❝ the winter solstice ❞
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Nari searches the depths of her brain for the slim lesson she learned in school-- an overview of Roku's temple and how the sages used secret passage ways, fire bending, and other unspecified locks to travel through the temple and keep the avatar safe. Of course, some of those lessons have become out dated, and Nari now narrows her focus to the architectural disadvantages of the building. The layout, weak points, so on.
"Secret passage ways mean less support," Nari mutters as she and Zuko sneak through the doors of the temple with such quietude that their furtive entrance goes completely unnoticed. "If there's less ground or structural holding, it'll be ease to collapse a wall and trap them in."
Nari says this while they sidle past a corner, checking the crossing passageways for idle sages. Zuko raises his brow to her, head sticking out just a little too far for comfort as his face reeks of confusion.
"Two things—" He starts, following a broken instinct as he turns left and Nari turns right. "How do you know this, and how do you plan on trapping them in when we're fire benders? We can't demolish a wall with bending."
Nari tilts her head-- Zuko has a point. She can't earth bend rubble against the main halls of this building, and though she's punched and kicked and busted many holes in many walls, she's not strong enough to total an aisle. "Yeah, well I learned this back in the academy," She explains, keeping a steady eye out for possible opponents or threats as she holds hushed steps to the best of her abilities. The Fire Nation has a few faults in their fashion design, one being the noisy click of shoes. Especially against harsher floors. "And I learned the maps of a few places— the school taught us a lot. I'm surprised I managed to memorize this minimal piece of information."
Nari was no scholar-- not in Fire Nation eyes, at least. Yet, anyone who listened to Nari ramble about something she actually gained from the school aside from battle instincts and fighting would think she was. Nari can recall the strangest information in the most convenient times, or she could blank out mid-sentence, It's nearly a game to gamble which one will happen in which situation.
Zuko assumes it is and always will be the former. "I didn't know you were a straight-A student. Azula would've been pissed if she found out you were better than her." He recalls, still following in her wake as she turns through the passageways of red banners and lanterns.
Nari shakes her head with a bit of pause. "Oh, I wasn't smart." She bitterly chuckles, glancing back at Zuko for a hinted second. "Or at least, I never 'applied myself'. There were a lot of letters to home for that." There's a small flash of Nari snickering in "Madam Headmistress's"—as Nari so enjoyed calling their head mistress off of the base knowledge of pointless manners— office for both the poor behavior and scores in class, along with an ill-tempered behavior.
Her mother sat next to her, a tight, warm grip against Nari's hand, the little girl having received a squeeze each time her manners were poor. Tightly braided plaits were twisted into her hair, secured at the nape of her neck with a silky red ribbon, and two of her signature cowlick-baby hairs fell out of place against her forehead. Alike to the lack of tidiness with the wisps of her hair, the school's uniform she wore was wrinkled and slightly ripped. She remembers the Headmistress's face beat red with anger. Oh, she had a few hefty disciplinary actions provided for causing such a disturbance-- both via her parents and the school.
Nari grows a mix of emotions towards the memory: pity for her younger self; anger for the way she was treated; laughter for the way she treated the bossy woman; nostalgic, even for her past and long-unseen family. Maybe she misses her mother in the smallest amount. It gravely sucks that the last night Nari saw her mother, Rai was providing the most comforting and tender care that her daughter received from her.
Nari finds that entire facade to be absolute bull-pig.
The voice of an infamous young air bender breaks the girl from her short inner-monologue. She stops mid-shuffle, holding her arm out as she bends her elbow to where her fist juts upward. The sharp motion forces Zuko to halt abruptly, almost running into her.
She presses her finger to her mouth, voice low. "Listen to their plan. If we can intercept it quietly, maybe we'll have more luck getting away with the kid without getting our asses kicked." She whispers, voice low as she crouches against the wall which leads up to a flight of stairs.
Zuko nods, and together they plot out their game plan: the avatar and his friends plan to have the fire sages open the door where he'll then sneak in. They'll assume hiding positions of their own (surely all three kids— one water bender, a non-bender, and the avatar himself) can't hide from the many sages without being seen) and Nari will politely knock the kid out by jabbing the nape of his neck with her knuckles. Zuko will steal him away while Nari keeps defense ready.
Then they'll chain him up and send him to the Fire Nation.
