chapter
[Hari Bulkan]
"The Armada is to set sail tomorrow. We have secured a place on the grand admiral's flagship under a false name and rank, and the dead drop with the spare uniform and all necessary documents has just been placed."
"And the wardens?"
"They will be properly preoccupied beginning two hours after midnight."
"Acceptable. Khan's day of reckoning grows nearer. You are dismissed."
"... We live to serve, your Highness."
[Agna Qel'a] (A day after the the attack)
Katara pushed aside the heavy fur door that led into the injured Avatar's place of rest.
The space inside the private ice cottage was empty and still- Master Yagoda herself saying that no one was to disturb the Avatar. Katara, being Yagoda's student and Aang's companion, was naturally the exception.
She pursed her lips together as she saw the state he was in.
Still in his yellow-orange airbender robes, Aang slept on a reclined bed of brown, buffalo-yak furs. His injured arm was submerged in a raised ice basin like an armrest, the broken spots on his forearm were wrapped in seaweed and medicinal salves- which was to say the entire arm.
But that wasn't what worried her.
Spread all around where he lay were colourful seashells etched with names of the dead, bead necklaces made from twisted cords of polar orca heartstrings, ivory from whale-walrus tusks carved with prayers. All offerings and oblations from the people of Agna Qel'a. Without their chieftains to perform the proper ceremonial rites for giving their dead back to the Ocean, the people of her sister tribe looked for guidance from a higher power, or anyone really to give them the strength to endure in these dark times. And who else could do that but the Avatar? It had to be the reincarnating bridge between the Mortal World and Spirit World, it had to be the living, walking embodiment of their most direct connection to the Moon and Ocean Spirits...
... It had to be Aang, her friend. Now, made into more of a symbol than a person. And this place, now more of a shrine than an infirmary where he could rest.
Katara exhaled in helpless frustration as she leaned (with her good side) on the windowsill. The sunlight streamed through the window of the private ice cottage- warming Katara's face as she whispered to the cool ocean breeze. "What can I do?"
"We just keep moving onwards, Katara." answered a familiar voice.
"Aang?!" Katara jumped in surprise, wincing slightly as she turned around too quickly and her ribs flared in pain again. But still, she smiled through it. "Sorry, did I wake you up?"
"Nah..." He smiled back at her and shifted slightly on the furs, "Besides, waking up to you is always better than waking up alone, Katara."
"Thanks... How are you feeling?" She let her blue eyes glance over to his arm. "Last time I saw, the bones were still setting but the places where it punctured the skin was already starting to close and heal. But... any discomfort or pain?"
"Not much, actually, it's kind of surprising how not itchy it is like all the other casts I've had." Aang replied before his grey eyes turned to meet hers. "How about you? Are you doing alright, Katara?"
"Getting there." She gingerly rested a hand on her side.
"I meant how are you feeling?" he told her, "We did our best, you know? Even drove the Fire Nation away."
Katara pressed her lips together, a bit more hesitant, "Just finding it hard to be optimistic, Aang. I mean how can you after a night like that?"
"Well, it's not easy, not even for me." Aang admitted to her, brows furrowing around his blue airbending arrow, "But I remember that the monks taught us that when the wind sweeps across the lands, they carry with them bits and pieces of everything they touch- Dust from rocks, pollen from flowers, even the scent of fruit pies. All of it carried along as the winds went. The monks used to say that we and all the people of all Four Nations are like those winds. Everything we experience from the sights we see to the people we meet, we carry small bits of them with us all through our lives. But the heaviest parts? We'll leave behind sooner or later. This feeling of pain and loss is fleeting. Which means we're all going to be okay and will be on our way to the rest of our lives eventually."
His eyes met hers again and he grinned.
"And that also means you're going to be alright too!"
Katara couldn't help it, a smile broke through her frown. She heard people whisper Aang's title with reverence and hope. But maybe that wasn't a bad thing. Because as long as the Avatar was on their side, her people won't lose hope. And so, neither will she, even if it was for different reasons. "Thanks, Aang... I needed that little pep talk."
"No problem!" He laughed, "So, you've been walking around the city, right? How's the rest of Agna Qel'a doing?"
"Master Pakku is finishing taking account of all the damage." She said, keeping herself from glancing back out the window, "Sokka and I are going to be there when he makes the announcement. And we'll see what we and the Northern Water Tribe can do from there."
"Yeah, I'd come with you, but..." Aang smiled sheepishly, "...Master Yagoda said that she'll pinch my ears red if I sneak off, Avatar or not."
"That does sound like her." Katara chuckled, "I'm glad that she's the one treating you. She's possibly the best Waterbending Healer in all the Four Nations. You'll recover a lot faster with her than with any other healer."
"Well, if we're talking about recovery... How is Sokka?" Aang asked, "How's he holding up?"
"Resting now." Katara answered, "Not like last night. He had nightmares, naturally about Princess Yue."
She kept silent about how she herself had dreamed about a skull with glowing green eyes on top of a giant armoured body leering down at her.
"Well, tell him that we'll bust her out as soon as we find out where she's being held!" Aang smiled, "Or you know, maybe it's like in one of those scroll fables where he's wanting to marry her so he's been showering with gifts and dresses! And we'll swoop in just as they're about to say their vows and Sokka can say something cool like 'Who ordered a hero? Because Sokka's special delivery is about to arrive, express!' or 'This might be a giantproblem, but for Sokka, it's just another day on the tundra!' then we can beat him with the full force of all the Waterbenders at our backs and Sokka can carry Princess Yue home safe and sound!"
"That's... pretty spot Sokka impression on Aang." Katara laughed nervously. From the rumours she's heard, he wasn't gentle with his female captives. A brutal giant like that Commander Khan who was cruel for no other reason than for cruelty's sake with the rest of his elite force followed his example? If Princess Yue was still alive... No, she definitely was. Just not in gentle hands. Far, far from it. "... But I don't think there's going to be a marriage."
"You're right. That's too soon for a marriage." He thought about it, "Maybe while they're having tea?"
Katara winced, "... I don't think Princess Yue is out there having a tea party with the Giant, Aang."
[Khan's Abode - Fire Nation Arctic Base]
It was just the two of us now in the toasty confines of my quarters.
The half-naked princess and the armoured giant- sitting down on fur cushions around an ancient, shin-high stone table. Princess Yue still couldn't look me in the eyes as she tugged at the thick fur blanket draped over her slender brown shoulders. Not that it made her any less exposed- it only hid her fur-kini, and actually made it appear as if she wasn't wearing anything under that white fur blanket. That slim line between marshmallow soft globes, smooth like freshly mixed milk chocolate, was still perfectly visible between the edges of the blanket. Yet another victim to Suki's antics, wouldn't even be the first princess to do so.
Naturally, with her so exposed, I extended my armoured hand to her... and set down a dainty porcelain teacup right on her spot at the table. The trickle of hot tea being poured followed soon after.
"Tea, Princess?" My deep voice resounded.
"... Thank you." Yue murmured, reaching out and inadvertently pushing her blanket open to give me an eyeful down her entire front before she tugged it close. Teacup in her dainty hands, she looked hesitantly at the softly steaming contents.
"Go ahead, it isn't poisoned or anything." I casually reassured her, pouring myself a cup as well- the fragrance of Fire Nation-grown jasmine tea floating from it as I set down the teapot, "I have had the distinct displeasure of having my own tea poisoned once before. Not an experience that I would wish on anyone. So drink, it'll calm your nerves."
