, we… we wouldn't-"
"You wouldn't have come here?" My voice rumbled in contempt.
She nodded as they all realised that it was all for nothing. Almost all for nothing.
Exhaling, I knelt down and began untying their binds. "We did not share this classified information, because the admiral leading the Armada is a man with a great temper." I said, omitting Zhao's name, "If the Agna Qel'a Resistance reinforces their coastal defences, and if your people's continued resistance drives the admiral to a rage, it's going to be nigh impossible to convince him to stay his great fleet's trebuchets, or other unwise things that he'll try to do which could spell the end of the Water Tribe. Or at least, the Water Tribe that lives in Agna Qel'a."
... Like killing the Moon Spirit- which may be the worst case scenario out of them all as it'll doom the entire world.
If Zhao becomes unreasonable, I'll be forced to fight and stop him from killing that fish. It was an unlikely possibility, yes, but the worst possible consequence that could sprout from that action was astronomically bad: Being labelled a traitor to the Fire Nation.
It meant that I would lose everything including my rank and even the command of the 41st Division just to save the world. It happened to Iroh in canon Avatar. And did he get anything in trying to prevent the Moon Spirit's demise? The man was responsible for telling Yue how to save the Moon Spirit after all. So, did Aang, Sokka or Katara look at him with trust? Did Fire Lord Ozai care that the world that he wanted to claim was saved by Iroh's wisdom? Did the Water Tribe itself shelter him for betraying his Nation to save their precious Moon Spirit? Was he given even a single 'thank you for saving us all from a chaotic, moonless existence'? No, this ungrateful world would give its saviour nothing.
So, it was in this unenviable position that I've found myself in: Saving the world. But only so that I could conquer it for myself.
"Which is why I cannot waste time." I glowered down at the the squad of Water Tribe girls, "All of you have a time limit to make yourselves very cooperative and useful before I discard you altogether."
The snowy-haired princess was quick to defend them, gripping my arm as she pleaded, "They're already at your mercy, Khan! There's no need for more cruelty- please!"
"And yet," I replied, glancing down at her, "they have not formally surrendered."
"...They haven't surrendered?" Yue blinked, her hands falling to her sides. She knew better than anyone how this whole bitter ordeal had been rooted in this dogged defiance.
"No, they have not."
The Water Tribe prisoners looked away as the princess cast them a disappointed look. And despite understanding their princess' reasoning, they still didn't look entirely convinced of the wisdom of surrendering to me.
So, I presented Nessa and the other captives an ultimatum.
I unfurled a scroll. The faint rustle of parchment cut through the arctic air, and my red gauntlet smoothed the scroll out before them. "This is your formal declaration of surrender, accompanied by a few… requirements." I slid the document closer, ensuring it was within their reach. "The first demand is that you relinquish- effective immediately- all ranks, titles, and privileges you held within the Water Tribe military, up to any authority or standing among informal entities like your so-called 'Radiant Moonflower Warriors-sisters.' Second, you will make a binding statement here, in writing, renouncing the authority in Agna Qel'a as illegitimate and severing all ties of loyalty. Sign it, and only then will I even begin to consider leniency. The princess will serve as your witness."
Or in other words, Yue's pleading was enough to merit an effort at least to circumvent the conditions of [Welcome to the Ice Fields!]. But if a surrender that comprehensive wasn't enough then their executions were guaranteed. Of course, I wasn't about to inform them of that fact.
Nessa's fingers flexed around the brush as she stared at the document. However, before she could put brush to parchment, a hurried banging echoed from my metal door interrupted us.
"Chief Khan!" A woman's voice soon followed, one of the younger Barbarian healers. "We have many wounded coming in from the Eastern reaches! Please, Hot Lander Chief, it's my clan!"
"Go prepare them for surgery! I'll be there in a minute!" I immediately shouted back. I wasn't about to refuse a chance to level up my [Surgery] back at the prisoners, and I left them with one last warning. "I'll let Yue be the one to feed you. However, you- all of you- had better have signed and be ready to talk by the time I return; or else this interrogation will not be as gentle as it has been thus far."
"Thank you, Khan." Yue replied.
Normally, I'd leave such a task to the Lieutenant or the Kyoshi Warriors, but the former was still sweeping for survivors and the latter was off to kill the Avatar. However, Princess Yue was not a bad choice. Her loyalty was unquestionable and Suki had been training her to be Kyoshi Warrior. If there was anyone in camp who could convince the prisoners to be more cooperative, it would be her.
With that, my armoured form turned and left for the trauma igloo- leaving the princess with the prisoners.
(A little while later)
Nessa cupped her hands around the steaming teacup, savoring its warmth and the lingering scent of unfamiliar Fire Nation spices. Only yesterday, her fingertips had been too stiff with cold to feel anything but pain; now, inside this strange, metal-walled shelter, she could at least pretend she wasn't still out in the Polar Wastes… even if it constantly reminded her that they all sat in the enemy's hands.
"Nessa…"
Nessa's eyes found Yue. Seated across a low table, the princess still wore the purple parka that Nessa had last seen her in during the princess' coming of age celebrations. She looked so out of place here, in this abode with its rigid lines, sharp corners, and dark metal that the Warm Landers obsessed over. And on the table right by her elbow, lay the parchment of surrender- the sharp calligraphy clear, and very final. But… what else was left?
"You don't have to push me, Princess Yue," Nessa looked away, drawing her lips into a bloodless line, "I'll sign the stupid paper, even if I don't like it."
"That wasn't what I was going to say…" Her princess' voice was gentle. The firelight caught her ice-blue eyes and reflected a sympathy that Nessa didn't know how to accept. "I know it has been rough waters. I don't blame you for it- any of you. I just want to understand why, or what, has you so angry?"
"Try 'who.' Katara. She did this." Nessa grunted before her mind could even catch up. The name tasted foul on her tongue now. "You wanted to understand why I'm so angry? Well, it's because I trusted someone who turned her back the instant it mattered!"
Princess Yue only ask softly, "What did she do?"
A ripple of anger passed through the warrior-sisters, their voices rising in quiet agreement. "She left us," one murmured, a dark look in her blue eyes. "She ran," another echoed, her tone seething.
"She promised us so much. That's what she did." Nessa said with a bittersweet tone for all the grand, lofty things that had seemed so real- so close- only to melt away like a dream. "She taught us, inspired us, made us believe we could have it all. So we marched into the Wastes, trusting her. Freezing winds, hollow stomachs, endless miles of polar wastes- we endured it all with a smile because we believed in her words. And then, when the Fire Nation came, when we needed her most, she raised an [Ice Wall]- with us on the wrong side. A sacrifice so she could run away. That's how we ended up in this metal box, staring down a surrender I never thought I'd have to sign!"
By the time her story finished, her teacup had gone ice cold, and her lips felt dry.
"But you're still alive," Yue quietly pointed out, briefly glancing at the scroll between them, "And all we need is your signature on that scroll, and the information that could help me stop the Armada- help stop the war for all of us."
"Information? You mean where Avatar Aang is staying," Nessa's eyes met her princess' head on, sharp and accusatory. "You want to help that Fire Nation commander find the bridge between the mortal and spirit world, and kill him."
But even when they were all staring at Yue directly, she didn't flinch. "Yes," their princess admitted, quietly but unashamedly, "To stop the Armada. To save Agna Qel'a. To stop the fighting."
Nessa found it hard- so hard- to stay angry when the Avatar's life weighed on the opposite side of the scale from the lives of her entire people... it made things a lot more complicated for her, and Nessa's voice dropped to an suspicious whisper, "You make it sound like this Commander Khan is working against the Fire Nation. That same Warm Lander leader who killed our people by the droves."
Their snowy-haired princess' lips tugged into another sad smile. "In my time with being his captive, I've been made to realise something." she said, "We're all part of this War, and each of us tangled in it in our own different way. Even Khan. He's done so much for us already, and without him, things would have been so much worse. I… I truly believe that I can bring out the good in him."
However, Nessa's warrior-sisters wasn't as conflicted, glancing at the door the Fire Nation commander had left through. "Him? The bloodthirsty warmonger who's been killing our people? Even now, he's probably looking for a reason to execute us all." Another continued, "The Fire Nation are killers who don't think twice about burning down villages or cutting down anyone in their way. And this is the Fire Nation Giant, we're talking about. The Fire Nation's biggest butcher in fancy armour-"
"Don't you dare!" Table scraped against metal as their princess shot to her feet, her snow-white hair framing an expression of rare indignation. "You don't understand what he's done for us!"
The warrior-sisters fell silent, stunned. None of them had ever seen or heard their princess angry.
Yue's ice blue eyes continued to bore down at them. "He has done more than anyone to try to end this war peacefully. Without him, none of us- my father, the chieftains, or even you- would still be alive. And if he had his say, no one would have had to die out here in the Polar Wastes either! So, by the Moon and Ocean, don't you dare speak of him that way! With him is our only chance of saving our home!"
'Home.' The word struck a chord, and they looked away, quiet and ashamed.
After all, how many times had they whispered for it during those long, hopeless marches? To turn around and just… go back home? To their warm beds and stocked pantries? And now, it seemed as if Yue were calling them out for those traitorous thoughts. They tried to find the words to respond. But the silence stretched on, filling the torchlit, metal room, they realised that none of them could prove Yue's words wrong.
"… I want to believe we'll see Agna Qel'a again," Nessa finally admitted, gripping her teacup tighter, the warmth barely registering. "Katara promised us that we'd come home. That we and all the women of the Northern Water Tribe would see a new dawn over Agna Qel'a after we win against the Fire Nation. But between that Commander Khan and the Armada… it was never possible, was it?"
Yue shook her head, her sad smile faint on her pink lips. "No."
Nessa's eyes fell back to the scroll on the table, its sharp lettering demanding their surrender. "Figures. And now this piece of Warm Lander paper is promising the same thing as she did." She paused, then drew a breath. "But right now, I'd trust the Fire Nation more than I'd trust that lying sack of Southern Water Tribe snow-rat droppings. Give me that brush."
Their own princess slid the inkwell to her, and offered a brush.
Nessa took it from the princess' hand, admiring the smooth finish of the Fire Nation brush before dipping it ink and writing her name as prettily as she could on the scroll. Her warrior-sisters followed suit, all under the slightly approving blue of their princess' eyes. And with a wooden click of the brush being set down, she was no longer a 'Radiant Moonflower Warrior-sister' serving in the Northern Water Tribe Army.
Princess Yue looked at her expectantly. Signing that surrender was only half of what was being asked from them.
Nessa ran a hand along the blue of her hair. "Before we left Agna Qel'a," She began with a sigh, "I helped that Southern Water Tribe slime with her things at Master Pakku's spare cottage. The one just west of the palace. I caught a peek of Avatar Aang and Sokka through the gap in the fur door as she left."
Yue clasped her slender fingers together, bowing her head in a brief prayer. "Thank the Moon and Ocean Spirits… May they forgive us for what we have to do next, but with this, the Northern Water Tribe will at least survive to make amends to the next Avatar." She stood up, brushing the creases out of her purple parka, "Excuse me for a moment, I need to ensure this information reaches the right hands."
She was in a hurry, more than she wanted to show, Nessa noticed. But as a brief gust of cold air rushed inside before the door clanged shut behind her. They were all reminding them that they were still in the middle of the enemy's camp, and their only real ally had just left them. Just went to show how much they relied on their princess.
Some of her warrior-sisters exchanged hesitant looks. "Maybe this really is the end of it," one of them said softly, filling the long silence. "Maybe we're going to make it."
"We'll see home again," another added, her tone still wilfully hopeful.
"We are," Nessa murmured in sudden realisation, her tone sharpening, "but what about the rest of the Radiant Moonflower warrior-sisters?"
Her squad winced just as the door swung open again. And Yue- having heard her question- answered for them. "Khan's forces are searching for them. And from everything I've heard, there's a good chance they'll surrender once they're found. Don't worry, we have the supplies to feed and care for them. Everyone will make it home."
"And Katara?" Nessa pressed, her voice cold. "She should still be leading them. Will she be given the same offer?"
Yue had a thoughtful look as she settled down at the table. "I'd imagine so. Khan believes that Katara is important."
Anger bubbled up from where Nessa had tried to bury deep. Not deep enough. "After everything she's done?!" Nessa couldn't help but shout. "You were there, Princess Yue! If it hadn't been for her speech, none of this would have happened! You can't just let her get away with everything!"
"No matter what she's done. It's still up to Khan to decide."
"But he listen to you, Princess Yue." Nessa insisted.
"He does, doesn't he?" Yue said with a small smile, but it was only briefly, "But, Nessa… you have to understand that I can't push for too much. Going forward, the Northern Water Tribe will need every bit of good will from Khan to ensure our people will be treated well in this occupation."
"Fine." Nessa exhaled, her fists clenched at her sides, nails digging into her palms. "If you won't push for it, then I will. Someone has to. Someone has to keep her from fleecing stupid, gullible girls into fighting and dying for her lies. And someone has to hold her accountable for the girls that she already did! But… if it's up to the Warm Lander commander to dispense justice, what will it take to convince him?"
"Convince Khan?" her princess asked.
"Yes, I'll do anything. Even if it means serving in the Warm Lander army like the Kyoshi Warriors or you."
Princess Yue fell silent at that, just looking at her with those ice blue eyes. Some of the warrior-sisters exchanged uneasy glances, their earlier relief giving way to uncertainty. One of them whispered, "Second Wave Nessa…"
"You can't stop me," Nessa glanced over her shoulder at them.
"No, we meant that we're with you. The others still need us," another said firmly. And a murmur of agreement rippled through the group. "We followed you into the tundra. And when Katara left us behind, you didn't."
"We trusted you then, and we trust you now." Another warrior-sister rested a hand, still red and raw from frostnip, on Nessa's shoulder. "Whatever this is, wherever it takes us, we're not about to back down now."
Nessa straightened. "Then we'll do this together. For them. For all of us." She glanced at back to her princess, "Please help us."
Their snowy-haired princess gave a difficult smile, but her expression softened as she averted her eyes. "That's… really admirable of you all," she said, "But it's also a much harder than you think. Trust isn't something Khan gives easily. I had to put in a lot of effort to… convince him to put me in charge of this much. And from what Suki has told me, even they had to work for it. Aiming to change his mind about Katara would take just as much effort, maybe even more."
"Then we'll do what you and the Kyoshi Warriors did," Nessa leaned forward, her hands pressing against the table.
Yue met her gaze, crossing her arms in her thick purple parka. "Whatever it takes?"
"Whatever it takes."
"… Well, it would certainly help if there were more of us reminding him of Water Tribe interests." Their princess murmured. "Actually… This might actually be what we need, considering how much I've been able to accomplish on my own."
"Exactly!" Nessa nodded eagerly.
The silence stretched again, except for the princess drumming her dark fingers on the table lightly; and a strange feeling twisting in Nessa's gut as she watched Yue.
