Chapter 74: Chapter 74 – We have an impostor among us

 

***
Arnook goes to his new residence, which used to be an empty house, he had lost his palace, and now had to live in such small quarters with only two bedrooms, but he didn't mind.

His mind was heavy with the decision he will have to make tomorrow, and as he stared into the horizon, he saw the sun rising. A new day was already to come about, and the anxiety in his heart kept rising. "And just like that, a new day comes about." 

It was a beautiful sunrise that brought him a sense of damnation. No soldiers have clashed, yet the Fire Nation destroying the Northern Water Tribe felt inevitable, discouraging the higher-ups. At least the people that weren't in high places had no idea what was happening and they still hadn't had their hopes crushed yet.

Arnook took a plate of food towards his daughter's room and knocked. "Yue, breakfast is here. Come out and eat."

She hadn't eaten anything since yesterday, and that worried him like any parent would feel concerned for their child starving. 

Surprisingly, Yue came out, her eyes were bloodshot as if she had cried all night. Arnook didn't know what to say or do, once again he was caught between a rock and a hard place. He could see that his daughter needed all of his attention. As a parent, it was his duty to be with her.

Yue gazed at her father and smiled gently. "Don't worry, I am not hurt or anything."

Arnook's heart clenched, once again his duties as a father and a leader clashed. But he could do nothing but smile. "Yue, I will always love you. You're my daughter. If you ever need anything, tell me."

Yue, like always, her kindness shone through as she smiled. "I am fine, father, I was just tired after the events of yesterday. Sokka also offered help, he is kind."

Hearing Sokka's name, made Arnook frown for a split second, but he came to his senses quickly, as he didn't want his daughter to see this side of him. 

"Father, if you ever can, please help Sokka too, he is a kind guy," requested Yue, with a strange, but satisfied smile on her face.

Arnook sighed, once again, his conflicting feelings just continued getting more complicated. 

'What do I do? This situation… I have no experience in dealing with it.'

***
After around eight hours, as midday came about, many catapult shots were launched by the Fire Nation, shooting giant clumps of earth covered in flames.

Just like before, Sokka, Arnook, Pakku, and the other Elders were here. Amongst them, Sokka seemed the most relaxed. He even yawned, which annoyed quite some Elders. But by now, their relationship was already bad, so Sokka no longer had a reason to bother being polite to them.

Arnook wasn't the only one who had thought about some things last night, everyone here had their agenda. Each of them had a general plan of what they wanted from this meeting and would end up satisfied if they didn't get it. 

Everyone awaited the Chieftain's decision. Arnook could feel the gazes on him. "I have decided on a plan. Sokka, you are a smart young man, and I am thankful for everything you have done. After this war is finished, you can ask me for one favour and I will do my best to accommodate your request. Even though you're young, your intelligence knows no bounds."

The Elders started frowning, seeing their leader complimenting Sokka so much made them suspicious of Arnook and what he was going to choose.

"I have thought it through a lot, and in the end, my decision is…" he paused, and sighed. "To follow Sokka's plan, it was nothing short of genius and he was the one that came up with it."

Sokka smiled, the elders were left grumbling, but Arnook wasn't done yet as he continued. "Though Elder Song, Ming, and Tai will be in charge."

Immediately, Sokka's smile turned into a frown and concluded.

'Arnook, you dumbass, are you trying to please both sides? The real world doesn't work like that. Trying to please everyone will end up with everyone hating you.' 

The Elders that were sent to this mission were quite radical, and the main opposition. Arnook thought that giving everyone a part of what they wanted would please both sides, but it had the opposite effect, as Sokka frowned, holding his words in. 

While the mentioned Elders felt like they were some subordinates, made to follow Sokka's plan no matter what.

In the end, everyone was unsatisfied, Arnook took notice of this and he too wanted to get angry. He had a daughter at home that needed him most, but he instead had to deal with these three-sided parties. But in the end, he still failed.

Sokka got up and walked out of the meeting room with an annoyed look on his face. 

*
As soon as he went outside, his angry gaze shifted as a small smile took place on his face, showing that all along, it was all just a ploy. Sokka didn't care about the Northern Water Tribe as it was just an end to a means for him.

**
On the sea close by, a pigeon flew through the sky and landed on Azula's ship, like always the princess wasn't slacking and instead personally kept an eye out on each event herself. She didn't want anything to go wrong.

Tu Lee and Mai were accompanying her, like always. 

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The white pigeon landed on Azula's arm, with a small note tied to its leg. "Well, look what we have here, it seems like he finally decided to send something."

"Why are you so sure that it's Kuzon?" Ty Lee inquired, her curious nature seemed to get the best of her most of the time. But Azula didn't mind answering, as she opened the small note and smirked, just as she had expected, it was from Kuzon. 

The small letter held a very detailed explanation of times, routes, and everything. Mai glanced at the paper and was confused, it seemed too complicated.  "What's this?"

