I was content, despite being trapped in a cave for a while. We were now up in the air, on the way to Omashu, and I decided it would be best to bond with my friends. I finally understood shutting them out was a bad idea. I had a right to be scared of my powers, but that didn't mean I should push anyone away.
For a moment the four of us laughed and told stories on our animals. However, the warm feelings vanished as we stared down at the once great city. A wave of cold spread through my body as I felt shame for my Nation.
Factories and smoke littered the city. Dark smoke poured into the sky. And above all, the Fire Nation flag stared back at us like a slap to the face. How could my nation do such a thing?
"I can't believe it. I know the war has spread far but Omashu always seemed... untouchable," Aang said sadly.
I walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. I could feel his pain seeping from his body. This was another place he had a connection to from his past and it was taken again by the Fire Nation.
"Up until now, it was. Now Ba Sing Se is the only great Earth Kingdom stronghold left," Sokka reminded, only making my frown deepen.
My eyes were fixed on the city, as unbearable it may be. "I never realized how bad things were. At home we learned about how great our Nation was, but since then I've only seen the Fire Nation destroy."
Katara walked up to us. "I know, this is horrible, but we have to move on."
My heart ached at the thought of leaving these people at the hands of the Fire Nation. They were being ridiculed and tormented. Nobody deserved to be treated like lesser.
"No. I'm going in to find Bumi," Aang said and stepped forward.
I followed him. "I'm behind you, Aang. We can't leave these people like this."
"Aang, Naya, stop. If you are seen you'll be sent straight to the Fire lord and more people will die. And we don't even know if Bumi's still..." Sokka said hesitantly.
"What? If he's still what?" Aang turned around.
"...around." Sokka finished.
"Aang, I know you had your heart set on Bumi... but there are other people around who can teach you earthbending. And Naya, I know you feel obligated to make up for what your Nation has done but we can't stop them on our own."
"This isn't about finding a teacher. This is about finding my friend," Aang defended.
"And this isn't about making up for what the Fire Nation has done. It's about protecting innocent people," I said in return, knowing wholeheartedly that it was the right thing to do.
+
"A secret passage? Why didn't we just use this last time?" Sokka asked as Aang tried to pry open the sewer with his staff.
While we were on the way to Omashu, my friends told me about what happened the last time they visited. This time, the visit would be completely different.
A green substance spewed out when Aang popped off the lid. My face shriveled in disgust as a waft of odor hit my face. "Does that answer your question?"
Sokka, Aang, Katara, Momo, Yue, and I sifted through the liquid while Bonbi and Appa waited outside. Aang used his airbending and Katara used her waterbending to move the substance out of the way. With Sokka behind me, the two of us sat in a rock cart I made as I bent us forward. When we finally reached the end, we all stealthily got out of the sewer, except for Sokka. I heard a splash from down below and then a groan, indicating he fell into the goo. I smacked my forehead. How could someone be so clumsy after I allowed us to come out so clean?
Sokka crawled out of the sewer covered in gunk. I puffed my cheeks and turned away, trying not to throw up at the sight of him. I listened to the sound of water splashing and then a gust of air, knowing my friends quickly cleaned him off.
"Really?" I questioned him and rolled my eyes.
Sokka gave me a look, then his eyes wandered to his skin. There were little pentapi sucking on his body. My eyes widened as did his, and he immediately started to thrash and scream. Aang moved him to the wall.
"Stop making so much noise. It's just a purple pentapus." Aang rubbed one and it let go of my brother's skin. Sokka mimicked the Avatar and the second one let go as well.
"Those are nasty, but cute," I said.
Suddenly, the three beside me stiffened. I looked ahead to see the Fire Nation approaching. Katara quickly moved and pulled my hood over my head.
"What are you kids doing out past curfew?" The guard questioned.
"We were just on our way home." Katara said. She grabbed me and Aang and turned us around very subtly. My heart raced at the thought of being so close to Ozai's subordinates. One glance at my face and they would instantly recognize me. I was on thousands of wanted posters around the world.
We got a few steps in before the guard called out again.
"Wait- what's the matter with him?"
Katara and I glanced at the back of Sokka's neck to see little red marks from the pentapus. "He has pentapox," Katara covered quickly.
I took a step back as the guard moved forward. "Uh, it's highly contagious."
Sokka took the guard's reluctance as a sign to act. He put on a face that showed he was very sick. He was surprisingly convincing.
"Ahhh... It's so awful... I'm dying..." Sokka groaned.
"And deadly," Katara added.
The guard backed up. "Wait. I think I've heard of pentapox. Didn't your cousin Chang die of it?" One asked. I tried not to laugh at the remark.
"We'd better go was our hands... and burn our clothes!" Another gasped.
The three of them ran as fast as they could in the other direction. I let out a sigh of relief and slumped against the wall. Sokka and Katara also relaxed as they left. Aang smiled at the pentapox and rubbed it.
"Thank you, sewer friend!"
I stood back up after my moment of weakness. "Okay, let's keep going."
Aang nodded. The three of us followed the Avatar through Omashu. Although it was different from 100 years ago, the routes were the same. Aang easily moved from place to place. We followed along, with the exception of stopping and hiding to avoid the Fire Nation. The four of us ran for a little longer until we came across more guards. Aang found a spot to hind behind so we could gather our thoughts.
