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Traitor's Face - Chapter 20
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Literature Text
Everything is Connected
Mai's eyes sought out her enemies as Appa carried her into the air.
The large rock outcropping that been serving as their hiding space fell away, revealing the attacking forces. Mai nodded as she spotted and identified the vehicles in the lead: it was a trio of tank-trains, mechanized transports constructed by essentially taking a train engine car, piling armor and spikes all over it, and then wrapping the wheels in tank treads. They had mainly been used to carry equipment and passengers through contested areas during the war, due to their ability to withstand all kinds of punishment and crash right through even the biggest Earthbending obstacles, but these three trailed just one fully enclosed cargo car each, probably for their coal supplies. With nothing extraneous weighing them down, the tank-trains were really tearing up the ground and making good time. She had no doubt about the results of one of them plowing into the pixiu with platinum-tipped spikes.
Mai leaned over the side of Appa's saddle to look at the ground below, and spotted the stupid pixiu loping along with Aang and the Guru guy on its back. The monster was moving at a speed that was only slightly faster than Mai's best sprint.
The tank-trains would be on the pixiu in moments.
Mai looked to where Sokka was steering the sky bison with Momo wrapped around his neck, and he was already turning to look back at her. Their eyes met, and Sokka stared at her without hostility, without any guardedness; the bitterness he had been displaying since Crescent Island had been put aside in favor of just getting things done, it seemed.
She said, "That armor's too thick for personal weapons, and they can run for as long as they have coal. We need a power attack."
Sokka nodded and guided Appa to face and dive at the tank-trains.
Mai moved to one side of the saddle and got her weapons ready, while Katara moved to the other and uncorked her waterskin. Aang had said that the rhino riders were acting as a vanguard for the-
An arrow whistled through the air right past Mai's face.
Ah, there they were.
She extended her arms and stretched a certain wrist muscle in each to activate the bolt-launchers she wore just below her fists. Small arrows of her own shot back at the rhino-riding archer. She was getting quite practiced at plotting vectors from Appa's saddle, but her bolts were only true enough that the archer had to throw himself sideways to dodge, successfully staying in his saddle. At least he couldn't get off another shot before Appa was sailing past him.
Now for the tank-trains. Mai's hair tails snapped in the wind as Sokka let Appa fly between two of the mechanized vehicles and then pulled the reins to turn the sky bison back around and accelerate. Appa inched up to fly right alongside the leftmost tank-train, and Mai grabbed onto the saddle's edge and looped her arms through the hold-holes as the cargo car loomed beside her. She thought she heard Katara make some kind of squeak from the other side of the saddle, but it was hard to tell over the rushing wind.
Then Appa sideswiped the cargo car.
A ten-ton sky bison slammed into a big metal box on tank treads, and the metal box won. Appa bounced off and the cargo car did nothing more than rattle. It didn't even tip. It must have been full of coal.
Sokka shouted, "Going again!"
Mai held on tighter and clenched her jaw.
This time Appa kicked out with his three legs as he slammed into the cargo car. This time the tank-train's treads lifted slightly before crashing back down again. This time Appa bounced off even harder and spun in the air, leaving Mai dangling for a moment before gravity returned to its proper vector.
Well, so much for that.
Katara scooted over, holding onto her hat. "What do we do now?"
Mai considered. "Ask that one guy from the last fight to lend us some explosives?" She ignored Katara's disbelieving grunt and looked ahead. One of the other tank-trains was pulling ahead, paced by the rhino riders. She crawled to the front of the saddle and pointed past Sokka's head. "Get in front of them! I have an idea."
It was true, Mai did have an idea. It was a terrible idea, an idea that not only had a low chance of working, but even its success would be a thoroughly unpleasant experience. But then, her life was one long unpleasant experience, so why not?
Sokka snapped the reins and Appa zoomed up and forward in response. "Archer on the right," he called back.
Katara stood up in the saddle, and Mai grabbed the other girl's ankles to make sure there was no unplanned disembarking. Katara rolled her arms outward and a stream of water threaded out of her waterskin to float in the air. Then Katara snapped a hand to the side in a kind of wave, spreading the water out to flow down and cover Appa's whole side. It solidified into ice just before a series of arrows struck it, and then Mai was grabbing Katara's waist and aiming her along the vector the arrows had traveled. Katara couldn't have even had enough time to focus on her eyes on her target before she was shoving forward with both arms, and the ice turned to water again to burst forward and crash into the archer. He barely had enough chance to cry out before he was knocked out of his saddle.
Mai's view of the bouncing archer was eclipsed as Katara plopped back down into the saddle and gave her a completely inappropriate hug. "We got him!"
"Great." It was like extracting herself from one of Ty Lee's embraces. "Please let go so that I can leave now."
"Huh?"
"Hold it steady, Sokka," Mai called as she began climbing over the saddle's side.
He turned around and said, "Huh?"
Then Mai jumped.
To be more precise, she leaped in a perfect butterfly kick that flared her legs out to spin her body in midair. It lacked Ty Lee's grace- the acrobat would have somersaulted in midair and stuck the landing- but it carried her to the recently vacated rhino saddle effectively enough. Mai landed hard enough to bruise her butt but was grabbing the reins even before she had finished bouncing into place.
Okay, she had successfully commandeered one of the enemy mounts and could move independently of Appa for multi-prong attacks.
Now what?
Aang had never ridden backwards before.
Of course, the pixiu was moving forward as fast as it could, following the winding terrain of the mountain, loping along over rocks and around outcroppings while it’s giant belly swayed with the motion and set the coins within clinking and jingling. The noise reminded Aang of the bells and cymbals of the Guanyin Celebration Week. The pixiu ruffled its wings every so often, as though fighting the urge to extend them, but kept up a steady run that was far slower than Aang was used to riding on Appa.
Aang himself was perched on the pixiu's back just behind the wings, turned around so that he could look straight at Guru Pathik. The Guru was riding properly, facing forward, and both of them were tied into place with some of Sokka's best rope. Aang merely had to lean a little to the side to see the armored vehicles and the rhino-riders, with Appa flying his friends above them all.
Fortunately, he had the strength of will not to do that.
Mostly.
Without opening his eyes, Guru Pathik said, "Focus, Avatar Aang. Say it with me: Oooommmmm."
Aang repeated the sacred syllable and closed his own eyes, ignoring the noise of the battle. Instead, he focused on the sound of the pixiu's feet stomping the ground, a skipping that mimicked the cockeyed regularity of a heartbeat.
The Guru spoke with the same droning cadence as a shenhai flute. "Breathe in, and breathe out. Let the world fall away from you even as you turn your focus outward. Breathe in and breath out."
Aang knew how to meditate, but this was something different. He wasn't just seeking peace. He wasn't exploring the storm within, or burning with the fury of the volcano. He was calming his mind and trying to pierce the veil of the physical world around him.
"Peace," Guru Pathik intoned. "Too much effort can cloud the mind. Start with one connection, your strongest. It is a connection that has been with you for many years. It is a connection that has followed you from another world, another age. A connection that represents an unbreakable bond. Find it within you, and outside of you as well. Who do you sense at the other end?"
Aang didn't pay too much attention to the words or riddle. He simply let them travel in through his ears and rattle around in his mind while he achieved the perfect peaceful state of meditation. As he breathed in and out, he felt a presence. Warm. Comforting. Large. Loyal. Beloved. Companion. Sky bison. Appa. Appa. Appa was here with him, even though Aang was riding another mount altogether. He could feel Appa flying through the skies above the mountainside, could feel Appa's fear and exhilaration and worry for everyone else. He could even feel the tugging of the reins on Appa's horns!
It was amazing. It was wonderful. It was beautiful.
And on top of Appa was Sokka! The bond between Sokka and Appa glowed in Aang's mind, glowed almost as bright as the link between Sokka and Aang himself. And Sokka had a bond with his sister, a bond as strong as Aang's with Appa.
There was another bond, a shared bond, one that linked Aang and Sokka and Appa to someone else. On Aang and Sokka's part, it was weak, fluttery, almost painful. But for Appa, the link was strong and healthy. It led down, down to ground, to a cold presence that threatened Aang's peacefulness, threatened to shatter this reality of energies and strings of fate. He breathed in and out, and refocused his attention on Appa again.
"Yes," the Guru almost sang. "You see without seeing. You perceive the world beyond the physical, the people in your life beyond their mere bodies. This is how you must look at the world if you want to touch its energies. This is how you must look at the pixiu below you, if you want to heal it."
Aang breathed in and out.
A komodo rhino was nice, but Mai had decided that what she really wanted was one of the tank-trains.
The one in the center was in the lead, gaining rapidly on the pixiu despite Appa's harassing dives and Katara's icicle missiles. Mai spurred her mount to catch up, not caring if she exhausted the thing to death, and guided it until it was running alongside the cargo car. Then she drew her best long Lui Shui-steel knife and slid the blade into the thin space between two overlapping armor plates. After just an angled tug to ensure that it was wedged in properly, she used it pull herself up onto the side of the tank.
The komodo rhino apparently was not used to this, and decided that it had put up quite enough with Mai's antics. It slowed and veered away and left her hanging over the rushing ground.
Well, ash.
Still, that was why she had picked a Lui Shui knife. It held without twisting or yielding, and Mai was able to use her other hand to grab a spike (in retrospect, the Fire Nation's penchant for putting spikes on everything was perhaps a sign of compromised intentions) and tilt herself so that her boots could find purchase on a ridge of armor. The air back here at the cargo car was foul, a mix of dust ripped up from the ground by the tank treads and the black exhaust streaming out of the engine's smokestack. Mai tried to keep her breathing to a minimum and began climbing her way- one spike and anchored knife at a time- to the coupling between the cargo car and the engine.
The door to the cargo cabin stood unguarded before Mai, and she reached behind her back to draw her new sword for the first time in combat. She grabbed the handwheel, breathed in and out once, and then turned it and kicked the door open. Two engineers in goggles spun to face her, but the cabin wasn't very large, and there was little they could do as she raised her sword. The closer engineer was only able to open his mouth as though to speak when Mai smacked him in the face with the flat of her sword like she was swinging a club. He dropped in an instant.
The other engineer raised her hands as though to defend herself, but Mai was up close before anything like a proper guard-stance could be assumed, and had the blade of the sword pressed up against the engineer's throat. She looked past the other woman at the sprawl of controls for the tank-train, a mess of levers and dials and buttons and switches that had no meaning to her.
Well, maybe she didn't want a tank-train after all. "Either you shut this thing down, or I'll destroy it."
