Post by Yug on Apr 14, 2013 12:54:21 GMT -5
Zuko was meditating in his cabin on the ship. The Agni Kai against Commander Zhao had gone well, despite his doubts. He was on his way to capture the Avatar and at long last restore his honor. The door creaked slightly open and Iroh's rotund visage entered the room.
"The only reason you should be interrupting me, is if you have news about the Avatar." Zuko said, an uncharacteristic calm in his voice.
His uncle pulled out a scroll from his belt and unfurled it. "Well, there is news, Prince Zuko," Iroh said, looking at the scroll "But you might not like it. Don't get too upset."
What could be so bad? Any news about the Avatar was sure to be good news - even if he was causing devastation in the Fire Nation - at least they'd know where he was. If there is news about him, it's bound to bring Zuko closer to his destiny, no doubt. "Uncle, you taught me that keeping a level head is a sign of a great leader. Now, whatever you have to say, I'm sure I can take it." he said, sounding more optimistic than Iroh was used to hearing him.
"Okay, then." the large man said, hesitated for a second, then continued "We have no idea where he is."
The candles in the room suddenly erupted as the Fire Prince's eyes shot open in disbelief and anger. As the flames died down, they left thick black soot on the ceiling, making it obvious they would have set ablaze the entire room, had it not been made out of iron. Zuko yelled "What?", after which he got to his feet and turned to face Iroh, who was shielding his face from the flames, then casually pulled out a fan from his robe and started to cool himself off.
"You should really open a window in here." he said, oblivious to his nephew's rage. Zuko swiftly snatched the parchment from Iroh's hand and said "Give me the map!", then began examining it.
"Well, there have been multiple sightings of the Avatar, but he is impossible to track down." Iroh said.
"How am I ever going to find him, Uncle?" he asked, desperation in his voice, having seen the impossible crisscrossing pattern of the Avatar's movement on the map "He is clearly a master of evasive maneuvering!"
"You have no idea where you're going, do you?" Sokka asked Aang from Appa's saddle, frustration obvious in his voice. Sokka was sewing the back of his pants, which had obviously suffered some kind of accident from the group's travels. The flying bison also looked quite worse for wear, as he obviously hadn't had a bath in a few days - his fur matted and muddy. Momo perked his ears up at Sokka's question and dashed to Aang, climbing on his shoulder.
"Well..." Aang said happily "I know it's near water."
"Wonderful." Aya interjected, her annoyance with the Avatar quite plain "Well, it's alright. It's not like we have any urgent business. Not like there's some world-threatening villain out there that only the Avatar can defeat." she continued sarcastically, looking up, then looked at Aang and finished, mockingly "Oh, wait."
"Come on, Aya, don't be like that." he said, smiling, then continued enthusiastically "Look, I've been practicing my airbending!"
Aang pulled out a couple of marbles from a cloth pouch on his belt and proceeded to airbend them between his hands, so that they spun around each other in a perfect circle. Aya smacked the marbles out of his hands angrily and glared at him "Stop playing around! I swear, this detour had better be worth it, Avatar."
Aang looked sadly at the marbles, as they fell in the water below Appa and muttered "My marbles..."
Sokka got up from his sewing and put his hand on his sister's shoulder, then was about to whisper something to her, but she obviously expected it, so she turned around sharply and commanded "Get back to sewing, because my gloves also need some work!"
Sokka immediately retreated back to his spot with a quick "Yes, ma'am." and kept working. Aang, while obviously still upset, was trying to keep up his chipper attitude and said "Relax, Sokka. Where we're going, you won't need any pants!", to which Sokka and Aya simply looked at him in bewilderment.
"We just made a pit stop yesterday," Sokka protested "Shouldn't we get a little more flying done before we camp out?"
The group had landed on a snowy beach near some mountains. The area looked quite deserted and lifeless, though Aang was staring out into the the distance, determined, with his hand on his brow.
"Sokka's right, Avatar. At this rate, it'll be another hundred years before we get to the Northern Water Tribe." Aya added. Aang turned around to face them, looking a little spaced-out, yet strangely enthusiastic.
"But Appa's tired. Aren't you, boy?" he asked and turned to his big, furry friend. Appa let out a small unamused grunt. Aang and the siblings just stared at him, then Aang spoke up again. "I said - aren't you, boy?", to which Appa let out a slightly louder grunt, still looking quite disinterested in whatever the tiny hairless creatures in front of him were talking about. Aya looked angry again, though at this point that could be considered her default mood, while Sokka was underwhelmed with Appa's performance.
"Yeah, that was real convincing." he said, then, as if he suddenly realized he just doesn't have the energy to argue anymore, he hung his head and continued "Still, hard to argue with a ten-ton magical monster. "
Aang seemed to completely disregard the two's reactions and ran towards the beach excitedly. He pointed out into the distance, then turned around to make sure everyone was paying attention and said "Look!"
Aya and Sokka momentarily forgot about all their protests and looked with eyes wide open, taking a few steps after Aang, watching as a giant fish popped out of the water. The young Avatar began to disrobe and explained "That's why we're here. Elephant Koi, and I'm gonna ride it! You guys have got to watch me!", then jumped into the air, aiming to dive into the water, only to fall flat on his face in the sand after Aya grabbed onto his sash in mid-air.
"We don't have time for this!" Aya yelled as Aang spit out sand "We're wasting more and more time in frivolous pursuits."
Sokka walked up to his sister and silently put her hand on his shoulder. She turned around and was about to argue with him some more, but his disappointed expression was enough to stop her. She had overreacted, that was obvious now. Sokka gestured towards Aang and Aya turned around to look at the boy. He was sitting on the sand, staring at his feet, sulking.
"Aang, I..." Aya began, but a sound far off in the sea interrupted her. Aang jumped to his feet and all three stared out into the water again. They saw one of the Koi fish attempt to jump out of the water, only to sink back down and not resurface before it even left the water. It looked incredibly unnatural - like it was snatched from beneath the waves.
"What just happened?" Aang asked, drawing an "I don't know." from Aya.
"Well, let's not stick around to find out." Sokka said, his distaste for where they were was plainly obvious "Time to hit the road!"
No sooner had Sokka's mouth closed, that a band of warriors in green armor and white face-paint descended on the group. Each tried to struggle, but were immediately overwhelmed and captured.
Aang, the siblings and even Momo were carried silently somewhere. They couldn't see from under their blindfolds and any questions they asked were met with complete silence. After what seemed like hours, the group was propped up and tied to some kind of large wooden pole.
"You three have some explaining to do," came a gruff voice. The three perked up at that point and turned to face where the voice came from "And if you don't answer all our questions, we're throwing you back in the water."
Aya, not wasting any time, immediately shot back. "You ambush us, tie us up, prop us up as your prisoners - and you expect us to spill everything?" she asked "I demand you remove our blindfolds at once!"
Suddenly, armored glove-clad hands reached out and removed everyone's blindfolds. In front of the group stood a bearded old man in a blue and white coat, looking very angry and suspicious of the group. Next to him were five young female warriors, wearing cumbersome and ornate Earth Kingdom-green armor with gold highlights and intricate white face paint with red and black highlights. Sokka looked quite shocked and immediately asked "Who are you? Where are the men who ambushed us?"
One of the girls stepped forward, clenching her fist, obviously angry with Sokka's insinuation and replied "There were no men. We ambushed you," after which she seemed to collect herself and put on a haughty smile "Now tell us, who are you and what are you doing here?"
The young watertribe warrior looked surprised at first, but quickly regained his composure and turned to Aang, obviously amused, expecting a similar reaction from the young airbender, who looked inquisitively at his friend. Sokka quickly turned back to the armor-clad girl and said incredulously "Wait a second, there's no way that a bunch of girls took us down."
The Earth Kingdom warrior grabbed Sokka by the collar and pulled his face closer to hers. There was fire in her eyes as she said "A bunch of girls, huh? The unagi is gonna eat well tonight."
Sokka looked confused. "What's an unagi?" he asked.
Sensing a need to salvage the situation, Aya chimed in "Please ignore my idiot brother. It's obvious we're not enemies."
"It's my fault," Aang interjected. Aya, Sokka, the Earth Kingdom warrior and even Momo turned to look at him, surprised at his assertion. "I'm sorry we came here. I wanted to ride the elephant koi."
The old man joined the conversation, questioning the gang "How do we know you're not Fire Nation spies?" he inquired "Kyoshi stayed out of the war so far. And we intend to keep it that way!"
Aya looked dumbfounded. "Are you blind?" she asked, unable to believe anyone would be dumb enough to mistake her for Fire Nation scum "My brother and I are obviously water tribe! How many Fire Nation people with dark skin and blue eyes do you know?" The ignorance of this old man was staggering to her - she had heard she should respect her elders, and she always had until then, but obviously that was only when they actually deserved her respect. She then continued "And him," she said, pointing her head at Aang "He has a tattoo of a blue arrow on his forehead! Do you think many firebenders get those?"
The old man looked impressed - what she pointed out was very convincing. But for all he knew, the Fire Nation could have indoctrinated these kids into spying for them. Maybe the airbenders weren't all dead - just captured and brainwashed into following the Fire Nation.
Aang interrupted at that point and said excitedly "Wait, this island is named after Kyoshi? I know Kyoshi!"
The old man released an incredulous "Ha!" at the boy's words "How could you possibly know her?"
