I sleep pretty well, considering all that has happened in the last few days. We all sleep on small mats, circled around a fire. The destroyed fountain is on the outside of the metal panels that can be used to protect against invaders, though I've never seen them moved besides maintenance and cleaning. Aang sleeps against Appa in the fountain area, most likely on guard.
I sleep as far away from Zuko as possible, my back turned from him and the fire between us. He doesn't object, but I can feel some part of me softening, especially when I grip my bo.
Abruptly, an explosion interrupts everyone's sleep. Well, multiple explosions. Blearily eyed, sleep still taking over my thoughts, I see Aang rushing toward the edge of the temple. Over the edge, I can see the tips of more Fire Nation air balloons showing up.
Azula followed us.
Quickly, Aang comes back and closes the metal panels with an airblast, Appa right behind him. By now, everyone is standing up. More explosions are rocking the panels, but not hitting us directly. However, they are still taking down the foundation of the temple.
Zuko yells, "Watch out!" as a section of the roof falls. He slams into Katara, pushing her out of the way. They land on the other side of a pile of rubble with grunts. I don't hear their conversation, but after the dust settles Katara looks angry.
Toph and Haru, the other earthbender, don't hesitate as the temple is collapsing around us. They turn to the wall facing the cliffside and push an earth circle through it. I cringe as part of the mural I've painted before is destroyed, but know our life is more important than a painting. I can fix it later, after the war is over.
Hopefully.
"Come on, we can get out through here," Toph says. Everyone rushes through the hole, but Aang is struggling with Appa. It seems he has developed a fear of tight spaces.
Then I notice Zuko standing in front of the panels where a hole has formed. I can see just out it, and it is filled with smoke and noise.
Aang sees Zuko too. "What are you doing?"
"Go ahead, I'll hold them off," Zuko says. "I think this is a family visit." There were at least three giant war balloons out there. No way Zuko can handle them on his own.
"Zuko, no!" Aang shouts, holding tight to Appa's reigns. Aang starts to move toward Zuko, but Sokka rushes out to Aang. Katara follows right behind.
"Come on, we've got to get out of here," Sokka says. The three of them start to pull Appa toward the hole where I've just stood stock still, looking out as the Western Air Temple is destroyed. It was in near pristine condition before but now, now it is joining the other three temples in being desecrated.
A mortar falls right in front of Zuko, and I lose sight of him in the black smoke.
I rip my attention back to Appa. He hasn't moved. I help, putting my weight against the reins, trying to pull Appa in. But he doesn't listen. It doesn't help that the section of the temple we're at continues to get bombarded. It feels like it's crumbling off the cliff.
Toph creates a kind of shelter around us as the building continues to fall around us. It shakes and rumbles with each mortar hit. My anxiety is jumping through the roof. We can't die here.
Aang finally admits defeat to Appa. "I can't get him to go in there! Appa hates tunnels!"
"Aang, there's no way we can fly out of here," Katara says, still pulling on the ropes.
"We'll have to find a way out!"
"We need to split up," Sokka admits. Everyone drops the ropes and Appa relaxes a little. He has won. Sokka moves into the tunnel, directing everyone else. "Take the tunnel and get to the stolen airship."
Katara doesn't agree with this splitting up idea, even though not everyone can fit on Appa. "No!" She walks up to Hakoda, saying, "The Fire Nation can't separate our family again!"
I put a soothing hand on Appa's muzzle, to try to soothe him. This all feels like a waste of time. The temple is falling down around us, and Katara is arguing about family.
Hakoda puts a comforting arm on Katara's shoulder, saying, "It'll be okay. It's not forever."
Toph leaves the shelter of the tunnel and joins us, and Sokka grabs Suki's hand, pulling her with us. Thank the spirits, I'll have someone I know and share more with than rage.
Near the mess of the sleeping sacks, I catch sight of Zuko's broadswords, sheathed and partly hidden by the cloth. I grab them, not thinking, knowing that he would do the same for me. Well, he actually already did.
I climb up into Appa's saddle, and it's much more comfortable than when we flew bareback through Ba Sing Se. I put an arm out for Katara, and she pulls Suki in. Aang is already at the reins, ready to start flying.
Toph puts her hand around the shelter she's created. "I can clear that away and we can fly out through there!" She jumps up onto the saddle, landing easily despite her blindness.
There's a lot of mortar noises coming from the general direction Toph indicates, but it's our only way out.
"Um, there's an awful lot of fire in that general direction . . ." Suki points out.
"We'll get through. Let's go," Aang says, settling himself down.
Hopefully we get through. I mean, Suki, Sokka and I are pretty defenseless up here with just our hand-to-hand weapons. I don't point this out, but Aang is the Avatar, and he must surround himself with some pretty powerful benders.
