Chapter 2

Earth Kingdom

2nd Day, 3rd Lunar Month, 99ASC

Ye carefully flitted through the forest being careful not to disturb the earth and plants around him too much as he passed. It had initially been a rather amazing few days with Aang. The experience of flying on Appa as the earth passed below had been truly exhilarating. It was a feeling of freedom; the likes of which he had never even contemplated could exist. It almost seemed like a crime to have to come back down to earth, but Appa needed his rest and food too.

The distance the Sky Bison could cover in just eight hours of flight was roughly four hundred and eighty Li. Aang had said that it was actually quite a sedentary pace for Appa, and it was only so slow because of the extra weight of their supplies, plus the fact that he had three people who couldn't Airbend on his back. The Bison could cover a single Li in moments if it was truly necessary, but both Appa and Aang would have to cooperate to Airbend a stable area of air, so they wouldn't be blown off and out of the large saddle, but doing so constantly was tiring. Four hundred and eighty Li was still a terrific distance covered for only a single day.

He was brought back out of his thoughts by the sight of a bush of the specific plant he was looking for, the root of which was highly nutritious and most importantly, wasn't meat. It was sometimes truly a frustrating thing that Aang didn't eat meat. It was the easiest thing for Ye to take his bow and quiver of arrows for a hunt to find a chicken pig or a fox antelope. Ye made a careful sweep of his surroundings before bending down and digging out the roots with a knife.

He quickly stuffed the roots into a bag and rushed off again. He really didn't like leaving Aang, not here in occupied territory, but only Sokka was skilled in hunting and only as it applied to living in the South Pole and he had no knowledge of the local plant life. It was another fifteen minutes before he whistled in a distinctive manner to alert his charges that he was approaching. He climbed a large stone and dropped a few feet away from their campsite close to a small stream.

He was gratified to see that all three teenagers were engaged in katas, Sokka and Katara with their swords, and Aang was carefully practicing movements from the Ba Gua Zhang style. It was only as he got closer that he saw that none of them had any significant amounts of sweat on their brows. They had at least started to roast their salt preserved meat over the campsite's smokeless fire.

Ye sighed, dropping the bag. "Good, you can keep it up until the meat is finished cooking." It was quite comical to see Sokka's face at his instruction.

"I told you, Sokka," Aang laughed as he whirled into a new form, fending off imaginary opponents.

"I just want to get some food in me before I train," he complained.

"You never know when you'll have to fight, Sokka," Ye sat down and turned the meat over. "The enemy won't politely send a messenger hawk informing you beforehand, therefore you need to train in various bodily states; hungry, thirsty, rested, tired, and eventually even with a stomach full of food. You have to know and understand how your body reacts differently in these states, so if you're ever ambushed in a surprise attack, the enemy's advantage is lessened."

Sokka's eyebrows rose in astonishment, "Oh, I always thought that Masters and Teachers did that just to torture their students."

"No, well, I suppose it depends on the Master…the old ones usually also get a vindictive pleasure out of it because they're bored," Ye grumbled, as he began to pull out roots and peel them with a knife. "One of my old teachers had me eat a veritable feast, and then proceeded with a surprise full-contact spar session. I had to especially protect my stomach and limit my offense to only counter-attacks, and no flashy jumping or kicks, as I was likely to throw up. I actually did throw up when he managed to get a hit on my abdomen…"

Katara shuddered at the thought, "Eewwlll."

"I actually managed to control my retching enough to hit my Master in the face with it," Ye laughed at the memory.

Aang snickered. "I can't imagine doing that to my old Ba Gua Master. Did you get disciplined?"

Ye grinned, "My Master praised me for my innovativeness, and then promptly assigned me to wash his clothes and the rest of the barracks for a month."

It was at that moment that loud rumble disrupted the calm of the forest; sending birds skittering out of their perches in the trees and leaves tumbling from the branches. They all whirled on their feet and frantically scanned for the source of the disturbance. Appa raised his head and grumbled a bit at the noise for disrupting his nap.

Sokka reflexively reached for his boomerang. "What was that?"

Another huge sound pierced through the forest canopy.

Ye felt it clearly rumbling through the earth as well. "An Earthbender, there might be a battle happening nearby," he snatched up his bow and quiver, notching an arrow in it.

Aang focused and then pointed. "It's coming from over there!" Both he and Katara dashed off in that direction. Ye cursed and ran after his charge. Their run led them further down the river bed, until they spotted movement ahead and felt another rumble through the earth. The four of them fell behind the nearest solid looking cover and looked down.

