Ashes of Devotion [ATLA - Azula x OC]

[Lucernello]

AN: So I know this chapter is early again, but I'm confident I can post this one and then have one on Friday as well. I get paid this week so I'm not having to pump more hours, should be manageable.

Anyway, boring real life. Let's head to fun fantasy life.
Luce

PD: Enjoy a meme Aurora, one of my readers, made:

​

---

99 A.G

Aang led them through the temple trying to remember the way. For him it hadn't been long ago when he had been there, walking through these corridors, yet now each wall and passage felt so alien to him.

The stone had been cleaned, the walls had no dust in some places and a few of the broken decorations had been placed together again, but they still seemed to be arranged in a way it wasn't before, and he could still see some scorched stains here and there.

It made him feel like a stranger. He wanted to hate the Fire Nation for being here, for walking through the halls where the monks had lived, for touching everything that belonged to his people. But the place didn't look destroyed. It looked quiet and lonely, and that just made Aang feel sadness instead.

Katara and Sokka followed behind him, both of them trying to stay quiet. Sokka kept looking around corners with his club raised while Katara had one hand close to her waterskin. Aang appreciated it, even if he didn't think he would be able to fight anyone here.

The thought of fighting against people who had tried to preserve the memories of this place felt wrong, and pointless.

They only saw one soldier on their way. He had been carrying a box filled with old scrolls and almost dropped it when he saw them. For a moment Aang froze, expecting shouting, flames, or someone calling for help. Instead, the man looked at him, then at Katara and Sokka, then turned around and walked the other way without saying a word.

Sokka blinked. "Ah, right, he must have already been told to leave us alone."

"Maybe Iroh isn't so bad, right?" Aang said, unsure.

"Or maybe this is all part of their very strange plan to make us lower our guard." Sokka whispered.

Katara frowned. "You already did that while eating their food."

"That was just tactical to see what they did." Sokka replied. "They could have poisoned Aang."

Aang almost laughed, but he thought better of it, even if the situation was funny. It would be better if they didn't get attention from the Fire Nation soldiers. He kept walking, following the path toward the sanctuary. The closer they got, the more he remembered.

Gyatso had been the one who told him that he would have someone to guide him through his Avatar journey. Aang had voiced his worries to him and he was reassured that someone would be there at the beginning.

Now he wasn't sure there would be someone waiting for him there at all. He had never imagined that everyone would be gone. Aang had run away when he overheard that he would have to be separated from Gyatso, and the guilt of never seeing anyone ever again was eating at him.

He focused instead on at least checking the sanctuary and being here in the present instead of the past.

The sanctuary doors came into view at the end of the corridor, tall and round, marked with curling patterns that moved in circles around each other. Aang stopped in front of them and felt his throat tighten. They were still closed and they had not been broken down at least.

Sokka quickly walked past him and began looking around the corridor, checking behind a pillar, then another, then leaning halfway around the corner with exaggerated caution.

"What are you doing?" Katara whispered.

"Making sure nobody is waiting to jump at us the moment we open the mysterious ancient door." Sokka replied. He checked behind a small statue, then nodded to himself.

"Alright, coast is clear. Let's get inside before the old tea guy changes his mind." He grabbed the door and pulled, then pushed when that didn't work.

Sokka planted both feet on the ground, pulled harder, then placed his shoulder against it and pushed with a grunt. The door didn't move at all. He stopped after a few seconds, breathing through his nose in exhaustion.

"Okay, great. Very secure. Aang, your people were good at doors."

Aang chuckled lightly. "Only airbending can open it."

Sokka slowly looked at him. "You waited until after I fought the door to say that?"

"I thought you were still checking something out." Aang said.

Katara covered her mouth, trying not to laugh. Sokka pointed at both of them, clearly insulted, but Aang could see relief in his eyes too. They both understood that no Fire Nation awaited them inside.

Aang stepped forward and took a breath. He moved his arms in the pattern Gyatso had shown him, guiding the air into the carved grooves around the door. The stone circles began to turn, slowly at first, then faster, grinding against each other with a sound that echoed through the corridor far louder than Aang expected.

"That was not subtle." Sokka muttered, sharing a worried look with Katara.

Aang winced as the door continued to move, the stone rumbling through the floor and up his legs. When it finally opened, the noise faded into the sanctuary, and they all waited for someone to come running. No one did.

"Inside, quickly." Katara said.

They entered together hurriedly into the dark room. The sanctuary was colder than the rest of the temple. There was little light compared to the corridor and they had to wait until their eyes adjusted to see further in.

Aang stepped forward slowly, looking at the rows of statues arranged in circles around the room. There were so many of them, each one carved with care, each one sitting with calm dignity. Some wore robes he recognized as Air Nomad clothing. Others wore Water Tribe furs, Earth Kingdom armor, and Fire Nation garments. At first he only stared, confused by the feeling that he knew them somehow.

Katara noticed it first. "Aang… these people are from every nation."

Sokka moved closer to one of the statues. "And they're arranged in a pattern. Air, water, earth, fire."

Aang's eyes widened as the realization reached him. "The Avatar Cycle."

He walked deeper into the room, passing face after face. These were not only statues. These were his past lives. Hundreds of them. People he had been and somehow still was, even if he didn't know how to reach them. The thought made him feel smaller and heavier at the same time. He stopped before a Fire Nation statue, an old man with a stern face and robes carved like flame.

"Avatar Roku." Aang whispered.

"You were a firebender? No wonder I don't trust you." Sokka said, jokingly.

For a brief moment, he thought the statue's eyes shone. Aang took a step closer, breath catching in his throat, but before he could say anything, a blur of wings and fur shot through the open doorway.

A flying lemur swooped into the sanctuary, carrying a scroll almost as big as its body, chittering loudly as it circled above the statues.

"Hey!" Sokka shouted. "What is that thing?"

The lemur landed on one of the statues and hugged the scroll to its chest. A second voice echoed from the corridor, angry and young.

"Get back here flying rat!"

A Fire Nation teenager stormed into the sanctuary, fists clenched and face twisted in frustration. He stopped the moment he saw them. His eyes moved from Sokka, to Katara, then to Aang's arrow.

For a second no one said anything as they stared at one another. Aang analyzed his face more carefully, his face had a nasty burn scar on his left eye, and he was clearly surprised at first then angry.

"Wait a minute…How did you open this room?!" he yelled at them.

"We found it like that?" Aang replied unsure, already preparing an attack in case they needed to run out of there.

"Don't lie to me! You think I wasn't here before? You think I don't know what this place is? The Fire Nation has sanctuaries like this on their temples as well. Those can only be opened using firebending. This one can only be opened using airbending!" he said while getting into a fighting stance.

"So, who among you is the Avatar?" he asked threateningly.
​

---

His uncle was really losing it if he hadn't realized that the Water Tribes rarely stepped out of their own territory without a reason, much less kids like these, not to mention he didn't demand they surrender their weapons. The oldest looking had a club, and the youngest a long wooden staff.

For Zuko it was clear that the Avatar had reincarnated again, following the cycle. The logical explanation was that the airbender had hidden in the Water Tribes then left instructions for the next Avatar born to the water peasants, who had helped a new Avatar get the basics of airbending to open the sanctuary.

The southern raiders clearly missed a waterbender on their campaign and now he finally had the chance to regain his honor and go back home. After so many years of pain and overseas travel, suffering through his guilt and sorrow, his mission finally didn't feel impossible to complete.

The prince got into stance, ready to attack them should they try to escape. "So, who among you is the Avatar?" he asked, ready to force the answer out of them.

The youngest of the trio stepped forward and took a huge breath in and Zuko was confused. Was he going to scream for help or something? Then he got his answer as he was blown away all of a sudden. He easily lost his footing and was sent flying backwards, hitting a wall in the corridor.

In daze and hurt, Zuko called for his crew. "Help! The Avatar is here!" he yelled as he saw the trio run away from him. With difficulty he got up and ran after them.

"Hunt them down!" he yelled at the first soldiers to approach. He saw the kid again attack two of his men ahead, using airbending to push them out of the way.

'How is he so skilled in airbending when there are no airbenders alive to teach him.' he thought. His mind was still trying to make sense of what he was seeing while still in pursuit of his target.

Zuko quickly caught up to them using the same technique he learned to steer himself in the parachute, to navigate through the temple and obstacles. He didn't waste any time and attacked him, but he dodged his fireballs with ease and they continued fleeing down the temple.

As other soldiers joined Zuko believed he could take him prisoner. If they continued that path only a cliff was waiting for them and he would have them. But all of a sudden the young Avatar did something to his staff and from it sprang wings in action. He took flight while the other two grabbed onto him as they jumped off one side of a cliff.

For a moment they plunged downwards and Zuko held his breath. 'Had they killed themselves instead of risking getting caught?!' he thought. His thought was interrupted by the flying rat passing by him toward their direction as well.

Then they emerged from a giant flying beast that took to the skies too quickly for something of its size. Zuko threw a powerful fireball their way but again the Avatar used his staff to redirect it upwards harmlessly.

"No!" he screamed, frustrated. "Lieutenant, get word to the ship quickly, we must follow them somehow as quickly as possible."

"My prince, I will send word at once… but getting the entire crew to the ship will take its time, we only have one glider." Jee said.

"No, get the parachutes, we will use them to glide to the coast ourselves, forget the provisions we have here, we still can get more on the way if we head to Chin Village. Hurry!" Zuko said.

"Right away!"

"And where is my uncle?!" Zuko asked another soldier, exasperated.

"I believe he said he was going to take a nap, sir." he answered.

Zuko's only response was to throw fire around him, absolutely furious.
​

---

Lin was in a good mood. They had gotten a railway track all the way to New Ozai in almost record time and assimilated their delivery system with the help of earthbenders to feed supplies to great effect.

It was a great test and she was hopeful that they wouldn't run out of supplies in the future campaign. A few days back, she had received the official orders. She would march to Ba Sing Se with a convoy of armored trains and railway guns, while the army moved alongside them as they built the tracks that would give them the reach they needed to attack the outer walls.

Lin wanted the navy to also help her land troops on the other side to bait them and split their forces but with the invasion of the Northern Water Tribe capital no ships would be spared for her. She would have to come up with a strategy to storm the walls when they launch their attack.

At least the admiral in charge of the invasion had not deemed the gliders to be really an important asset and she would have all of the ones available for her campaign. Truly an oversight on his part whoever that was. They did not understand the power of an airforce.

With their full power she could attack earthbenders from above that would surely try to repair the wall, even while they were hammering with shells. She had equipped the gliders with more bombs, altering a bit the design of the artillery shells. They could offer close air support effectively, although they were lacking a machine gun of any type.

They still hadn't been able to replicate a rapid repeating rifle although the research for it was underway according to her father. Equipping the gliders with machine guns and then maybe engines would be the way to go in the future.

Although if they could win now, the war would be over and the need to develop more weapons would go down. Maybe she could introduce the idea of commercial planes and help her already rich family get even more rich.

As Lin arrived at New Ozai with the test train, Azula rushed to meet her in the station they had quickly built.

"Lin! You are back, and great timing. I have a present for you." Azula said smugly, handing her a scroll.

As she read the scroll, Lin couldn't help but smile. It is a report of how many people took the bait of rebellion; some were eliminated and others imprisoned. And there were even footnotes of the families threatened as well. A very successful mission again.

"Good job, my princess. This is a great gift." Lin said, smiling at her.

"Of course it is, it's me. Now, what is my reward?" she asked, expectantly.

"Well, I was going to suggest we take a small vacation actually, would that be a good enough reward?" Lin asked. "We still have to wait for the weapons to be built and assembled, and although I have some paperwork to do here and there, I should be able to manage that from Chin Village."

"Vacations sound nice. There is a beach close by. Or we could bring Toph and terrorize the Kyoshi islands again." Azula wondered aloud.

Lin chuckled. "I think I harassed them enough, we are trading with them already so let's not antagonize them further. Their wood is actually quite better than the one we can get ourselves in the region. Although the beach sounds nice."

"My family used to go to Ember island when I was a child. But I didn't bring swimming wear here. Maybe we can order one to be tailored for us, I hear Toph's family has nice fabrics and quality linen clothing."

"I suppose we can ask her then to get a few pieces ordered through her father for us. We could visit Gaoling ourselves to go buy them too. The trains are faster than expected after all, it would be a nice girl plan." Lin said, absentmindedly.

"Oh, great, I should get my things ready to depart then." Azula said, but she remained still. After a second of silence she seemed to hesitate, but then spoke clearly. "I missed you."

"Aw, I missed you as well, Azula." Lin said, hugging the young girl. It's true that in this life she had few friends, but she was glad that at least the ones she did have were loyal, competent and comfortable people to have around.

True, the princess could be too much at times and her humour was usually a bit sadistic or dark, but it was understandable for someone who grew up in the middle of a war. Back in her own world, people around her used to have similar humor as well.

There was a possibility that the young royal was not used to hugging though, she was too stiff and Azula didn't seem comfortable much. That obviously didn't mean that she couldn't get used to it so Lin assumed that was her royal upbringing and didn't think much of it and kept hugging her for a bit. She moved away as Captain Zhou coughed to get her attention.

"General, it's good to have you back." he said, fondly.

"Captain, get your things prepared, we are moving out, only the garrison and the administrative team will remain behind. New Ozai is to be managed by the Ukano family so they are to arrive soon." Lin informed him.

"Wait, Mai is coming here?" Azula asked, finally snapping out of it.

"Yes, she should arrive in the city with her family in a few days. Do you want us to wait for her before departing?"

"I would like to see Mai but we can visit her after our vacation, we have to go through this city anyway."

"As you say, Princess." Lin bowed. "Then I say we let Toph know about our plans, if we leave her behind she will be insufferable for a long time." Lin said, vehemently.

Azula rolled her eyes. "I don't know if she will like the beach that much, but yes, let's not leave her behind." Azula said.

"Wait, you are finally getting a vacation, General?!" asked Captain Zhou, surprised.

"Well… yes, I don't have much to do other than light paperwork before the next campaign so a few days of rest will be nice." Lin replied.

"Uhm, are we getting vacations as well?" Zhou asked, unsure.

"Yes, Captain, most of the officers are required to be on standby just in case but your next duties will be quite light. You better let everyone know." Lin said, seeing Zhou's face lit like a set of candles around an angry firebender.

"I thought I would never see the day." he said, happily. Lin scoffed.
​

---

Aang kept looking ahead to the skies. Part of him expected to see the Fire Nation following them already, the angry teenager shouting from the back of one of those flying machines, or soldiers riding something else impossible that Aang had never seen before.

Another part of him wanted to forget the problem altogether. He never asked to be the Avatar and it was obvious that no statue would give him answers, even if it was a previous reincarnation depicted.

His hope for his people had been crushed, and he wanted to leave the temple behind with the ashes of his people. He held Appa's reins a little tighter.

"Where do we go next, Aang?" Katara asked from behind him.

Aang nodded without turning around. "We will head east then north through the continent."

"Good…" Sokka said. "Because after that very peaceful visit to the Fire Nation's secret mountain vacation home, I think we should keep moving before scarface finds a way to follow us."

"I agree, and we need to be careful, they might have alerted other Fire Nation soldiers. You remember the ship stranded in our village, Aang? They have thousands of them." Katara said.

"Yes, we should keep moving, they could have more of those flying machines as well." Sokka said worried.

"Appa is faster than them though."

Aang tried to smile, but the expression didn't stay for long. There were too many things to worry about and not many answers yet.

"It's good that we packed plenty of supplies, I think it should last long, maybe we can gather more later in the journey, there must be Earth Kingdom cities that the Fire Nation couldn't touch." Katara said, gently bringing the conversation back to something practical.

"Actually, now that you say that, I visited a friend of mine in Omashu. It was a great fortress in the mountains, if anyone was able to repel the Fire Nation it would be them, they are hardworking people and very pragmatic. They have this very complex delivery system with carts that would go mighty quick. I used to ride them with my friend Bumi."

"How far away is Omashu?" Sokka asked.

"Well… I'm not sure but I will know once I see some of the landmarks I know from my time."

"Well, alright then. As long as you don't burn more of our food we won't need to stop that much." Sokka said, wounded all over again. "Just don't feed it to a campfire."

Aang lowered his shoulders. "I thought it was for starting a fire."

"It was seasoned just the right way." Sokka lamented.

"It is not that great, Sokka." Katara admitted.

"How can you say that?" Sokka said, pointing at her as if she had committed treason. "It is one of the best foods we have in the South Pole. No one respects tragedy here."

Appa gave a low groan beneath them, and Aang patted the top of his head. "Appa needs to rest too. He hasn't flown this much in a long time, and he needs food as well, so we might stop more than you think."

"How much food exactly?" Sokka asked suspiciously.

Aang hesitated. "A lot. He is a vegetarian though, he can eat hay, fruits and vegetables, and sometimes even a few types of grass."

Sokka stared at the back of Appa's head. "Of course. Why would the giant flying bison not also be a giant eating bison?"

Katara gave him a tired look, but Aang felt a little grateful they didn't complain too much. In reality, Appa was trained to fly for a long period of time, he just didn't want to keep thinking about how everything was wrong with the world he used to know.

So now he was looking to distract himself a little and live life while still journeying to their destination. There was an island somewhere in the east that he wanted to visit again. He remembered the sunlight on the water, and Elephant Koi so large you could actually ride them as they surface constantly.

He remembered laughing and having a great time, even if he was scolded afterwards by his mentor. He remembered it fondly and it was a nice escape from the worries that didn't have an immediate solution either way.

He thought for a second if he should tell them where they were trying to go, but he was scared they might find it childish. If he told them, Sokka would probably say they didn't have time for riding fish while the Fire Nation was chasing them.

Katara might understand, but she would look at him with that worried softness that made him feel guilty. He didn't want either of those things. He just wanted one familiar place and a good enough time to forget for a bit what he just discovered.

"So, how far east are we going here before heading to the continent?" Katara said after a while.

Aang glanced back at her, then quickly looked ahead again. "I'm sure we will start seeing a set of islands, I don't remember which one it was that I have in my memory but the coast shouldn't change, right?"

Sokka narrowed his eyes. "You don't know where we are going?"

"Well… not exactly, but I will surely know when I see it." Aang said.

"That sounded like guessing."

"It was confident guessing."

Sokka groaned and leaned back against the saddle. "I hate confident guessing."

They followed the ocean for a while, passing coastlines, more mountains, and rocky islands that looked nothing like the place in Aang's memory. Each time he saw land ahead, he would stop to see if that was the one.

"Let's camp for the night and carry on tomorrow." Aang said, after a few hours of flying in different directions searching for it.

'When will my luck turn right?' Aang wondered, guiding Appa to land.​

 

[Lucernello]

AN: Hello. Sorry that the chapter is late, I had power issues in the week which delayed me. A big one though as the city basically had to break apart the sidewalk in the entire block to replace cables that were old and had suffered after a current transformer blew out. I'm thinking on making a discord server to announce when issues like that happen, so that maybe I can let you guys know. Let me know if that is something that you would appreciate or if you just don't really care and wait for the chapter anyway.

In other news, I have been reading more lately. It has been a bit hard to find good ones due to many resorting to using AI, which turns them into mostly boring ones, and the dialogues are shit so it's a bit bothersome. Still there are a lot of good stories out there luckily.

On-going stories I recommend that so far have been great:

Burnt Lotus by arg3nt -> TLOK OC focused fanfic
Weep Not For What Was Lost by Mighty_Retief -> ATLA fanfic with Azula as the main character, very good.
Anything from Failninjaninja -> the author writes mostly Youjo Senki fanfiction which I discovered after comments were made comparing my character to Tanya.
Darth Cain, the Reluctant Sith Lord by Zahariel_Scholar -> Star Wars Sith OC
The General's Shadow by angelart_99 -> Star wars fanfic OC with no knowledge

Anyway, enjoy the chapter.
Luce
​

---

99 A.G

The shop in Gaoling had looked modest from the street, yet the interior proved larger than expected, full of folded fabrics, hanging garments, woven sandals, sun hats, and bathing clothes arranged in careful rows by color and size.

It smelled faintly of soap, sun-dried linen, and the sweet oil the shopkeeper had used on the wooden floor. Azula decided it was good enough for what they were looking for, besides, she was brimming with excitement she was having trouble hiding in.

Toph dragged her feet beside the entrance, one hand pressed against the wall as she pouted and made her complaint known. "I still think this is dumb. I don't swim."

"You do not need to swim to go to the beach, Toph." Azula said, pretending to examine a row of folded garments while watching Lin from the corner of her eye.

"Well, what is there?"

