Chapter 694: 4
Weeks of searching, and nothing to show for it.
Tanya's frown was beginning to become permanently etched onto her forehead. No wonder Zuko had ended up looking so mopey after dealing with this frustration for years. A heavy sigh escaped her lips as she sorted through sheet after sheet of intelligence reports sent by scouts and spies scattered across the Earth Kingdom. The last confirmed sighting of The Avatar had been by their agent in Omashu, who revealed that a young air nomad had been a guest of Mad King Bumi. After that however the trail had gone cold. Everything since then had just been second-hand sightings of bison-shaped clouds in the sky, and reports of suspicious activity that might be Avatar related.
'Might' being the term to stress, since apparently the Fire Nation soldiers in the local area had interpreted that as an excuse to send her reports about every ridiculous little thing that happened to them, claiming it was The Avatar's handiwork. A steak goes missing from a man's plate while his back is turned? Must be The Avatar. The mould on a wheel of cheese grows in the approximate shape of an arrow? Must be The Avatar. A patrol swears they see a monkey-lemur earthbending? Must be The Avatar. It was ludicrous!
Nonetheless, Tanya had to concede that it hadn't been an entirely wasted effort. After having discovered rumours that The Avatar had visited Kyoshi Island a few days before Omashu, Tanya had been able to plot a flight path of The Avatar's journey so far from the South Pole. This map indicated that The Avatar seemed to prefer sticking to coastal areas rather than journey through the middle of the Earth Kingdom, and if he followed Tanya's predicted course would soon be nearing the stretch of ocean where the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation landmasses were closest: Crescent Isle.
Commander Zhao had set up a blockade of the area to prepare for the possibility that The Avatar would pass by, and so the past three days had been the world's longest, wettest and most boring stakeout: floating still in the middle of the sea, scanning the empty sky around them for any sign of movement. Yes, hunting The Avatar was a truly exciting adventure alright. Half the crew were already displaying the first symptoms of cabin fever, and Tanya wasn't sure she'd be too far behind them.
"Captain!"
Tanya was startled out of her thoughts as a soldier burst hurriedly into her office. She drew in a sharp breath, ready to give them the verbal thrashing of a lifetime, but was cut off by the soldier's next words.
"Movement in the sky to the East!" We think it's The Avatar!"
"Finally!" Tanya all but screamed, jolting up from her chair and pushing the soldier aside in her hurry to get to the deck. This was perfect! Forget fighting The Avatar in some epic duel for the ages. With the fleet of ships lined up here they could blast the sucker out of the sky with a hail of trebuchet fire before he had so much as a chance to fight back.
Commander Zhao was already waiting on deck when she arrived, staring into the distance through a spyglass. Tanya took out a spyglass of her own and turned it in the same direction. It only took a few seconds of searching before she spotted a creature matching the one Zuko had described: a huge, beefy ball of fur that somehow paddled through the air like an enormously fat bee.
"The Avatar!" She muttered triumphantly, a feeling of excitement budding in her heart at the thought of her quarry being so close.
Zhao's hand reached out to push her spyglass slightly downward, fixing it upon a familiar ship of wrought black steel that chased along the sky bison's trail. "And the banished prince." He muttered darkly. "This must be our lucky day."
Oh dear. It seemed that enough time had yet to pass for that grudge to settle. "What are your orders?" Tanya asked tentatively.
Zhao grinned wickedly. "Shoot the bison down, Captain."
"But sir, that's Prince Zuko's ship out there, and he's positioned for a better shot. What if we hit him by accident?"
"So be it." Zhao's grin seemed to show a hint of teeth. "It belongs to a traitor."
Behind them soldiers scurried around, preparing the trebuchets for a first volley. "Ignite." Zhao called, and in a flash a hundred sparks produced from a hundred hands fell onto a hundred boulders of coal, setting them alight into blazing meteors.
"Launch!"
There was something eerily beautiful about seeing such a wide volley of fireballs launch into the sky in unison. It was like seeing a cluster of shooting stars, except that they left trails of acrid black smoke in their wake. The flying bison began to swerve in the sky, and Tanya smirked as she spotted a few close calls brush fire against the creature's fur.
"Fire at will!" Zhao called. With the constant pressure of so much ammunition, it would only be a matter of time before one lucky shot hit the creature.
At first the bison tried to go high, hiding amongst the clouds. But what good was hiding when the fleet was able to pepper the entire airspace for miles around with burning boulders? All it did was hinder the bison's ability to react, and unsurprisingly it wasn't long before they dropped back out again and instead sped down to the surface of the ocean.
Taking twisting, snake-like paths, the bison swerved and swayed across the surface, narrowly missing each shot that crashed against the water. It was impressive it had held on for so long, but the closer it came to the blockade, the more accurate their shots became. Zhao held a hand up in a silent instruction for the trebuchet on the flagship to hold for his signal as the bison straightened into a last, desperate charge.
"Steady…" Zhao muttered. The bison was close enough now for Tanya to make out three blurred figures on its back: two in blue clothing, and one in orange.
"Fire!"
The moment the fireball was sent soaring through the air, Tanya already knew it was going to hit. It was too fast, too precisely aimed, and the bison had not demonstrated the agility needed to avoid it earlier. With an ever-growing smile, Tanya watched as the fireball sped forward, barely noticing the orange blur begin to move before the fireball enveloped them.
Bang!
The fireball exploded with a rumbling crash. Yet not in the way Tanya had expected. With growing shock, Tanya watched as a ring of empty space was blasted through the cloud of fire and ash, allowing the bison to pass through the middle unharmed. So that was airbending? The records she'd read suggested it was an almost entirely evasive style of bending, but it seemed that in the hands of a monster like The Avatar even a gentle skill like that could be twisted into something destructive.
The bison rocketed over the blockade, and for just a second Tanya was able to catch a glimpse of the figure sitting atop the bison's head. Zuko hadn't been lying when he said The Avatar was a young boy. He was short with a thin, acrobatic frame, which added together with his bald head and childishly round face made him seem naturally innocent. But Tanya was not fooled for a second. She knew better than anyone that looks could be deceiving.
"Avatar…" She whispered to herself as the bison soared just a few feet above her head, kicking up a squall of wind in its wake that buffeted her golden hair into a wild mess. "This isn't over."
In just a few seconds the bison had cleared the blockade and began to shrink into the empty blue sky of the Fire Nation. Tanya grit her teeth, and resisted the urge to stomp her foot like a petulant child. It had been so long now that she'd almost forgotten the frustration of failing a mission. The fact that it hadn't been because of anything she'd done wrong didn't make it any less vexing.
