chapter
[Agna Qel'a - Northern City Edge]
The Avatar was going to save her, he was going to save everyone.
Yue held tightly onto those words as her Kyoshi Warrior captors chained her to a little sled in the arctic tundras. She felt a phantom shiver run through her paralysed shoulders as they did. Her purple parka dress may have been keeping her warm enough, but watching the black and red silhouettes of the Fire Nation soldiers coordinating their efforts all over their staging ground was frightening.
All the while, the blizzard raged over them all. Snow piling and winds howling.
It was as if the land itself were protesting these invaders' presence here. Snowfall battered the Fire Nation soldiers' red-black coats and freezing blizzard winds whipped their banners as if nature itself was trying to tear those Fire Nation emblems down. When she was little, her father had taught her that the North Pole's climate was their greatest ally, able to repel any attack aimed at Agna Qel'a. They were safe, he had said, nestled in the icy crown of the world.
These Fire Nation soldiers had made a liar out of him.
Through the blizzard, steam hissed out their helmets as their voices bellowed their orders, and snow melted right of their red armour as they hauled around their chests of looted spoils and pushed around her kinsmen- their heads covered in thick fur bags- as easily as if they would have back in their warm lands. And Yue wondered just how many more of these Fire Nation staging grounds were spread across her homeland. She guessed that it didn't matter right now. The North Pole couldn't stop the Fire Nation offensive, and she could only pray that the Avatar and the rest of her people would prove to be stronger.
They were.
They had to be. Because the Northern Water Tribe can't just end like this, right?
It was little comfort when she was here. Chained, paralysed and wholly unable to turn her head away, Yue had a good view of the city she had lived all her life gripped in a brutal war.
A Fire Nation soldier in his dark greatcoat and red armour walked up to them with a fur bag in hand and offered it to the lead Kyoshi Warrior.
"Thanks, sergeant, but no bag for this one. Khan's orders." The Kyoshi Warrior replied. 'Suki,' Yue recalled from her encounter with Sokka, 'An evil-sounding name for an evil girl.' Her dark green cloak turned just enough for Yue to spot the deep blue eyes glancing in her direction. "This one needs to see the consequences of her father refusing the peace we offered."
Her father had talked to them? But no one was told of any peace talks happening. Did her father meet the Fire Nation in secret?
No, that couldn't be it. She didn't believe them.
Still, the surprise was so much that Yue almost missed it when the paralytic numbness began to fade. A rush of sensations flooded back into her limbs. It was a relief, even if she was still chained to the sled. She could at least move her jaw then- she could at least speak. Her first instinct was to shout something courageous like 'The Moon and Ocean Spirit are with us!' or on behalf of Agna Qel'a like 'Please spare my people.' or even 'How could you do that to Sokka?' But no, as the only home she'd known all her life continued to burn in the distance, it wasn't any of those braver, more selfless things. Instead, her first words were...
"What are you going to do with me?"
Yue turned her head away as soon as she realised what she said, the shame gnawing at her. She had wanted to be brave, like Sokka. But she wasn't him. Not at all.
Her six Kyoshi Warriors captors shared a look with their pale-painted faces and their deep green cloaks- looking like a commune of frightening spirits under the moonlight. Suki was the one to speak. "Khan made it clear that you're very important." She said softly, "Important enough that he's going to personally keep you close once we're done here."
"Is... is 'Khan' your leader?" Yue repeated- she kept hearing that name.
"Of this entire Fire Nation force, yes." Suki replied, "Commander Khan, the Giant of the Fire Nation."
Yue gasped in surprise and fear. Even she had heard about the perso- No, that force of nature- from some of the palace guards' gossipping. The Breaker of Fortresses. A giant of metal and violence whose shadow darkened the Earth Kingdom. A Fire Nation warrior as brutal as he was powerful. And she was going to be brought before him? She squeezed her eyes shut, and whispered, "Moon Spirit deliver me from evil."
"Deliver?" One of the Kyoshi Warriors guffawed. "Yeah, I wish the Moon Spirit delivered!"
"Would have saved us the trouble of hauling you all the way up here ourselves. That parka-dress hides a lot."
"It does?"
"Aha! So you're the one who skipped a turn carrying her! You'd know it if you had felt how heavy she is!"
"You little sneak!"
"Yeah, I had to carry her thrice!"
"We can't all be like you, Suki. Your back is used to lugging around hefty things."
"Well, you better learn to love carrying- you're taking a double turn next time!"
"Dammit!"
Her city was burning. She was captured. And now, her captors were making fun of her weight. Yue didn't think that her night could get any worse.
That was until a strange creature with claws came bolting through the snow- like a brown polar-bear-dog but without eyes and a nose that looked like a starfish. Another grotesque Fire Nation creature... Moreover, a woman in a deep red coat rode atop it. Following her, a squad of soldiers rode by on ostrich-horses, their presence slicing through the blizzard's howling.
"June!" Suki flagged down the woman atop the strange creature who was leading the squad, her voice carrying over the storm, "Where are you and the Lieutenant off to?"
"We'll be backing Khan up!" The 'June' woman said as she rode up to them- even Yue could hear the anticipation in her more mature voice, "It's payback time, and I gotta be honest, I've been waiting for this for a longtime."
"Payback?" Suki repeated, "So, Khan changed his mind? We're actually going up against the Avatar now?"
"Khan, the 1st Squad and me? Sure." June casually replied as if fighting the Avatar was some small thing, "You six though? He didn't mention taking you along, so I guess it's one of those 'standing orders' deals."
"I guess that's for the best." Yue heard Suki's sigh of relief escaping as a frozen mist from her red-painted lips, "I don't think we can raise our katanas against Aang- against Kyoshi's reincarnation."
Hearing the Kyoshi Warriors speak so hesitantly against fighting the Avatar, it struck Yue with a surge of hope right in her heart. The Avatar was coming just as she had been praying for. He was their chance, her chance. Buoyed by this news, she caught that fleeting courage within her and held it to their faces like whalebone talismans against evil spirits.
"The Avatar will bring balance to the world!" she declared as bravely as she wished her first words had been. The chains binding her to the sled rattled as she pressed against them, her voice growing louder, "He'll stop Khan! He'll stop the Fire Lord! And... And he'll stop you all! As long as the Avatar is on our side, Agna Qel'a will never surrender!"
Silence from her captors.
"Pfft." June scoffed- her dark eyes peering down at her, "This cute little arctic rabaroo you got here has a nice voice, Suki. I bet Khan's going to love her. Anyway, we should get going. Don't know how long that air nomad can last against Khan."
Yue's statement, meant to be bold, echoed hollowly against the backdrop of the ongoing preparations for battle, and it was clear to Yue that her words had no impact on the warriors in front of her as if they've heard it all before. The incoming battle with the Avatar himself was merely another obstacle to overcome for them. The blizzard winds sweeping away the words from the air like smoke.