The Earthbender turned out to be a young man, and thankfully there wasn't any battle to speak of, he was just practicing his art. Katara watched with fascination at the strong hand techniques being used and his solid horse stance. The earth rumbled and a boulder shot out of the river bank to come to hover just inches from the young man's fist, a turning movement resulted in the same boulder being hurled against the other bank with crushing force.

"Stay put," Ye forced both Aang and Katara back to a crouch when it seemed they were going to charge ahead. "You don't want to go out there. Firstly, it's rude to interrupt bending training and dangerous, for both him and you. Secondly, we're in Fire Nation occupied territory, and they suppress bending wherever they can. He won't want anyone to have seen him."

"If that's the case," whispered Sokka, "then shouldn't he not be making such noise?"

"He probably made sure he's far enough away from his village," Ye reasoned. "Come, let's leave him."

They retreated back to their campsite, listening to the occasional rumble and thump through the earth as they ate their breakfast.

Aang looked both thoughtful and troubled as he ate his now roasted juicy roots. "Just how many villages are under Fire Nation control in this province?"

Ye reached into his pack and pulled out a large scroll which he unfurled to reveal a map of the world. He put his finger on the coast of southern Earth Kingdom. "We're here. All the red marked dots are villages, settlements and small cities under Fire Nation control."

Sokka gaped at the map. "The entire western end of the Earth Kingdom is practically overrun! My dad told me it was bad, but I never thought that it would be this bad."

"Probably trying to spare you from the harsh reality of it," Ye explained. "Only strongly fortified cities like Omashu is capable of holding out, and you can see it's the southern end of the main line of defense all the way up to the Northern territories. But the Kingdom can't keep a solid defense; we'd be spread too thin. That's why the Fire Nation can pretty much march unopposed anywhere. But they don't do anything more than company sized attacks deeper in the Kingdom, because they'd expose their supply lines and flanks to attack from the strongholds."

Sokka looked puzzled. "Why doesn't the Fire Nation Navy simply go around your defense? Keep their troops supplied that way."

"Coal," Ye answered simply. "They need a lot of it to keep those metal monsters going on the ocean. They have enough trouble keeping their overwater supply lines to the Kingdom going. Our strategy has always been to deny them seizing supplies and food from within the Kingdom itself, and deny them coal from our own mines by sabotaging them. It's really easy for a well trained Earthbender to seal a mine, so that it forces the Fire Nation to spend years and years digging to reopen it."

"I think we should go to the village of this Earthbender we saw," Aang finally declared.

Ye nodded. "Very well. But what do you wish to accomplish there?"

"I dunno…perhaps see if we can do anything to help."

"Then we must see about making you less conspicuous."

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Aang scratched the itch on his head underneath the bamboo hat that Ye had borrowed him, and stared at the gloves covering the Airbender tattoos on the back of his hands. Thankfully, his normal monk clothes were ordinary enough not to stand out and he only needed to tuck in the small earth brown overcoat into his collar. It was rather hot for gloves and his hands were sweaty underneath them.

The nearest village it turned out was nearly twenty Li north-west and was just a few minutes walk from the coast. It was situated in a steep valley and had a high set of walls surrounding it. It hadn't done much to keep the Fire Nation out, as a few sections had clearly been crushed and blasted away, and there was no village gate. The people inside went about their business normally, but Aang could see in their faces and body language that this was not a happy place.

"Aang," Katara whispered, "look ahead, the red walled food store." He scanned the street and indeed, the young Earthbender they had seen was walking into a building up ahead. "I'm going to talk to him."

Ye coughed to gather their attention and titled his head to direct their attention up another street, where a group of four Fire Nation soldiers in their black and red armor was walking into another shop. "Follow me, I will begin a conversation with the merchant inside, and do be subtle about asking the young man, Katara. Sokka, keep an eye on the street."

They entered the store with Ye in the lead. The store was actually quite small, with shelves on the walls filled with jars of spices, preserved foods, barrels filled with water and ales. The young Earthbender was talking to the merchant; a short woman in her middle years.

"Hi, Mom."

"Where have you been, Haru? You're late," the woman said sternly.

"Just been out for a morning run," Haru replied, fidgeting nervously with his long black hair.

"Hmph," the woman was skeptical. "Get started on your chores. I've got customers."

