The morning didn't come with kindness. The whole of the forest around Senlin was moist as damp wool left out in the rain, and the light refused to make a showing past the dim of early morning, but there was blue and light in the distance.
Appa climbed into the sky, bidding adieu to a long paranoid night, but Aang had to keep the bison low beneath the grey clouds just to see where they were going.
He even didn't trust the air anymore. He didn't trust spirits that distract you with spectacle and sneak up behind. He definitely didn't trust that damned spear wasn't going to... do something, and even though he feared it he couldn't help but reach and pat the bundle of dark cloth it was wrapped in, just to make sure. The simple instruction stuck in his mildly sleep-deprived mind: touch spear to gem, touch spear to gem, touch spear to gem...
Katara sat warily right behind him, to occupy the space any stray spirit might try and occupy, and close enough that the tickle of her breath hit his neck when the wind died for a moment, which... made him jump out of his skin, but it was nice and a laugh right after. Despite having impossibly slept through the night within arm's reach of the accursed spear, Sokka was peacefully drifting in and out of napping again on the far side of Appa's back, although he did accept several more helpings than he should at Senlin.
Aang glanced back again. Arzayanagi was still wrapped in cloth stacked with other supplies on the saddle, like a sacred thing they were pretending was just… camping equipment. The golden point still managed to look smug through the fabric, just by shape alone.
Sokka woke to see Aang eyeing it.
"So," he said, voice rough, "Step one, Crescent Island."
Aang nodded too fast. "Yep."
"Step tw-hahh-ooo, touch spear to big door gem," Sokka yawned out.
"Mmm-hmm." Aang instantly shot back.
Katara's gaze flicked to the wrapped spear. "And we're sure this is a good idea."
"Ahem-!" Sokka insisted.
"Sorry," Katara peeped.
"Step three: something, something Avatar Roku plus spear of doom goes away?" Sokka rolled his shoulders one and then the other.
Aang opened his mouth, shut it, then said what he could. "Kyoshi said it's the way."
Katara did not look comforted. "'Kyoshi said' didn't go so well last time."
"Step FOUR!" Sokka gently reminded his sister.
"You keep 'pausing dramatically' for a really long time before you say another step, just spit it out, Sokka!" Katara rapidly breathed out and collapsed briefly against Aang, who didn't mind. "We're really anxious right now, the spear makes us weird, I'm sorry!" she instantly followed up, still sounding mad at him even though it was genuinely supposed to be an apology.
"Uh-huh," Sokka flatly replied, but sped it up as he went on, "so step four seemed to just be 'Avatar Roku tells you the secret and boom we win, no more Fire Lord'. But like... why wouldn't Avatar Kyoshi know what it is? They not on speaking terms, despite... both also being you?"
Aang shrugged. "I mean, I don't know everything Roku knows either."
"Well sure, but you haven't been dead together with them for over a century. You'd think he'd mention the super important secret to beat the Fire Lord at some point," Sokka twirled his hand around as he spoke. "All I'm saying is it's weird."
"I don't like it either, we don't know what that freaky ghost lady was doing—" Katara admitted, but was cut off as Aang near steered Appa back around the wrong way he whipped around so fast.
"Not a ghost, a spirit!" he ranted.
"Are you sure?" Katara demanded.
"NO!" Aang shouted back. "And I HATE that I'm not," he grumbled ferociously. "But what, I just miss my one chance to talk to Roku and we just go lose to the Fire Lord? Because there was a spooky lady? Like what else am I supposed to do?"
"I mean, I'm just glad you also think this is all a bison load," Sokka gave as he adjusted to sit just a bit further away from Arzayanagi. "No offense, spear of doom."
They'd been flying tightly wound since Senlin, and that relieved some pressure, but Appa dipped a little and rumbled. Aang leaned forward, squinting down through drifting banks of fog
"Uh… guys?" he said.
Below them, the sea had a nasty chop, the kind that looked like the waves were all trying to bite each other. Two Fire Nation ships cut through it in parallel lines, so close together their wakes tangled. They were not politely passing.
Fire flashed between their bows, bright luring darts in the ill morning. Aang guided Appa lower without thinking, just enough that they could see clearly through the mist. The bison resisted with only a fed up bellow, misliking the flashes quite reasonably.
On the heavier ship, Prince Zuko stood braced against the rail, steaming hot wet cloak snapping behind him like an insult the wind kept repeating. He hurled fire across the gap in sharp, angry bursts, but each time he twisted, his left side seemed to catch him and the pain stole a fraction of his aim.
Such that Raven Arza, on the smaller vessel, could cling to the railing with a hand like it was the only thing keeping her upright, yet still duck his off-center blasts. She was too pale in the cold, too stiff in her movements, hiding more than striking in a struggle between impatience and pain. Even from above, Aang could tell she was still moving like someone who'd been thrown down a staircase and asked to look dignified about it.
"Why are they… still doing that?" Aang blurted.
Sokka leaned forward, disappointed. "Those two are terrible for each other."
Katara's brows pulled tight. "She looks like she's going to die on her feet..." she whispered with real concern. "What in the world did Zuko do to her?"
"Up, Appa, sorry, yip-yip! Whoops!" Aang said, immediately heaving Appa up higher as a misfired blast got too near his paws for comfort. But Appa's shadow slid over both decks. Raven snapped her head up first, eyes beaming like she'd just been handed a gift. Zuko looked up a beat later and froze, like the universe had decided to be funny at his expense.
"I was right! IT'S THE AVATAR!" Zuko's voice carried even over the wind. "Turn! Follow them!"
Almost instantly, Zuko's ship pulled starboard to line up with the bison in the clouds. Raven's followed right after, voice carrying barely at the new distance, ragged with fury and triumph. "ZUKO! STOP ESCAPING!"
