The Lunar Warrior [ATLA FF]

Book 1: Water | 42 | Liberation III

His grandchildren continued to cheer him on from afar, oblivious to the string of absolutely foul words coming out of his mouth.

As everyone was speaking about their families, the children grew somber. Many of them had been taken from their family and forced to work in this unsavory silo. They'd lost that light that children usually had because of it, learning the harshness of the world much too soon.

"I wonder if Mama's doing okay..."

"Yeah. I was going to be a big sister before they took me... Were they a boy? A girl?" The child welled up with tears, "Do they look like me?" A small, hopeful smile grew on her face. "I'll... I'll be able to finally meet them when I go home."

When. No 'if', not 'never', but 'when'.

Such a simple change, but it was beautiful to Aang, who knew hope when he heard it. "Yeah, you will! And you'll be the best big sister ever!" He assured. "All of your families will be ecstatic to see you. They're winning their own battle back in your hometowns."

"What?!" The children were alarmed. "T-they're fighting, too? They could get hurt!"

"Those soldiers were running for the hills the last time I checked."

"HUH?!"

"Big Bro Aang, you gotta tell us more!"

"TELL US! TELL US!" They chanted, flagging the poor Airbender down in a pile.

"Alright! Okay! I'll tell you! I'll spill!" He laughed. "See that guy over there?" He pointed to the area where soldiers were being decimated by metal and lava shurikens.

Torrents of heavy strikes befell the fire nation guards. Icy blues met saturated pinks within throughs of glinting metal and molten projectiles. Ayaan's speed coupled with Yon's strength as he ran across the wall of rock, taking out soldier after soldier with ease.

The children had stars in their eyes.

"Woah..."

"They're so cool!"

"Can I bend lava when I get big?"

"...I'm going to use a spear when I get big. Then, I'll be awesome."

Aang felt the same awe as the children were, having to tear himself from the fantastical scene to tell his tale, "Ehem. Before we got here, Ayaan—that awesome spear man over there—gave us a task to do..."

It was the dead of night in the village. Everything was still, silent, and tranquil. If not for the ominous rustling within the trees, one wouldn't even think the town was moments away from being completely turned over.

In this region alone, there were five mining towns. Aang, Sokka, and the Phantom Unit had set up their bases in each of them. There was only one fire nation stronghold in that area in particular, but small camps were stationed near every town to keep tabs.

Hala's town had the misfortune of being the home of that particular stronghold, which was why her home was the worst off out of all of the others.

Each town was surrounded by minable caves, dormant forests, and a few streams and rivers. Ayaan, along with the villagers, planted many traps in all of these areas. They weren't strangers to setting traps, used to doing so before the fire nation ran everything away. But Lord Ayaan proved to be much more capable than they realized.

He'd taught them how to make traps that snapped, ensnared, swung, and even bombarded. There were knots they'd never seen and formations that left them speechless. All of them were vicious works of pure genius, so well placed that the villagers themselves had to be extra careful.