"Nyla, follow Khan! Hyah!" June cracked her whip and her mount charged ahead, kicking up a cloud of snow as they galloped to the burning city of Agna Qel'a as '1st Squad' ostrich-horse riders followed close by. The powerful creatures they rode on leered hungrily at her as they passed by.
"Not even the Avatar can win against Khan." Suki told her, and a vivid image flashed in Yue's head.
Aang, the boy in red and orange robes who was even shorter than she was, stood surrounded by these creatures and soldiers. Holding his airbending staff against the giant shadow of this 'Commander Khan.'
For a moment she began to doubt, but then the light of the moon shone briefly through the smoke- catching her eyes and shining down on Agna Qel'a; and that ragged piece of hope surged brighter in her too. That's right... The Water Tribes stood with the Avatar. She, all her kin... even Katara, Sokka's sister who actually convinced Master Pakku to teach a girl like her, was on his side. The entire Northern Water Tribe was with the Avatar. And, for the first time in what felt like her entire life, real courage filled her chest.
"No. It is not how 'the Avatar will win.'" Yue whispered- meeting Suki's eyes head on, "It is how we will win."
She believed in Aang.
Because even this 'Khan' was but a man. He did not have the cosmic, otherworldly power that the Avatar had.
[Agna Qel'a - City Center]
"It is nice to finally meet you, Avatar Aang."
Katara knew they were in trouble, definitely more than ever before.
Her blue eyes glanced to where Appa was still gingerly testing his injured leg, and the winces of pain from the massive bison wasn't looking too good. Her lips tightened into a thin, nervous line. Looks like running away wasn't an option now, and they were going to have to face their enemy head on. Couldn't have had a worse enemy to do forced in this position either. They could handle Zuko, pirates, and regular Fire Nation soldiers plenty. In a way, they weren't that special or particularly strong.
The one in front of them was different.
There, standing across the icy courtyard, was the infamous Giant of the Fire Nation himself. Made of spiked red armour and violence as he towered before them with a presence that seemed to eclipse the moon.
"My apologies, I did not plan for our meeting to be on such short notice."
A deep voice echoing from within that skull faced helmet resounded across the courtyard. With a smooth motion, he drew his own weapon- the [Meteor Hammer] that had hit Appa. A long coil of chain rattled in his armoured grip as he swung the ball of solid metal the size of her head around.
A bead of sweat- ice cold- ran down her neck, and she forced her both to move.
"If you want Aang, then you'll have to go through me!" she affirmed, shifting her stance as she readied to bend the water around her.
Aang joined her, standing by her side with a tight grip on his airbending staff. "It doesn't matter who the Fire Lord sends, you're not catching me!"
"I'm not here to capture you, Avatar." Khan replied. "No, I'm here to deprive you of one of your allies- your most valuable one in fact."
"You mean..." Katara gasped as Khan's gaze ostensibly turned to her.
"You are the lynchpin to the Avatar's success so far." His deep voice boomed through the cold air, "Without you, the Avatar will never master all four elements- likely wouldn't even master three. Your importance to his cause cannot be understated, and removing you will ensure that the Avatar will falter and fail- which makes you just as good a target as the Avatar himself. We'll even bury you rather than have ostrich-horses feast on your corpse, out of respect for your pivotal role in this entire war."
Katara couldn't help but feel the corners of her mouth tug into a satisfied smirk.
"Just try it, you oversized tin can!" She flourished her water whip around in a complex, slicing kata meant to intimidate and show off how far she's come as a waterbender.
She knew that she should be scared for her life, but when even the boogeyman of the Fire Nation considered her not just considered her a vital part of Team Avatar, but also a legitimate threat to them? It felt good. It actually felt even better than showing all those chauvinist Northern Water Tribe leaders that a girl can be better at Waterbending than them! Having her importance recognised by someone outside the Water Tribes... All the work she put into training so hard under Master Pakku seemed worth it for just this moment.
"If you think that you can beat me just because you're feeling big in your spiky armour, then guess again!" She said, standing taller, "You picked the wrong master waterbender to mess with-"
"I'm not talking about you."
"-tonight!" She finished her kata with a proud shout, before realising what he said, "Wait, what?"
"Like I said, I'm not talking about you." Khan explicitly looked at her directly, "You are only a step above that lemur over there in terms of actual utility and importance to your little group."
"Excuse me?!" Katara sputtered- her face burning in embarrassment and indignation. Meanwhile, Momo perched on a nearby rafter- chattered in protest too.
"No, the one I'm talking about is the real strength behind this small team of the Avatar, the fulcrum upon which your entire quest relies." His focus shifted- looking behind her. "Isn't that right, Appa?"
"RAWR!"
"Appa?!" Katara whipped her head around to look at the injured flying bison, then back at the Fire Nation commander, "You think Appa is more useful and important to Aang than me?!"
"Katara, now's not the time!" Aang reminded her.
"Yes. As you can see, Avatar Aang agrees with me." Khan said in a matter-of-fact tone, "His bison is far, farmore important. He can stand to lose you, but not his bison."
"Katara, don't listen to him, he's trying to turn us against each other!"
"Yeah, I can see that!" Katara fumed, her annoyance fuelling her bending now, "Aang, we're taking this guy down!"
"Right. Together." Aang agreed, and the two of them shared a glance and a nod. The snow around them seemed to quiet, as if nature itself was holding its breath for the confrontation to come.
"This should be interesting." The Fire Nation commander broke the silence as he began walking towards them at an almost casual pace- his footsteps echoing across the silent courtyard.
"Oh, it's going to be more than that!" Katara shouted back, her anger now channelled into focus as she drew water from the nearby waterways.
Meanwhile, Aang kept her target busy- darted in from the side, swinging a massive [Wind Blast] from the end of his staff, straight at their enemy. Katara had seen that move before- had watched as it swept squad after squad of Fire Nation soldiers off their feet and blew them far away, but the Giant just leaned against it as if it was just a strong breeze.
Seeing that, Katara didn't bother with anything basic with her gathered water. Instead, she led with a larger attack: a massive surge of water drawn from the waterways around the courtyard. The water twisted and turned at her command, forming a powerful [Rolling Wave] aimed directly at Khan. It was one of her largest attacks- she figured that it'd be able to wash away even those powerful Komodo-rhinos that the Fire Nation had.
The Giant didn't even break stride.
With a swing of his steel-encased arm, the ball shot forward in a straight line and punched right through her attack with enough force to destabilise the entire wave- the water splashing harmlessly outwards on the streets.
"Like I said: Just a step above the lemur." He laughed.
Gritting her teeth at the insult, Katara wasn't about to give up. "I'll show you!"