"I'M NOT ESCAPING!" Zuko roared back. "I JUST DON'T HAVE TIME FOR YOUR CRAZY WHATEVER!"
"THEN TELL ME WHERE YOU'RE GOING!" She challenged him.
"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Zuko shouted, which was a lie in the purest sense of the word.
Her response was not coherent at any distance.
Aang winced and hauled Appa back up a little. "We should keep going. Get ahead of them both."
Katara grabbed the edge of the saddle and peered over more than was safe. "I suppose..."
Sokka raised a finger. "Maybe they'll just kill each other and we won't have to worry about it."
"Sokka!" they both chided him. But only Aang subtly nodded to the wrapped spear. "Not in front of Arzayanagi, you tryin' to get us killed?"
They surged higher, but the scene below stayed bright enough to see for a while.
Zuko shifted his stance and swore as the throb of pain couldn't be ignored. It wasn't sharp like a spike anymore, but he really wanted to just go lay down. The motion made his next blast go wide, hissing into the sea. He slammed his palm on the rail like it was personally responsible, but he grinned as he saw hers fall short, the distance growing as his cruiser pulled ahead with its superior top speed.
At the opposite bow, Raven leaned out and shouted again, voice like a thrown knife, but he actually couldn't make it out that time. He watched briefly as she limped a step, the somehow forced herself to jog down into her vessel.
Zuko ordered to the crew, "we don't slow down for anything!"
There was abundant motivation among the crew to make that dream of Zuko's a reality. Iroh, however, stood back from the rail, hands tucked into his sleeves and just kind of letting the sideways drizzle soak his face. It was like watching two angry cats fight over the same patch of sunlight. "Nephew," he said gently, "perhaps you could slow down and ask Lady Raven what she wants?"
Zuko snapped his head around. "She doesn't know what she wants."
Iroh's brows rose. "Do you know?"
"Sure. She wants to scream," Zuko said. "She wants to hit things. She wants to be right. There is no point talking to her until she doesn't have a spark of fight left. If I wasn't on the Avatar's tail, I'd take the time to beat it out of her." He explained, with a matter-of-fact tone like that was regular maintenance on a lady of House Arza.
Iroh's expression shifted, the gentleness not gone, but sharpened by concern. "That is a very intense thing to say about a girl."
"Oh, she's just 'a girl' now, not Lady Raven?" Zuko's mouth twisted. "Hey, remember when she flying kicked me in the chest without warning? Then tried to kill me repeatedly?"
Iroh smiled nervously and shrugged. He really had nothing.
Behind him, one of the deck firebenders glanced over the side, then across the gap, and his face changed. "Sir," he called, "they're out-speeding us."
Zuko frowned. "Of course..."
And then he saw it.
A line of smoke bursting from Raven's smokestack, not the usual dark coal breath, but bright and violent, shot through with flame like the ship itself was exhaling fire.
Zuko stared, baffled for half a heartbeat, then realization hit like an insult.
"She's firebending her engines," he hissed.
Iroh's eyes narrowed. "That is… creative."
The unnamed firebender grimaced. "Sir, we won't outrun that. Their ship's old, but lighter and must have in brand new engine parts to take that heat. Our boilers are too big for firebending to get much more speed."
Zuko barked a laugh straight out of his lungs. "You think she can keep that up and fight me?"
He barely finished the sentence before Raven reappeared, hauling herself back up with sheer spite, hair whipping, face tight, her whole posture screaming 'I am held together by vengeance and bandages.'
Zuko lifted a hand ready to defend and let her tire herself out, but her first shot smashed against the hull of his ship, feet below him. She was shouting something vicious and unclear again, but he couldn't yell mockery back as the next blast had to be bent away.
Further down both ships, at the edges where the crews could see each other, men stood like they didn't quite know what to do with themselves. Lo Pei's sailors hovered near their rail in wary clusters, watching Zuko's soldiers and firebenders with the stiff politeness of people who were very aware that might be ordered to attack at any moment.
One of Lo Pei's crew, Bao, called across in a voice that tried hard to be friendly. "So… you guys always dealing with stuff like this?"
A soldier on Zuko's deck paused, looked over, and gave a flat shrug. "With Prince Zuko? Yeah."
Bao nodded with sympathy. "Lady Raven really puts us through it sometimes too."
Bong Li reminded, "she forgave us too, though!"
"Hmm... fair," Bao nodded along while others of Zuko's crew started leaning over the railing while their speeds matched for a moment.
"I wish, his highness isn't the forgiving type," one of Zuko's firebenders gossiped.
Iroh wandered nearer the conversation, looking almost delighted by the accidental diplomacy. "Young people," he called across, warm as tea. "Can be so full of fire."
Bao threw up his hands, "look at all of us! Buncha ol' sea dogs gettin' bossed around by teenagers!"
Iroh's laugh boomed. "It's kind of funny, if you ask me!"
From the bow, Raven's voice snapped like a whip. "STOP TALKING TO THEM!"
At the same moment, Zuko snarled, "STOP BEING SO FRIENDLY!"
Both crews jumped like they'd been caught stealing, men scattering back to their posts in a scramble of guilty productivity. But Zuko's cruiser began to pull ahead. Its heavier hull cut the water with stubborn momentum, and the gap widened by inches, then feet, then lengths of rope.
Raven watched the distance grow and her expression went feral.
"LO PEI!" she screamed. "RAM HIM!"
Lo Pei, eyes on the helmsman above, turned his head slowly with the expression of a man being asked to block bending with his smile. "My lady," he said carefully, "if we ram a military cruiser with a transport, we will sink."
From ahead, Zuko leaned over his rail and shouted, "HE'S RIGHT! DON'T DO THAT, YOU'LL ALL DROWN!"
