AFTER RUNNING FOR what Yuen thought was for hours, they found themselves back at the village. Slowly, they chose to walk, because their legs were sore from all the running.
The little kids all cheered at the sight of Aang. "Yay!" "Aang's back!" They all shouted, running towards the young boy. Yuen smiled to see the happy kids.
Sokka stepped forward. Yuen's smile dropped once she saw his face. "I knew it! You signaled the Fire Navy with that flare!" He began. "You're leading them straight to us, aren't you?" Sokka scoffed. Yuen sighed, walking towards her cousin.
"Aang didn't do anything wrong. It was all an accident." Yuen stood up for Aang. "Yeah! We were on the ship and there was this booby trap and, well, we... we boobied right into it." Aang admitted. Katara sent a disappointed look to Yuen.
"Yuen, you shouldn't have gone on that ship. Now, we could all be in danger!" Kanna said, Katara nodding beside her.
"Don't blame Yuen. I brought her there. It's my fault." Aang said. "Aha! The traitor confessed! Warriors, away from the enemy." Sokka exclaimed. "The foreigner is banished from our village!" Sokka declared. Katara and Yuen gasped.
"Sokka, you are making a mistake." Katara stepped to her cousin and friend. "No, I'm keeping my promise to Dad. I'm protecting you and Yuen from threats like him." Sokka pointed to the bald boy.
"Aang is not our enemy!" Katara yelled. Yuen started to get irritated. "Don't you see? Aang's brought us something we haven't had in a long time; fun." Katara explained to her tribe.
"Fun? We can't fight firebenders with fun." Sokka reminded his sister.
"You should try it sometime." Aang smiled innocently. "Get out of our village, now!" Sokka demanded. Yuen glanced at Kanna. "Gran-Gran, please, don't let Sokka do this." Yuen pleaded. Kanna shook her head, frowning. Yuen sighed.
"Yuen, you knew going on that ship was forbidden. Sokka is right. I think it's best if the airbender leaves." Kanna agreed with Sokka.
Yuen groaned. "Fine! Then I am banished as well!" She shouted. The tribe flinched at her sudden outburst. Even Aang and Katara were shocked.
"Come on, Aang, let's go. Katara, are you coming?" She grabbed Aang, and spared a glance at her cousin. Katara smiled and nodded.
"Where do you think you two are going?" Sokka shouted. "To find a waterbender. Aang is taking us to the North Pole!"
Aang smiled. "I am? Great!"
"Yuen!" Sokka stopped her. "Would you really choose him over your tribe? Your own family?" He asked her. Yuen's hard face dropped. She felt tears form in her eyes. She had never been in such position. Or in any conflict at all, actually.
"Yuen, I don't want to come between you and your family." Aang placed a hand on Yuen's shoulder before approaching Appa.
"So, you're leaving? You're leaving me?" She asked, her voice soft and sad. "This is goodbye?" Being sensitive was something she hated. But it was also what made her human.
Aang smiled at her. "Thanks for penguin sledding with me." He thanked her.
Katara finally intervened. "Where will you go?" She asked. "Guess i'll go back home and look for the airbenders." He answered. "Wow, I haven't cleaned my room in a hundred years. Not looking forward to that." Yuen laughed and pulled him into a tight hug.
He slowly pulled away, and jumped on Appa's head. "It was nice meeting everyone." Aang said. "Let's see your bison fly now, air boy."
"Come on, Appa, you can do it." Aang encouraged. "Yip yip!" He said. It did not work. "Yeah, I thought so." And after those words, a large snowball hit his face. It was thrown by an angry Yuen.
"Yeah, I deserved that..."
A little girl ran forward. "Aang, don't go. I'll miss you." Yuen's heart melted. "I'll miss you, too." Aang replied. Yuen smiled sadly at him. And soon, Aang was gone.
Yuen stood still. Kanna approached her. "Yuen, you'll feel better after you—" Kanna was interrupted by a very angry Yuen.
"Are you happy now? There goes Katara's one and only chance at becoming a good Waterbender, and my chances of leaving this miserable place!" Yuen shouted. Yuen never liked to admit it, but, she found herself very uncomfortable in certain parts of her tribe. She hated feeling that way, but she did.
She would be reminded of the bad times. She hated remembering anything of that time.
THE FIRE NAVY SHIP hit their land. Sokka stood before them, with bravery. The earth started to rumble. Katara grabbed ahold of Yuen's hand.
