Balance | Old Version

Chapter 41 (The Siege Of The North. Part 1)

Elua's POV.

We had been in the Northern Water Tribe for a few weeks now, and in that time I had finally mastered waterbending. Master Pakku had said I was a fast learner, the monks had said so too. Aang and Katara were training with Pakku, and Sokka was taking a walk with Yue, so I was bored. I was sitting on Appa as I meditate, trying to contact Loha. I had this feeling that something bad was going to happen, but no matter how much I meditated, concentrated and breathed, I still couldn't seem to contact her. I suddenly hear footsteps, I sigh and try to ignore the sounds around me.

"Appa and I go way back. Don't we boy?" I hear Sokka asks. I open my eyes and look down at him, he looks up at me in surprise and then gives me an apologetic smile. "Oops, sorry were you meditating?" He asks me in an apologetic tone.
"Yes, but it's alright," I tell him, waving it off. I look over and see Yue standing behind him. "Oh, hello, Yue," I say smiling at her kindly.
"Hello, Elua," Yue says smiling back as I hop off Appa and he runs over to Sokka, tackling him to the floor and begging to lick him.

"Ahh! Easy! Down boy! Ahh! No! Up!" Sokka shouts as his legs are trapped under the bison.
"Looks like you haven't been giving Appa enough attention," Yue says as we laugh.
"Elua, a little help!?" Sokka shouts as he looks over to me, I laugh as I walk over to them.
"Come on, Appa, let him go," I say as I gently push him away and he backs up, letting Sokka stand back to his feet.
"Thanks," Sokka says as he brushes the snow off his clothes. "I'm taking Appa for a ride," He tells me, I nod as he climbs onto Appa.

"Okay," I say as I turn around and begin to walk away.
"Would you like to join us, Elua?" Yue asks, I turn around and give her a small smile.
"No, thank you. You guys have fun though," I tell her as I turn back around and walk away. I walk around for a while, people in the Tribe smile and wave, the occasional person stopping to speak with me and eventually I find myself on the training grounds. I see Aang rolling round in some snow, while Katara watches him unimpressed.

"I thought you were guys were training?" I ask Katara as I walk over to her.
"We were," Katara states as she sighs. I'm about to say something, but before I can sudden black like snow begins to fall from the sky.
"What is this?" I ask in confusion as I pick up some snow that has now turned black.
"It's sook mixed with snow," Katara states as a look of pain washes over her. "The Fire Nation is coming," She says as the sound of bells begins to ring through the Tribe, and everyone quickly gets to the throne room. We quickly walk inside and find Sokka, he looked sad and upset. But before I can ask what had happened, the Chief begins to speak.

"The day we have feared for so long has arrived. The Fire Nation is on our doorstep," Chief Arnook states, making everyone look down in sadness and fear. "It is with great sadness I call my family here before me, knowing well that some of these faces are about to vanish from our tribe. But they will never vanish from our hearts," He says as he looks at all of his people.
"Now, as we approach the battle for our existence, I call upon the great spirits!" Chief Arnook says as he raises his arms. "Spirit of the Ocean! Spirit of the Moon! Be with us!" He shouts to the spirits. "I'm going to need volunteers for a dangerous mission," He tells his people.

"Count me in," Sokka says as he and many other men stand up. We look at him shocked.
"Sokka!" Katara shouts in abjection, but he ignores her.
"Be warned. Many of you will not return. Come forward to receive my mark if you accept the task," Chief Arnook says. Men begin to walk forward, and Sokka follows the other men. Katara and I look at each other worriedly as we walk out of the building with Aang. For a while, the three of us stand there, watching the white city of the North.

"The stillness before a battle is unbearable," Chief Arnook says as he walks over to us. "Such a quiet dread," He says as he looks at his Tribe with sadness.
"I wasn't there when the Fire Nation attacked our people," Aang says as he looks over to me with sad eyes, I give him a small smile. "I'm gonna make a difference this time," He says in determination. A few hours later Sokka, Katara, Aang, me and a row of Water Tribe warriors stand on the city wall. Aang and I are atop Appa while Katara and Sokka stand to Appa's left. We all look out to the sea with expressions of confidence on our faces. In the distance, we see a single ship. It launches a fireball at the city wall and it strikes the water symbol in the center of the wall and blows a huge hole through it.

Many defenders are blown back into the city, along with huge chunks of ice and wreckage. another fireball flies through the air towards the city, this one lands somewhere in the city behind us. They fire another one and it strikes the right side of the city wall, shattering a piece of it. Appa dodges and roars as the smoke and collapsing ice create devastation around us, I close my eyes as the cold ice flies around us.
"Yip yip!" I say loudly, I open my eyes as we take flight. We fly towards the ship as they send a fireball at us. I quickly stand up and airbend it away before it hits us, I look over to Aang.
"We'll take it from here, boy!" Aang says as we both jump off Appa's back, open our gliders, and begin to fly down to the ships.

We dodge several more fireballs. We land on the ship and send a whip of air, blowing many of the deck crew away from us. Aang hops up onto the limb of the loaded trebuchet and begins to walk down it. A Fire Nation soldier blocks his way and he is forced back up the limb. Two more soldiers climb the trebuchet behind Aang. They all swing hammers at him but miss and hit the metal instead, damaging the trebuchet. Finally, Aang jets into the air and, with a blow, blasts the trebuchet into a dozen pieces. I run over to the other trebuchet on the deck, break the chain that stops the trebuchet limb from overextending, and then fire the trebuchet. The limb overextends, making the weapon shoots its fireball into the deck and into the water below.

Aang and I run back up the deck to two more trebuchets, Fire Nation guards closely behind us. We tie the chains of two trebuchets together in a knot. Aang then runs over to one of the machines, firing mechanisms and kicking it into operation. The activated trebuchet brings the one it is tied to across the deck towards itself. When one strikes the other, they crumble into a pile of worthless pieces. Aang grins widely as we run over to another trebuchet. As we try to destroy it a Fire Nation soldier tries to strike us with a hammer, we narrowly avoid multiple hammers attached to chains. Hiding behind one of the trebuchet's girders, Aang and I are trapped by two chains, which wrap around us.

Suddenly, Appa swoops down and grabs the soldier, breaking the chain and giving Aang and I the chance to free ourselves.
"Thanks for the rescue, buddy!" Aang says as we both quickly stand up and we hop on Appa. Suddenly, the ship starts to vibrate violently. A huge pike of ice breaks through the deck straight, we look down and see that the Fire Navy ship has been surrounded by Water Tribe boats full of waterbenders. Together they bend the Fire Navy ship out of the water and surround it in ice spikes. We take off smiling, but our expressions turn to ones of horror and surprise as we look in front of us to see the horizon is full of Fire Navy ships as far as the eye can see.

"You have got to be kidding me."