Raven's eyes bulged. "SHUT UP AND DIE!" And she flung an arc of flames that honestly was a tough shot to make. He smacked it out of the air like an annoying bug, though. And she turned as if to go boost her engines again, but went limp to a knee from the over-exertion.
As Zuko's ship edged farther away, he threw up a hand in a rude salute and shouted, "DUMBASS!"
Raven made a sound that was not human language, but she did emit a pillar of flames from her upturned breath that genuinely caught Iroh's eye. "Ho! That's some breath of fire, she'd be a natural at my techniques," he said as he stroked his beard. Gesturing like they were casually watching wildlife, he added, "I can see why it's hard for you to wear her out."
"What, you wanna join her crew now or something?" Zuko scoffed. "Better jump overboard now before we lose sight of her."
"Hmm, a little, I suppose, but not enough to abandon you, my beloved nephew!" Iroh heartily told the conflicted prince, adding a loving swat on his shoulder that gave the boy zero smiles.
Back on Raven's slowing vessel, they were just reaching bluer skies, and her crew were picking themselves back up after scattering from her sudden but thankfully harmless firebreathing. What was left of Raven's gloves creaked under her tight grasp of railing. "I hate him," she muttered, voice shaking. "I hate him so much."
Lo Pei, trying desperately to be helpful, said, "should be easier to follow with clear skies, at least!"
Raven stared ahead, breathing hard, then narrowed her eyes. "Why is he turning?"
The crew watched as Zuko's ship, which was daring to become indistinguishable in the distance, suddenly turned around in as tight of a turn as it could.
Lo Pei's voice climbed, "up above, the Avatar's bison!"
Raven's gaze snapped upward. A blob in the sky. Moving fast. Right towards her. She couldn't be happier to see Appa's big doofy face. The grey lid of sky cracked open enough to set his creamy fur into a brilliant glow as he gently swooped in. Aang guided Appa down alongside Raven's ship, close enough that they could reach out and high-five if they really leaned.
Katara cupped hands around her mouth. "Raven! Come with us! We're heading to Crescent Island, you can help us and get ahead of Zuko!"
For an empty moment, Raven's face went blank. It was too fortunate. There had to be a catch, right? But she had to just take it. She threw her head back and laughed. It wasn't the sweet laugh she sometimes tried to pretend with, it was sharp and delighted and slightly unhinged and very real, like life finally let her be in on one of the jokes, not the butt of it.
She cut it off instantly, composure snapping back into place like a mask. "Lo Pei," she said, voice crisp and noble again, "meet me at Crescent Island."
Lo Pei blinked up at her. "My lady, that's in Fire Nation waters."
Raven pointed vaguely at the sky like directions were a social class. "Nngh, do I have to explain everything?" she groaned, sharply looked to Katara and quickly said. "I'm coming, just let me grab a bag."
Lo Pei raised his finger for attention as Raven started limp-running to her quarters, and she shouted without looking back, "just fly my house flag, the spear one! Show the documents I showed Zhao! Don't drink!" but she halted, and did glance back to rattle off, "er—unless you see other Arza warships, then fly the Fire Nation standard. They won't even care enough to stop you."
"That seems backwards," eavesdropping Sokka said aloud.
Katara swatted him. "Don't complicate things."
Raven was riding on adrenaline to carry her to her room, where she only spent a few precious seconds stuffing extra snacks in a well-rounded bag she prepared after the debacle of Kyoshi island found her staggering back to her ship with half her attire obliterated and no shoes. She had vanished inside only briefly from what she could tell, but when she returned she found her entire crew crowding around the bison. The animal was letting out a begrudgingly tolerant bellow at many unfamiliar hands on his fur.
"Ahhh, so good!" Bong Li said through a mouthful of fruity confection acquired at Senlin, and he got a 'you're sure?' look about him as Sokka foisted another at him.
Sokka leaned over the saddle to wiggle it at him. "Lots of extras, no way we're getting through it. Copper a piece, er, for two even. Whatever," he confidently stated at Bao, who was on the verge of drooling over day old buns that definitely wouldn't keep another day.
Raven's eyes narrowed. "What is happening."
"He's not trying to bribe your crew," Katara assured her with a smile, but faltered. "You're not bribing them, are you?"
"Spear of doom is making you so paranoid," Sokka said back out of the corner of his mouth, and she instantly glared at him for bringing it up, glancing at Raven.
Raven made it to the rail amongst the dividing throng of vice-deprived sailors, and Aang guided Appa lower just in case. Raven gathered herself, winced, and then put a foot up to hop off the rail with the grim determination of someone who refused to give in to her body's demands. She was glad to find Katara's firm grasp on her forearm there, and it only hurt a little to force herself onto the saddle with an involuntary "nngh!" but she pretended it was nothing.
Katara immediately scooted to make space, trying to be friendly in the way that always looked slightly like negotiating with a shark. "Still recovering, huh?" she tried, not wanting to imply Raven was helpless, as that seemed to be more of a sore spot for her than her overtaxed limbs.
"I'm fine," Raven lied, and sat with her spine straighter out of pure spite.
Hands were moving at blinding speed as the crew sensed imminent departure, and at first Sokka palmed the payment, but had to hold out a basket, unable to track any cheating whatsoever, as the perishables from Senlin disappeared in a clinking flurry of copper.
"Oh, just take it, you animals!" Sokka shouted as he heaved the last basket onto the deck to keep any sailors grabbing onto Appa's fur from getting pulled into the ocean, but he was still hit from head to waist with a grapeshot of coins, so gave a strained. "Thank you, we're closing shop! Let go-o-o of the bi-i-ison!"