He pointed to a large statue of a woman dressed very much like the female warriors that had captured the gang. The statue was in disrepair - the colors had faded, there were cracks in the wood and the whole thing was slightly slanted, but Aang somehow clearly recognized her. The old man then spoke up again "Avatar Kyoshi was born here four hundred years ago. She's been dead for centuries."
Aang looked at the statue for a few seconds, then looked down at the ground and said in a soft voice "I know her because I'm the Avatar."
The young girls and the old man all looked shocked at the revelation, but the warrior that had interrogated Sokka earlier moved on to Aang. "That's impossible! The last Avatar was an..." she started, but stopped midway through her sentence, looking at Aang's tattooed forehead, then turned to Aya, who finished her thought "An airbender. One who disappeared a hundred years ago."
Aang immediately perked up and beamed a large grin "That's me!"
The old man was obviously still not convinced, though, and simply pointed at the group tied to the pole and said "Throw the impostor in the sea!"
The Earth Kingdom warriors slowly surrounded the pole threateningly and drew their steel fans, then slid them open, ready to attack. Sokka began looking around for something to use, while Momo began to scream and thrash around under the ropes. Aya leaned forward and looked at Aang angrily "Now would be a good time, airhead!"
As if only now remembering his airbending, Aang pushed against the ropes, then launched himself in the air, pulling the ropes with him all the way up to one of the fans in the statue's hands, snapping the ropes on it. Everyone looked at the Avatar with open mouths, having trouble digesting what had just happened. Once Aang was free, he rolled off the statue, then jumped up and landed on a cushion of air, smiling broadly at the stupefied crowd in front of him. The old man was flabbergasted and stuttered a bit as he spoke "It's true... you are the Avatar!"
Aang's smile faded from his face and was replaced by a stern impression, as he began "Now..."
There was tension in the air. The warriors and the old man knew they had angered the Avatar and they would no doubt be on the receiving end of a harsh punishment. They hoped that the might bender would at least spare the other people of the village. Aya smirked - finally the little idiot would show some backbone.
"... Check this out!" Aang finished, his ear-to-ear grin back on his face, as if it had never left, then lifted his hand up in the air, airbending the ropes he was tied up with just a second ago high up and twisting them into a spiral, which he then flew around overhead, impressing the villagers, who now cheered with glee. One particular villager was so impressed, he began throwing his arms in the air, releasing a sound that could best be described as a mix between a dying giraffesloth and an overexcited hamstersquirrel, until he began frothing at the mouth and collapsed on the ground, seizing up.
Meanwhile, Sokka and Momo looked relieved, while Aya looked like she would break out of the ropes at any second and strangle Aang.
"The Avatar's on Kyoshi Island?" Zuko yelled at the servant he had just gotten the tip from. News travelled fast in this day and age, especially within the Fire Nation. And especially news about someone who was supposed to be dead. The Fire Prince got up from the dining table. "Uncle, ready the rhinos. He's not getting away from me this time."
Iroh simply pointed at the smoking fish in front of his nephew and asked "Are you going to finish that?", to which Zuko snatched his plate and said in an aggressive tone "I was going to save it for later!", then turned to leave the room.
Iroh looked at his nephew leave, then as soon as he was out of the room, he crossed his arms and sulked, having been denied the delicious treat.
A short while later, after apologizing profusely to the Avatar and his friends, the old man - the village elder, Oyaji - arranged a feast in their honor. The town was abuzz with news of the Avatar's arrival and people were hard at work, making their town look presentable to their guests. A group of people had already started repairing, cleaning and repainting the statue of Avatar Kyoshi. Others were working on cleaning up the roads and even doing some maintenance on the houses. Appa had already started his feast - lying on his side, grunting lazily, with two villagers shoveling hay into his giant maw.
Aang, Sokka, Aya and Momo were in a large hall in the biggest building in town - the elder's house, they presumed. There was a very large table in front of them, full of all kinds of food - from steamed rice, to cooked henpig and even fried turkeyfrog wings. A villager arrived and placed yet another dish on the table in front of Aang and Aya, this one filled to the brim with desserts. Momo immediately dove into a bowl of fruit, while Aang threw his hands up in the air in excitement and exclaimed "Alright!", then began stuffing his face with the desserts "Dessert for breakfast!"
Aya looked at some transparent orange wiggly thing on one of the plates in front of her. She couldn't even begin to fathom what the thing was and would be hard-pressed to identify it as food. Aang snatched up two such desserts and stuffed them in his already full mouth, saying a muffled "These people sure know hot to treat an Avatar!" He then took one of the wiggly things and offered it to Aya "Come on, Aya, let's call a truce! You can't stay mad at me forever!"
The young waterbender snatched the dessert from Aang's hand and stuffed it in her mouth, trying to look sternly at him with mixed results and said "I'll be the judge of that!", then tried to chew, but only succeeded in biting her tongue, since the squishy thing melted in her mouth. This caused her to gasp and accidentally inhale a bit of it, starting a coughing fit. Momo perked his ears up and looked at her quizzically, then decided she's not worth the attention with such tasty fruit nearby and continued eating some strawberries. Aang looked concerned, but unsure what to do, as Aya's eyes became red and started watering from the coughing. After a few seconds, she stopped coughing and looked really mad, yelling "I'm going outside with Appa!", then stormed out of the room.
Aang turned to Sokka, who was sitting in a corner, with his arms crossed, sulking. "I guess Aya really doesn't like me." he said, to which Sokka replied dismissively "No, she just hates fun."
The older watertribesman then got up and sat next to Aang, a serious expression covering his face. "But she does have a point, Aang." he said and put his hand on the airbender's shoulder "You're the only one who can stop the Fire Lord. These stops are nice, but we're wasting time."
The Avatar lowered his head and didn't say anything. What could he say? That he was scared? That he still couldn't believe he was really the Avatar?
Sokka smiled and put his hand on Aang's head. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna get on your back, you've got my sister for that." he said, then paused, his smile waning "But you really should think about what you want to do."
Aang faced Sokka, a wide smile replacing his frown. "I know what I want to do. I want to help people and I want people to feel good." he said "Look at how happy this village is to see me - they've almost repaired and repainted Kyoshi's statue in less than a day!"
"Just don't let it go to your head, hotshot." Sokka said, then began stuffing his face, as well.
Aang jumped up and opened a window to see how Appa was doing. The moment the window opened, a collective girlish squeal was heard and the Avatar looked around for its origin. A group of about a dozen little girls were cheering for him. Aang blushed bright red, a huge grin plastered on his face. Just then, a snowball the size of his head smacked him right in the face, almost toppling him over. He shook his head to get rid of the snow, his whole face now a bright red from the cold, then looked down only to see a furious Aya, once again storming off.
"I'm guessing my sister isn't a fan of you having fans." Sokka said in between bites out of a turtleduck wing. Aang turned to him and said "I've gotta go talk to her.", then rushed out of the building.
Exiting the building, he saw Aya going over a bridge and dashed towards her. One of the girls that had cheered him on a second ago saw him leave and, with a deadly serious expression on her face, pointed at him and yelled "Get him!", prompting all of the girls to dash after Aang. Noticing them, he picked up the pace and ran across the bridge, only to be confronted with another group of girls at the other end. He screeched to a halt and immediately turned back, but the first group was already on the bridge. Realizing he had nowhere to go, he jumped in the air and created an air wisp, holding on for dear life. The wisp, however, faded into nothing just a few seconds later and he fell right in the center of the cheering mob of little girls.
The girls had cajoled Aang into getting a painting done with him and their self-appointed leader, Koko. He was a little uneasy, but hey, it couldn't hurt, right? She had chosen a nearby waterfall as the backdrop for their painting and the village artist was all set up with canvas and paints, ready to commemorate the day the Avatar visited Kyoshi Island. Unfortunately for him, the other girls didn't really like the idea of being left of the painting and every time he looked up, there were more girls around Aang, until it got to the point that more than a dozen girls were literally on top of each other, with Aang pinned at the bottom. The painter simply got up and left.
Aang tried to wiggle himself free and turned to Koko. "I really should go see how my friends are doing." he said. The girl looked grumpily at him and replied "But you've been with them all this time! We just want to spend some time with you, Aangie."
"I... guess it couldn't hurt." Aang said, unable to say no to his adoring public.
Aya had almost had her fill of rage-inducing events. First, the Avatar turns out to be a spineless coward that can't see what's right in front of him. Then, they take detour after detour just to indulge the kid's curiosity. And now, as if it's not enough that he isn't doing anything to fulfill his role as Avatar, he's letting people practically worship him for effectively doing nothing. She crossed her arms and leaned on Appa, who was fast asleep after eating half the village's hay. She looked at Aang, who was still showing off, using airbending to look like he's doing pushups with nothing but his breath. She had half a mind to freeze his mouth shut and let him faceplant into the dirt.
Sokka saw his sister sulking and went to check up on her. "Everything okay, sis?" he asked.
"No, everything is not alright, brother. Look at him," she said and gestured at Aang, who was now moving around the girls on his air scooter "He's just a kid."
"Well, yeah. He's twelve." Sokka said plainly.
"You know what I mean." his sister replied, frustrated.
"Yeah, I do. But you gotta understand - he's a kid before he's the Avatar. It's not like he was born mature and understanding the full extent of his responsibility to he world." Sokka explained.
"That's... true. But still - his people were killed, the whole world is on the brink of being enslaved by the Fire Nation. It's time he grew up." Aya said and sat down, still leaning against Appa. Sokka followed suit and sat next to his sister.