Tanya was broken out of her thoughts by a large hand grasping her shoulder, and looked up at the remarkably calm face of Zhao. Strange, she would have thought he of all people would be more upset. "There's no time Captain." He stated curtly. "Do you have your emergency supplies kit prepared?"
"Yes." Tanya replied without hesitation. It was a habit she'd picked up in her second life. You never could know when an enemy invasion might suddenly force you to evacuate your current base of operations, and there was nothing worse than a lack of supplies when fleeing for your life. Tanya kept a small backpack of dried food, water and a few other useful survival supplies ready in her office so that, in the event of an unforeseen emergency, she wouldn't have to waste vital time packing before she fled.
"Get it." Zhao commanded, his tone making it clear that time was of the essence. In a flash Tanya was running, pushing fully grown soldiers out in her way and clearing stairs two steps at a time in her haste.
When she returned a minute later, backpack in hand, there was an acrid smell across the deck that stung at the corners of her eyes. It wasn't hard to spot the source. Zuko's ship had been hit by one of the projectiles they'd been flinging at The Avatar, and was now bleeding thick black smoke as it slipped narrowly between the blockade of ships. Strange; she'd been sure the blockade could have caught a ship like Zuko's, and Zhao would have loved to arrest the banished prince for breaking the terms of his exile.
Unless…
When Zhao approached, wearing the satisfied smile he usually wore when explaining a tactical scheme, Tanya had a pretty good idea of what he was about to say. "We may not know where The Avatar is heading," Zhao began, "but we can trust Zuko more than anything to doggedly pursue them until his dying breath. That smoke signal he's leaving behind will allow the main fleet to track him." His smile faltered for a moment. "But with a wily ex-general like Iroh on board I wouldn't put it past them to try some form of trickery. I want you to board Zuko's ship, stay hidden, and keep an eye on him. If something goes wrong I trust you to make the right judgement as to what to do."
"Sir, yes sir." Tanya snapped into a salute, then turned crisply on her heel and sprinted towards the railing. As she passed one of the engineers her hand shot out and pinched the welding goggles right off his head, ignoring his surprised shriek of protest, and fixed them across her eyes. Once she reached the railings she vaulted over them in one huge leap, and for a few seconds enjoyed the thrilling sensation of gravity taking hold of her and pulling her down towards the ocean. Then jets of flame sparked to life beneath her hands and feet as she triggered her propulsion technique, and like a rocket she raced across the sea towards Zuko's ship.
There weren't many circumstances where the jet propulsion technique could be used stealthily, but the dense cloud of soot and smoke that trailed along behind Zuko's injured ship like a tail provided the perfect cover. Tanya held her breath as she dove into the black cloud, her eyes thankfully protected by the pilfered goggles. Even an old warship like this one would probably be based off of the same original designs as their modern predecessors, and that meant that there should be at least one door right at the back that would lead below decks. Once her feet felt the touch of solid metal beneath them she fumbled forward, eventually finding a metal wall and feeling her way along it until she reached the curved indentation of a doorway.
The moment she was inside and had the door firmly slammed behind her, Tanya gasped for air and allowed herself to let out a hacking cough. Ugh, smoke was disgusting! A thin sheen of black grime now clung to every inch of her, and she was probably going to smell like a barbecue for the next month. Still it was a small price to pay for a chance to capture The Avatar she supposed. Once she'd caught her breath again Tanya set off down the corridors in search of Zuko.
It was hard not to notice how… experienced Zuko's ship was. It was clear that Zuko had his crew maintain a strict cleaning routine, but cleaning could only go so far against the patches of rust and dull, flaking iron. If this was how the ship looked after it had recently been repaired then Tanya shuddered to think what it had been like before.
It was shocking that Ozai had requisitioned such a shoddy ship for his son. While a small ship like this would be fine for capturing and transporting a single person, surely a task like capturing the almighty Avatar, who at the time of Zuko's banishment was believed must be some ancient, experienced waterbender, should have merited the ship to be newly refurbished and reinforced? A second later Tanya shook her head, as if to cast out those borderline treacherous thoughts. No, Ozai was a practical man, and would surely have provided his son with a more suitable ship if he was able. But every ship they had was already tied up in the war effort, and Zuko's banishment had been unplanned, unexpected and too sudden for Ozai to plan ahead. This ship must have been the only option available, and any ship was better than no ship at the end of the day.
The distant sound of footsteps and muttering steadily growing louder informed Tanya that someone was coming this way, and she looked around for somewhere to hide. As quietly as she could she opened the nearest door and slid inside. The room she found herself in was some sort of office. It was almost completely bare, save for a large desk of dark brown wood blanketed by a layer of messy, disorganised papers. It made the office worker in her cringe just looking at it. The footsteps back outside the door grew closer, until eventually Tanya could discern that they belonged to not one, but two people.
"… is following the smoke, but perhaps we don't have to be where the smoke is?" That was Zuko's voice! "We know that The Avatar's bison has been travelling far and fast enough to need rest soon, but Zhao doesn't." There was a rustling of paper. A map perhaps? "Look here. Crescent Island is the closest stop nearby. I'd be willing to bet that The Avatar would at least stop there to rest his mount, assuming that it's not his final destination altogether. Under the cover of the smoke I could sneak off in the landing craft, while you keep the ship heading north and lead Zhao on a wild raven-goose chase."
Iroh hummed, the tone of it suggesting he disapproved but was reluctant to say so directly. Tanya didn't understand why: it was an intelligent strategy, and the only realistic chance Zuko had at succeeding. "A clever plan, nephew. I could turn around past the next set of islands, pick you and The Avatar up from the other side just after sunset, and then escape back into Earth Kingdom waters before Zhao could catch us. However for this to work our timing would have to be perfect. A slight delay would leave you stranded. I fear what lengths Zhao would go to if he captures you. Are you sure this is worth the risk?"
"I will risk anything to capture The Avatar and restore my honour!" Zuko replied sharply, the increasing pace of his footsteps betraying that he'd stormed off in annoyance, leaving Iroh behind. "Inform the helmsman of our course! I will prepare the landing craft."
It looked like she wasn't the only one who'd smell like barbeque today after all. Zuko seemed to have developed half a mind for cunning of his own during his exile. Personally she'd have brought a hand picked team of elite soldiers along with her, but she couldn't fault Zuko's ability to turn the disadvantage of his damaged ship to his own benefit. It might have worked, had he not considered the possibility of a spy infiltrating his vessel. That he hadn't would spell his loss.
Once the footsteps had faded into nothingness, Tanya turned to the office desk and began rummaging through it for writing utensils. With perfectly neat penmanship she wrote a note on the back of an empty slip of paper.