The princess' birthday felt like an eternity ago now, and the girl then seemed so different from the one sitting across the table now. More confident and more mature, as if she was a woman grown now. Her ice-blue eyes flicked to a stack of Fire Nation books in the corner as she muttered something under her breath- as if testing an idea before saying it out loud. Their gentle princess of the snow… she clearly still loved her tribe, but she had also clearly changed. Nessa could only imagine what those Kyoshi Warriors had put her through as their Fire Nation captive, and what Yue had learned from it. From them.
"Say that I agree to this…." Yue finally said, her tone light but curious-sounding, "… Are you the right girls for the job?"
"We are," Nessa readily replied despite her confusion. And the warrior-sisters around her murmured in agreement. "We had marched to war to try and save you and the others. We'll march to war to get justice for the others, even if it's against the Earth Kingdom."
Yue said nothing; instead, her ice blue eyes brushed over them, slow and deliberate. It stayed for a while on their faces, their hands, over their bodies as if taking their measure. The others straightened under their princess' assessment as if to silently prove their resolve. But eventually, the princess murmured, "Suki is usually the one to make these kinds of decisions. She was kind enough to help me get this far with Khan. And now, as an official Honorary Kyoshi Warrior, I suppose it's my turn."
A few of the warrior-sisters exchanged more puzzled glances, but again, Nessa didn't flinch. "And that means what exactly, Princess Yue?"
"It means I'll help you convince Khan to listen. And it'll only take a…" Yue paused to think of the right words before smiling serenely at them. "… creative approach."
"Creative?" another sister repeated.
"A mix of diplomacy and theatrics." Yue said lightly, brushing a strand of snow-white hair behind her ear. "Or 'Fire Nation etiquette,' as Suki calls it."
"That doesn't sound so… Are you sure it'll work, Princess Yue?" Nessa said with a hint of doubt.
"Oh, it works," Yue reassured with her calm confidence. "I've gotten very good at it these past few days in fact, especially with Suki's help. But don't worry- unlike her, I won't be leading you on a wild arctic hen chase. We'll get straight to the important part."
The murmurs among the sisters grew louder, some of them shifting uneasily. "If you say so, Princess Yue…"
"It will be alright, Nessa." Yue reassured with a gentle tone, "You'll come to love it. I promise. Please follow me."
Before anyone could ask what she meant by 'come to love it,' Nessa and the others watched Yue rose gracefully from the table, the soft rustle of her purple parka filling the quiet room. Despite the confusion, Nessa pushed herself to her feet and followed. The others stood as well, brushing crumbs off their tunics as they trailed behind, their steps uncertain until they all found themselves in the centre of the metal abode.
Her eyes focused back to Yue, who now stood watching them with a serene expression like the face of a full moon. And for a brief moment, Nessa believed that she hadn't made a terrible mistake…
And then, with that same calm, unbothered smile, Princess Yue issued her next command.
"Good. Now strip."
[Agna Qel'a]
Suki glanced out the window of their hideout, a recently abandoned ice cottage, and proudly murmured, "…That's my girl."
"What was that, Suki?" one of her sisters-in-arms asked, leaning against the window in her 'borrowed' Water Tribe parka.
"Nothing," Suki replied over the crispy crunch of some cold seaweed rations they'd pilfered. "I just got a feeling that Yue was putting our lessons to good use. Maybe on some of those 'Sisters with the Dumb Long Name.' "
Around her, the Kyoshi Warriors worked on their duties in the small hideout. One kept watch at the upper window, scanning the frozen streets for the telltale flutter of yellow-and-orange airbender robes. Another sat by the fire, carefully tending to their blades with oil and rags. Two more hunched over a map of the city, charcoal sticks whispering against paper as they crossed out the locations they'd searched earlier that night and the ones that they figured that they could and should search for the rest of the day.
Their unpainted faces all looked up from their work to offer their comments.
"I wonder how many of those three hundred girls they managed to capture."
"With how they looked like they hadn't thrown a single punch in their entire life? Probably all of them."
"Hah! That is if they hadn't keeled over marching there."
"And depends on how dedicated Yue's been with her 'duties.' "
Suki rolled her eyes. "Please, we all know that Yue's not enough to satisfy Khan." She licked her lips, "Poor guy, all backed up like that without our expert skills and world-class bodies- being forced to settle for those second-rate Water Tribe girls instead."
"I'm kind of jealous of them anyway. He's going to be taking it out on them."
"You mean he'll be giving it 'in' them." Suki pointed out with an evil smile, "If our first time was too much even for us trained Kyoshi Warriors, then those Water Tribe girls are definitely done for."
Laughter rippled softly through the room. Khan definitely was going to appreciate their efforts to throw local girls in his direction.
[A few hours later]
… How does this keep happening?
There, standing on my white fur carpet, was six blushing girls, barefoot and stripped down to just their white underwear. From a sweet caramel to a smooth dark mocha, their varying shades of brown skin made a nice spread as it coloured everything from their uncertain expressions to their naked shoulders and down to their fidgeting toes. With every breath, their chests rose and fell in their plain white bras. The pale fabric only highlighting the half-naked shape of their bodies- the sheer cloth clinging onto their wide hips, and cupping their breasts and their feminine mounds.
"Please," the leader of the group, Nessa, whispered- her soft voice halfway between embarrassed and desperate, "we're all yours, O' great Fire Nation commander. Do with us whatever you want."
… Again, how does this keep happening? I'm trying to conduct an effective guerrilla warfare campaign against an entire nation, but the horny local brown-skinned girls keep getting in the way by throwing themselves onto my cock. I'd wager that if I stay here long enough, they'll eventually prove to be more of an obstacle to getting things done than that Water Tribe army of 10,000.
I met eyes with girl responsible for this. "Yue, what is this about?"
"I need more allies with me here in the North Pole. An Honour Guard, like how the Kyoshi Warriors function for you." The girl in purple calmly explained, "I know Suki and the others will come with you to finish the war in the Earth kingdom. And as much as Chieftain Essin is within his Moon Spirit-granted rights, I'd still prefer to be accompanied by those who have been born and raised in Agna Qel'a. And to be honest… I'd sleep easier knowing you have more reason to visit more often…"
With a Suki-like smile, Yue walked behind the girls, making them shiver as her gloved hand delicately brushing over their half-naked bodies. Across their bare shoulders, down the curve of their waists and even across their panty-clad rears. Even earning a squeak as her hands cupped those bra-covered C-cups and undid it.
Nessa's bra fell away with a soft whisper of fabric, her chest bouncing free. Her nipples, a shade darker than the surrounding skin, stood erect, as inviting me to taste, especially as Yue's brown fingers came to lightly pinch at those sensitive little chocolate nubs.
"Princess Yue, please not so- Nnn!"
"…At least twelve more reasons."
… the Suki virus was apparently infectious, and it seems that Yue was well on her way to transforming into one. "And you've chosen these girls in particular?"
Yue smiled, stepping away from the gasping Nessa. "Yes. They're loyal, determined and have great potential as Waterbenders. They're the finest Agna Qel'a has to offer." She said, and the girls visibly stood straighter at their princess' praise, "… And also, they're hoping that if they gave you their maidenhoods, you would treat the rest of the 'Radiant Moonflower Warrior-sisters' with leniency while judging their leader, Katara, more harshly for betraying them."
"P-princess?!" Nessa's blue eyes flew wide open, flicking at me as if hoping that I had momentarily become deaf for that one statement.
"I was honest with my intentions to Khan; and so will you." Yue stated firmly, but then her voice softened, "And… If you want to be a part of this, then your first times shouldn't be based on a lie."
Chastised, they bowed their heads. "… Yes, Princess Yue."
"So, will you, Khan? Take their virgnities?" Yue pleaded too. "For me?"
My skull-faced helm glanced across them, then at the scroll sitting on the table. The declaration of surrender was signed, [Quest: Welcome to the Ice Fields!] was satisfied by their total surrender, and a runner team on our fastest ostrich-horses was already heading full speed to discretely relay the location of the Avatar to my favourite squad of hyper-lethal ninja girls. I already had what I wanted from them.
However, I could not argue against Yue's need for an honour guard for what was to come: A political mess set to boil over in the soon-to-be-occupied city of Agna Qel'a. In that chaos, she'll need a loyal guard recruited from her own tribe and bore the grit to go whatever lengths to protect- like marching the Polar Wastes. Turning Katara's precious, second-in-command protege to our side neatly satisfied both requirements… as well as deliver a metaphorical slap to her face.
I began unclasping my helmet. "So, they're doing this out camaraderie and vengeance? Very well, we'll take them along."
The girls' faces lit up, smiling at each other as if they'd won a prize.
For agreeing to help them get justice and guaranteeing leniency for the rest of their unit…
[Nessa & her Radiant Moonflower Warrior-Sisters] Reputation: -11 - 9
[Nessa & her Radiant Moonflower Warrior-Sisters] Obedience: 3 - 33
… I needed to find the rest of their unit who were still wandering out in the tundras so that I can finally rename their moronically long unit name. Nevertheless, whether it was from their disastrous defeat, from the strict tribal obedience to their Northern Water Tribe Princess or just out of spite for Katara, their willingness to join up with Yue was not in question.
However, their loyalty to me specificallywas still suspect.
Princess Yue had already started the process by raising them from negative sixty, but near zero Reputation was far from enough. Even their Obedience will need to be raised further before I even begin to consider trusting them for the long term….
"Thank you for accepting their offer." Yue smiled, "And I believe there is only one thing left to seal the deal, Nessa."
… Yes, and the most reliable method would be the same one as what had raised Yue's, Yor's, June's, and the Kyoshi Warriors': Copious amount of steamy sex. Even better if I'm the one to take their virginities.
A dark red blush spread across the Water Tribe girl's brown cheeks, "F-for our Princess and our tribe, we will do anything you tell us, but while you might have our bodies, our hearts will always- Oh…"
Whatever this 'Nessa' or the others were about to say was forgotten as I slid my helmet off, [Pretty Privilege] bearing down on them just as it had on every girl before. Their blue eyes widened, caught somewhere between confused and mesmerised. How much of it was supernatural and how much was pure attractiveness, who can say? Regardless, in that moment, they all forgot the part where they were half-naked prisoners of war as they now realised they had promised their virginities to someone who was coincidentally, and unfortunately for their defiant attitudes, very much their type.
For being a whole lot hotter than they had expected…
[Nessa & her Radiant Moonflower Warrior-Sisters] Reputation: 9 - 19
[Nessa & her Radiant Moonflower Warrior-Sisters] Obedience: 33 - 43
The 'asiatic armour no helmet' combination made me look like some some Dynasty Warrior fujoshi thirst trap. This world's equivalent of a 'heart throb in a suit.' Once I'm a landed noble (and a prince at that), I'll be able to add 'billionaire celebrity' to that list, and the effect would be even more pronounced then. However, there was a downside.
Yue aimed a very Suki-esque leer at me. "He should take that armour off and slip into something more comfortable. Shouldn't he, girls?" She purred. And the others forgot their current predicament in favour of nodding eagerly and leering intensely.
… times like these, it felt like I was more of a male stripper than a conquering warlord.
But six horny, half-naked virgins (plus an equally horny princess) standing in my abode, each waiting for their turn to be deflowered, was the least significant obstacle of my campaign so far. So, with a roll of my eyes, I got on with unequipping my armour under the hungry staring until I was left in just my casual red robes.
Quietly, I appraised them too.
Trained as healers by the wisest elders, these were most likely the local Water Tribe girls who, if they had not marched for war, would have been the city's most prized bachlorettes. The talented, popular and drop dead gorgeous girls who would have had boys lining up and down the block to have a shot at even dating… and yet, here they were, recruited to war just to be delivered to my bedroom. Six brown-skinned local beauties, all lined up with their breasts bared and panties moistening as they desperately offering themselves to me. And although claiming girls wasn't my main goal, but it was still a powerful feeling skimming the cream of the crop all for myself.
Now, it was only a question of in which order did I want them on my cock.
"Nessa." I called to her. [Siren's Call] adding onto the effects of [Pretty Privilege] now that my helmet was off.
She shivered at the sound. "Y-yes?"
"I want you first."
"I… Oh spirits…" Nessa blushed intensely, looked away, "Okay, but… please be gentle. It's my… first time."
Among her squad, Nessa wasn't the one with the largest chest, or the most pronounced silhouette, but she did have the longest legs, ending with slender toes that wiggled shyly among the white fur of the rug.
Princess Yue leaned in close to Nessa, her snow white hair brushing against the other girl's blue as she whispered something into her ear. Nessa's blue eyes widened. "My Princess, I can't say that!"
But Yue whispered some more.
"No, my princess, we wouldn't." Nessa murmured, looking at me. She pulled slender shoulder back and pushed her handfuls of perky, chocolate-tipped mocha tits forward in my direction, "P-please enjoy my inexperienced body to your heart's content. I'm already dr-dripping wet for you."
"It's true." Added Yue, sliding her hand down Nessa's flat abdomen and down past the threshold of her white panties. Beneath the smooth, skin-tight fabric, her fingers moved.
"P-princess Yue… that's- not there~!"
The white panties stretched and flexed with each pass of her fingers. Nessa squirming with each of them, squeezing her light chestnut thighs together around Yue's invading fingers. But it only succeeded in keeping the princess' fingers in place as they searched for the 'proof' that was apparently well-hidden in the soft folds of the other girl's labia. And as Nessa shuddered with a long gasp, Yue had apparently found her proof.
She retrieved her hand, a pair of her long, brown fingers leaving behind a gasping Nessa as they glistening as if Yue had dipped them in clear nectar. Her pink lips quirked upwards into a mischievous smile. "See? She's all ready for you. Also… She likes it from behind."
"Princess Yue?!" Nessa squeaked, her eyes wide and her blush nuclear even on her dark skin tone, "H-how do you know that?!"
"Suki taught me many things." Yue replied mysteriously. "All of which are essential to the Path of becoming a Kyoshi Warrior."
… Suki, what have you been teaching her?
Or maybe she'd always been like this. Just because she was the kind and gentle princess of the moon didn't make her any less of a girl, and didn't diminish her capacity to be indescribably horny. Or maybe, even more likely, Suki just brought out the freak in her. Still, having a slender girl in just her panties talk dirty, then have her hot quim teased until she was soaked and ready for me… it was enough to get any man hard. My loose red robes tenting right before the Water Tribe girls' eyes, who were acting shy and demure despite unable to keep their gaze off it.
Nessa gulped at the sight, eyes wide even as she panted hotly. "Princess Yue, I can't… he'll split me apart!"
"If I can take it, then surely someone like you- who's been trained physically- can as well." Yue reassured as she began the process of sliding the other girl's panties down those long, mocha-skinned legs. And when those white panties were finally off, Yue's hands curled around the other girl's shoulders before pushing her down to her hands and knees. The dark skin of Nessa's slender hands and long legs contrasted pleasantly against the the white fur of the carpet.