"What did you do after mom died?" he asked.
"What kind of a ridiculous question is that?" she demanded, angry that he would bring up their mother for no apparent reason.
"Just answer it, okay? I'm going somewhere with this." he said.
Aya hesitated for a bit, then answered "I ran away. I went... penguin sledding."
"You were afraid." he explained "So was I. We both didn't want to accept that mom was gone. You couldn't face it and you ran away to distract yourself. And you gave me a way to avoid facing it, too, by making me come after you."
Aya remained silent for a few seconds. She sighed and brought her knees up, then rested her head on them. "I know. He doesn't want to have to face that his whole world is gone and is never coming back." she said, defeated "I suppose I can be... a little more patient."
Sokka reached his hand to stroke his sister's head, but Aya grabbed it in mid-flight and without turning to him just said "I said you're right, so don't push your luck."
He pulled his hand back, then got up and left, a large grin plastered on his face.
Sokka was determined to set the record straight with those overdressed dancers that managed to ambush and capture him earlier. There was no way something like this could happen if they hadn't caught him completely unawares. And if they hadn't been six on one. Well, six on three, technically. But Aya's a girl and Aang's just a kid, so it really was six on one.
He followed the instructions he had gotten from a villager and arrived at a very old dojo. Though from the looks of it, it was kept in very good shape. Inside, he found the girls he was looking for and smirked smugly, as he leaned on the door. The girls were in the middle of a perfectly synchronized kata with their fans open in their hands. Sokka just cleared his throat rudely and, with condescension in his voice, said "Sorry, ladies, didn't mean to interrupt your dance lesson."
The warriors closed their fans and turned to look at him. He pushed himself off the door frame and walked inside. "I was looking for somewhere to get a little workout?" he said, as he began to stretch his arms above his head.
"Well, you're in the right place." the girl, who had spoken to him earlier, said "Sorry about yesterday. I didn't know you were friends with the Avatar."
Sokka's smile grew even wider. She was practically eating out of the palm of his hand. Apologizing, even after he mocked them so? If there was ever proof in the world that girls simply aren't cut out to be warriors, it'd this. He said, with even more smugness in his voice "It's alright," then barely withheld a chuckle and continued "I mean, normally I'd hold a grudge, but seeing as you guys are a bunch of girls, I'll make an exception."
"I should hope so," the same girl said sarcastically "A big, strong man like you? We wouldn't stand a chance."
Completely oblivious to the girl's mockery, Sokka continued pushing his luck "True. But don't feel bad. After all, I'm the best warrior in my village."
All six girls barely contained their laughter, yet their leader somehow managed to keep her sarcasm hidden from Sokka. "Wow! Best warrior, huh?" she asked, openly mocking him, but still without him catching on "In your whole village? Maybe you'd be kind enough to give us a demonstration."
Sokka was not expecting that. He looked surprised and felt like he had been caught with his pants down. "Oh..." he stuttered "Well, I mean... I..."
The same girl turned to the others and egged them on "Come on, girls! Wouldn't you like him to show us some moves?", to which the girls started giggling and voicing their agreement.
Seeing how obviously enthralled with him they were, Sokka replied with renewed confidence "Well, if that's what you want, I'd be happy to." after which he put his hand on the warrior's shoulder and tried to push her back, but she didn't budge. Starting to get a little frustrated, he tried to cover up his failing and said "Alright, you stand over there."
Sokka entered a fighting stance, while the girl simply took a step back and remained upright. "Now, this may be a little tough, but try to block me." he said and hunched his body up, then threw a punch straight at his opponent's face. She, however, barely moved a muscle, as she just raised her outstretched arm and poked him in the shoulder with her fan, making him yelp in pain and pull back, rubbing his shoulder.
"Heh heh... good." he said, his confidence waning "Of course, I was going easy on you."
"Of course." the girl echoed sarcastically. Sokka was starting to get annoyed at this girl. He regained his stance and said "Let's see if you can handle this!", synchronizing the last word with a roundhouse kick, which his opponent simply slid under, then she gently nudged him, making him fall on his back. She then stood upright, looking at him with a confident smile and fanned her face.
"That does it!" Sokka yelled, his pubescent voice cracking, then got up and launched himself at the girl with no regard to form or safety, only to have her grab him by the arm with one hand and by the shoulder with the other, spinning him around. After a few rotations, she changed position, spinning him the other way, making him very dizzy. After a few seconds of this, she suddenly stopped, making him topple over, but before he had time to fall, she loosened his belt and tied his arm to his foot, making him jump forward a few times on one foot before finally falling flat on his face.
The girl then dropped all pretense, mockery dripping from her voice. "Anything else you want to teach us?" she asked, to which Sokka could only blush in frustration and anger.
"There she is, girls. Me in a past life." Aang said, pointing upward at the now fully-restored statue of Kyoshi. The girls all stare in wonder, no doubt having never seen the statue looking so good.
"You were pretty!" Koko exclaimed, shaking around a passed out Momo in her arms. Aang gave her a puzzled look, then noticed Aya picking up supplies from a store behind her. Not breaking eye contact with the waterbender, he said "Excuse me for a moment, ladies.", then went over to Aya, much to the disappointment of the young girls.
He walked up behind her and poked her shoulder gently. "Listen, Aya, I'm-" he began, but was cut off. "Oh, Avatar. Here, carry this." she said and shoved a basket full of supplies in his hand. "You'll be happy to learn I'm no longer angry with you. Now let's go, we have a long road ahead." she continued and turned to leave, motioning for him to follow.
Aang almost keeled over from the unexpected weight of the basket, but quickly adjusted and lifted it up. "I'm glad you're not mad at me anymore, but I can't right now." he said, looking back at the girls. Aya stopped cold in her tracks, barely managing to choke out a "What?"
"I promised the girls I'd give them a ride on Appa." he explained, then perked up and turned back to Aya, who was still facing the other way, "Why don't you come with us? It'll be fun!"
Aya didn't respond right away, still flabbergasted at how oblivious to everything the twelve-year-old Avatar was. Suddenly, something shiny in the basket caught Aang's eye.
Three marbles. Two blue ones and one that was a beautiful mix of blue, green, white and red. Had Aya bought these for him?
"Did you..?" he said and trailed off, as it dawned on him what those marbles represented. He paused for a second. "Aya, I'm so-" he started, only to be cut off by the older waterbender. "Go." she said plainly, then in a fluid motion turned around, took the basket from his hand and started walking off. He made a motion to grab her by the arm and stop her, but the girls from before had apparently had enough waiting, as they crowded Aang and pulled him away.
"Come on, Aangie, you said we'd ride on your sky bison!" Koko exclaimed angrily. Aang simply hung his head in defeat - he couldn't disappoint the girls, no matter how badly he felt about his actions towards Aya. He just hoped the ride would be quick and he could get back and apologize properly, so they could leave.
Sokka came back to the hut of the Kyoshi Warriors. He had time to think over what had happened during their last encounter, and once thing stuck out above all in his head - he was wrong. He was dead wrong. Those girls were warriors of a caliber he could only hope to achieve one day. Especially their leader - he had never met a warrior like her. She was almost the equal of his father and she was literally less than half his age.
He had to do something. Obviously being girls didn't stop them from becoming such good warriors, but what he had done and said had shamed him greatly. And it had given him perspective he lacked. He had greatly exaggerated his own skills as a warrior and that was one thing he could do something about. The way forward was clear - even if it was very difficult.
Sokka walked in through the open door of the dojo and lightly knocked on the door frame to announce his presence, keeping his head down, his attitude completely changed from last time. The warriors stopped their training and looked at him. Their leader stepped forward again, however the watertribesman's novelty had apparently worn off for her, as she looked very angry at the interruption.
Sokka spoke up barely, "Uh.. hey."
"Hoping for another dance lesson?" she barked at him.
Sokka rubbed his elbow and avoided eye contact with her, muttering a "No... I... Well, let me explain."
The warrior took another step forward, looking down at Sokka's hunched over frame "Spit it out! What do you want?"
Sokka couldn't look her in the eye and hesitated for a second - the urge to just run away and forget this place ever existed almost taking over. But he managed to keep going and dropped to his knees, looking down, hands together in a begging gesture and finally said "I would be honored if you would teach me."
She put her hands on her hips, still frowning. "Even if I'm a girl?" she asked.
Still looking down, Sokka said "I'm sorry if I insulted you earlier. I was... wrong."
The warrior crossed her arms in front of her, her hostility dropping slightly, as she explained "We normally don't teach outsiders, let alone boys."
"Please make an exception." Sokka interjected without missing a beat "I won't let you down."
This caused her to smile, as she continued, her tone now much friendlier than before. "All right. But you have to follow all of our traditions."
Sokka jumped to his feet, excited and smiling. "Of course, Sifu!" he exclaimed.
"My name's Suki. And when I say you have to follow all our traditions, I mean all of them." she said, her smile turning into a mischievous smirk.
"Do I really have to wear this?" Sokka complained. He was dressed in the traditional green warrior's uniform that the other Kyoshi Warriors were wearing, right down to the face paint. "It feels a little... girly."
"It's a warrior's uniform," Suki explained, "You should be proud."
She approached him and ran her hands over the threading of the uniform "The silk threads symbolize the brave blood that flows through our veins.", then she touched the insignia on his helmet. "The gold insignia represents the honor of the warrior's heart." she explained.