He saw an earthenware bottle clattering among the Senlin gifts, and shrugged, figuring they wouldn't need it. As he dangled it by its rope handle, he couldn't even say a word before a precise lance of fire struck it, and it fell in pieces and thankfully harmless flaming fumes down Appa's side and right into the ocean.
Raven's eyes went incandescent. "No."
"Uh..." Sokka pointed at Raven. "You still have to pay for that."
She instantly replied, "bill House Arza." Daring him to question it. He didn't.
Aang, watching the horizon, felt his stomach twist. Zuko's ship was coming back around. Fast.
"Okay!" Aang said, voice going high with urgency. "Everyone hold on! Yip-yip, Appa!"
Raven caught Lo Pei's smile and wave as they left, too eager for her to go, but she forgave him because his mouth was so full his usually gaunt cheeks were bulging, and it was funny.
He pulled Appa up and over, climbing into the air again, but they had to buzz closer to Zuko's cruiser than Aang liked to gain height. Zuko saw them. His eyes at first locked on Aang, then his brow twisted with annoyance as Raven leaned into view.
His face sharpened, and he lifted both hands. The blast he threw wasn't a warning; he meant to shoot them all down. The fire roared up toward Appa's side, and Aang twisted to counter, as Katara and Sokka could only duck for cover.
One smoking hand snapped out, Raven's counterblast hit Zuko's fire mid-flight, knocking it off course to fall low into the waves. Raven leaned over the saddle and screamed back, voice carrying perfectly despite the wind.
"DUMBASS!"
Zuko literally stomped the deck in frustration. He would have also thrown his helmet down in disgust if she hadn't already ruined it.
Aang forced Appa higher, heart hammering. "Thanks!" he smiled at Raven.
Raven gave him a polite nod, and started scooting back, measured movements not to invite any more pain to join the party in her muscles.
Katara saw, shifted closer to Raven, still staring at her like she couldn't decide whether she'd want a hug, and her concern was deep. "You're really beat up..." she couldn't help but offer, and winced at Raven possibly not liking it.
But the aggressive firebender didn't have the energy for it. "Yeah, guess so," she grumbled. She leaned back, seeking the one open strip of saddle space that looked almost comfortable. Sokka's eyes went wide.
"NO WAIT NOT THA-"
Raven sat. There was a split second of silence. Raven jolted like she'd sat on live crabs. "NnGGAH!" she emitted, and pulled back up an inch or two, but largely just placed her hands for balance on the ridge of the saddle, and stared wide-eyed at nothing.
Katara made a small strangled gasp that sounded like her soul trying to leave her body, expecting sparks or smoke. Raven moved hr gaze to the cloth wrapped spearhead she'd sat on, her spine when ramrod straight, and she appeared almost as if to be listening for something.
Slowly, she turned her head and looked at them all with a very specific expression.
"What," she said, disappointed, "was that."
"Don't. Sit. Back. Down." Katara very deliberately stated.
Raven's eyes narrowed to accusatory slits. "Because," she continued, voice rising, "I just felt the distinct sensation of someone shouting, directly into my soul, to watch where I sit. I've never..." and she seemed to be piecing it together, mouthing 'Arzayanagi', but she shot out, "Avatar, you didn't kill my dad, did you?" with far less emotion than one would expect.
Aang blinked twice and shrugged. "No. Just robbed him."
That was enough to appease the noble girl, apparently.
But Katara hadn't wanted to even let Raven touch the thing, much less sit on top of it. At a loss of anything better to say as her body language screamed 'someone help', she firmly insisted. "It's way too dangerous. You cannot use that on Zuko!"
Raven wasn't even mad. Eyebrow raised, she scoffed, "the fuck I can't," as she reached for it like it belonged to her.
* * *
Katara, Sokka and Aang lunged.
It was a graceless, wordless panicked resolution among the Avatar council to stop Raven at any cost. Aang was in mid twist from Appa's neck, airbending before thought had processed to extend his reach a precious split second faster. The unchecked development of isolated sibling teamwork had Katara instantly reaching for Raven's right arm as Sokka zeroed in on the left.
Somewhere in there Katara unnecessarily barked, "stop her!"
"I AM!" Aang snapped back, and he bent as quick as he dared, just enough to slow Raven's grasp, but as far as he could tell the deadly spear somehow perfectly countered him. Invisibly—precise as Monk Gyatso.
Still, her fingers were an inch from the cloth-wrapped haft when she stopped. Not because they stopped her. Not because she suddenly believed Katara's warning held merit, but because her hovering nails felt like daggers to each of their throats and she found that irksome, moreso even than her suddenly being grasped by their six hands. Once she was flat on her back, Raven looked up at their half-mad faces with a slow, incredulous turn of her head, and for a moment her expression was pure, offended royalty.
They all read it as 'you think you can command ME?'—A solid take, really.
Her eyes slid past them, to the glint of gold now partially exposed in the reckless motion, and she exhaled a thin, humorless sound.
"Relax," Raven said, tone clipped. "I won't touch it."
Katara didn't relax at all. "You were reaching!"
"As is my right?!" Raven cut. "Why do you even have my family heirloom?!"
Sokka blinked. "Er... she's not resisting. At least not with this arm?" He pondered as he loosely flailed her left arm around to prove it.
Raven's gaze flicked to him like she'd just noticed the concept of Sokka as a person. "Stop."
"Yes, ma'am," he instantly replied, letting go of her, which made Katara taut as a bowstring.
Aang swallowed and tried to keep his voice from going squeaky. "Raven, please. It's really unstable. We think."
Raven's mouth twitched. "Yeah," she said. "I noticed when it yelled at my butt."
"Also, your dad is crazy and blew up Omashu with it, that's why I took it—and Avatar Kyoshi told me I should, too!" Aang explained, heated like he was in unfair trouble with his parents, but he suddenly cut himself off to curiously ask. "It can talk?"
Katara winced, still very carefully keeping herself between Raven and the spear. "Sorry. It really, really has us on edge. Trust me, we don't want it for ourselves."
"Honestly, I'm surprised she hasn't killed you already." Raven smirked, cautiously sitting up again with Katara's help.
The three looked at each other in bewilderment at her words.
As the least informed, Sokka asked, "who?"
Raven just about fell over again at that, her jaw loose, upper lip twitching twice as she stared at them like they were the biggest idiots she had ever laid eyes on, and she was close friends with Ty Lee.
"Arzaya?" Raven condescended, gathering no mote of recognition, which amplified her expression two-fold. "You stole Arzayanagi and you don't even know who she is?"
They looked back and forth at each other, shrugging, but Katara suddenly adopted dread in a fit of realization. "Oh no, it's not her is it?"
It spread to Aang, who looked like he'd just dropped his ice cream. "It so is."
Raven breathed out, closing her eyes to calm herself, and once centered she admitted. "Actually I wasn't totally sure she was real until recently. I take it you... saw her?"
"Is she a weird lady with a headdress and creepy gold mask?" Katara carefully asked, like if she was polite enough it might change the answer. Then she glanced at the mostly bundled spear and hissed, "wait, can she hear us?!"
Raven stared at it uncomfortably long, unsure exactly what she should give away, unsure what it was that Arzaya wanted her to hide and whether or not she even should. It was long enough that they were starting to prepare to tackle her again if she made a move. Trying to please all sides, she just slowly nodded her head, and hoped Arzaya couldn't see as well as she could hear.
"Well, if I pick it up," she said, low, "my father will know. Zuko too, probably—at least I can't think of how else he knew where you were so quickly."
Katara frowned. "What?"
Raven lifted her chin at the horizon, where the last smear of Zuko's dark hull was still visible when the clouds thinned. "All of Arzaya's firebender descendants can sense when it is used, or especially when it changes hands. Apparently that bastard or someone in his crew can too—I was told the royal family can wield it, in a different way." She fell into some deep train of thought that they let her stay in for a moment.
But Aang was feeling somehow even more foolish about his campfire debacle. "You… sensed that?" he asked like an apology.
Raven's mouth pulled tight. "Nothing specific, but don't use it unless you want every Arzayan firebender for miles around to know where you are." And she shook her head with an odd smile. "I still can't believe she just let you have it. Thieves don't usually make it ten paces."
"I mean your dad kinda maybe just let me have it, I've now realized," Aang said quietly like he still thought he was in trouble. "I think he was talking to Arzaya about it, actually..."
"So." Sokka asserted, but then his voice went small, which was rare. "is the cree—er, is the magnificent and not-creepy-at-all mask lady in the spear like... your god? Or something?"
"Something like that." Raven shrugged. "I'm not as, uh, fanatic as my dad."
Katara's shoulders eased a fraction. "And you definitely, definitely won't use it. Because he'd know."
Aang blinked. "How would he know, though?"
Raven's gaze went distant, guarded. "Arzaya's… not very subtle anymore. Something woke her up like we've never seen." She shook her head once, like the idea itself offended her. "If I start wielding it, the next time they sleep, she'll show every Arzayan firebender a vision, letting them know who has it. Dad'd weld me into my bedroom for life." Raven tensely smiled in a 'please don't tell him' way.
Sokka made a slow, careful nod. "Okay, spear of doom won't be killing us today at least."
Raven's eyes cut to him. "I still will use it to kill torchface back there if I have to. Dad can lock me away after—I don't care."
Katara swallowed, hoping that would happen a very significant distance away from the rest of them.
Aang tightened his grip on Appa's reins, eyes on the cloud line. "Okay. Great. We don't have to fight Zuko. We just have to get to Crescent Island, I talk to Roku, and you or he or whoever can have the dang thi—" he cut himself off, eyes darting to the exposed spearhead. "Have the... uh, beautiful, perfect work of art that is Arzayanagi."
Everyone felt a slight ease to the tension just after his praise, too subtle to know for sure it was her.
With nobody paying attention to where Appa was going for several minutes, Appa let out a dissatisfied bellow, putting all eyes ahead. The sky had opened, the wind was cleaner, saltier. The sea below smoothed out into wider, brilliant sapphire blue, but it was marked with a hundred occlusions in neat rows. An entire fleet of Fire Navy warships, the black steel hull of an Empire-class battleship unfortunately dead ahead. It was such that the threat of Zuko's cruiser cutting a stubborn line through the water behind them felt almost cute and laughable.
"That's Zhao's flagship," Raven blurted on sight, hissing to add, "he must have gotten word the Avatar is back. He's a diehard loyalist to Ozai. I can't talk our way past him."
"We fly over then!" Aang stated, resolute.
Sokka crossed his arms, side-eyeing Raven as they leaned over the saddle to see the depressingly large armada. "You couldn't talk an old lady into giving you a pillow, Raven."
"I will destroy you," she flatly replied.
Somehow undaunted, he dared say, "not with your words, though."
"Would you both shut up?!" Katara snapped as Aang pulled Appa higher, and she muscled her way between Raven and her apparently suicidal brother.
* * *
Zhao's fleet was as a moving city of iron and fire. He was one of the first to spot the sky bison, and in the time it took him to take a sip of wine on the highest deck, he pieced together who was surely on it.
"My lucky day." He grinned, glancing to his waiting lieutenants who hadn't quite caught on. "That's the Avatar. Order the fleet to open fire!"
"Yes, sir!" Two of them instantly left.
"Admiral Zhao." A third was taking a peek with a spyglass, however. "There's an older Fire Navy cruiser chasing him already."
