It was a long journey before we finally reached the Earth Kingdom. The people have changed. They've become so desperate. When we entered the Earth Kingdom, a general called Fong tried to force Aang into the Avatar state by almost drowning Katara. It was a terrible mess. After that we bumped into a group of nomads, that took us through a secret tunnel, that would lead to 'the cave of two lovers'. Our group got divided in two and I had to travel with Sokka and the nomads, while Aang and Katara were all alone with Appa. It was quite the journey, but we survived. It was time for us to go back to Omashu, so Aang could teach Earthbending from King Bumi.
We were climbing up the hill to overlook earth kingdom of Omashu. Sokka was already on top and smiled.
"I present you," he said looking back to us, "the Earthkingdomcity of Oma... shu...."
"Oh no!" Sokka said immediately and I pushed him away to look what happened. Smoke rose out of Omashu, and over the wall hung a huge red flag with a black flame in the middle.
"I can't believe it... I know wars spread far, but Omashu always seemed... untouchable." Aang said quietly.
"Up until now it was,"I said with a sigh, "now Ba Sing Se is the only great earthkingdom stronghold left."
"It's horrible.. but we have to move on," Katara said and she walked up to Aang, but he refused. "No, I have to find Bumi."
"Aang, please stop, you don't even know if Bumi's still..." Sokka swallowed his words.
"What? If he's still what?!" Aang asked angrily.
"u-u-around." Sokka replied carefully.
"We are going to find out." Aang said and he let us on Appa to a secret passage, deep in the valley.
"A giant drain?" I asked, covering my nose.
Aang nodded excitedly and we stepped in. The smell was unbearable and with great difficulty we made our way into town.
It was dark already and no one was on the street. We climbed out of the sewers and looked around. Sokka started to anxiously pull something off his arm. "THEY WON'T LET GO!" He yelled, pulling the things off him. "Stop! STOP!" I said hastily, trying to shield myself from his flapping arms. When I looked closer I noticed the little purple things all over his arms were pentapusses. I rubbed on the pentapusses' round head and they let Sokka go. Only a few red marks were left on his skin.
"Hey!" A voice came out of the dark and suddenly 3 guards walked towards us. Aang quickly covered his arrow and the four of us smiled friendly at the guards.
"We were just on our way home, sir. Goodnight!" I said quickly and we turned around.
"What's the matter with him?" One of the guards asked, pointing at Sokka.
"Oh... he has eh, pentapox, sir," Katara said quickly, "it's highly contagious."
Sokka started to act like a zombie and all the guards stood still, motionless. "And deathly." I added seriously.
"We better wash our hands and burn our clothes!" The main guard said and they quickly ran away.
"Let's find Bumi and get out of here!" Katara hissed as we were wandering the streets.
"Where do you think they would keep him?" Sokka asked Aang.
"Somewhere he cannot earth bend... somewhere made of metal."
Two rocks rolled down from the hill and Aang looked where they would go. It was about to crush a couple of men, but Aang blew them away and the four looked down. When I looked closer I angrily looked at Aang.
"THE RESISTANCEEE!" A woman yelled. Guards climbed up the hill, followed by a young woman that I knew too well. "You should have let it roll." I said with gritted teeth, looking at the woman.
"Hello Istari." Mai said with her terribly exhausting voice.
"Mai." I replied with gritted teeth.
"Okay this is all very nice, but we have to go now!" Sokka said, pulling me with him. We ran away from the guards and Mai. I stopped and turned around. I waved my arms in the air, the electricity slowly forming. Before I could strike, the ground disappeared underneath our feet. We fell down and with a thud, we landed onto a pile of straw. Anxiously I looked around and saw we were surrounded by Earthkingdom people.
"So... is King Bumi with you guys? Is he leading the resistance?" Aang asked immediately. " Of course not. The day of the invasion, we readied ourselves for battle. We were prepared to defend our city, to fight for our lives and our freedom. But before we even had a chance, King Bumi surrended." The man said.
