Wandering Firebender
Three: The Fugitive (Part Two)
Katara came rushing back to the group, her hair a wild mess and her eyes wide in fear. Aang and Sokka saw her and immediately rushed to her.
"What's wrong? What happened? Where's Elio?" Sokka questioned.
"W-We were attacked by earthbenders! They took Elio! He's a firebender!" Katara quickly summarized as she placed her hands on her knees and tried to catch her breath.
"What?!" Aang and Sokka both exclaimed at the same time.
"Where is he now?" Aang asked.
"I-I don't know. He held them off with a fire wall, but they're probably taking him back to town." Katara explained quickly.
"Unbelievable! And you trusted that guy! Of course, I knew something was off," Sokka was quick to point out. "Still, we need to be more careful. Come on, Katara, let's get on Appa and get out of here."
"Wait, we're just gonna leave him behind?!" She realized.
"Well, yeah… Woah woah, wait. You wanna help someone from the Fire Nation? You are aware that we are at war with them, right?" Sokka protested.
"Sokka! He needs help! He's not bad! He bought us our food for crying out loud!" She argued.
"He probably was just trying to earn our trust so he could get information and report back to the Fire Nation. We can't trust him. We should just go. If earthbenders took him, it's probably because he did something wrong, or-or he's a soldier!" Sokka determined.
"That is ridiculous, Sokka! The Fire Nation doesn't even know where we are yet," She pointed out. "Besides, we scouted the town out before we landed and we didn't see any Fire Nation soldiers here. We didn't even see Zuko, for crying out loud!"
"Katara, I don't expect you to understand, but we're in Fire Nation controlled territory now. Not everyone we meet is going to be on our side; we need to be careful who we trust. If he's a firebender, he's with the Fire Nation. End of story." Sokka waved his hand.
"How can you be so heartless?! We don't know for sure! Help me out here, Aang." Katara pleaded.
"Yeah, Aang, you're the Avatar, what do you say about this? Do we help the enemy or not?" Sokka asked. Aang's eyebrows furrowed nervously.
Looking between them, they both made valid points. And he wasn't sure who was truly right. However, maybe that fact was reason enough to step in as the Avatar. And besides, Katara seemed to be pretty sure that he could be trusted…
"Um… I'm sorry, I can't really say too much about him. I didn't get the chance to speak with him. But Katara does have a point. We don't have all the facts. I think that it's only right that we make sure we do before we make our decision." Aang determined.
"B-B-But-" Sokka stammered.
"Sokka, I am the Avatar. It's my job to maintain peace in the world, not condemn a group of people. You might be right or Katara could be right. But if she is right, we'd be abandoning an innocent man who needs our help. What happens to him would be on our hands." Aang expressed his thoughts.
"You picked a real convenient time to bust out with the ancient monk wisdom, Aang," Sokka groaned. "You really think that someone from the Fire Nation can be anything but evil?" He asked both of them.
"I don't know," Katara answered honestly. "But we should hurry to town if we're gonna find out."
"For generations, the Fire Nation has been terrorizing the world," The leader of the earthbenders spoke before the whole town. They were circled around him in the center of town. Elio was placed on his knees with two earthbenders guarding him.
"For generations, the world has been in fear of what the Fire Nation can and has done. They will never stop until they have control over every town, village, and tribe in the four nations. They think we're ants that they can just crush under their boots.
"And today, we have found among us a Fire Nation spy! No doubt here to see how many earthbenders there are, how much trouble they will have wiping us out!"
The town began to boo and shout insults at him, cursing the Fire Nation and throwing things they had on hand at Elio. Elio flinched and leaned away to avoid getting hit, but the earthbenders placed their hands on his shoulders to keep him from running.
"Well, today we will show the Fire Nation that we are not to be trifled with! We'll be sure that this spy sends a message back to the Fire Nation that they won't soon forget!" He declared. The crowd cheered maliciously. The earthbenders forced Elio to lie on his stomach with his hands outstretched.
"Look there! I see him there in the middle! It looks like they're gonna do something to him!" Katara pointed from above. Appa swooped over the town.
"It looks like an execution! Aang, if you're gonna get in there, you better do it soon!" Sokka advised.
"This Fire Nation deserves death, but that would be too easy. The Fire Nation has plenty of firebenders. So we are going to show them what we will do to them should they ever dare cross into our land! We will show that earthbenders will not go down without a fight, and if we go down, we take them down with us!" The leader roared.