She raised her arms high, calling upon the water from her previous attack to gather and rise. It swirled around his armoured legs, then with a gesture, she made the water pull in on itself to turn it into ice- encasing Khan from the waist down in solid ice and rooting him like a tree. The [Ice Crawler's Clasp] was a solid move (Both figuratively and literally, Master Pakku had flatly joked to her) anytime there was an abundance of water near her target. It made it an especially good followup move after a pushing water attack too.
Except- with an almost casual yank, Khan stepped out as if it- the solid block of ice shattering away like fragile glass from the red of his armour.
"W-what?" Katara stammered, eyes wide at that display of raw strength. "How strong was this guy?!"
"Hm, that [Chainbreaker] was a good purchase." He muttered to himself, then baleful green eyes glowed through that skull-faced helm to stare straight at her, "My turn."
"Watch out, Katara!" Aang shouted at her- launching a [Wind Blast] at something not immediately in her vision.
Every instinct in her screamed in unison, as she subconsciously realised that she had a split second chance to keep living. Her parka-covered arms raised- solidifying an [Ice Shield] powered by frantic survival instinct in the path of certain death that was Khan's Meteor Hammer.
Metal struck ice. Ice shattered and...
"Argh!" Katara cried out as that great iron ball slammed into her side. Her vision flashing white as pain exploded from her ribs. She barely heard Aang's shout as she collapsed to the ground- her cheek slamming against the icy courtyard floor.
"KATARA!" His shout was followed by a loud whooshes of his airbending.
"Urgh!" Katara tried to say she was alright. Or at least, alive. She slipped her hand under parka, pressed her palm against her side and, through the tearing pain, tried to remember her [Ocean's Waters] training with Healer Yagoda. 'Strength from the Moon, Life from the Ocean.' She repeated the mantra in her head as she tried to heal her side. The soothing coolness of the healing water thankfully numbed the pain slightly.
Meanwhile, the battle raged without her.
Desperately gasping for air, Katara barely followed it- just a pair of shadows dancing furiously across the courtyard floor where she lay clutching her ribs. Then there was a powerful whoosh of wind. And the metal ball of Khan's meteor hammer shattered the snow-covered floor right beside her.
"Leave Katara alone, Khan! You're fighting me now!" Aang shouted out, no doubt the one who had pushed aside the Fire Nation commander's weapon, and also the only reason why she was still alive now.
"You're the one putting them here, Avatar!" Khan continued to shout as Katara struggled to suck in air and heal her side. "You chose to bring your friends into this war! You chose to have them join your battles and place harm's way. They were ready to follow you everywhere; so you pointed them into the meat grinder that is the Great War!"
"That's because the Fire Nation is leaving me and everyone else no choice!"
"You did have a choice! Twice over, in fact!" Khan's voice boomed, "You made your choice when you had forsaken your duties as the Avatar; and now after a hundred years, with the consequences of your inaction close to becoming irreversible, you've made a different choice by picking up your staff as a weapon! You travelled across the Four Nations and reignited the war by giving people false hope!"
"The hope that I gave them is not false!" Aang denied, swirling up [Wind Blasts] in an effort to keep Khan distracted- powerful, cold winds buffeting Katara this way and that, "We saved them from you! From the Fire Nation! And we're going to save the rest of the world too!"
"Save?" Khan shouted back as he did his best to pulp Aang with his Meteor Hammer, "Where do you think Haru and his father are? The Kyoshi Warriors? That abbey of nuns? Jeong-Jeong's tribals? You didn't save anyone so much as you galvanised them to form resistance movements! Pushing them to war, to their imprisonments. And to their executions."
"Don't make it sound like it's my fault!" Aang angrily shouted, "You did those things! You're the one hurting people across the Earth Kingdom and here in Agna Qel'a! This is your soldiers' and your doing! This war is your fault!"
"No, Avatar Aang..." Katara heard the Fire Nation commander reply- his tone solemn, "We were born into this war just like everyone else. You were the one who turned your back on it."
Katara pushed herself up to a seated position just in time to see the battle lull again. The Fire Nation commander's words apparently got to Aang as he stood there, his jaw tight and his teeth gritted.
"Aang, don't believe him!" She gasped- ignoring the flare of pain as she spoke up, "It- Rgh! It's not your fault! You'll bring balance to the world and end this war!"
"No, we are going to be the ones to end it." Khan continued, sparing a glance at her, "Even if we have to go through you and your friends, Avatar!"
"If this is between you and me, call off your attack on Agna Qel'a, Commander Khan!" Aang shouted back.
The rattling of chains stopped, "I'd be happy to."
"... What?" Aang replied, clearly caught off-guard, and so was Katara if she was going to be honest.
"Avatar Aang, you should know that we already have Chief Arnook and most of the chiefs as well." The Giant revealed. "Even if your side wins this battle, Agna Qel'a won't survive."
The cold pit in Katara's stomach yawned open. They had the head chieftain and the chiefs? Water Tribe society wasn't as rigid as Earth Kingdom's but... they still needed their chieftains- their leaders. She'd seen what happens to Water Tribe villages when they're left without their leaders: She and Sokka have been living in a village just like that after all.
Khan gestured with his large armoured hands to the chaos and destruction all around them.
"See all this fighting and dying? You can stop it now." He spoke and Katara heard an eagerness- maybe even a touch of pleading in the giant's voice, "And the only thing you need to do is sign the piece of paper formalising what has already happened: Agna Qel'a losing this war."
Katara shook her head in denial, but kept silent.\- kept listening as the Giant kept speaking..
"Tell the rest of the Waterbenders to surrender, and all hostilities will immediately cease." He said, "The Fire Nation will go as far as to lend the services of our best healers and alchemists to aid in any injured citizen. I will personally see that this place is secured and the tribes of Agna Qel'a spared from any more warfare. No more hiding behind ice walls, no more naval skirmishes, and no more sailors lost to sea. This hundred year war will officially be over for them. Rebuilding and renovations will come, and so will free travel to and fro the mainland. Peace, Avatar Aang. Right here and right now."
"I..." Aang hesitated, and through the haze of pain, even Katara felt that an end to the fighting sounded good just about now.
*clang*
Metal rang out as Khan bowed his head as if hit, and something glinted in the moonlight as it clattered to the ground.
"A boomerang?" Katara's eyes lit up in recognition, "...Sokka?!"
"The Water Tribe will NEVER surrender to the Fire Nation!" Her brother's voice called out as he limped down the street and into the courtyard. A serious and angry expression on his normally happy-go-lucky face. The blood on his leg told her that he was hurt combined with the unwelcome news that the Princess had been kidnapped made Katara feel her heart drop. Things were worse than she thought, but he didn't sound like it did though, "Since you like yapping so much, why don't you start by telling me where you've taken Princess Yue!"