"Of course..." Princess Yue nodded. "it wasn't my intention to imply- This tea, it's very... What I mean to say is, thank you for the hospitality, Pr- commander."
"You're welcome, princess. I understand this is not where you imagined you would be."
Her hands trembled slightly as she brought up the little teacup and took a small sip.
For the small gesture of hospitality...
{Princess Yue} Reputation: -40 - -38
{Princess Yue} Obedience: 30 - 35
The low reputation with her wasn't surprising. I devastated her home city, kidnapped her family and her, and killed a lot of her people after all. This would have been a markedly uphill battle to get her to like me, given that she was going to like me a lot less after all this is said and done. But thankfully, I didn't need her to like me, only to follow what I say. And the high Obedience stat was a very welcome sight for those purposes.
"Commander Khan..." Yue asked in her soft voice, blue eyes staring into the cup of Fire Nation jasmine, "My people, my father. They signed our surrender. What will happen to them now?"
"That is all up to the city of Agna Qel'a." My deep voice rumbled, "We're going to deliver their copy of the document to them, and should they obey as their leaders directed and stand down? We can have peace."
"Peace?" She echoed, voice strained with disbelief.
"Yes, Princess Yue, peace. That is what comes after war, isn't it? Or did you think that the Northern Water Tribe would never see war at all?"
"I did." She readily admitted, but also looked down with a sad expression into her cup. "I'd hoped that it would just sail by our shores. But... that's not what happened. Youcame."
The last part was a whisper. It took her a moment, but Yue froze up as she realised what she said- Her bright blue eyes darted up at me as if expecting me to hurt her for that. I found that particularly ironic since she was deliberately kept here in my quarters so that I can keep her safe. After all, I wasn't about to risk losing the extra life of Moon Spirit just because she slipped and fell down some stairs or something. No, if the worst case scenario comes to pass and we find ourselves retreading Avatar canon, we'll have our backup plan: Princess Yue, and that shard of the Moon embedded into her life and woven into her very spirit.
That didn't mean that I was going to beg for forgiveness though, quite the opposite.
"Yes, I came here to win this war." was my unashamed reply- looking her straight in the eyes, "Preferably with as few lives lost as possible."
"Hundreds of my people are dead." She said in a mournful whisper, slightly more honest now that I didn't strike her for talking back.
"It's war." I said in a matter-of-fact tone, "And let's not forget that the Avatar came close to having been one of them."
Yue looked aghast, her blue eyes looking at me as she muttered fearfully, "So, it's true... you really fought the Avatar and lived to tell the tale."
"No, Princess Yue, you have it quite in reverse: the Avatar fought us and lived to tell the tale, but not without sustaining serious injuries, even a scar or two." I leered at her through the eye slits of my skull helmet. "If not for several strokes of blindingly good fortunes in his favour, we'd be searching for a Water Tribes for his reincarnation right now."
"That's... impossible."
"Is it truly surprising? He hasn't even mastered two Elements yet." My shoulders in thick red pauldrons shrugged. "But I digress, Agna Qel'a would never have woken up to ash and screams if your father had just accepted the Fire Lord's initial offer. If he had, those hundreds of deaths would have been avoided, and we would have met under much more amicable circumstances. You think things are bad now, Princess Yue? I can assure you that they could have gotten a lot worse- it can still get a lot worse. And it won't even be my fault. That's why your father and I have still been in... talks."
The white-haired princess said nothing for a while, merely pressing her pink lips together in doubt and warming her slender brown fingers on the teacup's surface. "My father... He only loves Agna Qel'a and the Northern Water Tribe. Please don't hurt him anymore for it."
"Oh, you can blame Chieftain Essin for your father's condition. Old grudges between the tribes- distinctly your problem." I rolled my eyes, "I did nothing except tell him about the Armada's existence."
Blue eyes looked up at me as she whispered, "The Armada?"
"Yes, the armada." I confirmed, her blue eyes widening with the realisation of what that implied, "I suppose it is high time for you to know..."
And so, I told her straight up and without any embellishment.
I told her that all the things that haunted their dreams were real. And I watched her eyes widen in growing terror as I described to her the Fire Nation Armada of two hundred warships and their ruinous amounts of munitions, listened to her whisper a prayer to the Moon Spirit under her breath when I described the 40,000 battle-hardened {Fire Nation Veterans} that they were ferrying in their holds, and saw all will to resist bleed out from her eyes as I told her about the likely fate of her people should the Armada reach their shores. By the end of my little tale, her fingers clutching the teacup to her chest as if it was her lifeline.
"You- you can't do that!" She said, soft voice steeped in disbelief at the lengths the Fire Nation would go for our victory, "That's unnecessarily cruel! And monstrous! And-"
"-the thing I've been trying to avoid right from the very beginning." I finished for her. "I came here to the North Pole to end this war without having to make the Water Tribe go the way of the Air Nomads as Fire Lord Ozai or more... hasty elements of Fire Nation High Command would prefer."
"You did?" Yue breathed, her slender brown hands still clasped together as if she wanted me to answer her prayers.
"I still am." was my honest reply.
"I... I may have misjudged you, Commander Khan." Yue admitted, the corners of her mouth tugging in an almost smile of relief, and her hopeful blue eyes looking at me in a new light: The only one who can send that handwritten letter to Grand Admiral Zhao.
For being the only one standing between Agna Qel'a and its total destruction...
{Princess Yue} Reputation: -38 - 8
{Princess Yue} Obedience: 35 - 50
Except, I didn't do it out of some moral imperative as Yue thinks I did. No, my reasons were more about military pragmatism.
I had already acquired what I personally wanted from this deal with Zhao: The prized item that was [Admiral Zhao's Journal] was safely tucked away in my [Inventory]. After all, one of the very few ways that one could find the legendary {Library of Wan Shi Tong}, and for those who didn't have a flying bison, it was to follow the directions of someone who has already been there. But it was not as easy as marching there, no. The journey was still going to be an expensive and harrowing expedition into the {Si Wong Desert}. Now, I could do that all in 'friendly' territory with the backing and infrastructure of an invincible Fire Nation offensive, or I could do it after an Ocean Spirit kaiju had sunk a sizable portion of the entire Fire Nation Navy and the Earth Kingdom-controlled region of {Gao Ling} launches counter offensives to surround and harry the supply lines. The same supply lines that would be providing water to me and my troops in the desert that's larger than all the Fire Islands combined.
No, there was no need to retread Avatar canon and put our valuable fleets at risk of a giant ocean monster attack.
All Agna Qel'a needed to do now was surrender and put on a big show of it to satiate Zhao's ego. Only then will I be able to talk him down from slaying the Moon Spirit. And I can finally be on my way to removing the one thing that stopped me from truly scaling past all my enemies: My low Intelligence Stat.
The world would be mine to properly burn down and restructure then...
My door gong rang out with a metallic thrum, and Princess Yue jumped in her cushion a bit. A voice speaking through the fur door followed soon after.
"Sir! I have the documents that you have ordered to be signed by the pajama bri- the water Tribe prisoners."
"Excellent!" My armoured hands clapped, "Pardon me for a moment, Princess."
Walking over to my door, I pushed it aside to see one of my {41st Division Elite Raider} holding out a pair of scrolls to me. My eyes lit up, and a window flickered into existence as soon as I laid my hands on them.
