"Hang in there, buddy..." Aang murmured. "We've broken through Fire Nation blockades before... It was worse back then..."
A bolt of lightning flashed past Appa's left side.
From the ground.
"...Or maybe not." A massive boulder hurtled right past Appa's nose...
Startled, Aang even leaned over the saddle to see what was happening below… and saw a young girl dressed in Earth Kingdom colors… standing calmly among a group of Fire Nation soldiers.
The wind carried a few scraps of conversation up to him…
"...hit him?"
"My apologies, my lady... overshot," one of the soldiers said with a bow.
The girl gave a small nod. And then an entire hailstorm of rocks shot toward Appa. Stunned, Aang reflexively knocked the barrage aside with a dense gust of air, but by now he was bordering on shock.
"An earthbender... fighting alongside Fire Nation soldiers... and they call her my lady..."
Aang felt as though his whole world had turned upside down.
Had everyone gone mad?
First there had been the Earth Kingdom general who'd threatened Katara, deliberately forced him into the Avatar State, and wanted him to assassinate the Fire Lord. Then Bumi's own apprentices had blamed him for every misfortune that had befallen Omashu. And now this.
What was happening?
Why?
Weren't the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribe supposed to be fighting the Fire Nation?
Earthbenders were supposed to be the good guys.
Firebenders were supposed to be the bad guys.
So how could any of this make sense?
The rest passed in a blur. He dodged, fought off attack after attack, and dodged again. At one point he had to snatch Momo away from an incoming stream of fire. Then, at some point, Appa banked sharply and flew toward the prison. A moment later, Katara and Sokka were beside them.
"Aang! We have to go! Come on! What's wrong with you?!" Katara's shout finally snapped him out of his daze. She was shaking him and practically yelling into his ear.
"Y-Yeah... we have to go... right..." The Avatar gave himself a shake. "Come on, buddy. Just a little farther," the boy urged the obviously exhausted sky bison.
"Sokka! Come on, snap out of it! What did they do to you?"
"Walrus-beavers... We're all walrus-beavers..."
"The Herald?! Was it the Herald?"
"Huh?" The Water Tribe warrior turned sluggishly toward the girl. "No... the spirits spared me that, but... there are people there who are just as terrifying… He's insane. Completely insane..."
Aang stopped listening to Sokka's mumbling after that. His friend, all things considered, seemed to be in one piece.
Appa was another matter.
The bison was wounded and badly exhausted. He couldn't stay in the air much longer, which meant they needed to find somewhere to land.
Somewhere as difficult to reach as possible.
Too bad there was no way they'd make it all the way to the Southern Air Temple.
***
Three Hours Later. Small Drawing Room, Governor's Palace. Chan and Company.
I silently took another sip from my cup, boring a hole through the silk-covered wall with my eyes. The hot spiced tea, which usually left my tongue pleasantly tingling and my taste buds reveling in the delicate blend of herbs, went down like plain water.
Azula sat beside me, likewise sipping tea and likewise staring at the wall. Our spiritual states were remarkably synchronized. We probably even looked alike at the moment: eyes faintly glowing amber, expressions of perfect, transcendent calm, and blue flames flickering in the candles and wall torches.
Our friends were clearly making every effort not to disturb us. Even their breathing had become soft and careful, and I was sincerely grateful for it. I'd never imagined that pure, refined fury could become so tightly intertwined with something like... childish hurt and utter bewilderment. I honestly couldn't describe it any other way.
Suki was carefully massaging my shoulders with all the caution of a bomb disposal expert, while Ty Lee was doing exactly the same for Azula. The princess and I took another synchronized sip, continuing to stare into space.
The awkward silence dragged on.
"No," Azula finally said, unable to hold it in any longer. "I simply don't understand. What is that creature?"
"He's not a creature." I took another sip of tea. "He's just an uneducated idiot. And we're too smart. Which is exactly why... he keeps shoving our faces into life's cesspool. Again and again. His whole team is like that."
"And you're remarkably calm," the princess hissed.
"The truth is..." I glanced into my empty cup. "I really want to burn someone alive."
The cup was immediately refilled by Iroh, who was personally—personally!—serving tea this time.
"Thank you, General." I nodded to the old man. "But for now, my self-control is still holding. So I'm just sitting here drinking tea."
I took another sip.
"A lot of tea."
Another sip.
"A lot of calming tea..."
"So what happened?" Ozai's brother asked, looking around at all of us. "I think it would do you good to talk about it. Besides, you can enlighten an old man about recent events. I'm afraid I can no longer keep up with you youngsters."
"It was a disaster," Mai declared flatly. "A complete disaster."
"In keeping with the finest traditions of that vile, disgusting, miserable little..." Zuko launched into an exhaustive list of the Avatar's many "titles."
He kept going for nearly three full minutes without repeating himself once. I was in complete agreement and could've added a few more descriptors of my own, but there was no rush.
For now...
Tea.
"So what exactly happened?" Iroh repeated sympathetically.
"All right." I let out a sigh. "Things actually started out pretty well. We spotted our flyer and rushed to intercept him. Mai noticed that Aang was the only one riding the bison, so part of our group, together with Toph, spread out through the surrounding area to look for his companion and our decoy."
"And?"
"We found... the boy. Drowned. Apparently, without the Avatar looking over her shoulder, Katara stopped pretending to be a sweet little girl. " Zuko practically spat the words. "As for the Water Tribe girl herself, we couldn't find a trace."
"Meanwhile," I picked up the story, "Aang spent the entire time playing the role of a flying target. Blast managed to hit him once, but the bison got away with nothing worse than a couple of burns and the charming aroma of singed fur. Then, after about an hour of this 'chase,' he flew back to the prison and..."
I rubbed my forehead.
"...picked up Katara and Sokka."
(End of Chapter)
P@treon: /SadRaven
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