What would happen if Aang wasn't alone in the Iceberg? What if a more terrifying Airbender was with him? And what would he do once he discovers everyone he has ever known or cared about is gone?
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The Savage Nomad
"You're not paying attention, Kaz. It's your move." Monk Pasang, the High Monk of the Southern Air temple said to the young man sitting across from him. "I'm sick of Pai Sho. I didn't ask to come here! I hate it here! There isn't a piece of meat that isn't still flying around in this place!" The young man named Kaz shouted angrily. He was clearly annoyed for being here, and he didn't appreciate it.
"Air nomads do not eat meat." Pasang said, also looking irritated. He had been hearing Kaz complain about not having meat for the last two days, and he was starting to get fed up with it. "That would explain why you're all so thin and decrepit! Humans need meat! I need meat!" Kaz shouted back, and it wasn't like there wasn't some basis to back up his claim.
Unlike the thin and wiry form of most every other air nomad who didn't eat meat, Kaz was tall and solidly built of pure muscle. He looked more like an earthbender than an airbender, but that was in appearance alone, for his airbending abilities were second to none.
"I blame your father! He never should have let you train with Master Lao Ge! What could an earthbender teach an airbender but how to go off the spiritual path!" Pasang growled angrily. "You shut your mouth, old man! You might be my uncle, but that won't stop me from shutting it for you if I have to!" Kaz warned.
"So quick to violence. It is obvious you've inherited more than Lao Ge's love for meat. While you are expected to watch over the Avatar, it wouldn't hurt to learn from him what it means to be an air nomad." Pasang said, then got up from his seat and left the room.
"Stupid monks and their stupid- Ugh! Everything about you all is stupid!" Kaz shouted at the door that his uncle had already walked through. He was an air nomad through and through, but he did not possess the qualities of a monk. His uncle could say whatever he wanted about learning to be a good little pacifist, but Kaz didn't believe in any of that, and none of it would help him become a better airbender either.
Already at sixteen years old, he had mastered every known airbending technique, and had created a few techniques of his own based on the teachings of his masters. Growing up, his mother and father were true air nomads who travelled the world, and Kazon, or "Kaz" as most people called him gotten to see things that most people could only dream of. It was in his travels that he met the people who had shaped him into the man he was today.
It was on one of their journeys when he was nine years old, they were travelling through the Earth Kingdom when his mother got sick. They went to the city of Zigan where they tried to find treatment, but nothing helped cure her. A month after stopping in the city, his mother had passed away, leaving him and his father alone. As per his mother's wish, her body was cremated and both he and his father spread her ashes from atop a mountain before they used airbending to send her on to her next journey.
After that, Kaz and his father remained in Zigan for a time, and it was there he met Master Lao Ge, an Earthbending master who trained the soldiers. Whether it was out of curiosity or sheer boredom of staying in one place for too long, Kaz found himself watching the earthbenders train and he couldn't help but compare their style of bending to his own.
Lao Ge had seen him mimicking their training and after finding out that he wasn't an earthbender but an airbender, had taken great interest in him. It was Lao Ge who had given him his first steak when, after commenting how he needed more meat on his bones and Kaz told him that he had never had meat, the man took him straight to a restaurant and ordered him steak, eggs and bacon. One taste of bacon and Kaz had never turned back to vegan life again, even despite his father's many complaints.
"Look at the animals around us. Do you think Badger-moles or Sabretooth moose-lions eat leaves or sticks? Some animals eat plants, some eat other animals, and some eat both. Eventually when we die, our bodies will be broken down and turned into nutrients that will help the plants grow and the animals will eat those plants and we'll eat those animals and the cycle will continue on and on. It's the circle of life, kid." Lao Ge had explained to him when he had asked about it being wrong to eat the flesh of another creature.
It had only been after the man's crude explanation that Kaz focused more on the plant and animal life around him. He saw insects eating plants and birds eating insects, and bigger birds eating the smaller birds. He could even recall a few times in his past where his father and mother had helped a helpless creature escape a predator, but now that he thought about it, they had robbed the predator of its food. Who's to say the predator didn't die because they had robbed it of its meal.
"Why do you fight?" Kaz had asked Lao Ge one day when he was watching the earthbenders train. "Everyone fights for something. Be it to protect something you care about or to take something you want. Could be pride, vanity, or honor for most people. You can pretend everyone is good and you can sing Koom-bi-ya and dance all you want, but eventually you're going to see the darker side to this world. We're a rich agricultural city, with fields as far as the eye can see. We patrol each day to protect the farmers and make sure people who don't want to work don't think they can come in and just take whatever they want. You'd be surprised how many people are like that." Lao Ge had told him, and when Kaz and his father were finally leaving the city after six months, Lao Ge had left him with some parting words of wisdom.
"Keep up with your training. There might come a time one day when you have something someone else wants, be sure to have the power to hold onto it." Kaz had never forgotten those words to this day.
Despite his father's requests, Kaz continued training each day by going through the hand-to-hand forms of the earthbenders, the airbending katas, and eventually he would come to add some fire nation moves into his arsenal from the teachings of Master Lee, who actually wasn't a master by any means, and his teachings were about as short-lived as they could be, still Kaz referred to the fire nation soldier as his master, mostly because it pissed the guy off but also because he had taught him some invaluable things.
Master Lee was a soldier who liked to duel anyone and everyone, and after seeing Kaz training on the outskirts of town when they were traveling in the fire nation, he decided to "Show" him the proper forms they taught in the army. Kaz learned very quickly by watching, and after dancing around and avoiding the man's attacks, he used those same movements to knock the guy down on his ass. What followed was Kaz dodging small blasts of fire until some other Firebenders arrived to figure out what was going on.
Rather than save the man because he didn't want to see him punished, Kaz told the soldiers that "Master Lee had just been training him on the intricacies of the fire nation techniques." The soldiers had all shared a laugh at Lee's expense, figuring it had been he who had told the young air nomad to call him "Master", something the soldiers would come to tease the grunt about for years to come.
For the next few years, Kaz had honed his abilities, training each day and learning new things from many different people, not to mention he ate just about every kind of meat from every culture. By the time he was ten he had already gotten his airbending tattoos, signifying he was a master airbender, and by fourteen there hadn't been an airbender alive who could teach him something he didn't already know, and by fifteen he had accomplished something that no other airbender had been able to achieve in four thousand years. Flight.
The monks had said he had given up all earthly tethers to achieve flight, but Kaz had no idea what they were talking about. All he did was mimic the Sky Bisons and bend the air around himself, similar to how he would his glider, only he was focusing more on his body than he was on an object he was holding. It wasn't as difficult as they were making it out to be, but when he tried to explain it to them, none were able to accomplish it.
He figured it was just a mindset thing as most children were told from an early age that flight was an impossible thing, but he had stopped listening to what they told him he could and couldn't do years ago. Besides, if ten-ton flying bison's could do it, then surely a hundred and fifty pound kid could do it too.
Now here he was at sixteen years old, a master airbender the likes of which the world had never known, and what was he doing? Babysitting the new Avatar because he apparently didn't have the mindset of one. 'No shit! With all your goody-goody teachings, it would be a miracle if the kid could hurt a fly!' Kaz thought sourly as he stared out the window at the air nomads who had traveled here from each of the air temples for The Great Comet Festival. He didn't care about the damn Avatar, and had it not been his uncle asking him to do this, he probably would have told the other monks to go pound sand.
According to them, word had spread that the Fire Nation was preparing to attack the Earth Kingdom, and already the waterbenders were sending their warriors to help on the Earth Kingdom's coast. They would need the Avatar's help in this war, and if he needed to, Kaz would lend his support as well. Fighting wasn't new to him, nor was killing. He'd had to kill a few times in his travels, the first being when he had accidentally spilled some guy's drink when he and his father were in a tavern.
He had tried to apologize for it, and his father even offered to pay for a new drink, but the guy was having none of it, saying something about his image. Kaz ended that image by plunging a steak-knife from a nearby table into the man's heart. It had been easier than he had thought, and for some reason people kept telling him that he would get over it. He didn't know what he was supposed to get over.
The second time he had to kill was when they were in a caravan with about forty people and they were attacked by bandits. He had killed more than half of them, and ever since that day, his father hadn't looked at him the same. That's when he was sent to go and stay with his uncle at the southern air temple, and now he was finally going to get a chance to participate in a real war. That is, if he ever got to ditch his job of babysitting the boy savior.