As the intensity of the crowd rose to a bloodthirsty climax, the earthbenders both lifted boulders out of the earth and brought them above Elio's hands, getting ready to crush them. Elio shook in fear, doing his best to brace himself for what was about to come.
With a loud grunt of effort, Aang jumped down from Appa with his staff in hand. He brought it around and slammed it into the ground, creating a huge surge of wind that blew the earthbenders back away from Elio.
"Elio!" Katara shouted as Appa came to a landing in the center of town. She used her waterbending to break the chains keeping his wrists shackled together. Aang helped him to his feet. Elio was still shaking but his eyes were wide in disbelief and bewilderment.
Had the Avatar come to save him?
"What are you doing?! You're letting a criminal go free!" The people shouted angrily.
"Listen up everyone! My name is Aang and I'm the Avatar. I'm here to set matters straight regarding this firebender," Aang pointed his staff at Elio. "What is it that he's done to you?"
"He's a Fire Nation spy!" They argued.
"That isn't true!" Elio shouted back.
"He tried to burn down our forest!" Another one shouted.
"You attacked him first!" Katara pointed out.
"What proof do you have that he's a spy?" Aang asked.
"He's a firebender! What more proof do we need?" The leader responded quickly, to the agreement of the crowd. Elio looked around nervously, seeing that this could be his only chance to talk his way out of this situation.
"What has he done to you? Has he attacked anyone? Has he made any threats? Has he been seen conferring with anyone from the Fire Nation?" Aang questioned.
"Well…no, he's done nothing yet, but we're not going to give him a chance to!" The leader answered.
"Please, I'm not a spy! I'm not even a soldier! S-Search my belongings! All I have in there is money and supplies." He tried.
"Well, of course a spy isn't going to carry around proof that they're a spy. That'd just be ridiculous." Sokka shrugged. Katara elbowed him in the side.
"Not helping." She glared at him.
"Wait a minute… If Elio was a spy, he would have to report back to someone right?" Sokka brought up.
"Yeah…?" Katara raised an eyebrow at him.
"We searched the area before, remember? You said it yourself! There's no Fire Nation in the area!" He pointed out.
"You're right!"
"That doesn't prove anything! That could just mean there's more spies in the area! They're all hiding!" The leader argued. The audience murmured in agreement.
"But you really don't know that, do you? You're just assuming that because he's a firebender." Aang pointed out.
"The Fire Nation doesn't operate like that," Elio pointed out. "Spies or no spies, they always make sure their presence is felt. Fear is their foremost strategy. They teach that in school."
"Enough! We're not going to debate this anymore! He's a firebender, and he needs to pay!" The leader cut it off. The crowd's intensity began to rise again.
"Please, Avatar, I'm begging you to get me out of here," Elio pleaded, turning his head the best he could to look at him. "Please help me."
Aang looked down at Elio, looking into his eyes. He was doing his best to be impartial, but it was clearly difficult considering the Fire Nation's long history of injustices. Still, he couldn't allow that to influence the facts of the matter.
This was prejudice, and the longer this conversation went on, the more it seemed to be without cause.
"I'm sorry," Aang said, raising his staff up. Elio lowered his head and shut his eyes tightly. But then he felt Aang strike his chains with the staff, breaking them apart. The crowd booed him as he helped Elio stand.
"I'm taking this firebender with me. I will decide what will be done with him, and he will be given a fair chance." He decided.
"He's a firebender! He doesn't deserve a chance!" The crowd shouted maliciously as Aang walked him to Appa.
"Thank you." Elio said sincerely.
"Keep an eye on him, Katara. Make sure he doesn't try anything." Sokka said. Elio and Katara made eye contact but said nothing to one another. Elio, both conflicted and thankful, stared at her for a bit before climbing onto him. Katara broke eye contact first, looking down and climbing onto Appa after them.
Elio sat and held on as Aang took Appa's reins and they began to fly away. As the boos of the crowd subsided, Elio kept his eyes down and his hands together. Katara stared at him, trying to determine what she was supposed to be feeling about him.
Meanwhile, Elio was fighting back the urge to tear up. The same day that he had decided to take a chance and speak to someone, he had almost lost his hands just because he was a firebender. It was enough to make him want to revert to only helping himself and keeping to himself.