Sokka looked down at the uniform again, seeing it in a new light. "Bravery and honor." he said to himself, echoing Suki's words.
"Hey Sokka!" Aang popped his head in and exclaimed "Nice dress!", after which he disappeared, dragged off again by Koko and her cohorts.
Sokka looked embarrassed for a second, but perked right back up, as Suki looked him over one last time, satisfied.
Zuko stood on the bow of his ship. They were racing toward Kyoshi island, hoping to catch the Avatar before he had time to evade them yet again. After all the years he'd spent looking for him, he could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Soon, he would return home. He would reclaim his honor. He would sit at his father's side.
And he would be with his sister. The only person, aside from his uncle and mother, to have ever shown him a semblance of compassion and support. Growing up with her, he was happy.
"Is everything alright, Prince Zuko?" Iroh interrupted.
The prince took a few moments to get his thoughts in order, then replied, still looking forward. "Of course, uncle," he said "Why would anything be wrong?" There was a sense of optimism in the prince's voice, which Iroh was not used to hearing. But it was not hard to figure out why that was. His nephew was getting his hopes up that he would capture the Avatar soon and be allowed to return home.
"I wonder what Azara will say when I come home with the Avatar as my prisoner." Zuko said, amused.
Iroh took a step forward, now standing right next to his nephew. He put a hand on his shoulder and smiled broadly.
"She will be proud of her big brother," he said, then turned to look at Zuko "She always has been."
"Fire Lord Ozai," Zhao said, kneeling in front of the leader of the Fire Nation "Your exile of a son has gone out of control! He's gone after the Avatar, despite my orders not to interfere. He even attacked me! He needs to-"
"Commander Zhao," came the cold voice of the Fire Princess, stopping Zhao in mid-sentence. "You will show more respect when speaking of your Prince."
Zhao grimaced and faced Azara. "With all due respect, Princess, he is an ex-" he began, but was cut off.
"He is royalty and the son of your Fire Lord. Whatever else he might be does not concern you." Azara said, raising her voice and sending a sharp glare at the Commander. She narrowed her eyes slightly and continued. "Now. I'll try to forget your lack of respect for Prince Zuko if you can rephrase what you said."
The commander gritted his teeth at being ordered around by this tiny little girl. Ozai, on the other hand, seemed quite amused. Not that he'd condone his daughter's protectiveness of her brother, but it was nice to see she could be every bit as forceful as he was and that she commanded respect despite her young age and small frame.
"Of course, Princess." Zhao muttered finally and bowed his head. "Fire Lord Ozai. Prince Zuko has disobeyed a direct order by going after the Avatar. What's more, he did so by physically attacking me. I require the means to stop him."
Before her father had time to react, Azara interjected, smirking. "There, that wasn't too hard, was it?" she mocked "And, correct me if I'm wrong, commander. But was my brother's mission not exactly that - to capture the Avatar?"
"We cannot possibly leave such an important task to someone so young an inexperienced!" Zhao protested.
"Are you questioning the Fire Lord's decision?" Azara asked, amused.
"I.. no, of course not!" the commander stuttered, looking at Ozai, who seemed to be getting slightly tired of his presence. "But surely the way he attacked me requires your attention!" he finally said, bringing out his trump card.
"Ah, yes. The attack. You, of course, mean the Agni Kai." Azara said, surprising Zhao. "Which you lost, might I add. To a sixteen year old exile." she continued, rubbing it in. "But that was hardly your fault. He is the Fire Lord's son, of course, there is little shame in losing to someone so talented." Azara was apparently bent on humiliating the commander fully.
Ozai finally spoke up "So, commander, is there anything you need to bring to my attention, or are you wasting my time?"
Zhao was speechless. He knew the Fire Lord cared little for the exile, so he would listen to him, but Azara's presence was something he completely failed to account for. "N-no, your highness. I apologize, please excuse me." he managed to stutter out, bowing his head deeply.
Ozai made a dismissive gesture with one hand and simply said "Go, then.", after which Zhao immediately got up and left as quickly as he could. The Fire Lord then turned his attention to his daughter.
"I know how you feel about your brother, Azara. But Zhao was right. Zuko is an exile - he therefore is under Zhao's command. And you know very well that they did not have an Agni Kai. An Agni Kai is a test of honor. What test could there be for someone stripped of theirs?" Ozai said.
Azara lowered her head, unable to find fault in her father's words. She paused for a second, hoping to find some way to defend Zuko, but came up empty. "Yes, Father. You are right." she said, defeated.
Sokka was advancing quickly. In just a few hours, he had memorized several of the Kyoshi Warriors' moves. Still, there is only so much one can learn in mere hours.
"You're not going to master it in one day." Suki said, smiling "Even I'm not that good."
"I think I'm starting to get it." Sokka argued, then spun the fan he was holding a few times, stepped forward, quickly turned around and slashed at the air in front of him with the fan, accidentally releasing it in mid-slash, sending it flying out of the dojo's front door and wedging it right into a tree, causing some built-up snow to fall from it.
Suki poked her head out to look at the damage Sokka caused, then quietly chuckled to herself and turned back to him. "It's not about strength." she explained "Our technique is about using your opponents' force against them. Loosen up."
She took out her own fan and extended her arm, pointing it right at Sokka's face, who immediately assumed a combat stance. "Think of the fan as an extension of your arm," Suki explained "Wait for an opening, then..."
As she trailed off, Suki launched a quick attack at the watertribesman, who deftly ducked under it, coming up behind her and pushing her, increasing her momentum and knocking her off balance. She spun in the air to avoid landing on her face, and instead hit the ground with her behind. Sokka was surprised at himself at first, but then crossed his arms and grinned smugly.
Suki immediately jumped to her feet and said "I fell on purpose to make you feel better!"
Sokka's smile grew even wider and he pointed at Suki, exclaiming "I got you! Admit I got you!"
Suki grabbed Sokka's finger and twisted it, making him kneel in front of her and yelping in pain, as she also smiled widely and said "Okay, it was a lucky shot.", then released his finger and took on a more serious expression. "Let's see if you can do it again."
"Well, the Koi fish are obviously not coming," Aang said impatiently "We might as well go back."
"But you promised!" Koko said, pleading with the young avatar "We want to see you ride them!"
Aang couldn't believe his luck. Until a few hours ago, the girls were eating out of the palm of his hand. Now they were calling the shots and he just couldn't bring himself to say "no". He hoped Aya would at least be willing to listen to his apology later. He sat on the shore, staring out into the water.
"Children, leave." came a stern female voice behind Aang. He turned around and saw Aya, holding a basket, shooing away Aang's groupies. He immediately got up and smiled at her.
"Why should we leave?" Koko demanded "We're having fun with Aangie!"
Aya's eye twitched and she muttered "Aangie..?", after which she leaned down and whispered something in the girl's ear. Koko's expression changed instantly into one of shock and horror, after which she ran off, the other girls following her, saying a quick "Bye, Aang!"
Aang tilted his head slightly, puzzled at what Aya could have said to drive the girls away so quickly. He approached her just as she turned around to face him.
"What did you say to them?" he inquired.
"Oh, nothing. I might've mentioned something about ice cream headaches." she said nonchalantly, which only made it sound even more sinister. "Aang, we need to talk." she then continued, but was interrupted by the young airbender.
"Yeah, we do," he said, scratching the back of his head and looking away "I'm sorry."
"It's-" she started, but was again cut off.
"No, I mean it. I'm really sorry," Aang said, looking at her with determination in his eyes "I've acted irresponsibly. And all of these detours won't help us stop the Fire Lord. You were right."
Aya couldn't help but smile at the maturity Aang was showing. Maybe she was wrong about him.
"No more detours. Our next stop will be Omashu. It's on the way to the Northern Water Tribe and I'll probably be able to find an earthbending master there." he said and smiled.
Aya reached into the basket she was holding and took out something, then handed it to Aang. It was the marbles from before. He took them and held them to his chest, bowing his head.
"Thank you." he said.
"No need to thank me. I... might have overreacted when I threw yours out into the water." she said, then quieted down for a few seconds, trying to find the right words.
"I... apologize, too. I've been too rough on you and pushing you too hard. I know it can't be easy, what you've been through. But Sokka and I are in it with you and you can depend on us. I know I come off as a loner, and truth be told - I do prefer to be alone and not depend on anyone." she said, then shook her head and smiled "But I'm not that stupid to think that I, or even you, could do this alone."
Aang smiled broadly and did the only thing that felt natural in a moment like this - he hugged her. Or at least, he tried. When she saw his intention, she put her hand on his head, holding him in place, unable to reach her with his short arms.
"Don't push your luck, short stuff." Aya said, annoyed, then tipped him back. Aang just spread his arms and fell on the sand on his back, laughing. Aya's scowl broke and she also started laughing.
"So," she said after the two shared an honest laugh "You were going to show me how you ride the Koi fish."
Aang jumped to his feet and brought his arms up to his face in an excited manner. "Really?" he asked incredulously "You want to watch me ride them?"
Aya put her hands on her hips and spoke in a teasing manner "Only if you don't embarrass yourself."
Aang could hardly believe it, so he quickly started disrobing, lest she change her mind. He ran and jumped straight into the water, promptly airbending his way out, his teeth chattering, and complained "Cold!", then immediately dove again and swam out to sea. In all his excitement, he failed to notice that there were no Koi fish around anymore. Aang turned around and just as he was about to start swimming to shore, since he really didn't want to stay in the freezing water if there were no fish to ride, a giant dorsal fin emerged from the water behind him. Aya froze in horror.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
"The only reason you should be interrupting me, is if you have news about the Avatar." Zuko said, an uncharacteristic calm in his voice.