Quest:
THE ADMIRAL'S MOMENT OF TRIUMPH
Main Objective: Ensure the Fire Nation wins the Siege of the Northern Water Tribe... without dooming the world.
Sub-Objective #1: Secure a formal declaration of surrender from the Northern Water Tribe (Complete!)
Sub-Objective #2: Stop Zhao from killing the Moon Spirit
Secondary Objective: Convince Zhao to willingly give up on his goal of killing the Moon Spirit.
Rewards:
Large bonus exp
[Moon Blessed] No, it's not a dummy-thicc Moon Goddess flashing you her ass. ?
Secondary Rewards:
Large bonus exp
Large Reputation increase with the {Firelord Ozai}
Large Reputation increase with the {Fire Nation}
Legendary Item x 1
+ R +
"That's one step closer to victory in the North Pole." I murmured. "Tell the wardens to prepare the Useful Idiot for transport later in the afternoon."
"Commander Khan, sir!"
Returning to the tea table with the scantily-clad princess, I sat back down, and immediately, a hopeful Yue glanced at the pair of scrolls and back to me with a hopeful expression.
"We've surrendered. You'll send that letter and call off the Armada now, right?" She asked, slender brown hands clasped as if begging.
"No, not until Agna Qel'a flies Fire Nation colours." I told her in no uncertain terms, "I'll have an envoy hand this document to whoever is leading Agna Qel'a at the moment, and hopefully, they'll listen to their chieftain's decision and surrender the city."
"Of course they will!" Princess Yue assured, her white hair swaying as she nodded eagerly- desperately, "I'm sure they'll do that! You just have to tell them about the Armada and they'll-"
"No." I told her in no uncertain terms, "I won't break operational security. The knowledge of the Armada's existence will not leave the 41st Division's grasp. I will not risk the Agna Qel'a Resistance declining to surrender and choosing instead to reinforce their coastal defences. The same coastal defences that my 41st Division and I have risked our lives to distract them from."
"But... the Avatar is with them." Yue reasoned, "If they don't know about the Fire Nation Armada, they might decline to acknowledge this scroll anyway!"
"Yes, he gives them hope. Enough hope for it to turn into outright stupidity." I shook my head, "But it's a risk we'll have to take. Perhaps if they decline, sharing that knowledge can be a last ditch measure the night before the Armada arrives."
"But that'd be too close!"
"Again, it is a risk we'll have to-"
"My father!" the snowy-haired princess suggested in panic, "They'll listen to my father! If he comes along when the scroll is presented to them, they'll surely listen to his wisdom!"
"I can't let our most valuable prisoner out in the open and within reach of the Agna Qel'a Resistance like that." I refuted, before adding, "And neither will Chieftain Essin for that matter."
"Then send me instead, Commander- No, Honourable Commander Khan!" She bowed until her forehead pressed against the table between us, "Let me talk to them. I'll convince them to accept the terms, and I'll even swear to the Moon and Ocean Spirits that I won't speak a single word about the Armada!"
... That was true.
I fully expect Aang to be there when they treat with my envoy, and he had a bias towards other named characters in Avatar after all. And if Princess Yue was there to not only confirm that it was indeed her father's and the rest of the Water Tribe Chieftains' signatures on this document but also plead to them with her big blue princess eyes, then it'll only increase the chances that they'll surrender. Sure, the Agna Qel'a Resistance would hide the Avatar on a boat and sail him away before Fire Nation occupational force arrives, but with his sky bison not dead, he was currently beyond my ability to capture no matter what I did anyway. Now, it was just a matter of ensuring the princess was safe.
"Princess Yue, I have decided that-"
"Wait, please permit me to try and convince you!" Princess Yue cried out, as her hand snatched an ash-banana from the fruit bowl.
"... Alright? Make your point, Princess." I replied with only a touch of confusion. I wasn't sure what the ash-banana was about, maybe she needed it for an analogy?
Nodding, she locked her blue eyes with mine, took a deep breath... then proceeded to deepthroat the long fruit in one smooth motion.
Wat?
Then picking up the pace, she proceeded to mouthfuck herself with it. Saliva dripped down to her brown fingers as the 'Glurgrhk! Glurgrhk! Glurgrhk!' resounding throughout my quarters.
The thicc mocha-skinned princess' oral exhibition continued for a feverish minute- jiggling heftily in certain places. Then with a breathless gasp, she disconnected from the enviously glistening ash-banana. Then proceeded to slide it right into her cleavage: the spit-covered tip of the fruit peeking out from between that pair of mocha-coloured melons in the too-small furkini, standing almost as proudly as the expression that Princess Yue wore. Her lips quirked in a proud smile even as her large breasts swayed as she sucked in air.
"Was I able to convince you of my sincerity, Honourable Commander Khan?" the princess asked- brushing away a stray strand of snow white hair from her face with decorum that did not match the spittle that was building up in her cleavage.
"That..."
I just sat back as I didn't know how to respond to that- just staring at that thoroughly fellated ash-banana sitting in her cleavage. Was this some sort of Water Tribe kink? Or was the Princess really just freaky in private? It was always the quiet ones after all... Maybe Suki wasn't completely to blame for the furkini?
"That was... very forward of you, Princess." I said when I finally found my voice. "And was really not necessary for you to do. But I suppose you've made your case all the same."
She blinked in surprise at that- as if she hadn't expected it to work. It didn't, but...
For allowing her the chance to save her people...
{Princess Yue} Reputation: 8 - 38
{Princess Yue} Obedience: 50 - 65
... Well, I wouldn't say no to a free increase in her Reputation and Obedience, which were advancing notably quickly. I suppose that said more about Princess Yue's priorities than anything else- the dutiful princess that she is. A shame that it would be rendered irrelevant soon, since her family is going to be deposed after this by the barbarian clans anyway. But it'd be good to have a claimant to Agna Qel'a in my pocket.
"Thank you for allowing me this opportunity! You will not regret it!" She bowed deeply, smiling wide and... ash-banana still in her cleavage.
"I'll assign a guard for you so that you can accompany the envoy safely." I informed her, "You should be very well acquainted with them by now."
"Them?" Yue tilted her head for a moment before a look of, "No... Not them."
"Yes, them." I sighed before calling out, "Suki, come out! I know you've been there this whole time."
Out of the shadowy corners of my quarters, the Kyoshi Warriors emerged. All friendly smiles as they crowded around the princess.
"What was that about 'them', Princess?"
"Yeah, we were getting along really well too!"
"Who knew you had it in you to do something like that!"
"Yeah, just because we put you in a furkini... Must be magic!"
"Alright, Suki, brief the princess on the protocols of being a VIP." I said as I rose to my full seven-feet-tall began to march out of the room. "And Kyoshi Warriors? Serious faces on, we're talking about the fate of Agna Qel'a here."
"We understand, Khan!" Suki saluted, "And uh... where are you off to, Khan? Just in case anyone asks."
I stopped at the threshold, skull helm glancing back at the girls. "I'm going to go repair my armour as best as I can..." I told them, "... as well as check on our remaining blasting jelly stores."
After all, if the Northern Water Tribe declines my generous offer a second time, it would mean that we'll need to hold out against them for two whole weeks until the Armada arrives. And having a few more... tricks up my sleeve, will help with our survival.
My armoured footsteps echoed out as I headed for the forge. It was time for another upgrade to my armour.