"W-wait, I'm not ready!"
"You aren't?" Yue purred, "But you're already dripping. Even Khan can see that."
And I did. A candy pink slit in the centre of soft, brown pussy lips. Like a drip of strawberry syrup running down a scoop of chocolate ice cream. Glistening just as moist and soft too. Then Yue's slender fingers gave me an even better view as she reached around the curve of Nessa's ass and…
"Princess Yue… Please don't spread me so wide." Nessa whimpered helplessly, "It's embarrassing."
Her delicate, pink slit stretched open into a delicate, pink flower. Clear nectar leaked from her quivering girl hole, running down her open slit and hung from her throbbing little nub. Nessa's maidenhead, the proof her virginity, trembled as the warm air touched it.
"Princess Yue…" Nessa murmured in an embarrassed, half-hearted protest.
With a gentle shush, Yue calmed her, her fingers gently guiding my cock towards Nessa's dripping pink slit as her voice lowered to a purr, "Do you feel this?"
Her hand hand lovingly stroking me as she dragged the tip up and down Nessa's virgin pussy lips, and traced the engorged head of my cock across various parts of Nessa's womanhood. Immediately, her lithe mocha body tensed at the contact, muscles tensing under that smooth dark skin. I could almost feel her heart pounding through her soft, virgin folds as she twitched against my cock. And when my cock grazed her clit, Nessa let out a soft cry. "O-ooh S-Spirits~"
"She's ready. Come in, the water's nice and warm." Yue winked at me again, leaning in to give my shaft a good luck kiss before she gave us space, leaving to whisper into the other Moonflower Warriors' ears whatever severely inappropriate words Suki had taught her. And whether it was her own intuition or another one of Suki's lessons, Yue was proven right.
Nessa glanced over her mocha-coloured shoulder. A smouldering, desperate look in her blue eyes as she- without Yue whispering anything into her ear- begged to me. "Please…" Her soft voice quavered. "I- I want you to… to put it in me now."
Staring at the naked, slender back of this dark-skinned girl as she waited on my white fur carpet, ready and on all fours, with her virgin pussy trembling wetly on the tip of my cock… It was hard to deny her request; and fortunately for the both of us, I had no reason to. She whimpered softly as my large hands gripped her waist, and…
I pushed forward, driving my cock into her tight, virgin slit.
A gasp of surprise and discomfort escaped her lips as the head of my cock broke through her fragile virginity, but it was only for a moment. Her fingers gripping the white fur carpet tight, and her bare, slender back visibly shivered. "Oh… oh Spirits! It feels so… big." Nessa's voice was a throaty moan. The pleasure apparently drowning out whatever discomfort she felt from losing her virginity.
"It does feel nice when he stretches you out, doesn't it?" Yue hummed, smiling knowingly.
"Yessss~" The Water Tribe Warrior's words trailed off into another moan, pairing it with an experimental clenching of her pussy around my shaft. "It's so… it's feeling so weird, but… but good."
It felt just as good being the one to deflower it too.
On the other side of her maidenhead was a narrow tunnel of soft, inner walls tightening around me. Pristine and untouched as if it had reserved exclusively for me. Of course, I gave her the gentlemanly courtesy of letting her freshly-deflowered pussy grow accustomed to my cock; but apparently, her own body was getting impatient. Velvety folds were already gripping around my shaft insistently, growing wetter and hotter every second I spent in this virgin hole not moving. And every tiny movement- every sway and every twitch- made those secret, feminine walls brush tightly around my shaft- earning a little gasp of breath from this sexy, brown-skinned local girl.
"I'm going to move now." I said, my hands gripping her waist.
"N-Not yet please, I need a few more- Ooooh spirits!" Nessa interrupted herself with a rolling moan of pure sex as I helped myself to the madly trembling pussy that encased my cock.
I eased myself deeper with each stroke. In and out of this pink slit in the centre of toned, bent-over thighs. Her sweet, clear nectar practically leaked from every fold inside her, leaking out every backstroke and practically squelched in delight every time I pushed in. Water Tribe pussy was always so wet, as if it doing everything in its power to make sure you sink all the way inside as easily and smoothly as possible. Until finally… My hips made contact with her ass, smooth and firm as chocolate-covered peach. I had hilted myself in her hot depths- digging my cock against the sensitive bottom of this tight, little pussy.
Apparently, that was enough to drive this lithe virgin over the edge.
"C-cumminngggg~!" Nessa half-moaned and half-declared, losing strength in her arms as she came; and her upper half collapsed to the fur carpet. Her toned, chocolate ass raised in the air and pushing herself deeper down my shaft, her pleasured face pressed against the soft white furs as she moaned and drooled her mind-blowing finish, and her silky insides clenched and milked wildly around my shaft. It was as if her body just knew where I should be depositing my load: Into her pristine baby room.
As I was still far from my own finish, and I decided to be a gentleman and keep thrusting. pushing just an inch deeper into her- filling up this incredibly tight pussy that had never known the touch of a man until now and prolonging her orgasm. The muffled moans which came from where she pressed her face on the rug sounded appreciative in my ears. Each time
~ Arousal: Intensely feminine. Snowdrop and sea salt. Six sources.
The sweet, icy fragrance was accompanied by a near-silent whimper, and I was reminded that the rest of her Moonflower Warrior team was still there. Nessa's half-naked friends who could stand quietly and obediently as their team lead was face-down-ass-up on the carpet and cumming her brains out. The cloth of their white panties increasingly transparent- clinging to their delicate labia. Trembling, aching to be touched. Their dignity clearly the only thing holding them back from pleasuring themselves to the sight of their leader getting railed.
"Yue, help them relax themselves." I found myself commanding her just as easily as I did with Suki.
"Of course…" The snowy-haired princess purred before draping her shapely body close to one of the girls. And with pink lips, she whispered whatever lewd words she had been taught, right into the other girl's ears.
Meanwhile, I raised a hand slightly and slapped it across Nessa's smooth chocolate ass cheek, making it ripple like the disturbed surface of a coffee. Her uncharacteristically cute "Eep!" of surprise accompanied the crisp sound of the slap as it echoed through the room.
"You're going to give your friends every last detail of our lovemaking" I said, as I massaged the stinging ass cheek. The soft, smooth skin ceded to my squeezing fingers- giving way to the lightly toned muscle underneath of her ass. "Everything you feel, everything you think."
"But-"
Another slap.
"Nnnn! Okay okay! I'll do it…." She hesitantly began. Her eyes screwed shut in embarrassment. "He's… he's stretching me so much… So thick as if he's gonna split my p-pussy apart, but still… Oh spirits, it's…"
I bottomed out in that silky-tight, Water Tribe pussy.
"-it's filling me up so much!" Her words were stretched into a moan as I began picking up speed, "And when he pulls back, it feels like he's going to turn me inside out out. The thick head of his- his… His amazing cock! And when he's almost all the way out.. that thrust that comes after- it feels so incredibly goo~ood!"
"So, Yue was right. You really do like it from behind." I scoffed as I wound her long, blue-streaked black hair into my fist and tugged on it.
The action made her face jerked up- showing her teammates see her fuck-drunnk face. Her panting mouth hung open, her blue eyes hooded and her brown face blushing so heavily, "I.. I don't have anything to compare it with, but I'm loving it!" she moaned to them. Words flowing smoother and more sincere, "I love being taken from behind! I love his big hard cock filling up my pussy! I love it all!"
And in the midst of Nessa's needy moans and the wet slapping of her pussy around my cock, yue's whispered encouragement having evaporated the last of five other Water Tribe girls' reservations. Their soaked white panties slid down to either around the slender ankles of their dainty feet, or stuck between thick chocolate thighs. The wet schlick of their brown fingers slipping between the pink of their virgin lips, the little of hitch of their breaths as their fingers bumped against their swollen clits, and their mixing moans of differing tones, pitches and helpless quavering.
With each curl of their fingers into their ready cunts, honey droplets fell down between their legs, like little glittering pieces of liquid crystals. Hot wet proof of the sheer want they held to be filled up the same way the girl on all fours was.
"Stretching me so much…" Nessa shouted out, and their fingers moved faster. "A-All the way there! I can almost feel his cock reaching just underneath my belly button!"
And just as Nessa called it, I finally found a comfortable rhythm of fucking this moaning hot mess of a girl with every inch of my cock.
"Spirits, yessss! He's hitting the back! A-All the way!" Nessa half-moaned and half-declared to her friends, "And when he presses the tip right against the back, it feels so good like my brain will just melt!"
Droplets of her honey were sent flying every time I slammed her shapely, mocha ass against my hips. Every time I bottomed out into her erotic hole. drinking in her helpless moans. So tight that it was like she sucking me in deeper. At the slightest movement backwards, her inner walls tightened all along my shaft as if refusing to let me leave her depths. And when those slippery folds' grip did slip, wet friction sparked up.
"Ah! Ah! It's… it's…oooh~!" Her exclamations grew more fervent, her body writhing beneath my touch. "It's so… so good… I didn't know it could feel sooo good. Deeper, please! I'm gonna cum again! Cumming!"
Gentler than Suki's aggressively milking cunt, narrower than the Yue's soaked embrace of hot loving hole. And the angle and shape of her tight cunt's soaked insides… It was as if her pussy was deliberately and exquisitely shaped for doggystyle. As if Nessa was made to be put on all fours or bent over, and fucked from behind.
"I'm getting close too." I announced.
The words didn't register to Nessa, the dark-haired Water Tribe girl still in the throes of her orgasm. Her body mindlessly and desperately trying to milk its prize from me. But her teammates? They heard me clearly. Their blue eyes practically darting to where the shaking Nessa and I were connected, the lewd action hidden from their view.
So, I did them a favour.
Lifting the slim brown-skinned girl up into a full nelson, I gave them a full view. Whereas before in the doggystyle, all her teammates could see was her moaning face and errant splatter of her pussy juice, now they had an unobstructed view of everything their team leader had. Long, brown legs raised and splayed apart…. Chocolate breasts bouncing against her upturned thighs… her ever-soaked, Water Tribe pussy splattering nectar across the space between us… And of course, their leader's virgin pussy stuffed full and stretched out around every inch of my cock as I approached the end of my rope.
"I'm going to cum inside you, and you're going to take it all, Nessa."
"Spirits, I'm gonna break! My pussy's gonna break! I- I don't think there's gonna be space in me!"
"Good." came my growl.
The other Water Tribe girls watching shivered as they openly masturbated faster, squeezing and rubbing their dark-toned thighs together. Their eyes looked intently where my shaft was plundering Nessa's pussy for all its worth. Until finally…
I battered down the door to Nessa's pristine womb and stained the interior white with my semen. Thudding against the fertile surface and coating it thickly with white. Unfortunately, this position was still awkward for me, and I wasn't able to stuff every drop into her womb. Some of it leaking out instead, much to the half-mortified viewing pleasure of the other girls who blushed furiously enough that it tinged their brown skin. They all stared, mouths agape, as the mixture of Nessa's honey and my semen dripped from her freshly deflowered and thoroughly used girl hole. And they did nothing as I let the insensate, panting mess of a girl slip down to the warm fur rug.
"Ladies, I'm still hard." I said in a matter-of-fact tone that conveyed that it was going to be their problem, very soon.
The Water Tribe girls looked down at at their whimpering team-lead who was leaking cum, then up to my still-hard cock. Their expressions looked horrified, and yet… the schlick of their fingers running across their virgin slits quickened in tempo.
"… just five more to go." Yue hummed.
"Six." I aimed a leer at her. I was all fired up now, and I wasn't going to stop here. I think Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors spoiled me with their constant sex.
"Mmm~" The snowy-haired princess chewed on her pink bottom lip for a moment. Her icy blue eyes following a drop of cum as it trailed down my shaft. Her tongue slipped out to lick her lips, aiming a saucy little smile at me, "Well, I'm in no position to deny my big, strong Fire Nation captor, am I?"
Her slender fingers gripped her long, floor-length parka-dress; and she hiked it up, bit by bit, exposing her thicc, mocha-coloured legs until her delicate princess slit came into view. Already dripping.
"Don't be gentle with us, please?"
And just beside the battlefield where I broke the Water Tribe's army, I claimed their women for my own. Repeatedly.
For tiring them out with amazing sex…
[Nessa & the Radiant Moonflower Warrior-Sisters] Reputation: 19 - 41
[Nessa & the Radiant Moonflower Warrior-Sisters] Obedience: 43 - 65
(3 hours later) [Elsewhere in the Polar Wastes]
We caught them- the remaining survivors of the 'Radiant Moonflower Warrior-Sisters.'
Sixteen hours of nonstop retreating through harsh arctic terrain had taken its toll on this proud, all-female unit of Northern Water Tribe warriors. More than two hundred women in their embroidered blue parka kowtowed before red-armoured 41st Division Cavalry-Scouts atop ostrich-horses. Their hands, knees and faces pressed against the freezing snow and muttering 'O Fire Nation warrior, we surrender to you. I'll be your willing concubine. I'll bear your children. Whatever you wish, but please spare my sisters-in-arms.' And other such words. Offering their bodies in exchange for safety and or leniency…
Where have I hear that before?
If I had ever been surprised by how common such offers were in this asiatic fantasy world, then I certainly wasn't anymore. Now, it was simply a relief that it wasn't happening to me for once.
"Getting offers from the POWs already, Lieutenant?" My deep voice rumbled in amusement as I arrived onto this nameless ice dune where the 1st Squad, on their large ostrich-horses and guandao glaives, stood guard over our latest POWs with the overly long name.
The Lieutenant's feathered red helmet turned towards me, and she saluted, "Commander Khan, sir!"
"At ease. It's good to see you again, Lieutenant." I greeted her, our armour clicking together as I patted her shoulder, "You and your squad fought well these past few days, despite having the heaviest duties in the division. You did me proud, 1st Squad."
"Thank you, sir!" The men and women of the 1st Squad saluted.
The lead woman of the All-female unit looked up at the Lieutenant as if surprised. Vaguely, I recalled Yue mentioned that it was not part of their education to teach how other Nations had their women fight in wars. I will need to reform the education system of Agna Qel'a after this is over.
"Wait," I said, noticing something off. "Lieutenant, hold open your greatcoat."
She did as ordered, and I stepped closer, appraising the armour that she was wearing. There were some faint dents and scratches to the red plates of her gauntlet and her breastplate. Blows blocked not by just Fire Nation steel, but by my personally hand-crafted [Masterwork] armour. The rest of the 41st Division's armour had performed worse, but these were the best armours that I could craft with my Smithing skill… and they were still damaged?
"It's completely unacceptable that Whalebone weapons even came this close to harming you." I muttered darkly, but the Lieutenant's armoured hand rested over mine.
"I'm alright, sir." she said softly, her violet eyes looked up at me through her helmet's eye slits. "You don't have to worry about me."
"Your armour should have held up better."
"It's not your fault… I just got sloppy a few times. Sorry for worrying you."
