COLLISION - a zuko and yue centric tale

Chapter five

A fireball blasts pasts past Aang and lands on the emblem of the Water Tribe, destroying it. The city shakes. Men yell as they are thrown back from the impact. Yue is in the palace. The others went to fight. Even Katara. Yue is making herself useful, setting up cots in the palace for when —if— the healer's huts overflow. She grinds up herbs so that they are ready and fresh when the wounded arrive. She calls for people to bring blankets if they can spare any, for those who might have infected wounds and start fevering. Her hands are not allowed to shake when a fireblast rattles the city. She might fall off the earth but her hands must not shake.

The first to be wounded seems almost ashamed as he is brought in with a shattered leg and scrapes all over. He was too close to a blast and got pinned and had to wait until some waterbenders had a moment of free time. Yue stands by patiently as the more experienced healers work. She paid close attention to what they did as she knew she would most likely be pushed out of her comfort zone and knowledge before the siege was done. Even her attendants, usually there only for her, were scurrying around whenever something had to be done for anyone.

Within an hour, the cots are all full. Many will be out fighting again the next day, whether they should or not. At two hours, they have to make more pastes and poultices. At four hours, Yue's feet are sore and her brow tired from worrying. The men start asking for her to be there since they know she has been blessed by the moon spirit. At eight hours, they whisper she is a spirit herself of healing and will ensure that they survive. Yue doesn't think that they might survive her attempt at setting shattered bone and sewing up bloody, ragged-looking bellies. She worries about Mrs. Huemodo, who is rolling bandages around wounds instead of rolling out dough is tense, with a kind of fierceness in her eyes that makes Yue worry. At ten hours, Katara appears and drags the princess out of the room. The others push her out as well, saying that they've all taken breaks as well. Yue admits she could use the fresh air.

The air smells like soot, smoke, and fire. The ground still shakes, and she can hear the distant shouts and screams clearer. Yue can see houses that have been utterly destroyed. She looks away before she sees bodies dismembered in the snow.

"How are you doing?" Katara asks.

"It doesn't matter. I'm doing what I can to help them."

"Yue, how are you?" Katara insists.

"I'm... managing. It's hard."

"Yeah, fighting like this... at least I can make a difference this time." Katara's eyes lower and Yue feels guilty. From what Sokka told her about his tribe, it seemed like they needed help badly and still do. She made a mental note to talk about it with her father later if they survived this. And if they still had enough resources to travel that far and give aid.

"You must be making all the difference now. You look like you've been fighting hard."

"Thank you."

Yue doesn't answer as she realizes the fireblasts that have been punctuating their words have stopped.

"They've stopped firing." She looks upwards and sees Appa and the Avatar, Aang swoop down and land in front of them. They rush down the steps of the palace to them.

"Aang!"Katara shouts as Appa slumps down onto the ground.

Aang slides down Appa. "I can't do it." He puts his head in his hands. "I can't do it," He repeats.

"What happened?" Katara asks.

"I must have taken out a dozen Fire Navy ships, but there's just too many of them. I can't fight them all."

"But, you have to!" Yue blurts out before she can stop herself. "You're the Avatar!"

"I'm just one kid," Aang says, and Yue feels incredibly guilty for saying what she did. He didn't ask for this world. None of them did. And he was the one who had to fix it. Katara sits down next to him and places an arm around him.