'Oh well, it'll just be until they find him a waterbending teacher. After that, he's free to mess up his own life and I can go do whatever I want.' Kaz thought to himself, deciding it was about time he went and enjoyed some of the festivities.
*****
"Out! OUT! I can't believe you! Your uncle will hear about this, Kazon!" A woman shouted as she threw plates, bowls, cups, forks, and spoons at him, all of which he deftly dodged while eating a chicken wing. "You sure have a good aim for someone who preaches about non-violence." He told her before he resumed eating the delicious bird.
"That had better not have been one of my hens!" She cried out at him when he was out of the woman's throwing range. Chuckling to himself, Kaz made his way through the darkness while munching on the first bit of food he had eaten since he got here. Before long he got to the stables where all of the sky bison were stored, and after walking between the stalls for a time he saw the specific bison he had been searching for.
"Hey, Swish! Sorry I didn't come by earlier, but uncle Pasang had me play Pai Sho with him. Of the two of us, I think you got the better end of the deal." He spoke to his companion who had been with him since he got his tattoos.
Holding the chicken wing in his mouth, Kaz grabbed a pitchfork and began shoveling hay down into the stall, then hauled over a few buckets of water. He didn't actually need to feed or water the giant bison, as if she ever really got hungry then she would just help herself, but he had promised to come by tonight to give her a treat. "I didn't forget." He said to the bison as she made noises at him, which prompted him to untie the bag that was strapped to his belt and pull out a wide range of fruits.
He had three apples, two pears, a watermelon, a pineapple, and half a dozen oranges. "They were out of cake but I snagged half of an apple pie." He said cheerfully as he withdrew the mushed up pie. It hadn't been the brightest idea to put it in the bag first, but Swish didn't care how it looked. She would eat just about anything he gave her, though she especially liked sweet things.
Taking a small piece of the pie for himself, Kaz dumped the rest of what was left in the pan into the bison's open mouth and the two sat together as they ate. He was just chewing the last bite of his pie when he noticed a bison flying off into the south and if he had seen it right, a little boy was riding it.
'Don't tell me that little shit's running away!' He cursed internally. Looking at Swish, Kaz saw that the giant bison was still munching away on her fruit, and knowing how much of a pain in the ass it was to be interrupted when you were eating, he decided to leave her be. Besides, he didn't need Swish for something like this. "I gotta go, Swish. The little Avatar is trying to run away but I'll be back later. Count on it!" He told his giant bison who didn't so much as look at him before he shot off into the sky.
Kaz hadn't been flying for more than a minute before he started to feel raindrops on his bald head, at which point he couldn't help but curse internally, 'Stupid kid! You couldn't have picked any other night to run off!' Based on the lightning off in the distance, Kaz knew he was not going to enjoy this, which only prompted him to propel himself faster. The sooner he caught up to Aang, the sooner he could go back to his room and change his clothes.
He had been flying for quite awhile, but due to the darkness and the torrential downpour of rain, Kaz had lost sight of Aang, and now he had found himself flying aimlessly in the direction he had last seen him. After a few more minutes and still nothing, he stopped and tried to look for any sight of movement.
*CRACK!*
Lightning cracked only a short distance away, illuminating the rain and chaotic ocean down below for a brief moment. Not seeing anything, Kaz turned his head slightly and waited a few seconds for the next *CRACK!*. The lightning again briefly gave him a view of his surroundings, and thankfully this time he saw something. Kaz had seen something flying low to the water, and he was certain he knew what it was.
Propelling himself downward, Kaz arrived right in front of Aang and his bison before he slowed himself and let himself fall into the bison's saddle. "You fucking idiot! Are you trying to die?! Pull up!" Kaz shouted over the sounds of the crashing waves and the thunder around them. "What?!" Aang shouted in surprise at hearing him. "PULL UP!!" Kaz shouted again, but it was too late. A massive wave was barreling down towards them, pulling them deep into the ocean's depths.
Beneath the water things were quiet now. Kaz was still holding on to the bison's saddle and he could vaguely make out Aang's form drifting away from him. Knowing there wasn't a whole hell of a lot of time, he used airbending to propel himself in the water so he could reach out for Aang, but an instant before he reached the younger airbender, the water lit up and without thinking he gasped in surprise, which caused him to inhale a mouthful of water that burned his chest. The last thing he saw was Aang's airbending tattoos glowing in front of him, then everything went dark.
*****
(Year 99 AG)
Kaz was brought out of the darkness when he fell to the ground and began sliding in the snow. When he stopped sliding he pushed himself to his knees before he began vomiting the water he had inhaled before things went dark. Even as he tried to open his eyes, all he saw was shapes and white spots that made it impossible to see his surroundings.
Thinking back to the last thing he remembered happening, images of lightning flashed in his mind, then a massive wave. He was brought back to reality when something slammed into his side and knocked him back down. Looking down, Kaz was able to make out a bald head like his with a matching arrow, and then he remembered what happened.
"Aang! Wake up! Aang! You better not be dead!" He shouted in a mix of anger and concern as he began to feel around Aang's head for his neck so he could check his pulse. It was difficult with him being wet and in what felt to be the frozen god-damned tundra, his fingers were shaking and he was starting to feel numb. Thinking about it, he wondered why he was still wet. Moving his chi through his body and over his skin, he pushed all of the water away from him.
It took only a few seconds of wrapping himself in a vortex of wind before his clothes were dry and things started to feel a bit more bearable, but he was still cold, which normally wouldn't have been a problem for him. Airbenders could regulate their body heat through breathing techniques, allowing them to face the colder temperatures of the sky, however he was having difficulty breathing at the moment. He had inhaled too much water when they went down in the ocean, and right now it hurt to breathe.
"Hey! Where did you come from and how did you do that?" Someone asked. It sounded like a boy or a young man, Kaz couldn't be sure of the age without getting a proper look at the guy. "The boy! Is the boy alright?!" Kaz asked, ignoring the question from before. "I-I think so. I don't know." A girl's voice answered this time, and Kaz momentarily wondered how many people were surrounding them.
"Wake up you little shit! I know all about your incarnations, and if I have to, I'll go to the spirit world and wring your scrawny little neck!" He growled down at Aang's unmoving form. In response to his shouts and threats, Aang made a small noise which wasn't much, but it meant he was at least still alive. Relaxing slightly, Kaz closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself.
Blinking slowly a few times, his vision started to return to normal and he was finally able to see his surroundings and how many people were there. It was a girl and a boy, the boy maybe a year or two younger than him, and the girl maybe a year younger than the boy, he didn't know. What he did know was that there was nothing around them but ice, snow, and water.
"Where are we?" He asked the two people dressed in thick fur coats. "The southern Water tribe." The girl answered. "Katara! A strange glowy iceberg just exploded and left behind two mysterious bald people. What part of that makes you think we should give them information?" The boy asked, and Kaz wondered if he had heard that right.
"Sokka, we have to help them. They'll die out here without our help." The girl called Katara said to the boy named Sokka. Ignoring them, Kaz picked Aang's body up out of the snow and placed him inside the boat before he stepped in as well. "You two can argue all you want, but do it once you're in the boat." Kaz said even as he began to cover Aang with some of the spare furs that had been laying in the boat. The sooner he woke up, the sooner they could start making their way back home.
It took a minute of pacing and kicking the snow before Sokka finally stepped into the boat and began paddling them in a certain direction. Figuring they were going too slow, Kaz used airbending to push the boat, much to the surprise of the two strangers who were clearly siblings.
"How're you doing that?!" Sokka asked in surprise. "Airbending." Kaz answered dryly. "You're an airbender?! That's incredible!" Katara said in shock. "If you say so." Kaz said, not all that phased by her words. "Can I ask you something?!" Katara asked excitedly. "No." Kaz responded as he rubbed his temples.
His head hurt, his chest hurt, and the stupid little cunt he was supposed to watch over had gotten them stranded in the south pole and he was now taking a nap. On top of that he felt like he was forgetting something important.
Neither of the two said anything else until they landed near a small village surrounded by a tiny little wall of ice just as the sun was setting over the horizon, much to Kaz's relief. He had enough travelling at night for a while now. He carried Aang into the largest hut, and covered him with more furs before he moved over to a bucket and stuck his finger down his throat, causing him to puke saltwater. He did this a few more times until he felt like he got most of it out of his system, but he still wasn't satisfied.
