"You okay?" Katara asked him, glancing over to him concern.

"Yeah," Aang nodded, "You?"

"Doing great," Katara breathed out.

They cautiously began to walk down the courtyard, not really sure of what they were looking for but knowing that flying straight back up to the top of the spire might not be the best idea. Still though, Katara was beginning to believe that that was the only thing they could do.

"Aang," she started, "I think that maybe we should just..."

She was cut off when a crackling sound filled the air. Aang reacted on instinct, jumping in front of Katara and bringing a wall of earth up in front of them. The wall instantly shattered however as blast of lighting struck it. Aang and Katara both flinched from the resulting explosion, and the dozens of small pebbles that had pelted them, but they didn't have time to recover. Aang heard another lightning strike originate from somewhere and he quickly dove to the side, bringing Katara with him, just as the lightning struck the spot they had been moments ago. The couple had been knocked to the ground by the blast and Appa, who had been walking behind them, let out a loud, distressed groan and began to back away.

Aang sighed in relief as he noticed that his animal guide was getting himself too safely by backing up as far as he could go without leaving his master behind. Instead of worrying about him, he led Katara to run and take cover behind one of the many pillars in the courtyard just as the ground exploded behind them from another lightning strike.

Once they were behind the pillar, with their backs leaning against it, the couple took a moment to catch their breath before Aang cautiously peeked his head out from behind the pillar to see if he could find out where the attacker was. As it turned out, the attacker wasn't hard to find. He saw another flash of lighting appear from a balcony that was looking over the courtyard. He quickly moved back so he was completely behind the pillar as the lightning struck the side of it. A chuck of the pillar exploded, sending stone flying everywhere. Aang hissed as he felt the heat of the blast burn his skin slightly.

Katara looked at him in concern, wanting to help him but knowing that they didn't have any time for a healing session at the moment.

"Okay," Aang told her, "The lightning is coming up from a balcony overlooking us and about a few dozen feet up. Do you see it?"

Katara held up a finger in a silent request for Aang to give her a second before she looked around the side of the pillar, quickly spotting was Aang was talking about. She moved her head back into cover before another lightning strike came.

"Yeah, I see it," she said.

"We need to get up to their somehow," Aang explained.

"Yeah, but how?" Katara asked, "Those lightning blasts aren't exactly leaving us much of an opening to move."

As if on cue, another blast struck the pillar they were hiding behind, shaking the ground around them.

"Well, I don't think we can hide behind this thing much longer," Aang observed, noticing that their pillar was going to collapse on itself if it was hit a few more times.

He looked around to find the next closest pillar to them, seeing one a couple of dozen feet away.

"See that pillar?" Aang pointed to it, and he waited for Katara to nod in acknowledgment before he spoke again, "I'm going to try to get over to it. Once I get there, I'll cover you and you can make you way over to me."

"Okay," Katara told him, giving him a small nod, "I'm ready when you are."

Aang took a few more moments to prepare himself, feeling his heart beating loudly in his chest from nervousness. It was something he felt every time he got into a fight and this one was no exception. From Katara's rapid breathing, and spiraling emotions he was feeling from her, he knew that she was nervous to.

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