Zuko
"There it is." Jian gestured to a distant structure. "Weinan. I am guessing you don't know much about the place, and frankly, I don't blame you. It is the typical sort of village. Some walls to fend off bandits and buy time against a Fire Nation Battalion and little else worth noting."
"If so, then why are you here?"
"Just because the place doesn't matter on the grand scheme doesn't mean that people won't notice strange stuff going on." Another soldier, Han, answered. "Apparently, the neighboring villages haven't gotten any trade from Weinan in weeks. No messages and no merchants whatsoever. Which is odd, since it isn't a town that can keep itself alive by its own merits."
"It could be abandoned?" Zuko suggested.
"Probably," Jian answered. "But it is still odd that we haven't heard of refugees fleeing from the place. Nor of a Fire Nation occupation or more active bandits. There should be some new, good or bad. Nothing is just…odd. Besides, if it is abandoned because of the plague, we have to try to keep it contained. Burn everything and bury what is left."
Whatever plague spread was almost undetectable, from what Zuko had learned from the Plague-Seekers. The only treatment was to burn every surface that could have been exposed and then use Earthbending to drop the entire area deep into the earth.
The somber mood remained from Jian's words until they arrived at the entrance to Weinan, where, to their surprise, a man stood waiting for them.
A wiry old man with a long, greying beard and a balding head. He looked older than he seemed, with how hunched he was and the familiar wrinkles of stress on his face.
"Greetings." The man gave a grim smile. "I take it that you are the Plague-Seekers?"
"Depends on who is asking." Jian raised a brow, his grip on his blade tightening.
"I am…was the mayor of Weinan, Chen." The man bowed slightly. "Though you can hardly be the mayor of a village of one, can you?"
"What exactly happened here, Mayor Chen?" Jian ignored the man's attempt at a joke, to which the older man sighed.
"Not the plague, luckily." The mayor slumped. "Just the famine. The fields withered and died, the water dirtied, and the farm animals just died. I hardly need to tell you the specifics of all people. Eventually, it was decided in a town meeting to abandon the village and leave for greener pastures."
"Yet you are here."
"Yes." Chen's face fell further. "I have a responsibility, you see. Many were too sick to travel, so I stayed behind to take care of them until they passed and to bury them. Not because of the plague, mind you, but the more common ailments."
"It was a foolish move, old man!" One of the battalion soldiers grumbled, to a small amount of agreement. "A single civilian and the ill are ripe for the picking by the Fire Nation or bandits. You got lucky."
"It was an honorable thing to do." Zuko found himself defending the old man. Staying behind for the sick and the elderly, no matter how foolish, was not an action that he would demean. He didn't think he could.
"Thank you for your words, young man, but I am well aware how foolish it is." Chen chuckled, though his stare was distant. "Still, you must have travelled long and hard. The refugees took most of the supplies with them when they left, but I should have enough for a single meal, though it will be quite…sparse. I hope you like cabbage soup."
Zuko didn't think anyone particularly liked cabbage, but when you were on the verge of starving, then anything looked edible. Agni, Azula would be laughing at him, and rightfully so. From a prince, exiled or not, to travelling with the Earth Kingdom soldiery and eating cabbage for the strength to keep pushing on.
"At this point, I'd eat just about anything." Jian smiled, though his eyes seemed rather pointed at their host. "You said that your town decided to flee to 'greener pastures', right?"
"Yes, when the famine hits, the plague is not far behind." Chen gestured, and they began to move inside the walls. "They all left for Saifa a week or so ago, along with some quite helpful merchants. Enough about such sad matters. There is a stable near the inn, just down this main road. You can't miss it; the inn is called the Earthen Edifice. Quite the story there! Maybe I'll tell it over some grub, heh. Speaking of, I'll start preparing something to eat while you lads in green get some rest."
With a gesture, Chen walked off towards what Zuko assumed to be the storage area. Their group continued down the road and took in the sights.
If he was being honest with himself, there had never been a place that Zuko wanted to not be in more than Weinan in that moment. On the surface, it seemed fine, if desolate. Small but well-structured buildings, reassuring stone and wood walls, and even stone roads. Homely, in a poor Earth Kingdom peasant sort of way.
But the emptiness gave the entire place a disturbing sense of unease. What was worse was that it was clean. Why was a place so empty, so pristine?
"I, for one, will only be happy once we leave this place," Han muttered, a sentiment that the rest of the group echoed. "Nothing about this place seems right. I don't get how old man Chen can stand it here, especially if he has already buried everyone that he needs to."
"Has he?" Gong, who was the newest recruit of the bunch, asked. "All he said was that he stayed behind; he hasn't mentioned burying them yet."
"Well, they've got to be right?" Han asked, confused. "Doubt he'd just abandon them to cook us a meal all night."
There were some hesitant nods, though Zuko noted that Jian remained silent and contemplative.
"What is wrong?" Jian was startled as Zuko looked at him. "You've been acting off."
"It might be nothing." He paused. "Alright, I know how stupid that sounds. You remember when I asked about the refugees? Old man Chen said that they went to Saifa."
"I don't know where that is."
"A small town on the way to Omashu." Jian rolled his eyes. "Geez, kid, you sure you're Earth Kingdom?"
"I come from beyond Kyoshi Island, alright?" Zuko defended with a technical truth. A very technical truth. "What's so important about it?"
"What is important is that it fell to the Fire Nation several weeks ago when they were marching on Omashu." Zuko understood now. What merchants are from Saifa? Had the old man been deceived?
"So, bandits or kidnappers?"
"If it were for such a sorry lot, then there was hardly any need to bother with so much subtlety." Jian pondered. "Don't tell anyone else about this; no need to spook the old man. You and I will do some investigating."
