Chapter 12: Clash of Nations

Horn sound: Minnesota Viking Horn

Icelander funeral theme: Raeb's Lament, GoW Soundtrack.

-King Kuei's Palace, Ba Sing Se-

"Thank you for agreeing to see us, your majesty." Aang said as he bowed before the Earth King in his throne room with Zuko, Katara, and–surprisingly–Touya as well.

"It was no problem." Kuei nodded in reply. "What matter do you wish to bring up?" He questioned, knowing that Zuko wouldn't be here unless it was serious.

"Well, it's two things, your majesty." Katara explained. "You see, there seem to be protestors outside the gates of Yu Dao, trying to break in and force their way in." She continued.

"Despite the fact that you, to my knowledge, haven't made such a decree as to have the old colonies removed." Zuko continued.

"You would be correct." The Earth King nodded with a frown. "Someone must be spreading false information for reasons we don't know. We'll need to investigate the matter." He mused.

"There's something else." Aang began, getting his attention. "We've recently learned that several of the colonies have been ransacked by raiders called the Icelanders." He revealed, much to Kuei's surprise.

"Icelanders? I've… never heard that name before." He noted with a confused frown.

"Neither have we. Apparently they've hit the North Pole and Kyoshi Island." Zuko nodded. "We wanna try to stop them from getting to Yu Dao, to avoid it getting sacked."

"So we need your help to do it." Touya added.

"I'm sorry, but you are…?" Kuei questioned.

"Touya Katsuya. I'm the eldest son of Yu Dao's police chief, Enji and his Earth Kingdom wife, Temari." The redhead explained, bowing.

"Oh!" The ruler of Ba Sing Se uttered, a little surprised at what he just heard. "I… must admit, despite being forced to flee the city after the fire nation seized control of the city for a time, I never went to Yu Dao. Your status is new to me." He confessed.

"Understandable, but my situation is far from unique. The people of the Earth Kingdom and Fire nation have mixed together in all of the colonies. I mean, heck, I can list five families I know personally off the top of my head." He nodded. "Like the mayor Morishita, his wife and daughter Kori, for example." He continued. "So, if you'll allow me to point it out. If you remove the colonies, you'll likely be splitting apart families and couples in the process." He added.

Kuei frowned as he processed this information. If what Touya said was true, then he ran the risk of getting several angry Earth Kingdom citizens who had married people from the fire nation, which he wanted to avoid. He had been sheltered his entire life, so there was a lot he didn't know about the outside world.

"... Perhaps a trip to Yu Dao is in order for me." He noted more to himself.

"We should also bring along an army. In case the Icelanders appear." Aang pointed out.

"Good point." Touya nodded.

"And how should we figure out who's been spreading the false information?" Katara questioned.

"I think we can help with that." A voice said behind them, causing the two to turn and see a moderately injured Jong Jong and a scratchless Bumi entering the room.

"Bumi?! Jong Jong?! What happened?!" Aang gasped as he rushed up to them.

"The Icelanders happened, that's what." The century old Earth bender replied as Katara rushed up to heal the firebender.

"They–Ah–attacked one of the older colonies, Shang-ha. They sacked and burned it to the ground, and any survivors quickly fled to one of the older colonies." Jong Jong continued, gasping in pain as Katara healed him.

"Oh no…." Touya whispered with wide eyes.

"They're closing in on Yu Dao….!" Zuko gasped, eyes wide.

"They're a powerful lot. That's for sure." Bumi nodded, munching on some rock candy. "The weaker ones were easy to take down, but a few of them were… not." He added.

"Berserkers they called themselves." Jong Jong continued. "One wielded a mighty hammer, he called upon storms and lightning as if he was directing it with it." He explained. "It returned to his hand as well. But he didn't seem to be a fire bender." He added.

"Yeah… come to think of it…" Bumi nodded, looking at Aang. "He was actually an Airbender." He added.

"WHAT?!" Aang yelled, his eyes bugging out of their sockets. Everyone else was shocked as well by this news.

"But… We thought Aang was the last!" Katara exclaimed in disbelief.

"We thought so, too. But he's vastly different from the Air Nomads of the four nations." Jong Jong told them.

"It's likely these Icelanders are from a different land entirely." Bumi explained. "Which would likely explain why they use bending in such different ways than us…" He mused.

"Yes it would." Zuko nodded in agreement.

"I'll be sure to mobilize my army to defend Yu Dao in case the Icelanders do attack it." Kuei stated.

"And in the meantime, we can figure out just who started this mess." Touya nodded as the group split up.

(Elsewhere)

Meanwhile, Sokka and Suki were following the in the process of tracking the Icelanders with Pipsqueak, the Duke, Longshot and SmellerBee. So far, they were managing along fine, but the trail was lukewarm at best.

"These guys really move fast." SmellerBee noted.

"That's something that makes me worry about how fast they'll move on Yu Dao." The Kyoshi Warrior commented.

Longshot knelt down as he gestured for them to stop, noticing a fresh set of tracks, heading towards an area that led to the coast.

"They're up ahead." He told them.

"Let's see what they're up to." Sokka nodded before they followed the tracks to their end. When they did, they hid behind some rocks to observe what the Icelanders were doing.

What they saw was actually surprising. It was a funeral for their fallen comrades.

Several of them stood in front of quickly made boats that the dead were laid on, along with beds of flowers and a few possessions.

Others stood on the banks with simple instruments and a few archers stood by, torch bearers next to them.

The instruments soon started playing and a small solemn choir soon joined in afterwards as Eivor stepped forward.

"Today, we lay our brothers and sisters to rest, and send them across the River of Souls." She began. "For they, like true warriors, died honorable deaths. Now, we shall let them cross from this realm–across the Rainbow bridge and into the halls of Valhalla." She continued. "Goodbye, my friends. May endless days and nights of feasting and drinking find you in the hall of the gods." She added a fist on her chest as the ship bearers pushed them into the water–amidst a few tearful glances.

Then the torchbearers raised their torches to the archers, who lit their arrowheads with the flames. After that, they took aim and let their arrows fly, each one striking true and setting the boats aflame.

Sokka, Suki, The Duke, Smeller Bee and Longshot watched the procession with sad looks as realization struck them. The Icelanders might have attacked them, but they weren't doing so out of malice. If anything… It was akin to their way of life to fight and die with honor.

As the ashes and embers fell to the sea and drifted into the air, Eivor turned to the others.

"But now is not the time for grief, nor for revenge. Seeking revenge for honorable deaths will surely bring shame on our comrades' memories. So, we will continue and gain riches in their names." She called to them. "For we are Icelanders, and we are warriors!" She yelled, fist to the sky as everyone roared with her.

The five spies took this moment to sneak away undetected so they could regroup and review what they learned. The others were going to want to hear this.

(Meanwhile)

Back with Toph and her students, they were trying to keep things with the protestors from boiling over while the others gathered intel and got ready for the Icelanders.

But as they did, Ho Tun, Penga and… The Dark One (no we aren't kidding) soon took notice of the fact that one of the protestors that they knew personally–a boy named Sneers from the Freedom Fighters–was notably absent that day.

"Uh guys? Anyone seen Sneers?" Ho Tun asked.

"No." Penga frowned in reply as she looked around. "Weird. Where'd he go?" She wondered.

"No idea, in fact, I haven't seen him in over a week." The Dark One noted.

"What're you two yapping about back there?! You're supposed to be on watch!" Toph barked from atop the city wall.

"Nothing big, sifu Toph! We just haven't seen Sneers in the past week!" Ho Tun called back.

"Huh? Really?" The blind girl hummed, leaping down. "Funny, I could've sworn I heard him talking to Kori Morishita just a few seconds ago." She noted with a raised eyebrow at the city behind her.

"Wait, what?" The Dark One uttered in confusion.

"Kori, ya know, the mayor's daughter?" Ho Tun pointed out.

"Wait… Why would a Freedom Fighter be talking to an ashmaker?" Penga questioned, causing everyone to look at each other.

". Something is not adding up here." Toph noted.

"Think we should look into it?" Penga wondered.

"One of us will. The rest have to keep an eye on these guys." The blind bandit replied, jutting her thumb at the protestors.

(Elsewhere)

Meanwhile, back in Ba Sing Se, the Dai Lee came into the throne room of King Kuei with an Earth bound man dressed in official's robes.

The man looked like a younger Lang Feng, but his braid was shorter and he had no mustache.

"Your majesty, we have the man who's been feeding the false information to the people." One of them said, tossing the man to the ground.

"Excellent work." Kuei nodded before looking down at the man with a frown. "Why have you been spreading misinformation to instigate protests?" He questioned sternly. "Liu Feng." He added, addressing the man by name.

"You know this man?" Zuko questioned.

"Yes. He's Lang Feng's nephew." Kuei explained. "He was meant to be Lang Feng's successor after the war was over, but after I found him trying to continue Lake Laogai, I had him cast out." He added. "He was also found guilty of embezzlement and cronyism." He continued.

"So if I'm reading this correctly, he's spreading the misinformation as a form of revenge." He deduced. "Am I right?" He questioned, looking at Liu Feng.

"Don't be so small minded, I did it so I could see if Kuei would crack. Prove to the people that he's a weak and ineffective leader!" The man snapped.

"Hmph. Cute." Touya scoffed, folding his arms.

"I have bigger things to worry about than you trying to test me." Kuei sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I recognize that I have been weak, Liu Feng. So I am going to stand firm now, and become strong." He added, Bosco licking his master's cheek. "Take him away." He added.

As the Dai Lee did so, Zuko turned towards the others. "So, shall we begin mustering our armies?" He questioned.

"Yes. Let us go and defend Yu Dao together." Kuei nodded, the two shaking hands in a show of comradery.

"Well, I'd call this a success." Aang noted.

"Indeed." Katara noted as they quickly went to hurry to Yu Dao ahead of the others.

(A few days later)

"Hey! There's Aang!" Penga called as Smeller Bee, the Freedom Fighters, Sokka, Suki, Toph and the others all gathered outside to meet the returning pair.

"Hey, guys!" The Avatar smiled as he and his girlfriend hopped off of Appa. "Has anything changed while we were gone?" He asked.

"Me, Suki, The Duke, Smeller Bee and Longshot were tracking the Icelanders." Sokka replied, getting everyone's attention. "They're still on their way to Yu Dao, but… they don't seem like bad people, despite the way they attacked before." He added with a frown, much to the confusion of those that didn't know what he was saying.

"What do you mean?" Katara asked, raising an eyebrow at her brother.

"We saw them give a funeral for their comrades. These raids, they weren't out of malice. It's just their way of life." Smeller Bee explained.

"I'm still not keen on trusting these people if we stop them, but they're right." Suki nodded, still feeling angry. For understandable reasons.

"Well when we do stop them, I'll have a word with whoever their leader is when this whole thing is over." Aang commented.

"Well we'll need to brace ourselves for when they show up, twinkle toes." Toph nodded. "I know we're bound to be in for a tough fight." She added.

"From what we've heard? That'd be an understatement." Katara nodded.

As this was going on, the protestors started rioting again, causing Aang to facepalm.

"Right, I totally forgot about that." He groaned as he ran towards the crowd.

"Forgot about what?" Smeller Bee questioned.

"The protestors." Sokka replied flatly.

"Oh… right." The female freedom fighter chuckled sheepishly.

"King Kuei's decided to let the older colonies stay. The information about him saying they need to go was false." Katara explained as they approached the crowd.

"Seriously?! Man, that sucks!" the brunette groaned in disappointment.

"Smeller Bee." The female water bender said. "There are families of mixed heritage here, people from the earth Kingdom who have friends, loved ones who are Fire Nation, and vice versa. If we try to send them away. We'll be destroying everything they know." She told her.

"What's Twinkle Toes think about all this?" Toph questioned.

"He still isn't sure if not keeping the nations separate is a good idea." Katara explained, looking at Aang as he tried to reason with the crowd. "But I think he's coming around to it." She added.

"Let's hope none of the past avatars try to change his mind." Suki commented. 'Apologies Lady Kyoshi, but I already know what you would say.' She thought.

However, the protestors were not having it, as they all started trying to storm the gates of the city, earth benders in front, only to be met with a group of citizens armed and ready to fight.

A group led by Enji Katsuya, Kori Morishita, Azula–surprisingly enough–and… Sneers?!

"Wait, Sneers joined Yu Dao?!" The Dark One gasped.

"Well… Yeah." The young man said sheepishly. "The thing is, Kori… she's kind of my girlfriend." He explained.

"You fell in love with an ashmaker…" Toph trailed off before shrugging. "Meh. Not my place to judge." She stated.

"You gotta be kidding me…" Smeller Bee groaned, facepalming.

However, before the fighting could continue any further, the sound of a horn suddenly blasted across the distance towards the city gates.

"What was that…?" Katara gulped.

The sound continued three more times, causing everyone to turn and see the remaining Icelanders heading straight for them, their weapons brandished and ready for battle.

"Oh no, they're here! THE ICELANDERS ARE HERE!" Sokka yelled for all to hear as he brought out his boomerang.

"Already?!" Aang gasped, gripping his staff tightly.

With Eivor, she twirled her axes as her allies all stood with her. "Battle and glory awaits us brothers, sisters! Now we go–to war, to victory, to Valhalla!" She yelled, getting a chorus of roars as they all charged in unison.

Back with the gang and the colonists, they all brandished their weapons and elements as they got ready to defend their homes.

The Defense of Yu Dao had begun.

Dragon Emperor0: And now we're entering the final moments of the Yu Dao saga of this story. Also, sorry for those of you who were expecting to see the Metal bending academy and Air Acolytes side stories. We decided to save those for a more less action filled chapter, since this one would have felt bloated otherwise.

ThermalsniperN7: We also gave the Icelanders some depth for the gang to think about. This shows them that they aren't evil or anything of the sort, they're just following their way of life. They don't even ransack villages out of greed, but out of a desire to honor their fallen comrades.

Dragon Emperor0: But, ya know. They still sack cities to get resources and such, but that's far from the only reason and it isn't for malicious means. It's just how they did stuff. Ya know, like actual vikings.

ThermalsniperN7: Right. It's part of why they were so successful in their time. Anyway, see you next time.