"You-" The engineer choked as she tried to avoid swallowing. "-you wouldn't know the first thing about sabotaging a vehicle as complex as this."
Mai brought her face closer to her prisoner's. "A childhood friend once told me that the more complex something is, the easier it is to break." She glanced over at the control panel again, and at the grating concealing the roaring fire of the tank-train's heart. "I think I'd start by pushing all these levers all the way to the front and tightening the steam vents-"
"Okay!" This time, the engineer did swallow, even though it made her throat scape the sword's cutting edge. "I'll shut it down."
Mai backed off a bit to let the engineer work, and as soon as she felt the tank-train's speed decreasing, she used the butt of her sword’s handle to smack the back of the engineer's head. She thought about killing both engineers before she left, but decided that she didn't have the time right now. She could conclusively prove her new loyalties later.
She left the engine cabin as the tank-train ground to a halt, and stepped back off onto the mountainside to find the platinum blade of a guan dao arcing right towards her face.
Sokka held onto the reins hard with all his strength, Momo screeching in his ear the whole time, as Appa made a sharp climb into the air. The echoes of the armored rhino rider's bomb washed over Sokka as they safely leveled off, and he resolved to see about getting himself a supply of explosives. If he could ever get over the fear of carrying such things on his fragile body, they made for really effective weapons.
After a quick glance confirmed that Katara had held on and was still in the saddle on Appa's back, Sokka took advantage of the sanctuary of the high altitude to check out the scene below. One of the tank-trains had come to a complete stop, and it looked like Mai was fighting two of the rhino riders- the one with the guan dao and the one with the chain bola- right beside it. She could probably take care of herself, and hey, one giant evil machine down.
Sokka looked ahead, and his heart sank. Two evil giant machines to go and one was really starting to get close to the running pixiu. He assumed that the lack of any flying on the pixiu's part meant that Aang hadn't figured out how to heal it yet. Sokka directed Appa in a gentle dive as he looked around for more detail. The armored bomb thrower was guarding the second tank-train, while the Firebender was riding his rhino alongside the first. A plan began forming in Sokka's mind, but that Firebender was a complication. If he got too close to the pixiu- but wait-
Sokka turned to his sister so fast he startled Momo into hopping off of him. "I'm dropping you off on the pixiu. You'll have to defend Aang and the Fugu from the Firebender."
Katara blinked. "Wait, what about you?"
"Appa and I are about to do something that’s either going to be spectacular or a complete waste of our time."
"Oh." She corked her waterskin and climbed up to sit beside him on Appa's head. "Well, as long as there's a chance of spectacular-"
Appa roared as dived down towards the pixiu, and grunted as he slowed in time to hover right above thing. Katara leaped down onto the pixiu's back, and Sokka stayed only long enough to make sure she landed safely before he directed Appa back towards the tank-train. The Firebender shot a flame at them as they passed, but Appa knew his business and dodged around it.
Before, Sokka had tried to get Appa to knock a tank-train over. It hadn't gone well, but maybe the problem wasn't a lack of strength on the sky bison's part. Maybe the Fire Nation had simply designed the tank-trains to be really good at staying upright.
But Sokka had figured out an angle that the Fire Nation might have missed.
So he directed Appa to once again match the speed of the tank-train and pace it as it raced along, but instead of keeping the sky bison alongside the vehicle, he had Appa flying above it. "Okay, buddy. Go on and land on the cargo car!"
Appa grunted and did as he was told, but the car wasn't quite wide enough to accommodate the sky bison's full body, and his legs wound up dangling over the sides as he rested on belly down on the armor plating. The tank-train slowed noticeably as the sky bison rested its full weight on it, and the pixiu and the Firebender both pulled ahead.
So far, so good, but merely slowing the thing until the armored bomber caught up wasn't going to accomplish much.
"Appa," Sokka said, "grab on, and yip-yip!"
The sky bison snorted as his legs tightened on the cargo car's sides, and his tail hammered up and down. It felt to Sokka like a hurricane had suddenly come calling, but otherwise the only movement he felt was the running of the tank-train. Appa gave a long grunt, and his tail moved faster. Even Momo was flapping with one arm while pulling on Appa's saddle with the other.
And the whole cargo car lifted just a little bit.
"Yeah!" Sokka stood up on Appa's head and clapped as hard and as loud as he could. "You're doing it! A little more! Yip-yip!"
The tank-train was still running, still trying to drag its cargo car. There was just enough play in the coupling to allow these few handspans that Appa had managed to lift-
Appa's grunt turned into a full-on roar and the cargo car lifted even further and the rear of the tank-train went with it and-
There was a jolt, Appa let go, Momo squawked and fluttered in the air above the saddle, and then Sokka saw the most spectacular wreck of his life.
Any vehicle designed to run on rails needed a 'pilot,' sometimes called a hippo-cowcatcher, to deflect anything that might be lying on the track. It was just a shaped bit of metal like an arrowhead at the front of the engine, right above the ground. The tank-trains, even though they had treads on their wheels, had obviously been modified from the trains that the Fire Nation had started using in the last decade, and so had a pilot at its front.
But the pointed pilot of tank-train was not designed to handle the vehicle being lifted by the rear and angled to point directly into the ground.
So the pilot burrowed instantly into the ground and brought the whole tank-train to a halt, but there was still a lot of momentum built up in the massive armored assault vehicle that couldn't go forward, and it had a rather long body, so all the force was applied to a circular motion, and the end result was that the whole tank-train flipped forward with the tip of its pilot as the fulcrum and slammed upside-down into the ground with the full force of its previous motion. Appa had risen just fast enough to not be swatted by a giant armored spider-flyswatter.
And so Sokka was free to grin as the tank-train spun and crashed and tried to both flatten and explode in a single action.
But then he noticed that Appa was dropping again. The sky bison let out an exhausted groan and plopped to the ground. "Hey," Sokka said, snapping the reins. "Yip-yip, we're not done yet!"
Appa sighed and closed his eyes. Momo landed on the sky bison's head and began petting it right on the arrow.
And so Sokka could only watch as the last tank-train sped past them. He could only sit there and be grateful as the armored bomb-throwing rhino-rider raced past them without bothering to toss any explosives.
Sokka, Appa, and Momo were out of the fight.
Through his connections to his friends, Aang felt fear and pain and pressure. Appa and Sokka were a long way back as the chase continued, and Aang's weak link to Katara actually left her more visible to him by the sounds of her exclamations and movements just behind Guru Pathik.
Aang's perception of the world beyond the physical was wavering. He decided that he had to hurry, had to heal the pixiu now or not at all. He pushed with all his willpower, trying to hammer out a link to the pixiu beneath him. At least there was something to work with: his appreciation for spiritual matters, his love of animals, his responsibility as the Avatar to protect what was beautiful in the world, and the promise he had made to Guru Pathik. Aang felt all of that as he reached his mind out towards the pixiu and conjured the energy beyond the creature's physical form.
"Maintain your peace, Aang," the Guru said. "Only at peace can you tap into your greatest power. Feel the connection you have with all living things, not necessarily as friendship, but as the recognition that All are One and that we influence each other with everything we do."
Aang breathed in and out.
Katara was swiftly coming to the conclusion that Sokka was an idiot.
Just defend Aang and the Guru from the Firebender, he said. Sure, that sounded easy. But Katara was rapidly learning that when she blocked a fireball with her Waterbending, she lost some of that water to steam. And she had already tried to attack the Firebender and knock him off his mount like that archer from before, but this one was turning to be really good at dodging, and he didn't have to worry about running out of fire when he used his element to defend himself from Katara's water and ice.
While Aang and the Guru meditated silently behind her, Katara doused another incoming fireball and spun on the pixiu's back to turn her watershield into a reaching tentacle, but the Firebender had already directed his mount to move and slow a bit, putting him out of her reach. She couldn’t retract her water before another stream of flame had boiled away some of its substance, but at least the Firebender was out of attack range for now.
And then there was that last tank-train that was coming up fast.
Katara had seen that second tank-train flip over, but why wasn't Appa flying back? Had Sokka gotten hurt? Had Appa gotten hurt? Were they alive?
The thoughts echoed in her head along with the jingle-jingle sound of the pixiu's coin-filled belly.
Katara was brought back to reality by the roar of a komodo rhino, and she prepared to have more fire thrown at her, but the Firebender was turning away and putting even more distance between himself and the pixiu. Where could-
Then Katara saw another komodo rhino racing up with Mai in the saddle.
Katara gasped with relief. She wasn't alone! She wanted to ask Mai to go check on Sokka, but as much as she hated to admit it, there were more pressing concerns right now. That last tank-train was only getting closer, and the pair of spikes mounted on the front of the engine looked awfully big even compared to the pixiu.
So as Mai pulled her rhino up alongside the pixiu, Katara said, "Defend Aang and the Guru. I have something to do, and then I'm going back to find my brother."
She waited for Mai's nod, and then streamed her water into a long line that she froze into a spike of ice. She ran forward to the edge of the pixiu’s backside and then jammed the spike into the ground, using it as a pole to vault into the air. The Firebender raced past her with a look of surprise on his face, and then the tank-train was coming up fast and Katara tucked her legs up and made herself keep her eyes open and why did she try this she was going to die oh mom-
She landed in a crouch on top of the tank-trains engine and fell into a tumble that ended by smacking into the smokestack.
Ow.
But now Katara was on top of an engine that ran on steam, and she was a Waterbender. Using the smokestack to keep herself stable, she stood up and reached out to sense the moisture deep within the massive metal engine, moisture that was more angry and energetic than any she had felt before. Katara hunched in on herself while she pushed her hands down into the air in front of her, taking control of the steam deep in the boiler and compressing without cooling it. She could feel the power within the steam grow, and it just got angrier and more energetic and- uh oh. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea!
Katara dodged around the smokestack and ran for her life, holding onto her hat. She hopped the gap to the cargo car just as the front of the engine exploded.
This wasn’t even like the bombs that the armored rhino-rider had been throwing. The force of this blast completely picked her up and threw her into the air with even more speed than her pole-vaulting. She was flying with the speed of Appa’s steepest dive and things were moving too fast for her to even begin thinking of a plan. The coal car vanished beneath her and her hat flew off her head and the ground came up to fill her vision and this was going to be bad.
First there was reality-shattering pain, and then there was complete and utter nothingness.
Katara had disappeared from Aang's perceptions, leaving him with only one nearby connection that he could feel: the weak, wispy one, the one that hurt to sense. He knew who was at the other end. He would have to trust her.