Walking over to the wall of the hut, he dropped his hands to the ground and stuck his feet up into the air, then he did something that he had only ever practiced on himself once. Opening his mouth, Kaz began moving the air inside of his body and to his lungs. He had to be delicate as the slightest error could very well kill him.
With the additional air inside of his lungs he used it to push the water he had inhaled out and back out of his mouth. It burned and he wished so badly to stop, but he knew he couldn't until all of the water was gone. It felt as though an hour had passed, but Kaz was sure it was less than five minutes before he was certain he had gotten all of the water out of his lungs, at which point he stopped bending the air into his own body before dropping back down onto his feet, then began taking slow deep breaths to calm himself.
Feeling everything was right again, he moved over to the spare bed next to Aang's, and it was only after he laid himself down that he turned to the gathered crowd of villagers standing at the huts entrance. "You can go now." He said, then closed his eyes and was asleep within seconds.
Kaz didn't know how long he had been sleeping, but when he woke up there was light coming in through the doorway, meaning it was day now, and the sounds of people shouting outside could be heard without having to listen too hard. Looking over at the bed where he had left Aang, Kaz groaned in annoyance when he saw that the little bastard was gone. "I'm going to kill him." He growled under his breath as he threw back the furs from atop himself and got to his feet.
Stepping outside he saw people running around in a panic, most of them women, children and the elderly. There were maybe three guys between thirteen and fifteen, but that was it, and they seemed to be ordering the kids around. He absentmindedly wondered where all the men were, but he dismissed that thought when he heard a woman screaming, "Not again! Not Again!"
Grabbing one of the children running past him, Kaz asked the little boy, "What's going on?" "The Fire Nation is attacking!" The little boy answered worriedly, and Kaz could see tears threatening to fall from his eyes. 'The Fire Nation is attacking here? This itty bitty little village? I thought they were going to attack the Earth Kingdom…' Kaz thought to himself, not making sense of what was going on. At least not until he remembered Aang, but even then he didn't know how they knew they were here.
He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard a familiar voice shout, "I knew he was hiding something! When the world needed the Avatar the most, he vanished because he's a coward! He ran, and people died!" Looking over, Kaz saw Aang, Katara, Sokka, and some old lady standing around each other, then another boy ran over and announced that the Firebenders had landed. Surprisingly, Sokka went to go meet them at the gates, while unsurprisingly, Aang went off to go hide.
"Nope! You come with me!" Kaz said, surprising both Aang and Katara when he grabbed Aang by the back of his shirt and pulled him towards the gates. "Hey! What are you doing?!" Katara asked in worry. "It's my job to educate the little Avatar on what he's supposed to do. He's going to get a front row seat to the performance, and he's going to watch every little detail, understand?" Kaz asked Aang, who looked scared , but the kid nodded anyway. He remembered when Monk Gyatso told him he was going to get a new trainer, one who, in Monk Gyatso's opinion, was terrifyingly strong. He guessed he was going to get a firsthand account of what made the guy so scary.
They walked over to the gate where Sokka was standing and looking through the large cracks at the approaching Fire Nation soldiers. When the soldiers stopped, the one in the lead called out, "I am Prince Zuko! Firstborn son of Fire Lord Ozai! We have no desire to take your homes! We merely seek someone who does not belong here! Someone who is NOT one of you! Turn him over now, or I'll burn this place to the ground!"
"Ozai? Who the fuck is Ozai? Isn't Sozin the Fire Lord?" Kaz asked Sokka, figuring something wasn't right here. "Long story short, you were in the ice for a hundred years. Ozai is Sozin's grandson and the current Fire Lord." Sokka answered quickly without taking his eyes off of the Firebenders outside the gates.
"A hundred years?!" Kaz asked in surprise, then narrowed his eyes down at Aang who looked scared. "I'll deal with you later!" He growled at the younger airbender before he opened the gate. "Watch over the kid, and make sure he watches everything that's about to happen." Kaz said to Sokka before he stepped out of the gate.
Unlike the typical air nomads, Kaz did not wear the same clothes that everyone else seemed to wear. He dressed for comfort and for practicality. He wore a long-sleeved light greyish-blue shirt to better blend in with the sky when he flew, with grey pants and knee-high boots to match. He wore a black leather belt which had actually been a parting gift from Lao Ge. He did not wear the shawl most airbenders used to catch themselves as he did not need it to slow his descent. He relied on his own ability for that.
Stepping out of the gates, even though he did not dress like an airbender, the tattoo on his head was a dead giveaway and caused the Firebenders to raise their guard. "So, the Fire Nation actually attacked, huh? I didn't think they had the balls to attack the rest of the world, but your presence here tells me otherwise. It's good you're the son of the Fire Lord. It means you have some value, though I can't say the same for the rest of your men." Kaz announced, punctuating his words by causing a spiraling vortex of wind to appear around them.
It wasn't so wild that it knocked them off their feet or made it so they couldn't see, no that wasn't his purpose of the slight windstorm. The real purpose came when Zuko tried to attack using firebending, but scarcely had the flames left his fists before they fizzled out. "What?!" Zuko asked aloud, not understanding what was happening. He was even more confused when the men at his back all began to drop to their knees as they held their throats, and soon enough he started to feel something was wrong too.
"You feel it, don't you? The shortness of your breath. The increase in your heart rate. You're getting dizzy and tired. You feel your eyes wanting to close, but you're scared. Don't worry, your men will die quickly, but you- you and I are going to have a long conversation." Kaz said calmly as he watched them all fall to the ground, gasping for breath.
Walking over to their bodies, he reached down and grabbed a spear one of them had dropped. Giving it a little spin, he checked its weight and got the general feel for it, and once he got comfortable with it, he plunged the tip through the armor and into a soldier's heart. Looking towards the gates he saw Aang staring wide-eyed at him in abject horror. Pulling the spear from the corpse, he repeated the same action as before, puncturing heart after heart until Zuko was all that remained.
"ZUKO! NO!" A voice shouted from the Firebenders ship. Looking up, he saw an old fat man running down the ramp towards him with anger and sadness in his eyes. "Now who are you?" Kaz asked curiously. He watched as the fat man shot streams of fire at him, but the second the fire reached his dome of wind it fizzled out of existence, but that didn't stop the old guy from running inside the barrier of wind, which was just plain stupid.
"I thought old people were supposed to be wise, but here you are, proving that to be a lie. Then again, the monks are stupid too, so maybe it's actually the opposite and people get dumber as they get older." Kaz spoke aloud, almost as if he was pondering one of life's great mysteries.
When the old guy reached him, Kaz stepped to the side to avoid a wide punch, then almost as if he was bored, he kicked the man behind his knee and forced him to kneel down. "I've got some questions for the little prince, but I am curious to know who you are. You don't seem like a soldier, but that doesn't mean I won't kill you." Kaz said, then slammed the shaft of the spear against the back of the old man's head, knocking him unconscious.
Looking down at Zuko, Kaz could tell he was also unconscious, and if he didn't let him breathe oxygen soon, he would lose all brain function before he died. Cancelling his bending, Kaz felt the pressure around him return to normal, then he turned and walked back towards the gates to the little town.
"You and someone else go point spears at their throats. They shouldn't be waking up for a while yet, but if they do, kill them if they move." Kaz ordered Sokka who looked scared as he nodded his head, then gestured towards another boy to follow him as they went to do as he told them. "As for you, did you learn anything?" Kaz asked Aang. "You didn't need to kill them." Aang said in alarmed panic, which only made Kaz sigh.
"Nope. You didn't learn a damn thing. They already said they would burn this village to the ground if they didn't get what they wanted, which I'm pretty sure is you, stupid. Either you give them what they wanted and turn yourself in, or you let them burn the village down, in which case everyone here will probably die. You can run all you want, but they'll keep going and doing the same thing to the next village until they do end up catching you. Or you can stop being a whiny little bitch and accept that some people just have to die." Kaz said seriously, then he began to push Aang roughly on his chest and causing him to stumble backwards.
"Are you going to keep running or are you going to fight back?" He asked, then pushed him again. He advanced on him with each push until finally Aang fell backwards and landed on his ass. "Stop it! Leave him alone!" Katara shouted as she put herself between the two of them.
