The Burning Truth-Harmony

Part 9~Secret's Out

Hachi groaned as he sat up, glancing at the moon before he stood, approaching Corno's side. "Hey, girl. How are you feeling?" He gently patted the bison's head, waking her up. "Can you open up?"

"What are you doing?" Zuko gave Hachi a weird look as he jumped, spinning around rapidly.

"Zuko!" The bison groaned as Hachi cleared his throat, lowering his voice. "What are you doing?"

"You got up. I wanted to make sure you were okay."

Hachi blushed softly as he chuckled. "That's sweet, but I'm fine. I just... I wanted to check on the bison." Hachi sat down as Zuko sat next to him.

"They're fine Hachi. Whatever this illness is, it's not serious."

"What if it is? What if it is serious, but we can't see the damage it's doing. The bison are my responsibility. I won't let them be hurt."

"They're not your responsibility. We all take care of them, and I think Isu has a stronger claim to her bison than you do."

Hachi sighed, petting Corno's fur. "Did I tell you how I mastered airbending?"

"You didn't. That's why Isu was so violent when we first met."

Hachi laughed, rolling his eyes. "What I meant was how I learnt control."

"You learnt from the bison, right? That's why you sent me to talk to the dragons."

Hachi nodded, hugging his knees. "When I was first bending, I was okay. I wasn't amazing or anything noteworthy, but I kept up with the other kids, and we were all friends. Then Isu started bending as she was... she was a natural master. The best airbender the community have ever seen. And people stopped paying attention to me. They no longer saw any point in training me because I could never live up to my younger sister."

Zuko snorted. "Guess we have that in common. Azula was scarily good from a young age and was unafraid to rub in everyone's face."

"The point is, when my teachers stopped teaching me, I gave up too, and I didn't like being around the other kids, so I hung out with the bison. I looked after them, and they looked after me, and from them, I learnt to Airbend. They gave me that gift, and if I'm not doing everything to repay them, I'm failing them."

"Hachi. You're not failing. You're amazing, and your gift isn't something you repay but spending your nights worrying about their tongue. It's something you repay by being by their side and ending the war terrorising their natural habitats."

Hachi chuckled softly, leaning against Zuko's side. "I know. You're right, but I still want to help them."

"We will. Just not in the middle of the night."

"Fine. I'll go to sleep."

"Good." Zuko leaned in, about to kiss Hachi, when the large explosion echoed behind them. They turned around to see the factory engulfed in a massive fire. "That's not good."

~~~

Katara jumped down, sneaking along the edge of the camp as she glanced at Isu. "Be quiet. We don't wanna wake Sokka."

Isu gave her a look as they walked into the camp, instantly meeting everyone's eyes.

"Hi, Sokka. We were just out on a morning walk."

Sokka gave them an annoyed look. "Oh, really? A morning walk?" He lifted Katara's sleeping bag, dumping the hay on the ground. "I know you're the Painted Lady. I know you've been sneaking out at night, and I know you've been lying about Corno and feeding her perplexing tongue berries." Sokka stuck out his tongue, which was purple, just like Corno's. Toph did the same, holding up a bag of the berry. "Katara, what you did put our whole mission in jeopardy. We're leaving right now."

Katara sighed, walking past Sokka as everyone turned to look at Isu. Hachi gave her an annoyed look. "And how long did you know about this?"

"About 2 hours," Isu answered before she sighed. "I didn't know about the berries. I would have told you there was nothing to worry about if I did."

Hachi paused before he let out a sound. "Next time, just tell me. I was really worried."

"I know. You're a softie." Isu punched his arm as he gave her an offended look.

"I am not."

"U-huh. What do you think, Zuko? He a softie?"

Zuko looked at Hachi. "Yes."

Isu laughed as Hachi blushed.

~~~

"Guys, there's a problem." Isu grabbed Zuko, pulling him to the edge of the cliff.

"What's going on?" Zuko looked around in concern as Hachi popped up.

"Not that I don't trust you, but please don't drag my boyfriend to cliff edges."

"Will you both focus. Down there." Isu pointed down the cliff to where the Fire Nation soldiers were marching toward the village.

Sokka turned to Katara, giving her an angry look. "What did you do?"

"I kind of destroyed their factory," she admitted.

"You what?"

"It was your idea."

"I was joking. I also said to use spirit magic and make funny noises. Did you even think this through? The army is gonna blame the villagers. They're headed there right now to get revenge."

"Well, what was I supposed to do?"

"Leave. Do nothing."

"No. I will never even turn my back on people who need me."

Iroh stepped between the siblings, holding out his hands carefully. "Now, everyone should calm down."

"No. I'm going down to that village, and I am gonna do whatever I can." Katara began walking away when Sokka stopped her, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Wait. I'm coming, too."

"I thought you didn't want to help."

"You need me and I will never turn my back on you."

"Sokka, you really do have a heart." Katara pulled her brother into a hug as Isu snorted.

"We're surrounded by softies."

"Says you," Hachi retorted as Isu gave him a look.

"Betrayal, and here I thought we were finally getting along."

Hachi let out a long, painful sigh.

~~~

"I thought we could live as neighbours, in peace. Butt I guess I was wrong. You steal our food, our medicine, and then you destroy our factory," Mung shouted, an angry look on his face as Dock appeared.

"We didn't do any of that." He disappeared as Xu replaced him. "Yeah, the Painted Lady brought us food. She's the one that healed our sick, not your medicine."

"Oh, right, the mysterious Painted Lady did it. And I suppose she drew the army emblem on your containers, too." Mung pointed to the containers as the crowds gasped. "This is a town of thieves and liars." He bent fire around him, blasting a house. "Where's your Painted Lady now? We're going to cure the world of this wretched village."

The soldiers began destroying the town, tearing down the dock and ripping around the houses. Two soldiers bent together, creating a ball of fire when a gust of wind blew it out. They tried again, but it went out again.

"Light it again," Mung ordered, but once again, it did nothing. The flute music drifted across the lake as the soldiers looked around in confusion. A fog drifted in.

"Look at that. Where's it coming from?"

"I don't know. Something strange is going on."

"It's the Painted Lady," a little boy claimed with a smirk. "She's coming."

"There is no Painted Lady," Mung screamed as a thudding noise echoed across, joined with a growl. As the fog separated, Katara was standing in the lake, dressed as the Painted Lady.