"Why am I involved?!" Zuko was here to get to Gaoling and start tracking the Avatar, not to investigate the sketchy mayor.
"Because you asked and got yourself involved." Jian patted his back. "Congrats, honorary member of the Plague-Seekers Battalion, with some diligence, you can be promoted from meat shield to fodder."
"Fuck you." Uncle hadn't allowed him to curse, despite being in charge of a ship. But Uncle wasn't here right now.
"Now, now, why don't you put that youthful vigor to some good use?" Jian scoffed. "The boys and I will try to pry what we can from the old man. I want you to go and investigate."
"Why not have one of your own?" Zuko questioned. He had long since learned to distrust the goodwill or handouts of others. "Surely they would be better than some random kid you met?"
"Probably, but I want to get your measure." Jian kept that easy smile, though it died down after a moment. "Plus, if this goes south, I'd rather give both you and our own group some separate chances to escape. Our fuck ups should only get us killed, not the other group. Fair enough?"
"You think this might be a situation that needs escaping?" This time, it was Zuko's turn to scoff. "There is just one old man!"
"They said similar things about King Bumi." A good point. One good enough to cut Zuko completely short. "I am more worried that whatever happened here is of a more spiritual inclination."
Zuko's experience with spirits was quite limited. Seeing the monster that had decimated the Fire Nation's fleet had been horrifying enough for him to fear them.
"Spirits are supposed to be rare."
"And the Avatar is supposed to be gone." Jian rolled his eyes. "Come on, Lee, I am not asking you to give me your liver. Just look around. Find anything that looks off. Of course, don't take any unnecessary risks."
"I'm not the risk-taking type!" Zuko lied, indignantly.
"You're a teenager." Jian pointed out. "They are all the risk-taking type, trust me. I was one, once."
"Yeah, probably before Avatar Roku was born." It was surprisingly easy to find himself drawn into a flow with this Earth Kingdom soldier. He hadn't even managed to get along with his own countrymen this well on the ship. Maybe he would have fit in with a nice 'Earth Kingdom family' after all.
"Whatever, brat!" Jian poked him, Zuko hissed, but it merely made the man chuckle again. "Anyway, slip out once Chen returns and look around. My men and I are professional time-wasters; we are so good that General Fong banned us from his territories unless necessary. On pain of death, at that."
"Get back over there, old man." Zuko groaned as he scouted out to a good vantage point. It was just out of the way enough that one could reposition to see the entire room while being high enough that most people wouldn't bother even glancing in its direction.
It took some time, but eventually Chen returned with some meager but hearty cabbage soup. Zuko wasn't entirely sure if it was just the best cabbage soup he had ever had, or if the hunger had degraded the quality of his taste buds because he wolfed it down.
"The boy seems quite young and isn't wearing the same uniform," Chen asked, his curiosity clearly caught. "Not to mention his complexion…"
"Me and the boys are betting he is some Fire Nation bastard or a colonial." Jian laughed, and Zuko stilled. "Not that it really matters to us. He pretty obviously isn't a scout or is just the most piss poor one in the entire military. Against the Plague, every able body is one that we don't refuse. 'Unseemly' origins or not."
A small cheer was roused at that, and Zuko took the subsequent change of subject to matters concerning the local weather, history, and geopolitics, which Zuko used his vantage point to find a path to slip out of the building.
The sky was still bright blue, and his inner flame burned brightly, though the grandest celestial body seemed to be reaching the end of the day as the sky slowly changed from blue to a light pink. He gave a cursory look at the random buildings, but he knew that whatever secret was stored wouldn't simply be hanging open for everyone to find.
There were a few locations where it would likely be. The mayor's own house was the primary suspect, but Zuko had a suspicion that even that would be a red herring. The mayor seemed too nervous and unsure of himself. Had he simply been acting that way because he was close to being caught having done something reprehensible, or was he a puppet on a string?
We live in a web of lies, Zuzu. I've learned to spin my silk while you flounder like a fly. His sister had laughed at him when he had wondered why she was so capable in courtly ways while he was left by himself and often given distance despite being the Crown Prince.
Because. A dark part of him whispered. Everyone knew that Father hates you. Lucky to be born and nothing else.
Zuko ignored the voice. The whispers and the occasional image of his Father, watching disappointed, had haunted him for so long. He couldn't even tolerate a mirror for years. Not only did it remind him of his scar, but it also brought back the hallucinations. The whispers of unworthiness. Of dishonor.
No more. In some small way, he would prove himself honorable. A Prince of the Fire Nation was honorable at all times, even amongst Earth Kingdom peasants. They were here to spread civilization and development to the downtrodden, not to slaughter recklessly.
Zuko forcefully extracted himself from the downward spiral of thoughts he was in. Now was not the time to fall into his usual pitfalls! Where, if not his home, would the mayor hide his secrets?
A place that no one would bother checking. A place that would, by all logic, be abandoned, empty, or unused.
Like the grain silos. With a turn, he stalked over to the towering structures that stood at the end of town. Stealth was one thing he had always prided himself on, after all. The fact that the sense of unease seemed to intensify did not hinder his efforts and, in fact, emboldened them.
He remembered the terror that the Ocean Spirit had inspired. The feeling of weight, power, and consciousness beyond his comprehension weighs down on the entire North Pole through the Avatar.
The feeling he felt as he grew closer to the silos echoed that feeling. Less in intensity, but far more dread-inducing in quality. Gripping his dao swords tightly, Zuko strode forward, all the while pointedly ignoring the growing feeling that he was being watched.
He was too annoyed at that damn cabbage soup. All it had done was make him hungrier.