Mentally, I noted down the locations- around the arms, greaves and sides of the abdominals- so that I knew where to reinforce the armour for the next batch of gear to be forged. All of it was valuable practical knowledge that could only collected from actual combat operations, ours or someone else's. And worth a lot of skill experience.
Skill Level up: [Smithing]! Lvl 29 - Lvl 30
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[Smithing] Level 30 Reached - New Skill Perk Unlocked!
Level 30 - Mystic Sage Skill Perk
Reforger's Wisdom (Passive): If it ain't broke, don't fix it. But if it is broke, well, time to get creative with the superglue!… When repairing existing items or upgrading them to a higher quality tier, your knowledge allows you to either use 50% fewer raw materials or 25% less time than what would normally be required.
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Attainable Item Qualities
Poor - Shoddy - Common - Fine - Superior - Exquisite - Masterwork - Sagecraft - ?
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Excellent, one has to wonder if it'll be faster and cheaper to simply make a Poor quality armour and upgrade it to Masterwork quality. And on another line of thought, could I upgrade other people's works to save on time? So much experimentation to do.
"I need to get this armour off of you as soon as possible." I murmured.
"C-Commander?!"
"For repairs, Lieutenant. As you were." I clarified, stepping away to the next order of business: the POWs who were staring at me. My seven-foot-tall frame of thick, spiked armour and glowering skull helm casting a shadow over the fearful faces of those in the front. "So, these are the last pocket of survivors that you've tracked, Lieutenant?"
"Yes, sir." She replied, "They surrendered as soon as they saw us approach."
I directed my gaze to the one that had the whalebone charm on her parka which signified her as a 'Third Wave' officer. A brown-toned young woman with frost clinging to her dark braids and her eyelashes, the blood-streaked fur lining her parka hung limp from the weight of the snow. She kept her arms at her sides as she trembled, either from cold or fear.
"You're the highest ranking officer here, are you not?" I prompted, "A 'Third Wave' officer."
"Once, yes," she replied, her voice steady but strained from tiredness. Her gaze flickered back to her sisters, huddled together behind her on the snow- some nursing bloodied stumps, others barely able to stand. "But not anymore, we surrender to your authority, Fire Nation commander sir."
"I accept your surrender." I replied, before taking out a scroll, "That is… once you have signed in this formal declaration of surrender. Form an orderly line. For those who do not wish to surrender, kindly stand to the side so that the ostrich-horses can freely feast on you without splattering your blood on the others."
"Honk!"
Panic in their blue eyes, the gathered women hurriedly trudged to form a neat line for the scroll, not wanting to be misconstrued as 'standing to the side.' And finally, when it was the Third Wave's turn, she took one look at the scroll, and gasped softly.
"These signatures…" her hand trembled as she looked at the signatures at the top of the scroll. The first ones to have ever signed it. "Second Wave Nessa. She's alive?"
"And with Princess Yue."
At the answer, she squeezed her eyes shut. Perhaps out of regret that she was also captured or relief that she made it out alive. Either way, she scrawled her signature across the paper.
"Good. Now, where is First Wave Katara?" I prompted, my voice low.
The young woman's jaw clenched. "Why is she so important?"
Important? Yes, one could say that. It was not enough that I sent Suki to deal with the Avatar, every avenue to dismantling him had to be made. Although she was of little value on her own, Katara was crucial Aang's success. She was his Waterbending master, his love interest, his party's sole healer and also the one who would save his life. And in doing so, also save the world from Fire Nation victory. That's why it was pretty damn important that we found her, caught up to her and killed her dead.
However, that information was not something the Third Wave woman needed to know, so my skull-faced helm just bore down at her, "Just answer the question."
The young Water Tribe woman hesitated, perhaps the last embers of defiance against 'the Warm Lander invaders,' but it was only for a moment. She released a defeated sigh. "We banished her," the freezing young woman said, as if admitting to some distasteful crime, or maybe, speaking of a loathsome criminal. "That is the way of the Northern Water Tribe, we sent her out to the polar wastes for the Moon and Ocean Spirits to render their judgement… and their sentence."
"So, it was the equivalent of a dishonourable discharge then," I muttered in understanding, "That must also mean that there are no more soldiers in the Water Tribe Army. I wonder if that also technically means…"
[Quest - Welcome to the Ice Fields!] Completed!
Main Objective: Kill all the soldiers in the Water Tribe Army within seven days. (0% soldiers in the Water Tribe Army remaining)
Secondary Objective: Do it in six.
Rewards:
Large XP Bonus
Large Reputation increase with the {Fire Nation}
2 Perk Points
Secondary Rewards:
[Legendary Division Feat: The Frostforged Thousand] Nothing stopped them: Not the snow, not the cold, not all men in the Water Tribe Army… All units in your army gain a 20% stat bonus when fighting outnumbered. They also gain permanent dexterity bonuses for stealth checks and rough terrain movement (snow or otherwise); a constitution bonus for cold resist and supply consumption; and a spirit bonus for bending.
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"1st Squad!" My voice rumbled back at them with victorious relish, "With the surrender of this unit, we got them all- the 41st Division has officially won this battle!"
"For Fire Nation and Fire Lord!"
"For the 41st Division!"
Weapons and fists raised in the air, we cheered, albeit for different reasons. They, because the battle was over, and myself, because we had just acquired an amazingly good secondary reward. [Legendary Division Feat: The Frostforged Thousand]… It was going to help make the rest of the war a lot smoother now. Every part of it is just too good. From the buff when outnumbered, to the permanent bonuses for ambushes and general mobility. And not to mention the reduction to the supply consumption. Ostrich-horses ate a lot of food, so to have something that lessened it was very welcome.
In short, this victory was nothing short than incredible. But although the battle was won, the war wasn't: The main cast had yet to be neutralised after all.
Turning back towards the water Tribe women who were frowning at their enemies celebrating, I continued where we left off. "So, you banished Katara." I said, glancing around to the same wastes that we were all standing in. "Does it make any difference when we're all out here?"
"No, it was symbolic gesture, but she still definitely deserved it. And still needed to go away." She said bitterly, "She pushed us too hard. We were in the same state as we are now- freezing, starving, injured... But she still wanted us to march on. It was obvious that you had bested us, but she refused to see it that way."
"So, she believed in victory, and for that, you cast her out?"
"She believed in suicide," the Third Wave spat, "She would have marched us all to death in some vain hope of turning the tide. We couldn't let her lead us anymore. And yes… that's why we cast her out."
Nodding, I unfurled a map of the area, laid it out onto the snow between me and Third Wave officer, and pointed to a spot with a large armoured finger. "We're here. And this is the path that you've taken from the battlefield. Now point: Where did you banish her?"
Her lips trembled then she lowered herself fully, pressing her forehead into the ice. "O' Giant, I will share that knowledge, but I beg of you, we need food and shelter and medicine."
The others followed suit, pressing their foreheads to the frozen ground in another round of kowtowing.
I let out a weary sigh, waving a hand as if to brush away their exaggerated display. "How fortunate for you all, that you're the only prisoners we managed to take from this battle. That, and we have ample supplies to spare. Speaking of which…"
My eyes flicked to the horizon where powerful draft ostrich-horses came, pulling sleighs laden with goods. Their breath steamed in the frigid air, and the supplies piled high in the sleighs, a mix of the spoils from the Water Tribe caravan and the supplies that we have scavenged on our journey. The rustle of movement caught my attention as the first figures disembarked.
"Your care convoy is here. Lift your heads," I commanded.
They did, and the 'Radiant Moonflower Warrior-Sisters' fell silent in their entirety as they gaped in shock at seeing the familiar faces disembark from the sleigh.
The frozen silence was only broken when a shout rang out as the Third Wave pushed through the snow.
"Princess Yue… Second Wave Nessa!" the young woman sobbed, cheeks streaked with tears that froze mid-flow as she crumbled to her knees right before Nessa. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry for leaving you! Please forgive me!"
The red cloth strip sewn atop Nessa's parka hood fluttered in the wind. Then she reached out a gloved hand and took the Third Wave woman into her arms. Her voice was kind, but also at the brink of crying herself. "It's alright," she said. "I forgive you, sister. The only one at fault here is Katara. I'm just glad to see as many of you alive. And besides… I'm not the one all of us should be apologising to."
Nessa turned towards their snowy-haired princess who had been quietly standing in her parka-dress.
But that only made the Third Wave more emotional. "My Princess," she rasped with trembling lips, "we're sorry… for not being strong enough. For not being able to rescue you."
"No, I'm sorry," Yue said with a sad smile, and sympathy in her ice-blue eyes. "I'm sorry I couldn't convince you all to surrender back then. That I couldn't stop you from marching out to this place. But if nothing else, I'm glad you surrendered now. We'll have you fed, treated, and warmed up- this much I can promise. Captive or not, I'm still your princess. And I will do everything in my power to see you safe… do everything I can to make sure you're all right from now on."
The words barely escaped Yue's lips before the women broke down. Faces raw from the cold and some even clutching missing fingers, they huddled around Yue like children clinging to a mother they thought they'd lost forever. 'Princess Yue! Princess Yue!' They called her name as they cried in relief at being saved, especially when Nessa and the others began handing out blankets, ointments and hot food.
Meanwhile, my Fire Nation troops and I just shared awkward glances at the tearful reunion happening before us- being the very people who placed them in this situation in the first place. Thankfully, they didn't seem particularly torn up about the 10,000 men that we slaughtered. But from the reports I received, these girls used them as meat shields anyway. Best not to mention it. And as one last point of awkwardness, I knew for a fact that Nessa, Yue and the others were still dripping my semen.
But still, it was all very touching, and although we still had a war to win. I did allow them to have their moment, if only so that I could quietly allocated my new Perk Points.
* 2 Perk Points Available.*
[-] means that perk has yet to be purchased.
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Lvl 100 Strength Perks Available:
[Lvl 1] Power Move (Passive): You don't 'run.' You kick the ground until it takes you where you want to go. On top of your Dexterity, add (25%) Strength to your running speed and jumping height.
[Lvl 2] Furor of Furious Fury (Active): Angry caveman powers, activate! For the next 4 strikes you make, your strength is doubled. Can be activated (2) times a day.
[Lvl 2] Flex it off! (Passive): You feel a lot better after you pose and flex your muscles. On top of your Constitution, add (50%) Strength to your Health points and Resistances calculations.
[Lvl 2] Overpower (Passive): Hit 'em hard when they're not looking, but hit 'em even harder when they are. Gain (40%) bonus Strength against enemies that you're not outflanking.
[Lvl 1] Chainbreaker (Passive): Because safe words are for the weak and puny. Double your strength bonus when resisting any physical attempt to restrict your movements.
[Lvl 1] Inventory Expansion (Passive): Carry all the crap you could ever want and never need! Gain 4x more inventory space.
Lvl 100 Dexterity Perks Available:
[Lvl 1] Parkour Prodigy (Passive): Running? On the ground?! Like some peasant!? Double your Dexterity bonus while performing parkour.
[Lvl 1] Riposte (Passive): A skill distilled from a billion hours in Soulsborne games. Attacking directly after a successful parry now carries a guaranteed crit.
[-] Pickpocket Prodigy (Passive): Yes, you can actually steal equipped items; yes, that includes their underwear. Double your Dexterity bonus while pickpocketing.
[Lvl 1] Bullet Time (Active): Dodge the bullets that haven't been invented yet. Three times a day, slow time to (80%). Bullet Time duration in seconds is equal to a tenth of your Dexterity stat.
[Lvl 1] Dodge Expert (Passive): Combine with Bullet Time for sick slo-mo scenes! Gain 25% to your Dexterity bonus for dodging attacks.
[-] Prise de Fer (Passive): Swing your sword around enough and you become an expert in touching tips. Gain 25% to your Dexterity bonus for all your parry attempts.
Lvl 100 Constitution Perks Available:
[Lvl 1] Iron Gut (Passive): Not to be confused with iron abs. (Double) your Constitution bonus to resist Poisons, Toxins and illnesses.
[Lvl 1] Clench! (Passive): Brace your glutes! You gain 10% damage reduction for all attacks that you see coming.
[Lvl 2] Relentless (Passive): Be the Party Animal as told in the legends. You no longer require sleep, and all physical fatigue gain is now reduced by (50%).
[Lvl 1] Berserker Rage (Passive): Your incredible anger is your weapon, you are... Karen Incarnate. Gain bonus Strength, Dexterity and Spirit proportional to your missing HP. Up to (200%) bonus stats more at 1% HP.
[-] Bulwark (Passive): You're like a penis- you get harder when you plant yourself somewhere nice. While standing still on a stable surface, gain 20% damage reduction for all attacks. Stacks multiplicatively with other damage reduction perks.
[Lvl 1] Second Wind (Active): The Kyoshi Warriors are never going to win over you in bed. Once a day, all physical fatigue is removed and you recover 5% of your missing health.
Lvl 100 Spirit Perks Available:
[-] It's not a Dance! (Passive): ... But it just might be a sex position. Double your Spirit bonus when learning/experimenting new bending styles and forms (and sex positions).
[Lvl 1] Spirit Rush (Active): Yes, overconfidence is now a power! Once a day, gain (20%) bonus Spirit. Spirit Rush' duration in seconds is equal to a half of your Spirit stat.
[-] Greater Chi Paths (Passive): For when it takes you too long getting your 'bending' up. Your Chi flows (25%) faster. Allowing bending with fewer wind-up movements, or more powerful bending with normal wind-up movements.
[Lvl 1] Audacious Spirit (Passive): Is something draining the metaphysical life energies of your body? Just walk it off, lol! Whenever you're suffering from a debuff that affects your Spirit (e.g. Poison, blocked chi pathways, nighttime, cold temperature, etc.) Reduce that debuff's effectiveness by 33%.
[-] Mystic Reflux (Passive): Tax the benders… Parrying bending attacks with your own bending restores health and stamina by 3% of the attack's power.
[-] Bend-Resist (Passive): Time to show those other benders exactly where they should shove their bending... Against bending attacks, add 20% of your Spirit Bonus to both your Dexterity's Dodge Bonus and your Constitution's Damage Reduction, respectively.
Lvl 20 Intelligence Perks Available:
[-] Bibliophile (Passive): You like your books like you like your women: spread open right at the interesting bits… Double your Intelligence bonus for reading- vastly increasing read speed, retention, and comprehension. (Stacks with other memory perks. And extends to manuals, schematics and skillbooks for other stats.)
[Lvl 1] Hyperfocused Training (Active): Achieve a higher state of being by activating all of your braincells at once- all three of them… For a single day, one chosen skill has 200% XP gains, but all other skills gain no XP for the duration.
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I chose [Bend-Resist] and [Bibliophile].
[Bend-Resist] for all-round tankiness in this world filled with people who can dish out consistent elemental damage. And [Bibliophile] because I would have chosen it before if I hadn't already previously chosen [Hyperfocused Training] to grind my [Engineering] skill ASAP. Those [Stink Bombs] and [Ostrich-horse-mounted Mini Catapults] turned out to be incredible when used creatively. Fighting ten times our number fair and square would have seen a lot of my 41st Division dead.
