Chapter Eight

 "Are you sure you're not being too lenient, your highness?" Lieutenant Aoi questioned as we began our destruction of the ice. Our ship coasted forward and cut straight through the glacial pathway on the way to the small icy city.

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you questioning me, Lieutenant?" The man quickly backtracked and I rolled my eyes.

As we got closer to the wall I became worried that we would sail right through the city, but much to my relief we halted just outside the wall. Though when our bridge went down it did some damage to the wall. I began the descent first, followed by the highest-ranking officers, the lieutenant and our soldiers. A line of men, painted with warrior faces, stood opposite us. When I reached the snow I planted my feet and stood with my arms behind my back.

"We are here by order of Fire Lord Azulon. As long as everyone compiles there will be no altercation. Please have your water benders step forward." I demanded, my heart feeling heavy. I was tense in anticipation, hoping they heeded my warning. A man, who I hadn't met before, stepped forward. I noted that he resembled Hakoda, and I was proven right when he identified himself as chief.

"We will not give up our water benders, you should leave the way you came." He demanded. I frowned underneath my helmet. They were not following my suggestions.

"I urge you to reconsider." I said, holding up my hand to halt the soldiers who were happy to begin forward. "How many waterbenders do you have?" I asked, pleading in my head for him to answer a small number. He had already let us know there were some, but if he said two-four I could still stop most of the hurt to come.

"Enough to beat you scum." He growled and suddenly they charged.

–

I had lost two men, both young soldiers, both with young families. But, the Water Tribe had lost at least six, and three water benders had been taken to the ship already. We were seven minutes into the fight.

–

I heard a scream and immediately started running. It sounded like a child.

"What are you doing?" I demanded, rage pumping through my veins at the sight before me. Lieutenant Aoi stood, facing away from me, holding a young child by her hair while his other hand held a flame flickering at her cheek. She was screaming and crying, involuntarily causing the fire to lick her face. "Let her go! NOW!"

"Not until they fess up," he seethed, motioning to the two women and five children standing across from him. They looked terrified. "They've gotta know who the benders are." He explained his reasoning. My anger grew by the second and I could feel my skin begin to heat up.

"She is a child. You will let her go now or you will be stripped of your rank, Lieutenant." We had gained a crowd of sorts, heat was bubbling around me and electricity had begun to spark off my armour.

"You are too lenient! You should not even be here! I should be in charge of this raid! The only reason you are here is because you opposed it and the Fire Lord wanted to make an example!" He seemed off his rocker now, as he turned towards me, eyes mad. The fighting had ceased around us and everyone was staring, on edge as the young girl's chin began to bubble with burns. Even the Fire Nation soldiers were unsure of what to do, she was a child, no older than six.

I decided I'd had enough so I grabbed a sword from a soldier who stood by my side and threw it at Aoi with trained precision. I sliced his hand which held the flame clean off. He fell to the floor at once and the girl ran back to the women. "Grab him." I demanded of the soldiers to my left and they complied immediately. "Lock him up, away from the other prisoners."

I spun around, taking in the scene. I spotted Alya, all grown up, weeping on the body of a young man. I saw a boy, no older than four watching from his place in a doorway, horror covering his face. I saw an elder, one I had spoken to only the day before, fighting three soldiers with his bending. I cursed the Avatar again. If he had just died when with everyone else then a new avatar could have saved us, this could have been prevented. I wanted to scream, I wished I could fall apart and break down right here in the middle of the battle. But I couldn't. "Fall back!" I called out, but my voice was muffled in my helmet and no one heard me over the roar of the fighting. I ripped off my helmet and threw it on the ground. I yelled. "This is over! Back to the ship!" There was a moment and then soldiers began retreating around me.

–

"Is he a bender?" I questioned as one soldier tried to push a citizen onto the bridge.

"Uhhh..."

"Did you see him bend?"

"No, but-"

"Let him go."

"But he cut me!"

"With water?"

"With a sword-"

"Let him go. We are only taking benders today."

The man looked up at me and I realized it was the young man who had come to relay the message of the elders to Hakoda the day before. What did I hear them call him? Bato? He looked at me strangely.

–

I stayed last, making sure each of my men was on board, even those who were deceased, before I took a step onto the bridge. "It was you." I heard Hakoda's voice behind me and turned. He had tears on his cheeks, and I could see the sadness and anger in his eyes. "Fire Lady Ren." He looked shocked.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Chief." I said, I had watched his father die at the Lieutenant's hands. "I didn't want this." I told him and he scoffed. "If you had listened to your mother, maybe things would be different."

"Is this pay back? A daughter for a father?" He asked, I shook my head. He had obviously put the pieces together. He was smarter than I thought. He had concluded that I was the girl who had come to warn them, but I was also the commander, who was the aggressor that was being warned about, my soldiers called me the Fire Lady, and that meant my husband was their worst and greatest enemy. It also meant his murdered daughter was my daughter too.

"Think of it that way if you want. But to me, it was never your fault. I blame someone else entirely for my daughter's death. People are separate entities, Chief. No one does something for any one certain reason. I am not here willingly, and you were not raided willingly. It is an impasse." I frowned, "But, I am sorry, really." He still looked angry, though I could tell he was confused by my words.

I turned my back on him and began walking up the bridge to my ship but I heard his footsteps behind me. I spun, ducking below his weapon and kicked him off the bridge with a wave of fire. I took one last look back at the tribe, angered and lost faces watched me. They knew who I was, they knew I had told them what to do, and they wondered if they should have listened. For years I knew we would all wonder what would have happened if they had just listened. Or, what would have happened if I hadn't been forced to be there. I told myself there would have been more casualties and more prisoners if Aoi was in charge, but I could never know for sure.

This day would haunt me.