He felt famished at this point.
Princess Azula
(A few days after Zuko's PoV)
Travelling with the battalion had been more irritating than Azula had expected, not that she would admit such a thing.
The Circus was close, perhaps only a day or two's ride away, yet the long amount of time needed to move such a group of soldiers, their equipment, and other resources meant that it would take longer. Time in which a sudden change could occur, and Ty Lee and the Circus could be gone by the time they arrived.
"Could you not send a messenger hawk, Princess Azula?" The Commander asked, as politely as he could. What was with military officials and believing that they could question her? Had Uncle and Zuko been such catastrophic failures in every interaction that they had somehow ruined the majestic aura that their line has maintained amongst their people since before the time of Sozin?
"If I wanted to send a messenger hawk, I would." Azula glared at the man who seemed to finally realize how he had overstepped his bounds and shrank in on himself. "Ty Lee is a friend, after all. I wanted my visit to be a pleasant surprise. Is there truly no way for you to speed up our movement?"
"Princess, we are already making reckless time." The Commander pleaded. "I-"
"Don't speak." The Princess of the Fire Nation rubbed her forehead, easing the growing headache she was having. "The sound of your voice is aggravating me."
With a wisdom beyond his years, the Commander wisely shut his mouth.
"Very well, in that case, prepare two Mongoose Lizards." Azula eventually snapped. "The Special Officer and I will split off and head directly towards the circus. We are only about a day away if we ride swiftly."
She rolled her eyes at the awkward look the Commander gave her.
"Don't bother." A hand was waved, dismissing his concerns. "We are within one of the more secure colonies, so it is unlikely that we will run into trouble. Two swift riders will be far less detectable besides. If combat becomes inevitable, I am a master fire-bender, and the Special Officer is more than passable, supposedly. Bandits or Earth Kingdom rabble will not pose much of a threat."
That reminded her that she needed to make an opportunity to spar with the Special Officer. She knew that he was skilled enough to go against her Uncle and to be considered the best fire-bender on the Ashstrider, but she was not sure of the specifics of his skill. Surely, as a battle-hardened fire-bender, his technique would have varied from the standards she had come to expect. Those stances were meant to be a base that evolved with the user, after all.
"As you command, Princess." The Commander bowed and gave his acceptance, only a hint of reluctance in his words. He called in two soldiers and ordered them to prepare two Mongoose Lizards.
"You fret over nothing, Commander." Azula sighed. "It is a single day's journey. It will be fine."
And for some time, their journey really was uneventful. A mostly silent journey through the forests with the occasional tidbit of discussion on the best path over some minor obstacle. At least, until they had reached the edge of the forest, and the sound of a horn filled the air.
Bandits. In the most peaceful, Fire Nation-controlled colony. Because of course there was. Had the universe mistaken her for Zuko to hand her such poor luck?
"The Commander will be insufferable if he learns about this." Special Officer Yoru muttered as he and Azula halted their Mongoose Lizards. From the treeline emerged several rough-looking men and women, armed with axes, swords, and spears.
Azula agreed, but she didn't want her now proven false words thrown back at her face just then.
From the center, a much larger man wearing what appeared to be the skin of a bear emerged. Tall and gruff, with multiple scars adorning his face. This showed all that was needed about his intelligence. Who gained scars on their face, clearly from battle, and still didn't bother with a helmet?
"I am Ryu of the Fang Bandits, surr-"
Whatever introduction he was going to give ended as a blast of concentrated fire slammed into his face, causing the man to drop to the floor and start screaming and crying as everyone, including Azula herself, watched the man slowly stop twitching, and the smell of burnt flesh filled the clearing.
Azula turned to Special Officer Yoru, who stood with a hand outstretched, eyes wide.
"What?" He asked, defensively. "We all knew how that was going to go down. He was going to make us surrender, steal our mounts, and then either decide to ransom us or kill us anyway. I just skipped to the end."
"RYU!" A woman cried, dropping her weapon and running up to the fallen leader. Her shock and horror were clearly wearing off enough for her common sense to return. A lover of this late bandit chief, perhaps? "Don't you dare die on me!"
"A little late." Special Officer Yoru muttered. "You should probably consider a closed casket funeral. I don't think even those mortuaries can pretty up a burnt puddle of flesh."
Azula snorted, loud enough that the now terrified and enraged bandits could focus their attention on them.
"GUT THEM!" The crying woman pointed. "They killed Ryu!"
"I'll take the ones on the right." Azula smiled, her hand flickering with a blue fire. "You can have the ones on the left."
"Prisoners?"
"We don't need them alive, but we don't need them dead either. I'll leave it to your discretion." As much as she would prefer them all dead, she knew that some people were more squeamish about that sort of thing. Another good opportunity to get a measure of her pet Officer's personality and demeanor.
Leaping off her Mongoose Lizard, Azula let loose wave after wave of bright blue fire and lost herself in the delightful screams of the damned. Catharsis, at long last.
A blast of fire caught the nearest raider, who had come to slow down as his fellows were burned alive around him, in the chest, and thus blasting not only through his cheap leather armor but also caving slightly into his chest.
Darts of fire flew through the air in imitation of some of the practice that Azula had once seen Mai attempt. While the weight and angles of blades had been a pointless practice for a girl who could make knives of fire, Azula had learned some of the value of precision targeting and visualization from the girl. A worthwhile friend.
After some thought, she slowed down the rate at which she slaughtered these fools. In a way, they were Agni's gift to her. After this, she would have to hold back a lot more. Ty Lee hated excessive violence, if her immobilization technique prioritizing temporary restrictive measures wasn't indicative enough. These fools would be her last opportunity to roast someone alive.
