- I think it's useless. Flood it with anything, even kerosene, they will simply close the current passages and open others. It's still better to take the first plan: slow and reliable - deprive them of food and water.
- Yes, and it still comes down to the question: how to do this? - Azula answered irritably, - more precisely, how to do this without killing the WHOLE city.
"That's another question," Aki avoided answering, as it turned out.
In general, they did not come to a common decision, but as a working option they accepted the idea of taking it by storm. In May's opinion, this was not the best option, but the trio are confident enough to lead the way. Moreover, they somehow decided on this without even discussing it much, as if it was self-evident that they would go straight from the front.
As expected, this caused considerable surprise among many officials sitting here. Too many people in high positions only like to command. And just like that, forward, into a real meat grinder.
Especially the way they decided it, there was no pathos or any drama, it was just a matter of course, for them it was an obvious decision, it couldn't have been any other way. And this captivates even the most selfish people. And it's terrifying.
The only thing that upset May about all this is that she was a priori enrolled in Azula's vanguard. Like Ty Lee, like the Kyoshi warriors.
Also a very strange moment - Warriors of Kyoshi. Almost everyone has heard about this island, and to see their warriors serving the Fire Princess and Kira, their green traditional clothes with red accents... inspires.
But then the meeting ended, and everyone began to disperse. The Prince, Princess and Kira live in the same building where May and her family live, so, surrounded by guards, they went to that building. Well, as surrounded, rather, it was a typical guard; it was wrong to go completely without it.
"May," Zuko caught up with her on the way out.
"Zuko," the girl nodded in response, closing the distance to the indecent level and taking the prince's arm.
And even though Zuko tried to maintain a neutral-pathetic expression on his face, it still began to seem to glow.
The night walk was quite good, the stars were clearly visible, there was not a cloud in the sky. And everyone walked quite relaxed, it even seemed that Kira slightly reduced his... presence.
But as they passed one of the local strange structures, a loud sound was heard from above. May managed to notice that a huge stone began to roll straight towards them all, and something knocked it down. Air?
But before anyone had time to come to their senses, a reaction immediately followed. Kira jumped incredibly high, intensifying his jump with flames, and from the place where, it seemed, the stone had been knocked off, blue fire immediately began to beat in different directions.
It was literally a second during which May realized that the stone could only be knocked down with bending and it was clearly not fire bending. Azula and Zuko apparently also realized the same fact.
And if the first one repeated Kira's trick, almost as effectively, taking a couple of steps along an inclined surface and strengthening herself with fire, then May and Zuko simply quickly jumped.
It was the avatar and his team.
Which were already being crushed by Kira with his strange bending, which followed only after a click. Huge jets of blue fire, joined by Zuko's red fire, and Azula's slightly more blue-colored fire. And then May began throwing special knitting needles.
The avatar and his team immediately began to fight back: the water mage girl used the supply from the flask she carried with her, and the avatar used her staff, but this would not have saved them; the attackers would have had at least a dozen seconds more.
But then the Earth Mages came out from different directions, and without a word they began to throw stones at the Fire Mages and May. In fact, everyone already thought that the situation smelled, well, very unpleasant, because the number of earthbenders exceeded a good dozen.
But then Kira, with a deft movement, took out his sword, took a deep breath a couple of times, and May could swear that she saw some red lights appear in place of the pupils from under his mask.
And then he simply disappeared, as it seemed to May. So that a moment later he would appear near the nearest earthbender and cut him down, sending a lot of blue flame to everyone around him.
The surrounding earthbenders immediately tried to somehow catch Kira, distracting themselves from everyone else, for which they immediately paid with blows of fire from Zuko and Azula and daggers from May.
In barely a dozen seconds, out of twenty earthbenders there were fifteen left, and then in a couple more - thirteen. Kira did not plan to change speed and in one single movement he cut the throats of two nearby benders who simply did not have time to do anything.
The rest, seeing how their number had sharply thinned out, tried to escape, opening different passages in the ground, and they succeeded, almost all of them, considering that they did not move far from the place from which they came out, only one was literally impaled by Kira, throwing the dagger he grabbed from behind his back and pinning the leg of one of the benders directly to the ground.
Just now the avatar that the earthbenders were already out of sight. The avatar was generally too far away and, having fought off the fire aimed at them, they simply slipped around the corner, where they were most likely saved by local partisans.
- Phew, are you all okay? - Kira asked in an almost casual tone as soon as he realized that the enemies had disappeared. May immediately stared at the eye holes on the mask, but the red color was gone.
But she could swear she saw him. What was it?
- Phew, are you all okay? - I asked.
"God, what idiots you are!" - the spirit inside still could not calm down, - "Fall into such an elementary trap! It's not even funny, you understand that if I hadn't sacrificed my power, you would have sat back! So stupid!
"I don't think so," I answered, "There were, of course, a lot of them, but..."
- "But what? What?" — the spirit interrupted me, "You would either have to use air bending, or, most likely, one of you would die. This is their field, you are surrounded by their elements, if they had just a little more time, they would make either bags of crushed bones or cakes out of you, there is one solid stone around you, arches of stone above you. Is it really so difficult to think before plunging into the inferno!"
I have already decided to ignore this.
"Yes, they're intact," Azula answered, straightening a lock of hair that had fallen out of her hair with her hand.
"Intact," Zuko answered briefly.
"It's okay," May answered indifferently, "why didn't you choose the avatar as your target?" "Would you kill him," May asked me.
"I wouldn't kill him," I shrugged, "he has an excellent reaction."
Yeah, and on top of that, plot armor in the form of "luck", because of which I can only defeat Aang in a fair battle. According to my schizophrenia, of course, but given all the incredible stories with his presence, I have long come to terms with it. The avatar must be chased, or caught when I am alone, and he will be alone. And it's not a fact that I can win.
"So, the avatar is already in the city," Azula stated the fact.
"And the local partisans are clearly ready for active action," I added, "and all this leads to the fact that we need to do something as soon as possible."
"Yeah, like, go and get some decent sleep," Zuko snorted, "I don't know about you, but I'm falling off my feet, and before attacking such a huge cell of earthbenders, I want to rest."
"I didn't think I'd say this, but I agree with Zuko," Azula said, "it's pointless to start making waves now, it won't bring any sense anyway." But going to rest is a good way out.
I also agree. I want to sleep and digest today's events and the brilliant plans of local managers. Oh, what people who think they are smarter than everyone else can think of, but in practice they have never met even one earthbender face to face. Well, nothing, nothing, the trio, Kira, Azula and Zuko, listens to everything carefully and carefully writes everything down. No one has canceled the purge of the management team.
The antics of Zuko and May, by the way, are quite interesting. It's funny to watch them cooing to each other after the fight now. I wonder if this is still an arranged marriage, or if everything just worked out so well?
"The Avatar knocked off the stone with which they wanted to kill us," Azula stated the fact, coming up to me and also starting to look at the starry sky.
"Yes," I nodded, "I don't understand why." But there was no time to think and see his further actions, it was necessary to attack, otherwise the cost of a mistake could be high.
"You're right about that," the princess agreed with me, "but if the rebels and the Avatar's team are not on the same side of the barricades...
"More likely, there was just a misunderstanding," I shrugged, "or even a random meeting, during which the local partisans decided that the enemy of my enemy was my friend and helping a random non-earthbender they met was a good idea." The Avatar is lucky, and that's a fact.