The ship is a distraction. Zuko will sneak out under cover of the smoke. He thinks The Avatar will stop at Crescent Island.
Once the note was finished Tanya neatly folded it up and slipped it into her pocket. A quick trip to the garbage room should be enough to find an empty bottle, and then she could leave a message behind in the ocean for Zhao to pick up. Then it was onward to the vehicle bay.
Hopefully Zuko had room on his landing craft for a stowaway.
As the faint shadow of his ship disappeared into the cloud of smoke, Zuko let out a shaky breath. He had to keep a strong face in front of his crew, in front of Uncle, but now that he was alone the stony expression he'd become so practised at wearing began to slip a little.
I won't fail again. Not this time.
The words were half-promise, half-reassurance. It was hard to forget that power The Avatar had displayed back at the South Pole; power enough to cast dozens of soldiers off into the freezing ocean with an effortless wave of the hand. And all that was from an Avatar who'd only mastered one Zuko would not allow himself to be deterred. No matter how strong the enemy, true strength lay in not backing down. He would not allow fear to dictate his actions.
"I won't fail." He spoke aloud, feeling for a moment like saying the words would help make it real. "I refuse to fail."
"That's the spirit, Zuko."
An icy bolt of dread writhed down his spine, the facade of calm and focus he'd so painstakingly built shattering at a word. No! Not her! Even his luck couldn't be that bad, could it? Yet as he turned around, Zuko remembered that he should never underestimate the spirit's love for making him suffer.
For it was none other than Tanya, the Devil of the South Sea herself, who stood there upon the deck of his boat as if she owned it.
"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." Tanya quoted, a nostalgic smile across her face. Though it seemed gentle, Zuko could picture with perfect clarity how easily it would stretch back into a manic grin when the scent of blood was in the air. "The first words I ever said to you, remember? It feels like that day was so long ago. You've really grown up since then. I know many fully grown men who would envy your resolve."
All pretences of informality suddenly drained from Tanya's face, leaving it the perfect mask of professionalism. "However, as much as I hate to break it to you Zuko, this is bigger than you. Bigger than your pride. A fully realised Avatar is quite possibly the only thing capable of turning the tides of this war. The Fire Nation cannot afford to leave it to one teeneger, who has yet to even fully master one element himself, to be solely responsible for his capture." She stepped forward, eyes softening slightly in what could almost be mistaken for genuine concern. "Be reasonable Zuko. Zhao has the resources and men needed to capture The Avatar while it's still possible to do so, and together with your experience and knowledge we'd have him in custody before sunrise tomorrow. The Fire Lord will still honour you for being a part of his capture. There's no need to fight this battle all by yourself."
She extended an open hand towards him. An offer of peace. "Please Zuko, this feud is pointless. Come and work with us. Work with your homeland."
That was just another of Tanya's talents. She had a way of making everything seem so clear, so logical, when she made a speech, and knew how to inject just the right level of emotional blackmail into her words to make not agreeing with her feel like being pointlessly petty. Zuko had to admit that a lot of her argument made sense. However he also knew how to spot the gaping hole in her reasoning, no matter how many sweet words she tried to cover it with.
"Zhao would never share glory." Zuko stated defiantly. The moment The Avatar was in custody he'd turn on him too, and weave lie after lie about how he'd caught them both single handedly.
A harsh frown sunk across Tanya's face. "You underestimate him."
"No, you overestimate him."
Tanya stood silently for a moment, yellow eyes boring into his. Then with deliberate slowness she retracted her hand. "So that's how it has to be is it?"
For perhaps the first time in his life, Zuko held her gaze head on. He would not allow fear to rule him ever again; be that fear of The Avatar, Azula, or even Tanya. "It is."
"I see." Tanya's neutral expression betrayed nothing about what she was feeling. "I suppose that means that we're enemies now, doesn't it?
Zuko tensed, preparing for a fight. "I suppose it does."
"Very well then." Tanya stood a little straighter, eyes glassy and unfocused for just a fraction of a second, before they morphed into a piercing glare. "Then I suppose, in the interest of being a good sport, I should mention that your little deception has failed. I've dropped Admiral Zhao a message to let him know just where The Avatar is headed." A sly smirk slithered across her lips. "I wonder who will catch him first? You? Zhao? Or me?"
"No!" Zuko leapt forward, realising what was about to happen, but it was already too late. With a blast of flames beneath each foot Tanya took to the sky, rocketing off in the direction of the Fire Temple.
"Better hurry up Zuko!" Tanya called back as she raced off into the distance. "Time certainly isn't on your side!"
"Damn it!" Zuko yelled, racing back to the ship's engine and turning it to full power. Damn the spirits for throwing obstacle after obstacle in his way! Damn Tanya for sabotaging his plan! And damn himself for not being careful enough to realise it! Now he not only had to catch The Avatar before Tanya, who had a head start, but also keep him from Zhao, who would only be a few minutes behind!
It would be tricky; impossible even, some would say. But he refused to give up! No matter the odds stacked against him he would not fail!
Not this time!
"… that stupid, arrogant, hot-headed jerk."
Tanya was still in a foul mood by the time her feet touched down on Crescent Island, right in front of the doors of the fire temple. She felt like she had every right to be mad, all things considered. Why was Zuko so set on acting like a short-sighted, angsty maverick? He wouldn't see good sense if it paraded around in front of him dressed like a clown!
Well fine. If he was so determined to capture The Avatar alone, then he'd have nobody but himself to blame when she and Zhao beat him to it. Perhaps another couple of years exiled at sea would teach him to be a team player?
With an angry shove Tanya pushed open the heavy doors of the fire temple, and was utterly unsurprised by what she found inside. Fire sages ran here and there like ants, worriedly chattering about The Avatar and searching in random directions. It was painfully obvious that not only was The Avatar here, but that the fire sages were completely disorganised in their efforts to apprehend him. They hadn't even noticed her walk in for pity's sake!
A stomp of her foot, accompanied by a bright flash of fire, soon put a stop to that. All eyes turned to her in a heartbeat, conversations drying up like water in the desert, and a flicker of satisfaction sparked through Tanya as she noticed how the sage's eyes widened at the sight of her golden hair. Even here at Crescent Island everyone recognised the golden child of the high temple at a glance.
"What…" Tanya began with deliberate slowness, pacing her words out at just the right speed to command their attention. "... A shameful display. The Avatar arrives, and what do you do?" She cast a critical eye across the crowd, noting how many of the sages looked down when her eyes met theirs. "You panic. You blunder. You charge around like disorganised rabble, providing exactly the chaos The Avatar needs to slip through your temple unseen. Have you no leader? No common sense?"