One of the younger male raiders squealed as his companion's head caught on fire, much like their beloved leader did, her screams making him turn pale and causing a wetness to his pants, much to Azula's glee.
"I SURR-" It doesn't count as long as they never finish saying 'I surrender' or you kill them with no witnesses to their supposed 'surrender' in the first place. Azula was not in the mood to accept a surrender anyway. She finally had a chance to let out her anger at how her Uncle had played her like a Tsungi horn and allowed Zuko to escape.
"Burn." Another raider caught a knife of fire to the throat, piercing through and even hitting the one behind him in the thigh. Both collapsed, though only the former died. A state of being was rectified as the follow-up wave of fire engulfed the screaming raider.
At this point, the raiders seemed to realize how outmatched they were. The screams were dying down from Special Officer Yoru's side, so they had been either captured or neutralized, while the ones here clearly had seen what happened to those who stood in her way. Azula was surprised to note that there were, in fact, benders amongst their numbers, as the earth seemed to shift as large rock pillars moved towards her.
These carrion-eaters were likely used to easy prey that fell over at the slightest provocation. They had not been expecting two experienced fighters.
"Running away?" She laughed, fire spewing in every direction and striking down her fleeing opponents in their terror. Amateurs! They hadn't even bothered to bring bows! "You can't challenge me and expect to run away with your tail tucked behind your legs! Come, meet your death with some semblance of honor!"
Her opponents, much fewer in number and now trapped as a ring of fire had slowly cut off their exits, glanced at one another before readying themselves.
"Now that's more like it." Azula felt her flames rear up, matching seamlessly with her heightened emotional state. "Don't disappoint me."
They almost certainly would, but who knows?
A miracle could always happen.
Special Officer Yoru
This was a perfect opportunity for me to build some street cred. Right now, my reputation was just 'that guy who hung around Azula'. Which wasn't bad. Being considered capable enough to be part of the Princess's Retinue was a powerful show of strength by itself, but it just wasn't enough for me.
I needed a terrifying, awe-inspiring reputation. Something that would make the GAang think, "Oh no, it's the legendary [Insert Applicable Cool Name/Title Here]! We are about to get low-diffed!" like some third-rate power-scalers.
I kept it low-level as Azula and I split up, her carving a bloody, burnt path through the line of humans as we faced off against this numerous, but ill-trained bandit tribe by ourselves. Basic stuff, a bolt of fire through the eye, the throat, and one particularly unpleasant one through the groin. I had, of course, apologized and then stomped on his head until it was a smear on the ground. Because I am benevolent like that.
"Ewww!" I shook my right boot, which was dribbling all kinds of viscera. The glee of battle always set in me swiftly. "Blood is hard enough to get out, but blood AND brain matter? Ugh, think before you stomp Yoru."
"M-m-monster." One of the raiders, left behind by the others, had fallen on his ass and was scooting backwards in terror. It was almost comical. Actually, scratch that. It was comical. I couldn't say I was enjoying myself, since these guys were total chumps and all, but slaughtering of the practically defenseless was kind of a War thing too, right? This was definitely getting me some aura points.
"I prefer to call myself a Human Resource Specialist." It sounded like it would fit nicely on a resume! And it did! If I were applying to Hell or being the protagonist of the next mass murder FPS game. "But you aren't wrong either."
I looked around and saw that the raiders who were fleeing seemed to realize that they had reached a cliff face. The earthbenders abandoned their erstwhile compatriots and used their bending to propel themselves up and away.
"Well, we can't have that." I gestured to the sight, the raider turning his head to witness his comrades' futile escape attempts. "Can we?"
The raider, in a desperate attempt to extend his life and not having a particular attachment to his old bandit friends, nodded enthusiastically.
"Watch this awesome move!" I got my breathing under control as I focused fully on what was going to happen next. Pure, unadulterated awesomeness.
Fire-bending was a lot of fun, but sometimes it was hard to figure out where to go after the basic concepts and techniques. There were a lot of avenues where it was possible to push the limits of possibility and impossibility, but I had decided to start with the safer, more assured bets before progressing to the more bull-shit ideas.
Now was a good time to get some field experience for a new technique of my own development.
I got into a pose, arms stretched out with my hands in that finger gun like position sort of like what was done for lightning generation but then I allowed fire to ignite from basically every point that I could feasibly manage followed by emitting and moving it via a pose that I had based off the style of the occasional water-bending pirates we had faced in the navy, far and few between though they were. The fires swirled around and consolidated as a large spear-like construct, and I then compressed it to a slightly more manageable size. Slightly.
I had initially wanted an arrow like Sukuna's Divine Flame, but the lance or javelin-like construct I held was simply more suited for this attack. Right now, it was just a lot of fire shaped roughly like a comically oversized javelin. But this was just the beginning, the foundation.
Breathe. I took another deep breath, from not just the mouth but the nose as well.
Ignition. Fire was produced and amassed once again from every conceivable point I could manage. Hopefully, in the future, I'd be able to do so from every point around my body, but that was a long-term goal.
Emission. The fire was released from its origin point and almost flowed around me as I repeated my water-bending-inspired movements once again.
Then, finally, the true secret behind this technique: Compression. The fires closed in on each other, and by my careful control, did not explode as they crushed together and slowly became smaller than the original javelin that had been forged.
I'd figured this one out while trying to figure out how combustion bending worked. Still no dice there, but I'd get around to it eventually. It seemed useful and was one of the few confirmed bending subtypes that I knew of for fire.
Then I repeated the process.
Breath, Ignition, Emission, Compression. Then repeat. Again and again.