Zhao snatched the spyglass and needed scarcely a second to confirm. "Prince Zuko. The boy flushed him out of hiding right towards us," he explained with a vicious grin, but he actually meant it when he added. "I'll have to put in a good word with the Fire Lord, ah, and do at least try to avoid hitting his ship."
As the sky bison climbed as high as he could with his heavier than usual load, the rows of Fire Nation warships sat in formation like endless obsidian teeth ready to chomp, smoke rising in disciplined columns. Signal horns blared, fire shot to the sky in patterns, and soon the thrum of freshly stoked engines filled the ocean air.
* * *
Prince Zuko's ship did not slow at the sight of the fleet, banishment or not, he would capture the Avatar himself or die trying.
"Shall we signal them, Prince Zuko?" the captain urged, voice tight. "We're entering their firing range."
"Not sure, we might have a better chance of slipping past if we don't call attention to ourselves while the Avatar has them busy," Zuko muttered in frustration as he cricked his neck and rolled a shoulder to see if his ribs would tolerate it—thankfully they gave him a pass for once. He stood midship to either rush forward to fight or back to get cover, his cloak getting damp again, and his scar's numbness a blessing in the cold wind. With one long exhalation his breath curled in smoky white, and steam rose from his body, drying him out yet again. "Either way, I won't let them stop me," he said.
Fireballs flew into the sky and between trails of smoke and clouds they saw the Avatar's sky bison nimbly dodging them, although there were very close calls. Each made Zuko wince, knowing both his quest would be failed and his insane ex-betrothed would be dead if there was a direct hit. Iroh made a small sound that might have been a sigh, or might have been a prayer. "Prince Zuko, that is Admiral Zhao's fleet, if he arrests you, it won't matter what I say."
Zuko glanced over at his uncle, lowly said, "I can't give up." And waited until the last plausible second before shouting the order, "Signal Zhao! Indicate we're passing!"
The captain relayed the order and it made it to the bridge in seconds, with a pinkish-red flare going up and making their presence known to all, in case they hadn't been noticed in the drifting smoke and mist. It seemed like the much larger warships weren't even trying to close the gap. However, not instantly, but Zhao's flagship turned while his catapults kept firing deadly arcs into the sky, pulling from the formation to sail fast and threatening alongside them, just a bit too close for comfort. Zuko felt a mix of annoyance and dread, scowling back at the already smug looking face of Zhao peering down at him.
The admiral leaned over his rail like he was looking down into a gutter.
"Prince Zuko, thank you for your generous gift!" Zhao called, voice carrying. "Are you hoping I'll give you a break if you give me the Avatar?" And he laughed twice before sharply cutting off. "I might, if you know where he's going!" And his smugness faded briefly as he gazed towards the sky bison that was close to getting out of firing range already.
Zuko's jaw tightened. "Do what you want!" he shouted angrily. "But stay out of my way!"
Iroh generously adopted a kind and wide smile that really had no business being there, and he offered loud enough that both could hear, "Prince Zuko, shall we not respectfully share the glory of capturing the Avatar with Admiral Zhao? No need for this hostility!"
Zhao seemed to stop and consider that for a moment. "General Iroh is speaking sense." His eyes flicked up, toward the thinning clouds and his faster accelerating warships struggling to keep up with the flying beast. "Tell me, was it really you who flushed him out?"
Zuko was so annoyed anyone else at all had the gall to get involved, but he knew it would only slow him down more if he gave Zhao a reason to detain him. "Yes," he snapped.
Zhao looked curious and quite dissatisfied, so Iroh quickly added, "he was hiding in the Southern Water Tribe! Of all the places! I am surprised the raiders missed him, Admiral! Their competence may need to be questioned."
Zhao's smile died. "Those aren't my soldiers."
"Of course not," Iroh insisted deferentially.
And then Zhao's smile died again, despite already being dead. "And why wasn't I informed of this the last time we met? Surely your injuries are from... trying, at least, to fight him!"
Zuko's fingers curled on the rail. "I wasn't sure it was him! That idiot Raven ambushed me before I could confirm!" he said truthfully, even though he did strongly suspect already.
"We did not know for sure it was him until we caught up again at Kyoshi Island!" Iroh graciously called out to add, increasing volume over the increasingly louder and more taxed engines of both ships in a wordless competition to get ahead of the other and make the conversation irrelevant. "This is our first chance to inform you since then!"
Zhao's gaze sharpened. "Then I will assume you will not mind if I take the glory of capturing him."
"I mind," Zuko said flatly. "I found him, you're not taking the credit for this, Zhao!"
"Whoa, down boy," Zhao briefly laughed, but his eyes went colder. "Bare those fangs at someone else, you couldn't beat him on your own and you know it. He's already slipped past you more than once, has he not?"
"You don't know that! I don't even know that, because that dumbass keeps ambushing me!"
"All the more reason to let my forces handle it. I'll make sure the Fire Lord knows you're the one who found him, and chased him right into my fleet, if you can stop barking like a rabid dog." Admiral Zhao offered, not because he had to, but because he was so amused by Zuko's still shockingly cruel words for Lord Arza himself. "And what, is the illustrious Lady Raven Arza a traitor working for the Avatar?" He snorted. "I wouldn't be surprised. Arzayans can't be trusted."
"I have no idea what she's doing or why! She's crazy!" Zuko leaned forward, pain and anger mixing into something sharp, but something about the idea of siccing Zhao on Raven was infuriating him beyond rational thought. "If she's a problem, I'll deal with her myself!" He hoped he didn't accidentally come across as defensive of her. That felt instinctively like a vulnerability he really, really shouldn't expose.
"Protective of your betrothed, still?" Zhao mocked, and it was hard to tell if it was a joke or a serious accusation.