And maybe Nari can walk the halls of her family's home, reminding herself of that night and all that went down. Trauma can make things foggy, right?
Now is the time that the two put their plan into action.
Nari holds the same tip-toe tactic as she always does, walking on the outsides of her feet. The moment she reaches the stairs, she spots some six fire sages in a lunge, punching to a locked door with perfect synchronization as flames belch from their fists. The avatar sidles against a decorative snake that climbs up a pillar.
Zuko sneaks against the back wall whilst Nari sneaks behind Avatar Aang. One quick jab to his neck, right where it meets his skull, and the kid is out. She's only got some thirty seconds to rush the kid soundlessly to Zuko until he rises to consciousness.
And she does. For the smallest second, they're successful.
That is, they would've been, until a whiny water bender calls out for her beloved friend. "Aang, now's your chance!" Katara's voice is followed by the take-down of the many sages, rushed and snappy.
Yet the kid won't show. Zuko steps to the side, revealing himself to the small trio with Aang interlocked in his grasp. Nari slaps a palm to her face-- had Zuko not exposed their presence, they could've easily slipped away while the Water Tribe siblings rush to find the boy. "The Avatar is coming with us," Zuko announces, whipping around to face the kids.
"Us?" the brother questions before hastily getting twisted into a uncomfortable grasp.
Nari slips from behind the pillar as well. She announces her presence with hands folded against her hips, and a smirk across her sharp features, and a slide. "Awe, you think you're the only one with a little 'squad'?" She pouts, voice light as if she were coaxing a toddler with pursed lips-- her face contours with the frail and petty glower. "I'm surprised you've forgotten about me; getting your rear kicked should place a name to a face well, right? Though I thought the bruises would've done that, too?"
Sokka, as the Water Tribe boy is named, sticks out a tongue at Nari. Quite immature, if you ask her. Although he can't do anything, seeing as he's tied up, Nari pulls her shoulder back in a little flinch towards him.
Sokka recoils into the sage's grasp, and Nari turns back to her main target.
The avatar is held secure by Zuko, hands locked behind his back as a sunken head is lowered. The jolts given by the older boy direct Aang down the stairs while he turns a head over his shoulders. "Close those doors quickly!" Zuko demands, rushing the avatar down the steps.
Nari stays back to help tie up loose ends-- literally chaining Katara and Sokka against the engraved pillars. These vexing Water Tribe slums have a terrible tendency to put up a fight after they've obviously lost, squirming and squiggling while Nari holds the chain tight in her grip, walking circles around the siblings. "Let us go!" The girl demands, voice airy despite her intimidating demands.
"What makes you think I'd do that?" Nari laughs, voice dripping with enough incredulity to fill a dozen cups. She spares Katara a petty look as she passes her.
By the time Nari makes another pass around the pillar, Katara spits out a sentence. "Because the avatar is supposed to be a bridge between all nations, even spirits-"
"Yeah," Nari cuts her off. "I knew that— give me another reason as to why I should let you go."
As the chain grows shorter, she's forced closer to the siblings, and though Sokka is swelling with enough courage to trip her, he sinks in the fact that Nari's right. "She's got a point, Katara."
"Don't side with her!"
"I'm not, I'm just being reasonable."
Nari rolls her eyes at the ill-timed sibling banter, tying the chains at their ends between Katara and Sokka. She steps back, hands folded behind her back, weight evenly distributed between her long legs. "Shut up, a'right?" She says, nothing but irritated. "You've been caught. You're plan has been soiled. I stepped on your moment. Your buddy has been captured. It's over for you blue barbarians. Plead the fifth, please."
Both the teens grow equally confused by Nari's mentioning of 'the fifth'. It's known that other nations are lawless and cruel, rampaging through their lands like ruffians, but to not have an ability to remain silent? How shocking.
"It means shut up, which I shouldn't have to say twice," Nari pinches the bridge of her nose. Agni, she sounds like her mother.
A look is shared between the two 'blue barbarians'-- something cocky, something menacing.
Nari's brows pinch. "What-"
A dense jolt is shoved down her entire body, from the crown of her head to the backs of her heels. The source of such a vigorous shove is a small hand pressed against the top of her head, rebounding off of her like a vault. Such force pounds her chin against her chest, then crippling her down to her knees— the shattered impact is dispersed to her hips, shooting up in an acidic like burn. She's thrown back as the boy flips forward, shoulders slamming against the marble floors as her feet flip out in front of her.