His uncle pulled out a scroll from his belt and unfurled it. "Well, there is news, Prince Zuko," Iroh said, looking at the scroll "But you might not like it. Don't get too upset."
What could be so bad? Any news about the Avatar was sure to be good news - even if he was causing devastation in the Fire Nation - at least they'd know where he was. If there is news about him, it's bound to bring Zuko closer to his destiny, no doubt. "Uncle, you taught me that keeping a level head is a sign of a great leader. Now, whatever you have to say, I'm sure I can take it." he said, sounding more optimistic than Iroh was used to hearing him.
"Okay, then." the large man said, hesitated for a second, then continued "We have no idea where he is."
The candles in the room suddenly erupted as the Fire Prince's eyes shot open in disbelief and anger. As the flames died down, they left thick black soot on the ceiling, making it obvious they would have set ablaze the entire room, had it not been made out of iron. Zuko yelled "What?", after which he got to his feet and turned to face Iroh, who was shielding his face from the flames, then casually pulled out a fan from his robe and started to cool himself off.
"You should really open a window in here." he said, oblivious to his nephew's rage. Zuko swiftly snatched the parchment from Iroh's hand and said "Give me the map!", then began examining it.
"Well, there have been multiple sightings of the Avatar, but he is impossible to track down." Iroh said.
"How am I ever going to find him, Uncle?" he asked, desperation in his voice, having seen the impossible crisscrossing pattern of the Avatar's movement on the map "He is clearly a master of evasive maneuvering!"
"You have no idea where you're going, do you?" Sokka asked Aang from Appa's saddle, frustration obvious in his voice. Sokka was sewing the back of his pants, which had obviously suffered some kind of accident from the group's travels. The flying bison also looked quite worse for wear, as he obviously hadn't had a bath in a few days - his fur matted and muddy. Momo perked his ears up at Sokka's question and dashed to Aang, climbing on his shoulder.
"Well..." Aang said happily "I know it's near water."
"Wonderful." Aya interjected, her annoyance with the Avatar quite plain "Well, it's alright. It's not like we have any urgent business. Not like there's some world-threatening villain out there that only the Avatar can defeat." she continued sarcastically, looking up, then looked at Aang and finished, mockingly "Oh, wait."
"Come on, Aya, don't be like that." he said, smiling, then continued enthusiastically "Look, I've been practicing my airbending!"
Aang pulled out a couple of marbles from a cloth pouch on his belt and proceeded to airbend them between his hands, so that they spun around each other in a perfect circle. Aya smacked the marbles out of his hands angrily and glared at him "Stop playing around! I swear, this detour had better be worth it, Avatar."
Aang looked sadly at the marbles, as they fell in the water below Appa and muttered "My marbles..."
Sokka got up from his sewing and put his hand on his sister's shoulder, then was about to whisper something to her, but she obviously expected it, so she turned around sharply and commanded "Get back to sewing, because my gloves also need some work!"
Sokka immediately retreated back to his spot with a quick "Yes, ma'am." and kept working. Aang, while obviously still upset, was trying to keep up his chipper attitude and said "Relax, Sokka. Where we're going, you won't need any pants!", to which Sokka and Aya simply looked at him in bewilderment.
"We just made a pit stop yesterday," Sokka protested "Shouldn't we get a little more flying done before we camp out?"
The group had landed on a snowy beach near some mountains. The area looked quite deserted and lifeless, though Aang was staring out into the the distance, determined, with his hand on his brow.
"Sokka's right, Avatar. At this rate, it'll be another hundred years before we get to the Northern Water Tribe." Aya added. Aang turned around to face them, looking a little spaced-out, yet strangely enthusiastic.
"But Appa's tired. Aren't you, boy?" he asked and turned to his big, furry friend. Appa let out a small unamused grunt. Aang and the siblings just stared at him, then Aang spoke up again. "I said - aren't you, boy?", to which Appa let out a slightly louder grunt, still looking quite disinterested in whatever the tiny hairless creatures in front of him were talking about. Aya looked angry again, though at this point that could be considered her default mood, while Sokka was underwhelmed with Appa's performance.
"Yeah, that was real convincing." he said, then, as if he suddenly realized he just doesn't have the energy to argue anymore, he hung his head and continued "Still, hard to argue with a ten-ton magical monster. "
Aang seemed to completely disregard the two's reactions and ran towards the beach excitedly. He pointed out into the distance, then turned around to make sure everyone was paying attention and said "Look!"
Aya and Sokka momentarily forgot about all their protests and looked with eyes wide open, taking a few steps after Aang, watching as a giant fish popped out of the water. The young Avatar began to disrobe and explained "That's why we're here. Elephant Koi, and I'm gonna ride it! You guys have got to watch me!", then jumped into the air, aiming to dive into the water, only to fall flat on his face in the sand after Aya grabbed onto his sash in mid-air.
"We don't have time for this!" Aya yelled as Aang spit out sand "We're wasting more and more time in frivolous pursuits."
Sokka walked up to his sister and silently put her hand on his shoulder. She turned around and was about to argue with him some more, but his disappointed expression was enough to stop her. She had overreacted, that was obvious now. Sokka gestured towards Aang and Aya turned around to look at the boy. He was sitting on the sand, staring at his feet, sulking.
"Aang, I..." Aya began, but a sound far off in the sea interrupted her. Aang jumped to his feet and all three stared out into the water again. They saw one of the Koi fish attempt to jump out of the water, only to sink back down and not resurface before it even left the water. It looked incredibly unnatural - like it was snatched from beneath the waves.
"What just happened?" Aang asked, drawing an "I don't know." from Aya.
"Well, let's not stick around to find out." Sokka said, his distaste for where they were was plainly obvious "Time to hit the road!"
No sooner had Sokka's mouth closed, that a band of warriors in green armor and white face-paint descended on the group. Each tried to struggle, but were immediately overwhelmed and captured.
Aang, the siblings and even Momo were carried silently somewhere. They couldn't see from under their blindfolds and any questions they asked were met with complete silence. After what seemed like hours, the group was propped up and tied to some kind of large wooden pole.
"You three have some explaining to do," came a gruff voice. The three perked up at that point and turned to face where the voice came from "And if you don't answer all our questions, we're throwing you back in the water."
Aya, not wasting any time, immediately shot back. "You ambush us, tie us up, prop us up as your prisoners - and you expect us to spill everything?" she asked "I demand you remove our blindfolds at once!"
Suddenly, armored glove-clad hands reached out and removed everyone's blindfolds. In front of the group stood a bearded old man in a blue and white coat, looking very angry and suspicious of the group. Next to him were five young female warriors, wearing cumbersome and ornate Earth Kingdom-green armor with gold highlights and intricate white face paint with red and black highlights. Sokka looked quite shocked and immediately asked "Who are you? Where are the men who ambushed us?"
One of the girls stepped forward, clenching her fist, obviously angry with Sokka's insinuation and replied "There were no men. We ambushed you," after which she seemed to collect herself and put on a haughty smile "Now tell us, who are you and what are you doing here?"
The young watertribe warrior looked surprised at first, but quickly regained his composure and turned to Aang, obviously amused, expecting a similar reaction from the young airbender, who looked inquisitively at his friend. Sokka quickly turned back to the armor-clad girl and said incredulously "Wait a second, there's no way that a bunch of girls took us down."
The Earth Kingdom warrior grabbed Sokka by the collar and pulled his face closer to hers. There was fire in her eyes as she said "A bunch of girls, huh? The unagi is gonna eat well tonight."
Sokka looked confused. "What's an unagi?" he asked.
Sensing a need to salvage the situation, Aya chimed in "Please ignore my idiot brother. It's obvious we're not enemies."
"It's my fault," Aang interjected. Aya, Sokka, the Earth Kingdom warrior and even Momo turned to look at him, surprised at his assertion. "I'm sorry we came here. I wanted to ride the elephant koi."
The old man joined the conversation, questioning the gang "How do we know you're not Fire Nation spies?" he inquired "Kyoshi stayed out of the war so far. And we intend to keep it that way!"
Aya looked dumbfounded. "Are you blind?" she asked, unable to believe anyone would be dumb enough to mistake her for Fire Nation scum "My brother and I are obviously water tribe! How many Fire Nation people with dark skin and blue eyes do you know?" The ignorance of this old man was staggering to her - she had heard she should respect her elders, and she always had until then, but obviously that was only when they actually deserved her respect. She then continued "And him," she said, pointing her head at Aang "He has a tattoo of a blue arrow on his forehead! Do you think many firebenders get those?"
The old man looked impressed - what she pointed out was very convincing. But for all he knew, the Fire Nation could have indoctrinated these kids into spying for them. Maybe the airbenders weren't all dead - just captured and brainwashed into following the Fire Nation.
Aang interrupted at that point and said excitedly "Wait, this island is named after Kyoshi? I know Kyoshi!"
The old man released an incredulous "Ha!" at the boy's words "How could you possibly know her?"
He pointed to a large statue of a woman dressed very much like the female warriors that had captured the gang. The statue was in disrepair - the colors had faded, there were cracks in the wood and the whole thing was slightly slanted, but Aang somehow clearly recognized her. The old man then spoke up again "Avatar Kyoshi was born here four hundred years ago. She's been dead for centuries."