With my Perk Points allocated, I turned back to the emotional reunion of Water Tribe girls.
Time's up.
With a massive, armoured hand, my seven-foot-tall frame reached into the cluster of emotional Water Tribe women. I grabbed the Third Officer by the nape of her parka, lifting her effortlessly, like one would pick out a kitten from a litter. Raising her until she was face to face with my skull-faced helm, I asked, very politely.
"Now, which direction did Katara wander off in?"
(Two Hours later) [Three kilometres south of Nanuk's Valley]
I could hear them shouting, in panic and in fear, as the 1st Squad and I surged straight at them through the snow.
"They're here! Katara, get on! Hurry!"
Across the snowy valley, my eyes locked onto our target as she was hurried onto that damned sky bison- Sokka, now fully healed, and Hahn, somehow escaped from captivity, both working frantically to get Katara onto that massive furry beast. But something was wrong. Maybe it was her injuries slowing them down, or maybe panic had made them clumsy, but they were struggling to get her on board. And with every second wasted, the 1st Squad and I closed in, and everyone in this valley knew that if we reached them first…
It was naught for though. They managed to get Katara into the saddle, and one of them took the reins.
"Appa! Yip yip! YIP YIP!"
With a mighty groan and a plume of displaced snow, Appa lifted off up to the sky, still too far for my [Meteor Hammer] to reach.
And in that moment when every millisecond counted, I pulled from my [inventory] the one weapon that did not require any windup. Only skill.
(Relic) [Sokka's Boomerang]
A hybrid weapon that can be used as both a melee or a thrown weapon. As a very rare and hard-to-master weapon, the Southern Water Tribe boomerang is usually underestimated by those who first come across it, but only the first time. Although the boomerang may not be as deadly as other thrown weapons, wielders of this weapon who have survived long enough to grow skilled in its usage are usually the crafty and cunning sort- hurling this weapon to strike at unexpected angles and disrupt their foes' fighting styles at crucial moments. All from anywhere in the battlefield. Such versatility comes at a cost though, should an eagle-eyed opponent with swift enough hands intuit the boomerang's flight path, it would be child's play to parry it out of the air and force the boomerang's wielder to come and retrieve it themselves; A notable challenge for someone left without a weapon.
Smithing: Lvl 30 - Mystic Sage
This particular Southern Water Tribe boomerang is amazingly well-crafted. The edge and general body is made of a steel alloy that is uncharacteristically high quality for a Southern Water Tribe weapon who are generally infamous for their steelworks or lack thereof, allowing it to slice through the air with remarkable precision unmatched by other Southern Water Tribe boomerangs.
There is also a strange weight distribution to it- too heavy to be merely a steel alloy. It's core is made of platinum, no doubt. This boomerang was likely one of the many trophies of excess and decadence born from the infamous Platinum Affair of Avatar Yangchen's time; and now, it has been reforged with a steel edge and pressed into active service once again after several centuries of acting as a mere mantlepiece.
Whoever was behind this boomerang was a weaponsmith of exceptional calibre, it is a deceptively effective creation; and certainly, a handsome gift for any Head Chieftain of the Southern Water Tribe.
Attunement: (-100/25 Sokka Reputation Required)
Sokka's Boomerang is a weapon steeped in his Southern Water Tribe heritage. It serves as a reminder, both of Sokka's roots and his journey as a capable warrior-strategist. There is a subtle engraving debossed on one of its cheeks. One way or another, it will always return to its owner.
Weapon Proficiency: Lvl 7 - Apprentice
At high proficiency levels, you'll be able to cut or smash single or multiple targets at any range and around any obstacles at any angle you wish. So great is the sheer versatility of this weapon that it allows you to exert a disproportionate amount of influence on the battlefield, it would be as if you were the invisible hand reaching out over a Paisho board and plucking your opponent's pieces right off the board.
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It was a souvenir from when Sokka saved their lives in Agna Qel'a, and now, it was going to 'return' to its owner, full force. I stomped my armoured boots deep into the snow for better stability, activated [Bullet Time] for the slow-mo aim time and [Furor of Furious Fury] for the damage; and with every ounce of Strength in my seven-foot-tall frame of metal and muscle, I hurled [Sokka's Boomerang] at their retreating silhouette. The boomerang zipping through the air like some dragonfly at full speed.
[Furor of Furious Fury]:3 of 4 Charges left.
The boomerang did the unlikely: It actually hit. Darting in struck the bison's side at full force, Appa visibly recoiled in the air, veering left as his roar of pain echoed outwards, but… he continued on flying. Slower but still flying. We still had a shot at this.
"1st Squad, maintain the chase!" I roared back to them, "We're burning this flying cattle out the sky! We'll chase them all the way to the Agna Qel'a if we had to. [As One]!"
"SIR, YES, SIR!"
Firebolts seared through the air. Even if we can't end it all now. We'll at least slow them down.
- The Defeated End -
Chapter 31 - Doom, War and Peanuts
~In which… The smiling execution-loli arrives with her 200 hundred warships and all her thousands of grizzled war veteran friends arrive to make the Northern Water Tribe really, really sorry for being evil Waterbenders. Sokka leads an elite Water Tribe force to infiltrate the Fire Nation flagship in a last ditch effort, and on that ship, they find... ~
Coming Soon for Public Release!
AN:
This chapter occurs during...(ATLA Book 1, Episode 20 - The Siege of the North II).
Nessa… was only supposed to be a background expy. A dead one. She was to be a tongue-in-cheek joke about naming a character posthumously. But people seemed to really look forward to her last chapter, so that contributed to needing the rewrite.
'That was brutal/fucked up/horrifying'...the previous Chapter 29 was, according to readers. Which is the reason why this chapter is actually a 'softer' rewrite. If vague depictions of Mongolian warfare is enough to rattle people, then the original chapter 30's depiction of PTSD and mind break for Katara would have been gratuitous torture porn. So, I present to you this rewritten, toned-down version of Chapter 30. Less 'too real' PTSD, and more eager, submissive, chocolate-skinned girls.
Be sure to check the omake chapter/series… If my health ever deteriorates past the point of not being able to finish this fic, it's the canon end.
…
The below Omake series is the canon ending of Burn the World Down… If my health ever deteriorates past the point of not being able to finish this fic.
…
The Three Nations, Part I
[North Pole - Polar Wastes]
I missed.
I had aimed [Sokka's Boomerang] for Appa- a massive target in that big blue sky- in the hopes that it would be enough to knock him off balance and slow him down for Firebending or my other weapons. But I missed, and hit someone else.
Sokka's panicked shout of "Hahn!' echoed out and the confirmation came soon after.
Defeated {Head Chieftain Hahn}, 600 exp!
The 1st Squad and I watched as Hahn's limp body slid off to the side, still tangled in the reins like some yo-yo. His entire weight pulled sharply on Appa's 'steering horns,' sending the immense sky bison veering violently to the left, then into a frantic nose-dive. Appa streaked toward the ground, only managing to pull up at the last second and turn a head-on impact into a skidding crash that carved a deep trench in the snow. We wasted no time in sprinting toward the crash site, armoured Fire Nation boots and ostrich-horse talons pounding furiously across the tundra. And soon, what had been specks in the distance grew into silhouettes, then into sharp, clear shapes.
"1st Squad! Our top priority is to secure that bison." I roared, tossing them some loops of thick chains from my [Inventory, "Capture. But if it attempts to fly, gut it. That bison is NOT to leave this tundra! Understood?!"
"Yes, Commander!"
We closed in on them. The great beast was clearly injured from the crash landing, lagging behind Sokka and Katara who were already making tracks southwards. The desperate fools thought that they could not only run the leagues of treacherous arctic tundras back to Agna Qel'a; they also thought that they could do it while outrunning us. No sense or reason, desperation was truly the only thing they had left.
Appa was the first to notice our approach, roaring as he slammed his broad tail in our direction.
The blast surged through the snow- throwing it up and out. Faster than I had anticipated, and faster than I could dodge.
[Greater Wind Blast], -208 hp!
HP: 1500 - 1292
The force was enough to kill a lesser man- likely rupturing eardrums and pulping organs from the shock wave. But for me, it was only enough to knock me off my feet, throw me back to make in my own snow trench.
Normally, when a commanding officer gets knocked to the ground, the troops that follow him would be concerned. Undisciplined troops might even panic or desert. But [As One!] was very effective at what it did, the Lieutenant and her squad instinctively knew that I was okay. Chains rattled out as they immediately went for counterattack against the sky bison, and their ostrich-horses screeched their cries of hunger and hatred as their prey was almost in reach.
"HONK!"
In the sidelines, Katara began screaming incoherently, freezing the ground around her. "North! NORTH! Everyone, waxing crescent formation! And nobody push an Ice Wall!"
"Get away from Appa!" Sokka joined in, waving his club at us as if we were stray dogs to be scared off.
We largely ignored the Water Tribe siblings in favour of the vastly more important target.
Chains wrapped around Appa's limbs and neck, and though he fought against it fiercely, the steady diet of human flesh had made the ostrich-horses of the 41st Division grow big and strong. If some underfed sandbenders were capable of abducting Appa, then my seasoned veteran troops could easily as well. And they did. The chains tightened around the sky bison's six limbs and he collapsed into the snow, unable to put up a fight.
With chain and stake, we secured him down to the frozen ground. All the while, the beast stared with big brown eyes, growling impotently.
My skull helm stared right back. "Stay down and stay quiet. Or we'll have the ostrich-horses have a leg or two."
Appa may have been able to understand human speech, but even without it, the threatening hisses from the hungry ostrich-horses that surrounded him more than enough to convey the threat. He quieted down, but his basketball-sized eyes still kept staring defiantly.
Good enough.
"Two of you." I called out to the 1st Squad, "Head back to the command igloo and send a hawk. The 1st Regiment is to report in this location, and have them bring some sleighs and two pairs of draft ostrich-horses. We'll need them if we're to transport this bison anywhere."
"Right away, sir!" They saluted, and immediately trotted off atop their ostrich-horses.
"The rest of you, keep that bison secure- dead or alive."
"Yes, Commander!" They replied, their guandao glaives at the ready at any moment to turn that sky bison mount into a sky bison rug.
Now, it was time to end this.
Steam escaped my helmet's slits as I exhaled and turned around. My full attention finally focusing on two human members of the Avatar's retinue who were now alone- without their Avatar and without their brethren to even the scales. The two Southern Water Tribe siblings were in the centre of a patch of frozen ground. Katara had apparently fallen unconscious, either from hunger or exhaustion. Sokka shielded her body with his. His Water Tribe club raised at me like a swordsman expecting a duel as he watched me approach.
My large, armoured hand twitched with the urge to end their lives right there and then. But instead, I tossed them a pair of steel manacles, clattering against the ice right before bumping his boots' toes. "Put them on. The two of you are now my prisoners."
His grip tightened on his club, and he glared at me. "Over my dead body!"
"Your terms are acceptable." My laughter boomed as I readied my (Steel) [Meteor Hammer], swinging that heavy chain with the solid steel ball at the end in wide circles. Sokka's blue eyes visibly and futilely trying to follow it, and I scoffed, "So, is this how you choose to die, Son of Hakoda? In vain?"
Sokka's face hardened into a glare. "Shut up!" he barked, raising his club. "Shut up and fight me, Fire Nation! Man to man, warrior to warrior!"
I opened my mouth to retort, but before the words could leave my lips, a roar shattered the frigid arctic air.
Appa thrashed in a wild frenzy, his massive body struggling against the chains. His panicked, desperate roars vibrated through the snow as the ostrich-horses around him reared back, honking their warnings. Snow sprayed into the air as he jerked and twisted, fighting in vain to break free of the chains.
Sokka's eyes widened. "What are you doing to Appa?! Stop it!"
My Meteor Hammer coming to a stop, the chain resting in my trembling hands. Because I knew precisely what that meant.
"They did it… they actually did it…" I said, my rumbling voice low and full of pride.
Sokka clenched his fists, anger boiling over. "Who did what?! What are you doing to Appa?!"
Through the slits of my skull helmet, my green eyes met his blue. "Appa is Aang's animal guide." I said as Appa's thrashing slowed, his great furred body trembling as he let out a low, mournful bellow that echoed across the frozen tundras. "The bond between them is on a spiritual level. Do you not understand? If Appa is like this…"
"No… that's not possible…" Sokka's voice was barely a whisper as the realisation sank in for him, and his token defiance crumbled. His club lowered then slipped from his fingers, clattering to the ice.
"Yes…" I whispered, the smile beneath my skull helm cold. "We've won."
-LineBreak-
(60 Seconds ago) [Agna Qel'a]
Aang sighed as he pushed aside the curtain to the cottage, the one he used to share with Sokka and Katara- or at least, he had.
"Sokka should have been back with Appa by now," he murmured, glancing out window and at the empty horizon past the northern walls of Agna Qel'a where Sokka and Appa had flown over just a few hours ago. He could almost hear Katara's voice calling his name, but he knew it was just his imagination. Just a few days apart made him really miss her.
Something just felt so wrong. Wrong enough that he had even took a walk around the city to clear his head.
"I bet a nap would help…" He said to himself as he crawled into his bedroll.
It felt like he had barely closed his eyes before Aang woke up, his grey eyes flying open in panic as pain blossomed across his neck. Bright red stains his hands' blue airbender tattoos as he tries to staunch the wound with his fingers, but a [Kyoshi Katana] was a very sharp thing and cuts very deep.
Through the flashes of pain, Aang saw the sunlight streaming from the open window- his only way out- get blocked by the shadows of more Kyoshi Warriors. His tattoos glowed, and the Avatar State was awakened.
Suki hesitated mid-swing, and he blasts her aside with wind- just enough to clear a way to that open window, but…
Pain exploded everywhere as more Kyoshi Katanas came faster than he could ever have anticipated- faster than what any of his past lives thought was even possible: Gliding over his belly, slashing apart his thigh to the bone, spearing through his liver, severing the tendons and arteries of his wrist and his ankle. Pain exploded everywhere, but he kept going- taking another step to freedom and safety… only to slip over a puddle of his own blood and entrails.
Aang collapsed to his back, gurgling and gasping as the light from his tattoos dimmed, then flickered out completely.
In the corners of his darkening vision, he saw Suki- the same Suki from Kyoshi Island- stand over him. And behind her, the Kyoshi Warriors all stood, every single one of them with sorrowful expressions.
He tried to speak, but only blood came.
Gently, Suki knelt by his side, took his bloodied hand in both of hers, and whispered in a quiet, sorrowful voice.
