The Traitor Princess

Chapter 21 - Bato of the Water Tribe

"Hey, look!" Aang held up a sword. "A sword made out of a whale's tooth."

Sokka walked up behind Aang and took the weapon. "Let me see that." He examined the weapon for a moment then looked around. "This is a Water Tribe weapon. See if you can find anything else."

The pair started searching the nearby woods for any other weapons. Katara and Eziri approached sharing a confused glance.

"Did someone lose something?" Katara asked.

"No, we found something!" Aang said cheerily. Sokka found a spearhead on the ground by a pile of leaves. He knelt down and picked up the spearhead, examining it closely. Eziri knelt down next to him and saw the ash along the tip. She and Sokka shared a look.

"It's burned." Sokka said. Eziri looked around and pointed to some nearby trees with scorch marks. Sokka got up and rushed over to them. "There was a battle! Water Tribe warriors ambushed a group of firebenders." Sokka looked down the slope of a hill. "The firebenders fought back, but the warriors drove them down this hill." Sokka took off down the hill, Aang and Katara following close behind.

Eziri took another look at the scorch marks around her and sighed. She hoped they wouldn't find anything worse than discarded weapons and scorch marks. She knew this battle wasn't her fault, but she couldn't help the guilt she felt thinking about whatever happened to the Water Tribe warriors.

She slowly followed her friends down the hill, trying to give them space. By the time she caught up with them, they started running towards a ship. Eziri recognized it to be a Water Tribe ship. She picked up her pace to catch up with her friends again.

"Is this dad's boat?" Katara asked hopefully.

"No, but it's from his fleet." Sokka ran his hand along the ship. "Dad was here."

Eziri felt a pit in her stomach. She hoped to every spirit that nothing happened to Sokka and Katara's father. She had grown close to the Water Tribe siblings, but she wasn't so sure their friendship would last if Eziri's nation hurt their father.

–

That night, the friends all settled on the beach. Eziri lit a small fire to keep everyone warm. Aang and Katara fell asleep fairly quickly. Eziri could tell that Sokka's mind was racing too much for him to sleep. She didn't ask him about it because he seemed tense. She figured he would talk about what was bothering him when he was ready. Instead, she gave him silent support and stayed up with him by the fire. He was staring sadly at the flames while Eziri read a book about fortune-telling that Aunt Wu had slipped into her bag.

She noticed the fire was dwindling so she put her book down and grabbed a couple more logs.

There was suddenly a noise from the forest. Eziri and Sokka both leapt to their feet. Sokka gripped his boomerang and Eziri picked up one of her knives.

"Who's there?" Sokka shouted. A man came into view and Eziri prepared to launch her knife. She paused when she saw the unmistakable blue clothing.

"Sokka?" The man called. Eziri's eyes widened and she lowered her hand.

"Bato?" Sokka said excitedly.

"Who the what now?" Aang said drowsily from his place on the ground. He and Katara sat up and looked around.

"Bato!" Katara called. She and her brother rushed over to the man.

"Sokka! Katara! It is so good to see you two." The man hugged the siblings. "You've grown so much!" Aang walked over to join his friends but Eziri remained by the fire.