"The sooner he realizes this isn't a game the sooner he can start taking his responsibility seriously! The world doesn't need an Avatar who is going to run away from his job, so he can either open his eyes to the world or kill himself and let the next incarnation take over!" Kaz told her, not in the mood to deal with her or Aang's bullshit. He had just learned he was sealed away for a hundred years, and if that was true, everyone he ever knew or cared about was dead. His father, uncle, and Master Lao Ge. 'Swish.' He thought sadly, remembering his best friend.
It was when he was thinking about his sky bison that he remembered Aang's bison, Appa. 'Is it still in the ice? Is it still alive?' He wondered. Thankfully his questions were answered when he left the village and began making his way towards the Firebenders ship and movement caught his eye. Looking over, he saw Appa near a giant snow bank, causing him to let out a sigh of relief. He could make it home on his own, but there was no way he would be able to bring Aang with him. 'Then again, the idiot has his glider, so maybe it wouldn't have been the end of the world.' He thought as he entered the ship.
It took Kaz less than ten minutes to search the ship for any other crew members, and after gathering them all on the deck of the ship and placing them in metal bindings that they had so graciously provided, he looked over the dozen men with a frown on his face. "If this ship belongs to the Fire Nation's prince, why are there so few of you? And where are the other ships?" He asked one of the bound men who was clearly not a soldier, but rather a simple boatman.
"P-P-Prince Z-Zuko was banished three years ago by his father, the Fire Lord. He isn't to return home unless he manages to find and capture the A-Avatar." The boatman answered, clearly terrified after having seen the fate that befell the soldiers who had gone out to confront the man before them.
"Shut up, you fool! Don't tell him anyth-!" One of the other bound men shouted at the one who was giving him information, but he was cut-off when Kaz swiped his fingers through the air and suddenly the man's head fell to the ground. It was a terrifying spectacle because none of them even saw what killed the man, only Kaz, who was standing more than five feet away from him, swipe his hand through the air. Those still alive swallowed hard, now realizing that the man standing before them was not to be tested.
"You said the prince was banished. Why?" Kaz asked, ignoring the fact that he had just decapitated a man as though it was nothing to him. The boatman could only shake his head as he professed that he did not know the answer, swearing on all that he held dear that he was telling the truth, and begging to keep his head.
"I want to confirm something. How long has the Fire Nation been at war?" Kaz asked, earning confused glances from all of the bound men. "One hundred years come the end of the summer." The same man from before answered, having known the answer this time and hoping by being useful he might keep his head connected to the rest of his body, he confirmed what Sokka had said before.
"How did you all know the Avatar would be here in this village?" Kaz asked, genuinely curious about this. It had stumped him how Zuko had shown up here literally the day after they got free of the ice, and now he was going to get an answer to his question. "We saw a giant beam of light shoot up from the sky yesterday not far from here. This is the only known settlement remaining in the southern Watertribe, so Prince Zuko ordered us to direct our course here." The man answered quickly.
"Okay, but how did you know to search the Southern Watertribe? The Avatar could have been anywhere in the world, yet you were here. Why?" Kaz asked, wanting further clarification to his question. "We didn't. Prince Zuko has been searching for any sign of the Avatar for the last three years. It was just a stroke of luck we happened to be here at this time. Or well, bad luck as it were." The man answered, mumbling the last part to himself.
"What advances has the Fire Nation made during the war?" Kaz asked. "Do you mean technological advances or-?" The man started to ask for clarification to the question, and seeing what he meant, Kaz got more specific. "No, I mean on the battlefield. What places have been affected? What places haven't? How far has the Fire Nation advanced in the war?" At this the boatman looked lost in thought for a minute and even looked to some of his compatriots for help.
"The Fire Nation controls almost ninety percent of the world. As you know, the Southern Watertribe was almost completely wiped out, but the Northern Watertribe of Agna Qel'a has still remained vastly untouched. The Earth Kingdom only has two major strongholds not under Fire Nation control, Ba Sing Se and Omashu. There are a handful of smaller towns throughout the world who still resist the Fire Nation's rule, but not openly." A different man spoke up, explaining everything he knew about the war so far. "And what of the Air nomads? What have they been doing throughout the war?" Kaz asked, finding it weird that the man had made no mention of them.
For some reason his question was met with looks of confusion and it seemed as though none of them knew what to say to him. It was actually the first one who very hesitantly answered, "The Air Nomads were all wiped out a hundred years ago at the beginning of the war. They were thought to be extinct until- well until you showed yourself." Kaz didn't even try to hide the shock on his face at hearing this. '
Gone? They're all gone? How can that be?' He wondered to himself, not able to understand how such a thing could have been possible. "How?" He asked, trying his best to remain calm. "Um- well, I believe one hundred years ago, Fire Lord Sozin used the power of the comet to launch a surprise attack on the Air Nation army and-" The man tried to say when he was suddenly grabbed roughly by the throat and raised slightly off his knees, but not enough so that he could put his feet under himself.
"The Air Nation didn't have an army! They were all monks, nuns, and children, and your country massacred them!" Kaz growled angrily. "The- history-books- say-" The man wheezed out as Kaz squeezed harder, not wanting to hear it. Sadly though, he knew there was still more to ask, and a dead man couldn't answer his questions.
Dropping the man, he paced back and forth for a few minutes to calm himself down. When he felt he wouldn't shred them to pieces for simply breathing, he turned to look at them again. "What do your history books say?" He asked, curious to know what sort of lies the Fire Nation had come up with to tell their offspring.
"The-The history books say the Air Nation had a vast army, and that Fire Lord Sozin attacked each of the temples simultaneously on the day of their comet festival. The comet increased the power of Firebenders tenfold, and so the Air Nomads were completely helpless against him." The man said warily, though he still answered because he knew not answering meant he was as good as dead.
'The comet festival... I could have been there.' Kaz thought darkly as he closed his eyes tightly. He had to take a few deep breaths to keep himself calm, but in the end he managed it without killing anyone else, which said something for his mental fortitude.
"I was there a hundred years ago, and I can tell you you're wrong. I won't give you a proper lesson in history, mostly because I couldn't care less about any of you, but you will get this fact right. Your ancestors slaughtered unarmed women and children, then they made up fantastical tales to make them feel superior, or at the very least, to make themselves not look like the monsters they are. You would do well to remember that." Kaz told them with a glare, daring any of them to question the validity of his words. None did.
"Who is that man?" He finally asked while pointing at the unconscious fat man beside Prince Zuko. He had been curious as to who he was, and only now thought to ask about him. "He's General Iroh, the Dragon of the West. He's the Fire Lord's brother and Prince Zuko's uncle." The man answered, getting a thoughtful "Hmm…" from Kaz.
"In your opinion, what do you think the Fire Lord would do if he learned his brother and son were both killed?" Kaz asked, this time with a creepy smile on his face as he looked towards the two members of the Fire Nation's royalty. "I um- honestly, I don't think he would care." The man admitted truthfully, his answer actually surprising Kaz. He expected to hear something about hunting the guilty party or slaughtering the village where they were killed, but he didn't expect this.
"Explain." Kaz ordered, genuinely curious now. The man who had been answering his questions thus far was less than forthcoming with this answer, but Kaz could see it in his eyes that he did want to answer so he gave him some time. "This is just rumors and hearsay, but- Fire Lord Ozai has always hated his brother. As for his son, we've been travelling with him for three years now, and Prince Zuko has never gotten a single piece of correspondence from anyone. There is also the rumor that it was his own father who scarred his face, but I don't know if that's true." The man started, sounding nervous as he looked to his fellow prisoners.
He knew his head would roll if it was ever discovered that he was saying this, but his head would roll now if he didn't answer the man's questions. "The Fire Lord banished his son and was more than happy to be rid of his brother from what I heard. This mission to find you was supposed to be impossible, and now that they found you, probably suicidal." The man finished with a gulp.
'Good. They think I'm the Avatar. I can work with this.' Kaz thought darkly. "We're going to test your theory." Kaz said aloud as he walked over to where Sokka and another Watertribe boy were standing over the unconscious forms of both Iroh and Zuko. Without saying a word to either water tribesman, he swiped his hand at Iroh's neck, then Zuko's, severing their heads from their bodies. Grabbing Zuko's head by his hair, he reached down and grabbed Iroh the same way before he walked back onto the ship.