In the warmth of the prince's quarters, Yue breathed a sigh of relief as she heard his footsteps grow farther, leaving her with the Kyoshi Warriors again.
She was well on her way to saving her people from the Fire Nation Armada now.
A hand patted her bare shoulder, and Yue looked up just in time to see Suki flash her a painted grin and her black-gloved thumb extended in a thumbs up.
"You did an amazing job with that, Princess." The Kyoshi Warrior smiled proudly, "You might not have seen it, but Khan was really impressed."
"He was?" Yue smiled back, relief filling her belly. "Strange as Fire Nation rituals are, I'm glad that my ash-banana etiquette was acceptable enough to impress a Fire Nation Prince."
The Kyoshi Warriors grinned.
"Oh yeah, nothing puts Khan into a listening mood than a bit of that ash-banana ritual!"
"Especially if we do it at the same time!"
"Erm... just don't say you learned it from us, ok?"
"Yeah, if Khan figures out that we taught you..."
"Of course!" Yue nodded gratefully, "I won't say a word! But for the journey back to Agna Qel'a, may I have my parka-dress back? This 'furkini' is... It's very sparse."
"No~" The redhead replied with a cheerful grin, "I need it for something. But since Khan is at the forge, we can go ask him if he can't make you an alternate dress. And hey, you can even choose the colour this time! Black would look so good with your white hair! Also..."
Suki leaned her painted face closer, suddenly serious.
"Are you sure you're ready to go back and convince them?" She asked, and Yue nodded just as seriously.
"I must. If there was ever a time to put all my tutoring in the finer points of being a Water Tribe Princess to use, it would be this day."
She pursed her lips. Still... it wasn't without any misgivings. Trusting her life with the very people who abducted her from her home to safely return her there, all so that she may convince her own people to surrender to the very people who would destroy them. These past few days had been bizarre for her, but if that was what it took to save the Northern Water Tribe then so be it.
"I only need to ensure my rhetoric is in order and well thought out." Yue reasoned as she pulled out the slick ash-banana from her chest and wiped it clean. "After all, it wouldn't do if my people got the wrong idea of what I'm trying to accomplish."
Yue ignored the brief snort of laughter from Suki.
(The morning after) [Royal Palace, Agna Qel'a]
High in the glittering white city of Agna Qel'a, Katara stood at the top of the steps leading to the Royal Palace's courtyard. Sokka's whalebone crutches clicked against the stairs as he followed close behind. She looked out into the city. The cold sea breeze brushed across her face, carrying with it the lingering scent of ash.
Morning was rising over a wounded Agna Qel'a, now free of invaders. The scattered fires that the Fire Nation had lit were finally put out, and Agna Qel'a was clear once again. Just blue and white buildings as far as the eye can see. If not for the lingering scars of battle on the various buildings, she could have said that it was all a bad dream. It was like the morning light had warded away the Fire Nation- as if they truly were the angry, vengeful spirits of the night that the rumours had painted them. And although Agna Qel'a wasn't under attack anymore, the wounds were still fresh on the city.
"Agna Qel'a..." She murmured. "... It's so different compared to the beautiful city of ice and water that we arrived at."
"I know." Sokka agreed softly, leaning heavily on his crutches.
The city's skyline was jagged in places, like broken teeth from a savage fight.
Entire buildings had collapsed from the intense heat of firebending clashes and blasting jelly. Even those that flanked them had melted, having never been intended to see war. But even those melted buildings were better than where the Fire Nation didn't use their firebending- the clashes where they only used their blades and their murderous mounts. Frozen puddles of blood still painted the walkways there- the red standing out against the white ice. There were even gruesome chunks of viscera left behind in everyone's hurry... They were still counting bodies, putting them together in some cases.
"Sokka, it's just like how it was back home." Katara murmured as groups of healers and volunteers passed them by- going door to door providing care to those injured in the attack, and clearing the streets of bodies.
"But we can't let it end the same way for them like it did for us." Sokka agreed, a fierce glint in his eye.
"And we won't." An aged voice joined them.
Katara broke into a smile as she turned around, "Master Pakku!"
"Katara, Sokka." The elderly waterbender greeted them right back, "I'm glad the two of you are up and about."
He was in his usual rich royal blue parka, and looking worse for wear: The whites in his greying hair and the wrinkles around his eyes seemed more pronounced as he glanced down on a black spot staining the ice. But as he glanced back up to them, his expression- usually stern- softened ever so slightly.
"Glad to see you're okay too, Master Pakku." Katara greeted back, quietly noting how tired he sounded. "I'll be fine as long as I take it easy on my side for a few days."
"And you, son?" Master Pakku raised an eyebrow in Sokka's direction.
"I'll make a full recovery." Sokka said as he leaned on his whalebone crutches, using them to carefully stand. "Got a bit of frostnip on my fingers, nothing that won't be fine next morning, but my leg... It'll take a lot longer. I'm not out of the fight though."
Master Pakku frowned and- in an uncharacteristically gentle tone- said, "Sokka, you need to let your body recover. You've done enough for now. Why don't you leave the coming battles to those who-"
"My war is not over, Master Pakku." Sokka said firmly. Blue eyes- the exact same shade as hers- stared down her waterbending teacher, "Even if I can't fight, I can still help you guys figure things out, plan the next move, whatever I can do. But what I'm not going to do is sit this one out. I need to be here. For my Tribe."
"For the Water Tribe." the older man echoed with calm acceptance, "I see you've made up your mind. I won't try to dissuade you then."
"Thank you, Master Pakku." Sokka bowed gratefully with a slight smile, and the older man bowed back.
"Since Aang isn't here for the gathering, I presume that Master Yagoda is still treating him?"
Katara nodded, "Yes, as much as I wish I could be the one nursing him back to full health, Master Yagoda has forgotten more about Waterbending Healing than I have ever learned."
"He's in very capable hands. Come along then." Master Pakku began walking away, waving a hand at them to follow. "Come along then. The crowd has already gathered."
Katara followed close behind, helping Sokka up and down the sparse steps over the canals until finally, they reached their destination.
The dining area where they had feasted on Princess Yue's birthday and they were officially welcomed to the North Pole. The place where it all began, almost untouched by previous night's fighting. Totems of great spirits, the host of great spirits lesser than the Moon and Ocean but great enough to deserve a spot on the totems, rose high all around and cast long shadows on them.
As they made their way through the throng of people gathered in front of the palace the palace, their eyes would meet with those who they passed by- warriors, healers, and regular people alike- every time, water tribe blue would meet on Water tribe blue and was followed by a nod of recognition as if to say 'We're in this together now.' The Water Tribe may have been wounded, but they were not defeated. Katara felt the weight of her water skin on her hip more clearly then, the weight of her own role in all this- to use her bending not just to heal, but to fight for those who could not.
To the top of the steps to the icy stage where Chieftain Arnook usually sat and dined, Master Pakku climbed. The weight of the situation seemed to press down harder on Master Pakku's shoulders as he sighed deeply and addressed the crowd.
"You all know who I am." He began- aged voice echoing out throughout the courtyard, "And I know you all have a thousand questions and worries swirling in your heads. Keep them in your skulls, because this is important and we have no time for you all to bark at me like a pack of turtle-seals. So, listen quietly to this old man for once."