"Just a bit of sand, sun, and water. There is also sometimes a nice breeze in the air, it's relaxing."

Toph pointed at her with suspicion. "Don't lie to me, you don't know what relaxing is."

Azula scoffed, "Of course I know what it is. When I was young, every summer we would go to Ember Island and the Royal family beach house."

"That doesn't sound particularly fun with what you told me about your family." Toph said, then frowned harder. "Sorry, that was uncalled for. I just don't think it is for me, you know?"

"Well, you are not wrong, it was a bit boring, but I did relax in those moments back then. I think you should try it first." Azula said.

Captain Kaida stood near the door with her hands behind her back, she was the only one who would be dressed in military clothing, and their lone bodyguard. The rest of the soldiers had been left behind after Azula declared the outing for girls only, she also made it an order so there was no debate about it either.

Lin had accepted the plan without complaint, though she had been skeptical about the whole swimsuit idea. At least she seemed receptive to relaxing on the beach plan. Now she stood before a rack of bathing clothes with a lost look on her face.

Azula stepped closer, unable to keep the bright pull of excitement from rising in her chest. "You should try a few of them, Lin."

Lin lifted one metal hand, paused, and took one folded piece of dark green fabric between two careful fingers. "Isn't it too… revealing…? It seems too small."

"It is supposed to be that way." Azula said, wondering what kind of strict education the Renshi family must have for a swimsuit to be too revealing for her.

"You look uncertain." she said.

"I was expecting something like a full body swimsuit, not this." Lin said, calmly, turning the garment over once. "I just have never needed this." Lin said plainly.

Azula bit back a smile. Lin sounded calm, as always, but there was something wonderfully strange about seeing her out of place. On a battlefield, Lin moved so confidently and strong, as if nothing could stop her.

Seeing her out of her element, confused and uncertain, was something totally new. Azula was happy to see new parts of Lin. Before Azula could answer though, Toph suddenly stiffened, and her head turned toward the street.

"Oh, no." Toph lamented.

The door opened a moment later, and Lady Beifong's voice filled the shop with soft horror. "Toph?!"

Toph's shoulders rose almost to her ears. "I'm not here."

Lord Beifong stepped inside beside his wife, richly dressed, pale with surprise, and clearly unprepared to find his daughter back at Gaoling. His eyes moved from Toph to Azula, then to Lin's metal arms, remembering who she was and immediately paled. Whatever he was about to say died in his mouth.

"Captain, please keep Lord Beifong, Lady Beifong company outside, we are currently occupied."

Kaida moved at once, polite and firm. "Lord Beifong, Lady Beifong, as the General said, please step outside."

They protested, but the captain was not someone you could go against under normal circumstances.

Toph groaned. "I better at least say hi to them, I won't be much help anyway, I can't see the difference between them."

Azula caught Lin's arm and guided her toward the curtained changing area; she wasn't going to waste the opportunity to be alone with Lin while she tried the different garments.

"Here. Try that one first, it looks like it will fit you nicely."

Lin followed, still holding the bikini. "Won't the owners get mad at me for wearing ones I might not buy?"

"No, everyone allows it."

"Why?"

"Well, I guess because the sizes are not standardized so it's difficult to know beforehand if it will fit right."

Lin considered that. "Ah, I see...I understand now." Then, she stepped inside the box but didn't close the curtains.

Azula waited for a second before she realized what Lin was actually doing. She was just undressing without a care in the world and Azula's mind froze for a second too long before rapidly closing them for her.

"Lin! The curtains are there to keep your privacy!" Azula said flustered, feeling the heat rise to her face and her pulse quicken.

"Oh, alright." Lin answered, unbothered now safely behind the curtains.

Azula waited outside with her arms folded, trying to regain her composure, slowing her breathing. It was hard to do while listening to cloth move and metal fingers click softly against the changing-room wall, her mind betraying her, picturing Lin without clothes.

Azula forced herself to remember the purpose of the outing. Lin needed something suitable for the beach, Toph still needed to be convinced to choose one for herself, and a princess of the Fire Nation should have been able to manage a clothing shop without losing control of her own face.

Then Lin stepped out and she couldn't help but stare. The bathing suit was simple, and enough coverage that Lin would hopefully not complain much, yet it left her shoulders bare and showed the pale scars that ran around the edge of where her prosthetics started and her flesh ended.

Her metal arms caught the light from the window, and without the uniform and armor, you could contemplate her muscled and toned body. There were also scars around her chest and a few on her belly.

Lin looked down at herself. "It doesn't feel tight, but I don't feel much at all. Does it look fine?"

Azula forced her face to remain bored. "Yes, it does."

"I just hope it won't tear with my vents in the back, they bother the straps I think." Lin said, concerned.

"Let me see." Azula said, softly.

As she turned around, she couldn't help but ogle her. Her back showed the same signs of hard work, and her butt was pulling her attention. Still she forced herself to look at the metal parts embedded in her spine as if they were patches on fabric.

The vents she mentioned were four angled plates, placed diagonally to not bother her movement. She carefully lifted the strap so that they would rest on them and not above them, while making sure her chest was still covered.

"If we move it like that, it shouldn't be a problem." Azula said.

"Great, I just hope it doesn't burn either." Lin commented, turning around.

"Are you expecting to fight someone or something?" Azula smirked.

Lin looked toward the front of the shop, where Toph was now loudly telling her mother that she was not a doll. "That may depend on the day."

Azula almost laughed, then pressed her lips together before the sound could escape. "So what do you think?"

"It is comfortable actually."

"We are buying it, then. But let's try the others as well."

Lin nodded once. "Alright."

By the time they returned, Toph had both fists clenched and her face turned red with frustration. "I'm not wearing some frilly thing just because you think it's pretty."

Lady Beifong looked wounded. "Toph, I only want you to have something nice. Besides, with you being away I normally wouldn't be able to."

"I can get it myself!"

Azula walked to a shelf, chose a green bathing suit with strong ties and plain edges, then pushed it into Toph's hands. "This one, it should fit you nicely."

Toph pinched the fabric. "Is it ugly?"

"No." Lin answered.

"Is it fancy?"

"No." Azula answered.

"Can I kick someone's butt in it?"

Kaida answered before Azula could. "Probably, and you would look great while doing it."

Toph's grin came back in full force. "Good. I'll try it."

Lin looked at Azula with faint confusion. "Should we have picked one with that in mind?"

Azula watched Toph march toward the changing area with the garment clutched like stolen treasure, while Lady Beifong sighed in defeat and Lord Beifong pretended not to hear anything.

"I know it's weird for me to say it, but we won't be looking for a fight. It's fine as it is."

Lin nodded faintly. "Right, what else do we need?"

"Ty Lee would be good at knowing that... I think a parasol to block the sun, just in case, fabric to sit on maybe, and a few towels."
​

---

The beach between Qinzao and Gaoling was colder than Azula remembered the beaches of Ember Island being, still, it was not a problem as the sun still warmed the sand and the wind carried enough heat for a firebender to find it pleasant.

The sky was clear, the sea rolled in long green-blue lines, and only a few people had come down to the shore, mostly fishermen repairing nets, children digging near the dunes, and two old women sitting beneath a cloth shade while pretending very badly that they were not staring at Lin.

Azula could not blame them much. Lin had changed into the bathing suit they bought in Gaoling and had brought a second set of metal limbs for the outing, darker and less polished than the ones she wore with her uniform.

They were still well made, everything from House Renshi was decent enough, but Lin had explained that salt water wouldn't damage them severely, and they weigh less so swimming would be easier. The downside was that they would break if used for fighting.

Now she stood in the shallow water, letting the waves break around her metal ankles while she looked down at the foam with a curious look on her face. Azula sat on one of the fabric pieces they had spread across the sand and tried very hard to seem normal about it.

She had tested the water and it was too cold for her taste, she would swim in summer. Besides, the sun was pleasant and they didn't have to use the parasol in the end, it wasn't hot enough and Azula thought she could feign taking a careful look at Lin meanwhile.

The scars across Lin's shoulders and back were easier to see in the sun. Darker shades of skin crossed around the edges of her plating, like a diverse palette of colors. The rougher ones were where flesh met metal near the base of her spine.

The vents along her back were dark against her skin, four angled plates that looked a bit out of place and they gave her a threatening look. Azula thought everything overall made her look exotic. Not only was it unique, but it was exciting to look at, from her perspective.

As Lin turned around to walk over where she was, Azula felt her face heat and looked away before anyone could notice she had been staring. Toph was sitting farther up the beach, safely away from the water, with both hands buried in the sand and an expression of deep betrayal.

"This stuff feels even worse than lava!" Toph exclaimed.

"I mean, it is still very small rocks, you should be able to bend it." Lin said, now close to her, looking amused.

"It's terrible, it's like trying to focus on a million things at a time!" Toph snapped. "I keep bending only a fraction of what I intend to."

Kaida knelt beside her, out of armor at last, though she still had her military officer uniform. "Well, I still think it is cool to be able to do so at all."

"I guess so…" Toph grumbled.

"Better learn it soon, I want a sand sculpture of myself." Azula said.

Toph threw a handful of sand toward her voice. Azula leaned aside just enough for most of it to miss.

"I hardly know what you look like, If anything I would do one that looked like me." Toph said.

"Tsk."

"I think we could still do one without bending." Lin offered.

Azula smiled despite herself, then glanced toward Lin again. She looked calmer than she had in the shop, though still out of place in a way Azula found difficult to stop watching. She leant down and scooped a bit of sand, watching how it got into her joints.

Azula rose before she could lose her nerve. "Lin, walk with me."

Lin looked back. "Along the shore?"

"Yes."

Toph lifted her head. "You're leaving me with Captain Fawner?"

Kaida looked deeply unimpressed. "I was just encouraging you, but I guess you want me to say you are terrible because you cannot bend a little sand, huh."

"Hey! It is just a nickname, there is no need to make a fuss."

Azula glanced at Kaida and caught the captain looking at her for just a moment longer than necessary. Azula could give her the order if she wanted, but she knew that the captain saw and understood more than what she let on.

"Well, you still have to practice, right?" Azula told Toph, raising her chin. "And besides, you complained that you couldn't see in the sand well until you could bend it."

"I'll learn and then we will see who is complaining when I bury you in it."

Azula walked away before Toph could add anything else. Lin followed at her side, her steps leaving deep marks. For a while, they moved with only the sound of water rushing over the shore and gulls crying somewhere above them. Azula watched the waves climb over their footprints and erase them.

She had a few things she wanted to talk about, but she could admit that her feelings made her a bit nervous. It was a novel feeling not being able to be as confident as she always was. Still, she forced at least one of her many questions she had in her mind out, once they were far enough away.

"I was just wondering… What do you want to do after the war, Lin?"

Lin took a moment to answer. "I have not thought that far ahead."

"Really?"

"I have to admit, since I have memories of this world, my concern has been war."

"That far back? Was it your family that forced you to…?"

"It was not my family that made me concerned with war, no." Lin said, looking toward the horizon. "Still, I suppose I would keep helping the Fire Nation. In my mind, there are ways to better our nation as a whole, from infrastructure to comforts, I know I can make them better. I also know that it is human nature to wage war and I would like to prepare the nation before the next one breaks out."

Azula looked at her, surprised by how much she liked the answer. Although it was a bit plain, it had a clear goal in mind and one she could actively work with.

"When I become Fire Lord, I could give you that. A real position, I mean. You could help me improve the nation properly. I also want to lead our nation to greater heights."

Azula felt her pulse hurry again and pushed through it before she could retreat into something crueler. "I want you by my side when the time comes."

For a moment, Lin said nothing. Then her expression warmed with a gentle smile. Lin reached out and took her hand gently, her metal fingers careful around Azula's smaller ones.

"I would love that, Azula." Lin said. "Thank you."

Azula forced her mind to keep listening to Lin, but she found it hard with her mind stuck like her fingers. She heard something about forming a team of great minds chosen by their citizens to participate in projects and laws to better the nation, but she couldn't focus much on it.

Still, she would be by her side, that was all that mattered to the princess.
​

---

Their newest member of the group, the flying lemur, felt like a Momo to him, so he had named it such, ignoring Sokka's comment being a "totally uncool name".

Riding the Elephant Koi had seemed like a wonderful idea, and when he first saw them moving through the water, huge and bright and powerful beneath the sun, for a little while it had even felt like the kind of fun he had been missing since waking up.

By now, most of the excitement he had felt for the Elephant Koi had been washed away by the memory of a much larger fish bursting from the sea behind him with its mouth wide open, showing an alarming set of sharp teeth.

"What was that thing?" Katara asked.

"I don't know." Aang said, and he didn't, he had never seen a larger predator co-existing with the Elephant Koi

"Well, let's not stick around to find out." Sokka said, keeping his eyes on the water. "Time to hit the road."

Katara was about to answer him when the brush around them moved. Seven girls stepped out from between the trees, their painted faces calm and their green armor layered neatly over their clothes. Their fans were already open, and they quickly spread around them.

"What business do three water tribe teenagers have with our island?" One of them said.

Aang felt they looked somewhat familiar. They looked intimidating, and Aang was about to explain what they were doing, but sadly, Sokka had something to say first.

"Wait, are those fans?"

"Sokka…" Katara warned, already tense.

"I'm just saying, it's hard to be scared of fans. What are these girls going to do, gently blow air at us until we leave?"

The warriors, clearly offended, moved together too quickly for them. One swept Sokka's legs from under him before his laugh had fully left his mouth, another turned Katara's arm aside when she tried to pull water from her sleeve, and Aang was frozen in his spot, trying to come up with a way to deescalate the situation.

A fan struck behind his knee, another caught his wrist, and a third girl moved close enough to tie his arms before he could twist free. They hesitated with Appa but ultimately resolved that they would capture the humans instead and avoided him.

The blindfold came next, then the feeling of being dragged from sand to packed earth while Sokka protested loudly and Katara told him to stop making everything worse. Aang found himself tied against a wooden statue, and he could feel Katara and Sokka bound close to him.

"You three have some explaining to do."

"And if you don't answer all of our questions, we are throwing you back in the water with the unagi." A girl said.

"Untie me, unfair cowards, if it weren't for your ambush you wouldn't stand a chance!"

When the cloth was finally pulled from Aang's eyes he could see now that an elder from the village stood before them, along with the rest of the warriors who captured them on the beach.

"Now tell us, who are you? And what are you doing here?" the warrior said.

"As if a bunch of girls would scare me." Sokka said in defiance.

"It seems the unagi is going to eat well tonight."

"No, don't hurt him! He didn't mean it, my brother is just an idiot sometimes." Katara said.

Aang thought he had to defuse the situation as fast as possible, before Sokka could say something else he didn't mean.

"It's my fault." Aang began. "I'm sorry we came here, I wanted to ride the Elephant Koi."

"How do we know you are not one of her people? She has been toying with us for a long time now." the elder accused. "Kyoshi is staying neutral but that doesn't mean you are not here to start trouble for her."

"This island is named for Kyoshi? I know Kyoshi!" Aang said, relieved that they had something in common they could maybe relate with.

"Ha! How could you possibly know her? Avatar Kyoshi was born here 400 years ago! She's been dead for centuries." the elder said, angrily.

"I know her because I'm the Avatar." Aang said, seeing no reason to lie.

"That's impossible, the last Avatar was an airbender who disappeared a hundred years ago." the warrior said.

"That's me!" Aang said, sheepishly.

"Right, they are clearly sent by her, we cannot feed them to the unagi, but we can arrest these impostors. Carry on." the elder said.

As the warriors approached, some with their metal fans opened, Aang was unsure what to do.

"Aang… do some airbending!" Katara suggested.

'Oh… right. Silly me.'

He drew in a breath, let the air gather around him and quickly pushed himself upwards cutting his restraints against the statue and slowly falling to the ground.

"It's true… You are the Avatar!" The elder said in disbelief.

'This is it! My time to shine and show them my airbending trick!' Aang thought.

"Now check this out!" Aang said, pulling her marbles out of his winter coat and making them spin midair.

The villagers in the distance who by now had gathered to watch the commotion cheered and even one of the adults was freaking out. Clearly his trick impressed people.

'Now if only Katara could have the same appreciation for it.'
​

---

Aang expected the village to calm down once everyone knew he was not a threat, but Kyoshi Island didn't look calm at all. On one hand, children followed him everywhere, running behind him in little groups, asking him to airbend again, or if he knew Avatar Kyoshi, or whether he could make marbles spin forever or fly all the way to the moon.

Aang tried to answer them because they were excited and because it felt nice to be looked at with wonder and innocence for a change, but it quickly became difficult to do anything without someone watching him.

On the other hand, the adults were different. They bowed, offered food, and stepped aside when he walked past, yet many of them lowered their gaze unable to look him in the eyes. Aang did not understand it at first. He thought maybe they were embarrassed about tying him to a statue, which would have been fair enough, but most of the villagers had nothing to do with that.

And he had been freed almost immediately. Some of them smiled at him and then turned away before the smile reached their eyes, and others watched from their doors with folded hands and worried faces.

The leader of the warriors, Suki as she introduced herself, stayed close during all of it. She was polite, but she also moved wherever he moved, standing close to him at all times. Aang had never had a bodyguard before, and he was not sure he liked it.

"You don't have to follow me everywhere, you know?" he said after they escaped the children for a few moments near the edge of the village.

Suki looked toward the houses, checking the street before answering.

"You are the Avatar, Kyoshi island is not as safe as I would like it to be."

Aang frowned. "Is this about the Fire Nation?"

Suki was quiet for a moment, then nodded. "Partly."

He glanced back toward the village. "Are the people worried I will lead them here?."

"No…I assume the people living here feel…guilty. The Fire Nation is already here, not right now but they regularly come to the island."

"What?!"

"It is true." Suki said, and her mouth tightened. "Kyoshi Island currently trades with the Fire Nation."

Aang stared at her. The words reached him slowly, and for a moment he thought he had misunderstood. "You trade with them?" he asked again, almost whispering.

"We used to trade with Gaoling. An Earth Kingdom city that seemed too far away from the war. Sadly, the city fell under Fire Nation control, and they used to buy most of our Elephant Koi meat. So after they took it, they offered us to keep trading. We also send wood from the inner forests when they ask for it. Our islands have a lot of hardwood, and they use it for building."

"But they are the Fire Nation!"

"I know."

Aang felt the pleasant feeling from the village fade. "Why would you help them?"

Suki turned her fan in her hand, opening and closing it once while she chose her words.

"Because we want to stay out of the war. We are small, and we don't want to involve ourselves in the fight, we feared they would take over if we did. At first we accepted because the other choice might have been worse, but then, the trade paid off." Suki said, pointing to the harbor.

Aang looked toward where she was pointing, where one of the fishing boats rocked beside the pier. There was another boat there too, bigger than their fishing ships but not by much, surrounded in black metal.

"They gave you that boat?"

"We traded it, yes. It reaches the mainland faster than our fishing boats, and it can travel even when the wind is bad. They also sent tools that help plow the fields, metal parts for construction, and even a machine that helps make roads. The last novelty they brought were flares, which we began using near the shore."

"Flares?"

"For the unagi." Suki said. "They are a stick that fires a ball of light into the sky, it scares it back long enough for fishermen to work near the deeper water. It also helps when we need clay from the seabed."

Aang wanted to say it was wrong, and part of him still thought it was. The Fire Nation had burned the Air Temples, hunted people across the world, and taken city after city. Trading with them felt like helping them keep doing it.

Then he looked at the village again, at the children who had cheered for his airbending and the old people watching with tired eyes, and he didn't know what to think anymore. Kyoshi Island was clearly too small to make a difference.

It was a place full of families who wanted to progress and remain far away from most conflicts, and he could understand that feeling. In hindsight it painted a hopeful view; they had managed to talk things out with the Fire Nation, which meant that it was possible to reach a peaceful solution.

"I think I understand." Aang said softly.

Suki looked at him. "I don't like it."

"I see."

Suki's shoulders eased a little. "Still, I'm glad you are not mad at us."

Aang gave her a small smile, then noticed that her face had grown serious again. "There is something else, isn't there?"

"Yes. You might remember the elder mentioned a girl. If you are going to travel through the south of the Earth Kingdom's territories, you need to remember her name: Lin Renshi."

Aang nodded, though the name meant nothing to him. "Who is she?"

"A Fire Nation general now. Young, pale hair, metal arms and legs, usually in black armor. If you see her, do not fight her."

Aang blinked. "That will be difficult, I don't want to fight anyone, but I'm the Avatar..."