"Let's find Bumi and get out of here," Katara said, winning a look from me. She knew the reason why I came here was to help these people, but for everyone else it was for Aang to find Bumi.
"Where would they keep him? Somewhere he can't earth bend. Somewhere made of metal," Aang pointed out.
In that moment Omashu felt infinite, and finding Bumi seemed like a needle in a haystack. Aang's words signaled for the rest of us to get up and keep searching.
We continued to walk along the edge of the building. My eyes were on the great city of Omashu. I was able to see past the destruction and everything about it was beautiful. The idea of the dirty being tainted by a war caused by my people angered me. And as I stared out at the city, it became noticeable that nobody was asleep. Even with a curfew, this place was the most active I've encountered during night. I could hear people from both below and above.
My eyes widened as a rock suddenly hurdled down the metal. I looked down to see it heading towards a group of people. Aang and I quickly glanced at each other and then we both used our airbending to hit the rock out of the way.
Everything grew still for a moment. Then, a woman down there shouted something inaudible and the people came rushing towards us. I narrowed my eyes to get a better look at the incoming group, noticing the predominant red in their clothing.
"They're Fire Nation!" I shouted. The four of us bolted away as guards followed.
I kept up with Sokka, but stopped when I heard struggling from behind. Instead of running, Katara and Aang were fighting off the people after us. As I stared at the scene, my eyes grew wide at one person in particular. She threw knives in her path and wore the same buns that I could recall from all those years ago.
"Mai?" I questioned. The name flew out of my mouth before I could stop. She halted, giving Katara time to run towards Sokka. Her eyes flashed with recognition before they turned to determination.
"You know her?" Aang asked in disbelief.
I rolled my eyes and kicked flames at the girl to hold her back. Aang airbent the stacks of wood downward to keep her from following us. She continued to throw knives though, many of which were aimed at me. I hit them away with my airbending. Aang grabbed my arm and dragged me towards my friends. I was too distracted by her- a daunting figure from my past.
Things were quiet until the ground from beneath us opened and we fell below. I tried to bend some air to lessen the fall, but it hurt when my body hit the ground. I rubbed my head as my friends also felt similar pain.
My eyes furrowed as I was unable to recognize where we were. I looked up, only to be greeted by three earth benders stood over us with menacing looks on their faces.
+
"SO is King Bumi with you guys? Is he leading the resistance?" Aang asked happily. We were led into an area with even more earth benders. It was a kind of sanctuary for the original inhabitants, who all watched us from below.
"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 for our freedom. But before we even had a chance, King Bumi surrendered," the man said with distaste.
My eyes widened as I looked towards the people. They were all sunken and tired. Kids and families gathered and hugged each other. Although they found solitude, this wasn't something to celebrate. This wasn't their home, above them was.
This is what I came for: to help them regain Omashu.
"The day of the invasion, I asked King Bumi what he wanted to do. He looked me in the eye and said: nothing. It doesn't matter now. Fighting the Fire Nation is the only path to freedom. And freedom is worth dying for."
The man glanced towards me and I felt a chill run down my spine. These people could see, although I didn't exactly, I resembled the Fire Nation. I was the embodiment of the downfall of their kingdom.
"Actually there's another path to freedom. You could leave Omashu. You're directing all your energy to fight the Fire Nation. But you're outnumbered, you can't win. Now's the time to retreat, so you can live to fight another day," Aang informed.
It were times like these that threw me off. I thought of Aang as the fun monk with the weight of the world on his shoulders. As I looked at him now, I'm reminded of the wisdom stored inside him.
"You don't understand. They've taken our home and we have to fight them at any cost," the man said angrily.
The one to his right turned to him. "I don't know, Ya. Living to fight another day is starting to sound pretty good to me."
"Yeah, I'm with the kid."
More and more people began to chime in. Aang's wisdom obviously came in handy, even if at times it could be much. These people needed to be reminded of what it felt like to have hope.
The man seemed to trump the feelings of his people over his own. "Fine. But there's thousands of citizens that need to leave. How are we going to get them all out?"
"Suckers! You're all about to come down with the nasty case of the pentapox." Sokka said.
"That's genius!" I exclaimed.
+
EVERYTHING went as planned. It was day break and Sokka somehow was able to ready everyone with a bad case of the pentapox. Before us was a huge crowd of people with marks on their faces and hands. It was obvious they had hope in my brother. It was nice to know that these people relied on us.
Sokka was busy talking to them while I stood with Aang and Katara. We were already dotted from the pentapox and were about to follow Sokka to scare the Fire Nation. Katara stopped in her tracks as she watched Aang walk in the other direction.
"Aang?" I asked.
"Aren't you coming with us?" Katara finished.
"I'm not leaving until I find Bumi," he said. The determined look on his face told us that he wasn't going to be convinced otherwise.
I nodded. "You came here for him, I came here for the civilians. We'll split up and come together when we achieve what we want."
Aang and I held eye contact for a moment. It was one of those gazes where we felt connected like a true Akshata and Avatar. It was an odd feeling. My body buzzed in a platonic, yet powerful way.
The Avatar tore his eyes away from mine and hopped away. I looked back at Katara and she grabbed my hand, pulling me towards our brother. Aang and I made it clear what our duties were.
I was going to clear out these people if it was the last thing I do.