In a matter of about ten to twenty seconds, this had been done countless times until a thin, flickering, white-hot javelin of fire was held in my hand with the occasional flicker of blue.
One day, I'd figure out the trick for blue fire more consistently. I was close, but I think I was still missing something about the spirituality of bending. Which brought the question of how Azula, one of the least spiritual people I know, could manage it.
I shook my head; those were thoughts for a time when a bunch of irritating little earthbenders weren't making a break for it. I could kill the non-bending stragglers whenever I wanted since they had trapped themselves at a dead end with cliffs for walls. I might even let some of them live, to spread the tale of my power and sheer badassery.
My compression wasn't perfect, not yet. The leftover flames that were not compressed had filled the area. I could feel the superheated air and the feeling of being cooked in my own armor. Hell, the cloth on my right arm had already burnt off, and the armor had fallen to the ground. The wisps of escaped flame gently licked nearby surfaces like the now scorched earth, my burnt armor, even some of my right arm, and also that surviving raider, who found himself being cooked alive and was screaming in agony as a result. Hmmm, chicken.
I gazed at my beautiful construct, the blinding white-hot flames with specks of blue searing my skin despite my prodigious heat-bending being used to dampen the effects. Death in a small rod just over the size of my arm. If it wasn't for the fact that this was hyper-concentrated fire, and not lightning, I would have believed myself to be holding Zeus' lightning bolt. The power of a god, restrained.
Alright, enough ego-boosting.
There were a few things I could do with this. Its primary function was its piercing power. The white-hot flames could carve right through the walls of an earth-bender and even melt through metal with relative ease, though it had to be flung since the instability of the construct meant that keeping it near me was a bad idea, and it required quite a bit of time to make, in terms of combat.
Very useful. Basically, it was an alternative to lightning. It was fast, once made, powerful, and spelled certain death for anyone who decided to try and take the hit. It was the bane of any earthbender, and even those 'water-shields' used by waterbenders would be nothing but paltry resistance to one of these bad boys!
However, looking at the cliff side with numerous enemies rapidly approaching the top of the cliff, where they would scatter to the winds, it was clear that a single target piercing attack was not what I needed.
Thus, the alternative method of attacking that this technique had. Based on Ulquiorra, it was my very own Lanza.
I got into position. Learning javelin throwing from some of my fellow shipmates was useful in actually deploying this technique in combat, as I had suspected. Though calling this 'combat' was a bit generous. It was shooting fish in a barrel.
Step 1: I grabbed the pole of my flame javelin properly. A proper grip means everything. Especially when the javelin you are using is hyper-concentrated fire that is straining against its very structure. Holding the javelin at head level was also quite important, which is why I did exactly that.
Step 2: I began the approach run, long enough to build the needed momentum for a good fling.
Step 3: The 'Withdrawal'. I entered into the proper throwing position and extended my javelin-holding arm as much as possible.
Step 4: The 'Transition'. I made my right foot the center of gravity before making the final setup steps to truly throw my javelin.
Step 5: The Pre-Delivery stride. The step that defined the eventual throw. My left leg and back all tilted forward toward the target as my face turned to face my target, and my back straightened.
Step 6: The Delivery. I swung the javelin and made sure to let go only at the highest possible point, all the while directing the strike at the middle of the cliff.
Step 7: Recovery, the force of the throw, further enhanced by War Spirit bullshit and some well-placed fire jets from my limbs, was enough to crackle and displace the air. However, the force of the swing was enough that I had to take a few slow steps forward to kill my own momentum.
Step 8: Admire your work. All artists should admire their work.
And so, I watched the small glowing white speck fly closer and closer to the top of the clip, where the earth-benders were so very close to escaping with their lives, all the while filled with a truly beautiful sense of anticipation as the javelin struck.
For a brief moment there was silence and the regular worries of 'will it actually work?' or 'did I mess it up and it will actually be super embarrassing' briefly popped up in my mind before they were burned away as a flash of white enveloped the cliff, followed by an eruption of blue flames that burned almost white and turned the entirety of the area it struck into molten slag. If anyone survived that, they had earned enough respect to be allowed to flee.
It was in moments like this that I felt truly like the Spirit of War.
Taking in the pillar of fire that was currently stretching into the air, I can't imagine Azula not noticing that giant fireworks display that I made, so it would probably be fine to just take a walk over and finish off the non-benders that were likely left behind.
"How was that?" I asked the roasted alive raider whose flesh was still sizzling. "I see, you died from my sheer awesomeness? I keep forgetting background characters just aren't built the same. If you hadn't already met a truly gruesome end, I may have let you live. Possibly."
The corpse did not answer.
"Stunning conversationalist you are." I laughed. Why was I talking to a corpse? Well, it was more like I was talking at it. It was actually kind of weird, not being around anyone. Just silence and the faint scent of ash in the air, along with cooked flesh. "I really need to get a good, proper fight in before I go totally insane. Sleep tight. I'm going to finish off what's left of your pals."
Humming the Imperial March under my breath, I skipped toward my next set of victims.
Unsurprisingly, when I got there, I could see that many of the non-benders had been crushed by the falling rocks from my little technique. Seeing the cloud of ash and smoke reach into the sky now that the fire had mostly died down, the blasted, still molten rock dripping down, and the bodies crushed under the rocks as if from the might of an angry God was apparently really doing it for me right now. How embarrassing. What would you even call this?
"P-please, m-mercy!" A raspy voice called out. A greying man wearing the raider outfit bowed low enough for his forehead to touch the ground. "We surrender! Unconditionally. Mercy!"
A few others, of varying ages, gender, and condition, dropped their weapons and fell down, prostrating themselves.
