Sound Bender (Avatar: The Last Airbender) #Wattys2017

||Chapter 40 - The Siege of The North Part 2

Himoko's POV

I flew down to a Fire Navy Ship, coming to a stop, my boots sliding against the metal. Fire blasts were sent towards me, me dodging half of them before swiping air at the rest of them, the force of the blast sending the soldiers that had sent the fire blasts my way in the first place going overboard. I ran up to the launch, soldiers following after me before I destroyed the structure, the launcher breaking down. I repeated this process with the rest of them that was stationed on the ship, blowing away the soldiers, either over board or just enough away from me so I could continue until there was nothing left.

I moved on from ship to ship, the smell of burning trash prominent in the area from the fire balls. Adrenaline pumped through my veins with every whirl of wind, thrash of my staff, every time I moved to a different ship to deal with a different assortments of soldiers- The creeping of The 100 Year War was so prominent in this moment.

It was always at the forefront of people's minds, "Our trade is going down.", "Another village has been lost.", "The Fire Nation burned down all of our crops!" and so on and so forth.

Food shortage, famine, disease- Why have children when they were at such a risk of death? Only have one that way we don't have many mouths to feed? No pets, no kept livestock, all used for food.

In Omashu, Pappy always made sure that everyone there was fed, he always held feasts every few weeks so people could eat until their stomachs felt like bursting. I never had any problem with going hungry after my parents passed away, I was fed to grow strong, I was reintroduced to meat because I was fed more to the vegetarian side of the food world by my parents as part of our culture. "Spill no innocent blood." I remember a small phrase my father would say to me over and over again to get it into my head.

I took back up into the sky, glancing down as I passed over the few ships I took out, fumbling with my bottom lip in between my teeth. The soldiers were all still alive, just got casted overboard.

I landed back down onto the ground, leaning over onto my knees as I heaved, trying to catch my breath from the density of the air and inhaling sulfur for the past half hour or so.

"Himoko!" Katara hurried over to me, resting her hand on my arm, staring at me worriedly. I cracked a smile, giving her a small 'okay' sign. Karlie walked over to me from her sister's side, resting her hand on my cheek and making me look at her so she could inspect me for injuries.

"Did you use it at all?" She questioned me and I shook my head, knowing what she was talking about, "No- I used Airbending, I'm just not as experienced as Aang is to take out as many as him." She nodded, pushing hair out of my face with a relieved sigh. I heard Appa's growl before I felt the earth tremble beneath my feet as he landed, laying flat on his furry stomach, exhausted. I turned around, frowning to see Aang's expression as he sat on top of the saddle for a moment, his usual bright eyes gleaming with home now dejected as he slid off and down onto the ground.

"I can't do it," He pressed his hands to his bald head, "I just can't do it."

"What happened?" Katara's concern shifted to the 12 year old boy.

"I must have taken out a dozen Fire Navy Ships, but there's just too many of them. I can't fight them all."

"Aang it's okay, I'm sorry that I couldn't be much help." I informed him, adding on the apology. He didn't take out just 12, he took out about 17-18. How did I know that? His pile compared to mine. I took out 7 on the left, and he took out most of the ones on the right.

"I'm glad that you did try to help." He smiled at me, the quirk of his lips never reaching his eyes.

"But, you have to! You're the Avatar!" Princess Yue declared, Karlie's head whipping back to her, "Yue!"