YUEN AND SOKKA were tasked with the duty to collect dinner. The two decided to go separate ways, and meet up back with the others. So Yuen now walked alone, a sack filled with nothing but nuts. She squatted down and grabbed another nut. She made sure to examine it, before realising it was yet again just another rock.
Out of frustration, she groaned and threw the rock away. "This is pointless!" She whined, turning around. Yuen started walking back to their spot, with an annoyed expression on her face.
"Great, you're both back. What's for dinner?" Aang jumped off the rock, as both Yuen and Sokka sat down with them. "Well, we've got a few options. First, round nuts and some kind of oval-shaped nuts, and some rock shaped-nuts that might just be rocks."
Yuen sighed. "Same here." She poured out everything from the sack. Momo grabbed one, and banged it against another, a bigger, rock.
The earth shook, making Yuen fall flat on her back. "What was that?" Sokka cried out.
It shook once more. "It's coming from over there!" Aang pointed, before him and Katara began running. "Shouldn't we run away from huge booms and not toward them?" Sokka yelled out. "Come on, it's not like they'll listen anyway." Yuen chuckled, before they ran after them in a hurry.
So there they sat, watching a boy with a green earth-bender uniform on, with long brown hair. He was moving this large boulder around. Yuen was impressed. "It's an Earthbender!" Yuen whispered. "Let's go meet him." Aang suggested.
"He looks dangerous, so we'd better approach cautiously." Sokka nodded, but before getting the chance to stop her, Katara had approached him.
"Hello, there. I'm Katara. What's your name?" She asked. The boy dropped the rock. He began running before bending the earth to create a block between their paths. "Nice to meet you!" Aang exclaimed. "I just wanted to say hi." Katara said. "Hey, that guy's gotta be running somewhere."
"Yeah! Maybe we're near a village! And I bet that the village has much better food than some rocky nuts!" Yuen agreed before charging towards the village, faster than ever. "You traitor!" She heard Sokka's shouting.
"GREAT HAT. I'll trade you some nuts for it." Aang haggled with an old man. Yuen scoffed, assuming the man wouldn't take the deal. But to her surprise he did and Aang got the pyramid-shaped hat. He laughed in happiness, making Yuen crack a small smile as well. As the three kids laughed, they spotted Katara following and walking towards a door.
They all glanced at each other and didn't hesitate to follow her. She opened the door to reveal the same guy from earlier. "Hey, you're that kid." Katara said. "Oh, yeah. Why did you run away before?" Yuen asked, seeing his shocked face.
"Uh..." he choked. "You must have me confused with some other kid." He lied. "No, she doesn't," Aang backed her up. "We saw you earthbending." He recalled. They gasped and the lady quickly shut all windows and doors. "They saw you doing what?" She scolded her child.
"They're crazy, mom. I mean, look at how they're dressed." Haru panicked. Suddenly Yuen felt unconscious in her Southern Water Tribe clothes. "You know how dangerous that is. You know what would happen if they caught you earthbending." His mom emphasised.
"Open up!" A harsh knock on the doors startled them. Sokka peeked outside. "Fire Nation! Act natural!" He whispered. So, everyone started to panic and pose by random things. The mom opened the door, and the guard stepped inside to see Haru and Sokka admiring an apple, Katara eating berries, Aang leaning on some wood and Yuen who stood frozen.
Aang tripped and fell into some water, making Yuen giggle and break her silent character. "What do you want? I've already paid you this week." The mom shouted. "The tax just doubled. We wouldn't want an accident, would we? Fire, it's sometimes so hard to control." The guard lied.
Yuen clenched her jaw. The mockery of an ancient bending, one that has been used longer than he was alive filled her with rage.
How could that man be so careless? Ruining lives? Threatening families? Killing them? This was all her fault. A hand grabbed hers. She looked down to see it was Aang's. It was almost as if he could sense her anger. He sent her a reassuring look, a smile creeping up on his face. She barely smiled back.
Haru's mom sighed and handed the guard some coins. "You can keep the copper ones." He dropped them on the floor before leaving.
"Nice guy. How long has the Fire Nation been here?" Sokka asked the lady. "Five years," Yuen's eyes widened. Five years? She's let them hurt innocent people for five years? Of course she knew it was much longer than that. It just kind of hit her slow. "Fire Lord Ozai uses our town's coal mines to fuel his ships." The woman explained.