"That is why I am telling you. She came here once a couple of years ago. We tried to stop her because we thought we had the upper hand as she approached the village alone. She defeated all of us before we understood what was going on. None of us could touch her."

"All of you?"

"All of us, at the same time." Suki said, her voice low with old frustration. "Luckily, she did not kill anyone. Although for us, it was humiliating to no end. She beat us that easily and then talked to the rest of the village without a shred of tiredness, she didn't even lose her breath on us."

Aang hugged his staff a little tighter. "She sounds scary, and then what happened?"

"She wanted to respect our neutrality and speak with us to buy water for her and her men, who had docked on our island by accident after a storm. If we had talked to her instead of attacking she wouldn't have done anything to anyone here."

"We get rumors about her all the time. The mainland says she led the Fire Nation through most of the southern Earth Kingdom. Omashu was the last great city to fall, and people say she was the one who led them to victory. Some call her the Evil Spirit of the Fire Nation. Soldiers run when they hear she is coming, and there are rumors that Agni blessed her by her appearance."

Aang swallowed. "Do you believe that?"

"I believe she is the most dangerous foe you will face north of here. She can be polite, and she can be reasonable, but if you make yourself her enemy, she will become a terrible one."

Aang had wanted to go to Omashu next. He had wanted to visit the city again after so long and remember the lovely time he had there with his friend Bumi. Now he was hearing that Omashu had fallen, and behind it was a girl with metal arms and legs who scared even warriors like Suki.

"I'll remember that…" Aang said, trying to sound braver than he felt. "I won't fight her if I can avoid it."

"Good."

Still, Aang wanted to flee the conversation altogether now. "I want a bit of time to think things through now, may I walk alone?"

Suki nodded and stepped aside, though she still looked like she might follow him. Aang started down the path, holding his staff close to his chest. He needed time to think.​

 

[Lucernello]

AN: It's not Friday. I know. I failed. But, because it's holiday today, I figured I could give you two chapters and the discord server I mentioned:

Discord

Chapter 1 of 2 uploaded today. Just in case.

Enjoy,
Luce.
​

---

99 A.G

Aang had thought being followed by the children of Kyoshi Island would be fun, and for a while it had been.

Once one of them had gathered enough courage to ask if he could really fly, the rest had surrounded him with questions. They wanted to see airbending tricks, then Momo, then Appa, then more airbending tricks, and every time Aang tried to excuse himself, another kid asked for just one more.

By the time he slipped behind one of the houses near the edge of the village, he was more tired than he expected. Momo landed on the roof above him with a stolen fruit in his paws, and Aang raised a finger to his lips.

The flying lemur stared at him, took a bite, and somehow the children rushing down the nearby road still failed to notice them. When their voices faded, Aang stepped out again and went looking for Katara.

The news Suki had given him had given him a lot to think about but he had delayed thinking much on it with the kids. Now though, he had to focus back on it. Omashu had fallen to the Fire Nation. So traveling there didn't seem like a good plan anymore.

He did not know much about what the city was like now, but he didn't think it would be very welcoming. He had wanted to stop there before going north, because it was familiar, and he had happy memories of the place.

He found Katara near the water, practicing with a wooden bowl she had filled from the shore. A thin stream rose between her hands, trembled for a few seconds, then splashed back down before she could shape it properly.

"You almost had it." Aang said.

Katara turned, then sighed when some of the water spilled over the rim. "Are you finally done playing around?"

"I guess so..."

Momo chattered from his shoulder, and Katara smiled gently. "I'm sorry, I just don't think we should stay in one place for very long. Getting comfortable like this doesn't feel right." she said.

Aang nodded. "Speaking about that… we cannot go to Omashu anymore.."

"Why?"

"Suki told me the Fire Nation controls the city, flying in on Appa would be a bad idea." Aang looked down at the bowl, watching the water settle. "I thought we could get some rest there, maybe hear what was happening in the Earth Kingdom, but if the city is indeed occupied, we need another plan."

Katara lowered her hands. "Then we find another place."

"That sounds easier when you say it."

"Well, the Earth Kingdom is quite huge. I'm sure we will find somewhere else the Fire Nation hasn't touched yet. We still have to go north." She said.

Aang nodded but he had no alternative yet really. Much like himself, Katara also needed a waterbending master, and the North Pole was still the only clear place they knew to find one.

They went to find Sokka and discovered him at the training ground, dressed in the green robes of the Kyoshi Warriors with his face painted white and red. He held a pair of fans while Suki corrected the angle of his arms, and he was trying so hard to look serious that Aang started laughing before he could stop himself.

Sokka turned toward them. "Don't."

Katara pressed her lips together. "We didn't say anything."

"You don't need to!"

"You look nice, brother."

"That is worse!"

Suki adjusted his stance with a calm expression. "Your knees are too high again."

"My knees are doing their best…" Sokka complained, lowering himself with a grimace. "Everything hurts. My arms hurt, my legs hurt, and I think my back is angry at me. This is the most intense training I have ever seen!"

Aang smiled, but he remembered why they had come quickly enough. "Sokka, we need to talk about Omashu."

Sokka's expression changed despite the paint. "Suki told me. I was going to bring it up after training."

"So you agree?" Katara asked.

"That we shouldn't fly into a Fire Nation occupied city? Yes, I agree with that." Sokka closed one of the fans. "We still need to plan where to stop to rest at times, and we still need a route north, but Omashu is definitely out."

Aang looked toward the village road. "Then we need another plan."

Shouting rose from the far side of the village before anyone could answer. The warriors stopped training at once, and several villagers ran past the open space with frightened faces. The elder arrived moments later, breathing hard.

"Fire Nation soldiers are marching toward the village, we need you out there." he said.

Suki looked at Aang immediately. "You need to hide."

"I can help." Aang said, quickly.

"If they came looking for you, showing yourself will make this worse." Suki said. "Let us speak to them first."

The elder nodded. "We will buy you time if we must, you have to leave, they cannot capture the Avatar now that he is back!"

"Wait, please… I… I want to apologize before I stop having the chance to do so. You are a great warrior, I'm sorry I saw you as just a girl." Sokka said to Suki, looking down.

"Sokka, I'm a warrior, but I'm also a girl. Thank you." Suki said, giving him a light peck on his cheek, then rushing out.

Aang did not like it, but Katara had already reached for his sleeve pulling him towards safety, and Sokka followed while still wearing the Kyoshi Warrior robes. They crouched behind a low wall near the storage buildings, close enough to hear the road and see part of the village entrance between the houses.

The Fire Nation soldiers entered atop Komodo Rhinos. At their front rode the burned teenager from the sanctuary, the same one who had chased Momo and seen Aang's arrow before they escaped.

He stopped before the elder and the Kyoshi Warriors. "I am Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation. I know you are hiding the Avatar. Give it to me and no one gets hurt."

Katara's hand tightened on Aang's sleeve.

The elder stood firm. "Kyoshi Island is neutral. We trade with the Fire Nation, we are partners, you cannot demand anything of us like this."

"You are protecting an enemy of my nation." roared Zuko

"There is no enemy here, he is already gone." Suki said.

Zuko's face tightened. "I know he is here."

"I assure you, he is already gone." Suki answered. "You have no reason to threaten this village."

For a few seconds, the road went quiet. Then Zuko raised his hand and sent a blast of fire toward the ground near the elder's feet. One of the warriors quickly grabbed him, taking him to a safe place in one of the houses.

The rest of the Kyoshi Warriors moved to engage them as they dismounted from their rhinos. Suki struck first, opening her fans as she forced one soldier back, blocking the fire and closing the distance.

The others followed her, quick and disciplined, meeting fire with steel fans, and sweeping strikes. The Fire Nation soldiers answered with flames, and the road filled with smoke and shouts as villagers fled toward the houses.

Aang watched from behind the wall, angry and guilty at the same time. A blast of fire caught the side of a house, and flames began climbing along the wood beneath the roof.

"We need to get to Appa, quickly!" Sokka whispered.

Katara pulled Aang's sleeve. "Come on."

They ran through the side paths toward the field where Appa waited. Momo clung to Aang's shoulder, and Sokka nearly tripped twice over the warrior robes before they reached the saddle.

"Yip yip!" Aang shouted.

Appa rose above the village. From the air, Aang could see the Kyoshi Warriors forcing the Fire Nation soldiers back toward the shore. They were holding them off, but some of the warriors were limping, and smoke rose from more than one roof.

Near the road, Zuko looked up and met Aang's eyes. Then he turned toward his soldiers, shouting for them to retreat and follow.

"Oh good, they are going to follow us then." Sokka said.

Aang kept looking at the burning houses, then at the water around the island where the Unagi moved beneath the surface.

"I can put out the fires before we leave."

Sokka stared at him. "Please tell me that does not involve something crazy."

Aang jumped from Appa above the sea, he vaguely heard Sokka say something about madness. As he went deeper he saw the giant creature swimming quickly his way. With the help of his air control he quickly evaded him, and Aang caught one of its long whiskers with both hands.

The Unagi burst from the water with a roar, thrashing beneath him, dragging him across the waves, but he used the wind to keep his grip and his feet guided its head back toward the village. The Unagi released a massive spray of water, trying to get him, and covered over the houses.

The rain from its spray drowned the flames beneath. The worst fires disappeared, leaving soaked wood and thin traces of smoke behind.

The Unagi twisted hard, and Aang let the movement throw him upward, back toward Appa, who promptly caught him, landing wet and breathless in the saddle while Katara grabbed the back of his shirt to keep him from sliding.

Sokka stared at him with smeared face paint. "Well, you really did get to ride a giant monster."

Aang smiled at him, although internally, he felt guilty. The village had come to danger because of him. It was clear to him that Katara was right, they couldn't stay in one place for very long.

The village was damaged, and he could see a Fire Nation ship close to the shore; he hoped they would just leave them alone and follow him. Aang stayed facing the island until the houses grew small behind them.
​

---

Chin City was really progressing to become one of the biggest cities in the south of the continent, rivaling Gaoling and New Ozai eventually. Having contacted her brother Raizo, she had begun immigration plans from the other colonies, and expansion was rapidly taking place.

At the same time, her campaign toward Ba Sing Se was progressing here as well. The trains were ready, the supply logistical plans had been checked, and the next stop would be New Ozai, where the rest of the convoy would assemble before moving toward the front.

The occupied mountain city was already serving as a stronger anchor for the campaign than most of the officers had expected, although Lin suspected that said more about their lack of imagination than about the value of New Ozai itself.

Now she was facing another issue altogether. The problem was how to keep the food for a long campaign in the front. There were no problems with production, there was too much of it at the moment, and too many people were treating that as good news. The problem was how to keep the front supplied, especially when they moved inside the first ring of Ba Sing Se.

Lin had spent the morning reviewing storehouse reports, harvest projections, rail capacity, and expected consumption for the next months. The numbers looked favorable only if one ignored the seasonal change ahead.

Production would drop once the weather changed on the other side of the continent, and the army was too big at the moment to suffer food shortages. If they celebrated the current surplus without preparing for the later fall, they would create a shortage out of their own success.

It was an irritating sort of problem as it was something solved so easily in her past life. Salt preserved meat, but it was not enough. Drying and smoking helped, but both required time, space, and labor that would be needed elsewhere once the campaign widened.

Grain could be stored more easily, but vegetables, fish, and fresh meat spoiled too quickly near the rail lines, so she needed to find a way to create cold storage. A fridge was something that had come years before she was born already, and she didn't know exactly how it worked.

Her family engineers had received her notes on vapor-compressor refrigeration weeks ago, and the latest report had been honest enough to be disappointing. They couldn't find a way to make it small enough, and so far all of the experiments had failed in terms of cost and how well they operated.

The pressure changes damaged the piping faster than expected. Even when they managed to keep the machine running. Although the Fire Nation had managed to discover electricity and even now invented a small dynamo that could act as an electrical generator, it was still not good enough yet.

They had attached to the test engine a unit of the dynamo but it could not provide enough power for pressure and heat needed. The other issue is that she had no idea what her world had used to replace natural magnets. She was sure they were no longer being used by the time a fridge was sold commercially worldwide, but she had no clear idea.

Lin understood the concept well enough to explain what the machine was supposed to do, but not well enough to build one herself. Compress a working fluid, move heat away, allow expansion, draw heat from the storage space, then repeat the cycle.

The question was how to do that precisely and with the tools they had available. The dynamos were still too weak so it was another challenge as they had to then adapt a working prototype to a train.

The engineers were working on a solution but having only a concept was challenging for them. Besides, she was not that good in chemistry and physics, so she had no idea how to help at all. When the report began repeating the word promising, Lin folded it and put it away. They were probably years away then from a working solution for the front.

Thankfully she received a distraction to tackle that particular detail later. Toph came barreling down her office in her usual energetic way.

"Hey Metalsticks! You promised we would spend the day together today." she said.

Lin chuckled but nodded. "I suppose we can go for a walk first, I need a bit of air." she admitted.

"Oh that much I know, and I'm blind!"

"Dear me, it's that evident?" Lin asked.

"Yeah, it's in your voice. It gives tired Lin vibes."

"Alright, let's go."

The girl followed her toward the outskirts of the city. Lin liked this part of Chin, it had a lot of green and the air felt nice and cold. As they approached one of the gates, she saluted some of the guards and carried on.

"You know…" Toph said, walking beside her with both hands behind her head, "most people spend time together by doing something fun."

"Well, I think I needed a bit of relaxing first before doing something fun."

"That is not fun."

"You are right, what do you have in mind?"

"We could challenge those gamblers again."

Lin looked down at her. "You constantly cheat them of their money, Toph. I believe they don't want to play with you anymore."

"They are a bunch of crybabies, they couldn't prove anything." Toph said, irritated. "Besides I buy nice food for them with that money."

"I guess we could play just the two of us."

Toph scowled. "You crushed the dice we had last time."

"I felt them move on their own, I was surprised."

Toph made a face. "I didn't move them."

Lin did not answer, mostly because Toph would treat any answer as permission to continue arguing. The blind girl walked with her usual careless confidence, bare feet finding every change in the road before it could trouble her.

She had been restless since the beach, and although she would not say she had felt excluded, she had complained about being left behind, and had to be pacified with the promise of having fun the two of them alone, to get back at Azula.

The princess did not mind it of course, she wanted to visit Mai now that she had arrived at New Ozai, so it fit perfectly, and she had gone ahead to wait for them there and catch up with her stoic friend.

They approached one of the village gates, where two soldiers were checking travel papers beside a low guard post. Beyond the gate, the road bent toward the fields and the smaller paths used by traders coming from the coast. Lin was about to continue past when she noticed three teenagers standing near the checkpoint.

They wore travel packs and Water Tribe blue outfits. The oldest boy's hand hovered near the weapon at his side, it looked like a club, the girl beside him was nervous and was anxiously angling her body to the side for some reason.

The youngest wore a hood over his head, and held a staff in both hands. It was him that had found her staring first. His face turned to that of fear, something that Lin was used to by now, there were so many rumors going around about her, that a few people who came to visit would flee randomly upon seeing her.

For a moment, Lin simply studied them. Three Water Tribe teenagers had walked into Chin City at the same time she was trying to solve a supply problem that would be easier with access to southern ice and maybe, if she played her cards right, their labor.

They looked too young to be soldiers, too poorly prepared to be spies, and too frightened to have come here expecting her. 'This looks like a miracle sent just for me.' she thought.

Toph tilted her head. "Is something wrong?."

"Toph…There are three Water Tribe civilians at the gate."

Toph turned toward them with sudden interest. "Water Tribe? Here?"

"Yes."

"Awesome, new people, what's so special about that?"

"We have never seen Water Tribe citizens before, this is a great opportunity!"

"For what?"

"Something that will make me very happy if it works."

"Uhm, why?"

Lin started toward the gate before the soldiers could decide to handle the matter themselves. She needed to accommodate as best as possible. The guards at the gate would just scare them more.

"Toph." Lin said, keeping her voice low. "Hurry up and follow me."

"I'm already following you."

"Stay close."

She kept her pace steady, almost rushing to meet them, watching how the three teenagers reacted as she approached. The boy with the hood tightened his grip on the staff, and the Water Tribe girl's eyes followed Lin's metal arms for a second before her face showed how scared she was.

'Damn my body is a PR nightmare it seems.' she thought.​

 

[Lucernello]

AN: Chapter 2 of 2 uploaded today. Just in case.

Discord

Enjoy,
Luce
​

---

99 A.G

Aang had thought Chin City would be safer than Omashu. That had been the whole reason for stopping there. They had left Kyoshi Island too quickly to gather enough food, and some of what they had packed before had been lost during the chase.

Sokka had insisted they could not keep flying north with empty bags and hoped to find friendly villages by luck alone. Katara had agreed, and Aang had not argued because Appa needed a bit of rest as much as they needed supplies.

He had expected nervous traders, maybe Fire Nation patrols, being asked what they were doing so far away from the South Pole maybe, to explain their situation as they were just simply traveling around, looking for adventure. That was something believable for a bunch of teenagers after all.

He had not expected Lin Renshi, the foe so great even a dedicated warrior like Suki feared her so much, to be walking near the gate. For a moment, none of them moved, and Aang wondered if they should make a run for it.

Aang knew her from a distance, from stories, from Suki's warnings. It was really difficult to miss her metal arms and legs. The Kyoshi Warriors said she was likely in Omashu after having captured it, but they were clearly wrong.

That had been part of why they wanted to avoid the mountain city. Seeing her here, close enough that he could hear the faint sound of metal when she walked, made his thoughts scatter. He saw Sokka's hand reach toward his boomerang and club, and Katara to uncork her waterskin, ready to fight their way out of here.

Aang tightened his grip on his staff and felt the air gather around his fingers before he could stop himself. One strong blast might throw the evil spirit back far enough for them to run, maybe; if he caught her by surprise, and if she did not recover too quickly, if the soldiers at the gate did not attack before they reached Appa.

Then he saw the small girl following behind her, having to run to keep up with Lin's hurried stride. She was clearly younger than them, with dark hair, bare feet, and a careless expression.

'Oh no, is she kidnapping children? If so, I can't just leave her at the mercy of a monster.' he thought.

Aang realized then that the small girl was blind as well, that explained why she was following her then, she didn't know what she was.

Still, she was too close, if Aang attacked, she could be hurt before anyone understood what was happening. In his mind, Suki's voice returned to him from Kyoshi Island: 'Talk to her first, if you can.'

Lin stopped several steps away, close enough to speak without raising her voice. Her eyes moved over them once, then settled on Katara's clothes.

"You are people from the Southern Water Tribe! Aren't you?" she said.

Sokka swallowed. "And what if we are?"

"You are the first citizens to come from the South Pole. This is a great opportunity."

"Uhm…right, sure. For what?"

Katara gave him a look before turning back to Lin. "We are just passing through. We don't want trouble."

"Good, law-abiding citizens are welcomed from everywhere here." Lin said. "Trouble would be inconvenient."

Aang blinked. 'Is she threatening us? This is so awkward.' Aang thought.

The blind girl tilted her head toward him. "Well, they did not lie on the trouble part, but one of them is shaking."

"I am not shaking!" Sokka said quickly.

"I didn't mean you, big dummy." the small girl snorted. Aang stiffened, how could the small girl see? And he worried that if Sokka got mad it could end up with him saying something stupid again.

Lin glanced down at the girl. "Toph."

"What? He is."

"It's rude to point it out, it's normal for people to have fears, especially because they look like they just left the South Pole for the first time in their lives, please don't antagonize them." Lin said, sighing.

Aang gripped his staff harder. "What do you want?"

"Well, I actually want to talk with you, but we can do that inside the city." Lin said. "I actually am the governor whenever I'm here, although I have a team that helps me manage."

"I'm not sure we want to enter the city now." Katara said.

"Mmm, I know I can be a bit scary, but rest assured you will be treated fairly everywhere and if you don't want to hear me out, then I will respect that."

"We are not afraid." Sokka said.

Aang did not know what to do here, she seemed civil enough but the air was very tense. Katara seemed just as uncertain, but she recovered first. "What do you want from us? We can discuss it here first."

"Mm, you sure? I could invite you to a cup of tea first." Lin said.

"We are sure." Aang said.

"Very well… Your tribe has access to ice, people accustomed to southern conditions, and knowledge of waters my people do not know well." Lin said. "I have supply problems that may be easier to solve with cooperation between each other. I can provide food, maybe even some of our merchant ships, and tools for various needs. I'm aware I don't know much about the South Pole or its people so I may not know what exactly you need but I'm willing to offer plenty of different things and we can negotiate."

Sokka stared at her. "You want to trade?"

"Yes, obviously. The South Pole is very rough to travel to, logistically it's a nightmare and we don't know which ice can be taken and which would be dangerous to do so. We don't want to battle the weather, angering your population and causing raids. We could discuss the details to make it ideal for both sides."

"After the atrocities you have all done to our people you think we want anything to do with you?!" Katara said angrily, almost screaming.

"I was a kid when the Southern Water Tribe was invaded, I was not really privy as to why we did, or what was the goal or even what happened as I admit some of it was heavily guarded, not even my family could get ahold of the records. It must have been brutal for you to have that reaction, and for that I'm sorry you had to live through that. At some point though, your people would want to rebuild, I'm just offering to help you and once our trade is no longer useful I will leave your tribe alone."

The worst part, Aang thought, was that she was probably telling the truth.

"I feel a heavy animal trying to eat from a tree."

Lin's eyes shifted past them toward the fields. "Really? How big exactly?"

"Maybe bigger than a Rhino, do you want to capture it? It could be fun."

Aang froze again. "Uhm, it might be ours. Why would you want to capture it?"

"If you arrived with a large animal and left it outside the village, someone may be hurt if they consider it a threat, and we usually tame animals to help in different tasks, they are nice companions as well."

Sokka looked at Aang, then Katara, then back at Lin. "And if we tell you that it won't be a threat even if left alone?"

"Then I would say it would still be irresponsible, what if someone walks by and tries to capture it even if we don't?"

"Err… good point." Sokka conceded.

"Toph can help make a pen for your friend, she will show you how later. I'm curious as to what you have in the South Pole as well. Now that I think about it… you didn't arrive at the docks, so you didn't sail here. I'm assuming your mount can swim?" she asked, surprised.

"Oh yeah, Appa can swim, even in deep cold waters." Katara said quickly.

"That's so cool, I want to meet him." Toph said.

They guided her to the place where Appa waited beyond the road, partly hidden near a low rise. Aang walked stiffly the whole way, ready to move if Lin so much as raised her hand.

"Ah I see now, that's an impressive sight." Lin said.

Appa made a soft grunt and approached him slowly, wary of the girl with metal arms. If there was something Aang could trust, it is Appa's instincts.

"Haha, I like him. I can smell him from here." Toph said.

"It isn't that bad…" Sokka commented. "Wait until he sneezes on you."

Toph snorted. "How did you let that happen to you?"

"Who said anything about it happening to me?" Sokka said, indignantly.

The girl just laughed at him. "Toph, can you please make a pen for the big guy?" Lin asked.

"Sure."

Aang didn't know why Lin was asking a blind girl to build something but the confusion was cleared fast as the blind girl stepped forward, touched her foot to the ground, and bent the earth into a low stone wall around them and Appa with quick, confident movements.

Appa grumbled but did not seem offended.

"There." Toph said. "It is big enough for him to roam a bit."

Aang was surprised, the blind girl was actually an earthbender. Not only that, but she seemed a capable one at that. He wondered how she came to be friends with that monster in the first place.

Lin approached Appa slowly and looked up at him. For the first time, her face softened by a small amount. "Beautiful. What is it?"

"It's a s- a bison." Aang said, almost making a mistake.

"A bison.. With six legs, a Beaver tail and as big as at least three of the bisons I know about. This world…" He heard her mutter.

Aang simply stared at her, confused.

"What does he eat?" Lin asked.

Aang blinked stunned for a bit, before answering. "Mostly hay, tall grass. Fruit. Vegetables. Anything vegetarian."

"It must have been tough feeding him in the South Pole. I will have something brought for him."

Aang did not understand how the conversation had become this, but he nodded anyway. "Thank you."

It was obvious to him now that there was more to her than being an evil spirit as the rumors said, but he was still very wary of her.

Toph turned toward Lin. "You still owe me a spar."

"Well, I was talking with our guests… it can be later."

"You always say later."

"Alright, alright. I guess we can leave them so that they think about it."

Lin looked back at the three of them. "Consider my offer. I will be at the train station in the evening, or you can ask around for me to one of the guards, they will guide you to me. Until then, you may use Chin's hospitality, provided you do not create a scene."

She left with Toph walking beside her, already talking about where to fight. Aang watched them go, still holding his staff.

"Who would want to spar with her?" he asked.
​

---

After exploring the market from Chin city and speaking with a few of the locals, Aang, Sokka and Katara realized that they didn't have money to buy supplies. The Fire Nation used a coin named ban, divided in copper pieces, silver pieces or gold pieces. Of which they had none of.

They gathered away from prying eyes to discuss the offer so that they could leave the city with enough supplies for their trip north.

"We cannot trust her, what if she invades our village?" Katara was saying.

"Katara, let's be reasonable. If they wanted to invade us again they already could do so, without telling us anything." Sokka reasoned.

"I admit she was terrifying at first, but she isn't really what I was expecting." Aang voiced his opinion.

"I think we should take the deal. No, wait, hear me out, Katara. Our village could use the help. They were trading with Kyoshi Island as well, you saw how much it helped them." Sokka said.

"Yet they still came down to burn the village down." Katara replied.

"But it wasn't Lin's fault. It was Zuko who did that." Aang said.

"Yeah, that crazy guy clearly has it for us. Besides, we really do need supplies, and we have no money to buy them. Do you want us to starve or something?" Sokka asked.

"It would be better than to help the Fire Nation. I cannot believe this, you know what they are, Sokka. They are murderers."

"Look, all I'm saying is that we could use the help. Earthbenders are clearly working with the Fire Nation and the civilians living in this city are mostly from the Earth Kingdom. They didn't antagonize us even though they could have arrested us for not being Fire Nation. Instead they just left us alone and offered us a great deal. I think we need to see the benefits, it doesn't mean we won't fight them when we need to. You also have to consider that Aang will need a firebending teacher at some point as well, so we have to work with someone from the Fire Nation anyway in the future."

"Alright, alright! Let's hope I don't have to say 'I told you so'." Katara relented.

"Great, we will negotiate a deal with them then. Let's think about what would be best for our village." Sokka said, seriously.
​

---

The Water Tribe teenagers came to the train station as she was checking the progress of her trains with Toph. Lin had not expected them to accept so quickly, but she was pleased that they had.

The oldest boy had watched every soldier in the station like he expected one of them to attack them at any moment, and the girl had stayed close to the younger one while trying to look less worried than she was.

In hindsight she should have questioned why they were frightened, or suspicious, and poorly prepared for their travel. But in that moment, she only saw a bunch of kids looking for adventure without knowing that the world was a much larger beast than they knew about.

They had negotiated with her and explained what they needed and that they intended to keep traveling north later in the day.

To Lin, them being nervous and frightened made a lot of sense. She of course knew about the southern raids years back, they must have hit pretty hard, but they still braved the sea to get to know their world, it was pretty brave of them at their young age.

That they were still wary, for Lin, made them sensible and smart. One could never be too careful when traveling, and she hoped they didn't encounter a lot of trouble. Lin gave them supplies from the station stores.

Dried meat, vegetables and fruit that they asked for. She also let their bison eat from their haystacks. After securing them in Appa, she gave them waterskins, blankets, and enough travel food to keep them moving for several days if they rationed it properly.

She also gave them a written notice with her seal, informing settlements under her control that the three travelers were allowed food, water, and temporary shelter if they arrived without causing disturbances.

The older boy read the notice twice. "You're just giving us this?" he asked.

"I am exchanging it for that letter I mentioned."

"That still feels uneven." he commented.

"It is not for me, I will use the ice to make our food reserves last a long time, the people here will thank you a lot for it."

He did not seem reassured, but he took the brush when she placed it before him. His writing was slower than hers, he clearly knew the letters but his handwriting was atrocious really. He addressed the message to his tribe and signed it with his name and lineage.

Sokka, son of Chief Hakoda of Wolf Cove.

Lin kept her expression steady when she read it. She really was lucky. To have encountered the son of a small tribe chieftain by coincidence was really almost a miracle. Now she would help the tribe progress and in turn they would help her gather ice and actually have a base in the South Pole. It was a great boon.

"There is one more thing. I have a waterbending scroll that you may want to keep. We don't really need it and you might find it more valuable than us." Lin said, taking out the scroll she had already picked up earlier after the spar with Toph.

"What?! A waterbending scroll?" The water tribe girl asked, bewildered. "Why do you have one?"

"We took it off from some pirates we sank a few months back, near a mining village we control. It was something they believed was valuable, so we took it along with the rest of their things before sinking their ship." Lin said.

Lin could see the girl really wanted to have it, and she couldn't really blame her. The fact that they hadn't seen or heard any rumors about waterbenders this close to the South Pole meant that the campaign against the Southern Water Tribe had been even extremely successful and brutal indeed.

"You can have it as well, preserving your culture and history is important." Lin said.

"Thank you." the girl said, in what was the first time she spoke without seemingly being angry at her.

She did not need the Water Tribe to like her really, but it did help. She needed access, maybe a bit of labor, and a place where ships could dock without issues. Stealing ice from the south would be possible, but expensive and stupid. Fighting there would be worse. Fire Nation crews would hate the cold, hate the dark, and hate every task that involved being there suffering the cold.

She still was aware that the tribes didn't have men in the south anymore, they had all committed to fight in their navy. If her reports were right though, the Fire Nation had already dealt with them so they were probably not coming back.

If they could come in and encourage their help and cooperation, they could also maybe form new bonds, eventually repopulate and their colonization efforts would be easier. A dock built with local consent would solve more problems than a raid. It was definitely worth more than a few crates of food and supplies for three teenagers and a useless scroll.

"Have a nice trip. Take care now." Lin said, finally.

When the three left the station, Toph followed them with her face turned toward the door.

"They didn't want to make the trade at all, you know?" she said.

"I am aware, but I think they were thinking about their tribe first before their own needs. Which is why I gave them more supplies for their trip."

Toph snorted. "They still think you might eat them."

"I guess the rumors out there have spread far and wide..."

"It's a wonder that they left the South Pole at all, they are brave to travel the world like that. I think I want to travel as well."

"Well, in a week's time we will be traveling deep into the Earth Kingdom actually. And I was thinking that we could make a few trips to see the most interesting parts. I hear there is a pass between the east and west continent called the serpent's pass."

"That sounds cool…"

They left the station back toward her office. Inside Lin returned to the maps laid out across the table, marking a note beside Wolf Cove before she folded Sokka's letter and sealed it inside a small case.

She had no interest in explaining to some court official why she had opened communication with a Water Tribe settlement without first asking permission, so she would have to keep it undisclosed only for the people she had in mind that would handle this.

Captain Aiku entered suddenly.

"General." he said, saluting. "Prince Zuko has arrived at the dock."

Lin looked up. "Oh, does he need anything?"

"He is requesting assistance with one member of his crew who has been taken captive. He says the Kyoshi Warriors took him prisoner on their island."

Toph's head lifted. "The fan girls?"

Lin ignored that. "Bring him in."

Zuko arrived followed by his uncle, general Iroh. Lin saluted them both and offered them to step in and have a cup of tea. Iroh accepted but Zuko remained standing.

"Commander." he said. "I need to take command of a few soldiers. The Kyoshi Warriors are holding one of my men."

"My prince. It's general now. And why did they capture one of your crew?"

"Right, general. Congratulations. As I was saying, they got in the way of my research."

Lin just waited, so far he was not making a lot of sense.

Zuko's mouth tightened. "They defied me."

"That does not explain why they took a prisoner."

"Err….They attacked my crew." Zuko said.

Lin turned to Iroh who just nodded along, saying nothing.

"I have visited the island a few times. They wouldn't have attacked your men, especially after I made it clear that they had to talk to anyone first before they did anything stupid." Lin replied.

He remained silent, clearly not expecting that answer. Lin felt her irritation flare. Kyoshi Island had already proven to be a good trade partner. Their hardwood was being used heavily to construct railway tracks that could handle the weight of the artillery guns. Their meat was a delicacy many in her controlled territories enjoyed.

It seemed the prince couldn't control his temper if he had attacked a neutral village, with only a few warriors to defend itself.

"You attacked Kyoshi Island, for what reason?" Lin asked.

"I was investigating a possible lead on the avatar."

It was true that Kyoshi Island worshiped the old Avatar, but if he had attacked only for that reason, it was beyond stupid. Toph's face turned slightly toward her, listening.

"He is lying." Toph said.

Lin kept her voice level. "So you dare lie to my face about what you were doing there."

"I am not! Are you going to trust some earthbender over your prince?"

"That earthbender could bury you anytime you want, prince grumpy." Toph replied back.

Zuko stepped forward, ready to argue with the small girl when Lin stopped him. "Toph here was responsible for Omashu's surrender… So far, she has contributed far more to the war effort of your nation than you, Prince Zuko. I advise you to be respectful now or you will find no allies in my territories."

He backed off quickly when General Iroh stepped in as well to defuse the situation.

"My nephew didn't mean that, we are just a bit stressed, we did find a lead and we want to follow it, but in the chaos as we were leaving, already moving our ship, we realized one of our own was missing."

"I need him back now." Zuko said.

"Then I will negotiate his release." Lin said finally.

His eyes narrowed. "Negotiate?"

"We are not invading a neutral territory we trade with, I'm not giving you command of any of my men." Lin began gathering the papers she needed from the table. "I can go personally by glider and reach the island faster than any ship anyway."

"I will go with you." Zuko said.

"No."

"He is my crewman."

"You have done enough. You will wait for him here and do nothing more."

"You cannot talk to me like that! And you cannot order me-."

"I can, I even have the authority to arrest you and your entire crew if I so wished, Prince Zuko. You were banished and have no real authority over me. So better choose your next words very carefully."

"We will of course, hear counsel, General. Sorry for the inconvenience and we will appreciate the help in bringing him back." Iroh said.

Lin fastened the case to her belt and looked at Zuko directly. "You've embarrassed yourself, you've embarrassed your family. But most importantly, you've somewhat inconvenienced me. Reflect on that."

"What?" Zuko's face flushed darker, but she didn't let him say anything else, turning to Aiku.

"Prepare the glider. Lieutenant Toma will fly with me. We will have a seat empty to bring him back. Bring a few men from the garrison, I want you to watch over the Prince and his crew."

Aiku saluted. "Yes, General."

"But-" Zuko began to say, but was cut off again.

"Toph, will you help Aiku and keep watch on him as well? I know you don't like flying and if we only take one glider the better.

Toph grinned from beside the table. "I can keep Broody Boy company."

"Great, I'm counting on you."

"Stop!" Zuko said.

"I allow you to rough him up a bit if you need to as well, Toph." Lin said, already preparing to leave, as Aiku summoned more of the city's guards to them.

"You are being unreasonable!" Zuko complained, but he didn't seem keen on fighting everyone now.

Lin left before he could say anything else. Outside, the dock was already active with orders being relayed toward the aircraft platform. Lieutenant Toma waited near the glider, already wearing the vest they used to strap into the aircraft's frame, while two mechanics secured the last restraints on the wings.

Lin climbed into the forward seat, still angry about the whole situation.

"Toma." she said.

The lieutenant settled into position behind her. "Ready, General."

"Take us to the skies, Lieutenant, we are heading for Kyoshi's island."

The glider lurched forward, as Toma began firebending. The cold wind hit her face, calming her down.
​

---

Kyoshi Island received her with less warmth than usual. That was fair, Lin supposed. Their village had been attacked by a banished prince who still wore Fire Nation colors, and now another Fire Nation officer was arriving shortly after.

Lieutenant Toma had stayed near the glider and Lin approached the village alone. The Kyoshi Warriors stood in a line near her, fans in hand, while several villagers worked on damaged roofs behind them. Some of the wood was soaked, and the road still carried puddles from whatever had put the worst of the fires out.

Lin saw the elder she was used to talking to and stopped before him, bowing her head.

"I apologize for this attack on you. It was not authorized by me, and it was not authorized by anyone in my command."

Suki, the warrior's leader, stepped forward, clearly angry. "He said he was acting in the name of the Fire Nation."

"It is a lie. He is banished from the home islands. He commands his own ship and crew, not anyone else." Lin looked toward the damaged houses. "That does not repair what he burned, but I'm here to try and rectify what happened."

"While it is true it doesn't undo the attack, no one died luckily. We appreciate you coming here so quickly." the elder said.

"Of course, elder. I will cover the repairs and replace what was lost. If any of your people were injured, I can send word for medical supplies to arrive with the next shipment of supplies."

A few villagers muttered among themselves. Lin could hear anger in it, but also relief, which mattered more. The loss of a useful trade partner over Zuko's temper would have pissed her off greatly.

Suki stared at her for a bit, then finally lowered her stance. "We captured one of his men."

"Yes, I actually came to retrieve him." Lin kept her voice even. "If it is okay with you, I will take him off your hands. I don't fault you for defending yourselves."

The elder studied her for a long moment before looking to Suki. She nodded once, still wary, and two warriors brought the prisoner from one of the nearby buildings. He was bruised, embarrassed, and trying too hard to stand straight once he saw her.

"Commander Lin" he said.

Lin looked him over. "It's general now, ensign. Can you walk?"

"Yes, General."

"Good. You will apologize to them."

His face twitched. "General?"

"Now."

The crewman swallowed and turned toward the elder. "I apologize for the damage caused by our actions."

It was stiff and awkward, but the elder accepted it with a small nod.

"I will send the first repair payment within three days," she said. "If Prince Zuko or his crew return here you have my permission to apprehend them immediately."

Suki's eyes narrowed slightly. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, then you can send word to Chin City and we will handle him if he tries anything else."

That earned a brief amused look from her, although it disappeared quickly. Lin turned away with the prisoner walking beside her. Only once they were far enough from the elder did she speak again.

"What truly happened here?"

The crewman hesitated. "I don't think I can say, General. The prince would get angry at me."

"Ensign, if you don't tell me I will just say you died in captivity and throw you off my plane. I think you should really think about who you want to anger here. Me or the prince."

The young man paled. "I… we were following the Avatar."

"The Avatar is actually alive? How?" Lin asked.

"We believe the late Avatar was hiding in the Water Tribes, then he passed away and now the new avatar was reborn as a Southern Water Tribe kid."

'I had it in front of me…' Lin thought grimly.

"And this new Avatar came here?"

"Yes, General. Prince Zuko saw him. He is traveling with two other Water Tribe teenagers." The crewman glanced toward her, uneasy now. "We pursued them, but the village interfered."

"Thank you for your honesty, Ensign. Talk about what you just told me and you are dead." Lin threatened him.

"R-right, I won't say a word!"

Lin continued walking toward the glider, the ensign following behind her. She was lost in thought. She had fed them, issued them safe passage, given them a sealed notice, and accepted a letter that now sat in her case.

Zuko had known enough to pursue them to Kyoshi Island, yet when he came to her, he had hidden that detail. He lied to her face, when she had tried her best to help him on his quest. More importantly, that she had aided them was a problem.

If this reached the wrong people, it could become useful to anyone looking for weakness in her career. A Fire Nation general had aided the Avatar, even unknowingly. The accusation alone could cause problems.

Right now, only Toph and Aiku knew the details of the trade. The soldiers at the station had seen supplies move, but not why. The route south could still be pursued, quietly, with fewer names written down and fewer people invited to participate on the mission.

Lin climbed into the glider and gestured for the crewman to take the empty seat.

Lieutenant Toma looked back at her. "General."

"We return to Chin, Lieutenant."

As the glider lifted from Kyoshi Island with the crewman secured behind her, Lin watched the village shrink below, its wet roofs catching the afternoon light.

Zuko had lied to their only ally in the region and upset perhaps the only help he could receive. Lin was glad he wasn't the crown Prince anymore. Azula was by far the better choice.​

 

[Lucernello]

AN: Hello, we are close to Ba Sing Se arc, are you ready? Also sorry for the long chapter, I see now that I've planned this set of chapters wrongly, they are too long. Anyway, i will revise my plan for next one.

Luce
​

---

99 A.G

Once Chin City was far behind them, they returned to the sky. Aang had felt better after they left, though not completely. General Lin had given them food, water, blankets, hay for Appa, and even a waterbending scroll, which should have made the stop feel like a success.

Instead, he kept looking over his shoulder for a long while, half expecting someone to realize they had made a terrible mistake letting him go. No soldiers followed them, and Appa flew north without trouble until Chin became only a pale mark behind the hills.

It took two days before Omashu came into sight, although they spotted the railway tracks first. From high above, the tracks looked like a thin dark snake cutting through the land toward the mountain city. Aang had never seen anything like it the last time he visited.

The old roads had followed the shape of the hills, twisting and climbing with them, but the Fire Nation had simplified it by going into a straight line almost. They crossed open ground, cut through stone, directly toward two massive bridges, one entering the city from the south, then exiting from the north in the same direction.

Omashu had turned darker in color, there was a lot of metal now surrounding the top of the city and for Aang, it had lost its distinctive beige color. There were pillars of smoke rising to the skies. Back in the day you would never see a cloud on top of Omashu, now you could hardly see the sky.

Sokka leaned over the side of the saddle, squinting down. "Pheeew, that's a lot of metal, that's the Fire Nation alright."

Katara pulled him back by the collar of his coat before he leaned too far. "We can see that without you falling."

"I was fine, Katara."

"Whatever. Now what?" Katara asked.

Aang was about to reply when he saw those Fire Nation flying machines on the horizon. He had to quickly climb twice into the clouds and wait while they passed below them. The machines didn't look that maneuverable, but they were still faster than Aang liked, with metal frames, canvas wings, and leaving a trail of fire behind them.

Once they knew it was clear they descended again putting a bit of distance from the city to avoid being detected in the air. Aang scouted for a place to land safely and leave Appa where he wouldn't be discovered.

It didn't take long and by afternoon, they had already landed in the perfect spot far away from prying eyes, near a small patch of water. The pond they found sat between low hills, surrounded by tall grass and enough trees to hide Appa from the road. It was quiet, and they didn't see anyone close by.

Appa settled in the middle of the pond, splashing the water with a tired groan, and Momo began investigating the branches above them. As they settled, they checked their supplies were secured after getting them from Appa's saddle.

As he watched the water, an idea came to Aang's head. "Hey, Katara. Can you teach me some of the waterbending moves you have learned so far?"

"Hey, Katara. Can you teach me some of the waterbending moves you have learned so far?"

"Oh, sure Aang. Let's see if I can teach you something." she replied, excited.

"Fancy splashing here we go." Sokka commented.

Katara ignored him and took Aang's hand, moving them closer to the water.

"Alright, this is a pretty basic move, but it still took me months to perfect. So don't be frustrated if you don't get it right away."

Katara got into a forward stance and raised both hands in front of her. "Just push and pull the water like this. The key is getting the wrist movement right."

Aang quickly got into stance as well, copying her movements. "Like this?"

"That's almost right. If you keep practicing I'm sure eventual-"

Aang was so focused on the feel of the water that when he saw it move the way he wanted he practically shouted in excitement. "Hey I'm bending it already!"

"Wow, I can't believe you got that so quickly. It took me two months to learn that move." Katara said, a bit dejected.

"Well, you had to learn it on your own, I'm lucky enough to have a great teacher." Aang said, trying to cheer her up.

"Thanks." Katara said, now smiling.

"So what's next?"

"This is a more difficult move, I call it 'streaming the water'."

She moved her arms in a flowing motion, picking a stream of water from the pond to manipulate as if it were a snake. Aang quickly followed her motions and successfully controlled one stream of his own.

"It's harder than it looks, so don't be disappointed if…"

But Aang was too amazed at the ease at how he could bend another element, and started playing with the stream of water, adding flair and movement to it happily, finally returning the stream to the pond without splashing water around.

"Nice work, though the over-the-head flair was unnecessary." Katara said, looking annoyed.

"Sorry. Well, don't stop them now. Keep 'em coming." Aang said, ready to learn more.

"Maybe we can take a look at the scroll next, I also want to learn new things." Katara commented.

She then brought out the waterbending scroll and placed it in a rock near the water. "I can't wait to try some of these moves." she said.

Aang sat with her near the pond while she unrolled it carefully across a flat stone. The drawings showed stances, hand positions, and flowing movements. It was real after all, and Aang felt a bit ashamed that he had thought so little of the gift Lin had given them.

He was having issues with what he was told and what he had seen so far from the Fire Nation. Still, they were clearly occupying territory that isn't theirs and they massacred a lot of people. But not all of the atrocities they say the Fire Nation did were true. Aang couldn't see Lin as this evil spirit or monster. It was clearly an exaggeration based on her looks.

While he was lost in thought, Katara studied each figure and was determined to try the one that seemed the easiest to start with; the single water whip. Katara's face lit up, and Aang could see her excitement written on her face.

"The single water whip. Looks doable."

'She is really pretty.' he thought. Then he chastised himself, as it wasn't the time to be thinking about those things.

She tried one of the forms by drawing water from the pond in a slow arc, and the water followed her for a moment before losing shape and splashing across her face when she tried the final move.

"That was close." Aang said quickly, but Sokka just laughed at her.

Katara pushed wet hair away from her cheek. "What's so funny?"

"I'm sorry, it was funny! It's like watching someone trip or fall. Nothing personal." Sokka said.

"You will regret that when I learn it." Katara said.

"Why don't you let Aang try it?" Sokka asked.

"I just want to get this move done first and then it's all yours. Aang will get its turn once I figure out the water whip." she replied.

Again she tried replicating the moves, but now trying it faster than earlier and it went the other way, hitting Momo instead, who cried indignantly.

"Ugh, why can't I get this stupid move?" Katara said, getting more frustrated.

Aang looked down at the scroll again carefully. "You'll get it." He encouraged her, moving close to the water to practice himself.

"I think your movement is just a bit stiff. You just have to shift your weight through the stances." Aang said, remembering his many lessons learning airbending.

Without much effort, he grabbed a stream of water from the pond, even though he had never done so before, following the movements in the scroll felt natural to him. He completed the whip in the direction he wanted and he was satisfied he had been able to do so quickly.

"There, see? The key to bending is-"

Katara's expression tightened and she interrupted him before he could continue giving advice. "Will you please shut your air hole? Believe it or not, your infinite wisdom gets a little old sometimes!" Katara's voice rose before she seemed to notice it.

Aang stopped, stunned. "I was just trying to help." he said, quietly.

"Why don't we just throw the scroll away, since you're so naturally gifted?!" she finished, almost screaming at his face.

Aang lowered his hands, feeling that painful heaviness in his chest, something he hadn't expected out of these lessons. He blinked hard before the tears could form properly. Even if he knew that Katara was frustrated and that she never had a master in the South Pole, that did not make the words hurt less.

Katara's anger faded almost as soon as she saw his face.

"Oh my gosh, Aang." she said, softer now. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me."

He rubbed his sleeve across his eyes quickly and tried to smile. "It's okay."

"No, it isn't. You were helping me, and I got mad because I was embarrassed." She looked down at the scroll. "It is just hard watching you learn something I have wanted my whole life."

Aang sat back down beside her. "I don't want to make it harder."

"You didn't." Katara took a breath. "I did."

Sokka cleared his throat from the other side of the camp. "What about Momo? He is the real victim here."

"I'm sorry Momo." Katara said, petting him.

"Good, now let's eat some breakfast before heading to Omashu, you will feel better after eating something, I think Katara is just hungry."

"Hey!" Katara exclaimed without real protest.

They chuckled, and the tightness between them eased enough that Aang could breathe normally again. They put the scroll away after that, Sokka was right after all, Omashu awaited and they should head there while they still had daylight.

After eating, they left Appa and Momo there to rest, promising to return before night if they could. It took them almost an hour to get to Omashu walking. Aang kept the hood of one of the Water Tribe coats pulled low over his head as they approached the city on foot. The closer they came, the stranger Omashu looked.

At the main entrance, the old wall had been replaced with an actual gate, made of metal and golden decorations. Fire Nation guards stood beside Earth Kingdom soldiers in green and brown, both groups watching travelers with the same bored suspicion. Aang kept his head down while Sokka presented the notice Lin had given them.

One of the guards checked the seal, then looked at them more carefully.

"This is General Lin's seal." he said.

Sokka gave a nervous smile. "Err, yes, she gave that to us herself."

The guard folded the notice and handed it back. "Some people are lucky, wait here. We will send word to the governor."

As they were led inside to wait for an escort, Aang took a moment to gaze inside the city. It was the same mountain, and the city still rose from it in layers to the top, but the Fire Nation had changed too much of it. There were so many metal structures and new buildings being built. The train tracks they had seen entering the city now towered the landscape.

Aang couldn't help but grow sad with the view.
​

---

The guards made them wait near the gate until another soldier came to guide them through the city. It was a big city and it would take time to reach the top, where the palace was. Aang kept the hood low over his head and tried not to look too long at anyone, although most people just seem to be keeping to themselves.

The Fire Nation had added metal walkways, banners, rail platforms and weird tube placements that were looking up for some reason. He wanted to walk away from the guards and explore on their own.

He wanted to find the places he remembered, to see if the old market was still there, or if the cart tracks still ran the same way. He really was fond of the delivery system since his friend Bumi showed him how to ride them.

But none of them wanted trouble, and the paper General Lin had given them seemed to be the only reason they had been allowed in without being searched more carefully, so for now, Aang kept walking.

"This is a lot more normal than I expected." Sokka whispered after a while.

Katara looked at him. "Normal?"

"You know what I mean. People are still working. Shops are open. No one is being dragged around by soldiers."

"That doesn't make this good."

"I didn't say it was good. I'm saying it's weird."

Aang understood what he meant. The city was occupied, and there were Fire Nation banners hanging from the walls, but most people were still doing ordinary things.

He saw a man argue with a fruit seller over prices, two children chasing each other between people until their mother scolded them. Earth Kingdom workers carried stone up a ramp while Fire Nation soldiers patrolled, yet they didn't intervene on anyone.

It was really confusing to him. On one hand they conducted genocide on a brutal scale, on the other they treated their occupation lightly? It was still wrong, but it was harder to understand than the simple cruelty he had been expecting.

After everything Katara and Sokka had said about the raids in the south, he had expected Omashu to look crushed beneath the Fire Nation. Instead, it looked changed of course, but still full of life.

The guard led them up toward the palace, where the old stone entrance had been decorated with red banners and polished metal lamps. There were guards at every important doorway, some in red armor and some in Earth Kingdom green.

Sokka leaned closer to him. "Free food, maybe a bed, and then we leave before anyone asks too many questions."

"That would be ideal." Katara whispered.

"It is the best plan."

Aang almost laughed, but the sound died before it came out when they entered a large hall. Several people sat around a long table, eating and talking comfortably. Servants moved between them with trays, and the smell of warm rice, roasted vegetables, meat, and tea reached Aang all at once.

A man in his forties rose from his seat as they approached. He had long black hair tied in a topknot, and a neatly trimmed Van Dyke beard. He wore layered red and brown robes and had broad shoulders.

"Welcome to New Ozai." he said. "I am Governor Ukano."

"New Ozai?" Aang asked.

"Well, yes, we renamed the city as we did in the colonies." Ukano answered.

"Err, right, thank you." Aang said, bowing at him.

Sokka and Katara copied him.

"General Lin's notice said you were to be treated as guests if you passed through our city so feel free to ask anything from us.," Ukano continued. "We will be pleased to honor her seal."

The trio nodded. Ukano gestured toward the table. "For now, join us for lunch. Allow me to make some introductions. Of course, first, this is Crown Princess Azula. Then my wife, Michi. My daughter, Mai, and my son, TomTom."

Aang focused on the princess first, she looked about their age, maybe a little older than Aang, with golden eyes, dark hair arranged perfectly, and a calm expression. But her appearance reminded him a bit of the angry teenager that is burning villages looking for him.

Katara had gone very still beside him. Sokka's smile froze in place. "Crown Princess. Right… we didn't know we would have royalty receive us." Azula looked at him for a few seconds, unsure what to say.

Mai, sitting beside her with a blank expression, looked at Sokka's coat, then at his face. "They seem harmless."

"Thank you?" Sokka said, clearly unsure if it had been an insult.

Ukano cleared his throat. "Please, sit. You must be hungry after traveling."

Katara placed a hand lightly on Aang's sleeve. "Thank you, Governor. We appreciate it." Aang said, still unsure. If the princess was anything like prince Zuko they would have to make a run for it, in a city full of Fire Nation soldiers.

They sat near the lower end of the table. Food was placed before them almost immediately, and Sokka's caution fought a brief but visible battle against the smell of the meal. The food won after a few seconds.

Ukano smiled politely. "May I ask your names?"

Aang hesitated, then kept his answer simple. "I'm Aang. This is Katara and Sokka."

"Travelers from the Southern Water Tribe, as the scroll said." Ukano said, glancing at their clothes.

Sokka swallowed quickly. "That's right. We're heading north."

Azula tilted her head slightly. "What for?"

"Well… we had never left our village before, we would like to visit our sister tribe, although we are unsure if we are able to get there at all." Katara said.

Mai looked down at her cup. "Sounds better than being stuck here to be honest."

Azula's mouth curved faintly, while Aang focused on his bowl and tried not to look like he wanted to run from the table.
​

---

Aang didn't know what to think about Princess Azula. She seemed alright, although it didn't make him feel safe. At one point she seemed to have lost interest in them luckily, while they talked with the governor about how they liked New Ozai or the colonies south so far.

Mai was sitting beside her with a blank expression, looking bored enough that Aang wondered if she even cared if they were there.

"So…" Azula said, looking at Sokka. "You've met, Lin."

Sokka looked down at it. "Err…Yes?"

"What do you think about her?" Azula asked.

"She was not what I was expecting." Sokka said.

"Oh? Why were you expecting something at all?" the princess asked.

"We heard rumors before meeting her." Katara said, hesitantly.

"Ahh, right, I understand. My favorite one is the one they call her spirit blessed while at the same time saying she is an evil spirit." Azula said, smirking.

"Certainly. You can never trust rumors." Michi commented.

"Well, what we can say is that she was nice enough to even give us a gift with the deal we made. It was a very thoughtful one." Aang said.

Azula's interest sharpened at once. "What did she give away?"

Katara held the scroll a little closer. "This waterbending scroll, it preserves a bit of our culture. I hadn't seen one before actually."

"I don't suppose you had, no." Azula said. "I'm surprised she had one. Did she say where she got it?"

"Pirates." Sokka said.

Azula's mouth curved slightly. "I remember, we sunk their primitive ship. The captain was skilled with the sword if I remember correctly. He didn't live to tell the tale obviously, he met a quick death sadly."

Aang shifted in his seat. "Uhm…You know General Lin well?" he asked, trying to switch topics and ignore the casual way the young princess talked about their death.

"She trained me, and together we have taken the south from the Earth Kingdom." Azula said.

"You are quite the duo, Azula." Mai said, taking a small sip of her cup, and a knowing smile on her face.

"Of course we are."

"She was nice to us, although I admit it was a bit intimidating." Aang said, honestly.

"I know. She is. Lin's great, isn't she?" Azula said.

The question made Aang pause. Katara looked at him, and Sokka suddenly became very interested in his food.

"I suppose so." Aang said carefully.

Mai's mouth twitched. "That wounded her."

"It did not." Azula protested.

"She expects everyone to say she is amazing." Mai retorted.

"No, no. I wanted an honest assessment, this was good enough."

"What about her appearance?" Mai asked Aang suddenly.

Azula gave Mai a cold look. "Do you want to eat outside?"

Mai shrugged. "It might be less boring."

Ukano cleared his throat. "My daughter, please behave."

Azula leaned back, still looking at them. "What was the deal about?"

Sokka swallowed. "Ice mostly, in exchange of supplies."

"Ice? I guess there is ice everywhere in the south." Azula asked.

Katara's expression tightened. "Yes, she wanted our people to guide her on where to set up camp and which zones would be less dangerous to gather it."

Azula seemed pleased by that. "Ah, I remember why, that's nice, smart." Aang glanced at Sokka, but they remained silent after that.

Mai rested her cheek on her hand. "She is great, isn't she?"

Azula looked at her again, then smirked. "Of course. You don't have to repeat my words so much."

"Don't you want to tell them more about her as you have been telling me for the past days?" Mai said, smirking.

Azula's face tightened, and for the first time since they had entered the hall, she looked closer to her age. "You are being tedious."

Mai gave a small chuckle. "I'm just saying, you love to do that."

"I just spend a lot of time with her."

"I don't know… you didn't talk about this Toph girl that much, and you also spend a lot of time with her as well."

Sokka stared between them, clearly fascinated. Katara nudged him under the table before he could say anything.

Michi looked embarrassed and set her cup down. "Mai, Princess, perhaps you should continue this elsewhere."

Azula stood first. "Gladly."

Mai rose more slowly. "Still grumpy, she will arrive in a few days, no need to be like that."

"I am not grumpy."

"You sound grumpy."

They left still arguing, and Aang watched them go with relief. Princess Azula had not acted like Zuko, but the way she spoke about certain things made him feel a bit uncomfortable. At least there hadn't been any problems.

Ukano apologized and let them leave soon after.
​

---

As they stepped into the palace corridor, two guards near the entrance were speaking quietly.

"I visited the late King Bumi this morning, I'm sorry, I couldn't make him see reason." one said. "He laughed the whole time."

Aang stopped. "Did you say Bumi?"

The guards looked at him.

"Err, yes." one answered. "The late king."

"Wait, you don't mean your friend, Bumi, right? There is no way." Sokka said, with little subtlety.

"How old is he?" Aang asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

The guard frowned. "Over a hundred now. Why? Now that I think about it, maybe he is just too old to think clearly."

Aang looked at Katara and Sokka, barely able to believe it. "He's alive…" he muttered.

"Of course, it's the age. I told you that already." the other guard said. "He wouldn't have lost the duel if it happened a few years back."

Sokka leaned closer. "What duel?"

"The duel for the city. From your clothes you must be foreigners. Almost an entire moon cycle back, our King battled Toph Beifong." the guard said. "The blind earthbender won and took the city with that monster general from the Fire Nation. They say the small girl bent lava that day, I wasn't there to see it."

The other guard lowered his voice. "It is the evil spirit's fault. Being close to her is said to corrupt others, like a disease."

Aang ignored that part. "Can we see King Bumi?"

"Well… I guess. He is not imprisoned actually." the first guard said. "Though many people turned their backs on him because he indeed walks free. They think he made a deal before the duel, to live comfortably while the rest of us are under their control."

Katara frowned. "Did he?"

"I was a captain before the city fell." the man said. "My general and I wanted him to fight back. He just laughed and said there was no need. Suspicious."

Aang tightened his hands around the edge of his coat. "Could you give us directions to him?"
​

---

The guards gave them directions to the place where Bumi lived now. They left the palace through one of the side exits and followed an older road carved into the mountain. It curved downward instead of up, away from the busy halls and the metal additions the Fire Nation had built around the palace.

The farther they walked, the quieter Omashu became. Or New Ozai as it was now called. The sound of workers, soldiers, and carts faded behind them until only their footsteps remained. Aang kept his hood low, though it was harder now.

Part of him wanted to run ahead. He kept remembering Bumi as he had been a hundred years ago, laughing too loudly, being goofy, and somehow turning every bad idea into a better one. He was a mad genius.

It was hard to imagine him as an old king who had lost his city, and even harder to imagine him letting people think he had betrayed them.

The place they found had a huge stone facade built into the side of the mountain. The front was wide and decorated with old Earth Kingdom carvings, though some of the lamps near the entrance had been replaced with Fire Nation metalwork.

From the outside, it looked large, but the road continued inward and downward, so Aang guessed most of it was buried deep inside the mountain. Two Fire Nation soldiers guarded the entrance.

Sokka slowed down. "Of course there are guards."

Katara looked at the doors. "The other guards said he wasn't imprisoned."

"Let's hope he isn't in a cell."

Aang stepped forward before either of them could change their minds. One of the soldiers stopped them with a hand.

"Halt. State your business."

"We are here to visit King Bumi, we are friends of General Lin." Aang said, trying not to sound too eager.

The soldier looked over the three of them, narrowing his eyes. Sokka pulled out General Lin's notice and held it up. "We were told this would help."

The soldier read it, then checked the seal more carefully. His expression changed a little when he recognized it. He handed the notice back after a moment and stepped aside.

"I'm not surprised, it seems the general just wants to collect people from every nation. You may enter."

Sokka blinked. "That easy…" he whispered

The second soldier opened the doors for them. They walked inside through a long corridor, the air was cooler there, and the walls carried the old smell of earth and dust. Somewhere deeper inside, something grunted, followed by the scrape of claws against stone.

Sokka moved closer to Katara. "I don't like how that sounds."

Aang smiled despite his nerves. "I'm sure it will be fine, guys."

The corridor opened into a wide chamber carved into the mountain. In the middle of the chamber sat an old man in loose green robes, calmly petting a goat gorilla under the chin.

"Who's a good boy, yes you are Flopsie, yes you are!"

The man was much older than the boy in his memories, but the grin he gave them when he turned was unmistakable.

"Bumi!" Aang said.

"Well, hello." Bumi said. "Who might you be?"

"Bumi, it's me, Aang." Aang froze. 'Oh no, maybe he is too old to remember me.'

"Mmm, are you really?" Bumi said, giving him a wild look. "Prove it." he said all of a sudden, launching a rock in his direction.
​

---

Two days earlier.

Lin had returned to Chin City with the missing crewman. Prince Zuko was still there, surrounded by her soldiers and clearly hating every second of it. General Iroh stood a few steps behind him, looking calmer, although Lin could see the tension in his shoulders. Aiku had done as ordered.

The prince's crew had not been allowed to leave their ship, and several guards from the city garrison watched the dock with their hands near their weapons.

As Lin entered her office, she saw Toph sat on her desk, swinging her legs with a grin that told Lin she had enjoyed the assignment, in her own way.

"Brought your crewman alive." Lin said to the scarred prince.

The ensign hurried toward his prince and bowed, offering his apologies. Zuko looked relieved for half a second before he calmed himself.

"Good, you have my thanks. I will leave as soon as possible." he asked.

"You are not going anywhere until you explain yourself."

Zuko stiffened, as if slapped in the face. Lin walked toward him, stopping only a mere meter in front of him. The office quieted around them, her own soldiers along with Toph preparing for anything.

"I was told the Avatar was on Kyoshi Island." Lin said.

Zuko's jaw tightened. "He was."

"And you knew this before attacking the village."

"I'm a prince, I don't need to-."

"You told me the Kyoshi Warriors took one of your men because they interfered with your investigation." Lin said. "You did not say the Avatar had been sighted, and had you. You lied to me."

"I discovered him!"

"You purposely withheld crucial information that we could have used to capture the Avatar already. Not only that, but you did so in territory already under my control, while asking for my assistance after attacking a trade partner. That is bordering on treason."

Several soldiers shifted around them, but none spoke.

"I am the one hunting the Avatar." Zuko said. "I will be the one to capture him."

"That is irrelevant."

"Capturing him will restore my honor."

Lin stared at him for a moment, she couldn't believe how childish that sounded.

"Your honor…" She said, "You had so many chances to gain honor and did nothing."

Zuko's face darkened. "You don't understand."

"I suppose I don't." Lin kept her voice controlled, although the metal in her hands clicked softly as her fingers curled. "You could have had it captured by now if you had said anything. Every resource I had could have been used to capture him the moment he stepped foot on the mainland, we still had plenty of time, now the campaign to Ba Sing Se is more important as the deadline is almost upon us. Instead you have nothing."

"But I must be the one who captures him, not you."

"So we must leave the weapon everyone agrees can become the most powerful foe against the Fire Nation in the hands of a child who lies to his people? Who attacks innocent civilians without a care in the world? Who doesn't notice a crew member is missing, when you only have ten people to command?!"

Zuko looked away for a second, then back at her. "The rumors are that you don't care for honor, that you are using my sister to elevate your rank. So I say again, you don't understand, General."

Aiku's hand moved closer to his sword, and Toph's grin disappeared. Lin raised one hand slightly, and her soldiers remained where they were.

"Is that what you think of me?" she asked.

Iroh moved a little closer to his nephew. "Prince Zuko, perhaps we should continue this discussion in private."

"I don't care." Zuko said, not looking at him.

Lin took one slow breath. "If you wanted honor, Prince Zuko, you could have joined the army. You could have fought in any of the campaigns that took place in the south. You could have marched with your soldiers, taken a city, protected men under your command, bled for something larger than yourself."

Zuko's fists clenched.

"Instead…" Lin continued, "You sail looking for lost clues, and then hunt for a child who had no waterbending master to even learn from, and you still were not able to capture him. If you had found the actual master of the elements you were looking for, I have no doubt the Avatar would have wiped the floor with you. I don't believe you are even strong enough to grab the kid now."

Zuko's face changed, anger pushing past whatever caution remained.

"You know nothing about me."

"I know enough."

"You think you can speak to me however you want?"

"Yes."

Toph snorted from the desk, yet no one else laughed.

Zuko turned toward the soldiers, then back to Lin. "You will regret that."

"Prince Zuko, that's enough. Forgive him, emotions are high, I'm sure we can resolve this peacefully." Iroh said.

Zuko ignored him. "Once I deliver the Avatar to my father, he will welcome me home with honor, and restore my rightful place in the throne. You won't be able to talk then."

"If your father really wanted you home, he would have let you return by now. But right now, in his eyes, Crown Princess Azula keeps bringing glory to the Fire Nation, while you fail and disgrace your nation." Lin said.

"Agni Kai." he said.

The office went quiet enough that you could hear Lin's mechanical parts working inside her body. Iroh placed a hand on his shoulder. "Nephew, listen to me."

"Do not interfere, Uncle."

Lin looked around, her soldiers were angry. Some tried to hide it, others did not bother. To refuse now would turn their anger into indignation, they don't want me to do that. Colonel Zhou pushed through the line of soldiers, his expression sharp with concern. Having been promoted recently, he could now speak for the rest of them.

"General." he said quietly. "You do not have to entertain this."

"Look around you, colonel." Lin said.

"He is our prince." Zhou continued.

Lin looked back at Zuko. The prince stood rigid, breathing hard, his anger too visible. It wouldn't even be a challenge to face him like that.

"Very well, Prince Zuko. I accept, at sunset outside the airfield." Lin said.

Zhou looked troubled now. "General."

"Prepare the grounds, Colonel."

He stepped back after a moment, although he clearly disliked it. Lin could see General Iroh's face tightened with worry. Zuko's expression on the other hand looked determined. They left without saying another word.

Toph leaned toward Aiku and whispered loudly enough for half the dock to hear. "This is going to be a stomping, isn't it?"

"Yes, total humiliation." Aiku replied, smirking.
​

---

"Prince Zuko, have you forgotten the last time you dueled a master?" Iroh said, with sadness and worry in his voice.

"I will never forget." he answered.

"Then stop this madness. It is said not even your sister could win against her." begged Iroh.

"Rumors, uncle. You can never trust them." Zuko said. "I've been training nonstop since we departed from the Fire Nation, I won't lose."

'Let's hope these rumors are false then. I don't think my brother would have let Princess Azula have an idle moment in her life.' Iroh thought sadly.
​

---

Next Chapter: The Fallen King
Discord

 

[Lucernello]

AN: Today is double chapter again. Yay. Chapter 1 of 2 today, just in case.

Enjoy,
Luce
​

---

99 A.G

Aang could have avoided the rock if he had been alone. It came from Bumi's side of the chamber with enough speed to injure them or worse, spinning through the air straight toward him. He could have stepped aside or jumped over it, but Katara and Sokka were standing behind him, and neither of them had the space to move quickly inside the chamber.

Aang moved quickly, almost without thinking, sweeping his staff to the side and pushing the giant rock with airbending. The rock curved away from them and crashed into the wall with a thunderous sound that echoed through the whole room.

Flopsie jerked up from where it had been resting and gave an angry grunt, its eyes turning toward them menacingly.

"Bumi!" Aang shouted. "Please stop! It's me, your friend!"

Bumi only grinned from the other side of the chamber. "An airbender, so you are indeed the avatar."

"Please, hear me out, I don't want to fight you!"

"If there is no fight in you, then what chance do you have in this world?"

Sokka pointed at the angry goat gorilla. "Aang, what do we do? I really don't want to be here if it decides we are the problem."

Katara raised her waterskin, eyes fixed on Bumi. "Aang, he is not listening."

"Let's discuss this, Bumi." Aang said, facing Bumi again. "Please, we are not your enemy."

Bumi stomped the ground hard with his bare foot, the floor cracked, and a larger boulder rose from beneath the stone with a grinding sound. Bumi then punched hard forward and threw it against them with almost the same speed as before.

Katara and Sokka jumped aside this time. Aang spun his staff and caught the boulder inside a current of air, guiding it around himself before sending it back toward Bumi. The old man laughed, clapped both hands together, and the stone turned to sand before reaching him, passing through him harmlessly.

Bumi's laughter faded into a smile that looked sadder than Aang expected.

"There you are, Aang." Bumi said. "You haven't changed a bit."

Aang lowered his staff slowly. "You were just messing with me?"

"Mostly, my young friend."

"Mostly?"

"I also needed to stretch. I'm old, exercising and dueling is not good for my joints anymore." he joked, laughing again.

Aang was relieved, he didn't want to fight his friend. True, the old king looked so much older, but there was still enough of his old friend in his face that Aang felt the last pieces of doubt fall away.

"Oh, so we are good now? Great, because your pet looked hungry for a second there." Sokka said

"Don't tempt him, he might still want a bite." Bumi said, making Sokka hide behind Aang.

"He is joking, right?"

"I thought I would never see you again, Aang." Bumi said, quieter now, approaching them. "For a long time, I was certain of it. I'm glad to see you."

Aang gave him a smile. "I'm glad to see you as well." He hugged him and he felt how much smaller he was against him now.

"Oh, Aang, you haven't changed a bit, literally." Bumi hugged him back. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you have a very difficult task ahead, some would say impossible even. The world has changed in the hundred years you've been gone. It's the duty of the Avatar to bring balance to the world, but at this time, I think it would bring more misery to the world."

"What do you mean?" Aang asked.

"Yeah, how can bringing balance and defeating the Fire Nation bring more misery? It makes no sense." Sokka said.

"You have probably seen it already. The Fire Nation has changed in the last few years, they are more lax, treating the territories they conquered with respect, and working to make the lives of the common people better. They were just conquering and subduing everything before, which was slowing their progress and creating rebel cells all around their colonies. Someone has convinced them otherwise now, and they have conquered half the world already. Their goal is to end the war as fast as possible. Their technological edge has skyrocketed making them unstoppable for the rest of the free world." Bumi explained.

Katara stepped closer. "Then help him. You have seen how they work, you can help us fight back. Doing nothing is what brings misery."

Bumi looked at her for a long moment. "And what would fighting achieve?"

Katara frowned. "Stopping them."

"The war has been going for a hundred years, young one. The same people you think you are rescuing don't want to keep fighting, they want the war to end. Fighting back now, will only prolong this war, the struggle, the death of thousands." Bumi scratched his chin.

Sokka crossed his arms. "And what if they decide to kill off your people later? What if they decide they no longer want earthbenders to live?"

"I hear more than two hundred earthbenders joined the ranks of the Fire Nation after my duel, I think you are not really aware of their new policies." Bumi retorted.

"What?! How can they betray their own people like that?!" Katara asked, indignantly.

"I'm not saying they did the right thing, but for most people, a career, stable life and being able to come home to their families is enough to live happily. The Fire Nation is offering that at the moment. If you had returned two decades earlier, things might have been very different, but right now, fighting back will just bring more death." Bumi continued.

"So you just want to surrender?! We cannot let them take over the world!" Sokka said.

Bumi sighed and sat back beside Flopsie, who had finally stopped glaring at them. "Once, defeating the Fire Lord might have been enough. Cutting off the head of the enemy, confusing their army, and the war could end by their collapse and infighting to seize power. Maybe it would even give the Earth Kingdom room to breathe even if they don't fight among themselves. That is no longer the world we live in."

Aang gripped his staff. "Why would it not work anymore?"

"The Fire Lord is but one piece of a huge mighty beast.." Bumi looked toward the chamber entrance, where distant footsteps moved somewhere above them. "The Fire Nation is stronger than it has ever been. New administrations have taken over occupied territories. They are no longer only burning and taking. They are building, preserving useful customs, repairing roads, protecting trade when it benefits them, and making ordinary people comfortable enough to think twice before risking everything for a king they barely knew."

Katara frowned harder, clearly getting angrier by the minute. "That does not make what they did right."

"No. It does not. And I'm not defending them, I had fought them for more than fifty years already. But for the majority, you would be advocating to continue the war and suffering by doing that. They would fight back and I don't see them surrendering even if the Fire Lord is gone. In fact, you might even have more enemies as each territory would become its own nation. They won't thank you for it at all." Bumi said.

Aang shook his head, not wanting to accept it. "But they are still occupied."

"Yes, and there will be people who still hate it, and it is not right for someone to take someone else's freedom. But most want to survive the day without being crushed by someone else's grand plan, and right now, the Fire Nation is succeeding in convincing everyone it wouldn't be too bad to accept a new administration."

Sokka looked frustrated. "So we do nothing?"

Bumi's eyes scanned them for a second, before lowering head. "No, I don't believe you can even if you want to."

"Then what do we do?" Aang asked.

"That is something you must learn before throwing yourself at Ozai. I would advise you to bide your time, to learn the elements and be ready to take advantage of the opportunities to come." Bumi leaned forward, all humor gone from his face for once. "I have no doubt that the Fire Nation is on its path to victory soon, but that doesn't mean everything will be made right, but diplomacy can become a new avenue, the Avatar's job is to mediate peace between everyone, I believe you will have more chance of doing that in a world at peace."

Katara shook her head. "You sound like you've given up."

"I fought already, girl." Bumi said. "I lost. If I had continued fighting after that, Omashu would have suffered for my pride."

Aang looked at him carefully. "So you really surrendered as the rumors said."

"I surrendered because that was the better alternative. But I'm still here, making sure my people are well cared for, so far I don't see myself interfering anytime soon."

Bumi reached into his robe and pulled out a small Pai Sho tile marked with a white lotus. He held it out to Aang, and the old playfulness returned in a weaker shape.

"There is a group that could help you in the future. They have been slowing the Fire Nation for decades. They are scattered now as the Fire Nation discovered too much recently. Still, this may open a door if you find the right person."

Aang took the tile. "Who do I look for?"

"Well, you will have to discover that yourself." Bumi said, snorting again.

"That is not very clear."

"Ah, but life rarely is, you have to be prepared to look at it from different angles."

Sokka groaned. "Of course it is a secret society with riddles."

Aang closed his hand around the tile, feeling the smooth edge press into his palm. He had come here hoping to free Bumi, or helping him free Omashu, he wasn't expecting this at all.

"Can't you come with us?" Aang asked.

Bumi's smile faded again. "No. My place is here for now. You must learn the four elements if you want to have a chance at confronting the Fire Nation. Trust in your friends, you are in good hands. Remember to open your brain to the possibilities."

Aang was disappointed but he still smiled at his friends.

"Thank you for your wisdom, Bumi." Aang said.

"There is something that might cheer you up. A small challenge that luckily a small blind earthbender reminded me of. The world's greatest super slide!" Bumi said laughing.

"You are still a mad genius." Aang laughed. "Let's go!"

Bumi led them inside his home through a series of corridors then through many stairs, finally they exited in one of the tallest points of the delivery system.

Aang climbed with Bumi to a chute, and Katara and Sokka into another one in front of them. Using earthbender Bumi moved them into position.

"It sounded fun at first, but now that I'm here…" Katara began saying, but Bumi didn't give them a chance to back away pushing both chutes forward. "I'm starting to have second thoughts!" screamed Katara as they dropped.

Aang laughed as they were sledding down at high speed, the previous bad taste in his mouth gone.

"Wooohooo!"
​

---

The airfield outside Chin City had a long path of stone that had been leveled by earthbenders for the gliders. It stretched forward in a narrow line, flat enough for the aircraft to roll easily before taking to the air, with storage sheds and supply carts kept away from the center.

Soldiers had gathered around the open space, leaving enough room for the Agni Kai while still crowding close enough for Zuko to feel their attention. He wasn't really intimidated by it, but he still didn't like it, as they were Lin's soldiers, probably rooting for her.

They stood in disciplined rows with city guards, engineers, and a few men from his own crew. Uncle was also there beside him, and although he had already tried to convince him to withdraw the challenge, Zuko refused to meet his eyes now. He had been insulted in front of everyone, and if he backed down after that, the humiliation would follow him for eternity.

Zuko removed his armor and coat, leaving both aside on the ground. The cold air touched his bare chest and arms, but he ignored it and knelt to calm his breathing before the duel. The last time he had been in this position he had to face his father, he couldn't in the end fight him. The memory made his scar feel warmer, and he pushed the thought away before it could shake him.

"Remember your firebending basics, Prince Zuko. They are your greatest weapon." His uncle said.

"I refuse to let her win." Zuko answered, standing up and turning around to face his opponent.

Across the field, General Lin had removed her armor as well, leaving her in a simple black sleeveless undershirt and military trousers, cut off at the thigh level to accommodate her prosthetic limbs free movement. She had turned to kneel in meditation, and now he could see her exposed back. It was an eerie sight.

Zuko had always been curious about her metal limbs, yet seeing them uncovered fully still made him tense. Her arms, usually covered up to the upper arms, were now fully exposed and he could see the metal plates went from shoulder to hand, reinforced at the joints and marked by spikes along the forearms.

The upper part of her back had plating as well, built into her body making her look even more unnatural. Her undershirt had holes that let vents and metal parts exposed, and there was a thin steel line that traveled where her spine should be.

She stood up and turned toward him, facing him with an angry scowl, her arms resting at her sides.

"What a sorry sight of a prince." she commented with disdain. It made his anger rise and he almost snarled back at her.

When the gong sounded, Zuko took his stance and waited for her to do the same. She remained where she was, giving him no sign that she cared for the duel. It felt like another insult to the prince.

She had humiliated him with words in front of soldiers, and now she was doing it again by standing there like he was an inconvenience, she was not taking him seriously at all. Zuko threw the first fireball, letting his anger fuel his firebending.

Lin lifted one metal arm and broke the flames apart, as if slapping the blast away. He followed with another flame from the side, then turned into a wide kick that sent fire across the leveled stone. She dispersed that with her other arm, taking the force without moving from her place, while her expression remained the same.

Zuko attacked again, putting more power and faster movements into his offense. Fire left his fists in quick bursts, aimed at her chest, shoulders, and face. Lin avoided what she had to and scattered the rest with small movements of her arms.

The metal plates took the heat without any sign of damage. He tried to change the rhythm, stepping forward with a kick toward her side, then sending another blast low toward her legs to make her move.

The flames struck her metal limbs and rolled over them, not even scarring them. All the while her attention seemed to be focused just on him. She gave him a disappointed look back. That brief reaction made his face burn with anger.

Zuko pushed harder, throwing fireball after fireball until his breathing started to strain. He could hear some of the soldiers around them, the murmur of voices and he could imagine their mocking laughs as well.

He did not want to hear them, and he tried to suppress their voices by pressing his attack. He wanted Lin to step back, to show effort, to force her to take him seriously at the very least. Once she attacked, he could form a strategy to use it against her.

"Basics, Zuko! Our power comes from our breath!" Iroh said behind him.

He was just tiring himself out at this point, so he chose to hear his council and stopped to catch his breath. That is when she decided she had enough it seemed, for she finally moved. It was too quick for him to react, sadly.

She angled her body forward in a quick fluid motion, and Fire burst from beneath her feet and drove her to him with sudden speed. Zuko tried to bring his arms up, but she crossed the distance too quickly.

Her whole body turned, and her metal leg came around toward him as his eyes widened. The kick struck his side before he could brace properly. He managed to catch part of it with his left arm, but the force still threw him across the ground.

Zuko grunted in agony and he hit the stone hard and rolled once before stopping. Pain ran from his wrist to his shoulder when he tried to push himself up. His left arm would not take his weight, and when he looked at it, the angle was wrong enough to make his stomach turn.

He gritted his teeth and stood up with difficulty, he raised his other arm to attack her back but Lin reached him before the flame formed. Her left hand slapped it away and the fireball went sideways.

Then, his right metal hand closed around his throat, and Zuko on instinct grabbed her wrist with his bad hand making his pain triple in intensity. For a second he tried using fire with it but it just flared uselessly against the plating.

She lifted him, choking him with no visible effort, then drove him down against the stone hard enough that the air left his lungs. His back and chest hurt so much that for a few seconds he could only struggle for breath.

She released him, and Zuko tried to turn away, but his body answered too slowly. A hiss came from somewhere above him. The sound rose into a high whistle as heat built inside the metal. He turned slightly and saw one of her arms raised above her head.

Red and orange light began to glow through the seams of her hand, growing brighter while steam curled around her fingers. Lin was feeding chi into a small ball and he recognized the famous move.

Zuko dug his heels against the stone and tried to drag himself back, but his broken arm and the pain in his ribs made the movement useless. His uncle stepped forward, voice raised over the sound of impending doom.

"General Lin, enough! Please, show mercy."

The soldiers around the field were watching horrified as well, but none of them entered the circle. Zuko was still in daze and all he could do was watch the General's angry face. Lin stood over him with her heated hand ready, and for the first time since the duel began, Zuko understood that he was going to die here.

"General, please reconsider. Don't taint your honor!" Colonel Zhou shouted.

"Interfering in an Agni Kai is treason, gentlemen." Captain Aiku said, threatening to step forward himself to stop them if necessary.

"I was not the one who issued the challenge. I can end it the way I want to." Lin answered for both General Iroh and the good colonel.

"Even if exiled, he is still a prince, general. Please accept your victory." Zhou said.

"As the colonel says, you have already won, please don't take it further. He doesn't deserve death, I beg you." Iroh implored.

"Oh, I won't kill him, General. The nation still needs his prince, and I'm hoping he will be welcomed back someday, and that he can grow to be better, someone more like his sister. But I'll give him a reminder of a lesson he should have learned a long time ago already." Lin said.

She extinguished the fireball that had been charging on her hand and then crouched beside Zuko. With a knee placed above his thigh and her left hand on his shoulder, she held him in place.

"Besides, the duel won't end until one of us burns the other one." Then, Lin extended her now red hot right hand and touched his chest.

The pain came with a burning sting that cut through every thought he had left. Zuko screamed and thrashed against the stone, trying to escape the heat pressed into his skin. The smell of his own burned flesh reached him, and tears came before he could stop them.

When Lin stepped away, he curled around the pain with his wounded arm trapped against him, shaking as he tried to breathe. His uncle quickly reached him next, a concerned look on his face.

"Take him to the field hospital, I'm done here."

Lin left the area without saying another word.​

 

[Lucernello]

AN: Chapter 2 of 2. Had to do a lot of research on Korean sites, it was very interesting.

Enjoy
Luce
​

---

99 A.G

Lin received a report shortly before sunrise. She was in the command office reviewing the train schedules when Captain Aiku entered with a sealed message from the airfield. The captain was one of the only ones who did not waste time with unnecessary explanations, which she appreciated.

"General, our flying scouts found General Fong's base. You were correct, patrolling at night made it easy to find lights from above."

Lin took the report and read it while standing over the map table. The base was in the mountains northeast of their current position, hidden between steep ridges and dense forest. Close from the mining village she had been overseeing for the past years.

It was a good position for an Earth Kingdom commander trying to avoid direct engagement, with enough cover to hide men, supplies, and plan raids or sabotage attacks around the area. An area they now controlled, so they were basically behind their own lines.

She realized that they must have been the ones sabotaging the coal mines, and must be the ones who had last tried to contact the water tribe ships. They had been sunk a few years back but they never found who was passing messages to them.

It was as good a place as any to bury them.

"How certain are the scouts?" Lin asked.

"They saw Earth Kingdom buildings, army movement, and white walls. From above it is very easy to spot them. We had intelligence that Fong had hidden in the area but we never expected him to actually have a base there. We were looking for him close to the frontlines or in Ba Sing Se by now."

Lin placed the report on the table. "Then it is him."

Aiku nodded. "The new ammunition and bombs arrived at New Ozai last night. The improved stock is being unloaded now."

"Good. Keep the new stock in reserve."

Aiku paused only for a second. "You want to use the outdated bombs?"

"Yes. We will empty the old stock completely on this base."

"All of them?"

Lin looked at the mountains drawn on the map. General Fong had been allowed to remain a problem for too long because the terrain protected him from ordinary troop movements. Invading the base would be troublesome.

"Yes. The entire mountain position will be our target." she said. "Bomb the ridges, the approaches, the visible entrances, and any forest cover within range. I don't want a base left to capture. I want rubble like in Shen Guan."

Aiku saluted. "Understood."

"Send the order to the airfield in New Ozai. All outdated bombs are to be used. I don't want to see an older model still there when I get back to the city."

"Yes, General."

Lin returned to the rail schedule once he left. The bombing would be the better solution to avoid delays, and that general had been a thorn in their side for a long time. Even if they were mostly boxed in and they couldn't leave the mountains that easily, they could still be a threat from their position.

Besides, the amount of gliders they now had had grown exponentially. So much so that they now had some of them in reserves as they were not able to train enough men in time to fly them.

This was a perfect opportunity to use all of them as a practice run for the Ba Sing Se campaign, training her soldiers and removing stock of old bombs.
​

---

Aang, Katara and Sokka were flying away from Omashu heading north again. They had plenty of supplies to not even need to stop now. Aang kept playing with the Pai Sho tile, thinking back on Bumi's words.

Aang knew he had to make a decision soon, by what information they could gather the Fire Nation already dominated half the world, with only Ba Sing Se and the Northern Water Tribe as the only strong adversaries, not under their control.

If people like Bumi, who had years of wisdom on them, couldn't see the hope in him ending the war and bringing balance to the world, how could he?

His thoughts were interrupted when Sokka shook him. "Buddy, take us down now! Fire Nation!"

Aang quickly recovered and lowered them to the coast. He looked up to the skies and saw with horror as hundreds of Fire Nation flying machines passed above them, all heading in the direction they were going.
​

---

By evening of the third day, the reports from New Ozai had started to come in. The bombardment had lasted longer than expected, mostly because Lin had ordered the entire outdated stock used before the new bombs were added to storage.

There was no reason to carry inferior weapons when the improved design had already arrived. It was better to use old ammunition up rather than spend time removing them safely.

Colonel Zhou entered the office while the last flight crews were still returning.

"You called for me, General?"

Lin folded one report and gave him the convoy route. "You will take command of the train convoy and move toward New Ozai as planned. Do not delay."

Zhou took the paper. "You are not traveling with the convoy?"

"No. I will follow by plane after inspecting General Fong's base. If the weather is good we can be there in a few days, landing in the sea a couple of times if needed."

Aiku, who had been standing near the map table, frowned at that. "You intend to land in the mountains?"

"I intend to confirm there are no survivors using what is left of the base and recover intel."

"The terrain may not allow a safe landing…" Aiku said. "The scouts reported steep ridges and forest cover near the target."

"Mmm, somehow the base was operational so I'm sure there is a way for me to head to the coast later and fly back."

"Yes, General, but I may have a better solution. You should take earthbenders with the glider team. The new unit has been training with us and they are good enough. Even if the terrain is harsh, they can make a proper landing path for the gliders."

Lin turned to him, surprised on her face.

"That is sound thinking, Captain." she said. "Select four earthbenders from the training unit. I want the ones who follow instructions fastest, not the ones with the most impressive demonstrations."

Aiku saluted. "Yes, General."

Zhou studied the route for a moment. "My only orders are to escort the convoy?"

"Oh how you know me, Colonel… you are on babysitting duty. Toph is going with you."

"I have no complaints, General. I actually enjoy her company." Zhou smiled.

Lin smiled at him back. "Well, I'm glad. I consider her a good friend of mine, so do take care of her, alright?"

"You got it ma'am!" Zhou saluted.
​

---

The mountain still burned when they arrived. Lin watched from the front seat of the glider as the formation descended through smoke and warm air. The forest that had covered the ridges had been torn open by hours of bombardment.

She had finally departed with four gliders, a twelve man team that was experienced enough to kill off any remnant of resistance there was, although she didn't think anyone would stay down there now that she could see down below.

Trees lay broken across blackened slopes, and fires moved in lines where dry brush had caught. The base itself was difficult to recognize from above. What had once been walls, courtyards, platforms, and paths had collapsed into ash, broken stone, and dark craters.

It reminded her of Korea. She had seen American planes turn ground into ruin before, again and again, until hills and roads became that sea of grey, filled with ash, holes and death. This was smaller, less organized, and done with cruder bombs, but the result was familiar enough.

Lieutenant Toma brought the glider close near a burned clearing below the main ridge. She gave the signal and the earthbender who had climbed in the middle seat moved up to hook his gear with her straps.

They jumped down, gliding their way through using the parachute. She saw the other teams already doing the same and she guided the parachute and her companion to land in the now broken stone below.

The landing was gentle, and the earthbenders dismounted to get to work as soon as possible. Aiku had chosen well. They began flattening a longer path for the gliders, raising a stone platform in great coordination so that the rest could land safely.

Lin left them to it and walked toward what remained of the base with six soldiers behind her. The first entrance had collapsed inward. Charred beams stuck out from the broken stone, and a cart loaded with cracked armor plates had been thrown onto its side.

There were weird giant stone discs broken and spread around the base. Farther up the slope, they found the remains of a watch post and what looked like the base of a tower.

"We will check beneath this rubble. This was probably their command center." Lin ordered.

Two soldiers moved at once while she continued through the ruins. There were a few bodies and a few body parts, but no survivors. There was evidence that some had survived and seemed to have escaped the first wave, although they had not made it far before the later strikes reached the trees, as she spotted more bodies further toward the forest around.

Lin marked the destroyed sites, then headed back toward the base of the tower to help her soldiers. If General Fong had been here, there was little chance anyone would recognize him without personal effects.

They found papers under a broken writing desk, most of them burned along the edges. Lin took what could still be read and handed them to one of her officers.

"Seal these. Intelligence can sort through them later."

"Yes, General."

The inspection gave them little else. There were no useful weapons left, no prisoners to question, and no hidden plans or maps that survived the bombardment. The base had been destroyed well enough.

The only remaining task was to make sure the aircraft could leave without issues, luckily she had trained extensively with her engineers lately and she knew what to do and what to look for if there were indeed problems with the glider.

By the time Lin returned to the clearing, the earthbenders had flattened a usable runway across the lower slope. The four gliders had already landed, and the crews were securing them against the wind.

She intended to have everything ready as soon as possible to take advantage of the smoke that kept giving them wind directions for their eventual takeoff. Although with the great runway the earthbenders had already built she was sure they would have no problems at all.

Lin was about to tell Toma to prepare the return flight when the sound around her dulled. It was gradual enough that she noticed the loss immediately. The voices of the soldiers became distant, the smoke blurred around the edges of her sight. The ground began moving below her as if getting away from her.

She took one step forward before her vision went black.
​

---

March 3, 1951

The Taebaek Mountains were a wall of frozen pine and heavy slate. Route 20 was a narrow track of frozen mud that cut across the hillsides, and the morning sun was just beginning to thaw the surface into a thick orange clay.

Where the ridges blocked the sunlight, the snow was still deep and crusted with ice. The muck caught at the men's boots, forcing them to heave their legs forward with every step to keep from losing their footing on the slope.

The regiment moved in a dual file that stretched for over a mile along the curve of the mountain. One line stuck close to the frozen wall of rock on the left, while the other walked along the edge of the steep drop on the right.

The soldiers walked with a heavy, forward-leaning slouch from the hours of constant movement. Their steel helmets sat over heavy winter caps, and the earflaps hung down around their jaws. They wore a mix of green U.S. Army field jackets and wool trousers that had worn thin at the knees.

Canvas gaiters were caked with cold mud. Engineers and support companies walked between the sections of soldiers, carrying wooden ammunition boxes, mortar baseplates, and rations on wooden A-frames. They wore worn straw shoes that slipped on the icy patches, and their heavy breathing mixed with the cold air above the line.

The sounds of the march were repetitive and heavy. Boots dragged and sucked through the clay, bayonets rattled against canteens, and an occasional three-quarter-ton truck groaned as its tires spun in the mud on a steep turn. The air carried the scent of woodsmoke from the valleys below, mixed with wet wool and grease from the vehicles.

The high walls of the Soksa-ri pass crowded the road, hiding the horizon as the column moved deeper into the hills.

Kim Jae-bun walked along with her Rifle Company, Company B, of the second battalion. From the hundred men she commanded, half of them were rookies, only participating in a few battles of Operation Killer, but they seemed animated and the veterans of her unit were helping them move forward.

The equipment was heavy and as infantrymen they had to be able to carry everything they would need to sustain their push. They didn't have enough vehicles, or even armor to help them out lately. She pitied the new ones, their faces looked so innocent yet.

"Lieutenant Jae-bun, sing us a song like you did yesterday. You have a wonderful voice." Sergeant Ji-ho said, distracting Kim from her musing.

"Ji-ho, stop flirting with your commanding officer." Sergeant Eun-woo teased him.

"I'm happy to sing for you boys, but I will trade you a bit of water first, otherwise no song." she replied.

"Oh come on, you know we don't have enough." Ji-ho pouted.

"Well, that's a shame isn't it." Kim said, mockingly.

They continued their banter back and forth, until some of the men began singing a march song, and everyone joined together. She liked those moments, it made the war feel less grim. Of course, that is when all hell broke loose.

The noise of the mortars started from the hidden slopes across the ridge. Heavy Soviet-made 82mm shells launched in rapid succession, and the first rounds hit the middle of the column. One of their few U.S trucks exploded, throwing a wall of heat and metal fragments across the trail.

The blast tore the vehicle apart and pushed several men against the rock wall. The smell of burning rubber and explosive powder filled the narrow pass immediately. Gunfire opened up from the high ground on both sides of the road, and Kim saw no cover for them to get behind. It was clear to her in an instant what just happened.

The North Korean infantry had waited for the main body of the regiment to enter the narrowest part of the valley to ambush them.

Maxim machine guns fired in crossfire from the pine trees and boulders above, sweeping the length of the exposed path. Submachine guns joined in, sending bursts of fire down into the rows of infantry.

The column broke apart in mere moments. The road became a bottleneck of fire and mud, and soldiers dove toward the mountain wall to find cover in the shallow drainage ditches. They packed themselves together as the bullets struck the granite walls above them and sent fragments of stone down onto their helmets.

Kim saw no way to form a cohesive defensive line and started shouting to anyone who could hear.

"Retreat! Retreat now to the west! Scatter, scatter!"

The support companies dropped their heavy wooden frames and ran toward the woods below the road. Officers shouted out commands, but the noise of the weapons and the cries of the wounded men drowned out their voices.

Kim gathered the few she recognized from her rifle company and stormed a position in the hills to the southwest. Attacking made the enemy get into cover, which would buy some time for the rest of them.

"To me company C. Follow me! We are taking their position, otherwise we won't be able to escape." she screamed at the top of her lungs and was happy to see around thirty of her men follow her into the attack.

She unloaded two clips of her M1 Carbine onto what she thought were the enemy and continued moving, trying to open up a way to retreat west from where they came, and finally they were able to climb a bit and find cover behind some trees and rocks in the hills.

Once the intensity of the gunfight lowered, she took a look around her and saw only a few of her men present with her. The rest she could see running for their lives at different distances. She saw Ji-ho's lifeless body up the road and around a dozen of the rookies either wounded or dead on the path to the hill they just climbed into.

It was a disaster, and no matter where you looked, the regiments were defeated before they even had a chance to fight back.

She saw the enemy remain hidden behind the snow and pine branches a few hundred yards up the slope, firing down at a steep angle. She saw a mortar crew trying to set up their weapon in the middle of the track, but automatic fire hit the men before they could secure the bipod.

Soldiers fired their rifles up into the trees toward the flashes of the enemy weapons, their hands cold and unsteady as they pushed new clips into the receivers. The air turned dark with gunsmoke, kicked-up snow, and dust, and the regiment began to scatter down into the ravines to escape the crossfire.

More of her soldiers followed through her path and along with her men she kept laying fire on the enemy positions as much as she could. It worked for a few minutes, the enemy had turned their attention to their small position, giving the opportunity for the rest of the regiment to run away.

But now, Kim Jae-bun's unit was pinned down, with no way to escape. She looked back at the faces of the courageous who had followed her to a certain death. They were scared, but they kept fighting, braving destiny.

"I'm sorry, we will hold this position to the death, our compatriots will be shot in the back otherwise." she shouted to them so that they could hear her.

"Maengho-Bukjin!" she chanted. Fierce Tigers, Advance North!

"Myul-gong! Maeng-ho!" the rest replied. Destruction of the communists! Hooah!

Then like a flood, memories kept interrupting her train of thought. Kim had already lived this, she had already died here. 'What is going on?' she thought.
​

---

99 A.G

The world around her turned to colors then it disappeared into a blackness fog. Then she was in a jungle of sorts, she looked around her then down to her body and saw she was no longer in her uniform.

Her gun was forgotten and instead of having arms and legs she had metal prosthetics. 'I'm Lin Renshi, I'm no longer Kim. Why did I go back?"

Well… would you look at that, a human who was able to wake up on their own. Fortitude of mind, strange for a killer and destroyer. You were trapped reliving what you regretted the most, but it seems punishing you will be harder than expected.

Lin turned and saw a black and white monster. Staring at her, showing his teeth.

"Who are you? Where am I?" Lin asked.

You are trapped in the spirit world, and you will remain imprisoned until you regret what your people have done. You destroyed my forest, and I will make you pay in years of your time.

"I see, I don't think so." Lin replied, calmly.

Arrogant, I will hold you here until the trees grow back, then we will see if you have repented enough.

Lin was still able to move her arms, so she was still able to channel chi, her inner flame was not responding as she liked and she wasn't able to form a flame but she could still feel it there. If she couldn't firebend then she had to find another way to combat the spirit.

Her weapons were not with her, and although she could try to land a punch to the beast, she wasn't sure that would do it. She needed something better, decisive. Energy was still around her, and her mind was supplied with the information she needed.

She didn't like it one bit, but she wouldn't be allowed to be trapped in here with this beast. It would hurt a lot but she hoped it would work.

She quickly got into stance and separated the negative and positive energies, forcing them to go opposite ways. The spirit saw her moving and moved to bite her but it was too late. She connected both currents again and lightning exploded in all directions through her body, just as the spirit closed in on her.

It sent him flying. But for Lin, the pain was intolerable. As her body suffered a cardiac arrest, she passed out completely, without witnessing her victory.
​

---

This chapter is dedicated to the memory of Jungwon (Lieutenant) Kim Jae-bun (Service Number 0995028). She enlisted on September 1st, 1950, during the absolute madness of the Pusan Perimeter defense, answering an emergency call when the survival of the nation looked dire. Serving later as an infantrywoman in the ROK's 3rd Corp, she was part of the reinforcements to the Capital "Tiger" Division after the offensives on Operation Killer lowered its strength in the last days of February. On March 2nd, two regiments of said division were ordered to march westward from Gangneung (Kangnung) over Route 20, to establish defensive positions above the road for the 7th and 9th Division of the same Corp positioned a few miles south. She was part of the leading regiment on that march; they were ambushed near Soksa-ri on March 3rd, 1951, by North Korean forces (2nd Div. KPA), with catastrophic losses. Over one-third of the regiment was lost in a single afternoon. Following the unit's grueling 25-mile retreat through the snowbound Taebaek Mountains, Jae-bun's status was marked as Missing during the regiment's final reconstruction and muster in Gangneung on March 10th, 1951. 59 soldiers were confirmed killed that day, 119 returned wounded and 802 were declared missing, their fates: either capture or death. May they never be forgotten.​

 

[Lucernello]

AN: Hello. I hope you guys had a lovely week. One of my readers corrected this chapter out of their own kind heart. Thanks, Sai.

Enjoy,
Luce

PS: Discord
​

Edit: Forgot it's 4th of July, so happy independence day for my American readers if there are any.

---

99 A.G

Lin woke up in darkness once more. For a moment, she thought she was back inside her worst memory. Her hands moved by instinct, searching for her rifle or any other weapon she could use against her enemies, but nothing around her looked like Korea anymore.

She also realized that she had her prosthetics back, and that her body felt a lot heavier than in the memory.

'Right, I'm Lin Renshi, not Kim Jae-bun anymore.' she thought a few times over to calm her mind.

The spirit world surrounded her with thick black fog and the faint shapes of trees, the scenery of a jungle at night, yet there were no sounds of animals or wind against the leaves. The jungle was there and not there at the same time, twisted into shadows and pale trunks that faded whenever she tried to focus on them.

Her chest hurt a bit, and she remembered the pain she had to endure seconds before passing out. The lightning had gone through her body, and even 'here', wherever 'here' was, she could still feel the echo of it in her ribs and spine. It was a miracle that she was still able to move normally.

She grimly realized that she had gambled everything on one attack and still failed to return. If she didn't manage to defeat the spirit with that one attack, then it was highly probable for it to still be around, which would mean that maybe she still had a way to return to the real world, only she couldn't see the creature anywhere close.

For several minutes, Lin remained on one knee, taking long breaths and forcing herself to calm down and think normally. Panic would not help her after all, and she needed to keep her strength if she had to fight the creature again.

She had no weapons, and her fire still felt distant inside her. If the beast had survived the lightning, then she would have to come up with another solution. Lin forced herself to stand and started looking for anything that might be useful in a fight.

The fog in front of her parted before she could take a step, and a figure emerged from it, tall and glowing with a warm orange light. It had two heads joined to one another, both crowned with flame, and four sets of arms resting at different angles.

The sight should have made her react, maybe even brace for an attack, but the instinct never came. For some reason she felt calm and not threatened by the new entity's presence. The spirit stopped a few steps away from her.

Both faces studied her with calm interest, and when it spoke, the voices came together as one. "My daughter."

She raised her chin. "What…Who are you?"

"I am the Great Spirit Agni." he said.

Lin stared at him in disbelief. The great fire spirit smiled gently, either amused by her silence or patient enough to wait for it to pass. "I have come to help you."

Lin laughed, because the situation was just so ridiculous. Her chest still hurt but she couldn't stop herself. The sound felt wrong in the fog, yet once she started, she needed a moment to force herself to be quiet again.

Agni did not seem offended. "Do you find something amusing?"

"Well, the rumors were true after all." Lin pressed one metal hand against her side and took another careful breath. "Blessed by Agni himself. My soldiers are going to be insufferable if they ever learn of this."

The spirit's smile remained. "They are not wrong."

Lin's humor faded. "You are actually bestowing me with a blessing?"

"Yes." he said, simply.

"For what purpose?"

"When the time is right, I will ask something of you."

Lin was not sure she wanted to owe a spirit anything, as, if the stories were true, no spirit was truly benevolent and their request could be very complicated to fulfill.

"Do I have a choice?"

"There is always a choice, but I believe it to be a fair exchange. I will give you a task, in time." Agni said. "In exchange, I will return you safely and healed enough from the damage you gave yourself."

"What task?"

"To protect a dear friend of mine."

Lin frowned. "I didn't know spirit had friends in the real world."

"Well, she is a spirit as well, but it is true that she is in the 'real world' as you call it."

"I see. What happened to the other spirit? The one who trapped me here in the first place."

"Hei Bai will be fine, although you did manage to hurt him, which is something I never thought possible for a human. But once he is recovered he will have enough strength to take humans to the spirit realm again, I suggest you don't linger in his forest ever again. As it is my responsibility I will help to reduce his hatred toward humans. I hope to convince him, and make him realize that the forest will just grow back again, without issues. Everything heals with time, after all." he explained.

Lin was relieved, as no one wanted a resentful spirit after them to be honest.

"That is good to hear, I never thought spirits could be so reasonable. Is there any more information that you can give me, regarding your friend that needs help?" she asked.

"In time, you will see me again and I will tell you more about it. It has yet to come, so you have time to prepare." Agni said.

Lin disliked not having all of the answers, but helping each other and gaining the favor of a Great Spirit sounded good enough for her.

Agni lifted one of his hands, and the fog around them began to thin. The black trees pulled apart, revealing a faint light beyond them. Lin could feel heat again, not from the spirit, but from her own body. Then followed a calm and warm feeling, her pain going away.

"Farewell, my daughter. It is time for you to return." Agni said.

"Goodbye, great spirit. Till we meet again." Lin bowed.

Lin came to her senses, hearing shouting, and movement around her. When she finally could see clearly instead of feeling drowsy, there were soldiers gathered around her. She was on the ground near the gliders, with Lieutenant Toma kneeling beside her and two soldiers holding back the others to keep space around her.

Aiku's chosen earthbenders were there too, pale and sweating, their faces carrying the same strained confusion and panic.

Toma released a breath when she turned to look at him. "General, you are finally back with us."

Lin pushed herself up before anyone could try to help. She felt fine and her movement responded well to her chi. She summoned a small flame to her hand and was happy enough to watch it flicker into existence.

"How long was I out, Lieutenant?" she asked.

"You weren't 'out' as you say, you were simply not here. But answering your question, maybe a few minutes after the rest of us came back." Toma said. "To me it felt as if I was crossing a thin veil. When I stopped feeling dizzy, several others were also getting their bearings back. You were the last of us to return, we thought you were lost to us."

Lin glanced at the soldiers. None of them met her eyes for long. They had seen something in the spirit world as well. There was dread and horror in their eyes.

"We angered a spirit called Hei Bai, it took us to the spirit realm where he was meant to punish us. I won't pry as to what you saw there, but know that seeing you all alive and still able to stand and not break down speaks very well of you. I'm proud." Lin said.

"H-how do you know about the spirit?" Sergeant Feng, one of the earthbenders, asked.

"He talked to me once I broke free from his visions. I fought him briefly, managed to injure him actually, although I took damage as well. It's good to see that I am fine now." Lin said.

Lin could see everyone's eyes were wide in shock, and was already dreading all of the attention she would receive once word got out of this encounter. She decided to keep quiet about speaking with Agni.

"We shouldn't stay here anyway, I don't believe the spirit can be killed. Let's leave this place at once." Lin said.

"Er, right away, ma'am!" Toma saluted, sprinting away.

'I hope to never encounter Hei Bai again.'
​

---

Princess Azula was frowning after reading the last letter from her father. She did not enjoy displeasing her father, and she had spent most of her life making sure to only give him reasons to approve of her.

She had always strived to be perfect in his eyes, and every report sent back to the capital had been faultless in her opinion. Which is why she did not understand the mistake that had angered her father.

The Fire Lord was displeased that she had been away from Lin and had failed to monitor her movements. She couldn't understand where the paranoia of monitoring Lin came from. Worst of all, he hadn't even cared about the gift she had pushed to give him, renaming the city in his name. She had worked hard to put down any attempts of rebellion successfully and he didn't even congratulate her.

Besides, Azula was sure that Lin already reported every movement she made. That was one of the things that made the reprimand feel unnecessary. Lin was disciplined to a degree that bordered on absurd. If she had a plan, someone wrote it down.

If she encountered something unexpected, someone wrote it down. If she decided to visit a village, inspect a rail line, or punish an officer for incompetence, the result would reach the right desk before anyone had time to invent a rumor.

'What threat is father even considering here?' she thought, confused.

In her young life, Azula had met ambitious nobles already. She had seen officers try to hide their failures or take advantage of others achievements. She knew what ambition beyond their own station looked like, she knew what hunger for power looked like, and Lin simply did not have it.

What Lin cared about most was winning the war, bettering her nation, and helping her people progress in every aspect they could. Her father's fixation on her loyalty made less sense the longer Azula spent with her.

If Father decided Lin had stepped outside some imaginary boundary, what would he order Azula to do? Threaten her? Test her? Remove her? The thought made Azula's fingers tighten around the letter in anger.

Lin would die for the Fire Nation, she would die for her father without hesitation. Azula was certain of that. She was also becoming certain that her father did not care about others as she had hoped.

Spending her time away from the capital had opened her eyes to that reality. Being away from her father had given her a new perspective. But most of all, she realized how little he actually cared about her.

For years, Azula had believed that if she was perfect, Father would be proud of her. Looking back, she could now see how narrow that perfection had been. Firebending, command presence, court etiquette, intimidation, strategy. Those were useful, but they were not enough.

Lin had started teaching Toph mathematics, engineering basics, geography, history, manners when she could force the girl to sit still, and even basic medical knowledge, topics she didn't know much about because her father had prioritized firebending practice.

Even when Lin had been made a tutor, her father had scheduled for her to practice firebending above all, and had not allowed Lin to teach her anything else other than tools for war. Now, Azula had learned too much by listening from the side to those lessons.

The most embarrassing example still made her face heat whenever she remembered it. Her body had started bleeding not long ago, and no one had warned her properly. She had known enough from scattered comments to understand it was not a wound, but that had not stopped the panic when it first happened.

Lin had been surprised that no one had explained it to her earlier, then had handled the matter with the same calmness as usual, being extremely patient with her. She had explained what was happening, what supplies to keep ready, what pains were normal, and when to summon a physician.

Azula had hated needing the explanation. She despised the fact that even common soldiers seemed to know more about that than she had, it was ridiculous. She was the Crown Princess of the Fire Nation, and no one had bothered to teach her something that was basic to everyone else.

Azula placed the letter on the table and leaned back in her throne-like chair. She had been distracted from these thoughts in New Ozai. Spending time with Mai had been enjoyable, even if Mai would rather complain than admit she was having fun.

They had helped apprehend a few rebel sympathizers trying to smuggle messages out of the city, although there were fewer of them now than Azula had expected. Most of the resistance had either fled, surrendered and imprisoned, or were now buried 6 feet under the ground.

After that, Azula had taught Mai how handguns worked, and Mai had taken to them with ease. She complained about the noise, of course, and about the smell, and about the amount of cleaning involved afterward, but her aim had improved quickly. The weapon suited her style, and it was much harder to dodge than her knives and arrows.

Azula's mouth curved a little at the thought. She would have to ask Lin if there was a way to reduce the noise in future designs. Mai had called it irritating, which meant she would keep using the weapon while acting annoyed and frustrated with every shot.

Azula missed Lin a lot now. She could admit as much, though she would not have said it out loud where Mai could hear. Mai had already teased her enough over the past days, and Azula had no interest in giving her better ammunition.

Still, it was true. Lin was supposed to arrive in New Ozai soon, and Azula found herself anxious for her return.

Her mind returned to the present issue at hand. Her father's letter. For the first time in her life, she decided that her father was wrong. Moreover, if her father could not see the benefit of having someone like Lin in the Fire Nation, it meant that anyone similar to her would face the same wrath.

He wasn't fit to rule if he was actually hindering the people with the most talent and commitment in their nation, and Azula started doubting that they had the best people they could have at the positions that mattered most.

Blue fire caught along the edge of the letter and ate through the page in a few seconds. Azula held it until the last corner blackened, then let the ash fall into the tray beside her desk.

'This is unacceptable, I'll need to plan for my ascension immediately.' she thought with angry determination.
​

---

Lin arrived at New Ozai's airfield late in the day they were supposed to arrive. After the encounter with Hei Bai had delayed them, they had to fly in the dark for the last couple of hours. She expected the airfield to be mostly empty by the time the four gliders landed.

The train convoy should have reached the city by now, and the soldiers assigned to receive them should have been dismissed to the barracks or sent to unloading duties. Lin intended to report to the palace, bathe, eat, and get her deserved rest after the ordeal.

But when the glider descended toward the landing path, she saw a company of soldiers waiting near the edge of the field. She also spotted Azula's palanquin standing in front of them, and she was surprised they had waited there all day for her arrival.

"I wasn't expecting everyone to be here waiting for us." Toma said from behind her.

"Indeed, it seems I've worried some people." Lin replied.

Toma snorted but said nothing more. The glider rolled across the leveled stone and slowed as the ground crew caught the frame. Lin unfastened herself and climbed down, testing her body now back on land. It felt fine after Agni's intervention, and her fire responded properly now, fortunately.

Azula was already walking toward her when she finished stripping the glider's gear off. Lin could see that Azula's face was relaxed and felt relief at the sight. At least she wasn't being received with bad news.

"Lin!" Azula said, still a few steps ahead of her. "You are late."

"Hello, Princess." Lin bowed.

Once Azula was close enough, she smiled and pulled her into a casual hug. Azula went rigid for half a breath, making Lin think her hugs were not as expected as Toph's were, before returning the hug with more force than she expected.

"I missed you." Azula whispered, surprising the young general. Azula was not someone who was used to giving words of affection.

"I missed you as well." Lin replied. She could see enough color in her cheeks to understand the princess had surprised herself too.

"We can catch up in the palace, right now I need a bath." Lin said.

"Right…" Azula answered. "That would be best."

The soldiers gave the proper salutes as Lin passed, and Azula walked beside her toward the palanquin. On the way back, Lin walked beside the procession making small talk with Azula as the servants pushed it uphill.

Once they arrived at the palace, Lin promptly detoured to take a quick bath before joining the rest for dinner. Governor Ukano received her with his family. Michi, his wife, gave her a warm welcome while Mai stood beside her mother with her usual blank expression, and TomTom tried to reach for Lin's metal hand until Michi caught him by the sleeve.

Ukano seemed eager to ask about the operation, and Lin gave the practical report first. General Fong's mountain base had been destroyed. No survivors had been found, several documents had been recovered from the ruins and would be sent to intelligence, and the earthbenders had performed well.

"That is when things got delayed…As we were to return, we got attacked by a spirit." Lin retold.

"What?!" Azula said, shocked.

"Apparently we angered a spirit called Hei Bai, who attacked us unexpectedly. We are not sure how but he pulled us into the spirit realm, intending to punish us for burning the forest around the mountain."

Lin's audience paled and didn't seem to find the right answer to what she just said, so she continued.

"After that, each of us were forced to relive our greatest regrets, but I managed to break free from those visions. That is when he told me where I was."

Lin described what the spirit world looked like, and although Ukano listened with skepticism at first, it faded as Lin continued to explain in detail.

"Clearly I wouldn't be able to negotiate with the spirit. I couldn't firebend in the spirit realm for some reason, so fighting him was not ideal. I used lightning to injure the spirit, the only bending I could feel I was able to do. It worked but at the cost of great damage to my body."

"But you are unhurt… are you not?" Azula asked, concerned.

"I'm uninjured. Believe it or not, it was the Great Spirit Agni who found me next. And he healed me. He also told me that he would give me his blessing in return for helping him in the future. I was able to come back unharmed thanks to him." Lin finished.

"So the stories are indeed true…" Ukano said at last. "You were blessed by Agni."

Lin chuckled. "Who would have thought of all things said around here for that to be true…"

"Wow, and you are actually telling the truth. Hey, metalsticks. I'm glad you are back." Toph's voice echoed through the room.

Lin turned her attention to her, she spotted her in a hole on the walls to the side. "Toph, you were spying on us I see."

"It is not forbidden for her to be here actually, but I thought you were asleep already, Toph." Azula said.

"To be honest I think I could hear Lin's steps from the city's entrance. It's difficult to sleep after hearing that." Toph said, exaggerating.

Azula rolled her eyes at her, then turned to Lin again. "Either way, Toph is right, I'm glad you are alright, Lin."

"Thanks, princess."

Ukano looked thoughtful for a few minutes before his face lit up.

"This could be very useful, you know? " Ukano said. "The soldiers already respect you. If they hear that Agni himself actually blessed you, morale would rise at once, even if some don't fully buy the story."

"Mmm…I do not want that story to spread actually." Lin replied.

Ukano paused. "With respect, General, that may not be wise. This is the kind of story that becomes valuable propaganda. They would eat it up easily!"

"While that is true, rumors about that particular topic have been going on for a long time. I don't think it will have much impact." Lin said. "Besides, I do not need a few soldiers thinking spirits favor every decision I make, my results will speak for themselves already."

Mai rested her cheek on her hand. "Well, it is good to know that we are in good hands at least."

"Then I will leave it in your capable hands, as my daughter says, General. Do let me know if you change your mind, however. I'd be happy to spread the word." Ukano said.

"Thank you, governor. I appreciate your support." Lin said.

"Of course." Ukano laughed jovially.
​

---

After dinner, Azula asked to speak with her privately. They went to one of the sitting rooms overlooking the rail yard below the palace. The city was lit for the evening, and trains moved between the platforms with steady columns of smoke rising from their engines.

Lin stood near the window while Azula crossed the room once, then stopped.

"So… you were injured. How bad was it?" Azula said, arms crossed.

"Painful, but I lived. Nothing to worry about, what matters is that I'm back and well." Lin said.

"While I concur…" Azula's eyes hardened. "You should have taken me with you."

"I don't think anything would have changed, Azula."

"For me it would have!" She almost shouted. Azula then sighed heavily. "I could have been there for you."

"I still think it was better this way, I wouldn't want you to be perturbed by the visions the spirit might have shown you."

"Oh please, I'm stronger than that." Azula scoffed. "You will take me next time, that's an order." she said angrily.

Lin turned from the window fully. Azula was angry indeed, but she didn't understand why she was so upset. It felt more personal for some reason. She had waited at the airfield for hours, admitted she had missed her, and now stood before her furious that she had been left behind on a dangerous mission.

It was certainly surprising, for the princess barely showed her emotions in the open. She couldn't come up with a reason immediately, but it was clear that the princess had been distressed in hearing about her getting hurt.

Lin thought back over the past months. Azula's constant presence, her attention to Lin's teachings, the irritation whenever Lin left without her, and the way Azula reacted whenever Lin gave her approval.

Her mind went back to the few times where Azula had asked to talk to her privately and a dangerous realization made its way into her head. The possibility had been there for some time, but Lin had not wanted to examine it too closely.

It was a dangerous thought to have. 'Azula might have feelings for me.'

Lin did not know if the princess understood that herself. She also did not know what answer she wanted. Azula was dear to her, that much was true. She had become one of the few people Lin wanted near her even when there was no practical reason for it.

Saying the suspicion aloud could damage their trust, and ignoring it could make the situation worse later. Azula was still waiting for a response impatiently, and her mind was going a thousand thoughts per second to try and come up with a course of action.

"How about this?" Lin began, "To make it up to you, you may travel with me in my private quarters on the train convoy. Just the two of us. We will have time to catch up on lost time, and if something happens you will be there with me."

The change in Azula's emotions was brief, but Lin caught it instantly. Surprise came first, then clear satisfaction that she tried to hide behind a composed expression. Lin had trained her for years, she knew when Azula was pleased.

"That would be acceptable." Azula said, placated.

Lin nodded and kept her own face calm, although she felt anything but calmed.
​

---

Lin was having trouble sleeping that night, and after the third time she opened her eyes without having rested at all, she got up to drink a bit of water and see if that helped.

The room given to her in the palace was comfortable enough. The bed was softer than she preferred, the blankets were heavy, but those were just excuses that normally wouldn't even make a difference in her sleep.

After drinking a bit of water, Lin remained on her back for a while, hands resting over the blankets, thinking about the princess. Looking back, it was clear that Azula cared for her, although she wasn't sure to what extent.

Lin could admit that she cared about Azula as well. Years of working together had made the princess one of the few people Lin wanted close. Azula was intelligent, disciplined when she wished to be, and willing to join her nation's soldiers in the frontlines rather than just rule from the safety of the throne.

It was true that she was also cruel at times, proud, and sometimes eager to be feared instead of respected, but those were things that were being corrected with time and guidance. Lin valued competence above most things, and the talent to learn from your mistakes instead of repeating them again and again. Azula had an abundance of both.

Lin also valued loyalty, and friendship. Azula had given her plenty of that as well through the years, which was surprising coming from the Crown Princess. There were a few things to consider though, if she indeed had feelings for her.

A relationship between them was doomed to fail in her opinion. The first problem was her position. Azula was the Crown Princess, and thus Lin's superior, one who would one day likely sit above everyone else in the Fire Nation.

A relationship between them would never be seen in a good light by others. Some could say Lin had pursued Azula to secure her own position. Others could say Azula had used her authority over her. Both accusations would be useful to her enemies, and both could damage the princess' authority.

Another problem was the state of the world. In terms of relationships and public opinion, it was backwards even for her own world standards, which weren't that high to begin with in her opinion. Same sex marriage was illegal back in her own world, and even in some countries, being homosexual was punishable by death.

A relationship between two women would become the scandal of the century here, especially around the royal family. Fire Priests, nobles, court officials, and bitter relatives would all have words for it. None of their words would matter to Lin personally, but they would matter to Azula's claim, reputation, and eventual rule.

In her old life, Lin had never cared about gender in that sense. She had never had time to explore a loving relationship. Throughout her young life, she could never live comfortably enough to put her mind into those topics. She had thought that maybe, after the war, there would be time for other things, and then she had died before reaching that future.

And lastly, there was Azula herself. She was young, maybe even too young for Lin to treat this casually, even if Azula was more mature than many people twice her age. Four years gap would mean little once both of them were adults, but right now it mattered.

Although Lin had never been old in either life, she had enough memories to remember more years than she felt herself to be. Azula was brilliant, but brilliance was not the same as experience and maturity.

If Azula truly had feelings for her, had she thought about what that meant? Had she considered the repercussions? Or what her father might say? Or how about a succession crisis due to the scandal? Or had she only followed the pull of affection without realizing how impossible it would be?

Lin doubted she had but she wasn't really certain either. Azula was not careless, and although still young, her mind usually would plan ahead for most eventualities.

'What if she already acknowledged what she was feeling? What if she already has a plan in motion? Is it worth it to pursue a relationship if it's good enough?'

Maybe after the war was won they could eventually explore their options. She wasn't opposed to the idea, but it would still be difficult. It could always stay a secret, but she doubted someone as proud as Azula would hide it away.

Or perhaps Lin was giving her too much credit. She was just about to turn fourteen after all.

'I have to come up with a present for her birthday. Maybe the newest handgun would suffice.'

She turned onto her side and closed her eyes again, trying to push the previous thoughts away. By the time the first light of morning reached the window, she was still thinking about it, unsure what to do.

Safe to say, she did not get much sleep that night.​