"Peace," the Guru droned. "Power from peace."
Aang put his hands flat on the pixiu's back, right on the spot between him and the Guru Pathik, and breathed in and out. He could feel the energy, the Línghún, of which the pixiu was made. That was what he had to Bend, what he had to reconfigure so that he could heal the pixiu's wing. It was very different from Air, as well as Water. There was substance to those, a substance against which a Bender had to work but with a nature that could guide a Bender who truly listened. With the Línghún, it was the opposite- there was no substance, and so nothing against which he could work, nothing with which he could join.
Aang maintained the connection, and breathed in and out.
The boom of a steam engine exploding and roar of tearing metal let Mai know that Katara had dealt with the last tank-train. Not bad for a little sweetie girl.
Unfortunately, Mai didn't have time to go back and congratulate her.
Colonial Mongke- this close, she had finally recognized him as one of the 'heroes' who helped burn Ba Sing Se to the ground- had been joined in the chase by his armored explosive specialist, and together they were coordinating to keep Mai busy. They were coming at the pixiu on their komodo rhinos from two different directions, dividing her attention. What wouldn't have been a problem for a Weapon-class Feidao dagger specialist on solid ground was a bit different for one riding an unfamiliar mount.
As if sensing her hesitation, both Rough Rhinos put on more speed and came at the pixiu like a pincer. Mongke flexed his arms in preparation for his Firebending while the Armored Annoyance reached towards his belt for more of those little explosives.
Mai analyzed vectors, grabbed some razor discs, cursed her choice, and decided that the guy with the bombs was the bigger threat. She threw at him first, aiming a razor disc at the space where his explosive-laden hand would briefly stop as he reached back in preparation for his throw, and then looked back over at Mongke. She lined up her next razor disc as the first struck the tiny bombs in the Armored Annoyance's hand and pulled them away from him an instant before they exploded. Mai flinched against the blast- and the yelling armored bomber as he and his dead mount bounced past her- and tightened her legs on her saddle as she threw at Mongke's head. The razor disc spun through the air while she prepared some follow-up razors, but squinting against the wind of her riding, she realized that the arc of Mongke’s approach against the pixiu had changed since she took her shot. The vectors weren't going to line up.
She had missed.
She was already throwing a trio of razors, but Mongke punched his fists right at the meditating riders atop the pixiu.
Aang tried to maintain his connection to the pixiu, to the Línghún energy, to the world beyond the physical, but he felt adrift in its alien feel; his friends had been left behind, beyond his perceptions, and his connection with Mai was too weak to block out the pain, the feel of the pixiu's body, the whipping of the wind, the sounds of crunching rocks and jingling coins, the grind of his teeth as they pressed against each other.
Aang gasped, and his eyes opened as the world beyond the physical disappeared. He opened his mouth to apologize to Guru Pathik, but he could already see the understanding in the old man's eyes, the sad, consoling smile beneath the fluffy white beard.
Then that image was consumed in fire.
Aang cried out as the fireball exploded against the Guru's body and tried to get up to help or defend his mentor or do something, but he was still tied down to the pixiu. Aang frantically looked around, trying to find the source of the fire, and spotted the rhino rider to the side. It was the Firebender with the feather in his topknot, and he was grinning as he shifted in his saddle into another attack motion and Aang frantically tried to muster a wind defense but he was dizzy and trapped and-
A trio of knives zipped right past the Firebender, one blade slicing through the man's forehead, one cutting a line across his arm, and the last severing a strap on his saddle.
The Firebender flinched, disrupting his attack, and then he and his saddle both tipped and fell right off the running rhino.
Mai brought her stolen rhino to a stop just in front of Mongke. The 'hero of the Fire Nation' had taken a pretty bad fall, not at all helped by the full charge his mount had been running at, and seemed to be in no hurry to get up. Mai took her time sliding out of her own saddle and approaching him. As she walked, she flicked her right arm out so that her sleeve would fall behind the scabbard hanging from the back of her waist, and drew her new sword out to shine in the sunlight.
Mongke groaned and looked up at her.
Mai kicked him in the head, right where her razor had cut him.
Mongke went sprawling, falling on his back, and before he could even open his eyes again, the point of Mai's sword was right at his throat.
"I give up," he croaked.
Mai said nothing.
This piece of human garbage had killed the Guru. An old man who just wanted to help Aang and random money-eating monsters was probably dead now because of this soldier. Mai knew nothing of healing and could do little for the Guru if he was still alive, but she could avenge him.
She could remove the jerk who killed the old man, and in doing so remove someone who served the corrupt goals of the Fire Nation.
Someone who had caused Aang pain.
Mai breathed in and out and made the choice to plunge her sword into Mongke's throat, to properly swear allegiance to the green robes she now wore.
She made the choice, but she didn't move.
Then Aang's voice rang out with, "We need to find Katara."
Mai looked up to find him running up to her. The pixiu was resting some distance ahead, apparently no longer needing to move now that all pursuit had been neutralized. Beside it, a thin human body was lying still on the ground. She shifted her gaze back to Aang. "I lost track of her in the fight." She turned to look at the path that the chase had taken, but from this position she couldn't even see the tank-train Katara had taken out. "Katara’s somewhere back there."
Aang let out a heavy breath that hitched only once with a sob. "Then there's nothing we can do. The Guru doesn't have long."
Mai looked back down at Mongke. "Sure there is."
"Don't!"
Mai looked up to find Aang’s attention fully on her. "Why?"
"Because there's no reason to."
"Punishment for what he did to the Guru. Prevention against him ever doing something like that again. Attrition on the Fire Nation's forces. A blow to morale for the people who consider him a hero."
Aang shook his head. "But that's not why you're doing it. You're doing it because you're mad."
"I'm not mad."
"You look mad."
Mai blinked. "I look-" How could she look mad? She never showed her feelings. She was in complete control.
Then she realized she was scowling so hard her face hurt.
Mai sheathed her sword. "You better get back to the Guru."
Aang’s gaze lingered on her for a moment, and then he deliberately turned his back on her and ran.
When Aang was halfway to the pixiu, Mai whipped her sword out again and kicked Mongke in the side hard enough to spin him around to sprawl face down on the rock. He started to growl but it transitioned into a screech as Mai whipped her blade in a pair of very quick, very precise slices. The sword passed through the thick material of Mongke's boots to cut the tendons just above his heels, severing both.
Mai sheathed her weapon once again. "If you get that fixed quickly, you might be able to walk again someday. Maybe even ride." As she straightened, she added, "I wonder how long it will take you to get to a healer." She was about to follow Aang when she spotted the jian scabbard hanging from Mongke's belt. She reached down and unhooked it, ignored by the screaming Firebender, and drew the blade.
It gleamed in the sunlight, more than any steel weapon.
Platinum.
"This is mine, now." She ran over to the pixiu.
Aang kneeled beside the Guru, who was lying on his back on the ground and straining to breathe. Mai had to avert her eyes from the burns and wounds on his chest, and the fireball scar on her own side ached in sympathy. Yet there was no expression of pain on the Guru's face. Mai had no idea how that could be; even the damage to his body's ability to feel pain couldn't account for the peaceful face he wore.
The Guru opened his eyes and smiled. "Ah, you are still here. That- That is good." His eyes went to Aang. "I am sorry I could not stay longer, but- this was part of my vision, too. You-" His voice faltered for a longer moment, but after taking a breath, he continued, "You know what you need. Don't give up. The world- it is counting on you, but I believe in you." Then he turned to Mai. "Please- take my hand."
She blinked, not sure why he was paying her any attention, but she could hardly refuse a dying request. She took the Guru's dusty left hand in her both of hers.
He closed his eyes, and then a sensation went through Mai that awoke memories she had thought forgotten. Of coming home after one of her parents’ boring parties to find her Uncle visiting. Of the first time she saw Tom-Tom, and he spit up on her. Of laughing at Ty Lee's experiments with dancing. Of getting her first pair of bolt-launchers from Azula. Of Zuko, before he-
She focused again on the Guru, who opened his eyes and gave a stiff nod. "Your family still lives- as do your old friends. Your actions on the Crescent Island- they did not kill them."
Mai yanked her hands back. How could he know? What proof did they have that his magic junk could actually find people across the world? And how dare he presume to know what she was thinking? Zuko had probably died when the volcano exploded, and if he had survived, then he would have brought word of her treachery back to Azula, and maybe even the Fire Lord, and then her family-
There was no way they could all be alive.
She didn't deserve that.
She turned away from the Guru and muttered, "Thanks."
Aang blinked away tears as Guru Pathik turned back to him, and said, "Please don't go. I don't want to be alone again."
The Guru shuddered, but his eyes stayed steady. "You were never alone, Aang. R- Remember, everything is connected. I missed- the Air Nomads, too, but- there are still so many wonderful things in the world. Carry your nation in your heart- look to your connections as well. They will aid you- in- in what you need to you."
Aang knew Guru Pathik was right, but it still didn't help. "Maybe we'll meet again in another life."
"Yes," the Guru sighed. "I'd like that."
Then he stopped breathing.
Aang continued holding onto his hand, and sat there in the dirt of the mountain as his tears fell. He wasn't sure how long it was before Mai wrapped one of her arms around him, but he did know that he didn't care whether they were really friends or not right now. He leaned into her, and pretended that they were.
The light turned to the orange color of the setting sun as Zuko watched Suki's workout.
The self-proclaimed Kyoshi Warrior certainly had considerable skill. Zuko recognized the aikido style favored by some back in the Fire Nation. Those who could Firebend, of course, studied those styles, but amongst the nobles who couldn't command the flame, some chose to learn the redirections and joint locks of aikido as their preferred form of self-defense. Uncle Iroh had spoken of learning the techniques, Zuko recalled, although why a Prince Admiral Firebender would need to was beyond him.
Suki moved from one end of her cell to another, each step heralding at least one attack with her hands, elbows, knees, or feet. She moved smoothly and efficiently, although she lacked the grace of Azula, Ty Lee, or M-
He sat up on his cot. "So what is it you want?"
Suki twisted her arms in what seemed to be the act of throwing an imaginary opponent and then relaxed her posture. "To be you friend, remember?"
Zuko chose to ignore that. "You spoke of surviving troubles. Is your only goal to survive, or do you want more?"
"Oh." Suki crossed her arms over her chest and stared off into space. "I'd like to go home, if I can. Kyoshi Island really is beautiful, and I know all the people there- but I've been gone a while, and no one would have any idea why I disappeared. They might have figured out that I'm a traitor, so I wouldn’t be able to go back."
Zuko almost reached up to touch his scar before he stopped himself. "I can understand wanting to go home."
"Yeah." Suki sighed and shrugged. "But it might take me a while. So I have a lot of work ahead of me. And I'll need the help of friends and allies."
"Help." Did Zuko want this girl's help against Zhao, their mutual enemy? Did he want to help her? Would Azula accept this kind of help?
Could there be help without trust?
He hoped so.
When Katara awoke, she found Master Hama leaning over her. What had happened? She remembered the chase, and the tank-trains, and trying to destroy one of them, but-
Oh.
Katara tried to sit up, and realized that she was lying in a trough of water. She recognized the walls around her as belonging to the clinic back in the Earthbender village. "When-"
"Stay put." Master Hama pushed Katara back down so that the water covered her just short of her face. "You took a very bad fall. I have been working on you for several hours, and I will not have you marring your pretty skin with scars when I'm this close to being finished."
Katara did as her sifu commanded, and tried to remember what happened. "I fell off the tank-train?"
"Well, falling is perhaps understating it. From what I can tell, you were pushed off of it fast enough to skid quite a distance, all over rocky ground. The other healers and I have had to work on both bone and flesh these last few hours, but you're almost whole again."
Katara didn't want to think about how she must have looked when she had been found. "I failed again."
"Failed? Again? Child, you destroyed one of those awful machines by yourself, if that Fire Nation fritter's account can be trusted, and all your friends survived, along with the pixiu. The Fire Nation has been run off and your monster is safely quartered here in the village with the sky bison."
Katara decided not to argue with Master Hama, but she couldn't reconcile nearly killing herself with any kind of proper victory. Besides, the others had done most of the work. "So everyone's okay?" Master Hama didn't answer right away, and Katara's throat tightened just like when she looked up into a clear sky. "Who got hurt? Not Sokka-"
"No, Sokka, the Avatar, and even Mai are all okay. But the Air Nomad guru you met, he- well, a Firebender got him."
Katara tried to sit up again, but when she tried to brace herself with her hands, they slipped in the trough and she momentarily dunked her face. "Guru Pathik didn't make it?!"
"They're giving him a funeral at midnight at the peak of one of the mountains. If you want to attend- or if you want to avenge him- you'll sit still and let me finish." Master Hama raised her hands to control the water, and a glow filled Katara’s vision. "I respect wanting to do as much damage to the Fire Nation as possible, but destroying yourself in the process is too high a price. You’re the last Waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe.”
Katara sighed and let herself go limp in the water. She ignored Master Hama's work, ignored the glow of the water, ignored the tingling in her muscles and bones, ignored the title she had just been given. She was the one who had ordered Mai to protect the Guru, Aang, and the pixiu while she went off to fight a tank-train. Why did she think she could order more experienced warriors around like that? Why did she think she could be as good as Sokka or Mai?
Why did she think she deserved to go home as a failure?
Mai hadn't expected the Guru to get a funeral pyre; that had always seemed like a uniquely Fire Nation thing.
But Aang had insisted. The spiritual brothers to the Air Nomads had mixed some beliefs from all their nations in their culture, and their funerals consisted of a pyre at the peak of a windy mountain, so that they could be carried on the breezes to rejoin the Earth wherever their particles landed. Most of the Guru's ashes would become part of the mountain range, but others might be carried as far as the sea. No one would ever really know.
Tyro, Haru, and others from the Earthbender sanctuary had arranged it on Aang's instructions. Except for a few guards, most of the village had turned out for the midnight ceremony. Mai stood with Appa and the pixiu at the edge of the gathering, but she could see the others up at the front, gazing into the flames. Sokka and Katara stood together, their arms around each other, stoic in the light of the pyre. Aang was right next to them, clutching Momo in his arms like Mai had seen Mother hold Tom-Tom during stressful moments. He cried silently, but kept his eyes on the fire.
Mai held back a sigh. Tomorrow they would be leaving the Earthbender village. As crazy as the day had been, Aang had decided that they had rested and healed long enough. It was time for him to return to his duties as the Avatar. He was convinced that this Línghún energy of the Guru's was the start of figuring out how to fix the world, somehow. Mai had expected Sokka and Katara to insist on going to Full Moon Bay first, to find their tribe, but it hadn't played out like that. Sokka had brought it up when they were discussing their plans, right before the funeral, but Katara had shaken her head.
"We can't be selfish," she had said. "We need to help the Avatar, and meeting Gran-Gran again isn't going to get him any further."
Sokka had been visibly confused. "But you-"
"I want to stay and help Aang," Katara had said, her eyes intense in a way that reminded Mai of Azula. "I'll let you know when I'm ready to go home." Then she had tugged her new hat down lower, shielding most of her face from view.
Sokka, of course, had only been able to surrender. All boys were apparently suckers for their sisters.
By now, the fires of the Guru's pyre were low. Aang put Momo down, and started moving in an Airbender form that summoned a gentle wind. With each step he took, the force of the wind increased, but it always remained soft. Mai almost thought she could relax into it like a pillow and it would cradle her above the ground.
But, of course, that was just an illusion.
Once all the ashes from the pyre were sent on their journey, the funeral was over. The villagers began shuffling off back to their homes, all of them silent.
Mai stayed put. She could see that Aang and the Water Tribe siblings were doing the same.
Eventually, the group was left alone. She briefly considered leaving after all, of going back on the decision she had made earlier, but when she went to move, she found Appa blocking her path, looking at her with those bovine eyes of his.
She had been caught, it seemed.
Giving in with a sigh, she changed course and walked over to Aang. "Hey."
He didn't look back at her. "Hey."
"I've been thinking about what the Guru said to you."
"Yeah?"
Mai folded her hands together in her sleeves. "He was right."
Finally, Aang turned to look at her. She couldn't see the details of his face in the dark, but his eyes reflected the starlight. "About what?"
"Your connections helping you. I don't know if I believe in all that crazy energy stuff, but he was right about the practical component." She swallowed, and then said, "That's why I chose you."
"Chose me?"
"At Crescent Island. When- when Prince Zuko had captured you. I had served him because he was my friend, and my- we- we had grown up together, and I- I was loyal to the Fire Nation and to Az- but what I saw-" Mai closed her eyes and sighed. "I realized I- I cared too much about you to let you get hurt. Even in the name of all those other loyalties. That's why I betrayed Zuko even after I betrayed you. You're the best person I know."
Aang said nothing.
Mai gave a short bow. "I just wanted to tell you that the Guru was right. You made a connection with me that saved you. And I'll be helping you until you win. So I'll see you in the morning." She turned to get the lantern she had left shuttered over by Appa. She would need it if she was going to find her way back down the mountain in this-
"Wait!"
It was Katara's voice.
Mai turned, hiding her surprise. Katara had stepped away from her brother, and had her fists clenched in front of her in what was either a weak fighting stance or childish excitement.
Katara looked to Aang. "Try to heal the pixiu again."
Aang blinked. "Now?"
"Yes!" She turned to look at Mai. "Stay with us. We'll all stand around Aang while he tries."
Aang was still for a long time, and then he shrugged. "I guess it's worth another try now that no one is trying to kill us."
Sokka grunted. "There's a certain logic to that."
Katara nodded, and started actively herding the boys in the direction of the pixiu. When Mai hesitated, Katara came back and grabbed her hands, pulling her over to the rest of the group. Momo scampered along and climbed up to sit on Aang's head, while Appa even shuffled over close enough that his breathing ruffled everyone's clothes.
The pixiu looked back at all of them with eyes that were shining in the starlight, and its gray fur had a misty quality. Mai could believe it was part dragon, even though she had never actually seen one, but it apparently had no desire to eat a traitor like her.
Aang closed his eyes and reached out to lay his hands on the pixiu's chest. His breathing became slow and loud, and the pixiu let out a long, low honk.
Mai waited, standing close to all the others, and watched.
Aang's breathing continued, and the pixiu spread its wings out and lifted its head to look up at the stars. Then it lit up, chasing away the darkness of the night with a glow that Mai had seen before. It was the same glow of a certain iceberg she had encountered near the South Pole. The glow went on until Mai had to turn away from it, and then it abruptly went out. She blinked and rubbed at her eyes, her night vision ruined, but the pixiu's gray fur stood out enough that she could see the way its wings were now matched. There was no more injury.
Aang had done it.
"I did it!" Even in the darkness, Mai could make out the grin on his face, and she could hear a lightness in his voice that had been missing since the Guru's death. On a whim, she turned to glance back at the remains of the funeral pyre, but there was nothing to see. She didn't know what she had been expecting.
She turned back to the group, and found the pixiu nuzzling a laughing Aang. Then it gave the same nuzzle to Katara (who also laughed), and bumped its nose against Sokka's chest (who accepted it politely but nervously).
Then it turned to Mai.
She stared back at it, and wondered if it was going to eat her now.
The pixiu honked at her instead.
She was going to give it a friendly wave to fulfill social obligations, but then it honked again and coughed up a wad of something on her.
"Uuuggghhhhh!!" She held her hands out from her sides, trying to avoid being sick. She was covered in some kind of slime like the snots that ran out of Tom-Tom's nose. She said again, "Uuuggghhhhh," and tried to flick some of the goo off her hands.
The slime splattered against the stone of the mountain with a metal jingle.
"Hey," Sokka said, and then ran off to find her lantern. When he angled the shutter to shine the light on her, she found herself glistening with both the moisture of the slime and the gleam of polished coins that were scattered throughout the goo.
She glanced at all the others, and found them trying to hold back laughter. Even Sokka. Even Appa!
Katara stepped forward to pluck one of the slimy coins off of Mai's shoulder. "I guess he wanted to give you a gift in return for your help."
Mai swallowed heavily. "I hope there's enough here to cover the cost of a new robe."
Katara stuck the coin back where she found it. "I'll help you clean up."
"Thanks." Maybe Mai would give the Waterbender a tip in exchange for the assistance. After all, the pixiu had barfed the money on her alone, so she should be the one to parcel out the shares, right?
The pixiu flexed its wings, launched itself into the sky, and flew away into the night.
Mai was left alone with the only people willing to tolerate her.
TO BE CONTINUED
Mai's eyes sought out her enemies as Appa carried her into the air.