"I want you all to take their heads to Fire Lord Ozai, and deliver a message to him for me." Kaz said coolly to the bound men. "W-What do you want us to tell him?" The man asked in a stutter, clearly mortified at what he had just witnessed. "Tell him, the sea will soon be dyed red with the blood of the Fire Nation. The air nomads call for vengeance, and it will be paid with the heads of every Firebender I can get my hands on. Tell him his head will join his brother and son's. Tell him, the Avatar is coming. Tell him, I'm coming." Kaz said with a cruel smile on his face, hoping to instill terror into these men.
*****
The corpses were quickly loaded onto the ship by what was left of Zuko's crew before they hastily set sail for the Fire Nation. Being a little cautious, Kaz had not so subtly told Sokka he was going to be making his way Northwest towards the Western Air Temple before the day was out, speaking loud enough for the crew to hear him as they loaded the bodies onto the ship. He did this in the hopes that the Fire Nation wouldn't come back and destroy the village after he was gone when news of Aang's, or in this case, his return was announced.
It was only after the ship had disappeared from view that Kaz let his true emotions surface, which is when he began marching towards the only other airbender besides himself. Katara saw Kaz before Aang did, and the waterbender was quick to tell Aang to run, but the little goody-goody wasn't near fast enough. A blast of wind launched the younger airbender into the failed attempt of a wall surrounding the village, and if the palpable rage on Kaz's face was any indication, this was only the beginning of Aang's punishment.
"Stop!" Katara cried as she tried to get in Kaz's way, but he wasn't having any of it. Without uttering a word, the girl was knocked off her feet and sent tumbling away in the snow from another blast of wind, only this one was far less powerful than the one sent at Aang.
"You stupid little coward! You sealed me away in that fucking iceberg for a god-damned century!" Kaz growled angrily as he reached Aang who was struggling to free himself from the ice and snow that had once been a wall. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-!" Aang said apologetically, but Kaz didn't want to hear it. He didn't want to hear anything that came out of the boy's mouth, which is why he slammed his fist there first.
"My father and uncle are gone! My teacher is gone! My Sky Bison!" Kaz growled, his anger rising when he thought of Swish, his best friend. "ARGH! You better just kill yourself, because if you don't do it, I'll do it for you!" Kaz snarled as he slammed his fist into Aang's gut, doubling over the little airbender who could do nothing but take his punishment. He would have liked to flee, hell he would have liked to have been launched away from the terrifying man in front of him, but Kaz had a firm grip on his shall to make sure he couldn't go anywhere.
"Stop it! You're hurting him!" Katara cried from somewhere beside him, but Kaz didn't care to even look at her. "That's the point! Actions have consequences, and he's facing the consequences for sealing me away!" Kaz explained as he continued to beat Aang senseless. He had every intention of rearranging Aang's face, but the sudden downpour of water atop his head broke him out of his anger towards Aang so he could redirect it somewhere else.
"You've already hurt him enough!" Katara said once he turned his gaze towards her, tears streaming down her face. Looking past her, Kaz saw the rest of the little Watertribe village standing behind her, all of them looking scared and horrified at what he was doing. Even Sokka, who previously appeared so terrified of him before, was holding a spear out in front of him, probably thinking he was going to be next.
Looking back to the bloody form still held firmly in his grasp, Kaz started to feel angry again, but before he attacked again he threw the boy at Katara's feet. "Get him out of my sight before I kill him!" He ordered the girl, then he launched himself into the air and flew further inland. He planned to vent more of his anger, and he knew it was in everyone's best interest if he went where no one else was.
*****
(General POV)
Back in the Watertribe village, Katara got Sokka's help and together they carried Aang back to the hut the boy had woken up in only hours before. "We can't let Aang go with that guy! He'll kill him!" Katara told Sokka after they managed to clean Aang's wounds and bandaged him up as best they could. "What do you want us to do, Katara? You saw that guy. He's terrifying!" Sokka said, feeling more terrified of Kaz than anyone else he had ever faced before.
"I know, but we have to do something! We can't let him hurt Aang like this again." Katara said worriedly as she stared down at the once happy face that was now swelling. "Katara, it was a miracle he didn't kill Aang before, and once they leave there's nothing we can do about it. I mean, we'd have to go with them to keep an eye on them, and even then I don't like our chances of stopping that guy from doing anything!" Sokka said, but he immediately came to regret saying anything when he saw the look in his sister's eyes.
"No! We are not going with them!" He stated, knowing exactly what she was thinking. "But Sokka, you heard Aang before. He needs to learn waterbending. If we go with them, we can keep an eye on Aang and I could learn waterbending too!" Katara said, trying to make it sound better than it was. "Yeah, but we would also be travelling with a terrifying Airbender who could literally take away our ability to breathe. I don't know about you, but I like breathing!" Sokka said, hoping to dissuade Katara from coming up with any ideas of joining the monster.
It was right about that time that the sound of a windstorm could be heard outside the hut. Given how the skies had been clear less than ten minutes prior to this moment, Sokka and Katara were both certain what was likely the cause of the windstorm. Poking his head outside the hut, Sokka was momentarily taken aback when he saw how violent the waves of the ocean were moving, and he almost had a panic attack when he saw a small child begin to rise into the air, but he regained his sanity when the kid's mother grabbed him by the leg and pulled him back to the ground before they ran inside their hut. "Okay, this guy is nuts! He's literally going to destroy the village by doing whatever it is he's doing!" Sokka shouted in alarm.
Things were chaotic for a while, but eventually everything returned to normal. Poking his head outside, Sokka was glad to see all of the huts were still standing, and he was even more relieved when after doing a quick check to make sure everyone was still present and okay, he found them all just the way he had left them, if only slightly terrified to go outside. There was maybe ten minutes from when the windstorm stopped to when Kaz returned to the village, and you would think almost destroying a village would have calmed the guy down, but the scowl on his face proved that it didn't.
*****
Seeing Sokka standing in front of the large tent with a stupid look on his face, Kaz's frown deepened. Letting loose his bending out in the middle of nowhere had done nothing to calm the anger in his chest, and seeing Sokka didn't make him feel any better. 'Then again, he didn't do anything. It was his bitch sister.' Kaz thought, and right at that moment the flap on the door swung to the side and Katara stepped outside, freezing in place as soon as she noticed him.
Annoyed at seeing her, Kaz began to walk towards the hut to grab Aang, deciding they had been in the southern Watertribe long enough. He stopped however when Katara moved herself in front of him, preventing him from entering the hut. "Get out of my way, girl." He ordered her, and though she did look scared she didn't back down. "No. You hurt him. I won't let you hurt him anymore." Katara said, sounding far more confident than she looked. With how she was shivering in fear, it was plain to anyone with eyes that she was terrified.
"I'm not going to hurt him. I'm going to take him North. As soon as I get him to a master Waterbender, he's no longer my problem, and given how there doesn't appear to be a master Waterbender in the southern Watertribe, that means I have to go North. So get out of my way!" Kaz growled in annoyance as he pushed past the girl and went inside the hut where he found Aang still unconscious.
Grumbling to himself, Kaz reached down and grabbed Aang by the arm before he pulled him up and slung his body over his shoulder. With his baggage now accounted for, Kaz moved outside and headed towards where Aang's Sky Bison, Appa, was waiting for them. "Wait!" A familiar voice called out. Having to turn his whole body due to Aang being in the way, Kaz saw Sokka, Katara, and an old lady running towards him. "What now?" He asked, already done with dealing with them.
"We're coming with you!" Katara said firmly as soon as they were standing in front of him. "No." Kaz said, then turned to continue on towards Appa, but once more he found Katara standing in front of him. "I know you don't like us-" She started, earning a scoff from Kaz who couldn't help but comment, "Understatement of the century."
"Hmmph! We're coming to look after Aang! He's our friend!" Katara stated. "More like a new acquaintance who caught her eye, but you get the point." Sokka said in a much quieter tone. Evidently he wasn't too thrilled about the idea of going with them.
"What about you? Why are you here?" Kaz couldn't help but ask the old lady who seemed to be frowning at him. "Aang is the Avatar. He's the world's only chance. My grandchildren found you and him for a reason. Now their destinies are intertwined with yours. Please, look after them." The old lady said, earning an eye-roll from Kaz.
"Yeah, no. The last time I agreed to look after someone I was frozen in a block of ice for a goddamned century, and I'm still stuck with him! They can come along and look after the idiot, but I part ways as soon as I find him a waterbending master." Kaz said, not giving anyone a chance to argue on that matter. He wanted to laugh at how stupid it was that they were relying on an idiot like Aang to put an end to the war, but he didn't feel as though he needed to crush everyone's hopes at the moment.