"You get one of those..." Khan grumbled, glancing back at her brother and remarking, "But thank you for delivering the good news, Princess Yue secured means that the Kyoshi Warriors were successful."
"Sokka, what does he mean by 'Kyoshi Warriors?!'" Katara gasped. "He can't be meaning Suki and the others from Kyoshi Island!"
"I knew it..." She heard Aang muttered, knuckles turning white where he gripped his staff.
"No time to explain more, but Suki turned on us!" Sokka shouted out. "Listen! This guy's the one leading the entire attack on Agna Qel'a, if we take him out, we save the city!"
"You won't be turning the tide of this battle." was Khan's worryingly calm reply, his Meteor Hammer swinging in wide circles again.
The time for talking was clearly dead and buried.
"Maybe." Sokka said with a cocky grin, "It's a good thing that I ran into some of my fellow warriors then! For the Water Tribe!"
Katara heard her brother whistle sharply and Katara gasped in relief as she saw the reassuring sight of a platoon of her brave Water Tribe kin in their blue parkas- rushing in from behind her brother to join the fight. Their rallying cry was the most beautiful thing Katara heard all night as they swarmed the Fire Nation Commander with their waterbending.
"For the Water Tribe! By the Moon Spirit, aid the Avatar!"
Meanwhile, Her brother hobbled to her side with his one good leg- picking up his boomerang along the way.
"Katara!" Sokka cried out as he reached her side. "You okay?! Are you hurt?"
He tried to lift her up by the shoulder on her injured side, but Katara immediately slapped his hand away. "Not on that side, Sokka!" She grunted, still clutching her injured side through her parka. "Got hit pretty bad there."
"Sorry. Let's get you away from the fighting for now!" Sokka grunted back as he did his best to drag her away with his one good leg- setting her down behind the cover of one of those trickling, ornately-carved fountains near where Appa was still trying to recover from his hit.
"Hey, Appa. He got you too, huh?" Sokka greeted their injured bison.
"Rawr."
"I think I can still help..." Katara gathered some water and began healing Appa's side, the sky bison shuddering as the water glowed and healed.
She glanced back to the battle to a reassuring sight.
A platoon of her brave Water Tribe kin in their blue parkas were doing tandem Waterbending- hammering at the Fire Nation commander with endless blows of ice and water. A continuous barrage of [Water Spouts], [Icicle Sprays], [Water Whips] and Aang's [Wind Blasts] flew through the air at a single target. No single Firebender they've met so far would have stood a chance, so it said something when their enemy still hadn't fallen yet. But the weight of their numbers seemed to be slowly tipping the scales, the combined Waterbending of a dozen Northern Water tribesmen proved to be too much even for even the Fire Nation Giant. And he was taking some very hard hits. A boulder made of solid ice struck him head on. A floor turned into an icy mirror tested his balance. Water Spout after water spout poured on him with force to crack rock.
But then, to Katara's horror, he seemed to be getting faster and stronger?
With a speed that looked unnatural on someone so big and heavily armoured, the Giant seemed to be pushing back- holding his ground against the combined might of Aang and more than a dozen waterbenders. His weapon was even more of a blur, and the waterbender's numbers began to dwindle with each great swing of his meteor hammer. Men were getting pulverised into red stains on the ice.
"Monster..." She murmured.
"We have to get you to safety!" said Aang as he dropped by with them, glanced at where they were hurt, "He's after Appa too! The three of you go, we'll hold him off!"
"Aang, we can't just- nngh." She whipped around a bit too quickly and her side lanced with pain, but Sokka held her steady.
"I'll get Katara and Appa out of here." Sokka answered, glancing at Appa and his injured leg, "Can you get us to the coastal wall, Appa?"
"Rawr."
Sokka grunted, "Good enough for me. Katara, you go first."
But just as they were about to climb on though, something long and red to swipe at Appa's side.
"Appa!" Katara cried out.
A large shirshu jumped down from atop one of the buildings, a familiar and unwelcome face riding on top of it. "Hey there, little squirts!" the mercenary-lady from the abbey, June, greeted with a smirk, "I'd say that it's nice meeting you three again, but I'd be lying!"
"You! You're the- Ah!" Katara grunted as she was hit by that paralysing tongue again. Only by virtue of blocking it with her arm did she avoid getting completely paralysed, but now her left arm was hanging limply to her side.
"Katara! Aang shouted as he batted his staff in a powerful [Wind Blast] at the newly appeared June. Unlike with Khan, the mercenary was not heavy enough to and she was blown from her saddle and sent crashing into the waterway.
"June!" The Fire Nation Commander shouted at the fallen mercenary.
"Dammit! Freezing, but I'm okay!" the older woman shouted, her mascara trailing down her cheeks as she floated downstream, "Nyla, time for round 2: Get that overgrown rug!"
The growling shirshu followed its rider's command- facing them off. Appa already limping forward to take the brunt of its attacks.
"Rawr!"
"Katara, get behind me and Appa." Sokka stared fearlessly back and gripped his boomerang tight.
"No, I can still fight." Katara grunted, raising her one good hand. A thin, snaking whip of a [Water Whip] was all she could muster now.
The situation they found themselves in was scary right now, but apparently...
"HONK!"
... things were about to get way worse.
"Watch out! They're coming from behind!" Sokka called out as he hurled his boomerang again.
Katara peeked a blue eye over the courtyard's fountain. And just like her brother said, large shadows swooped in from around the street corners and charged the waterbenders. The Fire Nation soldiers had arrived to backup their own leader, with their gleaming guandao glaives and those oversized flesh-eating monsters they called ostrich-horses. The waterbenders didn't stand a chance. Katara looked away as the screams briefly echoed out before being replaced by victorious honking.
Commander Khan, in his slightly dented red armour, laughed. The sound, deep and cruel as it echoed across the courtyard. "You're not the only one with reinforcements."
Suddenly, it was just the four of them again, in various stages of injury and fighting strength... against these towering monsters and the best soldiers that the Fire Nation had to offer.
Katara wasn't liking these odds.
"Sir, 1st Cavalry Squad Squad reporting in!" the lead Firebender shouted as she and her steed stopped beside the giant. Just in time as well, Sokka's boomerang curved back. But just as it was about to strike the lead Fire Nation soldier, Khan caught it with an armoured fist just before it struck her.
"Sir, thank you, sir!"
"Two of you, take Nyla and fish June out from downstream!" The giant directed.
A pair of those ostrich-horse riders broke off- leading the shirshu away to find its rider. The shirshu giving a parting growl at Appa.
"The rest of you!" Khan roared before jabbing an armoured finger in Aang's general direction, "1st Squad, we're taking down the Avatar's teammates and his mount! No more negotiations! We're sealing the deal on this war right now!"