"Greetings," Ye bowed to her. "Can I enquire what spices you have that would aid in helping flavor potato roots?"

"Certainly, sir. I think you'll find..."

Aang walked with Katara over to Haru, who was now busy rearranging jars of spices and weighing them, before writing on a manuscript.

"Hi there," Katara smiled at him.

"Oh hi," Haru greeted, his eyes looking appreciatively at her. "New in town?"

"Passing through…with our, er…Master."

"Really? What's he teach?"

"The staff and sword," Aang spoke up when he saw Katara taking that little bit too long in weighing her answer. He stepped forward and whispered, "So where did you learn bending?"

Haru stiffened and nearly dropped a spice jar. "Uh, you must have confused me with someone else."

"It's okay we're not going to tell," Katara mumbled urgently. "We are benders ourselves. We saw you practicing in the riverbed."

Haru looked angrily at them and blew some loose hair out of his eyes. "Just great, will you please not tell my mom. She'll go crazy. Earthbending is forbidden and I'll be arrested by the Fire Nation if caught." Aang looked over his shoulder and saw that Ye was still keeping Haru's mother rather busy discussing the merits of certain spices and foods in combination.

"Guys, Fire Nation," Sokka warned from his position beside the door. Aang and Katara abruptly straightened and tried to act as naturally as possible.

"So do you go for a…run often?" she asked, just as a Fire Nation soldier entered the shop.

The tall soldier was seemingly an officer, judging from his age, and he scowled at the interior of the shop as he surveyed it. The small moustaches on either side of his mouth twitched as he smirked at the owner.

"What do you want?" the mother came forward indignantly. "I've already paid you this week."

"The tax just doubled," the soldier shook his head and held his hands over each other…flame burst into being in between them forming into a distinct fireball. "Wouldn't want an accident, would we? Fire is sometimes so hard to control."

Haru's mother lost her defiance in an instant, instead now showing fear and resignation. With a bowed head she walked into a back room of her shop and returned with a small chest, placing it on a table in front of the soldier. He extinguished his fireball and greedily opened it but was disappointed with the meager contents. He took what little gold and silver coins there were and chucked the bronze ones onto the floor in disgust. "You can keep the copper ones."

He promptly walked out and rejoined his subordinates and moved further down the street.

"Nice guy," Sokka declared with sarcasm.

"How long have they been extorting money, Madam Rui?" Ye asked.

"For three years," Rui said bitterly as she put the coins back into the chest. "It's not enough that our village's mines are fueling Fire Lord Ozai's ships, now we're even financing the war against our own country."

"Your coal mines are open?" Ye asked in shock.

"Yes," Rui replied. "They captured all the Earthbenders of our village, and forced them to reopen the mine. They threatened to herd us all into a single building and burn it down if they didn't do it."

"They're thugs, not soldiers; they steal from us, and everyone here is too much of a coward to do anything about it," Haru opinioned angrily.

"Quiet, Haru. Don't talk like that."

Ye frowned in thought and walked over to Haru placing a friendly hand on his shoulder. "You should listen to your mother. The Fire Nation could arrest you for inciting rebellion, what would she do without you? Anyway, I always find a good run relaxing perhaps you should do so. Come my students, the road awaits."

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The next morning found Aang sitting with the rest of his companions in the same river bed where they had first observed Haru.

"Are you sure he's going to come?" Sokka asked as he slowly practiced a form with his sword.

"He will," Ye asserted simply, looking at the position of the early morning sun and leaning on his staff.

There was a rustling of bushes nearby and they all stood to face it. Aang had had his own doubts about whether Haru would come, but was hopeful nevertheless. They didn't really need him for their plan, but the young man had seemed truly unhappy with the plight of his village, and Ye had said to trust in the stubbornness of youth.

Haru emerged and looked warily at the four of them, settling into a ready stance so he could bend at any moment. "Who are you?"

"My name is Ye, this is Katara, Sokka, and Aang. We want to see if we can't do anything about that open coal mine."

"It's pointless; they'd just bring some of the captured Earthbenders in to reopen it."

"What if the Earthbenders were to escape?"

Haru shook his head. "No one knows where they're taken. They could be anywhere…"

"Not anywhere," Ye shook his head. "Earthbenders are always imprisoned away from their element. The Fire Navy maintains shipyard rigs along the western coast. The prisoners are surrounded by metal and water below, and are thereby powerless against any Firebenders."

Haru asked hopefully, "Do you know where these rigs are?"

"Not precisely, but we can find out."

"How?"

"We need to know for sure where any prisoners captured in this area are taken, so one of us needs to be arrested for Earthbending. We then follow the ship transporting any prisoners to the specific rig."

"I'll do it," Haru said instantly.

"Our plan was to have you do a bit of Earthbending around me so the blame would fall on my shoulders, to say that these prison rigs aren't the best of places is a huge understatement," Ye explained gravely.

"My father is among those captured when the Fire Nation came. He and the other earthbenders were outnumbered ten to one, but they fought back anyway. He forbade me to help, saying I was too young, but not anymore. If I can help get him and the others out, I'll do it," Haru clenched his fists with determination. "But even if you find the rig, how are we going to get the prisoners out?"

"We've got that part well in hand, Katara is also a Waterbender and she can be of some help out there. We're going to be bringing some earth along for the prisoners to use," Aang grinned in satisfaction.

Haru blinked. "Do you guys have a boat somewhere?"

"Something much better."

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The coal mines were just six Li from the village and were accessed by a tunnel system that had been earthbent into existence. Aang watched from their lookout position among the trees a good distance away. It was mid-day and all the workers were outside the mine and eating their lunches. It said something about the Fire Nation that they only had two guards watching over the workers and what they did. The people were so fearful and cowed that there was no need station a garrison force to make sure coal was mined. They were imprisoned by their own fear.

"I don't like this."

"Sokka, that's the fifth time you've said that, we understand," Aang blew out an exasperated breath. "But it makes sense for Katara to go with Haru. Personally, I think she just wants to make sure he's safe when they're on the rig."

"Her waterbending is not exactly something she can reliably use in a fight yet," Sokka pointed out.

"But it's better than nothing, Sokka."

Ye interrupted by pointing. "There they are."

Aang looked with anxiousness as both Katara and Haru emerged from the tree line and walked straight for the mine entrance. The two Fire Nation soldiers were too deep in their own boredom and meals to really pay proper attention to their charges, but the workers noticed when Katara and Haru settled into horse stances and struck their fists at the mine. There was a rumbling through the earth and the entrance collapsed completely, showering the workers in dust. The two soldiers were initially astonished at what just happened, but they recovered quickly. Fireballs instantly sprung to life in their hands and they charged for Haru and Kataara, who promptly surrendered.

"Well, that's done," Ye commented as the two were led away in chains. "Sokka and I will follow. Aang, meet us with Appa four Li north of the port."

"Right."

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Aang twisted and pulled Appa's reigns, directing the Sky Bison above an intermittent layer of clouds that would obscure them from the Fire Navy ship travelling a good distance ahead of them on a steady western course. He'd already had to slow down and let the ship gather more distance than he really felt comfortable with, but they couldn't let the lookouts on the ship spot Appa either. If they lost that ship, then Katara would be doomed until they could have Ye arrested for earthbending somehow. His anxiousness must have been picked up by Appa because the Bison started gaining some significant speed.

"Easy Aang, easy," Ye advised. "Those Fire Navy ships have telescopes that let them see quite far if they're looking in our direction. They especially have them on the rear of the ship since they don't have a lot of catapults that fire into the rear. They don't want anyone sneaking up on that area."

Sokka frowned. "Really. How do you know that?"

"The Earth Kingdom has a Navy too. Though these days we don't dare attack Fire Navy ships with them. They'd get sent to the bottom of the ocean in short order."

"Why is that?" Aang wondered curiously.

"Firstly, the Kingdom's Navy only numbers a quarter of the total ships the Fire Nation has and only a few of them are ironclad. Secondly, Kingdom ships can never be as fast as their opponents, as we don't have an engine room full of firebenders who can send more flame into the coal burners at a moment's notice. Then there's the weaponry…the Fire Nation's catapults can throw burning projectiles filled with blasting jelly that explodes violently when it hits its target. We can do the same, but our catapults and trebuchet's don't have the strength to launch them at the range that the Fire Nation does.

"Also their ship's metal armor is very thick. We can damage the more thinly armored upper sections and the deck weapons though, and kill a lot of the crew that way, forcing the ship to retreat but by then the Kingdom ship would be in flames or blown to pieces. Ideally to destroy a Fire Navy ship we'd swim under the waterline and sabotage it with blasting jelly, or shoot at it from land."

Sokka looked thoughtful. "Why don't you get Waterbenders to flood their ships or freeze the water around the ship?"

"In the beginning of the war, that was tried, but again we can't get the waterbenders close enough fast enough before the ship they're on is destroyed. These days we're lucky to have waterbenders that aid us in healing our wounded. The Masters capable of those feats you mention, Sokka, are all in the North Pole today, and they're kept there for fear that they'd be killed in the war."

Aang took the explanation in thoughtfully while squinting into the horizon. "Look!"

Now visible rising through the sky was a long line of black soot like smoke in addition to the smoke coming from the ship they were following. They moved closer, Aang expertly directing Appa to move from one cloud formation to the next, until they could get a good look.

It was huge. It sat on the ocean like a black, foreboding fortress, from which three huge chimneys emitted the smoke they had seen. The Fire Nation symbol was painted in red along one whole side of the rig.

"Now that is something you don't see every day," Ye grinned mildly. "Appa can swim and float, can't he?"

"Easily," Aang nodded.

"Let's back off and stay within sight of that smoke column, we'll approach with nightfall."

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Aang carefully eased Appa to hover right next to the main platform where the prisoners all slept under the open sky. It was difficult to make out how many there were in the darkness, but the small amounts of starlight reflected off a lot of sleeping forms. Again there were no guards keeping watch directly over them, it wasn't as if they could go anywhere except into the water down below. Aang handed the reins to Sokka and jumped onto the platform, using the air to lower himself quietly to the metal deck.

It didn't take long to find Katara among the sleeping forms; she had placed herself on a thin bamboo mattress near the edge of the platform. He'd actually seen the glint of her Southern Water Tribe necklace in the starlight.

Her long brown hair was loose and she looked very…peaceful and beautiful asleep. Aang really didn't want to interrupt her sleep, but nevertheless carefully nudged her on the shoulder. She stirred for a brief moment before sitting up with a startled gasp.

"Shhhh," Aang winced. "Where's Haru?"

"With his father, I'll go wake him."

Katara carefully stood up and tiptoed off into the darkness. Aang followed her movements as best he could, and made note of the searchlights playing over the shipyard rig from a high tower. They wouldn't be able to get an angle to see Appa, but anyone standing on the edges of the platform, beyond the token wooden fence would be caught in the lights if they stayed too long. Two forms returned in the darkness and Aang waved a hello to a wary Haru.

They snuck back to the edge of the platform. Sokka guided Appa higher carefully. Ye had his bow ready in his hands and scanning the area for any patrolling guard that might see them hovering there.

Aang carefully murmured, "What's the situation?"

"It's bad," Katara whispered. "The people here are even worse off in spirit than the villagers. They just want to sit out the war here. I tried talking the earthbenders into fighting back, but this prison warden is really horrible."

"I tried to convince my dad, but he wouldn't do it. He didn't believe me when I said we could get earth here for them to fight back with," Haru shook his head.

Aang was startled as Ye suddenly notched an arrow, pulled on the drawstring…but didn't fire. "Sorry, thought I spotted movement on the upper platform. Anyway, I think we should relieve Appa of his burden."

Haru nodded and fell into a stance, earthbending the large pile of rocks that they had tied together with thickly woven cloth and rope so that it floated over the fence and onto the platform. Aang could swear that Appa breathed a sigh of relief when the weight was off his back.

"You know, I was thinking that if what we brought isn't enough, then perhaps we could use that," Aang pointed at the tall smoke stacks. "They're burning coal, and it's a type of earth."

"Very good, Aang," Ye grinned in approval. "How are you going to get the coal here though?"

Aang grinned with embarrassment, "I haven't thought of that part yet."

"There has to be a huge deposit of coal at the base of the silo, right?" Sokka queried. "And the whole system is ventilated. Aang just has to close off all the vents except one within the prisoner platform. When he does his airbending, the coal only has one place to go."

They were all startled this time when Ye tensed and in a flash let loose one arrow and another from his bow. Two Fire Nation soldiers who had come around a corner of the wooden fence on patrol, one of them carrying a lantern, toppled off the platform and fell into the water far below.

Aang felt as if his heart was in his throat as they waited for any sort of alarm to be raised.

After a long minute nothing happened.

Ye sighed to release some tension. "Okay, everyone knows what to do. When those two fail to report back to the guardhouse the alarm is going to be raised. Go."