"Hm." I held my chin with my right hand as I thought things through. Planning more than a day ahead of time was surprisingly difficult nowadays. I had really gotten way too used to living in the moment. "Well, the Princess did say that I could do whatever I wanted. And you lot seem way too weak to give me a good fight, so I guess killing you all would just be a chore."
"So, that means that-" The hope that was blooming in the old man's eyes was so amusing.
"Nah, you are all going to die." But not as amusing as watching it shatter. "More accurately, all but one of you will die now. Fight amongst yourselves. The last one standing…well, surely, I don't have to spell it out for you, do I?"
DIY Hunger Games! With a small batch of prisoners, no Geneva Convention, and absolutely no human rights, you too can pull this off with these simple steps! But, like, don't.
I would like to say that there was some emotional speech and that they refused to attack one another. The bonds of bandit-hood unite all of them as a giant family unit. I might have actually let them all live if that was the case, or just killed everyone. Who knows.
They did not. Almost immediately, the younger, less injured raiders leapt forward, having grabbed their weapons with surprising dexterity before stabbing the old man who had spoken up through the back and then turning their attention toward one another while the wounded managed to wipe each other out with surprising creativity.
It wasn't all that interesting, honestly. Though since their skill levels were relatively the same, nonexistent, it was a bit more entertaining than doing the deed myself.
One pikeman with a large gash in his side and one less eye that he had begun with stumbled up, having slammed his weapon into the last wounded woman's throat. I dubbed him 'One-Eye', for obvious reasons.
"I w-won."
"You did." I reached out and started to pet One-Eye on the head. "What a good boy you are!"
And then, I began to bend the heat. It probably took an embarrassingly long time for him to realize, as he stood terrified and still as a 'man' that could destroy him in an instant gently patted on his head like he was a dog. Eventually, he must have figured out what was going on as frost began to cover his body, as all the heat was removed from his body and the region surrounding it.
I'd started removing heat from the bottom up so that he would have time to realize how he was going to die.
"Y-you w-were never g-going to let us l-live." The frost had not yet reached One-Eye's chest, let alone his throat, so the pikeman's voice, brittle and shivering though it was, managed to come across. "N-not even w-were you?"
"Oh, don't look so surprised." I laughed, taking in the look of utter betrayal, hatred, and then resignation. "I actually didn't lie the first time. All of you were going to die. Just one of you would die a little bit after the rest. Not my fault that you assumed you'd live."
"B-bastard."
"Don't bring my parents into this." I flicked his hand, shattering it as the frostbite had already set in. His eyes widened in horror at the sight. "I was in such a good mood until you said that. Got to use my Lanza and even try this little heat manipulation trick. Truth be told, this little frost trick isn't in a 'usable combat technique' state right now. Too much time to remove the heat from even a small area, let alone an actual human body. The most I can manage with it right now is draining some heat from my surroundings to give my flames a little bit of added heat."
With my foot, I kicked in between his legs and laughed when something shattered like glass.
"Still, this is a pretty neat interrogation technique." I let my laugh simmer into a smug smile.
"If you want to blame anyone, blame your parents for bringing you into my world." One-Eye seemed catatonic. I wondered if my frost had reached all of his nerves down there or if he could feel what just happened. "Now I'm bored."
With a sigh, I blew slightly, and a flicker of flame entered into One-Eye's empty eye socket and finally put him out of his misery.
"I wonder if Azula would be up for a spar." I stretched. "I really want an interesting battle, at least once!"
Princess Azula
Azula had never forgotten the first training session she had with her father. He had brought her to a small, beautiful field. Scattered rocks, a gentle breeze, small but pretty trees littered the perimeter, and a spring with turtleducks and other critters that she was sure Mother and Zuzu would have loved.
She had hated it immediately, of course. Azula had restrained herself, though. Unlike Mother and Zuzu, she knew better than to act on impulse with Father. She was glad that she had restrained them.
In that empty field, he had shown her the reason why Sozin had decided to take his mantle as the inheritor of the world. To bring all nations under the banner of the strongest element. The banner of Fire. Power made manifest.
A wave of fire had enveloped everything. The rocks were scorched black, the breeze was tainted with ash, the trees burnt black and dead, the spring evaporated and littered with the charred remains of what was once life, all the while the fire stretched into the air and stood above it all, like the God it was.
It had been horrible and beautiful. Majestic and despicable. The kind of thing that Mother would have decried, and her brother would have sobbed over. But to Azula, it had been the most wondrous thing she had ever witnessed.
For Father had given her a message without words. Fire stood above all else, and that one day she too would wield this power.
It was this memory that came to mind as she gaped at the massive pillar of flame that stretched into the air. Azula looked away after a moment as the glaring fire hurt to look at, as if it were the sun itself.
Either the bandits had some hidden master fire-bender, or this was the work of…him.
She had known that the Special Officer was strong. Experiencing the power of her Uncle first-hand, she knew that anyone capable of holding their own would have to be. But this? This was something else entirely. This felt more like being stronger than her.
Azula began to dash forward. It took some time for her to get back to where they had separated, but it appeared that at least her timing was still impeccable, as it was at that very moment that the object of her focus walked into view as well.
The Special Officer was skipping with glee, his helmet off so she could see those red and gold eyes gleaming with berserk glee. Most interesting was his right arm. The armor was gone, revealing a burnt undershirt and some light redness to his skin, not quite a burn or blister, but hardly untouched.
Poor control or the unavoidable backlash of some technique? Azula would learn more later, especially if it was a technique that she could be taught.
"The fools are neutralized, Princess, as ordered." Special Officer Yoru bowed his head. "Though I lost my helmet somewhere along the way. Sorry."