It must have been a surreal sight to any onlookers, watching a tiny girl just entering her teenage years talk down to a room of shamefaced old men. Eventually one of the older sages, dressed in the ceremonial robes that Tanya knew denoted him as the high sage of this temple, stepped forward. "Lady Tanya, please understand. When The Avatar arrived we had him cornered, and yet somehow he was able to vanish into thin air!"
Tanya fixed her gaze on the elderly man until he looked away nervously. "What is your name?" She eventually asked.
"High Sage Rafike."
"And tell me, high sage," Tanya continued. "Have you been able to ascertain why The Avatar has shown up here?"
Rafike nodded quickly, desperate to show some worth. "We believe he is attempting to contact Avatar Roku. Past Avatars have been able to learn rare, forgotten techniques by communicating with and studying under their own past lives. We believe Avatar Roku may be attempting to impart a technique onto the new Avatar that will help him slay The Firelord."
Okay, that did sound worrying. In her first life she would have laughed in the face of anyone stupid enough to believe in reincarnation, spirits or any of that mystical mumbo-jumbo. However, that was before she met Being X.
Tanya believed in the spirits. A group of intangible, otherworldly beings of dubious moral character that took great pleasure in meddling with the affairs of another world and demanding its inhabitants worship them? Yep, it sounded rather familiar actually. She had also decided long ago that the lot of them could go fuck themselves. What right did the spirits have to demand worship from humans? To claim areas like forest and mountains as their holy territory, when they themselves were foreigners to the world of man? Historically the actions they were credited for seemed suspiciously to Tanya like attempts to curtail humanities attempts to make industrial progress. And why wouldn't they: after all her first world was evidence enough that as science and industry grew, the need to worship spirits or other such beings as gods plummeted.
Tanya considered herself smart enough to not buy into the majority of Fire Nation propaganda, but she had to admit that, from a purely logical standpoint, the Fire Nation's reasoning for starting this war as a means of 'sharing their prosperity with the world' wasn't inaccurate. The Fire Nation was easily the most technologically advanced nation in the world, and were already spreading their technology into their colonised territories. When they did win the war, the world would definitely enter a new era of scientific progress. It would have been preferable if this technology had been spread through diplomacy and trade rather than murder, but Tanya had been born a hundred years to late to do anything about that. The war had gone on too long to end with anything but the Fire Nation's overwhelming victory of crushing defeat by now; peace was too distant a memory for all but a handful of the elderly to remember. In a world unified by the Fire Nation, the spirits would lose their grip on the faith of the masses in a couple of generations.
No wonder then that they would send The Avatar, their great champion, to oppose the Fire Nation. Send their cosmic-powered living superweapon into the fray, and if he managed to succeed not only would humanity be fractured into a handful of squabbling factions once again, but all nations would remember to fear the power of the spirits. If Avatar Roku did have some sneaky trick up his sleeve that might help his new incarnation defeat Ozai, then it was a matter of national priority to stop their meeting from happening.
"Why come here? Where in this temple would The Avatar be able to contact Roku?" Tanya demanded.
"There is a statue of Roku in a hidden shrine deep within the temple: a place where the boundary between this world and the spirit world is thinner than usual. In just a few minutes, the peak of the winter solstice will begin, and at that point the connection this temple shares to the spirit world will be at its strongest. If The Avatar enters the shrine it would be easier than ever for him to contact Roku." Rafike hurriedly explained.
Tanya's glare redoubled in intensity. "That's it? Then why haven't you set guards outside this shrine?"
"The shrine is protected by a great door. It would take a fully realised Avatar, or five master firebenders working together to open it."
"And what about the walls?" Tanya spat back, tapping her foot against the distinctly stone floor for emphasis. "We're in a volcano, which is made of earth, and the Avatar is capable of learning earthbending. What's to stop him from carving a tunnel around the door?"
"I... uhh…" Rafike began sweating profusely. "We hadn't considered that."
"Then pray for your sake that The Avatar hasn't either." Tanya snarled, striding forwards further into the temple. "Bring your strongest men and lead me to this shrine! You're all under my command now!"
The further down into the volcano they walked, the hotter the air became. Tanya shot wary glances at the streams of running lava they passed by, wondering how the plans for this building ever made it past health and safety, when suddenly a loud bang echoed out from up ahead. Without needing a command, Tanya and the sages raced forward.
Before long the huge doors of the shrine, locked by some complicated looking maze of pipes stylised to look like serpentine dragons, loomed before them, and Tanya was surprised to find a fire sage already waiting for them.
"Come quickly!" The sage called. "The Avatar has entered the sanctuary!"
Immediately the sages rushed forwards to investigate. "How did he get in?" Rafike asked.
"I don't know. But look at the scorch marks! And down there!"
Tanya cast a critical eye over the doors. There was indeed a fresh layer of blackened ash where fire had incinerated the coating of dust that lingered on the ancient doors. Not only that, but a shadow could be seen moving around underneath the doors. Something was moving around inside.
"The solstice hasn't reached us yet. There's still time." Tanya announced, striking a firebending stance. "With me! We'll open these doors and drag him out!"
The other sages formed ranks around her, and as one all punched forward, unleashing powerful yet controlled jets of flames into each of the pipes on the doors intricate locking mechanism. With a heavy rumble the locks began to turn and clang, ancient gears twisting for the first time in decades, as the door swung open…
To reveal a monkey-lemur.
For a second Tanya's brain whirled to a complete halt as she tried to process what she was seeing. Was it a coincidence? No, it couldn't be! How could she have been so blind? Zuko had told her that The Avatar travelled with a pet monkey-lemur, and only a few days ago she'd received that report about a monkey-lemur seen earthbending! That could only mean one thing!
"The Avatar's lemur can earthbend!" She gasped, horrified at the implications of this discovery. "He must have used it to dig a tunnel around the door!"
"Umm… actually, I think it must have just crawled in through the pipes." One of the sages replied.
Oh. Yeah, that would make more sense actually. Wait… but that would mean… "We've been tricked! Ambush!"
Yet it was too late. Before the words had even left her lips, the unmistakable sound of a commotion stirred behind her. The fire sage who'd called them over was restraining Rafike, while young teenagers from the water tribe had emerged from behind the nearby pillars to restrain the other three. Tanya's feet shifted into a new position, preparing to fire precise bolts of flames at the ambusher's faces, when a blur of white fur suddenly struck her directly in the face.