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Aang was really glad that they had chosen the night to infiltrate the rig; otherwise it would've been impossible to move through the vent system and still be able to breathe. As it was, he was getting soot all over himself and he had to airbend small gusts of air to clear the worst spots. He had entered the system from a grate on the prison platform and headed down, closing any vents in the branches that led off from that specific pipe. It was very slow going and he had to constantly backtrack and draw marks into the soot to mark his path, lest he get totally disorientated.

It was steadily getting hotter as he got closer to the burners, which still held quite a lot of heat. He wished he knew what was happening, but as he had yet to hear any sort of alarm, then things had to be going according to plan.

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Ye was seriously beginning to consider punching some sense into the man in front of him, but he doubted Haru would appreciate someone doing that to his father.

"Your being here will only lead to more suffering," Tyro shook his head.

They had awoken him with the intention to get him clued in to the plan to stage a prison break and commandeer the platform rig and the ships docked there to get back to land. He was less than enthused.

"We brought enough earth for you to mount an attack, and there's even more on the way," Ye said severely. "Any minute now a guard could spot it and you'll just sit on your hands? Do you want to stay here? Leave your wife and village at the mercy of the Fire Nation?"

Ye could see that that had hit the man right at the core.

Katara's voice was soft but firm, "Your fate is in your own hands. Take it."

Tyro closed his eyes.

"Dad, we can do this," Haru insisted.

The older man looked up at the starlight shining down. "It would be best if we attacked now…with surprise on our side. Wake everyone up as quietly as possible."

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Aang could go forward no further, he felt like he was in the hottest desert and to go any further would risk being the equivalent of walking into an oven. He headed back to the last maintenance hatch he had seen and turned the wheel handle with a groan of effort and lifted it up. Giving a peek out he saw that he was actually in a very large room where the coal was burned to provide steam to the rest of the facility. No one was there.

Happy to finally get out of the pipes he jumped out and breathed a sigh of relief at the relatively cooler air. He twirled and pulled air around his body to dust off most of the soot that had collected on his clothes.

"Aaaah, that's much better."

An urgent bell suddenly resounded throughout the room and shouts of alarm throughout the corridors as soldiers rushed through them.

"Oh dear, that's my cue." He rushed over to the base of the large silo which must have housed hundreds of tons of coal, and opened the large iron door. Aang took a deep breath, falling into a form, twirling his arms then focusing his mind and calming his emotions; pulling as much air into the room as he could.

"HAI!" he shoved his palms forward.

A continuous powerful blast of air shot into the open door of the silo, he could see the coal being pushed up and out of view. He had to pull more air from elsewhere to feed the blast, but kept going, he refused to fail and let down his friends.

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The battle had begun with Tyro and Haru creating a large boulder and compacting it so much that when they flung it with all the might of their earthbending at the prison door, that it was totally rent from its housing and bent it around the boulder.

Ye charged out first, fighting with his bladed staff and with a left stab and right slash, swiftly dealt with the two guards stationed on either side of the door. This let the nearly three hundred strong force of Earthbenders surge out of their enclosure.

The alarm bell rang urgently over the entire rig.

Fire nation guards, some not even in their armor rushed out from the barracks area to meet them. Already fireballs and blasts were sent streaking down onto the earthbenders, but each had just enough earth to have created a hard disc to shield themselves from it. They closed the distance between their opponents and used the shields to slam the guards senseless, crush them flat, or use the sharpened edges of the earth shield to slash.

Ye felt a rumble through the metal decking as he switched weapons to his bow. "Haru!" The young man had remained with them to use his earth shield to protect Sokka and Katara. "Aang's doing it, channel the coal!"

Haru rushed back as Ye loosed an arrow which stabbed into a guard who had been about to overwhelm a prisoner with fire when his shield had collapsed.

A virtual fountain of coal erupted from the air grate in the prison compound. Haru wasted no time in gathering a huge mound of it and shooting it into the battlefield. Where the beleaguered Earthbenders eagerly ripped it apart to renew their shields and now to shoot the coal as projectiles, allowing them to go on a proper offensive that didn't involve getting close.

Ye gathered Katara and Sokka, and hurried towards the edge of the rig, where Appa and Momo were waiting. They jumped into the saddle with Katara taking the reins.

"Fly around the rig, Sokka and I will take out any guards we can!"

"Yip yip," Katara cried to the Sky Bison.