The large rock outcropping that been serving as their hiding space fell away, revealing the attacking forces. Mai nodded as she spotted and identified the vehicles in the lead: it was a trio of tank-trains, mechanized transports constructed by essentially taking a train engine car, piling armor and spikes all over it, and then wrapping the wheels in tank treads. They had mainly been used to carry equipment and passengers through contested areas during the war, due to their ability to withstand all kinds of punishment and crash right through even the biggest Earthbending obstacles, but these three trailed just one fully enclosed cargo car each, probably for their coal supplies. With nothing extraneous weighing them down, the tank-trains were really tearing up the ground and making good time. She had no doubt about the results of one of them plowing into the pixiu with platinum-tipped spikes.
Mai leaned over the side of Appa's saddle to look at the ground below, and spotted the stupid pixiu loping along with Aang and the Guru guy on its back. The monster was moving at a speed that was only slightly faster than Mai's best sprint.
The tank-trains would be on the pixiu in moments.
Mai looked to where Sokka was steering the sky bison with Momo wrapped around his neck, and he was already turning to look back at her. Their eyes met, and Sokka stared at her without hostility, without any guardedness; the bitterness he had been displaying since Crescent Island had been put aside in favor of just getting things done, it seemed.
She said, "That armor's too thick for personal weapons, and they can run for as long as they have coal. We need a power attack."
Sokka nodded and guided Appa to face and dive at the tank-trains.
Mai moved to one side of the saddle and got her weapons ready, while Katara moved to the other and uncorked her waterskin. Aang had said that the rhino riders were acting as a vanguard for the-
An arrow whistled through the air right past Mai's face.
Ah, there they were.
She extended her arms and stretched a certain wrist muscle in each to activate the bolt-launchers she wore just below her fists. Small arrows of her own shot back at the rhino-riding archer. She was getting quite practiced at plotting vectors from Appa's saddle, but her bolts were only true enough that the archer had to throw himself sideways to dodge, successfully staying in his saddle. At least he couldn't get off another shot before Appa was sailing past him.
Now for the tank-trains. Mai's hair tails snapped in the wind as Sokka let Appa fly between two of the mechanized vehicles and then pulled the reins to turn the sky bison back around and accelerate. Appa inched up to fly right alongside the leftmost tank-train, and Mai grabbed onto the saddle's edge and looped her arms through the hold-holes as the cargo car loomed beside her. She thought she heard Katara make some kind of squeak from the other side of the saddle, but it was hard to tell over the rushing wind.
Then Appa sideswiped the cargo car.
A ten-ton sky bison slammed into a big metal box on tank treads, and the metal box won. Appa bounced off and the cargo car did nothing more than rattle. It didn't even tip. It must have been full of coal.
Sokka shouted, "Going again!"
Mai held on tighter and clenched her jaw.
This time Appa kicked out with his three legs as he slammed into the cargo car. This time the tank-train's treads lifted slightly before crashing back down again. This time Appa bounced off even harder and spun in the air, leaving Mai dangling for a moment before gravity returned to its proper vector.
Well, so much for that.
Katara scooted over, holding onto her hat. "What do we do now?"
Mai considered. "Ask that one guy from the last fight to lend us some explosives?" She ignored Katara's disbelieving grunt and looked ahead. One of the other tank-trains was pulling ahead, paced by the rhino riders. She crawled to the front of the saddle and pointed past Sokka's head. "Get in front of them! I have an idea."
It was true, Mai did have an idea. It was a terrible idea, an idea that not only had a low chance of working, but even its success would be a thoroughly unpleasant experience. But then, her life was one long unpleasant experience, so why not?
Sokka snapped the reins and Appa zoomed up and forward in response. "Archer on the right," he called back.
Katara stood up in the saddle, and Mai grabbed the other girl's ankles to make sure there was no unplanned disembarking. Katara rolled her arms outward and a stream of water threaded out of her waterskin to float in the air. Then Katara snapped a hand to the side in a kind of wave, spreading the water out to flow down and cover Appa's whole side. It solidified into ice just before a series of arrows struck it, and then Mai was grabbing Katara's waist and aiming her along the vector the arrows had traveled. Katara couldn't have even had enough time to focus on her eyes on her target before she was shoving forward with both arms, and the ice turned to water again to burst forward and crash into the archer. He barely had enough chance to cry out before he was knocked out of his saddle.
Mai's view of the bouncing archer was eclipsed as Katara plopped back down into the saddle and gave her a completely inappropriate hug. "We got him!"
"Great." It was like extracting herself from one of Ty Lee's embraces. "Please let go so that I can leave now."
"Huh?"
"Hold it steady, Sokka," Mai called as she began climbing over the saddle's side.
He turned around and said, "Huh?"
Then Mai jumped.
To be more precise, she leaped in a perfect butterfly kick that flared her legs out to spin her body in midair. It lacked Ty Lee's grace- the acrobat would have somersaulted in midair and stuck the landing- but it carried her to the recently vacated rhino saddle effectively enough. Mai landed hard enough to bruise her butt but was grabbing the reins even before she had finished bouncing into place.
Okay, she had successfully commandeered one of the enemy mounts and could move independently of Appa for multi-prong attacks.
Now what?
Aang had never ridden backwards before.
Of course, the pixiu was moving forward as fast as it could, following the winding terrain of the mountain, loping along over rocks and around outcroppings while it’s giant belly swayed with the motion and set the coins within clinking and jingling. The noise reminded Aang of the bells and cymbals of the Guanyin Celebration Week. The pixiu ruffled its wings every so often, as though fighting the urge to extend them, but kept up a steady run that was far slower than Aang was used to riding on Appa.
Aang himself was perched on the pixiu's back just behind the wings, turned around so that he could look straight at Guru Pathik. The Guru was riding properly, facing forward, and both of them were tied into place with some of Sokka's best rope. Aang merely had to lean a little to the side to see the armored vehicles and the rhino-riders, with Appa flying his friends above them all.
Fortunately, he had the strength of will not to do that.
Mostly.
Without opening his eyes, Guru Pathik said, "Focus, Avatar Aang. Say it with me: Oooommmmm."
Aang repeated the sacred syllable and closed his own eyes, ignoring the noise of the battle. Instead, he focused on the sound of the pixiu's feet stomping the ground, a skipping that mimicked the cockeyed regularity of a heartbeat.
The Guru spoke with the same droning cadence as a shenhai flute. "Breathe in, and breathe out. Let the world fall away from you even as you turn your focus outward. Breathe in and breath out."
Aang knew how to meditate, but this was something different. He wasn't just seeking peace. He wasn't exploring the storm within, or burning with the fury of the volcano. He was calming his mind and trying to pierce the veil of the physical world around him.
"Peace," Guru Pathik intoned. "Too much effort can cloud the mind. Start with one connection, your strongest. It is a connection that has been with you for many years. It is a connection that has followed you from another world, another age. A connection that represents an unbreakable bond. Find it within you, and outside of you as well. Who do you sense at the other end?"
Aang didn't pay too much attention to the words or riddle. He simply let them travel in through his ears and rattle around in his mind while he achieved the perfect peaceful state of meditation. As he breathed in and out, he felt a presence. Warm. Comforting. Large. Loyal. Beloved. Companion. Sky bison. Appa. Appa. Appa was here with him, even though Aang was riding another mount altogether. He could feel Appa flying through the skies above the mountainside, could feel Appa's fear and exhilaration and worry for everyone else. He could even feel the tugging of the reins on Appa's horns!
It was amazing. It was wonderful. It was beautiful.
And on top of Appa was Sokka! The bond between Sokka and Appa glowed in Aang's mind, glowed almost as bright as the link between Sokka and Aang himself. And Sokka had a bond with his sister, a bond as strong as Aang's with Appa.
There was another bond, a shared bond, one that linked Aang and Sokka and Appa to someone else. On Aang and Sokka's part, it was weak, fluttery, almost painful. But for Appa, the link was strong and healthy. It led down, down to ground, to a cold presence that threatened Aang's peacefulness, threatened to shatter this reality of energies and strings of fate. He breathed in and out, and refocused his attention on Appa again.
"Yes," the Guru almost sang. "You see without seeing. You perceive the world beyond the physical, the people in your life beyond their mere bodies. This is how you must look at the world if you want to touch its energies. This is how you must look at the pixiu below you, if you want to heal it."
Aang breathed in and out.
A komodo rhino was nice, but Mai had decided that what she really wanted was one of the tank-trains.
The one in the center was in the lead, gaining rapidly on the pixiu despite Appa's harassing dives and Katara's icicle missiles. Mai spurred her mount to catch up, not caring if she exhausted the thing to death, and guided it until it was running alongside the cargo car. Then she drew her best long Lui Shui-steel knife and slid the blade into the thin space between two overlapping armor plates. After just an angled tug to ensure that it was wedged in properly, she used it pull herself up onto the side of the tank.
The komodo rhino apparently was not used to this, and decided that it had put up quite enough with Mai's antics. It slowed and veered away and left her hanging over the rushing ground.
Well, ash.
Still, that was why she had picked a Lui Shui knife. It held without twisting or yielding, and Mai was able to use her other hand to grab a spike (in retrospect, the Fire Nation's penchant for putting spikes on everything was perhaps a sign of compromised intentions) and tilt herself so that her boots could find purchase on a ridge of armor. The air back here at the cargo car was foul, a mix of dust ripped up from the ground by the tank treads and the black exhaust streaming out of the engine's smokestack. Mai tried to keep her breathing to a minimum and began climbing her way- one spike and anchored knife at a time- to the coupling between the cargo car and the engine.
The door to the cargo cabin stood unguarded before Mai, and she reached behind her back to draw her new sword for the first time in combat. She grabbed the handwheel, breathed in and out once, and then turned it and kicked the door open. Two engineers in goggles spun to face her, but the cabin wasn't very large, and there was little they could do as she raised her sword. The closer engineer was only able to open his mouth as though to speak when Mai smacked him in the face with the flat of her sword like she was swinging a club. He dropped in an instant.
The other engineer raised her hands as though to defend herself, but Mai was up close before anything like a proper guard-stance could be assumed, and had the blade of the sword pressed up against the engineer's throat. She looked past the other woman at the sprawl of controls for the tank-train, a mess of levers and dials and buttons and switches that had no meaning to her.
Well, maybe she didn't want a tank-train after all. "Either you shut this thing down, or I'll destroy it."
"You-" The engineer choked as she tried to avoid swallowing. "-you wouldn't know the first thing about sabotaging a vehicle as complex as this."
Mai brought her face closer to her prisoner's. "A childhood friend once told me that the more complex something is, the easier it is to break." She glanced over at the control panel again, and at the grating concealing the roaring fire of the tank-train's heart. "I think I'd start by pushing all these levers all the way to the front and tightening the steam vents-"
"Okay!" This time, the engineer did swallow, even though it made her throat scape the sword's cutting edge. "I'll shut it down."