"GET OFF ME!" She yelled, her voice muffled by the body of the monkey-lemur that'd attached itself to her face. As she thrashed around, trying to break the lemur's unexpectedly strong grip on her hair, she heard a girl's voice shout "NOW AANG!" The Avatar was going to slip in through the doors she had opened for him! She couldn't let that happen, but neither could she see anything with this fucking lemur in her face!
Yet there was no gust of air whooshing by as The Avatar seized the opportunity. No hurried footsteps as he sprinted past. "Aang? Now's your chance!" The girl's voice called out again in confusion.
Then came another unexpected voice. A familiar, half raspy tone that Tanya wasn't sure if she was glad to hear right now.
"The Avatar is coming with me!"
Zuko! He'd caught up already?! Seemed that the prince had learned to work quickly under pressure. Finally able to get a grasp on the monkey-lemur's tail, Tanya ripped the filthy pest off her face and let it dangle in the air. Around her the other sages were able to turn the tables in their ambushers and twist them into holds of their own.
"Close the doors, quickly!"
The other sages froze, and looked to her for instructions as Zuko said those words. Tanya glanced over at the banished prince, who had indeed been able to grapple The Avatar into a double arm lock. For a moment her fresh anger from earlier returned, causing spiteful thoughts to surface in her mind. It would be but the work of a moment to subdue Zuko, await Zhao's arrival and claim the glory of capturing The Avatar for themselves. Yet just as soon as they came Tanya banished those thoughts, determined not to let personal feelings get in the way of duty. They had their victory: any infighting now would only create opportunities for The Avatar to slip away. Let Zuko take the credit for the capture and regain his birthright. She would still receive some acclaim for assisting. Besides, she had the monkey-lemur. She was going to enjoy cooking the little pest after the humiliation it put her through.
"Very well" She replied, nodding to the sages. Close it.
One of the sages pulled a length of chain out from under his robes (and Tanya did not want to think about why he'd thought to keep those there) and began to fasten the two water tribe kids to a pillar, while another began to close the door. Tanya, meanwhile, looked down at the monkey-lemur, and an evil grin spread across her face as she conjured a ball of fire above her other hand.
"Now then, let's find out what roast lemur tastes like."
The monkey-lemur started screeching and writhing frantically in her grip, but could not escape Tanya's hold. Grinning wickedly, Tanya brought the fireball close enough to singe some of its hairs.
Only for her eyes to be drawn away at the sound of Zuko yelling in a mix of pain and fury.
The Avatar was free, having managed to throw Zuko down a flight of stairs, and was charging straight for her. Immediately she relinquished her grip on the lemur and slid into a firebending pose, but by then it was already too late. The Avatar was fast. Moving with the speed of the howling winds themselves he dodged past her, ducked through the legs of one sage, and sprang over the shoulder of another. He was going for the door, which had still yet to fully close!
"Go!" The captive water tribe girl shouted, at exactly the same time that Tanya shouted "No!" Flames burst to life beneath her feet, and Tanya used the jet propulsion technique to surge forward, literally hot on the heels of The Avatar as he made a last, desperate jump towards the door.
Carried by a gust of wind, The Avatar slid through the narrowly closing crack in the door.
A fraction of a second later Tanya, for once grateful for her small stature, slid in after him.
And with an ominous clunk the doors closed and locked shut, trapping the two young benders inside.
Aang looked wide-eyed around the room he found himself in.
Was it the Fire Nations' forgotten reverence, or Roku's own humility that caused his shrine to be so lacking in wealth? The shrine was mostly hewn from the stone around it, and sparingly decorated with rich red tapestries and other small items that must have meant something to Roku in life. Personally Aang preferred it this way. It felt more personal, like a reflection of the man Roku had been rather than a gaudy display of past wealth. At the centre of the shrine stood a statue of Avatar Roku, and a red beam of light trickling in through a window in the ceiling above traced a lazy path across the statue's body up towards the head.
Thunk.
As the doors clanked shut behind him Aang heard another sound, the clinking of metal armour, and quickly twisted around to discover that he wasn't as alone in here as he'd thought. The golden-haired firebender from outside, the one who'd appeared leading the fire sages yet was herself dressed in military armour, had also slipped in through the doors behind him. Slowly the girl stood up, her eyes instantly locking onto him with a fierce glare.
"Now hold on." Aang said in what he hoped was a calming tone, his hands held out defensively in front of him. "There's no need for us to fight."
If the girl had acknowledged what he said she didn't show it, instead keeping that same frosty glare on him as she slid into a fighting stance. Sensing trouble, Aang slid into a stance of his own. "I mean it. We're both trapped in here until the end of the solstice anyway. Why don't we sit down and talk?"
"And give you all the time you need to consult with Roku about how to kill the Fire Lord?" Tanya asked sarcastically, clenching her fists. "I don't think so!"
Suddenly she sprang into action, punching forward to unleash a straight jet of fire. Aang spun on his heel to avoid it and darted to the side, using a gust of air to carry himself further away and up into the air.
It had been nearly a hundred years since the extinction of the air nomads, and in that time the world had forgotten how to fight airbenders. Masters neglected to teach their students techniques designed to limit the manoeuvrability of an opponent they never expected to face again, and as such Aang enjoyed an indisputable agility advantage in most battles. Only the oldest warriors and Zuko, who was beginning to develop techniques of his own through sheer trial and error, knew how to fight against an opponent who could move through the sky itself to dodge their attacks. As such, Aang was pretty confident that he could simply avoid the attacks being thrown at him until an opportunity to knock this girl out presented itself.
Which was why it caught him off guard when the girl's snarling face rushed up to meet him.
Airbending flight techniques were all about letting yourself go with the flow of the wind; harmonising yourself with the natural rhythm of the world and sailing upon it to reach your destination. The technique this girl used was nothing like that. Using jets of fire spewing from her hands and feet she forced herself into the air, defying the natural laws of gravity through her own power and will. It was a very firebender thing to do; like swimming through a tidal wave rather than surfing atop it. That didn't make it any less effective though.
The golden girl collided with him mid-air, aiming to elbow him in the stomach with enough force to drive the wind out of him. On pure instinct Aang twisted at the last second, causing the blow to knock painfully against his ribcage. It hurt, but knocking against a hard target caused the impact to push Aang out from the girl's reach. Still wincing in pain, Aang swung one arm out in a circular motion, conjuring a strong gust of wind to sweep him around underneath the golden girl and away into the direction she'd just come from.
