The Thief |Sokka

TEN

So they did. And they waited.

Jaya could tell the moment the comet was coming for the edge of the horizon started becoming scarlet. She instantly nudged Hakoda sitting next to her and pointed at the sky. Quicker than she anticipated, the scarlet hue of fire spread in the sky until it covered it whole. She could do nothing but watch in awe as the light blue existed no more.

"It's so beautiful," she muttered.

From the corner of her eyes, she saw the fire in the middle of the town grow in height more and more until it reached twice its initial size. Her mouth parted as if to speak but nothing ever came out.

"Dangerous, that's what it is," the Duke murmured from a few ways away. "I prefer it when the sky's color is normal."

"I hope Sokka and Katara are okay," Hakoda said under his breath, "Aang too."

"They can protect themselves," Jaya attempted to comfort him, "they will be safe."

The comet's pass lasted for only a few minutes but it felt like it was a lot more than that. In the end, though, everything returned to normal. The fire started to lose its intensity, the edge of the sky turned azure once more until it covered it whole, the scarlet tone existing no more. All of them exhaled a sound of relief.

"Let's go," Hakoda said at once, already standing. He outstretched a hand to Jaya that she took in order to help herself up.

"Where are we going?" Teo asked as he wheeled himself over.

"To the palace," he explained, "everything is done now. They should be expecting us."

"Lead the way, then," Haru nodded at him. Hakoda didn't waste a moment to leave. The rest followed right after him. 

They took their airship and headed to the Fire Nation capital. It didn't take all that long to reach their destination. It was deserted, and as they passed over the palace, Jaya could see smoke rising from the buildings around it. Her brows furrowed.

"What happened here?" she muttered, unable to keep her thoughts to herself. No reply ever came as Hakoda reached Teo's side.

"There should be space in the Fire Nation's caldera."

"Yes," he nodded, "I thought this must be where they stored all those airships that day."

"There might be Fire Nation soldiers there," Haru pointed out with a small frown, but Hakoda didn't seem bothered at the thought.

"Then we will cut them down."

When they reached the caldera, though, they found it empty. No airships remained, not a hint of Fire Nation soldiers around. They landed and cautiously left the airship.

"And now what?" Jaya softly asked. "Do we just get in the palace and look around for our allies?"

Hakoda clapped her back as he walked past her, "Yes."

She let out a short huff of laughter but still followed after him. The palace wasn't far from the caldera, she realised soon enough. Their company passed through the main doors leading inside the palace to find the plaza as deserted as it had been when they had flown past it. Jaya looked around for any trace of life, but in the end, they were found first.

"You're here!"

She snapped her head in the direction of the voice and instantly relaxed when she saw Zuko walking their way. He seemed just as relieved as she was to see them there. He came to a stop in front of them, nodded out of respect at Chief Hakoda.

"Zuko, we're so glad to see you're okay," Jaya spoke before anyone else could. "What happened here?"

"An Agni Kai," he replied with pursed lips. "It's done, now. We won here."