"They're thugs, they steal from us, and everyone here is too much of a coward to do anything about it."
"Quiet, Haru. Don't talk like that." The mom stopped his complaints. "But Haru's an amazing Earthbender. Can't he help?" Yuen asked.
"Earthbending is forbidden. It's caused nothing but misery for this village. He must never use his abilities." His mom told them. Katara looked shocked. "How can you say that? Haru has a gift. Asking him not to earthbend is like asking me not to waterbend. It's a part of who we are."
"You don't understand." The mom shook her head. "I understand that Haru can help you fight back. What can the Fire Nation do to you that they haven't done already?" Katara pushed.
"They could take Haru away, like they took his father." The mom revealed. Yuen looked over at Haru. His frustrated face mixed with a hint of sadness. A face, an emotiong she had felt before. He looked away in shame. Katara felt guilt eat her alive, and before they knew it, the sun was setting.
HARU HAD PUT THEM IN a barn. Yuen was happy that they were allowed to stay at the village at all. Katara and Haru had gone on a small walk, leaving the three alone with the great Appa and the wonderful Momo. Yuen stared above, her thoughts clouding her brain.
She was alone, in a corner. She contemplated her life choices, her life and her own fate. How could a girl like Yuen ever end such war? Especially after failing everyone after deciding to keep her identity a secret. She was the fault of so many deaths. Her thoughts were stopped by a cough.
Yuen sat up and saw Aang stood there, with Sokka behind him, playing with Momo. "Oh, hi, Aang." She mumbled. "What's wrong?" He asked, sitting down in front of her. His voice stated his concern. It was soft and sweet. She felt her heart melt at his words. How could someone be so dangerous but beautiful at the same time? She asked herself.
"What are you talking about? Nothing." She played it off. But Aang saw through her lies. "You know, even if I wasn't an Avatar, I'd still be able to tell you were lying." He said. Yuen laughed shortly at that. He scanned her face. "It's not your fault." He whispered. How did he—? "If anything, you should be blaming me. I ran away from my responsibilities, resorting a whole nation to becoming extinct."
"Aang, you didn't know that was going to happen. I knew all about the war and yet didn't do anything to stop it." Yuen sighed.
"Still. You we're scared. That's normal." Aang assured her. Yuen looked away from the boy. "Thank you, Aang. You're a great friend." Yuen watched as his face slightly dropped. 'Friend? Did I just call him a friend? I think I may have just friend zoned someone I perhaps slightly like! Yuen panicked.
"You too..." he mumbled. Yuen initiated a hug. She felt how his body tensed at her touch. His body melted into hers and he hugged back.
"THEY TOOK HIM! They took Haru away!" Katara burst into the barn. Yuen yelled in a fear of being attacked. She quickly calmed down, realising she had been asleep for far too long. "What?" Aang gasped. "The old man turned him into the Fire Nation. It's all my fault! I forced him into earthbending." She cried out. Sokka decided to step forward.
"Slow down, Katara. When did this happen?" Sokka asked with sincerity in his voice. "Haru's mother said they came for him at midnight." Katara responded. "Then it's too late to track him. He's long gone." Sokka said, making Yuen shiver.
"We don't need to track him. The Fire Nation is going to take me right to Haru." Katara told them. "And why would they do that?"
"Because they're going to arrest me for earthbending." Katara said.
"I THOUGHT YOU were crazy at first, Katara, but this might work. There are ventilation shafts throughout these mines. All Aang and Yuen have to do is send an air current from that vent to this one here, the boulder levitates and ta-da, fake earthbending." Sokka explained.
"Guys, did you get all at?" Katara turned to the two Avatars. Yuen was busy staring at the butterfly, but nodded. Aang stared at Yuen, his face softening. "Sure... sure. We got it." He mumbled. "Do you guys remember your cue?"
"Yeah, yeah, just relax. You're taking all the fun out of this." Aang said. "By this do you mean intentionally being captured by an army of ruthless firebenders?" Sokka repeated his statement.
"Exactly. That's fun stuff." He grinned. "Here they come! Get in your places!" Sokka ordered.