"Hmm," was all Azula answered to me.
"And I'm talking about the same thing," I sighed, "Bumi worries me very much about all this." Being one of the strongest elemental mages, surrendering his city almost without a fight... he clearly has some kind of plan.
"Or he's an old madman," suggested the princess.
"It's better to prepare for the worst and hope for the best," I chuckled in response.
***
We dragged one of the partisans, whom I pinned to the floor with a dagger, to the cell. Today no one had the strength to continue the epic. That's why we went to bed.
In the morning, the meeting was already more personal, all sorts of parliamentary riffraff were not present, only our team A. "And how the hell didn't they kill each other?" to be more precise. We gently asked them to leave, because why the hell would we make our own decisions. Their approval is not needed anyway; Azula is the final authority. And hardly anyone can suggest something in local communications.
- And... how will we receive information? — Suki asked a logical question.
"Torture," Azula said.
- A-and-and... who will do this? - continued Suki.
By the way, we were sitting at one decent-sized table, where there was tea, glasses and a lot of pieces of paper. Pieces of paper that we haven't touched yet, because first we need to find out, living information, so to speak.
- Does anyone have experience? — May asked dryly, without changing her facial expression.
"I only have the opposite," I raised my hand to slightly defuse the cloudy situation, but it didn't work.
"Agni," Azula rolled her eyes, "I'll take care of it." Same…
"No," I interrupted the princess, "it's difficult." That's why we have professionals doing this; masons are people who match their element, and extracting something from them is quite a difficult task. I'll get better, torture him so as not to kill him before you hear the information, you know? So I'll do this.
And torture is also very complex in terms of its moral component. Killing in battle is one thing, killing an unarmed person is another, and torture is a third. And I don't really want anyone present to go through this.
"I'll help," Zuko nodded, "there was... a similar experience."
Hmm, why not. Together, you can even pull off the standard: "Good cop, bad cop." But I hope for the effect of my nickname. Still, it has a very good reputation.
"So," I entered the cell first, Zuko right behind, "let's introduce ourselves." "I'm Kira," there is an effect, the captive's eyes widened in shock, "what's your name?"
To my deep regret, he refused to answer.
* * *
- Hmm, what did we expect? What do we immediately learn about King Basingse's plan? Azula sighed with regret. As if she really hoped for it.
The point is that the prisoner could not say anything. Well, obviously - the name, the fact that they are in the sewers and their very approximate number. It's also the fact that their task was to kill someone from the top team and for little things.
In general, nothing. He doesn't know what their further plans are, although judging by the stories, there is a feeling that the partisan movement here has no special control and they are acting more like terrorists than somehow planning to recapture the city. What is wrong.
Now you'll smoke them like cockroaches. And now the avatar is with them, which will definitely inspire them and they can try to win back the same Bumi and the rest of the prisoners. Or even start a revolution.
Oh, there are some problems, and they need to be solved quickly. Although, purely theoretically, it may not be decided, but reputation is everything and it must be preserved and increased.
"We need to decide what we will do next," I sighed. Somehow it suddenly became difficult and I really wanted to lie down and lie on the bed.
- Well, let's stick to our assault plan? - I shrugged, - the benders here are not so great, even if there are some nuggets, I'm sure Bumi had his own students, but we are not conscripts either. There is still no better idea.
"Go into a frontal attack into the caves against the Earth mages," our ninja, Zuko, said. "What could be better?"
- Alternatives? — I raised an eyebrow in the best traditions of local aristocrats.
In general, the dispute over the plan began again this time without unnecessary "omniscient" elements in the form of local bureaucrats. The argument involved me, Azula and Zuko. Suki and Ty Lee sat silently and listened, and Mei only occasionally inserted her comments.
We were interrupted by some local bellhop type worker.
- Epidemic! Your honor, Mr. Mayor asked me to convey that there is an epidemic of pentacori, there are many infected right in the city!
The news personally caused me cold, sticky sweat and even some kind of horror. Because an epidemic is not something bad, it's just a disaster.
Everyone sitting here listened to the news, even Iroh, who was sitting on the side reading something with tea, trying not to participate in our discussions, choked on his jasmine.
I almost didn't remember the further path from the room to the balcony overlooking most of the city, where the Mayor was located. Only something indistinct flashing and Azula nearby. It was the two of us who ran there, the rest remained in the room.
Here, somehow, it turned out that it was the princess and I who were in charge. We make the final decisions, and I do not exaggerate my importance, this is a fact, Azula listens and listens to my thoughts, and I listen to hers, so we make decisions together. He deserved, so to speak, special treatment from the crowned person.
From the balcony, a group of people in green earthbender uniforms were clearly visible, who, like zombies from some cheap movie, were limping and wheezing towards the exit from the city.
The gears started working in my head.
When a person is sick, he lies and suffers in bed. It is a fact. As reported by Pentacori, one specific sign is traces all over the body, like chickenpox.
Of course, maybe there are some diseases here that weren't in my previous world, but I haven't seen them, everything is the same, just the names are different.
"Is there any medic in this building?" - Azula asked, beating me with this question by literally ten seconds.
"There's even a waterman at the hospital," answered the mayor.
"Here he and the best doctor of ours, urgently," I typed, starting to give commands, "put fabric masks on the soldiers' faces and gloves on their hands, surround all the sick, snatch one and bring him." Do not touch exposed skin; at the slightest disturbance, shoot to kill with bows or bending.
Again, a sharp increase in the number of cases does not add up. Yesterday we had not even heard of such a thing, but today a crowd of infected people is already walking along the main street.
But the whole country is their behavior. How sick do you have to be to behave like this? And the most interesting thing is to move the whole crowd straight to the exit.
In general, as soon as I calmed down a little, questions about this "disease" appeared.
From the balcony I watched as people were herded into a circle and held at gunpoint by a bunch of long-range weapons. And it seems that someone in the crowd has already come out of the "sick" image.
By the way, one of them was grabbed and dragged away, until the end I thought that it wouldn't work out and that a battle would begin. Where I really didn't want to go, because it's some kind of plan or a real disease, it's not worth the risk.
- The doctors are here! - the messenger reported.
"Great, give the command to examine the captured person and tell me what kind of disease," I nodded, giving a new command.
- Do you think it's not real? - After some time, Azula decided to ask, standing on the same balcony and leaning on the railing.
"Too suspicious," I answered, "too fast, their behavior is too strange." In general, you need to check it out.
"Hmm," Azula said, "what are we going to do if it's not a real illness?"
"Let's let them go in all four directions," I chuckled.
- M?
"This is most likely the local resistance," I began to explain to the princess, "apparently they assessed their strength soberly and decided that it was better to leave." To then return and retake the city.
"If this is so, then the act is incredibly stupid," Azula stated.
"Which may well work," I chuckled, "after all, we'll let them go."
— Isn't it easier to kill everyone?
"Our women and children are a symbol of peace on the planet," I laughed, "I'm afraid after this it will be almost impossible to establish some kind of adequate dialogue with the locals." And hardly anyone wants to turn such a large and key colony into a prison.
To this Azula simply nodded with a satisfied expression on her face. Apparently she liked something in my answer or she confirmed some conclusions that she had made in her head. In any case, right now I have absolutely no time to analyze my fighting friend.