I sighed. "Surely he has his reasons...? Maybe he waits to-" Before I could finish my sentence, I got interrupted.
"-He looked me in the eye and said he was going to do nothing," he sighed, "it doesn't matter now. Fighting the Fire Nation is the only path to freedom, and freedom is worth dying for."
"Actually, there's another path to freedom..." Aang said and everyone looked up, you could leave Omashu. You're directing al your enery to fight the Fire Nation, but you're outnumbered. You can't win. Now is the time to retreat so you could live to fight another day."
"You don't understand," the resistance leader replied, "they have taken our home, and we have to fight them at any cost."
I hesitated, but stepped forward. "I know what the Fire Nation is capable of, I think we all do," I said, looking around, "but you can't win this, trust me."
"What does a watertribe girl know of this war? "The resistance leader sneered. "Because I have seen it," I replied calmly, "up close. I have seen their weapons, it's beyond anything you can ever imagine."
The men started to whisper and the man next to the resistance leader looked to him. "Living to fight another day sounds pretty good, Yalo."
"Yeah, they are right!" Another said. Yalo sighed and nodded. "Fine," he said, "but there's thousands of citizens taht need to leave. How are we going to get them all out?"
Sokka put on his 'thinking face' and started to 'hmmm...'. "Suckers!" He shouted. "What?" I asked confused as everyone stared at him in confusion. "You're all going to come down with a nasty case of pentapox." He said with a big smile. "Sokka, that's a great idea!" Katara said happily.
They sent some of the men down to the sewers to collect our small purple friends. While they were getting ready I sat down and overlooked the poor refugees. "Are you okay?" Aang asked as he sat down next to me. I nodded slowly and sighed. "It's just difficult to see, you know. So many people who have lost their homes, who have to live underground in fear." I replied.
"I know, it's truly heartbreaking..." Aang said sadly and he looked up to me. "You recognized that girl back there, who is she?" He asked carefully. I looked at Aang and growned. "Mai... We were in the same class at the Royal Fire Nation Academy. She was friends with princess Azula and Ty Lee, they were really a trinity. They always bullied me and Zuko, quite annying actually. But Mai always had a crush for Zuko." I replied grimly.
"She looked pretty dangerous to me." Aang mumbled. "She is." I replied, but Azula is the one you need to be most careful for.
The men came back with buckets full of pentapi. We covered ourselves in the marks of the pentapi, but we also had to act sick, of course.
Sokka intructed the men of how to do so, and we went back to the streets. "Ok, everyone! Into sick formation!" Sokka yelled. The people started to walk towards the gates, grunting and wailing. Aang grabbed his glider and didn't follow us. "Aang, aren't you coming with us?" Katara asked. "I'm not leaving until I find Bumi." He replied when he put Momo on the ground. Katara, Sokka and I made our way among the people to the gates. The guards were hysterially yelling 'plague!" over and over, and they opened the gates. We safely made our way outside of the city, and set up a camp.
When it was dark, Aang came back with Flopsy, but without Bumi. Yalo walked up to us and sighed. "We just did a head count." He said. "Oh no, was someone left behind?" Katara asked worriedly. "Eh no, we have an extra." Yalo said and he pointed to the ground. A baby was holding on to momo, dragging him across the ground.
We were sitting around a campfire when the baby started playign with Sokka's stuff. "No," Sokka hissed as he yanked his stick out of the baby's hands, "bad Fire Natio baby!" The baby started to cry and I slapped Sokka. "Give that back!" I hissed. Sokka hesitated but gave back his stick and the baby was happily playing with it. "Oh you're so cute!" Katara said and she hugged the baby.
"He is cute now, but when he's older he'll join the Fire Nation army. You won't think he's so cute, he'll be a killer by then." Yalo said grimly. Katara hold up the baby. "Does this look like the face of a killer to you?" Yalo sighed and shook his head. Shortly after, a hawk landed next to us, carrying a message. "It's from the Fire Nation governor, he thinks we kidnapped his son." Aang said. I looked down at... Mai's little brother and I quickly put him off my lap on the ground.