Still laying sprawled on the ground, though she's sat up with hands supporting her shocked torso, she twists back to the actuary's doors. A brilliant blue glow shatters any hopes of capturing the avatar like glass.
Zuko yanks Nari up via portion of her bubble braid that is unattached to her scalp. With no choice, she follows him to the doors.
Zuko had not harshly pulled against her hair-- it was the fastest way to get her up, really-- but Nari in return yanks his ponytail with an equal force. They share a side-eyed glance of jesty understanding.
The teenagers step into a lunged stance before sages flank in line with them-- concomitantly, all the fire benders blast flames from locked fists.
Yet the door does not break open.
"Why isn't it working?" Zuko growls, giving up his fighting stance. "It's sealed shut!"
The next sage to speak had a voice deep and aware. He's calmed, but the slightest crack in his voice spills his irritation. "It must've been the light," He concurs, "Avatar Roku must not want us inside."
Nari huffs, truly wanting to flop against the floor with her arms stuffed together as the fold over her chest, lips puffed out, anger tangible. Since such is seen as immensely immature, she can only do the middle. With her hands tucked under her biceps and her body tensing up, her muscles naturally flex— originally, Nari would laugh at the sight. It's not every day in which a girl may call herself buff or beastly, but Nari has worked hard and gained her build though exercises and strength. Now, she's perfectly adjusted to her defined arms.
Spirits, she ought to flex more often to intimidate her opponents. Bending is something she tries to appear weak in, as it messes with her victims head, but strength could be a great fear builder-- imagine what she could pick up and launch.
Throughout her pouting, they've thrown one of the betraying sages to his knees. They've secured him with his hands behind his back.
He bows his head while Zuko lunges a fist at him, yet the prince pauses before he can act out a punch. "Why did you help the avatar?" Zuko inquires.
The sage rises his eyes to the prince, and with a sunken and sorrow voice, he answers. "Because it was once the sages' duty. It is still the sages' duty." The sage admits, words wise and heartfelt.
Nari doesn't buy it, and clearly someone else doesn't, either. Claps echo off of crimson adorned walls, shallow and deep as Nari whips around to their source.
The repetitive cheers bounce from one side of the other, dropping down to her heart as they cut the air flow from her lungs. Dozens of footsteps follow such a joyous sound, but in vain to it's name, these claps bring no happiness to a soul in this room.
After all, Nari truly doubts anyone actually likes Commander Zhao besides heartless brutes like her father.
With his halt, a collected army pauses behind him in a bowling-pin formation. The smirk of a slug plasters against his face, an arrogant greed filling the temperate air of the temple. Maybe it's the natural heat of the earth, or maybe it's the steam from Nari's skin, but waves of silky fever raise around her. "What a moving and heartfelt performance," his orotund words bleed into the room like poison, "I'm certain the Fire Lord will understand when you explain why you betrayed him-"
Agni, Nari truly hated the way people could hold such a sarcastic and mockery manner when serious events are folded in the palms of their hand. It's different when taunting the Avatar and his friends, but that's because those who do the taunting (i.e Nari and Zuko) have no military pull.
The oldest of the sages presses his knuckles in a bow while Zuko whirls around outrageously. His face spills his feelings like a waterfall-- confused with his brow tucked to his eyes, jaw slacked. Zhao could land a strike to Zuko and knock him down if the older man so desired, that's how foul the prince's posture has become.
Nari tucks her chin to her chest, eyes peering to Zhao with a blocked view from her pinched gaze-- by lowering her head, she allows for her strands of hair to fall into place over her face. To Agni, she prays Zhao won't glance at her long enough to catch the two signature curls from her part.
"-And, Prince Zuko," Zhao continues to address, all while managing to look over Nari. The acid still boils in her stomach nonetheless. "It was a noble effort, but your little smokescreen didn't work. Not to mention, your friend-" Nari's breath falls from her lips in a shake, and Spirits, she feels... faint? Scarred? Threatened? Ferocious? She's got but a clue, and it doesn't feel right. "Your friend Nari has quite some darkness to her name, does she not?"
She swallows the bile in her throat, stepping back in the slightest.