"A plan," the Fire Princess chuckled. "Seems like Kuzon has figured out a plan on how the Northern Water Tribe wants to raid us at night, during the full moon."

"Uhhhh… you seem unworried," Ty Lee muttered awkwardly, seeing that her old friend didn't seem even a little nervous at the news of waterbending assassins being sent after her. While we were still at sea, the assassins would even have the advantage of the full moon too.

***
Night came about, and another full moon stood up in the sky, like a miniature sun about to die out, as it shone soft light down on the sea.

Outside of the royal ship, a crew of waterbenders slowly came out from underwater and started climbing the boat, using waterbending and helping the non-benders get on the deck as quietly as they could.

"You guys came later than expected," Azula's voice rang out in the ship and the attackers looked up, some of the elders gazed up in fear. They hadn't planned to fight here, just hit a couple of guards and ran away, so at least they could use the excuse of things going wrong. If they saw a chance of winning the war, and their families' safety guaranteed, they might have tried helping the cause. But people were selfish, while they had a sense of a community, their nation, tribe, but in the end, was it wrong to want your safety and that of your family? 

To others, the Elders' actions might seem selfish. They knew that too, but they had important things they wanted to protect. The latest crumbing of the palace showed that the Northern Water Tribe and the chieftain couldn't guide or protect their interests any longer.

Elder Song, Ming, and Tai, the ones that had been at the forefront in demeaning Sokka's influence, looked each other in the eye and nodded. While their war experience might be lacking, Azula's gaze made it clear that none of them would be getting away tonight. So with that in mind, and the soldiers by their side, the elders resolved themselves. 

'By getting rid of their leader, we can stop this. Maybe we can truly be the heroes in this. There were only around fifteen guards around the young girl, and amongst them, there were another two young girls. So really, we would just have to fight just thirteen people. While numbers weren't on our side, we have a chance.'

That single thought predominated through their minds, and with the full moon assisting them, they drew a large mass of water from the ocean. Decades of waterbending together had made the old men be able to easily do coordinated bending. Even if as of lately they had gotten a little rusty due to age, maybe due to the dire situation, the elders noticed that they were bending better than they had ever done before in their lives.

"Sorry young lady, but we will have to get rid of you," said elder Tai, his long beard fluttering in the wind as a mass of water shot towards Azula and the guards surrounding her. "With the full moon on our side, a waterbender is unbeatable."

"Keep dreaming, old man. You're just a frog in the bottom of a well," after saying that, Awula in one swift motion conjured lighting, and as it hit the wave of water head-on, destroying it in an instant and making the water splatter.

The elders looked on in shock, as another lightning bolt was shot at them again. But this time, though after a split second they noticed that the target of the lightning wasn't them, but the deck of the ship below their feet,

BOOOOM!!!

An explosion was made as the lightning bolt hit the ground, within an instant, all of the soldiers were taken out, and the ones left were all dazed. Due to the stealthy nature of the mission, the Elders' team consisted of only ten people. All of which were taken out by Azula easily. 

Even though her enemies were down, and dazed, Azula didn't stop there as lightning crackled in his fingers again, and a malicious smile adorned her face. "Die."

By the end of the whole ordeal, only corpses were left of the attackers. Mai sneered, as the smell of burned flesh permeated in the air, and this had been a reminder of something she had forgotten. 

'Azula is crazy. Due to Kuzon's presence, it has slipped my mind, but undoubtedly, she is deranged, crazy, and ruthless. Azula will always be Azula. I have to keep that in mind, or next, I might be the target of that deadly lighting.' 

The fear that Mai thought had been forgotten, slowly crept into her heart again. Still, outwardly she acted as emotionless as always. "Shouldn't we have at least kept one of them alive?" Azula's gaze turned toward Mai and her yellow eyes shone in the dark like those of a viper. So Mai quickly added. "To extract information."

"No," Azula muttered, the terrifying smile on her face widening. "We have Kuzon. They would have been dangerous since they could have escaped."

She trusted him, after all, if this plan had taken her off guard, it would have turned out quite dangerous.

***
-Sokka POV-

I stood atop the icy walls of the tribe and looked at Azula's ship, and I couldn't make out what had exactly happened due to the long distance. But by using the [Map] function, all of the men that were sent disappeared from it. This meant that Azula had killed them all.

The Elders were getting on the way, and while I could understand where they were coming from, that didn't mean I would spare them. If a Nation I was living in couldn't protect me and my family, what was the use of following them? That was what probably went through their minds, and I would have done the same. But more delicately.

After doing some stretches, I went back to training waterbending and my spearmanship. Time waited for no one and not long from now, the full moon would be over. By then, I have to find a solution to this mess.  

…How should I go about this? If Azula had been incompetent, and needlessly prideful like the Elders, she would have made my job easier.

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