She stared at him, taking in his condition. Beyond his exhilarated state and the slight redness of his arm, he seemed perfectly fine. The sun was still high up, and they had made fantastic time on the way to that small nowhere town where Ty Lee was. Which meant that there was more than enough time to waste on a little indulgence.
"Fight me." She needed to know just how strong he was. To measure herself properly. If he, by some miracle, was stronger than her, then it was just another opportunity to increase her own strength. Another ace against the likes of her Uncle and the Avatar. If not, then she could reaffirm her own strength.
To his credit, her sudden request did not even seem to faze the Special Officer. In fact, it seems to reignite the flickering joy in his eyes.
"Alright." He smiled, bringing his arm up and pointing with his thumb towards his back. "I passed a pretty nice field back there. Perfect for a fight."
If only all soldiers were as agreeable as he.
The battle began almost as soon as they entered the field, and with a ferocity that Azula had not felt in a long time. It was not a sparring match between master and student or between 'peers', but more like a clash of sworn enemies.
Azula, never one to even spar with half measures, sent a blast of concentrated blue flames straight at his central mass. If that pillar of flame was any indicator, she could not afford to underestimate him. She had failed. Losing to Uncle, losing Zuko, and now being outshone by her own subordinate?
That was the line!
No more!
Alas, it never even got close as her opponent blasted himself into the sky with a considerable amount of force and release of flame, causing Azula to move backwards to keep an eye on his movements.
The first thing that Azula noted about his fighting style was that he fought as if his bones were made of liquid. In the air, he was more of a ragdoll than the controlled flights that she had seen from other masters. He twirled and flipped in the air as he descended toward the ground, more falling with style than sustained flight, and with each twisting motion, followed large, spiraling arcs of fire that came crashing down toward the earth and her.
She could swear that she heard someone screaming some nonsense like 'Getsuga Tenshou' or something along those lines, but she didn't have time to ponder such things on the battlefield.
Definitely something to look into later, though.
Her shock at his movement wasted precious seconds, and Azula cursed herself for allowing such a distraction, hastily dodging between the blades while trying to keep an eye on the slowly descending Yoru, who used the burst of flames to push himself higher when it seemed as if he would touch down on the ground.
"Come on, Princess!" He laughed, a cackling, mad thing. "I thought you were going to prove those rumors true! All you're doing right now is boring me."
How dare he! She wasn't Zuko! As the rage bloomed, so did her fire, allowing her to blast forward as her opponent began another descent towards the ground, this time not bothering to bounce himself back into the air. It appeared that Yoru wanted to get in closer. His funeral.
Knives of fire appeared in her hand as she chucked them with precision and fervor. One would not be enough; she was willing to admit. Yoru was definitely a cut above the rest of the military fire-benders she had seen, perhaps even many of the Royal Guard, and even some of her early instructors.
Most of the difficulty she faced was from his unusual method of combat, sailing through the air like a ragdoll or an airbender rather than precise, targeted strikes. An important lesson, she thought to herself. Getting complacent with a certain kind of enemy was a fool's mistake.
He landed on his feet cleanly and immediately went for a leg sweep, which Azula jumped over while jabbing a knife made of blue fire towards his face, which was knocked away by an elbow to her arm.
Yoru grabbed her arms and flung her to the side and followed up with precise, concentrated blasts that Azula had to allow herself to roll in the grass to avoid rather than get back up as she had initially hoped to.
A competent fighter. No, more than that. The glee in his eyes and the pants not of exhaustion or being pushed, but from the sheer thrill of battle. A battle-maniac, just like she had theorized. In the future, once she had a better measure of him, she could learn to use that against him in battle. Right now, it was a trait of little value as she blasted forward.
Azula noted, now that the burst of fury had simmered down, that he seemed to extensively use fire-bending to increase his mobility, emitting bursts of fire from different points on his body for quick shifts in direction or bursts of speed. Controlled falling indeed.
Upon reflection, she decided that close-quarters combat against him would be a poor decision. Not only was he older and more physically developed, but that mobility technique could likely be repurposed to increase the potency of his attacks at
Nonetheless, keeping her distance was not getting her anywhere with his sheer unpredictable evasiveness and movements, making it hard to strike him with a targeted attack.
"In that case…" She muttered, sweeping her limbs and emitting large swaths of flame. Not at Yoru, but around him and the entire area. If she could not reasonably engage him at close range and he was too nimble for any medium or long-range tactics, then the next step was to change the circumstances in her favor. It didn't matter how nimble he was if Yoru found himself forced to go into a specific position due to environmental hazards.
"Not bad!" He crowed, his laughter growing fiercer. "Still not enough, though!"
The Special Officer twirled once more and, with a burst of his own concentrated fire, kicked through her veil of flame, the blue flames spluttering out beneath the relentless orange and red fires as he flew down in a controlled crash towards her position.
Yes, she could see why Uncle would have trouble with this sort of individual. He was unlike any other fire-bender she had fought against.
However, Azula was already in motion. Against the likes of him, standing still was too risky to be feasible. Using the brief window where his view had been blocked by her curtain of flames, Azula attempted to replicate his own aerial movement techniques as she released flames from her hands and feet and blasted herself above him from behind.
Azula noted bitterly that her jets were far more unwieldy than his, but that was something that would change with time and practice. For now, it would allow her to meet Yoru in aerial combat instead of waiting around on the ground.
"Still not enough?" She asked, relishing the brief surprise as he turned his head to see her above him, slamming a bolt of fire into his back, knocking him out of his strange movement pattern. The rushing air as her opponent flicked a whip of flames as a reflexive counterattack was glorious. When was the last time that sparring had been so fun? "I imagine you must be regretting your earlier words."