But the golden girl wasn't finished yet. Abruptly cutting off the jets of flame, she tucked her legs in and allowed herself to flip around in a lazy arc. When her momentum carried her to the wall of the opposite side her feet found purchase against the smooth stone easily, and she bent at the knees with practised ease to nullify the force that would have normally led to a bone-shattering crash. For a split second the kinetic force kept her pinned to the wall, almost as if she was some kind of spider-woman, before more jets of flame erupted from her feet as she leaped forwards again, propelling herself back towards Aang.
There wasn't enough space for either combatant to fly to their fullest extent, so what followed was a deadly game of cat-and-mouse where they both used their respective elements to propel themselves off the walls, ceiling and any other objects across the room. Aang swung around like a monkey, twisting and turning in impossible arcs through the sky. The golden girl meanwhile was more akin to a bloodhound: bursting forwards in quick, sharp bursts as she attempted to swipe him out of the air. From her fingers she shot small bolts of fire to try and intercept him each time he turned to evade her, and despite being a master airbender Aang found himself only dodging each projectile by a hair's breadth. The girl's talent for aerial combat was insane! He'd have thought she had a lifetime's experience fighting airbenders if it wasn't historically impossible.
It wasn't long before one bolt finally met its mark, scorching Aang's hand as he twisted to evade her charge. The pain disrupted his movement, causing the air he summoned to spiral out of his control and sent him careering down to the ground. With a horrible crunch he crashed down face first at the foot of Roku's statue, groaning in pain as the golden girl touched down gracefully behind him.
"How fitting." The golden girl sneered, pacing towards him like a panther stalking its prey as she conjured a dagger of flame in one hand. "It was on this island that Roku perished and allowed the hundred year war to begin. Now his reincarnation will be captured in the same place, and allow the Fire Nation to finally bring it to an end."
Winded and unbalanced by the impact of his crash, Aang crawled forward and propped his back up against Roku's statue, turning to face his attacker with wide eyes. The cold, ruthless glint in her gaze caused an icy grip of fear to grasp around his heart.
"Of course I won't make the same mistake as Zuko." The girl continued, brandishing the fire-dagger above her. "Clearly the only way to capture you is to cripple you enough that you can't bend." Another step, and the girl was right above him, ready to bring down with a single strike. "This is the end, Avatar!"
Woosh.
The world turned white.
Aang looked around in shock. A white fog had appeared from thin air, filling the room in the blink of an eye. No, not the room, for as he looked around Aang realised that that was suddenly no longer where he was. There were no walls, no statue, and no crazy golden girl trying to cripple him. All that existed was an endless space of white, cloud-like mist.
"It's good to see you Aang. What took you so long?"
At the sound of a voice, one his ear's had never heard before yet he somehow immediately felt he recognised, Aang turned around. There stood an old man dressed in rich red robes, his long white hair kept immaculately in place by a golden headpiece.
"Avatar Roku!"
"Why isn't it working? It's sealed shut!"
Zuko could feel his temper boiling, already threatening to overspill. Objectively he knew that he was prone to making bad decisions when he was like this, but he just couldn't help himself. He'd had him! Had The Avatar literally right there in his hands! Only to be caught off guard by a simple trick and let him slip through his fingers!
One door was all that stood in the way of him rectifying his mistake. One door that should swing open when five firebenders working together bent fire through it. But of course, in typical Zuko fashion, the spirits had decided that now was the perfect time for whatever mechanisms controlled the door to not work properly.
"It must have been the light. Avatar Roku doesn't want us inside." One of the sages supplied.
With a frustrated growl Zuko fired one last blast of flames at the door, more as a release for his anger than anything else, and turned around to storm over towards the captive sage. "Why did you help the Avatar?" He demanded.
The traitorous sage stared back at him; not with the defiance or anger he was expecting, but with a peculiar mix of melancholy and pride. "Because it was once the sages' duty." He replied. "It is still our duty."
Duty? How could this man talk of duty? His first and foremost duty was to The Firelord, like all children of the Fire Nation. Surely his duty towards his own people should come before all else? Yet before Zuko could respond he was cut off by the sound of clapping.
"What a moving and heartfelt performance. I'm certain the Fire Lord will understand, when you explain why you betrayed him."
A scowl flashed across Zuko's face as he looked over to the staircase. Zhao had finally arrived, and with a small guard of firebenders in tow. All around him the fire sages bowed low, showing a respect for the commander that they hadn't shown to him.
"And Prince Zuko." Zhao continued as his soldiers moved forwards to seize his arms. "It was a noble effort, but your little smokescreen didn't work. Tanya made sure of that." he looked around, an uncharacteristic look of concern adorning his face. "Where is she anyway?"
"You're too late Zhao! Both The Avatar and your pet demon are inside, and the doors are sealed shut!" Zuko spat defiantly.
Zhao eyes the doors for a second. Then, much to the surprise of everyone else, burst out into raucous laughter.
"So you're telling me that an untrained, inexperienced Avatar is locked in that room with the most monstrously powerful firebender of her generation; a girl who I've personally witnessed burn entire ships of people to ashes single-handedly, and I should be worried?" He asked, a grin that spoke of absolute confidence on his face. "You know her better than most Zuko. Do you envy anyone being locked in a room with her? Sooner or later those doors will have to open again, and then The Avatar will be mine. Or whatever's left of him anyway."
Aang listened as intently as Roku explained about the coming of Sozin's Comet, how The Firelord planned to use it to bring an end to the war, and how it was his destiny to master all four elements and defeat him. The pressure of having the fate of the world rest on his shoulders was terrifying. "What if I can't master all the elements in time? What if I fail?" He asked."
Roku smiled gently, his expression showing how familiar he was with what Aang was feeling. No matter when or where they were born it was a pressure that all Avatars were destined to bear eventually. "I know you can do it Aang, for you have done it before."
Those few words did wonders to soothe Aang's mind. Yes, he was the same soul as every previous Avatar, and they had all managed to rise to the challenges they faced and protect the world. If they could do it, so could he.
"The solstice is ending. Our time grows short." Roku declared. "But before you go, there is one more thing I need to share with you. Tell me Aang, what do you know of worlds?"
The question seemed like a fairly random one, and threw Aang for a moment. "Umm-... well there's the physical world, where humans and animals live, and the spirit world, where spirits live."
"True. The human world and spirit world are entwined tightly together in balance, like yin and yang. One cannot survive without the other, and under the right circumstances it is possible to travel between the two." Roku explained. "Yet these are not the only worlds in existence. Creation is vast and unending, and life exists in many forms across an infinity of worlds bound by a variety of rules."