Katara noticed how he paused, allowing the direness of the situation to truly settle. But Katara thought that Master Pakku was pausing for himself, because his voice sounded so tired. She didn't envy him, being the bearer of bad news was never a good feeling, but only for a moment, he stood straighter as his voice grew resolute.
"Due to my seniority as Chieftain Arnook's First Wave, I am to lead the Northern Water Tribe in his temporaryabsence. And as for you all..." He swept his eyes across the crowd, "Distant cousins... Illegitimate children... Even trusted friends of the Chieftains... You're all here because the Fire Nation has abducted most of the chiefs and their immediate families. They aimed to cut off the head of the Northern Water Tribe as if we were just some mink-snake. And unfortunately, they succeeded in their goals. Until your chieftains and their immediate families are returned to Agna Qel'a, the burden of leadership for your tribes now rests on your shoulders. And thus, you should all be made aware of the entire situation in Agna Qel'a."
There was a small wave of murmuring. Katara heard them, mostly quiet prayers to the Moon and Ocean Spirits. Others, vows of vengeance against the Fire Nation.
"The Fire Nation's attack was far more coordinated than we first thought." Pakku informed them, mincing no words, "The Fire Nation conducted their raid with the intent to cripple us as a nation, rather than kill us outright. This was apparently the reason why our unexpectedly low casualties were in fact not due to gross Fire Nation incompetence as we had initially believed."
"Low?" Katara couldn't help but repeat incredulously, loud enough to reach him, "We're sending the bodies of hundreds of our kin back to the Ocean! How is that low?!"
Some smattering of support came from the crowds as well, demanding an answer.
"Yes, Pupil Katara... That is low." Master Pakku said with a solemn nod. "I have some associates overseas who I keep in touch with. The tales they had to share of the Fire Nation 'conquering' towns? Agna Qel'a should count her blessings that the attack did not go the way as all the others did- where the casualties had reached total."
He gave her a hard stare for a moment- his narrowed blue eyes meeting hers. One that Katara recognised as her waterbending master's signature 'Don't interrupt me while I'm lecturing' look. She lowered her head.
"They started with hamstringing our ability to fight back." He began again, gesturing with his chin towards some collapsed ice buildings near the watchtowers, "Every piece of whalebone weaponry stored in our arsenals had been set ablaze and rendered a charred, brittle mess. We won't be able to arm any new militia within the next week, and even after, only in limited numbers."
Katara wasn't worried about that: Because as long as they had their bending, the Water Tribe could still defend themselves. However, Master Pakku shovelled the last piece of buffalo-yak droppings on this heap of brown snow.
"Then the Fire Nation moved on to our trade and livelihood: Our largest stables had been emptied- the buffalo-yaks and arctic camels either have been stolen or outright slaughtered. And from the state of the warehouses along our docks, they took as much furs and blue jade as they could carry before burning down the rest. Pupil Katara, keep that in mind if- when- you and the Avatar go along your way, Water Tribe money may not hold as much value as before. Even with our certain victory against the Fire Nation, we are looking some lean times ahead. Especially since all the ships we had docked in port- from our trade cutters to our waterbending catamarans and even to our smallest fishing dinghies... Each and every single one had been put to the torch."
A murmur of anger and hopelessness rippled through the crowd. Katara herself didn't think that the attack was that devastating, things were happening just like it did the South Pole again! However, Master Pakku shovelled the last piece of buffalo-yak droppings on this heap of brown snow.
"But most damning of all..." He paused to exhale deeply, running a mittened hand over his balding head before pulling out from his pocket a scroll. "... An envoy from the Fire Nation arrived just a few hours ago, bearing this scroll. And upon this scroll- signed by all the chieftains of the Northern Water Tribe and even their heirs- is written that the Northern Water Tribe has surrendered unconditionally to the Fire Nation."
He held the scroll high for everyone to see the proof of their own surrender.
The revelation made gasps of shock ripple through the crowd, and Katara was no different. "We... surrendered?" She muttered hollowly. "It's all over? Just like that?"
Some voices among the crowd, more enraged than surprised, shouted over everyone else's murmurs.
"It's a Fire Nation trick!"
"A forgery! It has to be!"
"Our chieftains would never surrender!"
But Master Pakku just gave them a glance- a sad sideways glance, "A representative among the chieftains arrived with the envoy and attested to the veracity of this scroll." he told them, almost unwillingly, "For reasons known only to the Moon and Ocean Spirits, our chieftains have truly decided to surrender the entirety of the Northern Water Tribe to the Fire Nation."
"So we're ignoring it, right?!"
A girl's voice shouted, and Katara had a feeling that the girl wasn't asking. But it was only when Katara noticed that the crowd's eyes were on her did she realise that she was the one who said it.
Her waterbending master's gaze rested on her.
"No." was his reply. "As much as it pains me to admit it, we cannot just ignore it. This is what happens when a Nation's leaders are captured. An exceedingly rare occurrence, yes; but it has historical precedent- I've checked. Water Tribe Chieftains, Earth Kings, Fire Lords, even Air Elders... their surrender meant that whatever territory they commanded was relinquished as well. For us, as a people, to refuse to acknowledge our chieftains' authority means that we refuse to acknowledge the structure of our own Nation. We would be abandoning our own ways- become outlaws and secessionists unrecognised as a legitimate society by the other Nations or even by Nation founded by our own ancestors! ... We'd be just another lawless barbarian tribe wandering the Polar Wastes! However..."
Her mittened hands balled into fists as Katara squeezed her eyes tight.
"We have Aang!" Her shout echoed out.
The crowd quieted down.
"We have Aang..." Still keeping her eyes shut, Katara forced out the words she did not want to say, but had to, "The Avatar is on our side. He, the bridge between the Mortal World and Spirit World, decrees us to be the Water Tribe. And if the Avatar recognises us, if he fightsfor us... then that's all we need, right?! The Fire Nation might have tricked our chieftains into signing this piece of paper, but we are and will always be the Water Tribe! Especially in spirit!"
"The Avatar!" "She's right!" "He's on our side!"
"The Avatar is with us!"
She lifted her head as the crowd's rallying shouts grew- cheering with this tingling courage that all was not lost. Even Master Pakku graced her with a small smile.
"And the student steals her master's thunder, I should have you doing basic water flow drills for that, Pupil Katara." he said before turning his gaze towards the crowd, "We cannot ignore this document, but we may dispute it. If our chieftains have turned against the Water Tribe, then it is our duty to bring them to justice. We, the Water Tribes of Agna Qel'a, will NOT allow ourselves to be signed away like chattel!"
If it ensured her people were not defeated by Fire Nation tricks? Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if Aang did become the beacon of hope that people needed...
"No, stop this at once!"
Everyone turned to the source of the shout, and Katara felt her eyes widen in surprise.
There, approaching them were the deadliest group of female warriors in all the Earth Kingdom.
Kyoshi Warriors now working for the Fire Nation, just as Sokka and all the rumours had said. With the same dark green kimonos and black armour, the same white-painted faces with red accents, and the same glittering brass headdresses on their heads. Suki and the others marched up to them fearlessly and confidently as their Fire Nation commander- as if they knew nothing would be able to touch them. And in the middle of them was a very familiar face in a very familiar purple parka-dress, a person who no one expected to be back and walking around.
"Princess Yue?!"
Morning sun rising behind her back, Princess Yue stepped forward in the exquisite parka-dress that Khan had crafted her.
"This was a really ballsy move, Princess." Suki whispered to her, sounding amused. "I like it."