"Avatar Kyoshi, please forgive this pitiful one's treacherous actions. For although the celestial forces of creation may had formed in her the finesse to wield your blades, the swiftness to follow in your footsteps and the voice to lead others to your teachings, they had, in their inscrutable wisdom, left in her the heart of a mere mortal girl- so soft and so very foolish. My Avatar... I am so sorry. I have worshipped you all my life, but now, I- I love Khan... more than I believe you."
Those would be the last words Aang would ever hear as the light in his grey eyes began to fade. And ultimately, it was only a few more seconds before the sound of wet spurting blood would slow, then cease entirely.
Gentle fingers would close the lifeless eyes of the Last Airbender, and the Four Nations became Three.
-LineBreak-
(Later) [Khan's Abode]
They, the six Kyoshi Warriors, knelt in perfect unison, heads bowed low before Khan in his red robes, the blood-soaked bedroll turned body bag lying between them, sealed shut. Aang's remains, wrapped tightly in the cloth- their grisly bladework hidden from view- an offering to Khan.
Suki's heart pounded in her chest as she spoke, her voice quiet but steady. "Our Khan… your humble Kyoshi Warriors present to you the body of Avatar Aang as proof of our mission accomplished."
The words felt like a needle in her throat, a betrayal. To everything she had once believed in, and to the reincarnation of Kyoshi herself. There was no forgiving what she had done.
Hauling the Avatar's dead body out the city, riding alongside it on the sled back here… it gave her a lot of time to think about things.
Khan said nothing, his shadow looming over them. He was always so intimidating, even in his red robes without his armour. It was just how it was when he was taller and more muscled than most people. It was only worse when he didn't say anything, when his intelligence and bookishness wasn't obvious, and he was just a large and powerful man with a reputation for brutality and extreme violence.
She waited, expecting praise for the prize they'd brought back, maybe even disappointment. What if he knew that she had hesitated? What if he saw her as weak? But instead, Khan's green eyes just glossed over the bedroll entirely, and Suki blinked in surprise as he stepped forward, and without a word, he gently wrapped his large arms around her, pulling her into a warm embrace. Very warm.
"So stiff and formal. Did you all have a hard time?" he asked, deep voice tinged with affection and a touch of humour as he smiled down at her. "Well, you girls did wonderfully. I'm proud of you all."
The other Kyoshi Warriors rushed forward, joining the hug without hesitation, wrapping their arms around both her and Khan.
"Amazing work as always, Suki." He said, his large hand patting her red hair, and her breath caught in her throat. A too-faint memory of her childhood washed over her, from back when the sun was so warm, the trees were so tall and another man so much taller than her whose hand had also been warm rested on her head. Suki couldn't even remember his name, but she remembered the feeling of being safe. She hadn't realised how much she missed that feeling of safety, of being cared for, until now.
Suki clung tighter to that feeling- to Khan- and the weight of guilt she had been carrying seemed to lift. The hollow space in her heart that Kyoshi's disapproval had left behind didn't feel so empty anymore. She felt whole again. Warm again.
"Are you okay, Suki?" He asked, green eyes shining with concern.
She didn't even know why she expected anything else. "I'm okay… it's just… been a long six days." She replied with a relieved smile, wiping her eyes, "I'm so glad to be back. We missed you a lot!"
"I missed you too." His hand rested on her head again and she leaned into it for just a breath longer, "Now, I bet you're all hungry for some hot food! You wouldn't guess what we found in a resupply caravan that we raided: elephant koi. Hahn had good taste."
Suki let out a small, quiet laugh. "Elephant koi? Really? You wouldn't believe how sick I am of seaweed with sea urchin bits," she said. The other Warriors chimed in.
"Yeah, the rations that they were handing out in the city were gross!"
"It was always served cold!"
"And greasy! How can something be greasy when it's not even fried!?"
"We were all sick of it the second day in."
"Yeah, you wouldn't imagine how much Suki whined about it."
"I did not!"
"Well, you girls still have good luck when it comes to food." Khan laughed, deep and rich, as he patted her shoulder, "I prepared it three ways. The rice should be done steaming by now too."
'Yeah, it's good to be back.' Suki admitted to herself quietly, then with a big smile, she said, "I call first crack at the rice!"
"Hey, no fair!"
"Dibs on the first piece of sizzling elephant koi too!"
She and her sisters raced to the dining table, stepping over the bloody bedroll with happy smiles on their faces.
-LineBreak-
(Half a day later)
A new dawn broke over the Water Tribe capital of Agna Qel'a.
From the True North's tundras, the horizon came alive. The ranks of my advancing army stretched wide across the snowfields- the red and black of Fire Nation armour contrasting with the vivid blue of barbarian parkas. And ostrich-horse cavalry raised the Fire Nation banners amongst a sea of barbarian spears. Buffalo-yaks pulled sleighs of supplies, prisoners in chains walked ahead of their wardens, calls of our ostrich-horses echoed, and the rumbling sound of our collective marching rolled over the defender's walls.
The tundras were left empty as all of the barbarian clans of the North Pole gathered here for this inauspicious moment in history.
We halted just before the towering, icy gates of Agna Qel'a just beyond the range of their [Icicle Sprays]. Water Tribe warriors lined the icy battlements atop the thick walls, and eyed my army warily. They had every reason to be afraid. We had, after all, crushed the Agna Qel'a Resistance's once-mighty force of 10,000. Their strongest and bravest had faced the enemies of Agna Qel'a and failed miserably. The snowfields now stained with their blood, and their bodies never to be returned to the Ocean. And now, they watched us arrive at their doorstep, and feared that it was their turn.
I was certain that they were going to wish were here just to kill them, rather than our true reason.
Essin leaned on the edge of his claimed royal sleigh, the elderly barbarian leader in his finest barbarian blue parka and his tallest furred hat adorned with sigils of carved whalebone. He grinned a toothless grin at me, "Looks like those 'Northern Water Tribe' buffalo-yak droppings are ready for us, Khan."
"We weren't hiding." My deep voice reverberate in my skull helm. "This is a victory parade, not an assault."
"Aye, we're here to gloat and rub their failure to their faces! Hehehe!" He cackled excitedly, before squinting his glassy eyes at the wall, "And… Is that who I think it is?"
Following the direction of his squinting, I spotted a shape in royal blue parka, bald head and long white hair; and remarked, "You mean Master Pakku? Yes, that's him."
"Feh, the only thing that brat's master of is the dungheap."
"You can be the one to break the news to them, Essin." I said to him, sensing that they knew each other, making the old man blink his wrinkled eyes in this disbelief.
"You'd give me this honour?"
"Yes, gloat and jeer away."
He guffawed, deep and hearty. "Ocean Spirit bless your kind heart, Hot Lander. 'Tis a fine gift for a tired, old man."
With a deep intake of breath, he shouted at the Waterbender master. "Hey, Pakku, where's the rest of your hair?!" He quietly glared at us, so Essin tried again. "C'mon, you and your tiny turd friends were making fun of mine just a few decades ago! Where's your sense of humour now, you little punk?"
Still, Pakku remained silent. And his glare, still as icy.
"Boy, hand me the special spear," Essin ordered his grandson.
The boy obediently handed him a steel spear with a lumpy bag tied to the end, and we all watched as the old man peeked under the bag's lip and let out a amused giggle.
"Look, it's your 'head' chieftain!" Essin hoisted the spear high as he yanked the bag off to reveal Hahn's severed head impaled at the tip. The dead leader's jaw hung open, swaying loosely with the motion. Murmurs rippled through the Water Tribe warriors at the sight of their former leader's head, confirming that their army of 10,000 had truly been slaughtered.
"So, you have defeated our army, Warm Landers." Master Pakku finally shouted out his reply, "Do you think that taunting us with that changes anything? That we'd fall to our knees in terror and surrender to you? Agna Qel'a will stand strong. You may slay our warriors and our chiefs, but you will never slay our spirit!"
"No, but I think this next one definitely will." Essin smiled cruelly.
At my nod, an oversized sleigh, pulled by buffalo-yaks, slid forward. On it was a towering frame of whalebone, the Fire Nation flag barely visible under a cloth cover. Another nod, and two of my men pulled away the cloth to reveal...
...Avatar Aang, his lifeless body hung by his wrists over the great red flag of the Fire Nation.
Every Water Tribe warrior gasped, and some actually did fall to their knees.
"What have you done…" Master Pakku whisper cut through the stunned silence, right before it rose into an furious roar. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"
Essin, with a toothless but victorious grin, bellowed back. "We won, that's what we did! The Avatar's moved on to his next life, your army of ten thousand is dead and their carcasses being feasted on by the snow leopard caribous as we speak! And one more thing!" He turned towards Princess Yue. "Okay, girlie, your chance to say what you've been dying to tell them all this time."
Yue stepped forward in her royal purple parka-dress.
"My people, you must surrender!" she called out, her words laced with sorrow. "A Fire Nation Armada- larger than the one that sparked the Great War- is coming to Agna Qel'a. More than two hundred ships and forty thousand veteran soldiers are on their way!"
The Water Tribe warriors atop the walls murmured in disbelief.
Yue's voice cracked. "I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you all, but we… I knew you wouldn't listen. Not until Avatar Aang was gone." She paused, her blue eyes glancing at the dead Aang for a moment before shouting. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! But please, listen to me now. For the people who still live in Agna Qel'a, for those who can still be saved, you must surrender!"
The Waterbending master was not yet sold though. "You lie!" His accusation rang out, sharp with anger. "We did not fall for your Fire Nation tricks when you used our Princess as your mouthpiece once, what makes you think we will now!?"
But I can see it. The way Pakku's eyes kept glancing over to the dead Avatar hanging from our banners. The gritted teeth, the minute shaking of his head as he stumbled around in denial at the edge of finally surrendering. Turning my head slight, I called out, "Bring forth the prisoner!"
A collective gasp rose from the Water Tribe defenders as another familiar figure was pushed to the front of the ranks. Head Chieftain Arnook, once proud in his blue parka, now looked haggard, with manacles around his wrists and ankles. His face was heavily wrinkled, his eyes cast down, filled with the resignation of a defeated man.
"Head Chieftain Arnook!" the defenders could be heard gasping.
Arnook raised his head slowly at the corpse of the Avatar hanging from the Fire Nation flag, then shook his head with a sad, weary expression. "It's over, Pakku," he said to them, "The Avatar is dead. There's no point in fighting anymore."
Pakku's hands trembled as he gripped the icy parapet, his knuckles white. "No... this cannot be…" he whispered, his voice cracking. He squeezed his eyes shut, refusing to accept it. "You savages! Moon Spirit damn you all!" he bellowed with fury but ultimately impotent, slamming his fist against the ice.
The Water Tribe warriors stood frozen, shocked into silence by Pakku's outburst.
After a long, painful pause, Pakku's shoulders sagged. He opened his eyes, and the fire that had burned in them moments before was now gone, replaced by the reality of their total defeat. His voice was low, barely above a whisper, and yet it slipped through the silent air for everyone to hear.
"Open the gates."
"Master Pakku?!" The warriors on the walls cried out in sheer disbelief.
Pakku didn't look at them. He kept his balding head bowed as he repeated, louder but tiredly, "I said open the gates! The Northern Water Tribe… formally surrenders to the Fire Nation."
Seeing the warriors on the walls lowered their weapons and their heads bowed in surrender, I stepped forward, the sound of my armor echoing as I approached the open gates. "Agna Qel'a is ours," I said, my voice resonating across the frozen plains. "The Fire Nation reigns victorious!"
"VICTORY!"
"41st Division, parade formation!" I bellowed once again. "Raise our banners- and the Avatar- high. Let the entire city see their conquerors and their failed saviour! Onwards… march!"
A cold wind blew through the gates, and for the first time in centuries, the proud coastal walls of Agna Qel'a flew the Fire Nation's banner.
-LineBreak-
(A few minutes later) [Royal Palace of Agna Qel'a]
We watched Eswar settle into the Royal Throne of Agna Qel'a. The grand carved ice, whalebone and stone was so large that it looked to swallow the young boy, but he held his head high, trying to carry the weight of the crown thrust upon him. Which of course, it was also made of ice and whalebone.
"You know… You're not half bad, Hot Lander." Essin began, the barbarian chief's usually boisterous voice unexpectedly quiet.
I crossed my arms and scoffed, "After all we've been through, now is-"
"Let this old man speak, lad." He admonished, his glassy blue eyes glancing at me.
A tilt of my helm in a nod, quietly telling him that the floor was his.
"You proved me wrong, Khan." The old barbarian chieftain quietly began, "When we first shook hands on this alliance, I figured we'd lose more than half our people just getting through that damned army. I knew it'd be a bloodbath, a real mess, and I was ready for it. Daubed myself with the Mark of the Fierce and join my ancestors soon enough, maybe with a few more battle scars to show off. But… that did not happen, we cut through that army of 10,000 like fresh cod. And here we are, standing in this 'Royal Palace' where our ancestors once swore never to let a single chieftain rule over us all. It's not every day you get to say you defeated an army that size, took back a chiefdom and barely lost half a clan's worth of people for it. I'm still wrapping this old mind around how you managed pull that last part off."
Essin chuckled, before his wrinkled face grew solemn as he gazed at his grandson. The little boy admiring the intricate carvings on the ice and stone throne.
"I promised my son that we'd see this day." He said quietly, "When we've not only reclaimed what was ours, but also ready to put everything back down the right river, and I'm still here- kicking, yakking, and probably gonna cause these city folk pukes more trouble for years to come. Khan, you've done the Northern Water Tribe- the real one- a good turn. So much more than what we had agreed upon. We've got the future of the tribe set in stone- well, ice. The Water Tribe owes you more than they'll ever admit. And for that, I'm about to do something that hasn't been done in a few thousand years, if ever at all…"
Essin turned back to me, his expression more serious than I'd ever seen.
"I promise you the first daughter of my line." he said, his voice solemn. "A bond between the Fire Nation and the Water Tribe. Between our bloodlines."
"You really don't have to," I said, raising my armoured hand slightly. "What we've done here is enough."
Essin waved me off with a dismissive grunt. "If I don't make the effort to tie you- the glorious bastard of a Warm Lander responsible for restoring our people- to our bloodline, all of my ancestors would greet me in the afterlife with a beating so fierce that I'd get ejected back to the living!" He jabbed a gnarled finger at me, "So don't ya dare decline!"
"I decline," I said simply.
"Bah! Too bad!" Essin scoffed, waving my words away like a minor annoyance. "She'll be your problem anyway!" He turned, barking an order at Eswar, who was still fidgeting on the throne. "Boy, get to making me a great-granddaughter to give to Khan!"
"Eh?!" Eswar squeaked, startled by his grandfather's outburst.
Essin let out a hearty laugh, slapping his knee. "But you'd better raise her tough, like that Lieutenant of his!" He jerked his thumb toward me. "She won't catch his eye otherwise, you hear?!"
… I give up. More likely than not, she'll turn out somewhere in the range of meek Princess Yue or pushy Katara. Future me can handle a girl like that.
It'll be fine.