"Yes sir!" A dozen guandao glaives were levelled at them. Glowing Fire Nation eyes were visible beyond the razor-sharp edges, as well the open maws of ostrich-horses.
Katara tried to shift into a waterbending stance, but with her side still injured and her arm paralysed, she knew wasn't going to put up much of a fight. It didn't matter to her. If she was going to meet her mother again, she was at least going to do it fighting.
The ostrich-horse riders circled around them, and in the split second when her life flashed before her eyes, Katara saw the muscles tense in the beasts' legs as they poised to charge. And just as Katara thought it was all over.
Light pierced through the night as if a white sun had risen right in the middle of them.
Aang's tattoos had begun to glow.
"ENOUGH!"
"YOU WON'T HURT MY FRIENDS!"
A single swing of Aang's arms, and great cracks split open across the breadth of the entire courtyard like an earthquake. And with another swing, jets of water came bursting through them like geysers. The rush of an entire river's worth of water shooting up into the air with the force of a dozen waterfalls, echoing out like thunder.
She heard the Giant shout for his Lieutenant and the rattle of chains as he tried to fight back, but Aang simply focused all the water on him instead.
And through the chaos of ice and water, Katara saw the red armour of the Fire Nation getting flung in every direction. The ostrich-horse riders were launched airborne and slamming into the buildings- looking disoriented as they scrambled back onto their feet. Khan himself was blown straight through a building or two- having taken the brunt of the attack and yet stood up regardless amongst the ruins. Truly monstrous in his durability too.
But still, that display of power was enough.
Katara watched on as Khan and his soldiers stood before the combined might of a thousand Avatars and did what anyone with a brain would have done in that situation: The Giant and his fearsome troops fled before them. Their brown ostrich-horses and red armour rushing away through the blue and white streets of Agna Qel'a. Panicked honking left in their wake.
With that sight, the rush of combat finally left her.
All at once, the aches and sores and blinding pain of her broken ribs came crashing down on her. But even then, for the first time tonight, Katara smiling and laughing in relief despite the pain. "It's over..." She exhaled, "We made it!"
"Yeah..." Sokka threw his head back and fell onto his butt as he caught his breath.
Seeing that their fight was now over, the light dimmed from Aang's tattoos and he began to float down.
"Katara, help me with Aang." Sokka sighed tiredly.
"Ugh... okay." She grunted as she and Sokka staggered to Aang, and both of them wince from their respective injuries as they caught him by his red and orange robes as he floated down fully. Out of a sense of paranoia, Katara glanced in the direction of the Fire Nation again- expecting to see fleeing figures in the distance...
...Except they weren't.
She didn't know when they did, but they had turned on their heels and were barreling back towards them- gleaming weapons at the ready and pointed straight at them in a furious charge. The hungry ostrich-horses honking to tear them limb from limb came barreling at them now that Aang had gone out of the Avatar State.
"Uh... Sokka?! They're coming back!" Her voice rose into a panicked shriek, "THEY'RE COMING BACK!"
"They're what!?" Sokka whipped his head to face their attackers, spotted them and cried out. "That's not fair! Aang, wake up! They're coming back! You need to get into the Avatar State again!"
"Wuh?" Aang blinked as he tried to shake off the exhaustion of channelling the past Avatars.
Much too late.
Chains rattled again, and that meteor hammer shot straight at them like an arrow from a bow.
Aang reacted as best he could. Yellow and orange robes fluttered as he thrust his palm forward, a powerful [Wind Blast] poured out- trying to blow the iron ball in its tracks. But he was without his Avatar State and without his glider. It was weak. Far too weak. The iron ball the size of their heads impacted against Aang's open palm and...
"Aargh!" A hideous dull crack of bone resounded alongside his shout of pain. He fell to the ground- striking his head against a chunk of ice from the previous devastation of his own Avatar State.
"AANG!" She cried out as she began bending water around his broken arm- soothing it as best as she could with [Ocean's Waters]. She immediately saw the damage: His arm was definitely not supposed to be bending that way. Forearm bones were definitely not supposed to be poking out of the skin at all!
She poured all her strength into healing it. That was all she could do, even as the ostrich-horses closed in on them.
*CRACK*
A great [Ice Wall]- almost as tall as the buildings that loomed over them- formed a barrier between them and the Fire Nation soldiers, as well as the iron ball that had been about to splatter them all over the courtyard.
"W-what?" Katara could only gape in confusion at the wall, looking as if cut straight from an iceberg- its ice sparkling like a bright blue gemstone. Shadows backlit by the moon moved above them on the buildings. One of them, she even recognised- her blue eyes widened as she cried out in relief, "Master Pakku!"
Her waterbending master in his rich blue waterbending robes sent a slight wrinkled smile her way before glowering down at the Fire Nation troops, his aged cocky voice carrying through the cold air. "Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Master Pakku drawled just as more Waterbenders appeared alongside him- all along the roofs of the surrounding buildings. Then spear-wielding warriors with their grey and white face paints began streaming down the streets. The blue parkas of the Northern Water Tribe outnumbering red armours of the Fire Nation five times over. eight times over. Twelve times over!
"You look quite lost, Fire Nation." Master Pakku remarked, now having the full force of Agna Qel'a had finally rallied to face the surprise attack. And yet... Why didn't the Fire Nation look even mildly concerned?
"And you have already lost. You just don't realise it." The Fire Nation Giant shot back.
"For someone surrounded and outnumbered, you're certainly a boastful little koala-otter, aren't you?" Master Pakku scoffed, unimpressed.
The Giant seemed unbothered by the threat, his skull face sparing a brief glance up to the moon. "You couldn't beat us with the Moon out. What makes you think you'll beat us now that day is about to break?"
He had a point, Katara realised. Now that she really thought about it, she hadn't seen them use Firebending even once... It was why it was practically unheard of for the Fire Nation to attack Waterbenders at night. Why would they when waterbenders were at their strongest and they were at their weakest? And if they had been fighting them at their weakest this whole time... Every waterbender in attendance glanced at the eastern horizon. The starry, dark blue of the night giving way to growing shades of orange and reds.
Dawn wouldn't be long now.
"No, we can't let him go!" Sokka protested beside her, "He kidnapped Princess Yue!"
That seemed to alarm the other waterbenders along with Katara. In between her injury and the battle and everything, Katara had forgotten about Sokka mentioning the princess earlier.
"I see." Master Pakku's eyes narrowed- already gathering a swirling orb of water between his hands, "If that's the case then it would indeed be wise to exchange hostages with your forces. It would be a rather lopsided trade, wouldn't you say? A princess for an overgrown worm like you."
The Fire Nation soldiers around Khan looked less than pleased by that. Their red gauntlets tightened around their weapons and steam hissed out from their helmets in anger, even their massive ostrich-horse mounts honked in warning. And for a dragged out moment, Katara thought the fighting would reignite again, but the Giant gestured them down.
