Katara
With all our things packed up and ready to go, Zuko and I head towards Aang. He won't understand. I know he won't. But I feel fierce and determined. He can't stop me.
"I need to borrow Appa." I say when we get there. Aang's feeding Appa hay and hardly looks in our direction.
"Why? Is it your turn to have a little field trip with Zuko?"
"Yes. It is." I tell him shortly. He looks up, concerned.
"Oh. What's going on?"
"We're going to find the man who took my mother from me." Out of the corner of my eye I see Sokka's head jerk up. He puts down the necklace he was carving and walks over.
"Sokka told me the story of what happened. I know who did it. And I know how to find him." Zuko explains.
"Umm and what exactly do you think this will accomplish?" Aang asks. I just scoff, shake my head, and start to walk off.
"I knew you wouldn't understand." Aang may be the avatar, but he's also such a child, refusing to grow up in a world that needs him to be more than a child. His pacifist ways are noble, sure, but don't fit in the world we're in.
"Stop! I do understand! You're feeling unbelievable pain and rage. How do you think I felt about the Sandbenders when they stole Appa? How do you think I felt about the Fire Nation when I found out what happened to my people?"
"She needs this, Aang, This is about getting closure. And Justice." Zuko speaks up.
"I don't think so. I think it's about getting revenge."
"Fine!" I shout. "Maybe it is! Maybe that's what I need. Maybe that's what he deserves."
"Katara, you sound like Jet." As the words leave his mouth a fresh bolt of anger shoots through me. How dare he compare this to what Jet did?
"It's not the same! Jet attacked the innocent. This man- He's a monster!"
"Katara, she was my mother too." Sokka tells me, stepping next to Aang. "But I think Aang might be right." The fury keeps building, and it's a good thing I'm not too close to water. I just might split another Iceberg right now.
"Then you didn't love her like I did!" I shout at him. I feel slight remorse as the words leave my mouth, but I don't take it back. How can he be her son just as I am her daughter and not feel like this too? Not want to Avenge her? To make it right?
"Katara!" He sounds hurt, and Aang goes into an old monk proverb that I hardly hear.
"That's cute. But this isn't air temple preschool. This is the real world." Zuko tells him. For the first time since he joined us, I'm glad he's here. I'm glad at least one person is on my side with this.
"Now that I know he's out there, Now that I know we can find him, I feel like I have no choice."
"Katara," Aang starts, and I know I'm not going to like what he says next. "You do have a choice. Forgiveness."
"That's the same thing as doing nothing." Zuko snaps at him before I have the chance to.
"No, it's not. It's easy to do nothing, but it's hard to forgive."
"It's not just hard to forgive. It's impossible." I tell him and walk off, planning on how else to go through with this.
…..
Later that night, As I'm pulling my hair behind me, I see Aang and Sokka come out of their hiding spot.
"So you were just going to take Appa anyways?" He accuses.
"Yes." I reply, hardly looking over at him. Avatar or no, he can't stop me, not even if he tries. I'm a far better Waterbender than he is, and he knows it. And if Zuko helps me, I don't think he'd win against us.
"It's okay, because I forgive you." I have to fight not to roll my eyes. Then he perks up and smiles. "Does that give you any ideas?"
"Don't try to stop us." I warn.
"I wasn't planning to. This is a journey you need to take. You need to face this man." I nod at him, surprised but grateful and not about to wait around and talk about it. "But when you do, please don't choose revenge. Let your Anger out. Then let it go. Forgive him."
"Okay, we'll be sure to do that Guru Goody-Goody." Zuko answers Wryly. Determined as I am, I have to stifle a smile and laugh. Not that I'll tell him or anyone else, but I like Zuko's dry and sarcastic sense of humor. It just fits what we've gone through better than Sokka's puns.
"Thanks for understanding." I tell Aang. "Yip-Yip!"
As we soar through the air on Appa, I turn my attention to Zuko.
"So where are we going?"
"We need to find a fire navy communication tower. All the navy's movements are coordinated by messenger Hawk, and every tower has to be up to date on where everyone is deployed."
'So once we find a communication tower, we bust in and take the information we need."
"Not exactly. We need to be stealthy and make sure no one spots us. Otherwise, they'll warn the Southern Raiders long before we reach them."
We get in with no problems, and a jolt goes through me when Zuko points out Whale Tail Island on the map. Whether it's hope or anger, I don't even know.
"Whale Tail Island here we come."
Hours later, we're still flying, And we still have hours to go. Appa's flying lower, but he doesn't stop. Zuko sleeps for a while, but I just keep my eyes on the horizon, a thousand scenarios of what I'm going to do to him when we find him. Ice Shards. Blood Bending. Frostbite. Drowning. I can't get the image of my mother's body out of my head as I ran back into our hut after she was killed. She wasn't stabbed or strangled, no she was burned. He killed her with a powerful firebolt to the torso, burning her clothes and flesh, but not searing it shut to stop the bleeding. Dad said she probably passed out from shock, and died of blood loss. He deserves every last thing I can unleash on him.
"You should get some rest. We'll be there in a few hours. You'll need all your strength." Zuko says when he wakes, right as the sun rises. Firebenders. "Oh, don't you worry about my strength, I have plenty. I'm not the helpless little girl I was when they came." As I say it, I can't stop the flashbacks anymore.
I tell Zuko the story.