He was truly beginning to regret running away.
As they got away from the town, night began to fall over the sky. Elio sat quietly as Katara cut through the restraints still around his wrists. Aang led Appa quietly, pondering over what just happened. Meanwhile, Sokka was the one to speak up first.
"Are…you alright, Elio?" He asked.
"I've had better days," Elio shrugged sadly, his lip tugging to the side. "Thank you though…for coming back for me." He said sincerely.
"We weren't going to just leave you there." Katara said.
"Why didn't you tell us that you were from the Fire Nation?" Sokka questioned.
"Sokka..." Katara said through her teeth. However, Elio answered the question anyways.
"Would you have talked to me if I had told you? Would any of you?" Elio asked, looking at Katara and Sokka. Neither of them answered him. However, Aang spoke up.
"I would have. Where you're from doesn't matter to me; it's who you are and what you do."
"While you are right, you're also the Avatar, so that's a special answer. But most people don't think like you. The Fire Nation is hated all over the world, and for good reason."
"Then why are you out here in the Earth Kingdom by yourself?" Sokka asked.
"…I'm out here because I ran away from the Fire Nation, to avoid becoming a soldier. I looked out past the propaganda that Fire Lord Ozai feeds the people and I saw the truth; the Fire Nation is ruthless and will crush anyone, regardless of who they are, if they are perceived as being in the way.
"But I could never be that person. All I've ever wanted was to help people, to entertain, or just bring some good into this world, bending or no. But that wasn't an option for me, so instead I ran away." Elio explained to them.
The group was silent for awhile, until Katara finally placed her hand on his arm.
"That was a very brave thing to do, Elio."
"Thanks. I just wish more people would understand like you all do." Elio said.
"I'm sorry that I judged you. You're a pretty good guy, man. Even though your haircut's kinda funny." He said, making a joke to lighten the mood.
"Whatever, ponytail," Elio responded, managing a small smile. "Thanks again, all of you. I'm going to get some rest. I can't thank you enough."
"We're just doing our jobs," Aang replied. "When we stop at the next town, we'll drop you off."
"Sounds good." Elio yawned and nodded.
"Oh…okay." Katara hesitantly agreed...
As morning started to come, Elio got off of Appa and looked over the next Earth Kingdom town. He fixed his hood and slung his bag over his shoulder. He turned back towards Aang and the others and bowed thankfully.
"Thank you again for saving me. If you hadn't come, they may have killed me… I owe the three of you more than I'll ever be able to repay." He said thankfully. Aang bowed back and smiled.
"You're welcome. I just hope that as you continue out there, you don't lose your good spirit. Don't let how those people treated you make you lose sight of who you are, or hope that you can still bring good into the world." Aang advised.
"I will keep that in mind. Pretty wise for a kid." Elio commented and shook his hand. Aang chuckled and grinned.
"Do you really have to go?" Katara asked, "Maybe you could come with us. Aang will need a firebending teacher in the future." She pointed out.
"Oh yeah, that's perfect!" Sokka exclaimed, "Good thinking, lil sis!" He ruffled her head, making her shoot him a dirty look. However, Elio shook his head.
"I'm sorry, I'm flattered, but I can't. For one, I'm not a firebending master. I'm not knowledgeable enough. More important though, I have to say no for the sake of my family back home."
"What do you mean?!" Sokka groaned.
"My father is a Fire Nation general. If the Fire Nation finds out that I'm travelling with you and helping the Avatar, I'll go from being a fugitive to being branded a traitor. Who knows what they might do to them in order to get to me? Then your mission will be at risk." Elio explained his thinking.
He had been considering this the whole night beforehand.
"We understand. And while we're sad you can't come, we hope that one day we'll see you again," Katara said, hugging him tightly. Elio hugged back and blushed. "Be safe out there."
"Thank you… You too," Elio said, holding her just a few moments longer before letting her go. "May we meet again one day." He said, bowing respectfully to the group one more time.
Without another word, Elio gave the three of them one last look. They waved to him as Appa began to rise into the air and they flew away. He waved back and turned away, heading into the next Earth Kingdom town. As he walked, he weighed Aang's words against what he had previously determined about keeping to himself.
He decided that he was going to take both extremes and reach a balance between the two, and that's how he would carry himself going forward…