"Not just your princess, we also took Chieftain Arnook." He revealed- unafraid and unashamed, "And also all your lesser chieftains and their families. So, before you throw that blob of water, keep in mind that I could have them all executed at a moment's notice."
A wave of mutterings and denials swept across the waterbenders. Sokka however was the most vocal, shouting out through the ice wall that still separated them, "Don't you dare touch a hair on Yue's head!"
"I don't have a reason to do that." Khan actually glanced over to Sokka, "Are you going to give me one?"
Sokka just stared the giant down, saying nothing.
"So, you have our chieftains hostage. But you're keeping them alive." Master Pakku scowled, arms crossed, "You wish to ransom them for your freedom, Fire Nation?"
"Not exactly." The Giant replied as he stepped forward, his voice booming across the courtyard, "Tribes of Agna Qel'a, this battle was not supposed to happen, and neither was the loss of lives that came with it. I had personally delivered the Fire Lord's terms to Chieftain Arnook earlier, and he declined- preferring instead for all this fighting and bloodshed to come to pass. And now in a single night, your chieftains are captured, your Avatar lies injured, and once the full extent of your city's dire condition is revealed, you'll realise that because of your leaders' folly, the Fire Nation won while you all slept."
Katara couldn't explain it exactly, but it was... something horrible to hear the enemy commander calmly claim victory right to their faces- that they had lost because they overslept and missed the battle.
A cold dread dropped in her stomach, and silence permeated the courtyard, nothing but the soft keening of her Waterbending healing on Aang's broken arm. Then she noticed the worried looks- the way the waterbenders above them glanced at each other- even Master Pakku looked on with quiet concern. No one had a clue about how much damage the Fire Nation had done to their city, but if their commanding officer was already gloating about it, then it must not be anything good.
"I may be your enemy..." The Giant began- his deep voice solemn as he looked to them, "...but I am an enemy that prefers that as many people live to see this war finally , your families, and your people included. Your chiefs are already in the process of surrendering. I am only saying that you should prepare yourselves to follow that decision."
"Surrender under the rule of the Fire Nation?!" Sokka shouted, "Forget that!"
Khan shot a brief glare at Sokka before looking to Master Pakku, "Have you elected him to decide and speak for all the Northern Water Tribes?"
"No, the boy does not in fact have that authority." Master Pakku's pointed stare aimed at Sokka quieted him down, "But what he does have is a point. You invade our lands, abduct our chieftains, burn our city and then expect us to recognise any declaration of surrender? The sheer arrogance! Our chieftains will never surrender and neither will we! The Northern Water Tribe will never bow to Fire Nation rule!"
Shouts of affirmation and anger rang out from the waterbender lines, but... Katara noticed that it wasn't unanimous- others were keeping quiet, even glancing hesitantly. The cracks in the ice were already beginning to show.
The Fire Nation Commander's skull helmet shook in refusal.
"I cannot accept that answer. Not right now. And not from a jeering crowd." Commander Khan told them, "Tend to your wounded, return your dead to the Ocean, speak amongst yourselves about how to formally respond in the absence of your chieftains, or in the face of their surrender. You have two weeks to decide if we're being generous, but know that after those two weeks- on the eve of the full moon- it will be out of my hands, and into the Fire Lord's."
The threat now hanging over them all, the Giant with his dented red armour turned towards his troops.
"1st Squad, we're withdrawing." His voice rumbled, then his skull helm turned- looking through the ice wall, and Katara's heart raced as those green eyes settled on them. "We got what we came for anyway."
Then, as if he wasn't surrounded by the cooling corpses of Waterbenders, he turned around with his battered troops following behind him. Water Tribe warriors blocked their path- whalebone spears pointed at the Giant and squad.
"Let us through." was his calm demand.
"No, you can't just let him go!"
"Sokka, that is enough!" Master Pakku warned- voice audibly reaching the end of his patience, "Let them through!"
Katara watched on as the line of Water Tribe warriors parted to let the Fire Nation soldiers pass, and she continued watching- wondering if this was yet another feigned retreat and waiting with held breath for the moment that the Giant turned around to try and kill them again. But no, that moment never came: That procession of Fire Nation red armour and brown ostrich-horse feathers disappeared in the maze of city streets.
"HOOO~OOONK!"
She winced at the ostrich-horse call in the distance, which was apparently loud enough to wake Aang.
"Ugh... Where'm I?" Aang stirred. "Nnn! My arm..."
"Aang." She breathed in relief, "Careful, try not to move too much. You took a nasty hit to the arm and head."
"I can't hear fighting..." Aang grunted- still squeezing his eyes tight from the pain. "Did we drive the Fire Nation away?"
She gave a brief, paranoid glance in the direction where they left. "Yeah... The Fire Nation left."
He smiled. Actually smiled. "So, we won, right?"
Katara pressed her lips together- unable to answer she glanced around to the sight that surrounded them: The steaming corpses of the brave water tribe warriors who gave their lives to defend them, and to the greatest city ever built by her people.
"Won?" Sokka was the one to answer, looking utterly exhausted as he sat on a ruined chunk of building- his eyes looking to the Palace and the arctic tundras beyond where the Fire Nation retreated with all their captives, "No, Aang, it doesn't feel like we won."
[Deep Arctic Tundras]
It was still a long, miserable march back to our forward operating base. So much for being the victors of the Battle of Agna Qel'a.
Trudging over the waist-deep snow, pushing against the endlessly howling blizzard winds, and navigating around the unstable pitfalls that would have seen the ground break under us, it was a difficult journey- one that we had only recently been acclimated to after a few weeks of travelling here in the North Pole.
I led the way, clad in my ragged red armour that was falling apart around my seven-foot-tall frame.
The immense beating my armour sustained from that platoon of Waterbenders as well the Aang's Avatar State was wrought across the dented metal. In contrast, the bright red armours of the 1st Cavalry Squad were practically immaculate as they rode their ostrich-horses behind me. But, the damage they took wasn't physical, it was something worse. Even without the nudging of [As One!], I heard my troops talking to each other in hushed tones. Whispers that were steadily growing louder, like an argument that was becoming more heated.
Reputation check succeeded!
100/80 Reputation Required with {41st Division}
Obedience check succeeded!
100/80 Obedience Required with {41st Division}
The dreaded morale issues, even with max Reputation, I didn't want to risk it. Nipping it in the bud was the only right choice before it spread. I stopped in the snow, and glanced my skull-faced helmet back at them- meeting their eyes as I spoke.
"Anything I should know, 1st Squad?"
