Appa's shadow crawled over the last dry hills before Omashu and dropped them into a world of smoke and clanging metal.
"Whoa," Sokka breathed.
They had landed in a shallow ravine a safe distance from the main road, dragged Appa into the best cover they could find to take a much needed nap, and crept up the rocky slope on their bellies. Katara's heart was pounding from the climb and from what she saw when she peered over the edge.
Fire Nation.
Not just a raiding party. Not just a cruiser with a detachment like Prince Zuko's.
A whole army, thousands strong.
Ranks of soldiers in dark armor marched in slow, disciplined waves across the scrub plain that faced Omashu's steep cliffs and outer walls. Red and black tents dotted the valley below like a rash. Komodo rhinos pawed the ground, snorting steam, their riders bearing tall standards with the golden spearhead of House Arza on deep red cloth. Black metal siege wagons of some kind creaked, rattled and groaned, belching black smoke and covered in thick armor. Far beyond, Omashu's massive tiered walls glowered back at them in beige, carved out of the top half of the mountain like a giant ornament.
"Oh no, the Fire Lord is already attacking Omashu?!" Aang hissed, utterly dismayed.
"Those are not Prince Zuko's guys," Sokka whispered. "Those are, uh, Raven's guys. Or her family's? I dunno, same spearhead she has on her back."
Katara followed his pointing finger. The banners did match the emblem that had been stitched in gleaming thread on the back of Raven's cloak. Her stomach clenched.
"I knew we should have brought her," she said before she could stop herself.
"What, as a hostage?" Sokka didn't quite mock. "Pretty sure that girl is a bit too spicy to restrain—I mean, yeesh! I wouldn't try it anyway."
"I meant ask her to help!" Katara snapped quietly, then winced at her own volume. "If that's her family's army. She might... I dunno, maybe she could do something?"
"She couldn't even lay down without falling over after her fight with that Zuko guy, she was really dazed," Sokka muttered. "They'd think we beat her up, that... wouldn't be good. Also she seems like more of a problem creator, not a problem solver. No offense to your new friend."
Katara opened her mouth to defend Raven on principle, then deflated. It was sort of fair, she just really wanted Sokka to be wrong and Raven to be right.
They were both still arguing it in their heads when Aang said, barely above a breath, "Oh no."
He was staring straight ahead, not at the ranks of soldiers, not at the banners, but at something else entirely.
Katara followed his gaze and saw the ostentatiously decorated command group on the road beside a marching company of elite soldiers in gilded armor. A knot of higher officers had moved ahead of the marching column to survey Omashu's walls. Center was an imposing tall man decked in grey with black and gold armor, and the golden spearhead on his back. Another man in more standard Fire Nation garb and moving oddly in armor like he was unsuited to it, and beside him a bored looking teenage girl with straight bangs gave a sigh and gazed side to side more than the others, her dark clothing spoke of ruthless nobility. Last was a woman a bit more out of place even than the awkward man, in dusty light armor with a satchel of papers and a rolled map under one arm, as well as a heavy bag stuffed with instruments and tools.
To Katara, Lord Arza looked like just an especially decorated general. He shifted posture, revealing a magnificent and very recognizable spear in his hand. From this distance, it was mostly silhouette and gleam: long shaft, ornate head, the metal catching the morning light like it wanted to bite it. He rested the butt gently on the dry road. Even from where they lay hidden behind the rocks, they saw a small burst of sparks jump from the tip. A thin curl of smoke drifted up, wrong and dark in the clear air. But only Aang had a look of despair about him.
Next to Katara, he flinched like someone had grabbed him by the back of the neck.
"Aang?" Katara whispered. "Are you okay?"
He swallowed. "That thing is really dangerous."
"A spear?" Sokka whispered back. "Very fancy, but still."
Aang shook his head, eyes wide and unfocused for a moment. "It's not a spear, it's—ah—something else, it doesn't matter!"
"Aang, it's clearly a spear," Sokka flatly stated.
"It's different," Aang insisted. "I can feel it from here, I think you can't because you're not firebenders. I... I have to warn Omashu! There's no time!"
He began to back away from the lip of the ravine, keeping low, staff held close.