Aang looked at the statue for a few seconds, then looked down at the ground and said in a soft voice "I know her because I'm the Avatar."
The young girls and the old man all looked shocked at the revelation, but the warrior that had interrogated Sokka earlier moved on to Aang. "That's impossible! The last Avatar was an..." she started, but stopped midway through her sentence, looking at Aang's tattooed forehead, then turned to Aya, who finished her thought "An airbender. One who disappeared a hundred years ago."
Aang immediately perked up and beamed a large grin "That's me!"
The old man was obviously still not convinced, though, and simply pointed at the group tied to the pole and said "Throw the impostor in the sea!"
The Earth Kingdom warriors slowly surrounded the pole threateningly and drew their steel fans, then slid them open, ready to attack. Sokka began looking around for something to use, while Momo began to scream and thrash around under the ropes. Aya leaned forward and looked at Aang angrily "Now would be a good time, airhead!"
As if only now remembering his airbending, Aang pushed against the ropes, then launched himself in the air, pulling the ropes with him all the way up to one of the fans in the statue's hands, snapping the ropes on it. Everyone looked at the Avatar with open mouths, having trouble digesting what had just happened. Once Aang was free, he rolled off the statue, then jumped up and landed on a cushion of air, smiling broadly at the stupefied crowd in front of him. The old man was flabbergasted and stuttered a bit as he spoke "It's true... you are the Avatar!"
Aang's smile faded from his face and was replaced by a stern impression, as he began "Now..."
There was tension in the air. The warriors and the old man knew they had angered the Avatar and they would no doubt be on the receiving end of a harsh punishment. They hoped that the might bender would at least spare the other people of the village. Aya smirked - finally the little idiot would show some backbone.
"... Check this out!" Aang finished, his ear-to-ear grin back on his face, as if it had never left, then lifted his hand up in the air, airbending the ropes he was tied up with just a second ago high up and twisting them into a spiral, which he then flew around overhead, impressing the villagers, who now cheered with glee. One particular villager was so impressed, he began throwing his arms in the air, releasing a sound that could best be described as a mix between a dying giraffesloth and an overexcited hamstersquirrel, until he began frothing at the mouth and collapsed on the ground, seizing up.
Meanwhile, Sokka and Momo looked relieved, while Aya looked like she would break out of the ropes at any second and strangle Aang.
"The Avatar's on Kyoshi Island?" Zuko yelled at the servant he had just gotten the tip from. News travelled fast in this day and age, especially within the Fire Nation. And especially news about someone who was supposed to be dead. The Fire Prince got up from the dining table. "Uncle, ready the rhinos. He's not getting away from me this time."
Iroh simply pointed at the smoking fish in front of his nephew and asked "Are you going to finish that?", to which Zuko snatched his plate and said in an aggressive tone "I was going to save it for later!", then turned to leave the room.
Iroh looked at his nephew leave, then as soon as he was out of the room, he crossed his arms and sulked, having been denied the delicious treat.
A short while later, after apologizing profusely to the Avatar and his friends, the old man - the village elder, Oyaji - arranged a feast in their honor. The town was abuzz with news of the Avatar's arrival and people were hard at work, making their town look presentable to their guests. A group of people had already started repairing, cleaning and repainting the statue of Avatar Kyoshi. Others were working on cleaning up the roads and even doing some maintenance on the houses. Appa had already started his feast - lying on his side, grunting lazily, with two villagers shoveling hay into his giant maw.
Aang, Sokka, Aya and Momo were in a large hall in the biggest building in town - the elder's house, they presumed. There was a very large table in front of them, full of all kinds of food - from steamed rice, to cooked henpig and even fried turkeyfrog wings. A villager arrived and placed yet another dish on the table in front of Aang and Aya, this one filled to the brim with desserts. Momo immediately dove into a bowl of fruit, while Aang threw his hands up in the air in excitement and exclaimed "Alright!", then began stuffing his face with the desserts "Dessert for breakfast!"
Aya looked at some transparent orange wiggly thing on one of the plates in front of her. She couldn't even begin to fathom what the thing was and would be hard-pressed to identify it as food. Aang snatched up two such desserts and stuffed them in his already full mouth, saying a muffled "These people sure know hot to treat an Avatar!" He then took one of the wiggly things and offered it to Aya "Come on, Aya, let's call a truce! You can't stay mad at me forever!"
The young waterbender snatched the dessert from Aang's hand and stuffed it in her mouth, trying to look sternly at him with mixed results and said "I'll be the judge of that!", then tried to chew, but only succeeded in biting her tongue, since the squishy thing melted in her mouth. This caused her to gasp and accidentally inhale a bit of it, starting a coughing fit. Momo perked his ears up and looked at her quizzically, then decided she's not worth the attention with such tasty fruit nearby and continued eating some strawberries. Aang looked concerned, but unsure what to do, as Aya's eyes became red and started watering from the coughing. After a few seconds, she stopped coughing and looked really mad, yelling "I'm going outside with Appa!", then stormed out of the room.
Aang turned to Sokka, who was sitting in a corner, with his arms crossed, sulking. "I guess Aya really doesn't like me." he said, to which Sokka replied dismissively "No, she just hates fun."
The older watertribesman then got up and sat next to Aang, a serious expression covering his face. "But she does have a point, Aang." he said and put his hand on the airbender's shoulder "You're the only one who can stop the Fire Lord. These stops are nice, but we're wasting time."
The Avatar lowered his head and didn't say anything. What could he say? That he was scared? That he still couldn't believe he was really the Avatar?
Sokka smiled and put his hand on Aang's head. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna get on your back, you've got my sister for that." he said, then paused, his smile waning "But you really should think about what you want to do."
Aang faced Sokka, a wide smile replacing his frown. "I know what I want to do. I want to help people and I want people to feel good." he said "Look at how happy this village is to see me - they've almost repaired and repainted Kyoshi's statue in less than a day!"
"Just don't let it go to your head, hotshot." Sokka said, then began stuffing his face, as well.
Aang jumped up and opened a window to see how Appa was doing. The moment the window opened, a collective girlish squeal was heard and the Avatar looked around for its origin. A group of about a dozen little girls were cheering for him. Aang blushed bright red, a huge grin plastered on his face. Just then, a snowball the size of his head smacked him right in the face, almost toppling him over. He shook his head to get rid of the snow, his whole face now a bright red from the cold, then looked down only to see a furious Aya, once again storming off.
"I'm guessing my sister isn't a fan of you having fans." Sokka said in between bites out of a turtleduck wing. Aang turned to him and said "I've gotta go talk to her.", then rushed out of the building.
Exiting the building, he saw Aya going over a bridge and dashed towards her. One of the girls that had cheered him on a second ago saw him leave and, with a deadly serious expression on her face, pointed at him and yelled "Get him!", prompting all of the girls to dash after Aang. Noticing them, he picked up the pace and ran across the bridge, only to be confronted with another group of girls at the other end. He screeched to a halt and immediately turned back, but the first group was already on the bridge. Realizing he had nowhere to go, he jumped in the air and created an air wisp, holding on for dear life. The wisp, however, faded into nothing just a few seconds later and he fell right in the center of the cheering mob of little girls.
The girls had cajoled Aang into getting a painting done with him and their self-appointed leader, Koko. He was a little uneasy, but hey, it couldn't hurt, right? She had chosen a nearby waterfall as the backdrop for their painting and the village artist was all set up with canvas and paints, ready to commemorate the day the Avatar visited Kyoshi Island. Unfortunately for him, the other girls didn't really like the idea of being left of the painting and every time he looked up, there were more girls around Aang, until it got to the point that more than a dozen girls were literally on top of each other, with Aang pinned at the bottom. The painter simply got up and left.
Aang tried to wiggle himself free and turned to Koko. "I really should go see how my friends are doing." he said. The girl looked grumpily at him and replied "But you've been with them all this time! We just want to spend some time with you, Aangie."
"I... guess it couldn't hurt." Aang said, unable to say no to his adoring public.
Aya had almost had her fill of rage-inducing events. First, the Avatar turns out to be a spineless coward that can't see what's right in front of him. Then, they take detour after detour just to indulge the kid's curiosity. And now, as if it's not enough that he isn't doing anything to fulfill his role as Avatar, he's letting people practically worship him for effectively doing nothing. She crossed her arms and leaned on Appa, who was fast asleep after eating half the village's hay. She looked at Aang, who was still showing off, using airbending to look like he's doing pushups with nothing but his breath. She had half a mind to freeze his mouth shut and let him faceplant into the dirt.
Sokka saw his sister sulking and went to check up on her. "Everything okay, sis?" he asked.
"No, everything is not alright, brother. Look at him," she said and gestured at Aang, who was now moving around the girls on his air scooter "He's just a kid."
"Well, yeah. He's twelve." Sokka said plainly.
"You know what I mean." his sister replied, frustrated.
"Yeah, I do. But you gotta understand - he's a kid before he's the Avatar. It's not like he was born mature and understanding the full extent of his responsibility to he world." Sokka explained.
"That's... true. But still - his people were killed, the whole world is on the brink of being enslaved by the Fire Nation. It's time he grew up." Aya said and sat down, still leaning against Appa. Sokka followed suit and sat next to his sister.
"What did you do after mom died?" he asked.
"What kind of a ridiculous question is that?" she demanded, angry that he would bring up their mother for no apparent reason.