She blasted herself downwards, ready to push the attack before he could recover. Flight was not a sustainable technique for her yet, but this 'controlled falling' method was manageable.
"Heh, you hit me!" He laughed. "Amazing! I guess I'll just have to hit you harder!"
With a sudden blast of flame, he did not make distance but shot up directly at her and began a hand-to-hand brawl. In the air.
Her mind went blank as this ridiculous form of combat began. She had been taught close-quarters combat, but fighting in the air while falling was just so vastly different that she could not help but freeze for a moment. The Special Officer punished the hesitation mercilessly, striking swiftly at her joints and twisting her arm and leg as their clash quickly turned from a battle of elegant fire-bending to a wrestling match with a hint of fire thrown in. A wrestling match that she was swiftly losing as they fell.
As they neared the ground, he grabbed her by the waist and used his flames to shoot them faster down. Azula understood his plan immediately and attempted a counterfire jet to try and deaden their momentum, but it was too little, too late.
They crashed into the field with tremendous force. Special Officer Yoru's final jet, coupled with his weight and the impact into the ground, knocked the breath out of her lungs as she landed first and also cushioned his landing. As they rolled on the ground, she kicked off from him and sent a half-hearted fire bolt, which Yoru easily dodged as he rolled into a kneeling position, limbs ready to send out more attacks if needed. Eyes gleaming with eagerness.
However, Azula found herself kneeling on the ground, gasping as her breathing slowly returned to normal. When she had lost her breath, she had been completely at his mercy. In the end, it was her defeat. She had lost.
"Not bad at all, Princess." Yoru offered a hand as he processed her non-verbal surrender. "I haven't been pushed that much…ever. Nicely done. The rumors were not exaggerated."
Azula swatted his hand away as she unsteadily raised herself to her feet. How dare he condescend to her!
"Don't patronize me." Bitterness filled her as reality properly sank in. Of course, he would condescend to her; he was the victor after all. "I lost."
She wasn't a stranger to losing fights. Azula had been bested in her youth during sparring by her much older instructors, though that had eventually changed by the time she had mastered the blue fire.
After that, she was often defeated by her Father during their training sessions. He avoided burning her, but he did not mind leaving a few lasting bruises or wrenching bones when it appeared that a lesson was not sticking quite fast enough.
Even her Uncle had humbled her during their brief clash, being far more skilled than she had given him credit for.
But this time, she was losing to one who was in her age group. Slightly older, but still a peer. It irked her, though, having a bender if equivalent skill would prove useful in sharpening her skill. While she was far more talented than previous pursuers, Azula did not wish to underestimate the Avatar as Admiral Zhao and Zuko had on multiple encounters.
Maybe if she had tried to use lightning…no, lightning would not have helped against a highly evasive enemy. Lightning was precise and powerful; she would not have had a clear shot, and if anything, the movements needed for lightning would have simply given him another opening to strike. It would have only mattered for that brief opening in the sky, and trying a taxing technique like lightning while falling in the air was not something she wanted to risk.
"I'm not." The Special Officer rolled his eyes. "Losing to me is hardly a big deal."
"It is!" She hissed, wincing slightly and letting out a cough. Great. The fall had probably bruised her chest. Hopefully, it hadn't been enough to affect her breathing for any period of time. "In the future, we will be sparring more."
"I hope so." His eyes glittered, though the maniacal gleam from before had begun to fade into the calmer and more collected individual that had graced the Ashstrider. "While I do not doubt that the Avatar and his allies will prove entertaining, chasing after them will be boring without some way to pass the time productively."
Azula found herself staring at the boy, who suddenly seemed to become self-conscious as he shuffled in place. The nervousness did some work, and she found her rage and disbelief at losing slowly taking a backseat to amusement and curiosity.
"What?"
"I am considering what your motivations are." Everyone wanted something. Ty Lee wanted to be unique. Mai wanted the freedom to express herself and rebel against her strict parents. Zuko wanted to regain something he never had: his Father's love.
Even the old fuddy-duddy, Uncle, probably had something he wanted. Either something as stupid as he likes opening a teashop or some impossible task, such as making her brother not an absolute talentless idiot.
She had initially thought that he had so readily agreed to join her group for the opportunity to advance in position, but from what she could grasp of his personality, he had little interest in such things.
She dropped to the ground and fell on her back, letting out a sigh. Between the long ride, the ambush, and now their spar, she was feeling tired.
"Maybe I don't have any?" Special Officer Yoru laughed, though it was a far more normal sort of laugh than the mad cackle he had unleashed while fighting. Intuiting the unspoken offer, he lay on the grass a small distance away from her own position. "Always a possibility."
"Everyone wants something."
"You know I like to fight." True, but she doubted that was all he wanted. If he wished to fight, simply throwing himself on the front line would be enough. His strength would see him deployed against strong enemies eventually.
"I doubt that is the end-all of your ambitions." His amusement seemed to briefly disappear. Though the only indicator that her words had reached him was the brief widening of his eyes.
"Heh, sure. Don't forget that not everyone knows what they really want." He was being surprisingly resistant about this, which meant it was important. "Are you alright, Princess? I got a bit too into it earlier, and I did slam you into the ground quite hard."
The change in topic was obvious, but as much as she wanted to push the brief chink in that mask that revealed itself, this was not the time. Better to note it and return later when a better opportunity presents itself. Manipulation required patience. Azula could play the long game if it meant successfully satiating her curiosity.
Yoru could keep his secrets, for now.
A more comfortable silence emerged as they watched the sky, calmly.
It was not unpleasant, Azula decided.