-LineBreak-
Once the forward scouts ships of the Armada spotted the city flying Fire Nation banners, the naval assault was cancelled- much to the relief of everyone in Agna Qel'a after seeing the size of the Armada. Even most of the Fire Nation Navy troops was relieved that they wouldn't be conducting an amphibious storming of a heavily-fortified citadel. And after the grand admiral saw the great statue of 'Zhao the Magnificent' standing tall in Agna Qel'a, it was surprisingly easy to talk him down from killing the Moon Spirit.
All in all, everyone celebrated…
Except for Anya the Evil, who was reported to have pouted all day long at being denied her grand massacre.
-LineBreak-
(Three weeks later) [A small apartment in Agna Qel'a]
"Uncle, I'm heading out to the market," Zuko called out, tugging his furred blue parka from the hook and slipping it on with little enthusiasm.
"Be sure to pick up some more seaweed!" came his uncle's reply, likely still in his room. "And don't start any trouble, nephew!"
"Alright! I get it!" He shouted back before pushing through the thick fur of the front door… and immediately did a [Breath of Fire] exercise into his palms. It looked like another freezing morning in Agna Qel'a today. He noticed the slight drizzle of snow that was already coating the endless rows of icy apartment complexes and the sidewalks those waterways like some powdered sugar frosting. But squinting up to the sky, Zuko saw that the sun was still climbing at least.
Good, he still had a bit of time before the noon rush flooded the market square with people; he didn't feel like dealing with the glares. And yet…
Zuko glanced down the frosted road that led to the marketplace, then to the opposite direction leading to another part of the city. He pressed his lips together, then walked down the path. He'd be late for the market, but he could put up with some quiet glaring today.
'Just for today.' He told himself.
Because three years ago on this exact day, he had been banished from the Fire Nation- removed from his honour, his throne and his entire nation. Sentenced to never return until he found and captured the greatest threat to the Fire Nation, he went on his journey relentlessly, searching the Air Temples and chasing every rumour. He did find the Avatar eventually, almost exactly on the other side of the world in the South Pole, and he chased him across the world.
And where did that lead him?
Here. It lead him here: At the towering monument of 'Zhao the Magnificent.'
As tall as four-story building, it was an accurate depiction too, as far as Zuko could tell, it even captured the grand admiral's large sideburns and his unbearably smug expression as the monument's triumphant armoured boot was settled on a cube as if stomping down on some neck. And in this cube was… the remains of Avatar Aang, preserved in a tomb of ice and stone. The lid was crystal clear ice so that everyone could see for generations to come. As much of a war trophy as it was mausoleum. He wore a more elaborate set of yellow and orange Airbender robes, practically swallowing the small airbender's thin frame. Likely to hide the wounds that killed him. His eyes were closed as if asleep or meditating.
But Zuko didn't come to pay his respects for the airbender though. He was here for himself.
They may as well have carved the epitaph: 'Here lies Zuko's hopes and dreams.' Because that was what this entire statue was about- a monument to his honour being stolen from him, and along with it, any aspiration of ever seeing home again. He had spent years chasing the Avatar, but now, staring at Aang's frozen form, all he could feel was… nothing. No satisfaction, no closure. Just a hollow ache in his chest where his honour should have been.
"This wasn't supposed to be how it ended."Zuko sighed, deep and almost painful.
Azula failed them, spectacularly.
His sister was caught soon after the Armada had arrived, foiling whatever plot she had hatched. Apparently, Lady Anya knew who she was all along. That disturbed child only wanted to toy and manipulate Azula for the cruelest of ends: To present the princess to her brutal giant of a father in person. As far as Zuko heard, Azula was led into the same room as the Giant before Anya pointed her out.
Zuko hadn't seem his sister since.
As for his uncle and himself… They weren't arrested at least. Whether that was due to Azula managing to hide their involvement or because the 41st Division commander didn't care for them, Zuko didn't know. But that didn't stop Zhao from eagerly exercising his authority as grand admiral to commandeer his ship and his crew- leaving him and his uncle stranded here in this frozen city. With little money and even littler options to go elsewhere, the only 'plot' they had left was to do enough odd jobs and save enough money to go to a Fire Nation colony instead. Definitely better than constantly freezing here.
He stared one last time at Aang's face, the market would be crowded by now, but he couldn't avoid his uncle's shopping list forever. With a sigh, he turned around and…
"Look who we have here. Come to spit on the Avatar, did you, Fire Nation scum?"
… A crowd of rough-looking Water Tribe men and women with worn blue parkas and sullen expressions came flooding into the park. Their eyes locked onto him immediately, and he could feel their hostility simmering in the cold air from the hundred or so people.
"We won't let you intimidate us into silence!" one of them growled, his voice thick with disdain, and the shouts from the crowd echoed in agreement.
Zuko scowled. He didn't know what this was about, but he didn't need this right now. Glancing at them briefly, he kept his tone neutral. "I was just leaving." he muttered, trying to push past them. But they stepped in front of him, blocking his path and sneered.
"What, you think you can just slink away? After what your people are did to us? Where's your toughness now that your Armada has left port, huh?!"
Still, he tried to sidestep them, but another man clocked him from the side. He stumbled backward, catching himself before he fell, but the group closed in around him. Looks like he hadn't needed to start trouble- trouble had found him.
Zuko clenched his fists. He could feel the heat rising inside him, but he forced it down. Starting trouble would only draw attention, and the last thing he and Uncle needed was scrutiny from the authorities- from the Giant who ruled the city. Zuko muttered, "Just leave me alone."
"You didn't leave the Avatar alone!" one shoved him, and this time, another was there to catch him mid-dodge… with a fist.
He rolled with the blow, stumbling slightly at the force of it. That only seemed to incite their ire more as the next one hit him in the gut hard enough to lift him feet off the ground. Zuko exhaled explosively, thankful he hadn't eaten breakfast yet, pretty sure he'd have just lost whatever was in my stomach if he had. He forced himself to stay still, and said through clenched teeth, "I'm not here to fight!"
"Justice for Avatar Aang! Take down the Zhao monument! Moon and Ocean spirits are with us!"
He steadied himself on his feet, keeping his hands at his side as he met the eyes of his attackers. Someone behind him punched his in the kidney and he winced, before a foot kicked his knee out, sending him to the ground. From there, the circle of men and boys closed in, kicking and stomping as he rolled to protect his vitals, trying to find an opening when-
Smoke exploded everywhere.
Before Zuko could even cough, he was yanked violently him by his parka; and the next thing he knew, he was away from the mob. The size of it surprised him- a flood of blue parkas practically taking up the entire square that the Zhao monument stood in. More importantly, someone was standing between him and the coughing crowd. The green-and-gold kimonos and painted faces were unmistakable.
"You!" He exclaimed in surprise.
Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors stood above him, their katanas drawn and ready. The redheaded leader did a double take, her blue eyes catching sight of his distinct scar. "Zuko?! Whatever! Just stay behind us!" Suki said before turning back to the crowd, "Khan gave you guys the benefit of the doubt. He said that you were just going to whine about things in public, but you just had to prove him wrong, huh?!"
The other Kyoshi Warriors also shouted at the angry mob.
"Yeah! You're all going against your unconditional surrender! Khan is still in the city and you try to pull this? Are you all this stupid?"
"After everything that's happened, it's unbelievable that some of you still want to fight!"
"Do you know how much fighting and killing and dying everyone had to do to get this precious crumb of peace?!"
"I'm more interested in what they think trying to achieve tearing down the monument and beating up a Fire Nation citizen."
"Yeah, it's Zuko today, but what if it was someone actually important tomorrow?"
"Hey!" Zuko protested at the jab.
The mob just roared and jeered at them. Some even brandishing clubs and others bending water from the waterways to form [Water Whips]. Just too many of them… Even Zuko wasn't feeling like he could beat the odds of a hundred to one. And giving a quick glance behind them, Zuko noticed that they literally had their back to a wall. Someone from the mob shouted, "Fire Nation whores! You're going to pay just like the rest of them!"
"Oh, real classy last words, loser!" Suki scoffed, before shouting loudly to the side, "Lieutenant, we're clear!"
"Honk!"
Ostrich-horses appeared on the nearby rooftops, their shadows stretching over the square. Zuko didn't get a chance to ask anything before the riders tossed wooden barrels over the crowd and burst- splashing thick liquid onto the crowd.
"Zuko, shield your eyes. We're about to disperse the crowd!"
He was about to ask why he had to shield his eyes for that, but then, the familiar orange light from firebending lit up the space. The ostrich-horse riders shot a long stream of fire at the angry mob. And the liquid that coated the people… it ignited. A tremendous fire storm immediately erupted, and a hundred people's panicked shouts turned into desperate, horrid screaming and begging. The fire was everywhere: On their hair, under their parkas, in their eyes and mouths. Most flailed, some tried to run for the waterways, some even tried to bend water onto it, but the fire just. kept. burning.
Zuko just stared on in horror. Didn't know if that single horrifying minute passed by quickly or like an eternity, but once it did, the screaming died out along with the fire as it ran out of fuel to burn. All that was left behind was a smoking pile of wretched corpses burnt black and flaking flesh. Mouths yawned open in a scream. Limbs curled unnaturally.
Apparently, when they said 'disperse the crowd,' they apparently meant 'burn all of them alive.'
"And that's that!" Suki said in a chipper tone, grinning as she dusted her gloves. "Situation handled…"
"Rebel scum roasted…"
"And damsel-in-distress saved!"
"Smells like victory!"
"And pork!"
"Yup, good work, sisters!"
'This isn't war,' Zuko could only think hollowly. And he recalled the words of that 1st Sergeant back in Pohuai Port: The Fire Nation was waging war, but the 41st Division was waging something else entirely. Glancing up to his 'saviours,' he realised these weren't the same Kyoshi Warriors he had faced. Not the same girls in green and gold kimonos who had fought for their Kyoshi Island and Kyoshi Avatar. They had become something else- something terrifying. And Zuko wasn't sure if he was more horrified by what they had become, or by the fact that he was standing among them, still unsure where he fit in a world that seemed to have lost all sense of honour.
They set him down on nearby a bench, and their painted faces glancing in his direction. "We could get you a healer for those bruises if you want. Or some Dew of the Mountain?"
"I'm okay." Zuko pushed away the offered can of drink. "I just… I just need to get to the market for some food."
"That's on the other side of the city, Zuko… Why were you here?"
"I was just visiting." Zuko said, gold eyes flicking to the tomb. "The Avatar, I mean."
"Of all days you had to visit the monument..." Suki sighed, deep blue eyes looking at him with sympathy. He hated it.
"Yeah, of all the days…" He grunted sourly. "Destiny had a twisted sense of humour."
"It does. It sure does."
The cold wind whistled through the streets, and for a moment, neither of them spoke. Just sitting quietly with his bruises. Then more figures arrived at the scene. More girls, this time in purple parkas. The Kyoshi Warriors waved them over.
"Hey, Nessa. Did the princess send you to check on the situation?" Suki asked.
"Yeah." This 'Nessa' replied, her blue eyes glancing back at the twisted mass of burnt-black corpses, "Princess Yue… she had hoped that there'd be survivors. I hate being the bearer of bad news."
"The survivors are the ones that didn't come."
"I bet she knows that. I'm just worried that she'll be hard on herself for not convincing more of them to give up."
"Yue's got a big heart." Suki reassured, "We'll go talk to her later. In the meantime, could you…"
"We'll send them back to the Ocean. More than these stupid, traitorous rebels deserve to be honest."
Zuko hid a wince at the tone that the Water Tribe girl spoke in. Too angry, too hateful, and too Fire Nation. Khan was already taking the nation renowned for their compassion and warping them beyond recognition.
The six of them walked to the smoking corpse pile. And with a synchronised motion, they summoned a gentle wave that washed away the corpses and the ashes into the waterways. The only evidence that there had been a large group of people lost their lives were the deformed ice facades that had melted from the heat, and how the waterway's blue water had turned black with the ashes of a hundred unfortunate souls. But even that was being swept away by the gentle current as it headed out to the Ocean.
Something caught Zuko's eyes though. Aang's ice tomb had also partially melted from the heat, and his airbender robes shifted to reveal a stitched up cut over his throat.
"It was Commander Khan, wasn't it?" Zuko whispered as he watched the cleanup crew fix the tomb, "I can imagine how he would-"
"We did it." Suki said, and Zuko's brows rose as he tried to process the words.
"You? You were the ones who…"
"Killed Aang, yes."
Those words hit him like a punch to the gut. And for a moment, he sat frozen, staring up at her impassive painted face. The non-benders girls standing in front of him- the same people who had once worshipped the Avatar's previous incarnations- had been the one to take that life? His mind raced with a thousand question. How's? Why's? Why not me? But from all the questions swirling in his head, only one escaped his lips, barely a whisper. "Did… Did he die honourably?"
"No, we slit his throat while he slept, but he still managed to wake up just long enough to try and escape." Suki answered, far too casually. Just the simple fact for her.
Zuko slumped. "I see…" he said, and he certainly did.
He saw why no one was officially confirmed to have killed the Avatar. There was no honour to be found in the way it happened; and yet, it did anyway. The Avatar, Master of all Four Elements and the greatest hope for balance in the world... ambushed in his sleep and slain while trying to run away. Not given the dignity of a fair fight, not even an execution, just a violent murder in the middle of the night. Just a boy, running for his life. What was there to honour? And… would it have been like that if he was the one who did the deed?
He felt like throwing up. "I think…" Zuko paused to licked his dry lips, "I think I'll have some of that Dew of the Mountain tea if the offer's still open."
"Sure thing, Zuko." the redhead replied with a sympathetic nod, and handed him a can.
He gripped the can tight, then cracked it open- sipping at the cool sweet liquid. He drank quietly, letting the coldness of the tea settle over him like the snow-covered streets of Agna Qel'a.
Suddenly, a voice broke through the murmur of the city. "Honorable Kyoshi Warriors!"
A tall woman with long, flowing dark hair approached, and that was as much as Zuko could pick up before the Kyoshi Warrior formed a wall of armoured green kimonos between him the newcomer, guarding him like some victim… or a prisoner. He couldn't care less at the moment, just glad to be able to sit down, nurse his bruises and sip his tea in peace after this long, long early morning.
"I'm with the Ember Island Players," the woman announced, "I was hoping for a moment of your time for an interview."
Suki exchanged a glance with her sisters before quirking a smirk. "An interview, huh? Well, buy us dinner first." She crossed her arms, her casual tone lightening the atmosphere, while the other girls in green kimonos giggled.
"Excuse me?" The woman tilted her head.
"Nothing," Suki replied with a small chuckle, waving a hand. "Just an inside joke, Miss…?"
"Ursa," she said softly, "I'm one of the ringmasters. My troupe and I were hoping to make a play, perhaps even a book, on Lady Anya's exploits. Your testimonies would be very valuable."
"Of all the people? Her?" one of Kyoshi Warriors asked.