— Among this crowd, by any chance, is there an avatar or at least someone from his team? - After a short pause, Azula clarified.
"I don't have such good eyesight or memory for faces," I stated dryly, "so I don't know." It may well be that they are all there together, but I don't think so. The Avatar flew here with a specific goal: to find Bumi and learn the elements of earth. There is simply no reason for him to leave now...
- This is a distraction! - exclaimed the princess, - the avatar will now try to free the king...
"We would have found out by now," I shrugged uncertainly, "but we still need to go check."
"We'll split up," Azula nodded, "Kira and I are going to the prison, as the strongest, the rest are here as reinforcements," but she doesn't particularly like to stand on ceremony in her gradation, she's the strongest, then I'm next, and then somewhere else everyone else . And she is absolutely not ashamed to say so. Well, to be fair, only Zuko is pissed off about this, the rest basically agree. We've sparred too much and they've seen too much. If I had seen the same recent battle from the outside, I would definitely have been surprised. My speed was incredible, as was the fire I was giving out, it's just a fact.
Having received an inconsistent agreement, which personally irritates me a little, because after all, it's an army, and not a piece of shit, but it's difficult to do anything about it, after all, there's a strange vertical of power in our group, I would say, something like communism, everyone contributes according to their abilities, and Azula and I have obvious experience/skills in this matter. Sort of. And Azula is still the biggest shot here and she really listens to me.
Of course, Iroh is excluded from all these measures. Somehow it turns out that apart from all this, something like a joker in his sleeve, everyone understands that he is strong, that he is experienced, but they also understand that he took the position of "fill your own bumps", very roughly speaking . That's right, we must achieve a lot on our own, and in our own way, because Iroh's path at one time, no matter how you look at it, was a failure. Therefore, he helps with some advice, but does not correct the main course and direction.
To my surprise, there was no one in the prison and it was quiet and peaceful. Only Bumi, chained in a coffin, muttered something under his breath. And for some reason, only when I saw this old man in person did I get it in my head why he gave up.
He is also from the White Lotus. And he also thinks globally, given the fact that he lost the city under the new government? Nothing. And if you look at it in perspective, I just acquired it, the city's technologies are already being carefully examined and will be improved by the technologies of the Fire Nation, people in their essence have lived and continue to live, maybe even prices have become cheaper, but I'm guessing, I don't know for sure, I just I conclude from the fact that the Fire Nation has ways of delivering goods faster than the Earth Nation.
What if Omashu had given battle? A lot of people would have died, the city would have been destroyed, but in the end they would have taken it anyway, this is an important crossing point to Basingse.
When you throw away ideology, you quickly realize that this war has been almost meaningless for a long time from the point of view of ordinary people. No one is engaged in extermination for the sake of extermination, no one sets up concentration camps, and there is no one to share zones of influence with, only the dominant Fire Nation and the already half-defeated Earth nation remain, which at the moment is one big Basingse and a bunch of different small towns.
As for why this war is still going on, I have already spoken and drawn conclusions.
"Fucking capitalists," the spirit chuckled, "in fact, this is your conclusion."
"You know some clever words," I said sarcastically in response.
Actually, that's why Bumi won't train the avatar. This is not his role, he, like Iroh, has long been simply looking at everything from the outside and trying not to lead to tragedy.
"You understand that he can run away at any moment?" - I asked Azula, - he can still move his head, and there is still earth around him.
"Hmm," was all the princess answered, and I understand her. What can I say?
"But I won't do that," came the voice of the old man, who turns out to hear us, "ha-ha, why?" I feel good here too, it's quiet and peaceful.
"It's easier to pull him out of this coffin and let him go on all four sides," I said, "the old man just wants to retire, and not all this."
- Crazy?
- Yes Yes! Ha-ha, I would love to go for a walk around the world," the old man informed us, slightly lowering the degree of madness in his voice.
"He won't teach the avatar," I answered Azula's question about my mental state, but seeing her gaze directed at me, I added, "but I'm afraid we won't find consensus on this issue."
- We won't find it. — the girl snapped, in her best arrogant tone. In her head, letting go of such a strong enemy is something simply incredible, but I would listen to your brilliant conclusions, why should we let go of one of the strongest earthbenders in the world.
"Ho-ho, what nice words from such a beautiful girl," Bumi continued to fool around.
"Let's get out of here," Azula turned on her heel, ignoring the former king Omashu and, without waiting for me, walked towards the exit.
"I hope I still get to play Pai Sho and drink tea," I said towards the prisoner and turned around after the princess in the same way.
"And I hope," the old man sighed heavily, quietly muttering these words, throwing away his clown mask.
Whatever one may say, few people like hanging around a coffin for so long, even taking into account all the resilience of earthbenders. Even such powerful earthbenders.
It will be necessary to discuss this point with Iroh, maybe it will still be possible to somehow improve Bumi's living conditions. We are doing one thing, by and large.
***
"It's not a virus," the middle-aged doctor sighed heavily, "just marks on the body." The patient does not have fever, redness of the throat or any other symptoms other than these strange spots that look like just mechanical damage.
"I see," Azula nodded, "but I need accurate information." Are you sure it's not a virus?
"I can't say for sure," the doctor pursed his lips, "there is always the possibility of a new disease that we cannot somehow determine."
- And what good are you then if you can't determine!?
Azula was in a bad mood, but that's understandable, where does a good mood come from? There is a crowd of sick or not sick idiots in the square, the Avatar is somewhere in the city, and no one knows where, and there is no chance of finding him, and the partisans are also sitting here with the avatar...
"I can say that, most likely, most likely, it is not a virus," the doctor summed up, "it is impossible to become infected so quickly and sharply and have only some kind of clouding of reason and a rash on the skin as symptoms." If the disease were transmitted at such a speed, the whole city would already present the same spectacle.
"Okay, I'm tired of this," Zuko said, "now I'll just set our "patient's" leg on fire and see if he's lying or not."
"How bloodthirsty Zu-zu is," Azula chuckled.
"We have no other options," I winced, "I'll just do it." Firstly, it's better not to sully the royal family's reputation, and secondly, he can only be afraid of the Mask or nickname, and he won't have to use more brutal methods.
In response, these same members of the "royal family" snorted in unison and crossed their arms. But they remained silent, so I decided that everyone agreed. Although May, Suki, and Ty Lee looked a little dumbfounded, first at me, then at Azula. Apparently, this decision turned out to be too... too much for them.
But this was no longer interesting to me, and so I simply quickly walked towards where the patient was, so to speak.
When I entered the room, he still continued to writhe and make sounds like zombies from movies. In the room, I slowly approached him, typing every step, and leaned over him. Oh, there is contact - the eyes, seeing the mask, immediately widened.
"Now we'll see if you feel bad, or if you're up to something," I said, igniting a small blue stream on two fingers, the ones I snapped.
But no, the guy still continued to pretend to have a seizure, although it was already clear that he was aware of everything and was simply acting out. Well, never mind, fire in the liver doesn't last forever.
* * *
- These are our partisans. In full force.
- What?
— One of the avatar's friends had a "brilliant" idea to bring everyone out in this way.
- Well, it almost worked.