They glanced at each other surprised, as if they had honestly not expected me to hear or perhaps they were too exhausted to remember that I can. The brown feathers of their plumed helmets swayed as they glanced at one another- throwing pointed looks back and forth. June knew to largely stay out of it, being mercenary rather than Fire Nation- staying quiet and eyeing our flanks as the rest of the squad quietly and subtly gestured amongst themselves. Until finally, everyone stopped to look at their chosen speaker: The Lieutenant.
"Commander Khan, sir. With all due respect-"
"Lieutenant." I interrupted and she flinched, "None of that 'with all due respect' bull-pig. Communicate. Say what you mean. And that's an order."
Amethyst purple eyes, still under the night vision effect, glowed through the slits of her feathered red helmet and glanced around as she searched for her words. And when she finally did a few seconds later, she looked me straight in the eyes- no more pretences.
"We had them, sir." Her voice was steady and respectful, but with a tight undercurrent of frustration. "We had them right there at the points of our glaives: The Avatar and his friends, injured and easy prey. I know that wall of ice would be easy to break for someone of your strength, sir. You could have shattered that wall and there'd be nothing to stop us. We could have killed them, then conducted a breakthrough out of that Water Tribe encirclement. With the Avatar dead, Agna Qel'a would have surrendered soon after. And with us controlling the North Pole and having pacified the South Pole, it'd have been easy to find and capture the next Waterbender Avatar."
A muttering of agreement came from the rest of the 1st Squad. But the Lieutenant wasn't finished, her voice climbing in volume and cutting through the cold arctic winds.
"Commander Khan, we were so close! So close to having sealed the outcome of the war just like you said! So why didn't we?"
"Because we would have lost." I told her directly but also loud enough to reach the rest of the squad, "And with us, our mission and quite possibly the war as well."
They shifted uneasily in their saddles- obviously not expecting that answer. And in the ensuing pause, I looked at the window floating that only I could see.
HP: 94 / 1250
My gaze lingered on the number for a bit longer, then I looked away, my eyes peering through the slits of my helmet and through those of the Lieutenant's to meet her own purple eyes.
"You've seen with your own eyes what that airbender is capable of in the so-called 'Avatar State'." I said, voice respectful for the adversary that was worthy of it- if not through raw power alone, "Calling upon the combined might and wisdom of all the Avatars before him, he was an enemy too strong for the likes of us to fight head on. That feigned retreat was our biggest and only chance to slay him in this battle. Waterbender reinforcements twenty-times our number, and the airbender reaching the Avatar State again... Either one of those we could possibly have taken on, but both at the same time? No chance."
"... Was there really no other chance to win the fight, sir?" the Lieutenant quietly asked, clearly still unable to believe it.
"If..." my deep voice began, muttering that infamous word. "If the Avatar had been our sole focus. If we had the entire 1st Regiment with us. And if we hadn't spread ourselves thin across a dozen objectives across a hostile city, and overextended our forces until our Daring curdled into Recklessness? Then yes, we could have slain the Avatar right there."
"But alone, sir?"
"We- all of us- were still too weak for that." I clenched my hand, and the damaged metal gauntlet squealed weakly in my fist. "We were not ready to seize onto that particular strand in our destiny. But one day we will be, and that's why none of you are given leave to die before then, is that understood, 1st Squad?"
"Sir, yes sir!"
"Good, and one last thing..." I looked them over, "Chin up, 1st Squad. This wasn't a mission failure. No other force in the Fire Nation could have attained the same results. By all accounts, even we should not have been able to even have gotten far."
"But we did." the Lieutenant quietly added.
"Yes, we did." I reached over and gripped her shoulder, giving it a proud squeeze, "We did impossible thing after impossible thing in this North Pole campaign so far: Marched across unmarchable lands, assaulted an unassailable city from an impossible front, and beat an unbeatable foe. Feats that Fire Nation generals could only dream of in these hundred years. You did me proud tonight."
"Thank you, sir!"
"More than that however, we have done in one night what the entirety of the Fire Nation could not for the past hundred years..."
"The fact that we successfully assaulted Agna Qel'a, sir?"
My skull helmet glanced over my shoulder, and looked them in the eye, all while not hiding the pride in my voice.
"No, Lieutenant... The fact that- for the first time in this lifetime- we have made the Avatar truly bleed."
[Quest - A Fated Meeting] Completed!
Main Objective: Inflict a considerable amount of damage on each member of Team Avatar before daybreak arrives (4/4)
Sub-Objective #1: Have Aang activate the Avatar State during your fight
Rewards:
Large bonus exp
Perk Point x2
Spirit: +10 Stat Points
Secondary Rewards:
All Stats: +5 Stats Points
+ R +
Level up Achieved!
+ R +
"...And Commander Khan, sir? Thank you for taking that hit for us. With the Avatar's attack." The Lieutenant said. "I don't think any of us would have survived that hit if you hadn't taken it head on."
HP: 97 / 1250
"You're welcome, but let's not make it a habit, Lieutenant." I reached over and patted her armoured shoulder.
"It won't happen again, sir!" She saluted, her red gauntlet clicking against her feathered red helm. And her voice muttered something just a whisper. "...Because if you do that again, I think I might fall even deeper-" The blizzard winds howled over her words, "-you."
"What was that, Lieutenant?"
Her violet eyes flew wide open- clearly not expecting me to hear her. She looked away, "I-I said that I might really fall even deeper into debt to you, sir!"
"You sure? It sounded like you were about to say something else," I pressed gently, my deep voice barely a whisper over the blizzard's fury. "If you're injured, Lieutenant, speak up. I need you in fighting condition. And you certainly don't need to feel indebted for requesting medical attention."
"No, sir. My heart's still just beating fast." The Lieutenant explained before quickly adding, "... from the battle, sir."
"I see. You'll have your downtime, Lieutenant." I reassured her, "But stick close to me. If you pass out on the saddle, try to fall in my direction so I can catch you."
"Yes, sir!"
With a gentle tug on the reins, she steered her ostrich-horse to step side-by-side with me as we marched through the snow. It was going to be a long trek to base, but for whatever reason, I had the distinct impression that the Lieutenant was smiling every step of the way.
(A few minutes earlier) [Agna Qel'a - Northern City Edge]
"Any moment now." Princess Yue murmured as she leaned forward on the chains that bound her to the sled, and looked out into the blizzard.
Any moment now, her Water Tribe kin will come charging through the snow- victorious against the Fire Nation in Agna Qel'a. And the Avatar, the bridge between the Human and the Spirit worlds, would be the one leading charge. They'd defeat her captors, and bring her and all the other captives home safe. Even as the orange light of dawn began pushing away the night sky. And even as more and more Fire Nation soldiers returned from the battle on their ostrich-horses, waving at her Kyoshi Warrior captors as they passed by, Yue held onto that hope.
"HOOO~OOONK!"
Until finally, a loud singing honk echoed from the distance.
