Chapter 113: The Siege of the North (III)
Princess Yue stood at her window, her knuckles white as she gripped the icy sill. The majestic wall of her home, a constant her entire life, now had a horrific, gaping wound. A massive section was simply gone, replaced by a churning cauldron of steam, fire, and molten ice. The air, even inside her chambers, tasted of soot and terror. The distant, panicked shouts from the city below were a chilling chorus to the visual devastation.
"Comparable to an Avatar."
The voice was a low, familiar rumble, laden with a grim weight she had come to know well. Avatar Kuruk's translucent form solidified beside her, his broad shoulders seeming to block out the horrifying view, if only for a moment.
"I didn't expect him to be this strong," Yue whispered, her voice trembling.
"Only the Avatar, or true masters of their elements who have touched the heart of their power, are supposed to do such a thing," Kuruk said, his spectral gaze fixed on the breach. There was no fear in his voice, only a stark, professional assessment. "He is no mere prodigy. He has been… reforged."
"He really is the Fire Prince," she breathed, the title feeling inadequate for the force they had just witnessed.
"So, what do we do?" she asked, turning to him, her eyes pleading. "Can you not help? Your home, our home, is about to be destroyed! Can you speak to Aang? Help him?"
"I already have."
The statement was simple, yet it carried the weight of weeks of secret effort. Yue stared at him, confused.
"How do you think he became so good so fast under Pakku's training?" Kuruk elaborated, a ghost of his old, confident smirk touching his lips. "The boy is a natural, yes. But a master's form and a prodigy's power are useless without the spirit of the element. I have been guiding his connection in his meditations, helping him feel the push and pull not just of the water, but of life itself. He learns so quickly because he is not learning alone."
"That is beside the point, Princess," Kuruk's expression sobered instantly. "The Prince is not after the Avatar."
"Yes, I know," Yue said, forcing her voice to steady. "You told me. He's after the Oasis."
"Not only the Oasis," Kuruk's voice dropped, becoming grave. "But also you."
The air left Yue's lungs. "What? Why me?"
Kuruk didn't need to answer. She saw the truth in his pained, ethereal eyes. Her hand flew to her chest, where a warmth that was not her own had always resided.
"The Moon Spirit's life force inside of me," she answered herself, the realization a cold dread seeping into her bones. He didn't want a princess; he wanted a battery. A source of primordial power.
Kuruk looked back out the window at the sheer devastation. "There is something else I can feel that is about to happen, but I am not sure. A shift. Not only here, but far away as well. A pressure building."
"Well, what do I do?" Yue's panic returned, sharp and urgent. "We need to tell Aang about this! If Prince Zuko really does take me with him, we have no idea what he is planning!"
"You're right," Kuruk conceded. "The boy Avatar is your best chance. But don't go looking for him. Go to where he will be. Once the time is right, I will send him to you."
"The Spiritual Oasis," she said, the words a vow.
Kuruk nodded, his form beginning to fade. "Be ready."
Yue didn't hesitate. She turned and burst out of her chamber door, past the two startled guards, her heart hammering a frantic rhythm against her ribs. She had to get to the heart of the city.
Back in the now-empty room, the air shimmered once more. Another figure appeared next to where Kuruk had been. She was impossibly tall and formidable, her face marked with stark white paint, her presence filling the room with an aura of unyielding resolve.
"You're awfully involved for someone so usually so laid back, Avatar Kuruk," Kyoshi's voice was like the grinding of continental plates.
Kuruk's form solidified again, his expression turning grim. "You've felt it the same as I've felt it."
"You're only sensing the two things about to happen here and far away," Kyoshi stated. "I was sent by Raya."
Kuruk stiffened at the name of the third Avatar. "Raya? Why?"
"We don't know what it is, but something is happening. Something far, far away. A tear in the veil. A… stirring in the void where Yogan is trapped. It is reacting to the massive release of spiritual and physical energy here." Kyoshi's painted face was impassive, but her eyes were deadly serious.
"What does Raya want me to do?" Kuruk asked.w
"The Avatar must survive this battle, Kuruk," Kyoshi's voice held a finality that brooked no argument. "Whatever the outcome may be for the Northern Water Tribe, the Avatar must not be put in danger."
"What do you mean?" Kuruk asked, a spark of his old fire igniting. "I just promised her that Aang would be there when the time was right!"
"He cannot go to the Spiritual Oasis," Kyoshi said, her words falling like stones. "If the Avatar goes there, he will die."
The pronouncement sucked all the sound from the room.
"The next Avatar will not even get the chance to grow up," Kyoshi explained, her gaze unwavering. "And even if they did, it would be too late. The balance is already fraying. The cycle must hold. Aang must live to face what is coming."
"My home is being destroyed, and you're asking me to do nothing about it?" Kuruk's voice was a low, dangerous growl, the stormy ocean of his spirit rising to the surface.
"You have already done all that you can by helping him master water," Kyoshi replied, not unkindly, but with absolute firmness. "His survival is now the priority. Not a city. Not a tribe. The world."
"Why aren't you objecting to this, Roku?" Kuruk suddenly asked, turning his head as if addressing a shadow in the corner.
The air shimmered, and Avatar Roku appeared, looking profoundly troubled, his hands tucked into his sleeves as if caught in an awkward, yet deeply unfunny, moment.
"You heard the Third's story as much as I did," Roku said, his voice heavy with regret. "She knows best the threat that was just unleashed on the plains of the Earth Kingdom continent. The Fire Prince's power is a spark. What is awakening in the Earth Kingdom is a wildfire. The Avatar must live."
The three Avatars stood in silence, the passionate protector, the unyielding guardian, and the regretful sage united in a terrible, world-shattering consensus. The fate of the Northern Water Tribe was being weighed against the fate of the world itself, and the scales were tipping in a direction that filled Kuruk with a helpless, ancient rage. The battle for his home had just become a pawn in a much, much larger game.