Heimat | Aang

TWENTY-FOUR

Tapeesa let the ice move her away from the barrage of fire as she raised her hands, raising the ice along so it formed a slide and led her away from the attack. She found herself jumping in front of Aang, her eyes taking a quick look around the room before she called the ice to her and without hesitation sent a spear of it to the firebender closest to a woman with a baby in her arms, not looking at the destruction she had caused as she heard his gasp. She kept on moving. 

She jumped over blasts of fire, moved over the ground that seemed to crumble beneath her feet, her arms drawing more and more water from the air so she could defend herself. The moment she had a clear shot, she fought back.

Tapeesa's aim was precise, her hits agressive despite her soft bending movements, the shards of ice at her command lethal, bringing her opponents to jump over them at the sight. She made her way to the middle of the cave, drawing more and more water around her, dancing around any attacks until she decided to bring an end to this mess. She raised her arms with a small cry, set herself free.

Ice slithered on the ground to her opponents, quicker than any of them could react, moving over their bodies, growing and growing until it had covered them whole, rendering them immobile, expressions frozen in a mixture of shock and horror. Tapeesa's arms shook as she solidified the ice, face scrunching up as if she were in pain, and then finally, with a cry she let her hands fall by her side, body shagging at once. Defeaning silence replaced the sounds of battle as behind her, Sokka, Katara and Suki exchanged a look. Aang cleared his throat as he called for her.

"Tapeesa?"

"Fine," she breathed, taking a moment to shake her head before she forced herself to straighten up. "I am fine."

"You don't look fine."

"I am not supposed to create such amounts of water when it isn't the full moon, that's why," she replied as she turned to face him, the exhaustion at the overexertion of her powers clear on her face. "I told you to wait."

Aang frowned but before he could say a word, the rocks around him gave way. He yelped as he almost fell but he managed to regain his balance, his eyes wide as he looked down at himself. "What-"

"Whoever trapped you is unconscious," Tapeesa replied, her gaze already having turned to Aang's friends. She briefly looked over them before she noticed Aang moving to Sokka and the woman she didn't know with the baby in her arms, and so she turned to Katara.

"He doesn't listen," she sighed to herself as she took a look at her binds. "Do you have a dagger anywhere-"

"No," she shook her head, "Aang will take me out."

She hummed her agreement moments before the same creature she had seen harassing Appa before flew in the room. Katara seemed to know it as it came to land on her shoulder. "Hi, Momo."

The torches around the room lit up with one of Aang's movements and he moved away from Sokka and the other woman who had moved together the moment they were free to set Katara free. The moment he had burned the ropes off, Katara turned to him with a scowl. "What you did was stupid."

"I wasn't going to wait until morning to come, maybe something would happen to you," he argued, gaze briefly following after Tapeesa as she headed over to Sokka and Suki. "Everything turned out alright in the end."

Katara shook her head although she didn't argue with him, her gaze instead focused on the frozen people scattered all around the cave. "What are we going to do with them?"

"Fire Lord Zuko must be on his way," Tapeesa spoke from her spot beside Sokka, who was more focused on his wife and daughter than them. "They will still be frozen by the time he arrives to receive them."