Yue said nothing, focused on asserting her presence- holding her chin high and meeting the eyes of her audience.
As expected, the eyes of hundreds of her kin bore down on her, but Yue was used to it by now- she has been their princess all her life after all. And now, she was finally going to do the duty that she owed them all- Ensuring that as many of them can live on after this... by convincing them to lay down their arms to the same people who had devastated their city. The original plan was for her and her Kyoshi Warrior bodyguards to stay with the rest of the Fire Nation envoy at the city edges, and wait for the Agna Qel'a Resistance's official answer. Only then was Yue supposed to attempt changing their minds, but she knew that she had a better chance if she started before they made their decision. She could only hope that she wasn't too late.
Her bodyguards placed their hands on their katanas as Master Pakku and Katara reached them first. "Keep your distance." Suki warned them- just the slightest hint of a threat in her voice, "The Princess is here to speak, not hand out free hugs."
"Speak? I see." The wrinkled brows of Master Pakku furrowed, "Do you bear a message from the Water Tribe chiefs... or at the behest of the Fire Nation Commander, Princess Yue?"
Yue pursed her lips slightly. That was not good, they were already suspicious of her loyalties.
Still, she replied, "Master Pakku, I am here of my own free will, and this speech, entirely my and my father's idea. The only reason why he is not speaking to you is that he is too valuable as a prisoner to the Fire Nation than I am."
"What are we waiting for?" Katara, Yue's Southern water Tribe counterpart, asked the old mentor, "We have them outnumbered and they even have the princess with them!"
"Don't even try it, Katara." Suki scoffed, her arms crossed over her black chestpiece and an unamused look on her painted face.
"Impetuous youths..." Master Pakku shook his head in exasperation. "Don't let yourself be goaded, Pupil katara. Rushing into battle without understanding the full extent of the enemy army's strength and with our city in dire straits is not bravery. This is folly, the kind of which their Commander would like for us to make."
"There is no army."
Everyone turned to watch Sokka hobbling forward on his crutches in front of the crowd. "There is no Fire Nation army hiding in the tundras. One of the Fire Nation I fought that night..."
His blue eyes stared straight into Suki's deep ocean blue.
"...she let it slip that what we're facing is a lone Fire Nation division- the 41st Division."
"Is that so?" Master Pakku hummed, a grey eyebrow raised in interest.
The crowd muttered behind him. Dangerously hopeful muttering. The revelation that a single Fire Nation division was responsible for the devastating attack on Agna Qel'a was met with a mixture of disbelief and shock among the gathered Water Tribe members Murmurs spread through the crowd as they tried to reconcile the catastrophic damage and loss with the idea that only one enemy division could have inflicted such harm, yes. Even Yue was stunned when it was first revealed to her, but she knew what came after, she had experienced it herself after all and now, spotted it among the crowd's faces- the moment when that initial wave of fear ebbed away to reveal a glittering little gem of hope: They could win against a single Fire Nation division, couldn't they?
"Dammit, Sokka." Yue heard Suki mutter. Then followed by an even quieter, "Khan's going to kill me for that. This is so over now."
Yue started to sweat under her parka. No, it can't be over! She hadn't even made her case yet! Even if they defeated Khan and his forces, when the Fire Nation Armada arrived, surely those Fire Nation soldiers would show not a shred of mercy to the people of Agna Qel'a for defeating their prince. Her people would go the way of the Air Nomads!
Throughout her realisation, she watched as Sokka just smiled smugly, triumphant in his ignorance to the danger he'd just put them in, and Yue believed herself to be someone who did violence, but in that moment, she just wanted to slap him.
"Regretting that you didn't get rid of the Sokka when you had a chance, Suki?" He said.
"No, I stand by everything that I said that night," Suki told him, "I gave you the chance to stay out of this war. I'm just regretting that I can't get rid of you now- you're lucky that we have explicit orders from Khan not to attempt to take any targets of opportunity during this diplomatic meeting."
"And I'm real flattered that the Giant thinks I'm a big enough opportunity to get targeted by his frumpy Kyoshi Warrior turncoats."
"Frumpy?!"
"You take that back. We're lithe and slender!"
"And stylish!"
"Don't make this personal, Sokka."
"Nah, you're just a little heavy-side."
Yue watched as the redheaded Kyoshi Warrior frowned before glancing over to her and smirking. She did not like where this was going...
"Alright, wise guy." Suki said with too mischievous of a voice, "If you're going to be so smug, why don't you ask the Princess here what she had to do to convince Khan to let her make this little speech to you all?"
Yue frowned stoically as she ignored the slap to her rear that the Kyoshi Warrior gave her. "It was nothing, Sokka, just some Fire Nation etiquette." She answered, deciding to cut off before any misunderstanding occurred, "A small, odd ritual involving swallowing his ash-banana."
But for whatever reason, it did the opposite of reassure him. His blue eyes widened in shock.
"You did what to his what?" Sokka said with a scandalised shout, "How could you!?"
"It wasn't anything notable!" Yue said, her brows furrowed. "Yes, it was the first one I've had, or even seen. But it was just an ash-banana!"
"Just an 'ash-banana'?!" He squawked.
Yue didn't understand. What was so culturally significant about ash-bananas that even Sokka understood its hidden implications and she didn't? Perhaps there was some romantic subtext that she did not know about? Sokka was well-travelled after all, perhaps he heard something about it from the Fire Nation colonies? Regardless, Yue defended her honour, "There were and are no romantic feelings between myself and Fire Nation giant, Sokka! The Giant was amicable, but I didn't even kiss him or anything!"
"But you still sucked him off?!"
She did not know what that meant either, but going by context clues...
"And I'd 'suck him off' a hundred times more!" Yue bravely announced. "I'd wear that furkini and stick his ash-banana in my chest! Be his 'Arctic Mocha bunny' for the rest of my life if need be. If it could convince him to let me be here, then I was ready to do anything! This is how important it is!"
But instead of focusing on the last part, Sokka just cried out, "He made you wear what and do what in your whatand be his WHAT?!"
Yue didn't know how to respond to that one.
The Kyoshi Warriors once again found mirth at her expense- holding on each other's armoured shoulders and clutching their guts as they held in their laughter.
All the while the crowd's mutterings rose in volume too.
"How horrible..." "Those Fire Nation brutes..." "Our own princess..." "That giant is a real piece of work..."
[Fire Nation Arctic Base]
For defiling their princess to your every twisted whim...
{Sokka} Reputation : -60 - -100
+ R +
For defiling their princess to your every twisted whim...
{Water Tribes} Reputation : -100
{Water Tribes} Infamy: 60 - 90
+ R +
Oh come on, you Water Tribe ingrates!
I did not lay a hand on your thicc, white-haired, mocha princess. I did the opposite of that! I even crafted her an almost identical parka-dress!
First, it was the Fire Nation Royal family. Now it's the Water Tribe one! Royals are almost more trouble than they're worth!
[Agna Qel'a]
Yue still did not get it, but with how Suki was subtly gesturing to her, she noticed the crowds' eyes sparkling with pity and realised how to turn it to her favour.
"There is little I wouldn't sacrifice for my people." She said loudly, solemnly.
Silence from the crowd. Sokka in particular refused to meet her eyes.