"Just answer it, okay? I'm going somewhere with this." he said.
Aya hesitated for a bit, then answered "I ran away. I went... penguin sledding."
"You were afraid." he explained "So was I. We both didn't want to accept that mom was gone. You couldn't face it and you ran away to distract yourself. And you gave me a way to avoid facing it, too, by making me come after you."
Aya remained silent for a few seconds. She sighed and brought her knees up, then rested her head on them. "I know. He doesn't want to have to face that his whole world is gone and is never coming back." she said, defeated "I suppose I can be... a little more patient."
Sokka reached his hand to stroke his sister's head, but Aya grabbed it in mid-flight and without turning to him just said "I said you're right, so don't push your luck."
He pulled his hand back, then got up and left, a large grin plastered on his face.
Sokka was determined to set the record straight with those overdressed dancers that managed to ambush and capture him earlier. There was no way something like this could happen if they hadn't caught him completely unawares. And if they hadn't been six on one. Well, six on three, technically. But Aya's a girl and Aang's just a kid, so it really was six on one.
He followed the instructions he had gotten from a villager and arrived at a very old dojo. Though from the looks of it, it was kept in very good shape. Inside, he found the girls he was looking for and smirked smugly, as he leaned on the door. The girls were in the middle of a perfectly synchronized kata with their fans open in their hands. Sokka just cleared his throat rudely and, with condescension in his voice, said "Sorry, ladies, didn't mean to interrupt your dance lesson."
The warriors closed their fans and turned to look at him. He pushed himself off the door frame and walked inside. "I was looking for somewhere to get a little workout?" he said, as he began to stretch his arms above his head.
"Well, you're in the right place." the girl, who had spoken to him earlier, said "Sorry about yesterday. I didn't know you were friends with the Avatar."
Sokka's smile grew even wider. She was practically eating out of the palm of his hand. Apologizing, even after he mocked them so? If there was ever proof in the world that girls simply aren't cut out to be warriors, it'd this. He said, with even more smugness in his voice "It's alright," then barely withheld a chuckle and continued "I mean, normally I'd hold a grudge, but seeing as you guys are a bunch of girls, I'll make an exception."
"I should hope so," the same girl said sarcastically "A big, strong man like you? We wouldn't stand a chance."
Completely oblivious to the girl's mockery, Sokka continued pushing his luck "True. But don't feel bad. After all, I'm the best warrior in my village."
All six girls barely contained their laughter, yet their leader somehow managed to keep her sarcasm hidden from Sokka. "Wow! Best warrior, huh?" she asked, openly mocking him, but still without him catching on "In your whole village? Maybe you'd be kind enough to give us a demonstration."
Sokka was not expecting that. He looked surprised and felt like he had been caught with his pants down. "Oh..." he stuttered "Well, I mean... I..."
The same girl turned to the others and egged them on "Come on, girls! Wouldn't you like him to show us some moves?", to which the girls started giggling and voicing their agreement.
Seeing how obviously enthralled with him they were, Sokka replied with renewed confidence "Well, if that's what you want, I'd be happy to." after which he put his hand on the warrior's shoulder and tried to push her back, but she didn't budge. Starting to get a little frustrated, he tried to cover up his failing and said "Alright, you stand over there."
Sokka entered a fighting stance, while the girl simply took a step back and remained upright. "Now, this may be a little tough, but try to block me." he said and hunched his body up, then threw a punch straight at his opponent's face. She, however, barely moved a muscle, as she just raised her outstretched arm and poked him in the shoulder with her fan, making him yelp in pain and pull back, rubbing his shoulder.
"Heh heh... good." he said, his confidence waning "Of course, I was going easy on you."
"Of course." the girl echoed sarcastically. Sokka was starting to get annoyed at this girl. He regained his stance and said "Let's see if you can handle this!", synchronizing the last word with a roundhouse kick, which his opponent simply slid under, then she gently nudged him, making him fall on his back. She then stood upright, looking at him with a confident smile and fanned her face.
"That does it!" Sokka yelled, his pubescent voice cracking, then got up and launched himself at the girl with no regard to form or safety, only to have her grab him by the arm with one hand and by the shoulder with the other, spinning him around. After a few rotations, she changed position, spinning him the other way, making him very dizzy. After a few seconds of this, she suddenly stopped, making him topple over, but before he had time to fall, she loosened his belt and tied his arm to his foot, making him jump forward a few times on one foot before finally falling flat on his face.
The girl then dropped all pretense, mockery dripping from her voice. "Anything else you want to teach us?" she asked, to which Sokka could only blush in frustration and anger.
"There she is, girls. Me in a past life." Aang said, pointing upward at the now fully-restored statue of Kyoshi. The girls all stare in wonder, no doubt having never seen the statue looking so good.
"You were pretty!" Koko exclaimed, shaking around a passed out Momo in her arms. Aang gave her a puzzled look, then noticed Aya picking up supplies from a store behind her. Not breaking eye contact with the waterbender, he said "Excuse me for a moment, ladies.", then went over to Aya, much to the disappointment of the young girls.
He walked up behind her and poked her shoulder gently. "Listen, Aya, I'm-" he began, but was cut off. "Oh, Avatar. Here, carry this." she said and shoved a basket full of supplies in his hand. "You'll be happy to learn I'm no longer angry with you. Now let's go, we have a long road ahead." she continued and turned to leave, motioning for him to follow.
Aang almost keeled over from the unexpected weight of the basket, but quickly adjusted and lifted it up. "I'm glad you're not mad at me anymore, but I can't right now." he said, looking back at the girls. Aya stopped cold in her tracks, barely managing to choke out a "What?"
"I promised the girls I'd give them a ride on Appa." he explained, then perked up and turned back to Aya, who was still facing the other way, "Why don't you come with us? It'll be fun!"
Aya didn't respond right away, still flabbergasted at how oblivious to everything the twelve-year-old Avatar was. Suddenly, something shiny in the basket caught Aang's eye.
Three marbles. Two blue ones and one that was a beautiful mix of blue, green, white and red. Had Aya bought these for him?
"Did you..?" he said and trailed off, as it dawned on him what those marbles represented. He paused for a second. "Aya, I'm so-" he started, only to be cut off by the older waterbender. "Go." she said plainly, then in a fluid motion turned around, took the basket from his hand and started walking off. He made a motion to grab her by the arm and stop her, but the girls from before had apparently had enough waiting, as they crowded Aang and pulled him away.
"Come on, Aangie, you said we'd ride on your sky bison!" Koko exclaimed angrily. Aang simply hung his head in defeat - he couldn't disappoint the girls, no matter how badly he felt about his actions towards Aya. He just hoped the ride would be quick and he could get back and apologize properly, so they could leave.
Sokka came back to the hut of the Kyoshi Warriors. He had time to think over what had happened during their last encounter, and once thing stuck out above all in his head - he was wrong. He was dead wrong. Those girls were warriors of a caliber he could only hope to achieve one day. Especially their leader - he had never met a warrior like her. She was almost the equal of his father and she was literally less than half his age.
He had to do something. Obviously being girls didn't stop them from becoming such good warriors, but what he had done and said had shamed him greatly. And it had given him perspective he lacked. He had greatly exaggerated his own skills as a warrior and that was one thing he could do something about. The way forward was clear - even if it was very difficult.
Sokka walked in through the open door of the dojo and lightly knocked on the door frame to announce his presence, keeping his head down, his attitude completely changed from last time. The warriors stopped their training and looked at him. Their leader stepped forward again, however the watertribesman's novelty had apparently worn off for her, as she looked very angry at the interruption.
Sokka spoke up barely, "Uh.. hey."
"Hoping for another dance lesson?" she barked at him.
Sokka rubbed his elbow and avoided eye contact with her, muttering a "No... I... Well, let me explain."
The warrior took another step forward, looking down at Sokka's hunched over frame "Spit it out! What do you want?"
Sokka couldn't look her in the eye and hesitated for a second - the urge to just run away and forget this place ever existed almost taking over. But he managed to keep going and dropped to his knees, looking down, hands together in a begging gesture and finally said "I would be honored if you would teach me."
She put her hands on her hips, still frowning. "Even if I'm a girl?" she asked.
Still looking down, Sokka said "I'm sorry if I insulted you earlier. I was... wrong."
The warrior crossed her arms in front of her, her hostility dropping slightly, as she explained "We normally don't teach outsiders, let alone boys."
"Please make an exception." Sokka interjected without missing a beat "I won't let you down."
This caused her to smile, as she continued, her tone now much friendlier than before. "All right. But you have to follow all of our traditions."
Sokka jumped to his feet, excited and smiling. "Of course, Sifu!" he exclaimed.
"My name's Suki. And when I say you have to follow all our traditions, I mean all of them." she said, her smile turning into a mischievous smirk.
"Do I really have to wear this?" Sokka complained. He was dressed in the traditional green warrior's uniform that the other Kyoshi Warriors were wearing, right down to the face paint. "It feels a little... girly."
"It's a warrior's uniform," Suki explained, "You should be proud."
She approached him and ran her hands over the threading of the uniform "The silk threads symbolize the brave blood that flows through our veins.", then she touched the insignia on his helmet. "The gold insignia represents the honor of the warrior's heart." she explained.
Sokka looked down at the uniform again, seeing it in a new light. "Bravery and honor." he said to himself, echoing Suki's words.
