Accidental Avatar

War drums be like...

Once I had located the other two, they confirmed that the Fire Nation was bringing the soot. We all hurried into the Chief's meeting chamber as the war drums thundered outside.

"The day we have feared for so long, as arrived!" The chief announced loudly, his people all sitting before him in the grand assembly hall. "The Fire Nation is on our doorstep!

I noticed Sokka looked down, his eyes hooded and expression upset. And not from the Fire Nation. Well, maybe a little bit from the Fire Nation.

"It is with great sadness, I call my family here before me!" He continued. "Knowing that some of these faces are about to vanish from our tribe," he looked up again, more resolutely. "But they will never vanish from our hearts! Now, as we prepare to battle for our existence, I call upon the great spirits!"

He raised his voice even louder than before. "Spirit of the Ocean! Spirit of the Moon! Be with us!"

He addressed the congregation again. "I'm going to need volunteers for a dangerous mission."

Sokka stood without hesitation. "Count me in!"

"Me too!" I waved as I stood. I threw an arm around Sokka's shoulders. "There's no way I'm letting your Ohana fall."

Other men soon stood up.

"Sokka...Mogui..." Katara said, genuine fear in her eyes.

"Shh," I winked down at her. "We'll be alright."

"Be warned," I turned my attention back to the Chief, my face set with determination. "Many of you will not return. Come forward to receive my mark if you accept the task."

We all moved forward, not a single face showing any levity. He painted a mark on our foreheads, and I noticed Sokka paused and looked back to Yue. They shared a longing look, and he turned away. I noticed her turn away too, but I also noticed the tears falling from her eyes.

We were all positioned on the wall, waiting for the attack to come, when we noticed a faint dot on the horizon. A fireball soon came hurtling towards us, crashing into the wall and launching many from the wall. Screams were soon drowned out as a second one came hurtling towards the tribe, crashing down into a bridge past the wall. Then another. I pulled myself out of the snow, and throwing Sokka a quick thumbs-up, I ran to see how many others I could help. We were soon called away and hurried to see to the Chief's orders.

"Men, you will be infiltrating the Fire Nation's Navy," we were all standing at attention, most with spears in hand. "That means you'll all need one of these uniforms."

One of the men stepped out, dressed in a rather dated Fire Nation Navy uniform. Sokka and I couldn't help but laugh a little. Everyone turned to face us.

"What's your problem?" Ah, I recognised him now. It's the punk who tried to pick a fight with me a while back.

"Fire Navy uniforms don't look like that," Sokka pointed out.

"Of course they do!" The guy retorted. "These are actual Fire Navy uniforms captured from actual Fire Nation Soldiers."

"Uh, sure," I said, barely hiding my smirk. "I've seen some Fire Navy guys. They don't wear stuff like that."

"Did you capture those like 100 years ago?" Sokka added, sounding amused.

"85," the Chief said, not angrily but genuinely interested in what we had to say.

"The Fire Nation doesn't wear shoulder spikes anymore," Sokka explained, stepping forward to address the Chief. "The newer uniforms are more streamlined," Sokka added, poking one of the spikes as he explained.

"How do we know we can trust this guy?" The guy asked, growling as he turned on Sokka. "Such bold talk for such a new recruit. Especially one that brought a firebender into our tribe."

"Sokka is from our sister tribe, Hahn," the chief said firmly. "He is a capable warrior, and I value his input. Mogui has also proven trustworthy, and as such, I would have you treat them both with the respect due to them."

Hahn glared at Sokka, who smirked back at the boy.

"Now, our first objective is to determine the identity of their commanding officer."

"Either Prince Zuko or General Zhao," I responded, turning to Sokka. "Probably, most likely, Zhao, though. Zuko wouldn't have that kind of force, right?"

"Yeah, most likely Zhao," Sokka said blankly. Again the attention was on us. "Middle-aged, big sideburns, bigger temper?"

I snorted at that, covering it up as a cough.

"Sokka, Mogui, I want you both to share all your knowledge with Hahn," Chief Arnook said, clearly impressed. "Hahn, show them your respect. I expect nothing less from my future son-in-law."

I and Sokka both threw the guy horrified expressions. Once the chief was gone, Hahn - who flicked his hair from his face - noticed our stares.

"Princess Yue's marrying you?" Sokka asked incredulously.

"Yeah, what of it?" Hahn asked in that annoying nasally voice of his.

"Nothing," Sokka responded, turning away. "Congratulations..."