Regardless, as Toph pushes the shelter away from us, keeping the section covering Appa's face and Aang gives the signal for Appa to start flying, I clench my bo pretty hard. I wind my hands around the chain and ribbon at the top, trying to ease my anxiety, to focus on something else.
We fly right past Azula, though I don't see her. I just feel the heat from her blue flames and see their tendrils wiping around the rocks.
That means Zuko isn't distracting her anymore.
Zuko.
Zuko.
Zuko.
As Toph releases the rocks around Appa's face, I whip around in the saddle, straining my eyes, looking for him. Slowly, slowly, a figure approaches out of the morning fog on one of the giant war balloons. It's Zuko. Hair blowing in the wind.
Spirits, how can he see?
Once the balloon Zuko is on becomes a little higher than Azula's, he starts running. Azula shoots a torrent of flame at him as he jumps, but he kicks it away so easily, using his momentum to shoot his own fire at Azula.
His fighting style has changed so much. He isn't fueled by his rage and hate anymore, but by something deeper and much different than Azula's.
I can't tear my eyes from their exchange, even as Appa continues to fly around erratically and Katara has stood up to bend water against the flames being shot at us.
Zuko lands and rolls toward Azula, who is scrambling to get up from her dodge of Zuko. Is this the first time they've fought unimpeded since he saw the dragons? Is she struck by how different Zuko is, so suddenly and so completely?
Well, I am.
As Zuko continues to fight, his broadswords pressing heavy against my back, I notice how much he's changed. Not just his fire, which looks to be burning brighter and hotter, but his movements. Instead of dodging or pushing Azula's flames out of the way, he is using his arms like swords, crossing them and deflecting the fire.
He is blending his melee combat with his bending.
I lose sight of him only when Aang pulls Appa into a very steep climb to dodge another war balloon. I grip the edge of the saddle hard as Appa does a spin to right himself. Both Sokka and I are holding onto Suki very tightly.
An explosion rocks the air, different from the mortar blasts that have finally stopped hitting the temple. Somehow, the war balloon with Azula and Zuko on it has moved so high up, higher than Appa. Zuko is falling. Azula is too, just a little bit aways from Zuko.
"Zuko!" I scream, standing, pointing pointing pointing as he is in free fall into the fog.
Luckily, Aang has already taken notice of Zuko's descent. We slow just below Zuko, and Katara puts her arm out to catch him.
However, Azula isn't as lucky. Granted, we have the single sky bison in the world right now, so I don't see how she can pull herself out of this one, though she is moving toward the cliff face.
"She's not gonna make it," Zuko mutters. As if she can hear him, Azula pushes her arms and legs forward, pushing a blast of blue fire to propel her the rest of the way to the cliff face. She flips and slides down the rock wall, coming to a halt.
"Well, we couldn't be that lucky," I whisper. Suki smiles at me, appreciating my humor.
"Of course she did," Zuko says.
We fly well into the day, landing on an unoccupied beach that Zuko directs us to, nestled around some hills and mountains. It is just across the ocean from the Western Air Temple. Across the mountain is Wulong Forest, famous for its column-like rock structures. I went once, over a hundred years ago.
Once we land, I try to find a way to hand Zuko back his broadswords that are strung across my back. Sokka throws the camping gear off the back of Appa, which was rolled against the back of the saddle. I see Zuko walking away from Appa, probably to scout the area.
Seizing my opportunity, I rush up behind him, saying his name as I catch up beside him. He pauses walking, looking over at me. "I grabbed your swords before we left the temple." I pull them off my back, holding them in both my hands, offering them to him.
My bo is still near the campsite, but I can feel it boring a hole in my thoughts. This is a kindness for a kindness. A weapon for a weapon.
He takes them, nodding. I look at him, really look at him, for what feels like the first time in years. His hair is long, baggy, not tied back. He is still skinny, but not as gaunt as after Iroh was shot full of lightning. However, the biggest change is when his eyes meet mine. And they aren't furrowed in anger or betrayal. They are gentle. Planning. Hopeful.
"Thank you. I appreciate that."
There is silence between us. I feel that rift, that chasm, that he created. That he burned his way through. I nod, having returned my favor.
As I walk back to camp to help pitch tents and set up the fire, I can't get Iroh out of my head. How the entire time we were with Zuko, even when Zuko left us in the middle of the Earth Kingdom, Iroh never gave up on him. Iroh always tried to push him to the right path, hoping that one day Zuko would see it for himself. The right path. The way forward.
Now Zuko does see it.
I can't trust him yet; I can't forgive him yet either. But I can let him be himself. And try to make his wrong right.