That was fascinating and all, but Aang didn't really see what that had to do with The Firelord's. His expression must have given away what he was thinking, for Roku sighed and continued. "As these other worlds are not entwined like our two worlds are, traversing between them is incredibly difficult. Difficult, but not impossible. Sometimes exceptionally powerful beings are able to travel to other worlds, and not always for innocent reasons. Fourteen years ago an incredibly powerful spirit from another world forced its way into the spirit world. We do not know who it was or why it came, but individually it was stronger than any spirit in our world. However despite this it was not strong enough to face the combined might of all spirits together, and quickly retreated. At the time we thought it had gone forever, but then last year it reappeared once again, only making contact with a single mortal before fleeing. It was then we realised that it had made a window into our world during its first visit, and has been watching the war unfold from behind the scenes for over a decade now.
"But why?" Aang asked. "What purpose would a spirit from another world have for watching this one?"
Roku's face grew grave. "As I said before Aang, the physical world and spirit world are closely entwined. As the war unbalanced the physical world, so too does it unbalance the spirit world. Every forest burned down by an invading army, every river dammed to bring famine and drought, weakens the spirits associated with it. If this war continues and the world completely falls under the Fire Lord's sway, the spirit world will be weakened like never before. It would be the perfect opportunity for this foreign spirit to invade and take control, establishing themselves as the one and only spirit that the Fire Nation need ever worship."
Aang's face furrowed in concern. "But we don't know for sure what that otherworldly spirit is intending, right? All it's ever done is speak with one person."
"That was the case, until mere seconds ago." Roku answered. "The moment the solstice began the barriers between the physical and spirit worlds within this room weakened, allowing us to communicate. Yet at that very moment the foreign spirit appeared once again, and used the opportunity to contact a mortal of their own."
"Contact? But who…" Aang's eyes widened as he understood the implications. There had only been one other person in the room besides himself that the spirit could have communicated with. "The golden haired girl!"
"Yes." Roku confirmed. "That girl is a mystery, even to the spirits. No one has ever seen her soul before in any past incarnations, yet she fights like one who was born with a weapon in her hand. I fear that she, as well as whoever was contacted last year, have been chosen as the agents of this otherworldly spirit in whatever scheme it has devised. Be careful around her Aang."
"But she's in the room with me now! The moment the solstice finishes, she could kill me!" Aang replied.
A small, confident smile curled up on the corner of Roku's mouth. "I can help you with that. But only if you are ready…"
Tanya glanced warily around the world of white mist she'd found herself in.
Clearly the Royal Fire Academy's curriculum was in sore need of updating. She'd been taught that The Avatar was the only being in the world that could bend all four elements, and that they possessed a powerful connection to the spirits. What they'd apparently failed to mention was that they could trap people in some kind of alternate mist dimension. If she'd known that was a trick they had up their sleeve she'd have never engaged him in a direct confrontation.
More worrying was the fact that there was no visible exit in sight. A few strands of worry began to worm uncomfortably inside of her, but through force of will she bottled them up. Now was not the time for panic. If there was an entrance then there must also be an exit somewhere, she just had to find it.
"And if there is no escape, what will you do? Will you pray for salvation?"
Tanya gritted her teeth by reflex. It had been a lifetime since she'd last heard it, but she'd recognise that smarmy-ass disembodied voice anywhere. Her nemesis finally revealed himself. "Being X." She stated dispassionately. "I wondered when you'd come crawling out of the woodwork."
Though she couldn't physically see him, Tanya just knew the Being X had some condescending glare on whatever his equivalent for a face was. "Prideful as ever I see."
"So what's you plan this time around, hmm? What scheme has the all-so-mighty-one concocted to make this blasphemous wretch see the light?" Tanya asked sarcastically. "Send her off to fight in a war again? Top marks for creativity there, especially after it worked out so well last time."
She'd been expecting some sort of arrogant retort from Being X, but to Tanya's surprise when his voice spoke again it was laced with amusement. "Ah, but this is not quite the same as last time. You are to be congratulated Tanya, for I have learned something from you. There are not many across all planes of existence who can claim to have taught a lesson to a god."
"Oh really?" This, Tanya decided, did not sound good. "And what exactly did I teach you?"
"I believed that, when faced with the horrors of their own self-made wars, all mortals would fall back to praying to the divine for salvation. And I was half-correct, for the vast majority do. But it would seem that there is one soul in every million that is so wretched, so debased, that they actually thrive in such horror. They soak up blood to sate their hunger for violence like a flower soaks up water, and grow amongst battlefields littered with the bodies of their fallen comrades and victims alike. You, heathen, are one such flower of war."
Her? Thrive in war? Ha! This was further proof that Being X was no true god, for if he really was all-knowing he'd have surely known that Tanya despised war. All it was good for was sending young men and women blessed with intelligent minds and the potential to become something productive for society to early graves. "If that's true, then what is the point in sending me to yet another battlefield?" Tanya asked. "What's so different about this one?"
"It was something that occured to me as I heard the prayers of the soldiers who fought against you. Do you know how many begged me for salvation when they heard you had arrived at the battlefield? How many implored me to enact vengeance upon you as they watched you shooting down their friends one by one? How many prayed for deliverance before a single shot from you obliterated their city? Though many soldiers were able to put aside their fear of death when they joined the war, it came crashing back into them whenever they saw you. It made me realise something about human nature. You humans are such simple, narrow minded creatures that you struggle to grasp the full gravity of a situation you are faced with until it is made easier to identify: until it wears a face and a name. For those soldiers you became the very face of war, of death itself, and as such became a conduit through which they could understand the weight and fear of those concepts. You became an Avatar of war."
Oh no. A sinking feeling welled up in Tanya's stomach as she started to realise where this was heading. "Don't tell me…"
"Yes." Being X replied smugly. "The only way one such as you can comprehend the wrath of a god is for it to be channelled into a mortal coil. In your previous life the one who brought you closest to despair was Mary, yet she was merely a mortal granted a fraction of a god's power to play with, an ill-fitting vessel. For you to finally grasp the wrath of a god, you must face a god incarnate. Thus I devised a new life for you, a new destiny, all to set you up to face a real god in mortal flesh. The Avatar."
For a moment Tanya was silent. Then, with a loud snort, she burst out into laughter.
"That's your plan?" She gasped out between breaths. "You think a little bald child is going to put the fear of god into me? Have you seen that brat? Ha! What's he gonna do, huff and puff and blow my house down?"
Yet when Being X too started laughing, Tanya found her humour quickly died up. "Your pride will be your undoing, heathen." His voice echoed, as all around her the mist started to fade. "You have yet to see what The Avatar is capable of. But you're about too."
