Avatar: The Legend Reborn - Book 3: Harmony

Chapter 12: But All Stories Must End

Book 3: Harmony
Chapter 12: (... But All Stories Must End)

Akira

The end was near... Akira could sense it.

She'd been training hard every minute of every day for the past two weeks, learning everything she could about Airbending and Earthbending.

"Faster... faster... good! Right there. That's excellent. Just remember to stay light on your feet. This style of Earthbending will be the easiest for you to pick up, since it's more in line with what you already know of the other elements than traditional Earthbending. You'll have plenty of time to master that later." Bolin explained, trying to get Akira up to speed.

"I think I'm getting the hang of it. Thanks for taking the time to, you know..."

Bolin nodded. "It's the least I could do. I'm... I'm sorry about Jiansu. Maybe if I'd been there to help..."

The Avatar shuddered. "There wasn't anything you could do, but thank you still."

Akira had been learning to sense airborne objects with her newfound bending abilities, and knew Taima was approaching before she could see or hear him. The bison swooped down and landed next to Akira and Bolin on the hilltop overlooking the village. Mako dismounted from the saddle with Akira's pet phoenix perched on his shoulder.

"The Fifth Nation stronghold is heavily fortified. If we're going to launch an attack we'll need careful planning and a hefty amount of luck." He said.

Gyatso came spiraling towards them on Jiansu's glider, the wing smoking. He landed in the grass and patted the flaming canvas with his hand, putting out the fire. "That was a close one. I can barely get near that place in flight. I'd hate to try and infiltrate it from the ground."

"There's no other way. We already tried to lure them into a trap, and look what happened. They won't fall for it again. We have to take the fight to them. No matter how impossible it seems, we have to try." Akira declared.

"I sketched some maps as I flew over from high altitude. We can use them to plan our assault." Mako explained, handing Akira some scraps of paper with fresh ink.

"Thanks Chief, I'll take a look when I finish Earthbending practice."

"Alright, final lesson of the day. Show me what you've learned." Bolin said.

The Earthbender raised a small boulder from the ground and chunked it at Akira, who caught the projectile and spun around, shifting the momentum like a Waterbender would. She hurled the boulder back at Bolin, who stonewalled the attack and shattered it into a hundred tiny pieces.

"Good, but you're still not thinking like an Earthbender. Use that brute force I know you have. Show your opponent you're stronger than them, both physically and mentally. Show them that you won't back down." Bolin prodded.

"Got it. Hit me again." Akira said.

Bolin lifted another rock and launched it at Akira. This time she raised a crudely shaped stone shield to protect herself, blocking the strike, and retaliated by throwing the earthen shield at Bolin. He leapt out of the way and smiled. "That was better. Keep doing it."

After Bolin said she'd had enough training, Akira joined Mako to plan their attack on the pirate stronghold. He had laid his maps out on a table in the village elder's hut with stone figurines to show where the enemy forces were concentrated and showed her the advantages and disadvantages of multiple strategies.

"If we try to approach from the sky on Taima we could fly over the walls, but that's assuming we'll be able to get close. They're hoarding catapults and all sorts of siege weapons from that old Fire Navy cruiser. Gonna have a hard time finding cover. Or we could try to reach the island using a boat. They might not be expecting that, but then getting up that slope to the fortress, and breaching those walls is going to be nigh impossible, especially since we don't have any Metalbenders present."