Mai backed off a bit to let the engineer work, and as soon as she felt the tank-train's speed decreasing, she used the butt of her sword’s handle to smack the back of the engineer's head. She thought about killing both engineers before she left, but decided that she didn't have the time right now. She could conclusively prove her new loyalties later.
She left the engine cabin as the tank-train ground to a halt, and stepped back off onto the mountainside to find the platinum blade of a guan dao arcing right towards her face.
Sokka held onto the reins hard with all his strength, Momo screeching in his ear the whole time, as Appa made a sharp climb into the air. The echoes of the armored rhino rider's bomb washed over Sokka as they safely leveled off, and he resolved to see about getting himself a supply of explosives. If he could ever get over the fear of carrying such things on his fragile body, they made for really effective weapons.
After a quick glance confirmed that Katara had held on and was still in the saddle on Appa's back, Sokka took advantage of the sanctuary of the high altitude to check out the scene below. One of the tank-trains had come to a complete stop, and it looked like Mai was fighting two of the rhino riders- the one with the guan dao and the one with the chain bola- right beside it. She could probably take care of herself, and hey, one giant evil machine down.
Sokka looked ahead, and his heart sank. Two evil giant machines to go and one was really starting to get close to the running pixiu. He assumed that the lack of any flying on the pixiu's part meant that Aang hadn't figured out how to heal it yet. Sokka directed Appa in a gentle dive as he looked around for more detail. The armored bomb thrower was guarding the second tank-train, while the Firebender was riding his rhino alongside the first. A plan began forming in Sokka's mind, but that Firebender was a complication. If he got too close to the pixiu- but wait-
Sokka turned to his sister so fast he startled Momo into hopping off of him. "I'm dropping you off on the pixiu. You'll have to defend Aang and the Fugu from the Firebender."
Katara blinked. "Wait, what about you?"
"Appa and I are about to do something that’s either going to be spectacular or a complete waste of our time."
"Oh." She corked her waterskin and climbed up to sit beside him on Appa's head. "Well, as long as there's a chance of spectacular-"
Appa roared as dived down towards the pixiu, and grunted as he slowed in time to hover right above thing. Katara leaped down onto the pixiu's back, and Sokka stayed only long enough to make sure she landed safely before he directed Appa back towards the tank-train. The Firebender shot a flame at them as they passed, but Appa knew his business and dodged around it.
Before, Sokka had tried to get Appa to knock a tank-train over. It hadn't gone well, but maybe the problem wasn't a lack of strength on the sky bison's part. Maybe the Fire Nation had simply designed the tank-trains to be really good at staying upright.
But Sokka had figured out an angle that the Fire Nation might have missed.
So he directed Appa to once again match the speed of the tank-train and pace it as it raced along, but instead of keeping the sky bison alongside the vehicle, he had Appa flying above it. "Okay, buddy. Go on and land on the cargo car!"
Appa grunted and did as he was told, but the car wasn't quite wide enough to accommodate the sky bison's full body, and his legs wound up dangling over the sides as he rested on belly down on the armor plating. The tank-train slowed noticeably as the sky bison rested its full weight on it, and the pixiu and the Firebender both pulled ahead.
So far, so good, but merely slowing the thing until the armored bomber caught up wasn't going to accomplish much.
"Appa," Sokka said, "grab on, and yip-yip!"
The sky bison snorted as his legs tightened on the cargo car's sides, and his tail hammered up and down. It felt to Sokka like a hurricane had suddenly come calling, but otherwise the only movement he felt was the running of the tank-train. Appa gave a long grunt, and his tail moved faster. Even Momo was flapping with one arm while pulling on Appa's saddle with the other.
And the whole cargo car lifted just a little bit.
"Yeah!" Sokka stood up on Appa's head and clapped as hard and as loud as he could. "You're doing it! A little more! Yip-yip!"
The tank-train was still running, still trying to drag its cargo car. There was just enough play in the coupling to allow these few handspans that Appa had managed to lift-
Appa's grunt turned into a full-on roar and the cargo car lifted even further and the rear of the tank-train went with it and-
There was a jolt, Appa let go, Momo squawked and fluttered in the air above the saddle, and then Sokka saw the most spectacular wreck of his life.
Any vehicle designed to run on rails needed a 'pilot,' sometimes called a hippo-cowcatcher, to deflect anything that might be lying on the track. It was just a shaped bit of metal like an arrowhead at the front of the engine, right above the ground. The tank-trains, even though they had treads on their wheels, had obviously been modified from the trains that the Fire Nation had started using in the last decade, and so had a pilot at its front.
But the pointed pilot of tank-train was not designed to handle the vehicle being lifted by the rear and angled to point directly into the ground.
So the pilot burrowed instantly into the ground and brought the whole tank-train to a halt, but there was still a lot of momentum built up in the massive armored assault vehicle that couldn't go forward, and it had a rather long body, so all the force was applied to a circular motion, and the end result was that the whole tank-train flipped forward with the tip of its pilot as the fulcrum and slammed upside-down into the ground with the full force of its previous motion. Appa had risen just fast enough to not be swatted by a giant armored spider-flyswatter.
And so Sokka was free to grin as the tank-train spun and crashed and tried to both flatten and explode in a single action.
But then he noticed that Appa was dropping again. The sky bison let out an exhausted groan and plopped to the ground. "Hey," Sokka said, snapping the reins. "Yip-yip, we're not done yet!"
Appa sighed and closed his eyes. Momo landed on the sky bison's head and began petting it right on the arrow.
And so Sokka could only watch as the last tank-train sped past them. He could only sit there and be grateful as the armored bomb-throwing rhino-rider raced past them without bothering to toss any explosives.
Sokka, Appa, and Momo were out of the fight.
Through his connections to his friends, Aang felt fear and pain and pressure. Appa and Sokka were a long way back as the chase continued, and Aang's weak link to Katara actually left her more visible to him by the sounds of her exclamations and movements just behind Guru Pathik.
Aang's perception of the world beyond the physical was wavering. He decided that he had to hurry, had to heal the pixiu now or not at all. He pushed with all his willpower, trying to hammer out a link to the pixiu beneath him. At least there was something to work with: his appreciation for spiritual matters, his love of animals, his responsibility as the Avatar to protect what was beautiful in the world, and the promise he had made to Guru Pathik. Aang felt all of that as he reached his mind out towards the pixiu and conjured the energy beyond the creature's physical form.
"Maintain your peace, Aang," the Guru said. "Only at peace can you tap into your greatest power. Feel the connection you have with all living things, not necessarily as friendship, but as the recognition that All are One and that we influence each other with everything we do."
Aang breathed in and out.
Katara was swiftly coming to the conclusion that Sokka was an idiot.
Just defend Aang and the Guru from the Firebender, he said. Sure, that sounded easy. But Katara was rapidly learning that when she blocked a fireball with her Waterbending, she lost some of that water to steam. And she had already tried to attack the Firebender and knock him off his mount like that archer from before, but this one was turning to be really good at dodging, and he didn't have to worry about running out of fire when he used his element to defend himself from Katara's water and ice.
While Aang and the Guru meditated silently behind her, Katara doused another incoming fireball and spun on the pixiu's back to turn her watershield into a reaching tentacle, but the Firebender had already directed his mount to move and slow a bit, putting him out of her reach. She couldn’t retract her water before another stream of flame had boiled away some of its substance, but at least the Firebender was out of attack range for now.
And then there was that last tank-train that was coming up fast.
Katara had seen that second tank-train flip over, but why wasn't Appa flying back? Had Sokka gotten hurt? Had Appa gotten hurt? Were they alive?
The thoughts echoed in her head along with the jingle-jingle sound of the pixiu's coin-filled belly.
Katara was brought back to reality by the roar of a komodo rhino, and she prepared to have more fire thrown at her, but the Firebender was turning away and putting even more distance between himself and the pixiu. Where could-
Then Katara saw another komodo rhino racing up with Mai in the saddle.
Katara gasped with relief. She wasn't alone! She wanted to ask Mai to go check on Sokka, but as much as she hated to admit it, there were more pressing concerns right now. That last tank-train was only getting closer, and the pair of spikes mounted on the front of the engine looked awfully big even compared to the pixiu.
So as Mai pulled her rhino up alongside the pixiu, Katara said, "Defend Aang and the Guru. I have something to do, and then I'm going back to find my brother."
She waited for Mai's nod, and then streamed her water into a long line that she froze into a spike of ice. She ran forward to the edge of the pixiu’s backside and then jammed the spike into the ground, using it as a pole to vault into the air. The Firebender raced past her with a look of surprise on his face, and then the tank-train was coming up fast and Katara tucked her legs up and made herself keep her eyes open and why did she try this she was going to die oh mom-
She landed in a crouch on top of the tank-trains engine and fell into a tumble that ended by smacking into the smokestack.
Ow.
But now Katara was on top of an engine that ran on steam, and she was a Waterbender. Using the smokestack to keep herself stable, she stood up and reached out to sense the moisture deep within the massive metal engine, moisture that was more angry and energetic than any she had felt before. Katara hunched in on herself while she pushed her hands down into the air in front of her, taking control of the steam deep in the boiler and compressing without cooling it. She could feel the power within the steam grow, and it just got angrier and more energetic and- uh oh. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea!
Katara dodged around the smokestack and ran for her life, holding onto her hat. She hopped the gap to the cargo car just as the front of the engine exploded.
This wasn’t even like the bombs that the armored rhino-rider had been throwing. The force of this blast completely picked her up and threw her into the air with even more speed than her pole-vaulting. She was flying with the speed of Appa’s steepest dive and things were moving too fast for her to even begin thinking of a plan. The coal car vanished beneath her and her hat flew off her head and the ground came up to fill her vision and this was going to be bad.
First there was reality-shattering pain, and then there was complete and utter nothingness.
Katara had disappeared from Aang's perceptions, leaving him with only one nearby connection that he could feel: the weak, wispy one, the one that hurt to sense. He knew who was at the other end. He would have to trust her.
"Peace," the Guru droned. "Power from peace."
Aang put his hands flat on the pixiu's back, right on the spot between him and the Guru Pathik, and breathed in and out. He could feel the energy, the Línghún, of which the pixiu was made. That was what he had to Bend, what he had to reconfigure so that he could heal the pixiu's wing. It was very different from Air, as well as Water. There was substance to those, a substance against which a Bender had to work but with a nature that could guide a Bender who truly listened. With the Línghún, it was the opposite- there was no substance, and so nothing against which he could work, nothing with which he could join.