The ship came closer, and closer into view. Yuen dropped Katara's hand subconsciously, and stared out into the fog. "Sokka! Move!" She yelled for her cousin to get out of the ship's way. There stood a fallen baby, by a crack.
Yuen ran to the baby and grabbed her just before the ice broke and handed her to Katara. She turned around. "Sokka! Get out of the way!" She yelled again, her voice more pleadingly than ever.
But it didn't matter, because he was shoved away. The bridge from the ship dropped to their land. Sokka had to run to the side to avoid getting crushed by the ginormous bridge.
And soon, came down the prince of the Fire Nation along with his soldiers. Sokka let out a loud yell, running towards the prince.
He was pushed aside very easily. The village gasped in disbelief.
Yuen was closer to the prince than her village. She wanted to protect her tribe from the evil prince. But she was still afraid. Of course she was. He stared at her. "Where are you hiding him?" He asked Yuen. She didn't answer.
She reached out and grabbed Kanna from the crowd. "He'd be about this age, master of all 4 elements." He told them. He shoved Kanna back into Katara's arms.
The prince threatened them with a little bit of fire, but Yuen subconsciously used her airbending to stop it. The people gasped. "Yuen... was that—" Katara was cut off. "Airbending..." Kanna said.
Yuen looked down, nodding gently. "So you're the Avatar?" The prince chuckled. "Impossible. You're just a little girl!" He said. Yuen fisted her hands. "Yeah, well you're just a man child with a ponytail." She retorted. The man grunted.
She had seen prince Zuko before. She had taken a notice of his ponytail. He tried using his firebending once again, but was stopped by another yell by Sokka. Sokka missed and fell. Yuen huffed. "Leave my tribe alone, you sad little... ferret?"
Sokka let out another yell and threw a boomerang at Zuko. He dodged it. "Show no fear!" A kid encouraged Sokka. Sokka still hadn't realised the Avatar stood right beside him.
He grabbed the spear and ran forward. But Zuko grabbed ahold of it and broke it into pieces. Yuen smiled, watching as the boomerang came back and hit Zuko's helmet.
His hands balled into fire. Yuen stood there, afraid and shook. She smiled once she saw Aang sledding towards them in a penguin.
He hit Zuko on his legs and he flew backwards. The children cheered, and so did Yuen. "Hey, Yuen. Hey, Katara & Sokka." Aang said. "Hi, Aang. Thanks for coming." Sokka replied.
The prince got up again. Yuen stood a little further behind Aang. But she was done with being quiet. Aang did some airbending and used it to throw snow at the fire nation's. "Looking for me?" Gasps. "You're the airbender? But... she's also the Avatar."
Aang turned to look at Yuen with wide eyes. She had a sheepish smile and nervous eyes. "There are two Avatars?" Zuko recalled.
"Aang? Yuen?"
"No way..."
"I've spent years preparing for this encounter; training, meditating. You two are just kids." He said. Aang and Yuen stopped moving for a split second. "Well, you're just a teenager." Aang said. Yuen nodded, indicating she was agreeing with him.
Zuko began firebending towards them. Aang was using his staff, whilst Yuen used her surroundings. She melted the snow and threw the cold water at Zuko's face. He groaned and continued to fire. The people all gasped and cried.
Yuen's face softened and she stopped the fire. "If we go with you, will you promise to leave my tribe alone?" She asked. The prince gave the soldiers a nod and they grabbed them.
"No, guys! Don't do this!" Katara begged. "Don't worry, Katara, it'll be okay. Take care of Appa for me, until we return."
THEY WERE WALKING to their cells, their hands were tied. Yuen was super anxious. She felt her body shaking as they walked. She bit her lip, sparing a glance at Aang. He immediately sent her a look. Yuen smiled at that. She gave him and nod and looked up.
"So, I guess you never fought any airbenders before." Yuen started the conversation nonchalantly. "I bet we can take you four with our hands tied behind our backs." Aang taunted.
"Silence!"
They came to an end, and the soldier pulled out a key. That was when Aang flew backwards to throw the two soldiers behind him away. Yuen was quick to cut off her ropes with airbendig. She rushed up and onto the Fire Navy ship.
She looked around for Aang, but sadly, he was nowhere to be seen. Yuen groaned, and turned around. She faced about 7 Fire Nation soldier with a poker face, before going into action.
She used the water that surrounded the ship to freeze the floor, making them slip and fall. She melted the ice and dumped the water on them. They continued throwing fire at her. She dodged and ran, until she was at the edge of the ship.
She gave them a deathly glare. Something in her took over and she took all the oxygen out of their lungs and threw them overboard.