"I ran as fast as I could to find my father. He was fighting the Firebenders, but he took care of the one he was dealing with and came back to our house. We were running faster than we ever had. But we were too late. When we got there the man was gone. And so was she." My voice breaks at the end, and I have to fight back tears. The pain is almost as fresh as the day it happened.
"Your mother was a brave woman."
"I know." I say, taking a breath and touching her necklace closer to me. The only thing that makes me feel close to her at all anymore.
Soon, I have to give into Zuko's nagging and I rest. He's right, I don't want to do this tired and sloppy. I climb onto Appa's saddle and let Zuko take the reins. Sleep is Fitful, but it does come. I'm a light sleeper though, always have been, and it takes me less than a second to wake up when Zuko shouts that we've arrived. I look around and it's sundown. The full moon is coming out. Good.
"There! See those Sea Raven Flags? It's the Southern Raiders."
"Let's do this."
I put all my fury into my bending. Before the Fire Nation sailors know what's hit them they're knocked off the deck. Zuko and I make our way inside, looking for the bridge. A sailor tries to stop us, but Zuko throws him back with a powerful display of force. He didn't even use his bending, just his swords. Despite myself and what we're here for, my stomach jolts when I see him do that. I shake the feeling off and we run to the bridge.
"This is it, Katara. Are you ready to face him?" I pull my mask down and throw the water at the doors with every bit of force I have, knocking it almost off its hinges.
The second it opens, I have a fire blast thrown at me. Before I can deflect them, Zuko steps in front of me and dissipates the attack, putting the captain on the defensive. I step beside him, showing him who I am.
"Who are you?" He growls.
"You don't remember her? You will soon. Trust me." Zuko promises. The man goes for another attack, and Zuko is about to block it, but I beat him to it. I draw on the power of the moon and bend the man's blood, putting him on his face in front of me. If Zuko's shocked, I don't see it. He stands behind me as I bend the man to my will.
"Think back. Think back to your last raid on the Southern Water Tribe." He yells at the Captain.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Please. I don't know." He rasps.
"Don't lie! You look her in the eye and tell me you don't know what you did." I bend him so he's looking up at me, and I'm about to snap his back when I look in his eyes. They're soft, afraid, and maybe even kind. This isn't him.
"It's not him." I say and let go of the control I had on his body. He collapses to the ground. "That's not the man."
"What? What do you mean he's not? He's the leader of the Southern Raiders, he has to be the guy!" I don't answer, I just walk away, back to Appa. Remorse fills me. I swore never to use blood bending again, and I just used it on someone innocent. Someone who never attacked my village or hurt my family. "If you're not the man we're looking for, who is?" Zuko demands.
"You must be looking for Yan Ra. He retired four years ago." He tells him. A name. Hope and fury surges through me. We can find him with a name.
…..
Zuko takes the reins and flies Appa away.
"We have his name. What now?"
"We have his name, last command, and the knowledge that he retired. That means he had what was likely a full career, and now has a full pension. The pension is sent to his home, and we can find that location in the pension office records."
"So, we just do what we did at the communications tower again?"
"This is where it gets complicated. The pension office is in the Fire Nation capital. Much more heavily guarded. And I'm the real risk factor here. I'm more recognizable in the capital than anywhere else."
"I guess then we just don't get caught." I tell him. "How long until we reach the capital?"
"It would take a day's journey if we were able to fly straight there, but we both know Appa's running out of steam. We'll have to land soon and let him rest. I'm sorry Katara, I know that's not what you want to hear."
"Let me take care of that." I say and lean over the edge of Appa's saddle. I bend the ocean underneath us until there is a sizable Ice slab large enough for Appa to rest on. "It's okay, Appa. Down now, buddy." He groans and drops onto the ice. In less than a minute he's snoring. I get up and slide down his tail and urge a current of water to speed us forward.
"How long can you keep that up, Katara?"
"Long enough for Appa to rest. Any other questions?" He coughs and clears his throat.
"Yeah, actually. Just one. What did you do to the captain back there? How did you take control of him like that?" He asks nervously. I guess I'd be nervous too if I'd just witnessed blood bending. I sigh.
"It's called blood bending. There's a lot more water in the human body than people think. It's all at a waterbender's disposal, although it can't be done unless it's a full moon."
"How did you learn it? The Northern tribe doesn't know it, or they would have used the technique when they were invaded by the Fire Nation. And I can't imagine you taught it to yourself."
"Why? Because I'm too much of a mother? Too much of a good girl? Or do you think that I'm so incompetent at bending I can't figure out my own new techniques?'
"Of course not. You have a dark side, Katara. That's not a bad thing. There is no light without darkness. It just just doesn't seem like something you'd look to learn to do." I growl at him, though I'm not sure why.
"Her name was Hamma, okay? She was an escaped waterbender from a Fire Nation prison. She escaped by developing the technique. Instead of going back home to the Southern Water Tribe, she stayed in the Fire Nation to get revenge. Not on soldiers though, on civilians. She used blood bending to force people to their deaths. I didn't want to learn it, but she used it on me, Aang, and Sokka. If I didn't use it on her the boys would have killed each other." I let out a deep breath. "I swore I'd never use it again. I don't know what came over me. And it wasn't even the man."
"That doesn't make you evil, Katara. Or even a bad person. Neither does this quest. Don't let Aang get to you. If revenge is what you need for closure, Yan Ra deserves it."
"Thanks, Zuko. Get some Rest. I'll sleep when Appa's ready to fly again." I tell him. He nods and lays down, the scarred side of his face on the pillows.