"Hey Sokka!" Aang popped his head in and exclaimed "Nice dress!", after which he disappeared, dragged off again by Koko and her cohorts.
Sokka looked embarrassed for a second, but perked right back up, as Suki looked him over one last time, satisfied.
Zuko stood on the bow of his ship. They were racing toward Kyoshi island, hoping to catch the Avatar before he had time to evade them yet again. After all the years he'd spent looking for him, he could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Soon, he would return home. He would reclaim his honor. He would sit at his father's side.
And he would be with his sister. The only person, aside from his uncle and mother, to have ever shown him a semblance of compassion and support. Growing up with her, he was happy.
"Is everything alright, Prince Zuko?" Iroh interrupted.
The prince took a few moments to get his thoughts in order, then replied, still looking forward. "Of course, uncle," he said "Why would anything be wrong?" There was a sense of optimism in the prince's voice, which Iroh was not used to hearing. But it was not hard to figure out why that was. His nephew was getting his hopes up that he would capture the Avatar soon and be allowed to return home.
"I wonder what Azara will say when I come home with the Avatar as my prisoner." Zuko said, amused.
Iroh took a step forward, now standing right next to his nephew. He put a hand on his shoulder and smiled broadly.
"She will be proud of her big brother," he said, then turned to look at Zuko "She always has been."
"Fire Lord Ozai," Zhao said, kneeling in front of the leader of the Fire Nation "Your exile of a son has gone out of control! He's gone after the Avatar, despite my orders not to interfere. He even attacked me! He needs to-"
"Commander Zhao," came the cold voice of the Fire Princess, stopping Zhao in mid-sentence. "You will show more respect when speaking of your Prince."
Zhao grimaced and faced Azara. "With all due respect, Princess, he is an ex-" he began, but was cut off.
"He is royalty and the son of your Fire Lord. Whatever else he might be does not concern you." Azara said, raising her voice and sending a sharp glare at the Commander. She narrowed her eyes slightly and continued. "Now. I'll try to forget your lack of respect for Prince Zuko if you can rephrase what you said."
The commander gritted his teeth at being ordered around by this tiny little girl. Ozai, on the other hand, seemed quite amused. Not that he'd condone his daughter's protectiveness of her brother, but it was nice to see she could be every bit as forceful as he was and that she commanded respect despite her young age and small frame.
"Of course, Princess." Zhao muttered finally and bowed his head. "Fire Lord Ozai. Prince Zuko has disobeyed a direct order by going after the Avatar. What's more, he did so by physically attacking me. I require the means to stop him."
Before her father had time to react, Azara interjected, smirking. "There, that wasn't too hard, was it?" she mocked "And, correct me if I'm wrong, commander. But was my brother's mission not exactly that - to capture the Avatar?"
"We cannot possibly leave such an important task to someone so young an inexperienced!" Zhao protested.
"Are you questioning the Fire Lord's decision?" Azara asked, amused.
"I.. no, of course not!" the commander stuttered, looking at Ozai, who seemed to be getting slightly tired of his presence. "But surely the way he attacked me requires your attention!" he finally said, bringing out his trump card.
"Ah, yes. The attack. You, of course, mean the Agni Kai." Azara said, surprising Zhao. "Which you lost, might I add. To a sixteen year old exile." she continued, rubbing it in. "But that was hardly your fault. He is the Fire Lord's son, of course, there is little shame in losing to someone so talented." Azara was apparently bent on humiliating the commander fully.
Ozai finally spoke up "So, commander, is there anything you need to bring to my attention, or are you wasting my time?"
Zhao was speechless. He knew the Fire Lord cared little for the exile, so he would listen to him, but Azara's presence was something he completely failed to account for. "N-no, your highness. I apologize, please excuse me." he managed to stutter out, bowing his head deeply.
Ozai made a dismissive gesture with one hand and simply said "Go, then.", after which Zhao immediately got up and left as quickly as he could. The Fire Lord then turned his attention to his daughter.
"I know how you feel about your brother, Azara. But Zhao was right. Zuko is an exile - he therefore is under Zhao's command. And you know very well that they did not have an Agni Kai. An Agni Kai is a test of honor. What test could there be for someone stripped of theirs?" Ozai said.
Azara lowered her head, unable to find fault in her father's words. She paused for a second, hoping to find some way to defend Zuko, but came up empty. "Yes, Father. You are right." she said, defeated.
Sokka was advancing quickly. In just a few hours, he had memorized several of the Kyoshi Warriors' moves. Still, there is only so much one can learn in mere hours.
"You're not going to master it in one day." Suki said, smiling "Even I'm not that good."
"I think I'm starting to get it." Sokka argued, then spun the fan he was holding a few times, stepped forward, quickly turned around and slashed at the air in front of him with the fan, accidentally releasing it in mid-slash, sending it flying out of the dojo's front door and wedging it right into a tree, causing some built-up snow to fall from it.
Suki poked her head out to look at the damage Sokka caused, then quietly chuckled to herself and turned back to him. "It's not about strength." she explained "Our technique is about using your opponents' force against them. Loosen up."
She took out her own fan and extended her arm, pointing it right at Sokka's face, who immediately assumed a combat stance. "Think of the fan as an extension of your arm," Suki explained "Wait for an opening, then..."
As she trailed off, Suki launched a quick attack at the watertribesman, who deftly ducked under it, coming up behind her and pushing her, increasing her momentum and knocking her off balance. She spun in the air to avoid landing on her face, and instead hit the ground with her behind. Sokka was surprised at himself at first, but then crossed his arms and grinned smugly.
Suki immediately jumped to her feet and said "I fell on purpose to make you feel better!"
Sokka's smile grew even wider and he pointed at Suki, exclaiming "I got you! Admit I got you!"
Suki grabbed Sokka's finger and twisted it, making him kneel in front of her and yelping in pain, as she also smiled widely and said "Okay, it was a lucky shot.", then released his finger and took on a more serious expression. "Let's see if you can do it again."
"Well, the Koi fish are obviously not coming," Aang said impatiently "We might as well go back."
"But you promised!" Koko said, pleading with the young avatar "We want to see you ride them!"
Aang couldn't believe his luck. Until a few hours ago, the girls were eating out of the palm of his hand. Now they were calling the shots and he just couldn't bring himself to say "no". He hoped Aya would at least be willing to listen to his apology later. He sat on the shore, staring out into the water.
"Children, leave." came a stern female voice behind Aang. He turned around and saw Aya, holding a basket, shooing away Aang's groupies. He immediately got up and smiled at her.
"Why should we leave?" Koko demanded "We're having fun with Aangie!"
Aya's eye twitched and she muttered "Aangie..?", after which she leaned down and whispered something in the girl's ear. Koko's expression changed instantly into one of shock and horror, after which she ran off, the other girls following her, saying a quick "Bye, Aang!"
Aang tilted his head slightly, puzzled at what Aya could have said to drive the girls away so quickly. He approached her just as she turned around to face him.
"What did you say to them?" he inquired.
"Oh, nothing. I might've mentioned something about ice cream headaches." she said nonchalantly, which only made it sound even more sinister. "Aang, we need to talk." she then continued, but was interrupted by the young airbender.
"Yeah, we do," he said, scratching the back of his head and looking away "I'm sorry."
"It's-" she started, but was again cut off.
"No, I mean it. I'm really sorry," Aang said, looking at her with determination in his eyes "I've acted irresponsibly. And all of these detours won't help us stop the Fire Lord. You were right."
Aya couldn't help but smile at the maturity Aang was showing. Maybe she was wrong about him.
"No more detours. Our next stop will be Omashu. It's on the way to the Northern Water Tribe and I'll probably be able to find an earthbending master there." he said and smiled.
Aya reached into the basket she was holding and took out something, then handed it to Aang. It was the marbles from before. He took them and held them to his chest, bowing his head.
"Thank you." he said.
"No need to thank me. I... might have overreacted when I threw yours out into the water." she said, then quieted down for a few seconds, trying to find the right words.
"I... apologize, too. I've been too rough on you and pushing you too hard. I know it can't be easy, what you've been through. But Sokka and I are in it with you and you can depend on us. I know I come off as a loner, and truth be told - I do prefer to be alone and not depend on anyone." she said, then shook her head and smiled "But I'm not that stupid to think that I, or even you, could do this alone."
Aang smiled broadly and did the only thing that felt natural in a moment like this - he hugged her. Or at least, he tried. When she saw his intention, she put her hand on his head, holding him in place, unable to reach her with his short arms.
"Don't push your luck, short stuff." Aya said, annoyed, then tipped him back. Aang just spread his arms and fell on the sand on his back, laughing. Aya's scowl broke and she also started laughing.
"So," she said after the two shared an honest laugh "You were going to show me how you ride the Koi fish."
Aang jumped to his feet and brought his arms up to his face in an excited manner. "Really?" he asked incredulously "You want to watch me ride them?"
Aya put her hands on her hips and spoke in a teasing manner "Only if you don't embarrass yourself."
Aang could hardly believe it, so he quickly started disrobing, lest she change her mind. He ran and jumped straight into the water, promptly airbending his way out, his teeth chattering, and complained "Cold!", then immediately dove again and swam out to sea. In all his excitement, he failed to notice that there were no Koi fish around anymore. Aang turned around and just as he was about to start swimming to shore, since he really didn't want to stay in the freezing water if there were no fish to ride, a giant dorsal fin emerged from the water behind him. Aya froze in horror.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