In the span of a mere moment the white fog faded, and Tanya found herself standing back in the middle of the shrine as if she'd never left at all. So after all this time waiting, Being X finally revealed that his master plan was to intimidate her by pitting her in a war against a pacifist monk child? How ridiculous. He'd even put her on the winning side at that. How could she possibly lose?
"Sorry about that." She began casually, feeling a spike in confidence as she turned back to the cowering Avatar, resummoning the flaming dagger in her hand. "Now, where were we-..."
She abruptly froze as she finally noticed the one difference in the room.
The Avatar.
Where before a frightened child had lay, now stood a tall man in regal red robes. Long white hair seemed to sway as if blown by some unfelt wind, and an ethereal blue glow radiated from him like a holy light. His eyes shone a similar blue colour with such brightness that they obscured his pupils, and though it was impossible to tell for certain, Tanya was sure that his eyes were fixed disapprovingly on hers. It was impossible not to recognise him; not with a statue of his very image looming right behind him.
"A- Avatar Roku?!"
Was this what The Avatar had hoped to learn by coming here?! It made sense. Why bother mastering all four elements himself when he could simply learn to transform into his older, stronger past incarnation in an instant! A fully fledged Avatar like Roku would be able to match even The Firelord!
A feeling of dread washed over Tanya, causing her to instinctively step backwards. She could feel The Avatar's power crackling in the air like electricity, and every single one of the instincts she'd developed to keep herself alive in the battlefield screamed at her to run for her life, for the enemy before her was someone she stood absolutely no chance of defeating. So shocked was she by this turn of events that she hadn't even noticed the doors opening behind her until Zhao's voice echoed out from behind her.
"Fire!"
Only her instincts reacting to the sound of fire being conjured behind her saved her life, as she ducked down just in time to avoid the multiple streams of fire that flew over her head towards Roku. But Roku simply stretched out his hands, wresting control of the vast quantity of flames away from their creators and redirecting them to swirl around him in a burning circle. Then he thrust out his hands again, and Tanya had the foresight to create a shield of flames in front of herself a second before a wave of fire unlike any she'd ever felt crashed over her. The force behind it sent her flying backwards out of the room and into a pillar, just as it knocked Zhao and his men to their feet and melted the chains around Zuko and The Avatar's friends.
"Avatar Roku is going to destroy the temple! We have to get out of here!" One of the sages shouted as the other turned to flee from Roku's wrath. A second later his warning proved true, as Roku punched the ground with enough force to send a shockwave rippling through the island. At his call the ground began to shake, and bubbling pools of lava began to hiss and crackle as they erupted through the cracks.
Tanya was busy blinking away the spots swimming in her eyes when a firm hand grasped her by the forearm. "We have to go! Now!" Zhao growled, not giving her a chance to reply as he threw her over his shoulder and began to run, leading the way for his men as they fled from the rapidly collapsing temple.
As humiliating as it was to have to be carried like a child, Tanya had to admit that just guarding against Roku's attack had left her so weak she wasn't sure her legs would be steady enough to carry her. She hadn't seen that much destructive power from a single person since Mary, and back then she'd never been crazy enough to take one of her attacks head-on. However while Mary had been a berserker, throwing her power around madly in a wild rampage, Roku had wielded his strength as if it were an extension of himself. He had absolute control of his power, and was infinitely more dangerous because of it.
And this was the entity that Being X had manipulated her into fighting against.
She was totally screwed!
"No Prince, no Avatar! Apparently, the only thing I do have is five traitors, and an incompetent subordinate who couldn't outsmart a lemur!"
Tanya looked down in shame. She had no excuses. Zhao had trusted her to capture The Avatar, but she'd wasted the opportunity. If she'd just tried a little harder she could have captured The Avatar before the solstice, and then Roku would have never showed up. The burning wreckage of the fire temple in the distance was a monument to her failure.
"But Commander!" Rafike spoke up. "Only Shyu helped the Avatar."
Yet Zhao was in no mood to listen to reason. "Save your stories for the Fire Lord. As far as I'm concerned, you are all guilty!" He declared, gesturing for his nearby soldiers to apprehend them. "Take them to the prison hold!"
"No! Please!" Rafike struggled against the soldiers, but was too old to force his way to freedom. As he and the other sages were dragged away he glanced over to Tanya, desperation in his eyes. "You are one of us! A child of the fire temple! You know this is an injustice! Please, Captain Tanya, say something!"
Zhao's gaze bored into her, daring her to speak up in their defence. They weren't wrong, it was a clear injustice and an awful abuse of power, but Tanya knew how to read the room. She was so far from Zhao's good books that it wasn't funny, and if he sensed so much as a hint of disobedience from her at this moment she'd be joining them in the brig. No, Tanya was not such a selfless person as to risk her own freedom in an attempt to secure theirs. The best she could do was keep her head down, wait for this to all blow over, and then bring this issue up again after she'd done something meritorious enough to get back in the commander's good graces.
When it became obvious Tanya wasn't going to say anything, Zhao sneered. "That's what I thought. Take them away."
As the fire sages were led away, Zhao turned his back on her to stare out towards the ocean, where The Avatar's bison had been seen flying away into the horizon back towards the Earth Kingdom. For a moment a heavy silence hung between them, and Tanya resisted the urge to fidget uncomfortably. When Zhao finally spoke again, the sharpness of his tone made it clear that he was not in the mood for anything less than total obedience. "Next time there can be no failure, Tanya. Am I clear?"
"Yes commander." Tanya replied dutifully.
"You and I are birds of a feather, Tanya. We both seek positions worthy of our ambitions and intelligence. When the Fire Nation wins this war a new era will begin, and it will be people like you and I who will shape it. It was destiny that placed The Avatar in our path, so that we might be the ones to claim the glory for capturing him." Zhao clenched his fists. "But if we should fail, The Firelord will hold us responsible, and he doesn't take kindly to failures. We cannot fail Tanya. If we do, it will be the end of us. Do you understand?"
"I-..." It was the sign of a bad workplace to punish someone for failing. Negligence, disrespect or just plain stupidity should be met with consequences, but the act of failure itself could be a result of inexperience or just simple bad luck in many cases. How could any new employee grow into a competent asset if they were afraid to test their skills and knowledge by taking a risk every now and then? But it was too late to back out now. Tanya had been born into the Fire Nation, had sworn her loyalty to The Fire Lord, and was locked into whatever fate awaited her new homeland; whether that be good or terrible. As unreasonable as this demand was, what choice did she have but to obey? "I do, commander."
"Good." Zhao turned to face her, the anger in his eyes settling into a look of raw determination. "The Avatar has won this battle, but the war isn't over yet. Not by a long shot."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone