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:

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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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."
​

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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.​