Aang maintained the connection, and breathed in and out.
The boom of a steam engine exploding and roar of tearing metal let Mai know that Katara had dealt with the last tank-train. Not bad for a little sweetie girl.
Unfortunately, Mai didn't have time to go back and congratulate her.
Colonial Mongke- this close, she had finally recognized him as one of the 'heroes' who helped burn Ba Sing Se to the ground- had been joined in the chase by his armored explosive specialist, and together they were coordinating to keep Mai busy. They were coming at the pixiu on their komodo rhinos from two different directions, dividing her attention. What wouldn't have been a problem for a Weapon-class Feidao dagger specialist on solid ground was a bit different for one riding an unfamiliar mount.
As if sensing her hesitation, both Rough Rhinos put on more speed and came at the pixiu like a pincer. Mongke flexed his arms in preparation for his Firebending while the Armored Annoyance reached towards his belt for more of those little explosives.
Mai analyzed vectors, grabbed some razor discs, cursed her choice, and decided that the guy with the bombs was the bigger threat. She threw at him first, aiming a razor disc at the space where his explosive-laden hand would briefly stop as he reached back in preparation for his throw, and then looked back over at Mongke. She lined up her next razor disc as the first struck the tiny bombs in the Armored Annoyance's hand and pulled them away from him an instant before they exploded. Mai flinched against the blast- and the yelling armored bomber as he and his dead mount bounced past her- and tightened her legs on her saddle as she threw at Mongke's head. The razor disc spun through the air while she prepared some follow-up razors, but squinting against the wind of her riding, she realized that the arc of Mongke’s approach against the pixiu had changed since she took her shot. The vectors weren't going to line up.
She had missed.
She was already throwing a trio of razors, but Mongke punched his fists right at the meditating riders atop the pixiu.
Aang tried to maintain his connection to the pixiu, to the Línghún energy, to the world beyond the physical, but he felt adrift in its alien feel; his friends had been left behind, beyond his perceptions, and his connection with Mai was too weak to block out the pain, the feel of the pixiu's body, the whipping of the wind, the sounds of crunching rocks and jingling coins, the grind of his teeth as they pressed against each other.
Aang gasped, and his eyes opened as the world beyond the physical disappeared. He opened his mouth to apologize to Guru Pathik, but he could already see the understanding in the old man's eyes, the sad, consoling smile beneath the fluffy white beard.
Then that image was consumed in fire.
Aang cried out as the fireball exploded against the Guru's body and tried to get up to help or defend his mentor or do something, but he was still tied down to the pixiu. Aang frantically looked around, trying to find the source of the fire, and spotted the rhino rider to the side. It was the Firebender with the feather in his topknot, and he was grinning as he shifted in his saddle into another attack motion and Aang frantically tried to muster a wind defense but he was dizzy and trapped and-
A trio of knives zipped right past the Firebender, one blade slicing through the man's forehead, one cutting a line across his arm, and the last severing a strap on his saddle.
The Firebender flinched, disrupting his attack, and then he and his saddle both tipped and fell right off the running rhino.
Mai brought her stolen rhino to a stop just in front of Mongke. The 'hero of the Fire Nation' had taken a pretty bad fall, not at all helped by the full charge his mount had been running at, and seemed to be in no hurry to get up. Mai took her time sliding out of her own saddle and approaching him. As she walked, she flicked her right arm out so that her sleeve would fall behind the scabbard hanging from the back of her waist, and drew her new sword out to shine in the sunlight.
Mongke groaned and looked up at her.
Mai kicked him in the head, right where her razor had cut him.
Mongke went sprawling, falling on his back, and before he could even open his eyes again, the point of Mai's sword was right at his throat.
"I give up," he croaked.
Mai said nothing.
This piece of human garbage had killed the Guru. An old man who just wanted to help Aang and random money-eating monsters was probably dead now because of this soldier. Mai knew nothing of healing and could do little for the Guru if he was still alive, but she could avenge him.
She could remove the jerk who killed the old man, and in doing so remove someone who served the corrupt goals of the Fire Nation.
Someone who had caused Aang pain.
Mai breathed in and out and made the choice to plunge her sword into Mongke's throat, to properly swear allegiance to the green robes she now wore.
She made the choice, but she didn't move.
Then Aang's voice rang out with, "We need to find Katara."
Mai looked up to find him running up to her. The pixiu was resting some distance ahead, apparently no longer needing to move now that all pursuit had been neutralized. Beside it, a thin human body was lying still on the ground. She shifted her gaze back to Aang. "I lost track of her in the fight." She turned to look at the path that the chase had taken, but from this position she couldn't even see the tank-train Katara had taken out. "Katara’s somewhere back there."
Aang let out a heavy breath that hitched only once with a sob. "Then there's nothing we can do. The Guru doesn't have long."
Mai looked back down at Mongke. "Sure there is."
"Don't!"
Mai looked up to find Aang’s attention fully on her. "Why?"
"Because there's no reason to."
"Punishment for what he did to the Guru. Prevention against him ever doing something like that again. Attrition on the Fire Nation's forces. A blow to morale for the people who consider him a hero."
Aang shook his head. "But that's not why you're doing it. You're doing it because you're mad."
"I'm not mad."
"You look mad."
Mai blinked. "I look-" How could she look mad? She never showed her feelings. She was in complete control.
Then she realized she was scowling so hard her face hurt.
Mai sheathed her sword. "You better get back to the Guru."
Aang’s gaze lingered on her for a moment, and then he deliberately turned his back on her and ran.
When Aang was halfway to the pixiu, Mai whipped her sword out again and kicked Mongke in the side hard enough to spin him around to sprawl face down on the rock. He started to growl but it transitioned into a screech as Mai whipped her blade in a pair of very quick, very precise slices. The sword passed through the thick material of Mongke's boots to cut the tendons just above his heels, severing both.
Mai sheathed her weapon once again. "If you get that fixed quickly, you might be able to walk again someday. Maybe even ride." As she straightened, she added, "I wonder how long it will take you to get to a healer." She was about to follow Aang when she spotted the jian scabbard hanging from Mongke's belt. She reached down and unhooked it, ignored by the screaming Firebender, and drew the blade.
It gleamed in the sunlight, more than any steel weapon.
Platinum.
"This is mine, now." She ran over to the pixiu.
Aang kneeled beside the Guru, who was lying on his back on the ground and straining to breathe. Mai had to avert her eyes from the burns and wounds on his chest, and the fireball scar on her own side ached in sympathy. Yet there was no expression of pain on the Guru's face. Mai had no idea how that could be; even the damage to his body's ability to feel pain couldn't account for the peaceful face he wore.
The Guru opened his eyes and smiled. "Ah, you are still here. That- That is good." His eyes went to Aang. "I am sorry I could not stay longer, but- this was part of my vision, too. You-" His voice faltered for a longer moment, but after taking a breath, he continued, "You know what you need. Don't give up. The world- it is counting on you, but I believe in you." Then he turned to Mai. "Please- take my hand."
She blinked, not sure why he was paying her any attention, but she could hardly refuse a dying request. She took the Guru's dusty left hand in her both of hers.
He closed his eyes, and then a sensation went through Mai that awoke memories she had thought forgotten. Of coming home after one of her parents’ boring parties to find her Uncle visiting. Of the first time she saw Tom-Tom, and he spit up on her. Of laughing at Ty Lee's experiments with dancing. Of getting her first pair of bolt-launchers from Azula. Of Zuko, before he-
She focused again on the Guru, who opened his eyes and gave a stiff nod. "Your family still lives- as do your old friends. Your actions on the Crescent Island- they did not kill them."
Mai yanked her hands back. How could he know? What proof did they have that his magic junk could actually find people across the world? And how dare he presume to know what she was thinking? Zuko had probably died when the volcano exploded, and if he had survived, then he would have brought word of her treachery back to Azula, and maybe even the Fire Lord, and then her family-
There was no way they could all be alive.
She didn't deserve that.
She turned away from the Guru and muttered, "Thanks."
Aang blinked away tears as Guru Pathik turned back to him, and said, "Please don't go. I don't want to be alone again."
The Guru shuddered, but his eyes stayed steady. "You were never alone, Aang. R- Remember, everything is connected. I missed- the Air Nomads, too, but- there are still so many wonderful things in the world. Carry your nation in your heart- look to your connections as well. They will aid you- in- in what you need to you."
Aang knew Guru Pathik was right, but it still didn't help. "Maybe we'll meet again in another life."
"Yes," the Guru sighed. "I'd like that."
Then he stopped breathing.
Aang continued holding onto his hand, and sat there in the dirt of the mountain as his tears fell. He wasn't sure how long it was before Mai wrapped one of her arms around him, but he did know that he didn't care whether they were really friends or not right now. He leaned into her, and pretended that they were.
The light turned to the orange color of the setting sun as Zuko watched Suki's workout.
The self-proclaimed Kyoshi Warrior certainly had considerable skill. Zuko recognized the aikido style favored by some back in the Fire Nation. Those who could Firebend, of course, studied those styles, but amongst the nobles who couldn't command the flame, some chose to learn the redirections and joint locks of aikido as their preferred form of self-defense. Uncle Iroh had spoken of learning the techniques, Zuko recalled, although why a Prince Admiral Firebender would need to was beyond him.
Suki moved from one end of her cell to another, each step heralding at least one attack with her hands, elbows, knees, or feet. She moved smoothly and efficiently, although she lacked the grace of Azula, Ty Lee, or M-
He sat up on his cot. "So what is it you want?"
Suki twisted her arms in what seemed to be the act of throwing an imaginary opponent and then relaxed her posture. "To be you friend, remember?"
Zuko chose to ignore that. "You spoke of surviving troubles. Is your only goal to survive, or do you want more?"
"Oh." Suki crossed her arms over her chest and stared off into space. "I'd like to go home, if I can. Kyoshi Island really is beautiful, and I know all the people there- but I've been gone a while, and no one would have any idea why I disappeared. They might have figured out that I'm a traitor, so I wouldn’t be able to go back."
Zuko almost reached up to touch his scar before he stopped himself. "I can understand wanting to go home."
"Yeah." Suki sighed and shrugged. "But it might take me a while. So I have a lot of work ahead of me. And I'll need the help of friends and allies."
"Help." Did Zuko want this girl's help against Zhao, their mutual enemy? Did he want to help her? Would Azula accept this kind of help?
Could there be help without trust?
He hoped so.
When Katara awoke, she found Master Hama leaning over her. What had happened? She remembered the chase, and the tank-trains, and trying to destroy one of them, but-
Oh.
Katara tried to sit up, and realized that she was lying in a trough of water. She recognized the walls around her as belonging to the clinic back in the Earthbender village. "When-"
"Stay put." Master Hama pushed Katara back down so that the water covered her just short of her face. "You took a very bad fall. I have been working on you for several hours, and I will not have you marring your pretty skin with scars when I'm this close to being finished."
Katara did as her sifu commanded, and tried to remember what happened. "I fell off the tank-train?"
"Well, falling is perhaps understating it. From what I can tell, you were pushed off of it fast enough to skid quite a distance, all over rocky ground. The other healers and I have had to work on both bone and flesh these last few hours, but you're almost whole again."
Katara didn't want to think about how she must have looked when she had been found. "I failed again."
"Failed? Again? Child, you destroyed one of those awful machines by yourself, if that Fire Nation fritter's account can be trusted, and all your friends survived, along with the pixiu. The Fire Nation has been run off and your monster is safely quartered here in the village with the sky bison."
Katara decided not to argue with Master Hama, but she couldn't reconcile nearly killing herself with any kind of proper victory. Besides, the others had done most of the work. "So everyone's okay?" Master Hama didn't answer right away, and Katara's throat tightened just like when she looked up into a clear sky. "Who got hurt? Not Sokka-"
"No, Sokka, the Avatar, and even Mai are all okay. But the Air Nomad guru you met, he- well, a Firebender got him."
Katara tried to sit up again, but when she tried to brace herself with her hands, they slipped in the trough and she momentarily dunked her face. "Guru Pathik didn't make it?!"
"They're giving him a funeral at midnight at the peak of one of the mountains. If you want to attend- or if you want to avenge him- you'll sit still and let me finish." Master Hama raised her hands to control the water, and a glow filled Katara’s vision. "I respect wanting to do as much damage to the Fire Nation as possible, but destroying yourself in the process is too high a price. You’re the last Waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe.”
Katara sighed and let herself go limp in the water. She ignored Master Hama's work, ignored the glow of the water, ignored the tingling in her muscles and bones, ignored the title she had just been given. She was the one who had ordered Mai to protect the Guru, Aang, and the pixiu while she went off to fight a tank-train. Why did she think she could order more experienced warriors around like that? Why did she think she could be as good as Sokka or Mai?
Why did she think she deserved to go home as a failure?
Mai hadn't expected the Guru to get a funeral pyre; that had always seemed like a uniquely Fire Nation thing.
But Aang had insisted. The spiritual brothers to the Air Nomads had mixed some beliefs from all their nations in their culture, and their funerals consisted of a pyre at the peak of a windy mountain, so that they could be carried on the breezes to rejoin the Earth wherever their particles landed. Most of the Guru's ashes would become part of the mountain range, but others might be carried as far as the sea. No one would ever really know.
Tyro, Haru, and others from the Earthbender sanctuary had arranged it on Aang's instructions. Except for a few guards, most of the village had turned out for the midnight ceremony. Mai stood with Appa and the pixiu at the edge of the gathering, but she could see the others up at the front, gazing into the flames. Sokka and Katara stood together, their arms around each other, stoic in the light of the pyre. Aang was right next to them, clutching Momo in his arms like Mai had seen Mother hold Tom-Tom during stressful moments. He cried silently, but kept his eyes on the fire.
Mai held back a sigh. Tomorrow they would be leaving the Earthbender village. As crazy as the day had been, Aang had decided that they had rested and healed long enough. It was time for him to return to his duties as the Avatar. He was convinced that this Línghún energy of the Guru's was the start of figuring out how to fix the world, somehow. Mai had expected Sokka and Katara to insist on going to Full Moon Bay first, to find their tribe, but it hadn't played out like that. Sokka had brought it up when they were discussing their plans, right before the funeral, but Katara had shaken her head.
"We can't be selfish," she had said. "We need to help the Avatar, and meeting Gran-Gran again isn't going to get him any further."
Sokka had been visibly confused. "But you-"
"I want to stay and help Aang," Katara had said, her eyes intense in a way that reminded Mai of Azula. "I'll let you know when I'm ready to go home." Then she had tugged her new hat down lower, shielding most of her face from view.
Sokka, of course, had only been able to surrender. All boys were apparently suckers for their sisters.
By now, the fires of the Guru's pyre were low. Aang put Momo down, and started moving in an Airbender form that summoned a gentle wind. With each step he took, the force of the wind increased, but it always remained soft. Mai almost thought she could relax into it like a pillow and it would cradle her above the ground.
But, of course, that was just an illusion.
Once all the ashes from the pyre were sent on their journey, the funeral was over. The villagers began shuffling off back to their homes, all of them silent.
Mai stayed put. She could see that Aang and the Water Tribe siblings were doing the same.
Eventually, the group was left alone. She briefly considered leaving after all, of going back on the decision she had made earlier, but when she went to move, she found Appa blocking her path, looking at her with those bovine eyes of his.
She had been caught, it seemed.
Giving in with a sigh, she changed course and walked over to Aang. "Hey."
He didn't look back at her. "Hey."
"I've been thinking about what the Guru said to you."
"Yeah?"
Mai folded her hands together in her sleeves. "He was right."
Finally, Aang turned to look at her. She couldn't see the details of his face in the dark, but his eyes reflected the starlight. "About what?"
"Your connections helping you. I don't know if I believe in all that crazy energy stuff, but he was right about the practical component." She swallowed, and then said, "That's why I chose you."
"Chose me?"
"At Crescent Island. When- when Prince Zuko had captured you. I had served him because he was my friend, and my- we- we had grown up together, and I- I was loyal to the Fire Nation and to Az- but what I saw-" Mai closed her eyes and sighed. "I realized I- I cared too much about you to let you get hurt. Even in the name of all those other loyalties. That's why I betrayed Zuko even after I betrayed you. You're the best person I know."
Aang said nothing.
Mai gave a short bow. "I just wanted to tell you that the Guru was right. You made a connection with me that saved you. And I'll be helping you until you win. So I'll see you in the morning." She turned to get the lantern she had left shuttered over by Appa. She would need it if she was going to find her way back down the mountain in this-
"Wait!"
It was Katara's voice.
Mai turned, hiding her surprise. Katara had stepped away from her brother, and had her fists clenched in front of her in what was either a weak fighting stance or childish excitement.
Katara looked to Aang. "Try to heal the pixiu again."
Aang blinked. "Now?"
"Yes!" She turned to look at Mai. "Stay with us. We'll all stand around Aang while he tries."
Aang was still for a long time, and then he shrugged. "I guess it's worth another try now that no one is trying to kill us."
Sokka grunted. "There's a certain logic to that."
Katara nodded, and started actively herding the boys in the direction of the pixiu. When Mai hesitated, Katara came back and grabbed her hands, pulling her over to the rest of the group. Momo scampered along and climbed up to sit on Aang's head, while Appa even shuffled over close enough that his breathing ruffled everyone's clothes.
The pixiu looked back at all of them with eyes that were shining in the starlight, and its gray fur had a misty quality. Mai could believe it was part dragon, even though she had never actually seen one, but it apparently had no desire to eat a traitor like her.
Aang closed his eyes and reached out to lay his hands on the pixiu's chest. His breathing became slow and loud, and the pixiu let out a long, low honk.
Mai waited, standing close to all the others, and watched.
Aang's breathing continued, and the pixiu spread its wings out and lifted its head to look up at the stars. Then it lit up, chasing away the darkness of the night with a glow that Mai had seen before. It was the same glow of a certain iceberg she had encountered near the South Pole. The glow went on until Mai had to turn away from it, and then it abruptly went out. She blinked and rubbed at her eyes, her night vision ruined, but the pixiu's gray fur stood out enough that she could see the way its wings were now matched. There was no more injury.
Aang had done it.
"I did it!" Even in the darkness, Mai could make out the grin on his face, and she could hear a lightness in his voice that had been missing since the Guru's death. On a whim, she turned to glance back at the remains of the funeral pyre, but there was nothing to see. She didn't know what she had been expecting.
She turned back to the group, and found the pixiu nuzzling a laughing Aang. Then it gave the same nuzzle to Katara (who also laughed), and bumped its nose against Sokka's chest (who accepted it politely but nervously).
Then it turned to Mai.
She stared back at it, and wondered if it was going to eat her now.
The pixiu honked at her instead.
She was going to give it a friendly wave to fulfill social obligations, but then it honked again and coughed up a wad of something on her.
"Uuuggghhhhh!!" She held her hands out from her sides, trying to avoid being sick. She was covered in some kind of slime like the snots that ran out of Tom-Tom's nose. She said again, "Uuuggghhhhh," and tried to flick some of the goo off her hands.
The slime splattered against the stone of the mountain with a metal jingle.
"Hey," Sokka said, and then ran off to find her lantern. When he angled the shutter to shine the light on her, she found herself glistening with both the moisture of the slime and the gleam of polished coins that were scattered throughout the goo.
She glanced at all the others, and found them trying to hold back laughter. Even Sokka. Even Appa!
Katara stepped forward to pluck one of the slimy coins off of Mai's shoulder. "I guess he wanted to give you a gift in return for your help."
Mai swallowed heavily. "I hope there's enough here to cover the cost of a new robe."
Katara stuck the coin back where she found it. "I'll help you clean up."
"Thanks." Maybe Mai would give the Waterbender a tip in exchange for the assistance. After all, the pixiu had barfed the money on her alone, so she should be the one to parcel out the shares, right?
The pixiu flexed its wings, launched itself into the sky, and flew away into the night.
Mai was left alone with the only people willing to tolerate her.
TO BE CONTINUED
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This action sequence was a bit tough to nail down at first, but I really enjoyed it. It was something a bit different from my usual fights, but still fun and kinetic to make happen. Still, I probably shouldn't have been reading dry Russian science fiction before my first attempting at writing it. 
Reading something more pulpy put me in the proper frame of mind.
Previous: Beyond the Elements
Next: The Capital Conspiracies
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back - The Battle of Hoth (Medley)
Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Seven Chakras
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace - The Funeral of Qui-Gon
Reading something more pulpy put me in the proper frame of mind.Previous: Beyond the Elements
Next: The Capital Conspiracies
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back - The Battle of Hoth (Medley)
Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Seven Chakras
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace - The Funeral of Qui-Gon
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Yuk X SUki heck yeah