Normally he wouldn't have let Katara or Sokka come with them, but he could use them to look after Aang for the next few days while he recovered from the beating Kaz had given him, and who knows. He might eventually find some other purpose for them. What that was, he didn't know, but they had to be useful for something.
*****
It took flying for the rest of the day before they finally made it to land, and after a short night's sleep the group continued on to the Southern Air Temple. As soon as they arrived, Kaz jumped down from Appa's back, his eyes roaming around the once beautiful temple that was now barely more than rubble. Reaching down, he picked up what was left of a rusted metal helmet with a Fire Nation insignia engraved on the side of it.
Looking into Appa's saddle, Kaz saw Aang staring at him with an expression filled with terror and sadness. "Take a good look. All of your preachy bullshit-attitude about how only Airbenders can get to the temples was a load of shit. Every Airbender here was slaughtered. And we weren't there." Kaz said slowly, making sure Aang got it through his skull that this wasn't just some random event.
"Stay with Aang." Kaz ordered, knowing either Sokka or Katara would listen to him. Given how Aang hadn't recovered enough to walk yet from his beating, he would remain in the bison's saddle. Kaz meanwhile made his way towards the last place he had been before he set off from the temple. Arriving at the ruins of the stables, he made his way over to where a particular stall was located.
"I know I'm a bit later than I had intended, but I'm back, Swish." He whispered softly to the nothingness around him. He could still see his bison eating the fruit he had brought in his mind as if it had only been yesterday, but the scene around him proved that not to be the case. Kaz spent longer than he had intended just walking around the stables, but eventually he made his way into one of the temple buildings and soon enough he arrived at a room where a door was hanging off its hinges.
Stepping through the broken door, he moved past the ruins of what was once a bed and began clearing away the rubble from the wall that had collapsed onto the foot of the bed. It took a little over fifteen minutes of tossing rocks out of the way, but eventually he found what he was looking for.
Kneeling down at the chest that had been resting at the foot of said bed, Kaz reached into his shirt and pulled out a key that had been hanging around his neck since he had first arrived at the Southern Air Temple a hundred years ago. Trying the key in the lock, Kaz found that the lock wouldn't budge. Annoyed and not caring about the box itself, Kaz grabbed a piece of stone from the pile and began smashing it against the lock. It took a few swings, but eventually it came unlatched and he was able to toss the lock to the side.
Taking a deep breath, he opened the lid of the chest, revealing the contents that had been locked inside for the good part of a century. An old leather bag filled with clothes, three books, a short thin sword in a scabbard, a thick belt with slots filled with sharp metal shuriken, a bison whistle, an Ocarina, and his most prized item, a leather necklace with a circular jade pendant.
There was a sapphire shaped like the moon embedded into the jade pendant with a number of small diamonds embedded around it in the shape of stars. It was the last thing he had that belonged to his mother, and was worth more to him than anything else he had left in this world. He had stopped wearing it after it had fallen off of him one time during practice, which is how it had ended up in the chest.
Grabbing the items out of the chest, Kaz realized that the scabbard and belt both needed oiling as they were both stiff. Though the bag wasn't in the best of conditions, the clothes inside of it were thankfully in a much better state. With all of his stuff gathered, the only things remaining were the books. They had been given to him the day he arrived at the temple by his uncle. Apparently they were things regarding the Avatar the monks hoped he would impart onto Aang. 'I'll impart them right into his skull!' Kaz thought, not feeling the slightest bit of interest in reading books to teach Aang.
Tossing the books in his bag, Kaz set out of the temple, stopping only when he got to the fruit trees to stock up on a bit more rations. When he got back to Appa he found everyone else still present. "Did you find anything?" Aang asked, sounding a little too hopeful given what they had already seen thus far. "Skeletons. Let's go." Kaz said simply. He was depressed being here and wanted to be anywhere else.
"Where are we going?" Aang asked, sounding dejected. "North. We'll stop at Kyoshi Island to get proper provisions, then we'll keep heading North along the coast until we eventually get to the end of the continent, then we'll make our way towards the Northern Watertribe." Kaz informed them all, getting nods of understanding in return.
They flew for most of the day before the island came into view, which was a good thing because Kaz was growing restless. He had been cooped up in a block of ice for too long and he felt the need to move around a bit. "Look! There's the shrine of Avatar Kyoshi!" Aang said while nodding towards the giant statue that was impossible to miss. The young airbender had to nod towards the shrine, as he still could not move his arms.
"Your point being?" Kaz asked. They were going to stop for the night to rest and resupply in the morning before they set off, not go looking around in the shrine of a dead Avatar. "Well, I was her in a past life. I thought maybe- maybe I could learn something there." Aang said, but Kaz just looked at him with narrowed eyes until Aang averted his gaze.
Going straight for the village, Kaz noticed right away the number of girls with painted faces quickly making their way towards where they were going to land. "Maybe they're coming to greet us." Sokka said hopefully, but Kaz didn't think that was the case. They had swords and fans, and though Kaz didn't know how the fans were going to help them, he did know swords were very dangerous.
"Who are you, and what are you doing here?!" One of the girls demanded once they had landed. "Nomads looking to rest for the night. We hope to resupply in the morning before we set off. We don't wish to cause any problems." Kaz said, hoping to not have to fight people who didn't seem as though they were Fire Nation.
"Lies! They are probably Fire Nation spies! Kyoshi has stayed out of the war so far, and we intend to keep it that way!" An old man shouted from behind the women with painted faces. "Do you treat every traveller who comes to your island like this?" Kaz asked, finding these people to be rather inhospitable. "We don't get many travelers, and that's how we like it!" The old man shouted.
"You should learn some manners, old man. Otherwise, you might piss off the wrong person." Kaz said warningly. "Enough! Feed them to the Unagi!" The old man shouted angrily and at once the women withdrew fans and began to approach them threateningly. "Careful. I can take your breath away." Kaz said with a smirk before he jumped from Appa's back and landed between the group of women and the old man, then he created a dome of wind.
The people were so surprised by the sudden torrent of wind that they didn't realize they couldn't breathe until it was too late. One of the girls dropped to her knees, followed quickly by two more. Ignoring the girls, Kaz walked over to the old man who had also fallen to his knees and was holding his throat as he struggled to find oxygen.
As quick as lightning, Kaz snatched the old man by the throat and raised him into the air before he growled, "I told you we are simple travelers, and yet you tried to kill us. How many other travelers have you killed? Give me one reason not to kill you all?!" Given how none of them could speak, Kaz wasn't really expecting an answer, however an answer he got, and from someone he didn't want to hear from.
"Kaz! Stop! You can't kill them!" Aang shouted desperately. Turning slowly to stare at the younger airbender, Kaz glared at him. "Actually, I can. It's quite easy." Kaz said flatly. Internally he was contemplating if he should make it so Aang couldn't breathe either, but he was broken from his musing by people from the village running over towards them, however rather than raise arms against them, they fell to their knees and began pleading for him to stop. "Please, we're sorry!" An old woman shouted as tears fell from her eyes.
Rolling his eyes at them, Kaz let out a small sigh. He wasn't actually going to kill them, though he wanted to, but he still played it off like he was. "Ugh! Fine! But I don't want to see any of them again! Especially him!" Kaz growled as he looked pointedly at the old man he was holding, then tossed him towards the old woman before he stopped his dome of wind.
Immediately he could hear the sharp intakes of breath as the girls all began to fill their lungs with air, but Kaz didn't seem to care about them. "I'm going to get some supplies, then we'll head into the forest. If you know what's good for you, you'll stay away from us." Kaz warned, getting multiple nods of understanding from the old woman and those who had come with her.
Walking into the town towards what was obviously a market, Kaz grabbed a basket and began filling it with a number of different foods, spices, some ink and papers, and finally some canteens for water. Not being a thief, Kaz placed a small pile of coins on the counters he took goods from. The coins he used he had gotten from Prince Zuko's ship when he searched it. Okay, maybe he was a thief, but only to those he killed.
Had he slaughtered the girls and the old bastard, he might have just taken what he wanted, but this way he could make them feel as if they were the bad guys, which they were. They had tried to kill him for no reason, which was deserving of death, and yet his magnanimous self had spared them. He truly was a saint.
Done with gathering what he needed, Kaz made his way back to where the others were and where the citizens of the town were still recovering. Ignoring them, he jumped up onto the back of the Sky Bison. "We're sorry. We didn't-" One of the warrior girls started, but Kaz interrupted her, "Save it! I don't want to hear excuses from any of you. You attacked us for no reason. Kyoshi would be ashamed of all of you, especially for trying to kill her incarnation." Kaz said, then prompted Appa to begin flying into the air towards the forest.
As soon as they landed, Kaz picked Aang up and promptly dropped him from atop Appa's back onto the ground. "Oops. My hand slipped." Kaz said unapologetically. "Aang! Are you alright?!" Katara asked worriedly once she jumped down next to Aang's groaning figure. "My ribs hurt a lot." Aang wheezed out. "You don't have to be so rough with him! Aang can barely move after what you did to him back home!" Katara stated, but Kaz ignored her as he moved to gather sticks to light a fire.
Once the camp was all set up and they had all eaten some stew, Kaz moved to a small clearing near the fire so he could still see before he began to go through his fighting forms. He had been practicing for a little over fifteen minutes before he noticed Sokka on the other side of the fire mimicking his movements. Sokka seemed to panic slightly when he noticed he had been caught staring, but unlike what he was expecting, Kaz was not upset. On the contrary, he looked happy, which for some reason scared Sokka even more. He had never seen Kaz smile before, and he wasn't sure he liked it.
"You need to raise your hand like this." Kaz instructed as he showed the proper position. Sokka did as instructed and the two of them continued moving through the forms, then they repeated them again and again, until finally Kaz decided Sokka had the hang of it. "Keep practicing, and I'll bet you'll be a force to be feared. You caught on to that a lot quicker than I did. You've got talent." Kaz said, truly impressed with what little he had seen of Sokka.
"Thanks." Sokka said, unsure of what else to say. "No problem. Keep it up, and maybe I'll show you a trick I learned from a waterbender." Kaz said, surprising not only Sokka, but Katara as well. "What kind of trick?! Does it help with bending?!" Katara asked excitedly. "It does help with a specific type of bending, but I was going to show Sokka how to use this technique to fight against benders." Kaz said, not really thinking about Katara or how this would probably help her.
"Can you show me too?!" Katara asked hopefully. "I guess showing you now might be a lot more beneficial than if we waited. It also might get Aang back on his feet sooner. I'll show you guys in the morning before we set off." Kaz said, earning a wide smile in return from Katara.
It wasn't until later when they were supposedly sound asleep when a figure slowly crept through the trees and towards the camp. It being dark, the figure didn't notice the tiny wire that was strung between the trees and when they walked into it two pots began clanging together. Kaz was awake in a blink and a torrent of wind was already wrapping around himself as if it were armor.
Scanning the area he noticed the silhouette in the trees and moved as if an arrow shot from a bow. The figure was on the ground with its hand behind its back before it knew what was happening. "Wait!" Came the familiar feminine cry. "I thought I told you to stay away?!" Kaz growled angrily before he roughly pulled the girl to her feet with her arm still twisted behind her back and marched her into the firelight. It was the girl with short auburn hair, only now she was no longer wearing her face paint, but was still wearing her gaudy outfit.
"Ow! I came to apologize!" She cried as Kaz twisted her arm further. "Why do I not believe you? You're probably a spy. Perhaps I should feed you to the Unagi, whatever that is." Kaz said in a mocking tone, treating her just as he had been treated. "I'm sorry, okay! We didn't know you were the Avatar!" The girl shouted in a mixture of pain and frustration.
"Hmph! I'm not the Avatar. Idiot brain over there is. I'm just his watcher until I can pass the torch onto some unfortunate Waterbender." Kaz said in disgust as he let go of the girl and pushed her away from him. Whether his disgust was at being called the Avatar or at Aang was unclear, but it was obvious he didn't like the comment.
"You're not the Avatar, but you're also an Airbender?" The girl asked in confusion. "Obviously. Now, you've already ruined my day, and I would rather you not ruin my night as well, so would you kindly get the fuck out of here?" Kaz asked in a way that definitely didn't sound like he was asking.
"I'm- I am really sorry for the way we treated you. I have no excuses, but I promise you this. I will do better." The girl said as she fell to her knees and pressed her forehead to the ground, her actions surprising Kaz. "Don't do that." He told her suddenly, then used airbending to force her back onto her feet. "If you really want to apologize, don't bow. Just keep to your promise and do better. Now, go back home. I'm tired." Kaz said, getting a slight nod from the girl.
As she moved past him he couldn't help but remark, "And get a better uniform. That thing you're wearing is more of a hindrance than anything." "This is a warrior's uniform styled after Avatar Kyoshi's own attire. The silk thread symbolizes the brave blood that flows through our veins, and the gold insignia represents the honor of the warrior's heart." The girl said while pointing out the green robes and the golden insignia embroidered onto it in the firelight.
"Yeah, but you're not Avatar Kyoshi. She had four elements to help her, and all you've got are some fans. And call it whatever you want, but that's a dress, and one that looks as though it hinders your movements. Get a better uniform. Anyway, goodnight." Kaz told her, done with the conversation as he moved to his makeshift bed.
The girl left in the darkness just as she had arrived, while Kaz promptly closed his eyes, hoping to salvage what was left of the night. "Uh, what just-" Sokka started to say when a blast of wind knocked him onto his butt. "Go. To. Sleep!" Kaz growled angrily. "Right! Goodnight!" Sokka said quickly as he scurried over to his sleeping bag.
*****
The next morning, Kaz woke up to the sun shining, birds chirping, and to his surprised delight, the smell of bacon and eggs. Shooting up from his make-shift bed on the ground, Kaz looked around for the origin of the smell, but couldn't see anything. Frowning, he walked over to Sokka who was still sleeping and kicked him lightly in the ribs.
"Ow! What was that for?!" Sokka asked in annoyance. "Do you also smell food?" Kaz asked him, at once causing Sokka to stop groaning and turn serious as he began to sniff the air. "Hey! I do smell something! It smells like eggs and-! Something delicious!" Sokka said, reaffirming that Kaz wasn't dreaming. "Good. You can go back to sleep." Kaz told Sokka before he began following where the smell was coming from.
Sokka didn't listen to Kaz, choosing instead to follow him to wherever the food was. Rushing on ahead of Sokka, Kaz jumped through the trees for a time until he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. High up in the tree, he waited to see who it was, and after a few seconds he was rewarded with an answer.
A girl with familiar auburn hair was walking through the trees with a large basket in her arms, though unlike yesterday, she seemed to have heeded his advice because today she wasn't wearing her awful looking dress. Instead she was wearing a pair of loose black pants, a green tunic that seemed to cling tightly to her body, and a black belt over the tunic that held a sword. 'Hmmm… She doesn't look bad. Not bad at all.' Kaz thought appreciatively as he eyed her from a distance.
He watched her for a few minutes, at least until Sokka came crashing through the trees, causing the girl to take cover, whether out of habit or because she was being cautious, Kaz didn't know, but he could respect it. Though hiding was moot given the basket of food could lead a blind man to her so long as they followed their nose, which Sokka proved as he ran right over to the bush, stopping only at the last second when he finally realized someone was behind the bush.
"Hey, you're that girl from last night!" Sokka stated as he glanced around the area. "Where's Kaz?" He asked, finding it odd that he had gotten here before the Airbender. "Who?" The girl asked, not having been told of Kaz's name beforehand. "Kaz. The terrifying bald guy with an arrow tattooed on his head. About this big and allergic to smiling." Sokka said as he raised his hand into the air at about Kaz's height.
"Oh. So his name is Kaz, huh. I haven't seen him since last night. Did he go somewhere?" The girl asked with a small frown as she looked down at the basket she was carrying. "Yeah. We smelled something delicious and he ran off ahead of me. I thought for sure he would have found you first." Sokka responded with a shrug as his eyes zeroed in on the basket.
At Sokka's words, the girl began to scan the surroundings for a moment before her eyes shot upwards, and there in the tree crouched low on a large branch was Kaz. "H-Hello." The girl said nervously, then quickly holding up the basket she added, "I brought you some breakfast. For you and the Avatar. And your friends."
Looking up, Sokka noticed Kaz standing there and he couldn't help but jump back in surprise. "Kaz! How long have you been standing there?" Sokka asked worriedly. "Since before you came stomping through the trees." Kaz answered dryly, causing Sokka to audibly gulp. "Let's go back to camp." Kaz said, gesturing for them to take the lead. He followed behind them, mostly because he still wasn't sure he trusted the girl, but also because the view was much better, and he found himself having to force himself to keep an eye on his surroundings instead of staring at the girl's ass.
When they finally got back into camp, Katara and Aang were both awake, and Katara was helping Aang get into a more comfortable position. "The girl decided to pay us another visit, only this time she brought snacks." Kaz said while gesturing towards the girl in question. "I have a name. It's Suki." The girl now known as Suki said, introducing herself to them all.
"I'm Katara."
"Sokka."
"And I'm Aang."
All but Kaz introduced themselves as Sokka had already given his name out earlier. With introductions out of the way, Suki began to pull out an assortment of different foods, all of which she placed in front of Kaz, who was quick to pass the food to Sokka. Kaz watched Sokka eat a little bit of everything, and only after a minute was it apparent that he was just staring.
"What?" Sokka asked between a mouthful of food. "Oh, nothing. I was just waiting to see if the food was poisoned, but seeing as you're alright, I guess it's safe to eat." Kaz said with a slight smile, then glancing at the affronted Suki, he gave her a wink as he piled some eggs on bread and stuffed it into his mouth, earning an eye roll from the girl as Sokka began to choke on his food.
It was only when the food was gone that Kaz moved over to some bags and began rummaging through them until he found some paint and a brush. "Alright Sokka, come over here. You too Katara." Kaz said as he stood over Aang's prone form. Moving swiftly, he removed all of Aang's clothes from the waist up, then without explaining things he dipped the brush into the paint and began drawing lines all over Aang's body.
Up and down his arms, on his shoulders, his chest, neck, and even his face. There were a number of notable locations on his body where he drew small circles overtop the lines, making sure everyone knew that those points were important.
"First off, Katara, I want you to take extra care in noting all of these points and where each line runs along the body. I might recommend you drawing it down for future reference. Anyway, inside each and every person is Chi, which flows in our bodies through Chi pathways. Healers in the Watertribe use waterbending to help focus our Chi in areas where we are injured, and the Chi is what heals us." Kaz explained dutifully, telling them all about the many functions of Chi and the pathways for healers.
"But how does this help me? I'm not a waterbender." Sokka asked, finding the whole lesson to be rather dull because there was nothing he could do about the Chi.
"Growing up, my family travelled a lot, and more than a few times we got into situations where we had to defend ourselves from people who attacked us. There was one time, specifically when we were travelling with a small group of Waterbenders when we were attacked by some bandits who had a few Earthbenders in their group. The bandits had the numbers, but they had no training or coordination, whereas the Waterbenders did. One Waterbender in particular stood out from the others though because instead of using her bending to fight her opponents at a distance, she used it to trap them so she could get in close and perform a series of jabs in key locations, and somehow she was able to disable the bandits, making it almost look as though they were puppets who got their strings cut. Even the earthbenders were nothing to her, and after she attacked them they were unable to use their bending, at least for a time anyway." Kaz explained, then went into more detail about Chi-Blocking and how anyone who was properly trained in the technique could use it, even non-benders.
With his explanation done with, Kaz coached Katara into coating her hands with water, then channeling large amounts of her Chi into the water before she pressed her hands onto Aang's injured body and began to guide his Chi to begin mending his injuries. "Wow! I feel much better. Still a little sore, but at least I can move around on my own." Aang said happily as he got to his feet and began to walk around. "
Try airbending." Kaz ordered the younger Airbender, who didn't see any harm in it and began moving the air around himself. Before Aang could react, Kaz sent a jab to his shoulder, causing the arm to dangle limply at his side. "You see. By blocking Chi points, not only can you disable someone's limbs, but you can also make them incapable of using bending." Kaz instructed, really selling home how useful the technique really was. "Wow! This is incredible!" Suki stated, having listened in for the whole lesson. She had even taken the time to copy down where the Chi pathways were and where the Chi Points were as well.
It didn't take too long before Aang regained movement in his arm again, and a few more minutes after that before he was able to use his bending. "You see, Sokka. With this technique, you could fight most benders so long as you were able to get close to them, and seeing as how most benders rely heavily on their bending, they would be pushovers once you take it away from them." Kaz said, earning a goofy looking smile from Sokka. He was likely fantasizing about all of the Firebenders he could fight using this technique.
Ruining his moment, Kaz pulled him into the clearing and got him into the stances they had gone through the night before. It was only now that he knew about the Chi-Blocking technique that he realized that a large part of Kaz's fighting style complimented Chi-Blocking.
For the next few hours, Sokka, Suki and Kaz sparred together, Kaz making sure they were getting the hang of the forms and knew where to hit. Not willing to let them disable his own bending, Kaz forced Aang to act as an unwilling test subject, and both Sokka and Suki were able to disable Aang to the point where he collapsed to the ground.
"If you stopped whining and actually tried to learn some of these techniques you wouldn't have to be the training dummy." Kaz told Aang, who only turned his gaze away. The little bastard still couldn't get it through his head that he would need to fight and was adamantly against learning the techniques that could save his life in a fight. Even when Kaz made the argument that knowing the technique would better help him disable an opponent rather than kill them, Aang still hadn't gone for it, which only made Kaz growl and add more ways in which to use Aang as a practice dummy.
For her part, Katara wasn't overly interested in going through the hand-to-hand combat forms, but she was very interested in learning to heal with the water and the Chi pathways. She even took it upon herself to try and use healing to help Aang recover faster, but she got very little success.
Before Kaz even realized it, the Sun was setting over the horizon. 'That was a waste of a good day.' He internally complained. Sure, he did get to watch Suki move around, but there was only so many times he could stare at her to "Correct her form" before it got creepy.
"Well, I guess we'll be staying another night then." Kaz told the group, who didn't seem all that upset at having to stay longer. Suki especially seemed glad that Kaz and the others were all staying on the island, and even offered them a place to stay back in the village. "No. We leave at first light. I need to get the little weakling to a master Waterbender, then I can finally be free of him." Kaz said, letting Aang know that their time together would be ending as soon as he could manage it.
What little light they had left was mostly spent gathering firewood and preparing food. It was only after they were settled down for the night that Kaz reached in his bag and pulled out his ocarina, a musical wind instrument that sounded similar to a flute. Taking a slow breath, Kaz blew into the small instrument and began to play a song that helped to keep him calm.
(A.N. For reference, search Song of Healing from Legend of Zelda by Heather Scott)
When the song finally finished, Kaz immediately began to play another, not minding that the others were all quietly watching him play songs. This went on for a time before he finally decided to be done, then stored the instrument back inside his bag.
"That was really beautiful." Suki told him. "Thanks." He said calmly, then took a deep breath before rolling over in his sleeping bag. "You should go back to your village. We're leaving in the morning." He told her without glancing at her, letting her know that it was time for her to go.
*****
The next morning, Kaz and the others were just cleaning up their camp when Suki appeared from the trees, wearing the same outfit she had worn the day before, though now she was wearing the white face paint she had been wearing when they had first encountered each other in the village. The five other girls accompanying her were all wearing the traditional outfits styled after Avatar Kyoshi, which looked way too restricting to Kaz.
All of the girls were carrying small baskets or bags, and they stopped just outside the tree line. "We brought a few extra provisions for you." Suki said, speaking on behalf of her group. "You didn't have to do that." Kaz told her, though he did accept the extra provisions and loaded them onto Appa's saddle, then he began rifling through his bag before he pulled out a large pouch of coins and tossed it to her.
"No, this was a gift! You don't need to pay for it. Especially not after the way we treated you." Suki said, but Kaz wasn't hearing any of it. "Your village is poor. I can only imagine what it's been like living through this war, but I think you need all the help you can get. Take it." Kaz said as he pushed the coins into her hands. "Thank you. For everything. For the lessons, and not killing us when you had the chance." Suki finally said, sounding a little nervous as she looked away from him.
Looking over his shoulder, Kaz saw that Aang, Sokka, and Katara were all ready to go, and deciding to take advantage of the moment, he leaned forward and kissed Suki on the cheek, surprising the girl who seemed to stiffen in place.
"It might be just me, but I think you look much better without the face paint." Kaz whispered in her ear, then he turned and jumped into the air, landing softly onto Appa's head. "Yip, yip." He said, and the sky bison immediately launched itself into the air.