"Aang, wait!" Katara hissed, reaching out, but he was already sliding down out of sight. "You're not making sense!"
"I'll just circle around!" he whispered up to them, urgent. "I'll come in from the other side with the glider so they don't see me. Just stay hidden. Please!"
Then he was gone, his small shape disappearing behind the rocks, feet slapping the stone as he ran to find a safer place to launch, and all they could do was reach out and falter.
Sokka groaned softly. "Well, great. Now we're a snowball away from a Fire Nation army with no Avatar. Perfect."
"Quiet, they're getting closer!" Katara said, because boots were crunching on packed earth very close to their hiding spot.
They ducked as low as they could behind the rocks. Katara risked the smallest peek.
Lord Arza stood not thirty paces away on the road, flanked by his people, and coming closer.
"Captain Shoko," he said, tone clipped but not unkind. "Your assessment."
They were right there, just on the other side of the rocks. Poor Sokka and Katara could practically reach out and touch officers if they weren't huddled under the slight overhang.
The engineer straightened, pushing her spectacles up her nose. She had the tired, focused look of someone who preferred diagrams and measurements to actually going on a military campaign. "Yes, my lord. Omashu's defenses are state of the art for Earth Kingdom construction. The outer wall tiers are angled to deflect projectiles. Each gate is protected by multiple kill zones. The delivery chutes allow them to reinforce or evacuate with gravity on their side." She cleared her throat. "With your current numbers, a conventional siege would be possible, but it would take weeks, perhaps months, to wear them down. Especially if they have competent strategists."
"I'm sure Ozai would just love that," Arza said dryly.
Shoko hesitated. "I would not presume to comment on the Fire Lord's expectations, my lord."
"Wise of you," he said. "And unnecessary. It will not need to be a conventional siege with this awakened so brightly," he went on trailing into an airy reverence as he slightly hefted the spear, causing morning sunlight to somehow glint iridescently off the air around the tip.
He let the butt back down, the thunk was not loud, but finally Katara felt it in her teeth. She felt slightly faint, perhaps a moment of fatigue, but also she could tell something about that weapon was disrupting her bending. She felt hollow and wrong just being near it, but fine again after a moment of it staying at rest.
"Have you seen it before, Ukano?" Lord Arza asked, still in a blissful sort of reverence. "Actually seen it used?"
Ukano, standing a cautious step back in the crimson robes of his station that fit poorly in his armor, cleared his throat. "Er. Jinai. If it can be helped, might we avoid total demolition of the city walls?" He gestured toward Omashu with both hands. "Once the city is yours, I will need something left to repair."
Lord Arza did not take his eyes off the walls. "I won't cause more damage than necessary," he said. "But my priority is ending this quickly. My army is not Ozai's toy to do as he pleases with."
Mai, standing just behind Ukano in her dark red and black, polished nails immaculate, sighed like someone inconvenienced by stepping into rain. "I cannot believe I came all the way out here just to stand around while you blow up a city from a mile away," she said.
Ukano frowned. "Mai." He glanced quickly to Lord Arza, but he was just rolling his eyes, so Ukano breathed with relief.
"What? I have nothing to do," she said. "At least if Raven were here something funny would happen."
Lord Arza's mouth thinned. "I apologize, my dear. But I did not choose lightly to leave her behind." He sounded like he was being patient with her, but like he was very used to that.
Katara and Sokka traded a look. A very silent, very panicked one, mouthing: "Raven?!?!"
"Yeah, she's... not as much fun these days," Mai said, almost too quickly. "She spends all her time yelling. Or sulking. Or ranting about that idiot prince, no surprise..." she went on, but breathed out and quickly added like she didn't want to be rude. "I feel bad for her—and you, my lord. Really." But she was so monotone it was hard to hear it as genuine.
"She just... always sounds like that!" Mai's father Ukano raised his hands to frantically defend her.
"I know," Arza muttered. "But Raven is the one driving me mad." He mildly sympathized with Mai who was apparently Raven's friend.
Katara's fingers dug into the dirt. That was Raven's father. There was no other explanation for how he was talking about her. Sokka gave her a look like he had come to the exact same conclusion, but they couldn't make a sound or move an inch.
"We will begin bombardment when the sun reaches its zenith, to properly respect Arzayanagi," Arza went on. "Hopefully they give up early, and save us the gravedigging. Captain Shoko, make a quick sketch of the outer wall's likely weakest points."
Shoko bowed her head. "Yes, my lord."
The small group began to move along the road again, their voices fading under the steady drum of marching feet from the main body of the army.
Beside Katara, Sokka swallowed. "So. That's Raven's dad. And he really has a something-other-than-a-spear of doom. Fireworks at noon, though."
"Stop talking," she whispered. "I am trying very hard not to throw up."
The next wave of soldiers began to pass only a few paces in front of their hiding place: boots in neat rows, armor plates clinking, breath puffing in the cool air. A wagon creaked by, piled high with bundled arrows. Another with huge heavy black chains and spikes that surely weren't for anything an Omashu resident would like.
Katara tried to make herself as small and invisible as possible.
"Hey," said that monotone girl's voice at her elbow.
Katara's soul verged on leaving her body.
Mai was crouched beside them behind the rocks. Somehow she had slipped away from the road and into their little pocket of cover without making a sound. Katara an Sokka both glanced with clenched teeth at the somewhere between ten and one-billion knives partially visible on her person, not apparent from their quick glance before.
Katara just raised up her hand to give a twiddly little wave. "Hi."
"Uh," Sokka said. "Don't mind us. We're... scholars. Documenting this important battle for history. Future? Both? Yeah, both."
Mai looked at him for a long moment, face perfectly blank, and then looked away again like he was background noise. "I heard you say 'Raven' a couple of times while you were creeping around back here like weirdos," she said. "Do you actually know her?"
Katara's mouth opened. Nothing came out.
Sokka, on the other hand, lit up. "Know her? Raven?" He put a hand dramatically to his chest. "We are practically best friends by now. Life or death struggles, dramatic rescues, mutual threats of violence. Very bonding stuff."
It was not entirely untrue, to the point he pretty much believed it, which remarkably helped his voice sound confident.
Mai's eyes narrowed a fraction, interest flickering to life under the boredom. "Seriously?"
"Seriously," Sokka said. "She saved us from that jerk Zuko, I saved her from a killer bench. Killer on her back, at least. Overall? I didn't catch on fire, and I thought I would, so that's... definitely friendship."
Katara finally found a sliver of voice. "We haven't known her as long as you, I'm sure," she said, honesty leaking out of her in a whisper. "But I really like her."
Mai betrayed no emotion at all as she stated, "you're lying." But just before Katara's soul finally wriggled free in the panic, she went on, "nobody really likes Raven Arza. It's kind of at best, and only when she's not mad at her dad."
"That's so fair, you, uh, Mai, right?" Sokka gestured casually like he'd forgotten completely how much danger they were in. "That girl is a real handful, let me tell you. My literal head-over-heels crush Suki? Totally can't stand her, she was being real snooty about pillows."
Mai actually chuckled quietly. "I wasn't sure, but yeah, you two really do know her, don't you." She shook her head, considered the two more seriously in her gaze, then asked. "Is she up to anything interesting?" she asked. "Or is she still just screaming about Zuko and getting lost?" But Mai quickly leaned in before they could respond to whisper with her mouth cupped, "oh, and don't tell her dad she's not at home, he's already pretty weird after everything, if he goes off the deep end while he has that thing, well... seriously, don't tell him."
"Lips are sealed," Sokka practically hummed without opening his mouth.
"She's obsessed," Katara blurted, then winced, but there was no taking it back. "But she found him. Couple times."
Mai's eyebrow climbed a little higher. "Did she...?" she said.
Katara realized with a small, cold bloom of panic that Mai had not reacted at all to the idea that they might know Zuko. She just filed it away like gossip, and reminded herself not to mention anything at all about Aang. She had never in her life felt more like an imposter, despite her really wanting to be friends with Raven. Mai saw the weird look on Katara's face, and actually started to look sad.
"No, no! They both survived. Somehow," Sokka shrugged, trying not to sound biased to either of them, having no idea what convoluted noble intrigue he was accidentally digging himself into. To get in on the scheming, he shifted, casually, putting himself between Mai and the small patch of sky where Aang was now a distant speck skimming low across the back side of the valley.
"So, you and Raven are...?" Katara tried.
"Childhood friends," Mai said. "Technically. Mostly I just follow her around sometimes to bask in the secondhand embarrassment. I liked her more before, well... you know. It's not like I blame her. I still can't believe he really did it, though." And she kind of sounded like she meant it.
The crunch of boots got much louder again, too loud, so Katara and Sokka didn't have time to blunder their way through that mystery too. It was so tantalizingly close that Katara was subconsciously reaching out to try to grab the threads and figure out what in the world Raven was so angry at Zuko about, but...
Lord Arza and Ukano rounded the bend in the road and came into view, accompanied by a smaller escort now that the main formations had moved past. Katara and Sokka stood there like cat tails swaying helplessly against the wind, hands at their sides. Mai didn't seem worried at all.
"Mai, keep up," Ukano said, voice wary. "What are you doing behind a rock with these... children?"
Mai replied without missing a beat. "They're Raven's friends."
Lord Arza's gaze snapped to the two teenagers like a pair of thrown knives.
Katara's lungs forgot how to work.
Sokka, miraculously, did not say anything deeply stupid.
"Yeah, uh." He raised a hand, smile weak but game. "She saved our butts once. So we kind of owe her. We were just... hoping she was with you. So we could hang out?"
"She's grounded," Lord Arza said like it was a death sentence.
"Oh, well," Sokka nodded so fast his ponytail wobbled. "We sent someone into the city," he went on, seizing the thin thread of his own idea. "Ahead of time. He's a real good diplomat—wa-a-ay older than us, don't worry—to uh... convince them they don't stand a chance and should surrender before things get..." and he eyed Lord Arza's gleaming gold spear. "Ugly." He breathed out, flapping his lips.
"Sorry, they thought Raven would want them to help," Mai smoothly slid in as a foundation to Sokka's words.
It was exactly true and also not at all the way Lord Arza would think about it. Which was why it came out sounding completely sincere, so it was a tremor of apology and not a lie to his ears. Lord Arza studied him for a long, weighty moment. Then he gave a single short nod. "Your diplomat has the rest of the morning," he said. "I do hope he egresses before that time—should he fail to secure a surrender," he went on, but didn't really sound all that worried about it.
Katara swallowed around a knot in her throat. Aang had just been upgraded from "friend" to "envoy of a ruthless noble house" without any say in the matter. Ukano looked vaguely relieved. "I pray for his success," he said genuinely, almost wistfully looking at the walls that might soon not be.
Lord Arza glanced back toward Omashu and then at the new teenagers again. "To be clear, if you two enjoy living," he added, almost as an afterthought, "stay away from those walls. I would regret harming my daughter's friends." His words were very tired by the end, like he had to convince himself by saying it.
Katara managed to nod. Her mouth was too dry to speak.
Lord Arza gave Mai a brief, assessing look, then turned away. Ukano followed. Captain Shoko trotted along beside them, already unrolling a map and rambling about it. The escort fell in behind, and in a few breaths the road in front of the rocks was full of marching soldiers again. The Fire Nation just wasn't going to bother them. The siblings couldn't help but smile like they got away with something.
Mai waited until it passed. "He actually likes you."
"Who?" they both wondered aloud.
"Raven's dad," she said with a mild eye roll, but sighed with disappointment. "I think that means you're dorks now, sorry."
They couldn't read her at all.
"O-oh, um, sorry?" Katara tried.
"No, I am. It means I'm too cool to hang out with you now," Mai said with a shrug like that should be obvious. "But I'm glad she found normal friends. She could really use more nice people in her life. Anyway, gotta keep up with dad or he'll make this venture even more dull for me. See ya 'round."
And she just turned and walked away.
When it was clear that finally nobody was standing right next to them without them noticing for real, Katara begged of Sokka, "what did we just get ourselves into?"
He shrugged, glancing to a masked firebender in heavy armor waving at them as he marched past, and deliberately shrugged harder.