Ye notched an arrow, carefully scanning the fight, whilst Sokka immediately threw his boomerang to clip a guard on the back of the head, which allowed his Earthbending opponent to gain the upper hand, and the weapon returned to Sokka, who deftly caught it. Momo also contributed by flying around and snatching thrown spears right out of the air.

A Fireball was hurled towards Appa, the Bison nimbly dodged and Ye retaliated by putting an arrow into the attacker.

"Look!" Katara pointed to the high tower overlooking most of the rig. A long haired Fire Nation officer was throwing large exploding fireballs down into the battle. "That's the Warden."

"Him we want alive," Ye grinned and carefully gauged the shot before letting another arrow fly. It buried itself right into the Warden's leg, who went down screaming in pain. "Let's go get him."

Katara nodded and guided Appa to the tower. Ye gathered his bladed staff and leaped onto the balcony of the tower. The Warden was crawling away and even managed to send off another fireball from his hand, despite the pain he must be feeling. Ye dodged and blocked another firestrike with the flat of his blade before pinning the Warden with the other end's blade.

"You are beaten, your men are beaten. Order them to surrender and there need not be more death."

"Never!" snarled the Warden.

"Idiot!" Ye grabbed the man by the collar and picked him up before jumping back onto Appa. "Get us back down to the battle!"

Appa dove down and it seemed Aang had also joined the fight at some point. He was blasting guards and soldiers with air off the platform or knocking them into walls, redirecting fireballs, or even dissipating them entirely.

Ye threw the Warden off once Appa had reached a height so that the fall wouldn't kill the man. It thankfully had the desired effect. The remaining guards, soldiers and other rig personnel whose number was now considerably less than the prisoners stopped in shock. Ye jumped off Appa and brought his staff blade to rest on the neck of the Warden.

"Surrender! You and the wounded will be allowed to live and take one of the ships back to the Fire Nation. Continue to fight and you will die."

It didn't take long, weapons fell to the deck and hands were raised in neutral poses. Most of the remaining Fire Nation on the platform was mostly workers and engineers and despite being firebenders, weren't martially trained and couldn't really compete with Earthbenders in close quarters with glowing hot coal.

"Cowards! Traitors!" screamed the Warden.

Ye grinned. "And as a further incentive, we'll be taking the Warden with us as a prisoner, so you can cook up any story you wish!"

There weren't any objections to that.

Aang watched the shipyard rig fade into the distance as their commandeered Fire Navy ship steamed back to the Earth Kingdom. He turned around and felt a pang in his heart at the sight of the nine covered bodies of the Earthbenders who were killed in the battle. There were also fifty others who had been wounded, but luckily the ship had fully stocked medicine supplies, most of which were tailored to treat burns…since this was Fire Navy ship.

"They died as a result of my choices," Aang turned around to face the prow of the ship. "I wanted to free Haru's village…"

"And they will be free, Aang," Ye insisted. "All of these Earthbenders, on the rig they might as well have been dead, their spirits and hearts crushed under the rule of the Warden. Now they're free, they're alive again, they see hope, they want to take back the lives the Fire Nation stole from them."

"To take back ALL of our villages! The Fire Nation will regret the day they set foot on our land!"

Aang turned around at hearing Tyro's shout to all the Earthbenders on the ship, and the answering cheers and raised fists.

Ye gestured to the jubilations. "See?"

Aang smiled ruefully and nodded. "The monks never trained me to deal with this. I guess I ran away before they could teach me..."

"Then I will try my best in their stead. I am a Captain, a leader of men in battle. I've sent men to their deaths, because I knew to not do so would lead to even greater death and loss. I mourn them and honor their sacrifice every day. As the Avatar what you do and don't do will lead to lives to being saved or lost. There is nothing that can change that fact. Accept it and move on, lest you be paralyzed and then you will truly fail."

Aang tried to bring those words to his heart, but just…couldn't. "It's not fair. I'm just a kid…"

"There is no law in the world that says it has to be fair, Aang," Ye shook his head sadly. "But I think you should take whatever moments you can to be a kid too, nevertheless."

Aang looked up in surprise. "Really?"

Ye laughed and ruffled Aang's head playfully, "Of course, you're still thirteen years old. It'd be stupid to ignore that, everyone has to be a kid sometime in their lives. Tell you what, every day we'll set aside time to do something fun…whatever you, Katara and Sokka want to do, within reason."

Aang couldn't help but grin. "Thanks Ye, for helping."

"You're welcome, kid."

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