The two siblings faked a small argument. Yuen was snapped out of her daydreams after hearing a very low voice of Katara saying: "I said earthbending style!" Yuen jumped and quickly bended air into the ventilation which levitated the rock.
"That lemur! He's earthbending!" The guard pointed. "No, you idiot, it's the girl!" Sokka shouted. "Oh. Of course." The man said. And soon, Katara was taken away by the Fire Nation.
WHILST AANG WENT to go get Katara, both Yuen and Sokka sat on Appa with nothing on their mind. Soon enough, they came to the edge of the ship. "Your 12 hours are up. Where's Haru? We've gotta get out of here." Sokka whispered. "I can't." Katara admitted. Yuen sighed. "Katara,"
"We don't have much time. There are Fire Nation guards literally everywhere. Get on." She rushed her cousin, hoping she changed her mind.
"Katara, what's wrong?" Aang asked. "I'm not leaving. I'm not giving up on these people." Katara determined her mission. So, now they sat on the edge of the ship.
"What do you mean you're not leaving?" Sokka angrily whispered. "We can't abandon these people. There has to be a way to help them." Katara told them. "Maybe she's right. What do you guys say?" Aang turned to his friends. "I say you're both crazy." Sokka said, his mind not being touched.
"I think that it's a nice idea to help everyone else. It would be selfish to only save the ones we care about." Yuen tried to speak some wise-Avatar-words. "Look, we have to leave now!" Sokka reminded them. "No." Katara disagreed. Sokka shook his head.
"I hate when you get like this." Sokka sighed. "Let's go hide." Yuen lowly said.
"WE DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME. What are we gonna do?" The four kids hide behind some transport crates, with Momo on Aang's head, listening in. Yuen was nervous. She had never broken people out of a ship before. It wasn't as fun as you'd imagine. "I wish I knew how to make a hurricane."
Everyone stared at Aang. "The warden would run away, and we'd steal his keys!" He suggested. Yuen sighed. "Wouldn't he just take the keys with him?" She reminded the bald Avatar. "I'm just todsing idead around." He shrugged. "I tried talking to the earthbenders into fighting back, but it didn't work,"
"If there was just a way to help them help themselves." Katara mumbled. As Sokka and Katara reminded her that the entire ship was made of metal, an idea came to her. "Wait, I got it!" She grinned. Yuen looked up at the smoke that left the chimney.
"The smoke! It's created by coal. In other words, earth." She excitedly explained. They all smiled at her. "Wow. That's smart thinking, Yuen." Katara said. "Yeah, I think the Avatar smartness is finally hitting you." Sokka grinned. But her face dropped.
"Are you guys saying I used to be dumb?"
YUEN TOLD THEM TO DISTRACT the people as she went down to the coal-engine-thingy. She had sorta improved her earthbending, so she began to move around some rocks. Soon enough, she broke through the vent with the coal, and jumped out. She did a cool pose before coughing like crazy.
"Here's your chance, earthbenders! Take it! Your fate is in your own hands!" Katara shouted at them. But no one stepped forward. The man laughed. "Foolish girl. You thought a few inspirational words and some coal would change these people? Look at these blank, hopeless faces. Their spirits were broken a long time ago. Oh, but you still believe in them."
Yuen let out a grunt and bended a large coal towards him. "Don't talk to Katara like that, you... paprika!" She yelled. Haru stepped forward, throwing a coal piece at him as well. The man let out a roar and sent fire their way. It eased blocked by Haru's dad's bending. "Show no mercy!" The man yelled out.
Suddenly, everybody started attacking. "For the Earth Kingdom! Attack!"
The fight broke out. Yuen was feeling herself. She kicked a few coals at them, dodging fire, and even managing to throw some fire guard overboard. "Yuen!" She heard, making her turn around. It was Aang, Katara and Sokka. She was quick to run after them, and jumped on the ship.
A/N... omg it's been a while!!! ANYWAY. I hope you liked this chapter. Don't forget to comment, don't be a silent reader!!! And please vote bc I become happier each time you vote. I loved Yuen's earthbending skills this chapter! BEST EARTHBENDER AFTER TOPH AND KING BUMI FRFR 😇😭🤞