It worked! She took a deep breath, quiet as a snowflake and just for herself, letting her eyes scan her audience as they muttered. Faces of people she had only seen in passing- distant relatives to the chieftains and their acquaintances. People she barely knew. Water Tribe all the same. Then her voice echoed out.
"People of Agna Qel'a, My beloved tribesmen, I am here to entrust you all with the most difficult and important of tasks for the survival of the Water Tribe. I am here to ask you all to surrender."
"How can you say that? After all the things we've all been put through?" Katara gasped, eyes wide and looking at her in equal parts disbelief and betrayal. And Yue knew that it was likely how the rest of the crowd felt.
"My kin, we have lost." She pleaded to them with as much sincerity as she could muster, "But we stand to lose so much more if we do not surrender! It is true that the Spirits of the Moon and of the Ocean would not want us to be under Fire Nation rule, but the alternative would be much more objectionable!"
"What could be worse than having Agna Qel'a reduced to a Fire Nation colony and us all being humbled to be second-class citizens in our own lands?!"
".. We could all be dead." was Yue's quiet reply. Loud enough for everyone to hear, but quiet enough to not tempt fate. Hopefully.
"You really think the Fire Nation would win against us?"
"There are things that are beyond your knowledge- things that I am not permitted to reveal to you." Yue paused, thinking of the hundreds of Fire Nation cruisers that were likely to be sailing in the seas behind her right this very moment, "But so great and terrible are these terrible realities that they have convinced my father and all the chieftains that signing that declaration of Northern Water Tribe's surrender is our people's best course of action now. It is our only course of action now if we wish to preserve our people and our way of life. We have to sacrifice what we can bear to lose, to safeguard what we cannot."
There. For the briefest moment, Yue saw it in their eyes- they were actually willing to surrender.
"But we have to try! We have to fight back!" Katara's voice rang out. With a determined look on her face, Yue's Southern Water Tribe counterpart showed that she was still full of fight, so unlike herself, "We can't just let the Fire Nation do what they want! You just can't! They'll take our people away from us! First, it'll be your leaders, then it'll be anyone who can waterbend, then it'll be your aunts and uncles and m-mothers! We have to draw the line in the snow, here and now! And with Aang- with the Avatar- we can!"
"The Avatar is with us!"
"Why should we surrender when we cannot lose?"
"The Avatar stands with the Water Tribe!"
Yue tried desperately to refute it, "Even with the Avatar, what you face is too great! The cost of fighting this is too high! Please reconsider! You don't know what's lurking beyond the horizon!"
"Cutting it close, Yue." came Suki's whisper, and she frowned. The leash was just too short.
"It doesn't matter!" Katara shouted back to her face, "You tell the Giant that we're not letting him do all the things the Fire Nation already did to the Southern Water Tribe! Never again! Never in a million years!"
"No! Please, I'm begging you to surrender!" Yue frantically shouted, throwing all composure to the wind, "For all our sakes. For the sake of the Water Tribe, please you have to believe me! We cannot win this!"
"Yes, we can!" Dozens of mittened fists rose into the air right before Yue's eyes as the crowd rallied to the Southern Water Tribe Princess. "And with Aang on our side, We, the Northern Water Tribe, will NOT allow ourselves to be signed away like chattel! For the Water Tribe!"
"For the Moon and Ocean Spirits!"
"Water Tribe Forever!"
"No, none of you understand!" Yue shouted as loudly as she could, "There's an A-!"
Cold metal pressed against her throat, just the flat cheek of a razor sharp blade resting on her bare neck. One small slight tilt away from her bleeding out with an open throat on the snow. Suki's voice followed immediately after.
"You've said enough, Princess." She said calmly.
"...Suki, please." Yue begged, suppressing the urge to weep for her people's foolhardiness. "They won't listen. You have to let me tell them that-"
"No." The Kyoshi Warrior replied, "It won't do you any good anyway. I know you heard me when I said it was over. And I know you can see it in their eyes too- they're not going to go down without a fight. No matter who or what they face."
"But I can't just leave my people to die." Yue whispered.
"And we can't disobey Khan- we'd only be making it worse. If anyone knows how to solve this, it'd be him."
"...okay."
The katana clicked shut in its sheath, and it was only then that Yue realised the blade was no longer on her throat.
"Enough, Pupil Katara." Master Pakku sighed as he rested a hand on the cheering Katara's shoulder before settling his hard gaze on Suki, "Here is your formal answer, Fire Nation."
Then he proceeded to tear the Declaration of Surrender right before their eyes. The pieces fluttered to the snow.
"Yeah, it looks like we do." Suki shook her head with a sigh, "Khan isn't going to be happy to have another document ruined like that. Tell me that you'll at least let us be on our way, and not try something stupid like capture us."
"No, release the Princess, Kyoshi Warriors." Master Pakku calmly demanded, hands confidently behind his back. "You will be our prisoners. Perhaps the Giant would be willing to exchange some of his for you."
"Don't even try it!"
Master Pakku let out a brief whistle.
Yue watched as the Water Tribe Militia streamed in from every direction. A tide of blue parkas and hard eyes of her people. The sharpened points of whalebone spears pointed at them. Twenty? Forty of them? All forming a cage of brave Water Tribe Militia and fine whalebone weaponry around her Kyoshi Warrior captors. It was the sight that Yue prayed to the Moon Spirit for on that fateful night. But now, it only filled her with dread as she realised how reckless her 'plan' to infiltrate into her own city actually was. Prince Khan was their only hope now in having the Armada called off. If she was kept here... she wouldn't be able to attempt to convince him, and all hope of her people surviving would truly be lost.
"Just figured what'll happen if you're too far away to talk to Khan, huh?" Suki whispered to her, apparently having seen her expression of realisation.
"Yes..." Yue shrank back behind her Kyoshi Warrior captor-turned-bodyguard, "Please, you have to give me a chance to convince him."
"No worries. We'll get you out of here." Suki reassured as she and the others stepped in front of her to form a wall of green kimonos and black armour. The redhead glanced at one of the other Kyoshi Warriors, "Also, you all know whose turn it is to carry the Princess, right?"
"... Dammit."
But the Kyoshi Warriors themselves only scoffed, bright red lips curled in cocky smirks.
"Oh no. We're surrounded by out-of-shape men with pointy sticks. We're so in danger. Yawn."
"Get those things out of our faces. Please? You're not even holding those spears right. This is embarrassing!"
"Mhm, this threat is so 'great' that I might just collapse on the spot... snoring."
"Look at that guy's stance. He's gonna soil his pants trying to exert any real force behind his thrust."
"Ok, sisters, just like we practiced on the march here."
"You're surrounded." The old Waterbending master warned, his royal blue sleeves swaying in the arctic breeze as he shifted into a waterbending stance. "No matter how swift or cunning you think you are, there is no escape from the city."
Suki flashed a brilliant smile at him, "That's where you're wrong, geezer!"
From their pockets, the Kyoshi Warriors pulled out stones carved with symbols... then struck a pose in sequence.
"Kyoshi Warrior Secret Art!"
"Bu!"
"Re!"
"Tai!"
"Mu!"
"[Bu Re Tai Mu]!"
Before Yue could realise what any of that meant, a wall of smoke exploded into existence, then her home city of Agna Qel'a turned into a white and blue blur.
(A few breaths later)
Katara blinked at the [Ice Wall] suddenly between them and the circle of water tribe militia. Not as thick as before, but definitely thick enough to block a Kyoshi Katana. Except...