"We would have liked to make a play for Commander Khan, but… some other troupe managed to secure the right to that play first."
"Can't you just make your own version?"
"Fire Island troupes have a mutual understanding not to compete this directly for new material."
"That makes sense." Suki murmured, then her tone became more upbeat, "Sure, we can definitely-"
"Suki… remember what Khan said about loose lips."
"Specifically yours."
"… like I was saying. We'll need to clear it with Khan first." Suki sheepishly said. "But if he gives us the go ahead, we'd love to! He might even help you! He's a big on books."
"Oh, is he?"
"You wouldn't guess it but he is. We can get you an 'interview' with him yourself if you want. Isn't that right, girls?"
"W-with the commander himself? You really would?" the woman sounded starstruck, "That would help our research immensely!"
"Yeah!"
"All day and night long."
"Suki's first interview tuckered her out too!"
Zuko placed the can down and sighed. He had better things to do then listening to women yap and gossip, like getting that damned seaweed. His uncle was going to talk his ear off too if he was gone for too long. From hunting the Avatar to hunting a good bargain on seaweed, it was massive downgrade, but he'll take things one day at a time. "Can I go now, Suki?"
She glanced back at him, and grinned, "Yeah, just try not to get beat up by an angry mob again, Zuko. Your face is ugly enough as it is without the bruising."
He only grunted halfheartedly at the jab, turning his back to them and began walking away to the market.
"I'm sorry. But did you just say 'Zuko?' Prince Zuko?"
"What do you want from me, lady? I've got-" He turned around and immediately froze. His breath caught in his throat as the realisation hit him like a bolt of lightning. Her hair, her eyes… that familiar worried look on an even more familiar face. It was impossible, but here she was, standing right before him. "M-Mother?" he whispered, barely able to believe his own voice.
The Kyoshi Warriors moved to give them space. And the woman, Ursa, looked at him fully now, her eyes widening with recognition, her expression softening into something tender memories of warmer days. "My Zuko?"
She stepped forward, and he almost took a step back himself if he wasn't frozen in place. Then another step, and then another. Before Zuko knew it, he was pulled him into a tight embrace, her arms wrapping around him with a warmness that nearly brought him to his knees. Zuko's chest tightened, but this time, it wasn't from fear or anger. It was from the flood of home that he had almost forgotten. Home…
A rush of words tripped over themselves to come out of his mouth, coming out as a stammer.
"It's okay. I'm here," Ursa tearfully whispered, her voice soft against his ear. "I've always been here, Zuko."
And for the first time in what felt like forever, Zuko allowed himself to believe it. Allowed himself to hold her close and never let her leave- just like he wished that he did the night that she had disappeared from his life.
…
Suki staged whispered, "We'll tell Khan to expect you sometime this week, Ursa."
Zuko's eyes snapped open.
He suddenly a new purpose in life: Keeping Khan away from his mother.
-LineBreak-
[Khan's Abode, Agna Qel'a]
The air in my master bedroom was thick with the musk of sex and of women yearning for my cock.
But honestly, I'd rather be reading books right now.
Agna Qel'a was a far cry to Earth Kingdom ones who had sparse libraries scattered across so many little provinces. But here? All the written knowledge of an entire bending nation was located in this one city. Most of it, Ancient. Some were forbidden. Already, my Intelligence and Spirit stats were progressing greatly thanks to my new perk [Bibliophile]. Reading pages almost at a glance, and able to absorb and comprehend the ideas that was written. Even rereading the books that I have in my possession already yielded knowledge that I had missed. So much knowledge, so many possibilities for their practical applications especially city planning. In fact, I had a newfound appreciation for how Agna Qel'a was built. So much so that I was going to have the city planners of Agna Qel'a publicly executed for this travesty.
However…
"That's it, fill her up to the brim." Princess Yue breathed. The thicc, snowy-haired princess was completely naked as Suki swirled her slender fingers around the princess' pink sex. Both them of them watching in the sidelines. "Fill her full, then just keep going. She's enjoying it so much."
"Yesss~!" Katara cried out, "I am! I really am! I'm cumming!"
… There were worse things to happen someone than to have the Katara of Avatar fame grinding and bouncing her recently virgin pussy around one's cock. And she wasn't the only one. Eager girls with lustful eyes and scant clothing over their smooth creamy skin lounged all around my master bedroom. Panting breathlessly from their orgasms. Princess Yue, Suki, the five other Kyoshi Warriors girls, the six Moonflower Sisters, Azula, and Katara being the latest addition.
It was getting quite crowded, but having an abundance of wet pussy all yearning for me was a fine problem to have.
"C-cumming ahgain!" Katara groaned out as I yanked her braid.
Brown toned skin on slender frame- the start of taut muscle from her travels as she pressed against me, and her pert little chest bouncing with their sensitive nipples that made her squeal and moan and made her cunt tighten deliciously. And as expected of Water Tribe stock, Katara was soaking wet- her silky inner walls slick with her arousal that made sliding cock in and out of her a very easy motion. It was as if her body itself was being accommodating by making it as easy as possible to fuck her hard and fast. After having sampled both Northern Water Tribe and Southern Water Tribe princesses, I had to admit that I had gained an appreciation for Water Tribe girls. Their milk chocolate skin made their dripping pink slits stand out more, like chocolate-dipped strawberries. And just as sweet.
Aang was a very lucky man having this tight, little Water Tribe pussy. If he hadn't died, that is.
I actually thought that I was doing her a kind favour by giving her friend a proper and dignified internment, that was in contrast to most people who died in this war whose bodies were simply left for the scavengers. Personally hand-crafted Airbender robes, a respectful interment ceremony, and even a short biography which I had arranged to be copied and sent to all major settlements. Avatar Aang will remembered with respect.
Unfortunately, Katara didn't take it too well; the news sent her into a manic spiral.
For giving her the biggest orgasm she's ever had so far...
[Katara] Reputation: 20 - 30
[Katara] Obedience: 50 - 65
Obedience already halfway to maxing out; and to think, it was in the deep negatives until just a few days ago.
A meaty slap rang out as Nessa's palm slapped Katara's ass. "You want your stupid brother treated well, don't you?" The other Water Tribe girl demanded, "By all accounts, he should be banished to the Polar Wastes for he did. And that's only Water Tribe punishment, I bet Fire Nation punishment would be much harsher."
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry for not recognising your awesome might, Fire Nation, sir!" Katara half-shouted and half-moaned. "I'm sorry for not surrendering! For accompanying the Avatar! I just got so swept up in things! Honest! I'm just a stupid, cowardly Southern Water Tribe slut who didn't know any better!"
Another slap on lightly toned brown ass, another squeal from lightly toned brown Southern Water Tribe girl. Followed by another, and another, and another.
"Sorry isn't good enough!" Nessa growled, "You're going to be spending the rest of your life making up for what you did as Khan's Southern Water Tribe cocksheathe. You might never fully make up for it, but by the Moon and Ocean Spirits, you're going to try by being his breeding mare! You're going to bear a daughter for each Moonflower Sister that didn't make it! So, move those hips faster, slut!"
"Yes, YES!" Katara moaned out as she obeyed hammering her pussy down the entire length of my cock, "I'll do it! I'll be the Khan's Southern Water Tribe cocksheathe! I'll be his breeding mare! I'll be anything he wants me to be!"
Leaning back, I let Katara did the work. Certainly some lewd new words she had learned from Suki, or maybe Yue. It was hard to tell at this point.
The novelty of hearing Katara's voice scream out such vulgar things aside… I could sense that Nessa still harboured deep frustration toward the Water Tribe siblings. It was personal- to have your hero betray you and everything they claimed to have stood for. But It was good to see Nessa handling her PTSD well. Katara BDSM was her favourite kind of therapy sessions. Being able to endlessly hurl abuse on the girl. Yes, the world would be a better place if every girl had their 'popular girl' bullies handed over to me to be made into sex slaves.
"Aren't you going to thank him for accepting your virginity?" Nessa demanded, reaching between us and pinching Katara's swollen pink clit.
"Thank you, Khan!" Katara squealed, still frantically fucking her soaking wet pussy onto my cock, "Thank you for claiming my worthless virginity! And thank you for permitting me to be your cocksleeve!"
Well, if Nessa wanted to find cathartic release by turning Katara into being a submissive Water Tribe slut who'd readily bend over and beg for me to take her holes, then I wasn't about to complain. I can only imagine what Katara's companion perk will be.
As the hot wetness of Katara's primo water tribe pussy continued to engulf me, I grunted, "I'm about to cum, Katara."
"You should be happy that you're about to fulfill your only purpose in life." "So, slam those hips down and. Get. Pregnant!"
Katara's reaction is immediate and intense. With a final, desperate push, the water tribe girl slams herself down onto me- her pussy so wet that it practically squelched as her lithe brown body seized, as if every muscle clenching as she came and came. The rhythmic squeezing and milking of her inner walls was all it takes to send me over the edge too, and I made sure to dig the tip of my cock as deep as it can go into her tight pink hole before I release inside her, my seed spilling into her womb in thick, hot spurts. I feel her shudder, dainty toes curling as her narrow pussy's tight interior convulsed as she cries out, her climax washing over her in a powerful wave… followed by a wave of my cum coating her Water Tribe womb.
Nothing like giving one of the main cast a nice deep creampie.
Katara was panting, her body still trembling from the force of her orgasm. "Thank you," she gasps, her voice barely above a whisper. "Thank you for making me feel…for making me feel so much."
"Not stopping just yet." I told her, just as I picked her by the waist and began moving her myself.
"But I just- Ooooh~!"
Surprisingly light, it felt like I was a using a sex doll, and Katara loved every second of it.
"O-oh spirits yesss!" She moaned, throwing her head back, pushing her chest out and presenting her budding breasts to me.
Good, she was settling in nicely into her new role as fucktoy.
It was three princess bonanza. Katara certainly counted as one, being daughter to the head chieftain of the Southern Water Tribe. The other was Princess Yue, and the last…
"Mmmf! MMFF!" The gagged and blindfolded princess of the Fire Nation tried to shout.
Princess Azula was chained to the chair in the corner. Completely naked save for her blindfold and some bunny ears. Her dark hair, a mess. Her flawless pale skin, coated with sweat. The hours of her being bound there taking its toll on the not-so-poor girl.
The Kyoshi Warriors, in casual Fire Nation red robes, surrounded her like a group of panthers toying with a trapped mouse in their midst. Their nimble fingers danced over her exposed skin, tweaking and tugging at Azula's pink nipples. They taunted and jeered into Azula's ears, the sort of spiteful jibes that only girls could conjure.
"You're going to be begging Khan to pop your cherry."
"We're going to make you hate every second that this scheming little cunt of your isn't wrapped around his cock."
"It's cute that you thought were that smart, but that's alright, you still have this body of yours."
"This is what you were meant for. Born for. A sex toy for your betters."
"You were never destined for anything more, ex-princess Azula."
Each teasing sentence punctuated by a swift, hard spank on her juicy rear, now red and aching. And vindictive laughter would ring out as they watched her writhe and jerk as they alternated between dripping hot wax and trailing ice cubes on the Fire Nation princess' bare and flawless body. Bound securely with the best bounds and BDSM gear I could craft, Azula could do nothing but endure in the face of such humiliation. For how long? Not long, I'd bet.
Katara's punishment may have been debatable, but Azula of all people truly deserved hers.
Following her discovery on Zhao's flagship, I subjected her to a furious painal that actually succeed in making her confess- spilling every sordid detail to her plot. And I would have been impressed by the sheer amount of planning, if I hadn't been fuming at the grief she has and would have caused everyone. Not only did she escape her cell and infiltrated the Armada, she also intercepted my correspondence with Admiral Zhao and even managed to forge an order for me to engage that Water Tribe army of 10,000.
No one was pleased that they had been pawns to her plot. Least of all myself.
A water proof paper seal over her royal pussy that read 'Don't open till marriage.' But left her urethra and clitoris exposed for teasing- the aphrodisiac syrup that was generously applied to her sensitive nub only helped drive her crazy. Well, crazier. It also worked wonders. The proud Azula having her throbbing pink clit stimulated over and over again until she pissed herself was a degrading enough act that- when paired with the usual painal- reliably raised her Obedience. It was a miracle considering how little else worked for so long. Of course, her Affection was still locked at negative 100, but I was content with maxing out her Obedience first. And the Kyoshi Warriors were all too eager to help, revelling in having the bitch who caused us so much trouble as their toy, and the fact that Azula was the actual Princess of the Fire Nation was only the cherry on top.
All of this was the Kyoshi Warriors' ideas, of course. But the ice cubes were Yue's idea, showing her commitment to joining the Kyoshi Warrior ranks. Suki was so proud.
"Mmmf! MMMFFF!"
Of course, I notified Fire Lord Ozai of her capture for the brownie points.
He was pleased that I had caught his daughter, even half-joked in his letters that he should have sent me to capture the Avatar months ago. He was even more thrilled to hear that when I reported steady progress in making her obedient again- glad that I was making full use of the gift he had given me. I no longer batted an eyelash at him happily talking about Azula as if she was a prize animal or a trinket. In fact, everyone in the Imperial capital had been saying that the Ozai has been in the best mood, smiling and laughing and throwing feasts.
A happy Fire Lord Ozai… truly horrifying sight to see. Thank the Spirits that Aang wasn't here to witness it.
"You girls are going to keep my hands full…" I muttered.
Suki smirked, glancing over at me. "Don't forget, you still have that date with your shirshu-riding mercenary too."
"June was serious about that?" I raised an eyebrow, casually using Katara as my onahole as we held our conversation.
"Yeah," Suki continued slyly, the teasing tone clear in her voice. "You promised her a candlelit dinner in the royal palace, remember?"
Yes, my cool, reserved goth girl mercenary with her long flowing black hair, dark eye shadow and leather outfit… was a sucker for warm, intimate moments. I chuckled, leaning back slightly. "The full princess treatment." I muttered, "She acted like she wasn't interested."
"Please," Suki scoffed, rolling her deep blue eyes playfully. "Anyone with half a brain could see she's looking forward to it. She's a hopeless romantic underneath all that tough exterior. Almost as bad as the swooning noble girls in our book."
"Noted. I'll be sure to find a way to get her flowers." I said with a thoughtful look… right before giving Katara's brown cheeks a slap, "What are a good flowers in the local area?"
The narrow walls of her wet cunt squeezed down tight as she answered, "P-pepperberry flowers are in season and MMmm~! They're very pretty!"
"You dumb slut, pepperberry flowers are not for romantic occasions!" Nessa argued, "Here you go again running that mouth again over Northern Water Tribe things you don't know!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry for- Glurgk!"
Gripping Katara by her hair loopies, Nessa forced Katara's mouth down onto my cock, chocking her with our combined juices.
The Great war still needed to be won, and the knowledge of a million books needed to be collated. But for now, it looks like the honeymoon days of frantic sex with women from all over the Four Nation was going to continue for a while longer.