She dropped to the floor, on her knees. Yuen wiped the sweat off her forehead, a sudden hint of guilt emerging from within her chest. She had just realised what she had just done. But there was no time to feel sorry. It was time to survive.
She got up and looked down at the water with a smile.
"That's for hurting my tribe," she shouted. "fire... losers? Yeah, i need to work on my name calling." She shook her head. She watched Aang jumped down near her. She ran over to him.
"Hold on, okay?" She nodded and he opened his glider to try and fly. But, Zuko stopped them.
They all fell down. Yuen was the first to get up. They heard growling and saw Appa. "What is that?" Zuko asked. "It's Appa!" Yuen cheered.
Yuen used water to created a wall of ice, to avoid the fire Zuko threw. Aang flew back, to the edge. Thankfully, he did not fall. They continued to fight. Aang and Yuen were losing. Aang stood on the edge once again, only this time, falling.
Yuen gasped. "Aang! No!" She cried out. She was thrown to the floor. "I am offering you one last chance, Avatar!" The boy yelled, panting. "You can either listen and cooperate, or ignore me and parish." He threatened.
Yuen let tears stream down her face. Suddenly, something took over her. It was the same thing she had felt a few minutes ago. She dropped her sad face, wiping away her sad tears. Her eyes started to glow and she started to elevate. Her waterbending immediately became stronger. She used it to get Aang out of the water, and also to use against the soldiers.
She created a barrier and it hit them. Hard. Yuen began to feel faint and dizzy. She let out a breath and fell to the floor. "Yuen!" She heard a worried voice. It was Aang! She smiled gently at that.
The other two landed onto the ship with Appa. "Yuen! Aang! Are you guys okay?" Katara rushed to their side. Aang wasn't drowning, so, Yuen was great. "Hey, Katara. Hey, Sokka. Thanks for coming."
"Well, I couldn't let you two have all the glory." Sokka said. "I dropped my staff—" "I got it!" Yuen sighed. "I can't believe you did that for me." Aang smiled down at her. Yuen felt her face tint a shade of pink. But their moment was interrupted by Zuko. But his spotlight was taken over by Sokka.
"Ha! That's from the water tribe!"
Katara and Aang helped Yuen get up onto Appa. She felt herself relax on the soft fur of Appa. Katara was the first to attack the soldiers.
And the first attempt was a little tacky. But the second, she managed to freeze them all. "Hurry up, Sokka!" Aang yelled.
They watched as Sokka tried breaking himself free with his boomerang. He rushed on. "Yip yip! Yip yip!" He shouted. And Appa started to fly. Yuen felt a little better now. Still very dizzy. And once she stared down into the water, nauseous.
A fireball headed their way, but Aang blocked it. The iceberg cracked and exploded and fell onto the ship. Yuen smiled as they all cheered.
"I KNEW YOU WERE GOOD, Yuen... but how did you do that? With the water?" Katara asked her. Yuen shrugged. "It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen!" Katara said, making Yuen blush. "I... don't know. I just, sort of, kind of, did it."
"Why didn't you tell us you were the Avatar?" Katara asked. Yuen looked directly at her hands. "Because... I was scared." She muttered. "Well, at least we have two now. That's great!"
Yuen smiled at Aang. His optimism was always there to comfort her.
"The world has been waiting for the Avatar to finally put an end to this war." Katara reminded them. "And how are we going to do that?" Aang asked. "According to the legend, you have to master air, water, earth and then fire." Katara listed.
"That's what the monks told me." Aang nodded. "Well, if we go to the North Pole, you two can master waterbending. And you could teach Yuen airbending!" Katara encouraged. "You're right!" Aang smiled wide, glancing at Yuen. "And Sokka, I'm sure you'll get to knock some firebender heads on the way."
"I'd like that, i'd really like that."
"Then, we're in this together."
"Alright, But before I learn waterbending, we have some serious business to attend to, here, here and here." Aang explained. "What's there?" Katara asked. "Here, we'll ride the hopping llamas," Yuen grinned. "Then way over here we'll surf on the back of giant koi fish, then back over here we'll ride the hog monkeys,"
"They don't like people riding them, but that's what makes it fun." He said. Yuen giggled, nodding. "This is going to be super duper fun!"
AUTHOR SPEAKS!
Hello, again! Congrats on making it through.
Sorry for the sudden change of scenery, by the way. I just had a spur of impluse take over. But I still hope you enjoyed the small little changes that I added. I love you and I hope you have a wonderful day :)!