"Where'd they go?!" Katara demanded, but the Militia that once surrounded the squad of Kyoshi Warriors just looked clueless, swinging their gaze this way and that, looking for them. Nothing but dissipating smoke and empty space in the middle of them.
"Tricky Kyoshi Warriors..." Master Pakku sighed beside her, his grey hair brushing against his snow-touched shoulders as he shook his head in annoyance. "They'll be long gone now. Less than ideal, of course, they'll inform the Giant and his division of our refusal to surrender... but I do not believe they'll attack now that we all know they're but a lone Fire Nation division in our lands."
"What do we do now, Master Pakku?" She asked.
"We will prepare to rescue our captured chieftains." He said, "But for now, we keep licking our wounds."
His mittened hand rested on her shoulder.
"That was a rousing speech, Pupil Katara." He said to her.
Katara just smiled sadly. "All I did was say all the things I wished I did the day my mother died."
"And I'm sure you made her proud with how brave you were today."
"... Thank you, Master Pakku."
"Also, don't interrupt my speech and steal my thunder ever again. Or I'll have you doing Water Flow drills all day long."
"Yes, Master!" Katara smiled.
"You too, son." He said, turning to Sokka. "Your keen ear may have saved the Water Tribe from surrendering to a single Fire Nation division. That would have made us a laughing stock of the Four Nations for a thousand years."
"Still bummed out about Princess Yue..." Sokka muttered before exhaling and shooting a confident smile at them, "But now we can save her for real this time! We just have to beat this one Fire Nation division, then we win this war for the North Pole! And also, Khan is the worst and biggest monster that the Fire Nation can offer. If we defeat him, there is nothing that the Fire Nation can throw at us that would be worse than him!"
He turned around to the crowd and raised one of his whalebone crutches like it was a weapon. "WATER TRIBE!"
The crowd returned his rallying cry.
"For the Water Tribe!"
"The Avatar is with us!"
"For the Moon and Ocean Spirits!"
"The full might of Agna Qel'a is being roused..." Master Pakku noted, and Katara looked all around her. To the ready and eager faces of her brave Water Tribe kin, to the damaged but unbroken city of Agna Qel'a, and to that little private hut where an Avatar and dear friend was resting...
Never before had she felt victory to be so sure.
[Fire Nation Arctic Base]
The entire 41st Division was gathered before me. Pale snow dusting the Fire Nation red of my spiked pauldrons.
The blizzard was picking up again, but they all stood unerringly at attention despite the weather. The edges of their black greatcoats, their plumed helmet's feathers swaying in the winds, and even as the snow began to bury their boots.
[Unofficial Delegation]
Strategic flexibility often comes from entrusting the right tasks to the right personnel. Unofficial Delegation allows you to temporarily grant the effects of a Companion Skill, Stat Perk or Proficiency Skill to a chosen companion. The more powerful the shared skill is, the shorter the duration and the longer the cooldown period between sharing becomes- reaching days or even weeks. But in those brief few minutes, your companion becomes an extension of your will: A herald, an enforcer, a diplomat, a saboteur, an executioner. Whatever you need them to be. Unofficially, of course.
+ R +
[Unofficial Delegation] Activation!
Companion: {Suki & the Kyoshi Warriors}
Perk/Skill Activated: [Bullet Time] x3
Cooldown: 6 Day, 23 hours, 55 minutes
+ R +
The emergency measure that I shared with the Kyoshi Warriors has been activated. The negotiations had failed yet again. I held the 'talisman' of carved stone in the palm of my armoured hand. Decoys to shroud my BS Gamer functions in superstition and mysticism, and from the way my troops were looking at it distrustfully, it was working. I squeezed it until the stone crumbled to dust in my fingers.
My skull helm turned its gaze towards the gathered Fire Nation troops.
"41st Division!" My voice boomed- echoing all throughout the valley.
Immediately, chests under Fire Nation Red armour and dark greatcoats stiffened at attention, and their gauntlets snapped to their helmets' visors in a crisp salute.
"COMMANDER KHAN, SIR!"
My heavily armoured frame stood tall before them, not letting a single speck of weakness or doubt show as I made the announcement of our worst case scenario.
"Despite our successful sneak attack, the hopeless scenario that Fire Nation High Command has warned us about has come to pass. We, a single Fire Nation division, stand alone behind enemy lines- right on the doorstep of the frozen citadel of our opposing element and whose home terrain hates the very existence of us Firebenders. Our supplies are only what we had carried with us. Our only reinforcement, currently entire seas away. The only port off this miserable, frozen rock in more than a hundred kilometres is controlled by the enemy! And they're going to come charging across those plains- a great force of waterbenders in their element, outnumbering us 8-to-1! They will accept no surrender, no prisoners."
"41st Division..." I looked each of them in the eye. "... This is exactly the type of war I trained you for! Show them no mercy! That's an order!"
"SIR! YES, SIR!"
[Coast of the Fire Nation Capital]
Grand Admiral Zhao stood patiently as the sand in the hourglass continued to pour.
The everpresent salty sea air was cool. The sea ravens continued to caw overhead in the noon sun. And he continued to allow all the men to bask in his own overflowing glory. He was, after all, armoured in the finest Fire Nation cotton red fatigues, armour plates polished until it was blackest night, great cape stitched with gold thread accents, and his voluminous sideburns dabbed with the most expensive Abby-brand cologne. All finery worthy of being the greatest admiral in the Fire Nation history- No, in the history of the whole Four Nations!
"Are we finished standing around and looking cool, Uncle Jao?"
The last piece of sand fell to the bottom of the hourglass, and Grand Admiral Zhao smiled.
"Yes, Anya. it is in fact finally time."
"Waku Waku!" the tiny pink-haired girl bounced on her tiny feet as she climbed the step ladder. A breeze picked up as her own red cape that her adoptive father made for her almost blew her away, but Zhao was worried because a slender but very deadly hand darted out from behind her to hold her steady.
"Careful, Anya." The soft, feminine voice of the world's deadliest assassin rang out.
"Ah, thank you, mama!"
Anya gripped the metal railing tight as she looked out to the gathered division of Fire Nation Elites assembled on the vast deck of his battleship, and cleared her throat.
"We're gonna stop the evil waterbenders at their evil ice castle!" She shouted to them, "We're gonna blast them with fire until they're super mega sorry for being evil waterbenders! And with the superweapon that Papa left for us, we'll be unstopfeatable!"
She raised both her tiny fists straight up into the air and her voice rose as loud as she could.
"For Fire Nation and Fire Lord Ozzy!"
"FOR FIRE NATION AND FIRE LORD OZAI!"
The voices of forty thousand Fire Nation Veterans across two hundred Fire Nation warships shouted in unison, echoing their challenge across the seas.
His moment of Triumph was nigh.
"My Armada is ready." Grand Admiral Zhao said with relish, "Set a course for the Northern Water Tribe."
As one, the blue sky began to choke with the pungent smog of coal-fired engines, metal hulls groaned with the deep voices of mountains as they began to move, the munitions enough to reduce a hundred Omashus to smoking ruins sleeping soundly despite the waves banging helplessly against the hulls, and in the wake of two hundred Fire Nation cruisers and battleships, the ocean trembled beneath them.
The Fire Nation Armada had set sail for the North Pole.
"What do you think, Pupil Katara?" Master Pakku asked, "Would we lose?"
Katara smirked.
"Nah, we'd win."