"He wants to make a trade, his son for.. King Bumi." Aang said shocked. "Well, that's good.... right?" Katara asked. I shrugged and sighed. "Trading a baby for a king? Doesn't sound like a good deal to me... But on the other hand, I think the governor is in charge and he'd do anything for his son. On the other handOzai certainly wouldn't approve, my father got killed for less..."
"This is really not helpful Iz." Sokka replied.
"We have to try." Aang said determined.
The next morning Aang decided to bring the baby back. "You are walking straight into a trap... Do you realize that?" Sokka asked him. "I don't think so," Aang said, "I think the governor wants his son back as much as we want Bumi. It is a new day, I feel that we are doing the right thing."
The four of us waited with the baby in front of the statue of Ozai, that was almost finished. Mai walked up from the other side, followed by Ty Lee and Azula. I shivered and crossed my arms over my chest.
"Oh my goshhhhh, Istari! How good to see you, how are youuu?" Ty Lee said happily. Awkwardly and not sure what to do I smiled. "Fine, Ty Lee, thanks... and you?"
"Good! This is like a reunion!" Ty Lee said happily. "We are not here for that, Ty Lee!"Azula sneered.
We heard the sound of something being brought down. We looked up and saw King Bumi, stuck in an iron coffin with only his face being visible. He was being loweredby a rope. "Hello there!" He said happily, "What a nice day isn't it?" Aang smiled.
"We are here now," Aang started, "the baby for King Bumi." Mai walked up to them, but Azula stopped her. "Can I say something?" Azula asked and she looked at Aang, "we are trading a two year old for a king. A powerful earthbending King," Bumi nodded in agreement, "I am sorry but that doesn't seem like a fair trade to me." Azula smiled innocently, so innocently it almost looked real and it made me gag. Mai nodded in agreement. "You are right Azula, the deal is off." Mai said and Bumi got pulled up by the rope again up. "Well, see you later!" Bumi yelled and he snorred loudly while he laughed.
"Bumi!" Aang yelled and he ran up to Azula. Azula shot her blue fire at Aang and Aang jumped up. "The Avatar!" Azula yelled amazed, "this is my lucky day." Azula jumped up and crawled up the statue like a lizzard.
"We need to get the baby out of here!" Sokka yelled while holding the two year old. Katara went to Mai, ready to attack. "Allow me!" I shouted and I ran past Katara up to Mai and started to fight. Meanwhile, Aang succeeded to cut the rope and slide down the city, followed by Azula. Sokka called Appa and during that time Katara and I took care of Ty Lee and Mai. She managed to freeze Mai's arm, but got paralized by Ty Lee's chi block. I created a wave of fire and managed to sweep the two girl's away before jumping into Appa's saddle with Katara .
When we flew over the city, we saw Aang fighting Azula. "There he is!" I yelled and I pointed down. After a minutes, Aang got rid of Azula. We couldn't find Aang for a moment, but eventally we saw him. He was alone. "Where is Bumi?" Katara asked. "He won't come with us. He has to stay here for a while. We need to be patient." Aang replied calmly. I looked down to the baby and sighed. "We need to return him to his parents, they must be worried." I mumbled.
Aang nodded. "I will be back, I will return him." Aang grabbed the baby carefully out of my arms and he went on. When Aang returned I made some rice and tea. While we were enjoying my outstanding dish, Katara asked Aang a serious question, one of those we wish we had an answer for. "Where will we find you an earthbending teacher? Who will it be?"
Aang finsihed his bowl of rice and looked up. "I have to find someone who waits and listens before he strikes. Someone who knows the true meaning of earthbending." I nodded in agreement. "Those kind of benders are the best," I replied quietly, "but it will be hard to find someone like that."
"Exactly! This is hopeless." He yelled and he laid down on his back. Katara and I looked at eachother.
"We will find someone Aang, even if we have to search in every corner of the entire earthkingdom." I said with a friendly smile. "Really?" Aang asked.
"Really." Katara replied.