Zuko's face twitched as he roiled inside, feeling like an idiot for stepping on a trap and furious at Zhao for existing within miles of him.
"She's interfering because of me, not the Avatar!" Zuko said, loud enough to carry. "I'll arrest her. Just…" He hesitated, and the word tasted like ash. "Don't kill her."
Zhao blinked once, amused. "Mercy from you? How unexpectedly touching."
Zuko's hands clenched. "It's not mercy. It's politics. If you kill her, House Arza rebels!"
Zhao's attention became professional at that. He looked like he didn't like it, but he breathed out, "Fine, she's all yours." But hunger was plain on his face. "While I take down the Avatar."
Zuko's lip curled as he barked back, "I'll get to him first!" And he finally had himself his own smug chuckle at the sight of fewer and fewer warships managing to stay in range of the Avatar's bison. "Looks like he's slipped past you now, too!"
But Zhao had already turned away, barking to his officers behind him. "After him! Order the fleet to follow the Avatar!"
On Zuko's deck, Iroh's brows rose. "Nephew," he murmured, "you might not want to be at Zhao's mercy when he has the chance to get rid of you and take all the glory."
Zuko didn't look away from Zhao's back until it was out of sight. "I'll be careful."
* * *
When the smell of smoke was finally brushed free of Appa's fur by the cool wind, Crescent Island rose from the sea, and it looked less like land and more like a black claw hooked out of the water. The clouds were thinner here, the sky bright, the sun refusing to be hidden at a seat of its power. The island's shape curved around a crescent bay, which was little surprise, and high on the inhospitable blackened rock ridges, a dark temple with fringes of red and gold jutted up from the lifeless ground.
Everyone had their hands glued to the ridge of the saddle after that harrowing storm of flames. Even Appa was flexing his clumsy paws in search of stability that wasn't there. Momo had buried himself under the deep pile of now loose clothing opposite the thankfully still silent Arzayanagi.
Aang's heart thudded harder with every unstable lurch of Appa's tired body under them.
"That's it," he breathed. "That's the temple."
Raven sat stiffly, bag of snacks hugged to her side like it was sacred, and she plucked a fire flake here, a sizzle crisp there, or a whole mixed handful if she thought she could get away with it whenever it seemed no one was watching. No rational reason for it, but paranoia was a bitch sometimes. She'd been grinding her teeth since running the blockade. She wanted to deflect fireballs left and right, and could have done so even with her wounds if letting herself be seen aiding the Avatar against the Fire Navy didn't feel like suicide for her whole family. If Raven couldn't think of something to say in the tense silence, she might jump overboard and risk the open ocean.
"So," Raven said at last, voice low, "you spoke to Kyoshi."
Aang nodded quickly. "Yeah."
Katara's uncertain gaze flicked to Aang, but he was still facing straight ahead with no intention of veering off course.
Raven watched them both, eyes narrowed. "And Kyoshi told you to bring Arzayanagi to a Fire Sage temple, touch it to a gem even I've never heard of, and then everything is solved?"
Sokka scratched his cheek. "When you say it like that, it sounds… really suspicious."
Aang groaned. "It's not like I wanted this plan! I just want to get rid of it." And he finally turned around to give Raven a comically disapproving glare. "Your dad can't have it back, though. He can't be trusted not to point it at people."
"I don't want to keep it either." Raven's mouth tightened, knowing how much the thing had been affecting her father even with the distance that had grown between them. "But." She glanced toward the bundle on the saddle like it might look back. "Did Kyoshi… feel angry?"
Aang shrugged. "Kyoshi always feels intense. She's Kyoshi." And it didn't seem like even Sokka found that very compelling. So Aang breathed out, adjusted the reins as Appa dipped lower than he ought to, and he found the words, "she did do some kind of airbending, I know that much, I could sense it more than just feeling or seeing. I don't think a craz—er, lovely and ancient firebender can do that, even if she is some kind of powerful spirit now." And he looked uncertainly to the thankfully recovered golden spearhead. "If that's what you're getting at."
Sokka muttered, "Fair."
Raven wasn't sure if saying the wrong thing would provoke Arzaya, so held her tongue.
Katara's voice was softer. "Aang, we still don't know what she—Arzaya—wants from you. Like, at all." She had such a painfully genuine and trusting look of concern as she turned to ask, "do you think she's planning to hurt Aang? Would she do that?" And Raven felt so on the spot in a brief moment of silence that it felt like eternity, but Katara thankfully of her own volition went on, "she was just... standing there. Like she's really creepy—no offense, Arzaya?—but she didn't do anything, I guess?"
Aang's face tightened. "I know it's all very weird, like, I'm not stupid." He looked away, then forced himself to keep talking. "But Kyoshi also said not to trust random spirits, and maybe that's who she meant? I just don't know! It's so frustrating, but I can't just… do nothing. Like, we're running out of time as it is!"
Raven's eyes stayed on him for a long moment. Something in her expression shifted, like she was remembering a dream she hated.
"Just," Raven said carefully, "trust your instincts, I guess. If something feels off, don't force yourself?"
Aang distantly said to no one, "everything has felt off since Hei Bai..."
Katara's mouth twitched, but she corrected herself before he saw, for Aang's sake. She shifted closer to Raven, voice turning tentative in that way that meant she was testing whether the hawk with a broken wing might allow friendship again without pecking her hand.
"So," Katara began, "have you… actually used it before?"
Raven snorted. "No. I've held it. I've trained in its presence to know its power is very real. I've listened to our elders talk about it, and Arzaya, and her eternal conflict with Nagi within the spear. I've listened until my ears threatened to pack up and leave. But it didn't seem like a big deal." When she saw everyone looking at her like she was an insane idiot, she corrected, "It was… dormant then." Her eyes hardened, pushing back the three gazes. "It isn't dormant now."