"It was a disagreement..." Zuko trails, following Zhao's trap blindly.
Oh, Nari is a storm. A violent, turbulent, raging storm. Waves thrashing against a ragged shoreline of sharp rocks which could kill— just like her. Just like she has. A dripping crimson color taints them, thickly, dripping off ridged edges of the rocks before being washed clean with even more watery, inky blood. Her stomach gnaws at her sides, her blood sings in her ears, her heart jumps to her neck. Mass fright has swarmed over her brain, but Nari knows better than to let it slip. Her jaw tightens.
Zhao cocks a petty brow. "Oh?" He counters, voice guttural as it boils behind his throat. "You don't know of her slip?" His glued gaze is so taunting Nari forgets what is really happening here.
"Don't say it..." She thinks, her words a gnarly growl from the depths of her stomach. "Don't say it, or I'll make sure you'll receive the same fate."
Zhao laughs.
Oh.
Oh...
She'd said that out loud, hadn't she?
Zuko turns to Nari with a look of upmost horror-- what fate is she speaking of? What has she done to the boy that burned her, what could've put so much blood on her hands?
Nari had no clue of the fire that swirls from her fingertips until she has to ball her hands into fists with enough pressure to produce diamonds. As she presses her fists against the biceps of the other arm, desperately needing something that'll contain the rage that burns so indefatigably it scrunches her shoulders to the sky, her skin singes against it's self. The numb stab of fire is nothing but a symptom of her anger, at this point.
Zhao crosses his arms as well, only, instead of hiding his power, he flaunts it-- puffing out his chest, raising his chin, widening his lopsided smile. All a facade of confident prowess. "Let's just say Nari's got one foot in the grave. That little death glare she's giving me-" His eyes jump from Zuko to Nari while his pointed index finger bounces from his chest to the girl's direction, "-it was quite effective on a poor boy named Akio."
Nari shudders. Her eyes pick from anger-- Spirits, don't let her cry. There's a vast multitude of words to describe Nari's vexation, but the young girl is welling to the brim of her pores with a sticky rage that terrify her of it's release.
She is left speechless.
Any words from her, and blood might just spill from her lips like vomit— that, or fire. Commander Zhao knows this, too which is why he's so easily able to mentally corner her. "Three traitors in one day, the Fire Lord will be pleased."
Two guards quickly detain Nari and Zuko as if it were nothing. A vibrant red rash has swelled it's way around Nari's skin; from her finger tips, down to her feet, and back up to her ears, neck, and cheeks. Her shoulders burn with the heat.
All Nari can see when she closes her eyes is the silhouette of Akio against a burning red, the embers of fire outlining a gaping hole in his chest— the burning smell of flesh stings her nostrils. She practices breathing, on the off chance that today of all days, her meditation my work, but when she breaths in, it's Akio's body, and when she breaths out, it's the rocky, bloody shore.
And over that turmoil, Zuko's muffled voice booms through cotton filled ears. "You're too late, Zhao," Zuko bellows, "The avatar is inside, and the doors are sealed."
"No matter," Zhao dismisses, "sooner or later, he has to come out."
The mere sound of Zhao get's Nari's blood fuming again, soaring through her veins. Not even breathing can calm her at this point.
Both Nari and Zuko match Katara and Sokka, linked to a pillar with a cold metal chain. It appears, this works out well for no one.
Nari now get's the other girl's plea of release— it's sheer desperation, a last-resort to be set free, and a highly regarded will of hope. Some people lack this. Some people keep their mouths shut, because they have been deprived of hope. Washed away like writing in sand.
Beside her, Nari can feel the concern Zuko has placed to her. It's not for her or of her, he's concerned for himself— instead of pitying Nari, he's fearful of what she's done to the boy. She can sense it. His fright is shown in how he's distanced himself further than necessary, how he radiates it by tapping his foot or casually opening his mouth to ask a question.
No further words are spoken between the two.
Not even when a blue light, familiar in it's brightness and suddenness, signals the avatar's return from the sanctuary. Smoke trails from under the door, covering the floor like a rug as everyone in the room averts their eyes from the blinding sight.
Then, when Zhao and his army blasts fire from their outstretched arms, Roku appears.