"Well, girls, you heard the Lieutenant's little bird." Suki grunted, standing up and stretching in her dark green cloak and kimono. "Show's over. Let's pack up for the ride home."
"Finally!"
"Hey, is it mean to say that I hope Khan really handed Katara her rear?"
"Never liked her. She never liked us either, I think."
"Yeah, she spent most of her time at Kyoshi Island just glaring at us while eating our food at a distance."
The other Kyoshi Warriors with eager smiles on their white-painted faces hooked the sled to an ostrich-horse.
Meanwhile, Yue tasted snowflakes as her mouth hung open in shock. They lost? Even with the Avatar on their side? ... No, that wasn't possible. There had to be another explanation as to why she wasn't being saved. The Fire Nation must just be retreating from the battle in Agna Qel'a. Yes, that must be it! They'll definitely save her. It'll take a little longer, but they'll definitely come for her. At least her city and her people would be safe from the Fire Nation's predations, even if she herself was not.
The idea wasn't as reassuring as she thought it would when her captors were busy celebrating all around her.
"Another mission accomplished! Glad that things went so smoothly."
"Yep, nothing like a quick city infiltration to work up an appetite. Can't wait for the victory feast."
"You two are so easygoing. Here I am disappointed. I mean, I thought Earth Kingdom sentries were sleepy but these waterbenders got nothing against them!"
"Yeah, but you know how Khan is though- he tends to give our enemies more credit than they deserve."
"That's true."
"Sisters, stay vigilant. It's not over until we're back in our warm bedrolls."
"Suki's right. Let's finish strong and earn that nice hot bowl of Khan's cooking!"
"By Kyoshi, I hope someone managed to raid some rice from the city. And maybe even some elephant koi!"
"If nature would allow it, I'd give Khan my virginity a second time just to taste his elephant koi katsu again."
"We had elephant koi just last week, Suki!"
"So what? Can't a girl be hungry and hungry?"
They hopped on the sled with her just as the big brown ostrich-horse gave a slight honk. And with a slight lurch, the sled began gliding over the snow- carrying her away from her home. The sight of Agna Qel'a slowly began to distance itself in her view as if leaving her behind.
She had to be strong. For her people. But it was so hard right now.
"We should prepare the princess for her 'interview' with Khan." Suki glanced over to Yue, and she shrank back as the six painted faces of the Kyoshi Warriors looked down at her, their bright red lips all curling in smirks.
"Right, right. To the victor goes the spoils after all."
"Khan will want some... afterbattle entertainment. Can never get enough interviews."
"And he did say to fill the Princess in on what's going to happen so she doesn't panic."
"Khan can be scary the first time he interviews girls, that's true."
"Well, with Chieftain Arnook doing the dumb thing, it's all up to Yue here now."
"Me?" Yue shivered, and Suki nodded.
"Mhm, so you'd better do well on your interview, Princess. For everyone's sake."
There was no 'interview,' Yue knew what that really meant. Her education was the best that her chieftain father could acquire, and she'd been taught with literature gathered from all across the Four Nations. The books may not have gone into detail, but they didn't shy away from it either. Yue knew what usually came next for captive princesses. And concerning someone who was known as the barbarian giant of the Fire Nation? There really was only one thing that was going to be done with her: Ransom, maybe even kept permanently as a ward for political leverage, and in not-rare-enough occasions, even something like forced marriages were known to occur.
Regardless, it may be cruel for her to think, but she could only hope the Giant would be too injured from the battle to do anything to her in the meantime.
Whatever awaits her, she will do it for her people.
"I'll cooperate with that 'interview'... just don't hurt anyone." Yue murmured- glancing over to the other sleds carrying other prisoners.
"Don't look so worried, Princess." Suki reassured, "We'll tell you exactly what you need to do to get on Khan's good side. We're experts who've thoroughly studied and practiced that field of Fire Nation Etiquette, aren't we, sisters?"
"Mhm! We are sure to practise our oral Etiquette with Khan at least once a week!"
"And the other Etiquettes as often as we can."
"Yep, we're very thoroughly studied and practised."
"You are?" Yue muttered- only able to cooperate, "Then please teach me how to please Khan."
Suki regarded her with a critical eye, "You know what you're asking, right?"
"Um... No?" She answered honestly. Fire Nation etiquette was not a subject her tutors had educated her in, or anyone really, ever since the war started a hundred years ago. Apart from historical texts from before the War, they knew barely anything about the Fire Nation at all now. Not that she or anyone from the Water Tribe were inclined to learn about them, but if it lowered the chances of her insulting, or Moon Spirit forbid, angeringthe brutish Fire Nation Giant then she'll accept any lesson that she could get. "I-I may not know much, but I'm eager to learn!"
"That's even better!" Suki grinned widely, "Yet another pure and sheltered girl of noble upbringing falls into our laps, sisters!"
"Sweet! These girls are the most fun!"
"Inexperienced girls are nice. Sheltered, inexperienced ones are even better!"
"And that's a good thing?" Yue felt relief flood her belly.
"Yeah, it is." Suki puffed her chest out in pride alongside sporting boastful smile on her red lips, "We've coached everyone from Earth Kingdom noble girls, to even the Princess of the Fire Nation once. It's practically our speciality. Even the name 'Suki' is well-known outside the North Pole- from Omashu all the way to the Imperial City!"
"It sure has." The other Kyoshi Warriors snickered.
"Mostly from Earth Kingdom girls from the minor nobility and some big-name merchant daughters..."
"But especially the Fire Nation Princess."
"Yeah, she'll never forget how Suki helped her. Suki gave her the 'push' she needed to meet Khan, face to face."
"A 'kick in the rear' to be exact."
"Yes, my biggest claim to fame. I'm the only Kyoshi Warrior who has ever done that to a Fire Nation princess, I think."
"Yep, and she got to see the... tender side of Khan under all that armour then."
"Really stared him down from what I've heard."
Yue didn't know what all that entailed, and she had to wonder what kind of person the giant was to merit even the Princess of his own Nation having to be prepared for him. Still... a 'tender side' to the Giant? Yue could not see it; but if there was indeed a man behind the rumours, that may be her only hope now: Learning Fire Nation etiquette. It was perhaps the one thing Yue knew that she could do. After all, learning the ways and traditions of another Water Tribe was part of the diplomatic training that she had received as princess.
She was grateful for it. Her tenure as a prisoner of the Fire Nation may turn out to be a lot more dignified than she had first feared...
"We still have some ash-banana for her to practise on, right?" Suki asked the others, and Yue blinked in confusion.
"... A fruit?" Yue couldn't help but say out loud, "We're going to begin my coaching in Fire Nation Etiquette with a fruit?"
"Yes!" Suki grinned.
... The Ways of the Fire Nation were truly foreign and mysterious.