End of the Beginning

Chapter 9

I quickly glanced at Zuko and Kaito one last time before joining the others on the wall. Katara soon joined us there after. We tried explaining the situation to Sokka as best as we could.

"Let me see if I got this," Sokka said trying to understand,"The protesters and the Earth Kingdom army wants the colonials to go, the Fire Nation army wants the colonials to stay, and the Yu Dao resistance just wants to be left alone?"

"Yes!" Katara and I responded.

"So where's Aang flying off to, then?" Sokka asked, still a bit confused.

"He needs a place to be calm, to figure things out,"

"What is there to figure out?!" Toph chimed in,"If he wants harmony-"

"Look, I trust him!" Katara defended,"And after all we've been through, you ought to, too! So for now, we need to keep all those people down there from killing each other,,,"

"Kind of like what Aang's fan club is trying to do," Sokka added,"Pretty impressive for a bunch of non bending bald girls!"

"We'll need to split up," I said,"Toph, Suki, you two work on disarming Fire Nation soldiers. Katara, help Kaito with Earth Kingdom soldiers. I'll go talk to the Earth King," I said looking up at the King Kuei's war balloon that was floating above us the entire battle. 

"I'll take care of the protesters!" Sokka said.

I nodded in approval.

"One question. How am I supposed to get down there?" Sokka said but Toph made a slide for him.

Water appeared from the distance as the smell of sea water emerged once more. The more water accumulated the lower my body temperature was. Light smoke emitted from by body, I was now much colder then the air around me. I created an ice path using the water all the way to the Earth King's war balloon. I watched the Earth King crawl in a ball shaking in fear. I took a deep breath and the vapor slowly dissipated so I wouldn't startle King Kuei.

"I wanted to prove to my troops that I'm finally man enough to lead them onto the battlefield!" King Kuei blurted out,"Or at least, co-lead them with General How. But now,," He shook, scared for his life,"Oooh! I wish Bosco were here! Who knew Yu Dao would be like this?!"

"Earth King Kuei, have you never actually visited Yu Dao?" I asked sitting down to look at him.

"Up until a year ago, I'd never even visited my own city's outer ring," He replied, voice still shaking. I sighed.

"To you, Yu Dao is just another place the Fire Nation conquered. You haven't seen the people living here," I said looking at him straight in the eyes,"Your Majesty, you should see the people of this city who have to suffer with your decisions in search of 'peace',"

"B-b-but it's not safe down there!" He stuttered once more in worry.

"I know it isn't," I responded, holding my hand out.

King Kuei hesitated at first but then held onto me as I brought him closer and closer to the entrance of the city. A bright light shot through the sky, it was Aang in the Avatar State. I could hear Zuko yelling up to Aang. I didn't want to look, no, I couldn't look. I just focused on taking Kuei to the ground in front of Yu Dao. I quickly let the Earth King on the ground and looked over to Zuko and Aang getting face to face again. I was scared, scared of losing someone I loved so much just because of a mistake. Zuko wasn't evil for wanting this for the people of Yu Dao, why does he deserve to die?

"Aang, I know how this looks!" Zuko shouted,"But I swear to you in my heart,,!"

Zuko removed his helmet as the ground cracked. Zuko fell in.