It is a truly unimaginable sight. Impossible. The Fire Nation avatar has been gone many years over a century, but he takes his place in Aang as he swirls the fire around him. Redirecting the fire after absorbing it in one blow, Roku pushes it towards his opponents, burning Nari, Zuko, the Water Tribe siblings, and the betrayed sage's chains to ash in the process.
Zuko knows better to stick around— after all, the avatar is headed to the north poll— and darts off the moment his chains are loose. Nari shamefully follows; she's never taken a liking to running, but her feet carry her faster than Zuko's as she rushes back for their ship. Anything to get away from her death sentence. Anything to get her away from Zhao.
Anything to get away from whatever she felt back there.
The boat ride back is filled with silence, no words spared by either team. Nari keeps her eyes on the water, maintaining her breath and clearing it of abnormal heat, while Zuko keeps his eyes locked on the Avatar. Nothing within the past two days have been anything near what Nari could've imagined, but then again, capturing the avatar never seems to go as planned.
It's still a tough deal to wrap her mind around. She ought to learn how to go with the flow.
Finally, Nari breaks the silence. She decides to test the waters-- if Zuko responds, he's not as terrified as she thought, or he just hasn't pieced two and two together yet. Her voice sounds foreign as it leaves her lips. "Well, that could've gone better," She barely lifts her head from crossed arms, resting on the rim of the boat.
Zuko musters a bitter laugh, yet his words still maintain that permanent, sandy rasp of his. "You think?"
Nari fights the temptation to dip her fingers in the water— in her defense, the boat doesn't seem to be going to fast. With the returned confirmation from Zuko, she can't keep her mouth from becoming her stomach; sour and unwieldy with words which can't stop flowing. "Zhao's got his information twisted." She admits, eyes stuck to the silver glittering sea. "Akio— that boy who gave me the burns— he was arrogant, entitled, rude, mouthy, all that," Her hand waves in circles over the water like she's a water bender, though a flame weaves through her fingers. The raised hair on her neck gives a striking suspicion that Zuko is watching her. "One night, my mother introduced me to him, and I said one or two sassy things."
"That's not surprising." He mutters. Zuko must be walking circles around the boat's deck, due to the noisy steps which grow distance before growing closer.
"He grabbed my hand-" through the crack in her voice, the sheer ache it brings, Nari discontinued her words, rerouting her story to another concealed path. "My father said I'd 'show him how much he hurt me'. Akio was a pig, but I didn't mean to-"
Zuko cuts off Nari's self-loathing pity party, and purposefully so. He could hear from one small crack in the word 'hurt' that Nari was just that, and intentionally, he turns the conversation to a completely different path. She doesn't want to continue her conversation, much less does she want to recall her past, so maybe a shot back at the avatar can flip her mind. "If we don't get to the avatar before he reaches the north pole, we'll probably need coats."
Nari tilts her head from side to side after picking up on Zuko's action. "If I'm angry enough, I won't." She jokes, finally looking up to the moon instead of the light which jumps off the inky water's surface. "I'm sure Iroh can give you a lesson on fire breath."
Zuko slaps a palm to his face. "Then I'd be risking some stupid, thirty minute long story, or some hidden proverb that makes absolutely no sense."
Until Nari and Zuko return to the much larger ship, they kid and poke fun at Iroh's habits of tea or warm noodles or songs or whatever the man has up his draped sleeves-- to the best of their abilities, they shove whatever Zhao or Nari spoke to the back of their minds. That can be processed at a later date, after more of her story is told.
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published in may 2021 | 4,000 | written by peri
I am currently concussed at the time of this publishing, therefore a new update may take a while. I am very busy with college cheer (that gave me a concussion) as well :)
I fully understand that this is a shorter chapter. It's 2,000 words shorter, to be honest. But, as you've read and noticed, this chapter is packed with a lot of stuff-- to me, this chapter has felt something in the eight thousand range, although I know it's far from that.
There's a lot about what Nari has said which you already know, but the characters here (aside from Nari) do not. It was exposed in this chapter, so I've made it shorter for processing, and I've added a happy(ish) ending because sometimes, those things are needed. Tough chapters can be detrimental, and light scenes can be a fresh breath of air.
Avatar: The Last Airbender does an astounding job of realizing this and depicting it within their episodes and plot. Obviously, we mimic perfection (plus I believe sometimes all someone needs is a happy ending or bit), so that is what you may pick up in my works.
Thanks for reading!!!