I finished "talking" to our now captive earthbender. And he returned back to the balcony to convey interesting news to the team. No, did you have to come up with such stupid nonsense? Leave the city under the guise of illness. And most importantly, everyone agreed. Can strawberries even think?
- And now what i can do? - asked the mayor, - perhaps we should arrest them?
"Let them out," Azula said, even without looking in the direction of May's father, "let them go in all four directions."
- But…
"It's better for us," I supported the princess, standing next to her and leaning on the railing, also staring at the "patients," "there are no partisans left in the city." Of course, it would be nice to detain them, but they won't give in. And so, in fact, it is not clear why they didn't immediately start a fight for the guy we sculpted. Apparently they underestimated us. In any case, let them open the gates and let these idiots walk through the desert without transport and food supplies somewhere.
"I don't think this will cause them any problems," Azula rolled her eyes, "but you're right, it's good for us... Well?" What are we waiting for? I told you to let him out.
And then we just watched from the balcony as people ran around, and how almost with pissing rags, but in fact carefully from afar with spears, this entire "infected" crowd was driven out of the gate.
Of course, I say this beautifully, they say, they took me and kicked me out, but in reality it took several hours and a lot of different running back and forth from different people, attempts to keep onlookers out, showdowns with the cabbage merchant, who did not mince words, and stuff, stuff. In general, it was a headache that I, Azula and our team stood and looked at from the balcony, sometimes feeling a chill in my back from the thought that everyone would have to directly participate in this.
And everything would be fine, generally even excellent, in principle the problem is solved, all that remains is to rest for a while and wait for the avatar to act and somehow react, but the mayor suddenly showed up to us.
With the news that their son was lost, they say, vile bandits stole the strawberries, how bad they are!
Of course, I'm exaggerating this, but I just don't have the strength, how can you fuck up your child? In a building stuffed with all sorts of security guards, when these same revolutionary partisans were gathered in a bunch, and to fuck up, well, there is no other word, a two-year-old child?
So thoughts immediately appeared in my head about whether a person who fucked up his child out of the blue is capable of ruling an entire city with such important strategic significance?
Azula had approximately the same thoughts, and then, of course, pure rage, but it immediately disappeared without a trace, because there is too little cognitive strength left with this whirlpool of events.
It's clear that the child needs to be changed and the most obvious candidate is Bumi. But everyone is somehow very against direct exchange, they don't really believe in my words that he won't train the avatar.
- Why?! Explain to us, why the hell won't he help the avatar?! - Azula was indignant.
"Uh-huh," I sighed heavily and looked at Iroh. He shook his head very slightly, indicating that it was not worth telling. Well, it's not worth it, I also think that such a large audience should not yet know about our club of tea lovers, - I give my word, Bumi will not teach the avatar. And I really hope that no one will question my Word - the charter, I gave this argument, and I gave it quite sharply, but I posed the question point blank.
Of course, they still looked at me askance and grunted, but they didn't really want to say anything against such an argument. Well, more precisely, as usual, I, Azula and Zuko participated in the discussion of plans due to my character from the category: "And Baba Yaga is against it." May, Ty Lee and Suki, as usual, simply interjected their opinions sometimes, trying not to particularly challenge the arguments or opinions of one of us. Well, it just so happened that they are rather subordinates first, and then friends.
So, the brother and sister groaned, exchanged knowing glances, snorted at this fact, but Bumi decided to change.
True, I had the most basic question: how and with whom should we contact? Personally, I have no idea whether to run after these partisans? Or maybe the avatar stole it, and we need to look for it?
As it turned out, the mayor didn't even have this question; he simply took the falcon, laid out his, or rather our, conditions and suggested a meeting place, and then sent it to his child.
The idea is that the falcon will come to whoever is holding the child, and they can respond when the bird flies back. Personally, I thought it would take literally, well, half an hour, well, maybe an hour, but it turned out that it took much longer.
We managed to make tea, sit at the table, silently, by the way, just restoring our mental strength, and then three hours later we got an answer. Of course, with consent. What else should they do? The mayor's child, of course, is a valuable hostage, but not that much; in the grand scheme of things, even Bumi is too much of a price if you don't know the fact that he won't help the avatar and, in principle, won't participate in the war. If it weren't for this remark, no one would even have thought about Bumi. Too strong an earthbender, too pronounced a leader.
We met on the edge of the city, at a recently started construction site, where everything was made of wood and at a fairly decent height, which, in principle, neutralized the advantages of everyone. Although it may be easier for the avatar in an open space, we can calmly shoot with fire in the best traditions of the real ghost rider.
As expected, the avatar and his team arrived at the scene, and the child was wrapped in some rags on the chest of a guy from the water tribe.
There were all six of us. Me, Azula, Zuko, Ty Lee, May and Suki. And behind him Bumi was hanging in his coffin and openly having fun. Just like in some movie, we stood on different edges of the construction site and for the first ten seconds we just looked at each other. And then Team A, this time "Avatar", noticed the green clothes of the warrior in our composition.
- Suki?! — instead of some pretentious greetings from both sides, this same guy with the child exclaimed, "why are you with them?"
"Sorry," Suki apologized slightly, "but my warriors and I traveled a little and discovered that the Fire Nation is better than the bandit formations, which for some reason are called the Earth Army."
- What, Suki, are they...
"We're not here for small talk," I interrupted him.
"Kira," the Avatar said my nickname.
- Himself.
I would like to say that the three of them simply have no chance against us, but I know for sure that they do, and very big ones. It's an avatar, after all.
But there will be a fight. There is no way without this, and both sides understand this. The truth is, if I were the avatar, I would try to solve everything without a fight and just fly away, because first learn the elements - then just crush the whole world under you.
"You know, I was thinking..." Azula pointedly put a finger to her lip, "it's somehow unfair." We are exchanging a two-year-old child for the King of the Earth, one of the strongest benders...
"It's better to put the child somewhere so as not to damage him during the battle," Princess Suki interrupted, realizing that she was just playing.
- What about the exchange? - Sokka shouted, - you say that firebenders are good, but you deceived even in such a small thing.
"If simple shrews had come, we would have gladly exchanged," I answered him, "they did not surrender to us at all, because even if they reach their own, then, given their absolute stupidity, because of which they decided that plan with... how? Pentacorya, maybe? Good, then they will destroy from the inside something that has not yet collapsed itself.
- Ha, you say, it's a bad plan, but it worked! - the waterwoman shouted, - you let them go yourself, right along the main street! And they didn't suspect anything!
"Oh, how I like your naive and childish view of the world," Azula theatrically rolled her eyes and put her hand to her forehead, "you just need to lightly burn the leg of one of the "patients" and now the whole plan is on a silver platter."
"Well, of course, you can't do anything other than torture!" - Aang spoke, - I don't understand how you were able to powder the heads of the Kyoshi warriors, but...
"That's exactly why the plan to just talk to you and discuss it would never have worked," I interrupted the avatar in a calm voice, "this is war, avatar, and in war they torture." Both sides, you can believe my nails that are still not healed from the torture of the earthbenders. And they also kill. But you don't understand this, what you have in your head is not even teenage maximalism, but childish sincere emotions and a lack of understanding of how the world around you works. That is why, I'm sorry, but you will have to be killed.
The last phrase worked as a trigger, and we rushed straight at each other, launching our bending ahead of us.