Aang swallowed, but looked exhausted right after. "How do we make her go back to sleep," he said rather than asked, like everyone already agreed it was a top priority.
Katara hugged herself. "I just wish she would stop getting in my head." And she glanced at it innocently tucked under covers. "Please, thank you Lady Arzaya, ma'am."
"She's not doing that on purpose, I know that for sure." Raven's gaze flicked between Aang and Katara, and for a moment she looked genuinely thoughtful. "I think it leaks. Like heat from a blazing forge. Like… too much emotion." She made a face. "My father's had it close for too long. He's gotten so much worse. More… sharp. Cruel. More convinced the world owes him an ocean of blood."
Sokka lifted a finger. "And you're clearly fine because you just want that Zuko guy's."
Raven's eyes narrowed at him. "I owe him pain, and death when he's fucking earned it."
Aang's shoulders slumped. "Great. Cool. Awesome. Love that for us." He just wasn't going to hide his disgust for such bloodlust. "You're sure Arzaya isn't making you worse too?"
Raven tilted her head slightly, like he was too off base to offend her. "I can feel it too. The anger. But it doesn't get inside me the same way." She shrugged once, like it was irritatingly simple. "I know how to firebend. You learn to keep your breath steady. You don't live very long if you don't learn how not to burn yourself with the anger."
Neither Sokka nor Katara looked very convinced.
"I'm very experienced at being pissed off, okay?" Raven rolled her eyes to say as she let herself relax her posture for even just a moment. It felt good on her wounds.
Aang's eyes widened, hope flaring. "So if I learn firebending, I can resist it?"
Katara's head snapped toward him. "Aang. Just get rid of it. Firebend later."
Aang tried to backpedal mid-sentence. "It's just good to know, I'm not tempted to keep it again." And he unconvincingly laughed like Katara was out of her mind, somehow on accident, because he really didn't have any desire to try to wield it again. Like, not if he couldn't control it or resist it's influence. Certainly not.
Katara's face crumpled into something almost comical in its misery. "Please remember I'm a waterbender, I just have to put up with feeling awful," she dryly said as even Sokka gave her a quick compassionate look.
Sokka patted her shoulder with oafish solemnity. "It's okay. Maybe you can learn… wet-firebending. Steambending?"
Katara slapped his hand away. "Sokka, that's dumb."
Raven blinked at them, a little stunned by how normal that sounded, by how much it sounded like… they could disagree and it didn't start a fight instantly. Her eyes softened just a fraction before sharpening again. She found herself wanting something they had, but she couldn't put her finger on exactly what it was, although it certainly made her want to stick around to figure it out.
"So, um... Raven," Katara said, jolting Raven out of her brief reverie she hadn't realized she'd fallen into, "why do you hate Zuko so much?"
The air went tight. It was the question everyone had been afraid to ask, but something about Raven had softened enough that Katara finally dared. Even Appa's ceaseless pouty bellows halted. Momo's sizable ears poked up from within a pack of unsorted attire. Raven's jaw clenched. Her eyes went distant, then hard, then colder than the sea. She was silent, but her lip's trembling rage was quite loud.
Katara instantly regretted it. "You don't have to answer, I'm sorry, I just…"
"I don't want to discuss it," Raven said, flat as stone.
Katara nodded fast. "Okay. Okay."
The peak tension eased for a moment, back to the hovering unanswered dread. But then Raven spoke anyway, voice so controlled it sounded like it had been practiced in front of a mirror a thousand times until she almost learned how to say it without shaking.
"He murdered my little sister," Raven emptily stated, but her whole body writhed in stiff jerks and tensing muscles as she spit out through her painfully clenched teeth, "and he acts like I'm crazy for caring."
Everyone went very still. Aang almost felt embarrassed for having questioned her bloodlust before. Almost. Sokka took in a hissing breath, and reeled back from both Raven and Katara too. His sister was looking nearly as intent on violence as crazy firebender girl, and that didn't bode well for much of anything.
The words that came out were barely words at all. "Spirits… I had no idea..."
"He... really did that?" Aang asked, real pain in his voice.
Raven's eyes flashed. "Do you think I made it up for fun?" Her tone grew like Aang was in deep shit if he didn't make it right.
"No," Sokka quickly clarified for the endangered boy. "We don't, it's just really awful." And he glanced to Aang who was just looking lost. "Right, Aang?"
Aang swallowed hard, throat too tight and still needing assurance. "Zuko… did that?"
Raven's mouth twisted. "It's why he was banished. He ruined everything." She coolly stated, voice like a blade cutting the words. But it cracked as she faintly added, "and now we're on the verge of civil war..." like somewhere deep down she was far beyond tired of suffering.
Katara's eyes were glossy, not from fear now, but from something heavy and awful. "Raven, I… I'm so sorry."
"…Maybe," Sokka said slowly, and it sounded like he hated himself for saying it, "maybe we should just… let you have it." He had to nod to Arzayanagi to catch everyone up.
Katara's head snapped toward him, horrified. "Sokka!"
Raven didn't look at Sokka to agree or Katara to snap back. She didn't reach for the bundle. She didn't smile or frown, she just sat and thought. The shrieking whistle of flaming white spears streaking through the sky. An army of deathless fiery wraiths—imprints of her own fanatic ancestors—pressing up against the inside of Arzayanagi in an endless gilded and dark tunnel flicering with fire, and begging her to let them out, to let them help. Her fingers tightened on her snack-bag strap until the leather creaked.
Aang gave a serious glare. "You would blow up the whole temple. I've seen what that thing does."
Raven finally looked at him, eyes sharp. "Then I won't let him get that far."