Pirate Love (kataang story)

Shocking News

Aang and Katara could only stare at the billowing smoke rising in the sky in horror. They had such a fun and peaceful day, they hadn't even entertained the notion that Azula would have found them, but they supposed that they should have known. From what Zuko had told them, Azula was not only crazy, but a master tracker and a keen warrior. She would be hard to get off of their trail.

Slowly but surely, the rest of the villagers and pirates seemed to smell the smoke too, and all turned and gasped to find that the village was indeed on fire. If they hadn't been in shock from seeing this, they likely would have gotten up immediately, but it took them several moments before they managed to snap out of it.

Sharing a nod of agreement, the Captain and the Quartermaster turned towards the rest of the people on the beach as Katara prepared herself to speak. "Okay, everyone! Gather your clothes and weapons and get ready. We're likely going to be going into a fight. Follow us!"

With that, they all got dressed as quickly as they could and made sure they had their weapons with them before breaking out into a run, knowing that every second wasted was another second that their village and the villagers who had stayed behind would be in danger.

Katara and Aang felt horrible about coming to the island, however. The only reason Azula had started burning their village was because she was trying to draw them out, and if they had never come there, then this would never have been their problem. Though Aang blamed himself the most, knowing that it was his idea to go there in the first place.

But, despite the fact that they both felt rather guilty at the moment, they put it aside and focused on getting to the village. The sooner they could assess the damage and how to deal with Azula, the sooner they could begin fixing things.

Normally, Aang would just use some airbending to get them to the village quicker, but despite the fact that he was the Avatar, he wouldn't be able to protect them all if he sent them up in a burst of air. Instead, he decided that it would be best to just run as fast as he could without leaving them in the dust. Though he was a skilled pirate, he imagined that Azula had a miniature army with her, and did not like his odds against them on his own.

After what felt like forever, the Captain and the Quartermaster finally reached the entrance to the village, both of them becoming alarmed as they saw a couple buildings on fire along with the large Kyoshi Statue in the center of the town.

Both of them sharing a nod, Aang watched as Katara reached inside her waterskins and brought out a good amount of water while Aang drew the water out of the humid air. Most waterbenders wouldn't be able to get a lot of it out of the air, but it appeared that his Avatar abilities helped him with that.

Working together, they used their collective water to put out what fires they could, and when they ran out of water, Aang finished off the remaining fires with some quick airbending, saving the village from receiving any more damage.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Aang turned around and looked at the people behind them, a look of worry on his face. "Is everyone okay?"

"You won't be soon, Avatar," a familiar voice called out to him from the main building, making him whip around again and get in a defensive stance as the Gaang did the same, watching as Azula came walking out with guards on each side. "Surrender, and I'll spare these pitiful villagers their lives."

"Over my dead body!" Katara snarled as she pulled out her sword, making Azula smile evilly as she shrugged simply.

"Don't say I didn't try to compromise. Guards, take care of them!" she called out, watching her troops start moving forward to capture their enemies.