***
Me and Azula ran forward straight at the avatar, shooting a huge wave of blue flames in front of us. The Avatar, in turn, blew a lot of wind, knocking down our flames in different directions.
Suki and Mei went to work on Sokka, trying to get the child back. And Ty Lee, along with Zuko, took on Katara, who, keeping pace with Aang, ran into battle, waving the water around her. Well, her bending grew very well after visiting the North Pole. Moreover, she uses it in a very interesting way, I must admit, I would say too much for an ordinary girl from the South Pole.
First, Azula and I switched to the simplest and most reliable combination: I ran forward with a rapier at the ready, of course, hitting the Air Master is still not easy, especially in a "bamboo" forest made of, well... construction forest. Around which Aang was circling, and I couldn't cut through everything, despite the fact that I could, simply because otherwise everything above would simply collapse on us, which is unlikely to have any positive effect.
Aang is too lucky to have a random sledgehammer fall on his skull and crush his brain, but me or Azula, or any of our comrades for that matter, are not so lucky.
And the avatar is a great guy, it was his luck or he thought of it himself, but he, and then we after him, slipped from the site where we started into the jungle of scaffolding. Where we are all limited: Azula with her fire, Aang with her wind, me with my rapier, which was inconvenient to swing in such a narrow space. But it was very convenient for the avatar to dodge everything.
Even more than that, he led us through very easily, and we changed places at one moment, walked around in the back, one might say, to then jump towards the coffin with Bumi and, breaking the chain with the wind, threw him onto the chutes for delivering letters and cargo, and he stood on top as if on a surfboard.
"I'll follow him, help the others," Azula told me and flew after him with the help of fire.
Well, what should I do about it? Violating an order, you might say? Yes, it should be, but the princess will not understand at all. From her point of view, this is a completely justified step, how does she know that I have the ultimate ability "strength of spirit" in the literal sense and very powerful air bending.
This is what happens when the "commander" does not have all the information. Okay, an avatar can't go anywhere without its friends.
Therefore, after looking at the chase of Azula and Aang for a second, I sharply turned around and ran towards the group closest to me, it was Sokka, who was very successfully running from May and Suki. It seemed like? Well, in fact, the whole point is that only about thirty seconds, maybe a minute, had passed since the start of the battle, so they actually didn't have a battle. Only Sokka's escape with the child in her arms, because of which the girls cannot take risks and simply throw something. In the process, he clearly tried to win Suki over to his side:
- Suki, come to your senses! - the guy shouted, - you are attacking a man with a child in his arms! You can hurt him!
- Yes? - Suki was feignedly surprised, - who would have thought! And where, let me clarify, did you get this child? Didn't you accidentally steal it during the confusion!?
- No! - Sokka was indignant, - he accidentally ended up with a group of warriors who were leaving Omashu! We didn't steal the child!
"And you want me to believe this nonsense?" "Suki asked sarcastically, "and even so, I've seen too much, Sokka, to be on your side!"
- Don't be on our side! But you don't have to be on them either! Do you know how many people they killed?
"They die in war, Sokka," Suki ended the pause in the dialogue, again attacking the boy.
Well done, proud of Suki!
But I ran at him with all my speed, he, of course, saw me, but didn't have time to do anything, my simple kick knocked the guy out, and I managed to grab the child before the body fell.
"We could handle it ourselves," May commented dryly on my actions when I handed her her brother, but nevertheless nodded gratefully.
And then he immediately moved towards Ty Lee and Zuko, who were pressing Katara, although she fought back quite successfully, and the fault here is simply that the prince and the acrobat did not work together. It is quite difficult for them to combine the melee attacks of one and the fire of the other. In fact, what happened was banal - one stands aside, and the other attacks, and in the end Katara fights with only one. And she does it well. Whatever one may say, she is a very good bender, even rather good.
It's just that I know how to adapt to my teammates and calmly fit into the battle, which Katara can no longer cope with. She held water around her: at the right moment she defended herself with it, creating a hemisphere, or attacked, shooting water like a whip, or freezing it into icicles.
Reliable tactics, but it's a pity that our skills are not comparable. At one point, I picked up the speed of the rapier so that she barely had time to see it, and breaking her water and ice, I forced Katara to go into deep defense, which led to this result.
A swing of the rapier, breaking and deflecting her next failed attempt to counterattack, and then a step close to the bender, a turn around herself along with a strong swing of the rapier, and the girl's hand flies to the side, and Katara herself, with a cry of pain, loses control over all the water and flies a little to the side, falling on his butt and holding the stump of his hand.
I didn't want to kill either the first or the second, such captives will definitely be useful against the avatar, he will most likely run away, but there is always a magnet for him and the opportunity, if anything, for us to escape.
But I didn't take into account one point: the avatar had already lost Bumi somewhere, although the old man, apparently, simply put noodles in Aang's ears and calmly left and returned back to help his friends. And I saw Sokka lying unconscious and Katara screaming without an arm.
As soon as I saw Aang's wide, surprised eyes, I knew what would follow. And not only me, the spirit inside me literally screamed for us to get out of there.
The only thing worse than the normal avatar state is these emotional ones, followed by a storm that is very difficult to stop and which is not controlled by anyone.
But running away from an airbender was initially a stupid idea, at least for everyone at once. So when the avatar started to glow, I immediately shouted:
- Get out of here, everyone, I'll detain him! - at the top of my lungs. The guys understood correctly and almost immediately turned in the other direction. The situation is too uncomfortable to give battle to a bald man: everyone was already tired, there were civilians around, and the forests would fall apart from two powerful attacks.
You just need to buy a little time while the others leave, and then reel in the fishing rods yourself using wind bending. Then, most likely, the avatar will simply calm down and, taking his friends, go away. And the plan was good, exactly until the moment when Azula, who had just arrived, stood next to me.
— Responsibility for subordinates lies with their leader. What kind of future ruler of the Fire Nation is this, running from danger? — she said, as if a little justifying herself.
Meanwhile, the Avatar, having entered his state, began to spin a huge vortex around himself, which ground everything around, and the debris began to circle around Aang.
And dense domes of air formed around Aang himself and his friends. Well, after all, friendship is not an empty phrase for him, and even in the power of his emotions he did not bury his friends.
Without wasting any time, Vaatu immediately gave me his power, as a result of which the time around me seemed to slow down several times, and the sense of space increased by several orders of magnitude.
Immediately, as I felt the increase, I launched a huge jet of blue flame with a click, which literally in a second, burning objects that fell into it, rushed straight towards Aang. But the time at the North Pole was not in vain, and after the air, a lot of water appeared out of nowhere, a stream of which he sent in response. She was no smaller than mine, and our spells met approximately in the middle and froze there, not moving in either direction.
"You literally have two minutes, this is not the time to try to overpower him!!" - the spirit screamed in my head, hinting that I should do something and not stupidly burn the air.
Therefore, without hesitation, I poured even more bending into a small burst of fire and jumped onto the nearest fragment, then onto the next one, and thus began to rise and approach the avatar. I felt every piece of wood around me, so this trick was not difficult to pull off.
Azula, slightly stunned by my actions, but quickly coming to her senses, began throwing flames at Aang, trying to dodge various debris that the avatar generously sent at her at great speed.
I, having jumped almost to the center of the storm, where Aang was, realized that I had overestimated my strength. There was much more debris, and I literally found myself in a meat grinder, in which I barely had time to maneuver. But this couldn't last forever. And I, once again dodging a bunch of scraps of scaffolding, tools and other things flying around that can only be found at a construction site, missed some wooden piece of a box or something that hit me right in the chest, and, having crashed, forced I was literally thrown head over heels almost to the opposite edge of the platform.
The pain in my eyes darkened, even despite the bending of the air, and it became almost impossible to breathe. It took me a few seconds to just breathe again and feel another wave of pain. My ribs were broken and it looked like one of them had punctured my lung.
Lying on my side and trying not to lose consciousness from the pain, I watched as Azula dodged the fragments and tried to somehow reach the avatar with her fire.
Apparently, realizing the futility and futility of conventional attacks, the princess, making a short cato, released a huge wave of fire, even larger than mine, which rushed straight towards the dome of air where Aang was hiding. The blue flame in a huge volume gathered into a kind of comet, and then into a jet with a ball at the end and, evaporating absolutely everything in its path, flew exactly to the target.
The thought came at the wrong time, how wonderful it would be if I could calmly use my air bending. I would have made exactly the same tornado from the very beginning, and we would have seen who won who. We need to end the secrets so that when we find ourselves like this with our pants down, we can be fully armed.
But then he pulled himself together and began pumping huge amounts of air into himself in order to continue fighting. The pain gradually went away, although it was still very difficult to breathe, but that's nothing. The main thing is not to die in this mini-apocalypse named after Aang's hysteria.
We need to get out, and urgently, a simple realization has come, we simply cannot withstand even another minute of such a battle. Moreover, it's clearly the fastest way to get out: grab Azula and jump to hell from these scaffoldings, slowing down the fall, the avatar will clearly remember his friends. There was no better plan in my head, it was only necessary for at least a small window to appear when we could leave.
But the interval of attacks with accelerated debris was too small. I hadn't even had time to concentrate with my thoughts and accumulate at least some reserve of strength, namely to catch my breath, when I already felt and saw some kind of metal pipe flying towards Azula.
I managed to jump, putting air bending into this jump without disguise, fortunately I was behind the princess, I even managed to hit this pipe with my hand from above, which was flying straight at the princess's head, but that was not enough.
The metal thing, glory to Agni, hit the princess straight in the leg below the knee, twisting it at an unnatural angle. From which Azula, grinding her teeth, which was audible even through all the other noise, fell right where she stood.
She won't be able to fight any further, whatever, she won't be able to even just walk. But at the same time, I realized that this was a good chance. Jumping again to Azula, who, from the blow of that very thing, spun around a little and fell with her back to Aang, I put everything I could into my blow and gave out a directed push of air.
All the fragments instantly flew in the direction of the avatar, and then I didn't look at the result, however, without doubting that it worked approximately like a pellet for an elephant, grabbing Azula somewhere around the waist, he ran to the edge, holding a dome of air behind us, which barely Will it help, but it's better at least this way than nothing at all.
There was absolutely not enough air in my lungs; in fact, I had not breathed since my first leap, I simply could not breathe normally, but nevertheless I still had the strength to jump.
I remember the flight in fragments, here I push off from the surface, now the sand is almost visible, now I give out a lot of air mixed with fire in order to somehow disguise myself, and now I fall on my back, and next to me is Azula, from whose mouth a wheeze can be heard pain.
Through fading vision, I see the storm above end and debris begin to fall to the ground.
Exchanged, bitch.
***
I came to my senses quickly and almost immediately. There were no transitions, just at one moment my eyes opened and I realized that I was lying somewhere in a hospital, and most of my body was hurting, and it had never hurt before.
No, not much, just very strange. Some kind of incomprehensible pain in the body, which is difficult to localize and seems to move to different parts of the body depending on whether I inhale or exhale.
Actually this is actually the first thing I understood. That it hurts me.
Then, I was able to concentrate slightly and fill myself with air, so the pain faded into the background, and I paid attention to my surroundings.
I was lying on some kind of bed in a hospital that was quite standard for local realities. Something metal and stone with different flags on which, of course, is the coat of arms of fire.
There were many beds in the room, but only two were occupied, on one of which only I was lying, and on the other Azula, who had apparently woken up a long time ago and was now looking at me in a slightly incomprehensible way, but still, according to the classics, closer to a sarcastic look with a raised eyebrow and a slight grin. Apparently I have a rather stupid expression on my face right now.
The princess herself also looked unwell, her leg was in some kind of substitute with a splint, her face was pale and, in principle, the girl looked sick. Well, it would have been an open fracture and she had clearly lost a fair amount of blood.
It's good that a regular antibiotic was invented here and in the end she won't die from sepsis.
-Are you awake? - she said in a rather tired voice, it was clear that it was quite difficult for her to speak.
"Like t..." I tried to say, but I coughed; it turned out to be quite difficult to speak with broken ribs.
Now I turned my attention to my clothes. But it was almost gone; a strong bandage was wrapped around my chest, clearly intended for medical purposes. Well, a tire for ribs, roughly speaking.
And so, apparently not much time had passed, because I still had my pants on, with direct signs of the battle, thank God not in the form of brown marks on the ass, ha, just a minute joke...
- "Idiot"
... but in the form of lacerations, dirt and blood. But my minor injuries have also already been bandaged, although on my legs over my clothes. But this doesn't matter, such wounds on benders heal like on a dog, which can't be said about fractures.
But I think it won't take as much time as it does for ordinary people. At least I hope, otherwise after this completely idiotic battle, by the time we don't even start the plan with Basingse Se, but on Day X, we will simply not be ready for battle at all. And if we remember that most likely during this time an avatar will have settled somewhere there, in search of a teacher or already studying, and in any case will somehow take part in the mess and certainly not on our side, then it becomes generally sad.
Okay, we will solve problems as they arise.
And let's start with a simple problem: where are all my clothes and weapons? I hope my rapier didn't turn into a bent wire? I really wouldn't want to.
But thank Agni, no, I just had to look back and see the nightstand and chair near my bed, on which my clothes lay. The mask lay on the bedside table, the rapier rested on it, but the cloak hung on the back of the chair. And it only looked like it was in the trash, because it was a pitiful sight: torn, bloody in some places, and also covered in such dust and dirt from that storm that it could no longer be washed.
And judging by the fact that I hear a slight ringing in my ears, somewhere on the edge of consciousness, it was terribly noisy there. Now I can say for the first time I "heard" silence. But then we didn't even notice it, but the crunchy, ringing and dry rumble mixed with the strong howling of the wind was so loud that it seemed like I even suffered from shell shock.
Well, or is it the consequences of a head blow? Hmm, something to think about.
"Sort of," I finally answered Azula quietly and trying not to exhale too sharply.
"Uh-huh," the princess muttered and threw her head back on the pillow, gazing at the ceiling, "how hard it is to lie only on your back," she shared, "but you can't turn over, in any other position it hurts your leg too much."
"Huhmph... eha," I tried to grunt, but in the end some kind of cough came out from another wave of pain, which completely broke through my air "protection", "this is better than feeling pain with every breath or exhalation."
"Perhaps," Azula muttered, clearly no longer hearing my words, "tell me... how can we defeat him?" It's just... elements. Sheer force of nature. But he has not yet mastered two elements. So this is half of his full strength? This is simply impossible. Now it's clear how avatars pacified all people or how they broke off entire islands like Kyoshi. It's just scary.
"Yes... it's scary," I answered, also sticking it into the ceiling and remembering my adventures in the world of spirits, "but we are far from at the peak of our powers." Have you seen Bumi in action? He could easily fight Aang in hysterics.
- You were able to fight too. And I did it. But to win? — the princess made a reasonable remark, "we need to become stronger." And quickly.
"We should," I agreed, "do you remember I asked you how you would feel about benders of other elements if they were on our side?"
- I remember, I remember. Do you have someone in mind?
- Yes. I met her during my escape from captivity. This is a blind eleven year old girl...
"I'm not in the mood for jokes right now," Azula interrupted me, starting to get angry.
- I'm not joking. She's a genius at earthbending, as much as you are at firebending. Or maybe more. She is Beifong, I think you are familiar with this surname, and even though she was hired as a teacher, she is almost a talentless idiot. But she can fight with me on equal terms, she's a two-time champion of the underground fight club and can see and hear with the help of her bending even through walls," I outlined the situation.
"Yeah," Azula thought, "it's not hard to understand why you talk about her devotion." Her parents are not aware of her abilities, and you seem to have entered a circle of trust, while she is Beifong, which suggests that she is in the know and is out of touch with propaganda. But she's only eleven...
"An underground tournament, Azula," I now interrupted her, "she is quite an independent person, who, to be honest, doesn't even mind running away from her parents and tried to do this with me, but then it was impossible, but now...
"And she doesn't even need to run away, I can fully imagine the words with which I can explain the need for a representative of their family next to me in some matters," the princess continued to think out loud, "but I need proof of her strength."
"Oh, that's easy, I think she's still participating in the underground tournament and we can calmly watch her performances," I said in a slightly less serious tone, "there really are not weak participants and she wipes the floor with them so easily that it looks ... well, I'll explain, take you or, as a last resort, me and any of the fire mages who are a little better than the average idiot and you'll get a rough idea of what it looks like.
"Hmm, interesting," Azula nodded, "but this is still a little different from what I was talking about." You and I need to become stronger personally. Like warriors. Like Magam. As you can see now, most of the team turned out to be completely useless.
"Yes," I exhaled heavily, feeling a new surge of pain, "no matter how good a melee fighter you are, you won't be able to do anything with a tornado."
"Well, why, you came up with it and somehow jumped to the avatar over the rubble," said the princess.
- Yes, but then I, with all my bending, got injured after which I was no longer a fighter, take the conventional Suki, maybe she could repeat my trick, but no matter what she throws or how she tries to get closer to Aang, this would give absolutely no result. Unfortunately, in this case only Zuko can help us, the rest are very good against anyone except the avatar.
"Yes, but Zuzu left with the others, and didn't stay to fight," Azula said sarcastically, pursing her lips, clearly dissatisfied with her brother's actions.
"Because I said so and it was the best way," I snapped, "if you had retreated along with the others, I would have calmly given a little time and retreated."
"Yes, I remember how you paid it off, but now I woke up," the princess continued to sarcastically.
"Yes, because I had to pull out not only my body," I pricked in response, reminding him of what, or more precisely who, caused a considerable share of my injuries.
"Ah..." Azula clearly wanted to continue the argument, but interrupted herself, "yes, we definitely have problems with this." "I'm used to commanding, and in theory I should command, you're also used to commanding, and in fact, you... you... you're good at it," the princess finished awkwardly, clearly unable to overcome herself and admit that I'm doing better than her. . Unfortunately, this battle clearly exposed the problem, the princess knows how to command strategically, it's a no-brainer, she was taught this, and if you put her in front of a map where the troops will be marked, I wouldn't even be able to help there, but with tactical command she has Problems. She is quite self-centered, like many other geniuses, and often has a typical fiery character; to put it simply, she is captivated by the battle, without any time for thinking.
But in the end, of course, I didn't say this, my reaction to her words was only some kind of questioning sound, which should have been something like a grunt, but it turned out how it turned out.
"Of course, you should check with the team," she said slightly sarcastically, "but it seems that at such moments you should take command."
"Great," I replied, "it would be good to assign a clear group commander for the duration of the battle."
"I could have thanked you," Azula dripped venom, "your princess herself puts a piece of her power into your hands."
"Oh-oh-oh, thank you very much," I said, not forgetting to add a fair amount of irony, "if it weren't broken, I bowed at my feet."
"Hmm, that's better," the princess answered, clearly jokingly.
This entire dialogue was simultaneously filled with emotions from a certain despair to friendly causticism, but at the same time, in terms of volume and emotions in the voice itself, it was like a lecture on quantum physics in a library. Quiet and absolutely monotonous, we rather guessed each other's emotions due to our understanding of each other's character.
"But we saved this child," I remembered.
"We should execute Agni, this mayor and the whole heap of guards," Azula answered, "I still can't imagine how they could lose such an important child." I still don't think that any of the partisans or the avatar's team actually stole it, because then I can hardly imagine their actions as some kind of clearly defined plan.
"Or maybe there was just no clear plan." In any case, I think May's father, I don't remember his name, after he finds out the details of the "exchange" and how the princess suffered, he himself will be removed from his position, and before that he'll fire the whole guard. You could say two key figures in the plans of the Fire Nation as a whole, because of his son and the idiots in the guard, almost died.
"And you obviously value yourself very much," Azula chuckled, "but you underestimate the love of power of people, he will try to find the most extreme and throw all the blame on him." Starting from the fact that he fell asleep on patrol or even turned himself in to the avatar. He'll come up with something, just so as not to turn out to be extreme. And by the way, I don't remember his name either. Constantly slips out of my head.
For some reason, the princess's last comment made us both laugh as if it were the best joke in the world. More precisely, Azula laughed, and a rather beautiful laugh; after the first attempt, pain shot through my entire body.
No, I will still personally find the culprit or appoint someone as extreme in my head and execute them to hell. Because it hurt so much the last time I was captured by the Dai Li, and this is an indicator, by the way.
***
- Oh, they both woke up! - That was the first thing Ty Lee said, bursting into the room and throwing open the doors with both feet... hmm.
- Ty Lee! Quiet! - Suki shouted, not trying very hard not to make noise, - they both just woke up.
"It's okay, Suki," I chuckled, wincing a little in pain as usual.
Yes, it's easier for me to endure pain than to root out the Uchiha habit.
"We're not that sugary," Azula added, seeing that I was a little out of breath from my grunt, "did you bring new clothes?"
- Yes. Brought it. - said Zuko standing behind him, with a face as if he was ready to burn someone right now. In his arms, of course, lay a stack of clothes that the girls had pushed on him. What clever people, huh.
"Great, bring it to me and Akimaru," Azula waved with a purely royal gesture, and in a tone as if she had given permission.
In general, the candles on the walls trembled a little, but Zuko, apparently, felt guilty that he gave in to my command and did not stay, but we stayed and suffered so much.
But this is nonsense. I'll have to talk to him...
"In general, Aki is in charge in battle," Azula poured out new information, getting out of bed and starting to get dressed, she was wearing old rags and somehow she did not hesitate to take them off to her underwear, albeit completely closed, and quickly put on new ones.
How much did we get into her comfort zone? If she allows herself to do so. Well, or she's planning to kill us all. Which, damn, seems like a more realistic scenario.
"We consulted and decided that in order to avoid situations like this in the future, Aki will command our "coma-anda" during any clash with enemies.
— And what happened that it was necessary to so clearly define the vertical of power? - May asked in a monotone voice.
"But because," I said, getting up and stretching, to which Azula stuck, I saw it out of the corner of my vision, she almost stood rooted to the spot, without taking her eyes off me, "the most banal situation happened, I didn't just tell you to run away." , I had a lot of opportunities to escape, and if Azula had been with you, then I think the two of us wouldn't be lying here together now. But what happened happened, and we, after consulting, came to this decision.
- Azula? - Ty Lee even snapped her fingers, distracting her from me, although I had already put on a T-shirt, - why are you hanging out? What do you say?
- A? - Azula concentrated, still thinking about something of her own. Well, yes, the girl is young, and here I am all so beautiful, how can I not think about the eternal, - Yes... yes. That's why we decided so. What did you find out about Avatar?
"Are we still chasing him?" — Suki was surprised, "we've already wasted enough time here, no?"
"Yes," I nodded, "but at least knowing the direction where the avatar went is worth it." Another question is whether we will chase him or not?
"Judging by what I managed to find," Zuko took the floor, who, like a real ranger, got to work on this, "The Avatar on a bison flew off somewhere towards the swamps." At least the local map simply shows swamps there. They're not that far from here, more like a couple of days' journey on land, and for a flying bison... well, eight hours?
— Are there any other options where he could have flown in that direction? - Azula clarified.
"No," Zuko shook his head, "either they flew there, or somehow trying to predict their path makes no sense." They could turn around in the opposite direction after flying for half an hour. But, in my experience, they usually don't bother with this, in the air they think that they simply cannot be tracked.
- So, then the question remains open. What are we doing? - I posed the question point blank, - do we follow him or just continue to follow the original plan?
"The swamp there is huge and very... mystical," Zuko added, "even the locals say that the places there are evil, and they tell some horror stories, and to climb into the swamp after the bender of water and air..."
"Yes, but the waterbender is most likely unlikely to return to duty anytime soon," Azula shook her head.
"Yes, I cut off her hand, and it's hard to come to my senses after that." Well, most likely, she will have to teach herself for a long time that brush gestures don't mean anything. In general, we can say that we have successfully cut off half the strength of one of the Avatar's team for the near future. In general, in fact, for a decent six months...
"Don't underestimate them," Zuko interrupted me, "we're talking about a girl who, less than six months ago, could only throw a water ball, and even then with difficulty, and now she's a water mage who successfully repels us, people trained since childhood." Therefore, I am sure that a week or two will pass, and she will simply find a way to always have water with her, and train, and restore her arm. Just make a water analogue.
"Well, it's no wonder that she fights back against YOU, I didn't fight with her, and Aki almost killed her in half a minute," Azula emphasized the last word, who was clearly hurt by Zuko's message.
"By the way..." he wanted to be indignant and clearly express his irritation, but I interrupted them.
- Let's not quarrel now and find out who has the fiery fire, Katara is a talent, and this is a fact, what I was able to do with her is only a consequence of the fact that I am a very unusual bender, and this confuses, does not allow the use of ready-made patterns of behavior, and I can... become stronger for a very short time, something like meditation, the secret of Master Piandao, I become faster, my bending is stronger, but I cannot use it for a long time and often. "I entered this state when I was planning to fight the avatar, but Azula was chasing him, and so I switched to the watermen, the combination of these factors resulted in me knocking them out pretty quickly," I said in a speech, revealing one of my secrets , albeit not completely, we need to decide what to do next. Right now.
- Do we have any choice under these conditions? - May asked, - in my opinion, everything is obvious, we are moving according to plan. We cannot catch up with the Avatar now under any circumstances, so we just have to catch up with your mysterious schedule and follow the points of the plan. By the way, which one is next?
- Hm? — Azula turned her gaze to me, clearly hinting that I should convey to the team the information that we were going after a blind eleven-year-old girl.
"We need to pick up another valuable combat unit," I said as streamlined as possible, why prove anything if they see for themselves? - And very valuable. See it with your own eyes.
- Eh, did I understand correctly, we're going there, we don't know where, for whom, we don't know who? - Ty Lee summed up, - or rather, we don't know, but you know.
"I... understand," I rubbed my eyes with my hand, causing Azula, and I already saw it, to stick to my forearm again, and what did she see there? Although I heard that girls like guys' forearms, hmm, but I'm not trying to hide information from you, rather, it will just sound awkward and stupid until you see it with your own eyes.
"It suits me," Zuko shrugged. "Kira has enough trust in my eyes for me to believe in the fact that it's easier for us to see than to hear," he explained his position, seeing that everyone was staring at him with round eyes. Because he is usually dissatisfied.
And what to say? The guy is growing up, thinking at least a couple of steps ahead and, apparently, starting to take into account his explosive nature. Well, although, perhaps, he has done this before, and when it comes to emotions again, he won't think a damn thing. Let's see.
- Let's summarize, we are now going for a new team member. We leave the avatar for later or for a suitable occasion," I said, "great." Now let's discuss the outcome of this stopping point.
- What to discuss? — Azula shrugged, "both of us are not fighters for another week at best, but most likely a good two weeks." Bumi ran away, the avatar ran away, except that May is coming with us, and everything is fine with that.
"Hmm," Ty Lee summed up in one word, who was already standing on her hands, holding the back of Azula's bed with them.
"Well, well," I shook my head, "it's not so bad, gentlemen." Let's look at things more positively, Bumi will not cause us any harm, I know this for sure, we, of course, are not fighters for some time yet, but Katara, despite all her talent, is also not a fighter for at least a couple of weeks, or even a month ...
- What does this matter to us? - Zuko interrupted me, - well, by and large. In the Avatar team, the main problem is the avatar, and this was clearly demonstrated to us; in the main task with Basingse, Katara does not plan to interfere with us in any way...
"Not in the main task with Basingse, but in the Azulon plan," Suki interrupted.
"It's not the point," he waved it off, "in the end, we could at least kill Katara and Sokka, it wouldn't make any less of a problem."
"Well, to some extent, you're right, but it's still better than if we came out of the battle completely losing," I answered, "then it's experience." At the cost of small losses, we gained excellent experience, experience in team combat, experience in fighting an avatar, and so on. This is very important. In general, in fact, I would say that this part of the plan went well. Broken ribs and a leg are not the biggest price in our case. It will heal like a dog. If only I could find a water mage somewhere else...
- Exactly! - Azula snapped her fingers, - there is definitely a water mage in that city, I personally saw the places where they are sent.
"Then that's great," I was slightly happy, "not only will we pick up a unit, but we'll also be cured." By the way, is it possible to take it with you?
"Hmm," Azula thought, "purely legally, it's quite possible." Practically, are you sure that you want to drag along a disloyal bender in the company of Kira, who is the invader of his homeland, the Fire Princess and other high ranks of the Fire Nation?
"On one hand, you're right, on the other hand, let's say this is a unique chance to pull a person out of the other world." And I'm not sure that we won't all regret at some point that we didn't take the conditional "prisoner" with us," I said a rather heavy fact, which I myself don't know what to do with. Well, one head is good, but many are better.