Book 2: Earth

Chapter 5- Friends and Allies

The smoke stacks of Omashu puffed ash and soot as the Earth engineers worked overtime to produce the engines of war for the Southern Earth Kingdom. It was late in the day, and the sun was already setting down, bathing the steel architecture of the city in a vibrant blood red light. While the Green armored guards of the city kept watch above on the draw bridges and the turrets was the city moat, a gigantic trench that circled the mountain city and protected it from outside invaders, failing only once in the last war against an ingenious assault by the Mechanist's creations.

Yet three figures braved the defenses of the moat, waiting until the sun was over the horizon before attempting the descent.

Noatak and Tarrlok led the way, conjuring a small platform of ice that slid down the mountainside quietly to the city's underbelly.

"So...mind telling me exactly what we're doing here? and what are you looking for?" Noatak asked the Kyoshi Warrior beside him. Niska didn't reply initially, her eyes were intensely focused on the base of the trench, trying to peer at something in the far off darkness.

Noatak couldn't help but smirk, she was still the same even after all those years he had been away from home, serious and authoritative, just like her father.

He never knew much of Niska's past, only that she had been among the refugees that came north with Councilman Sokka after the war had been lost. Though not his daughter by blood, as one of the last survivors of Kyoshi Island, he had adopted her into his family, training her in the arts of the sword and the Kyoshi ways. Niska never thought of Sokka as anything other than her father, having been too young to even remember what her parents even looked like when Sokka rescued her from the flames. She was so grateful, that she dedicated her life to carrying on the legacy that her people had left behind, and the one that Sokka had risked his own life to protect. Although not a bender, she was as skilled with a sword or spear as any, and throughout the Northern Water Tribes, she was simply known as the last Kyoshi Warrior.

"Finding a way in." Niska said seriously, still scanning ahead even as the ice platform glided to a stop at the base of the trench. "There!" she pointed ahead, to a nearby metal grate that looked like it had been welded back into place long ago.

"Wow!" Tarrlok exclaimed, "How did you know this was here?"

"Let's just say we're not the first one's to use this." Niska replied rather proudly, then she quickly jumped onto the concrete floor, gesturing at the brothers to follow. "I'll need your waterbending to break this grate apart, then we'll sneak in."

"Alright," Noatak jumped down, along with Tarrlok, "But first, tell us what we're doing sneaking into an Earth Kingdom city. Aren't we on the same side?"

"Not exactly." Niska replied gruffly. "You ever heard of High General Giam?"

Noatak and Tarrlok thought back briefly to the conversation they had with Captain Lee, and both brothers nodded. "Yes, he commands the remnants of the Earth Kingdom Army against the Fire Nation."

"That's only half the truth." Niska said bitterly. "His men probably glaze over the fact that the High General is also a warlord of the worst sort. He gives surrounding resistance groups a choice: join him, or be destroyed. Countless villages have already been burnt to the ground by his men. And he's already attacked several of our caravans, kidnapping our people to use as bargaining chips to join his side."

Both brothers looked at each other in disbelief, as though it was insane to think that an Earth Kingdom army could do such a thing to its own people.

"High General Giam may claim to be fighting for the Earth Kingdom, but he's only interested in his own power, nothing else, and he would destroy anyone in his way to get what he wants, even his own people. He's no better than the Phoenix Lord." Niska said.