The Lady Xia

thirty-nine: Peace and Balance

"Anyone who does anything to help a child in his life is a hero to me. "
~ Fred Rogers AKA Mr. Rogers

~*~

"In order for us to even make a dent in the attack, we're going to need to be spread out," Hideki said.

"Put me in the center," I told him.

Hideki frowned, "of the three of us, she's the most powerful bender," Kenzou reminded before jumping off of the eel hound.

"Be careful," Hideki warned.

"I will," I told him as he came to a stop. "See you soon."

Hideki didn't say anything as he directed the eel hound further down the way. I could see the Fire Nation ships approaching us, and the largest one in the center had to be Ozai's. Only he would make it so ornamental and obvious to fuel his ego.

"I hope you're coming Aang," I said as the sky turned red and I felt the power from the comet. There was no hope of trying to shoot down the airships, but there was a possibility of redirecting the flames.

A few minutes passed, and then the ships slowly moved closer. I didn't have to wait long before fire began to rain down onto the Earth Kingdom, burning everything in its path. I quickly began absorbing the heat from the flames or trying to redirect them, but it didn't do much.

There was too much fire. Too much energy. And far too much heat that the three of us were no match against the Fire Nation. The problem was, I didn't have anywhere to send the flames. A place to release the energy. If I did try to release the energy, I would just end up burning something around me.

All of the energy had to go somewhere. It has to escape somehow. I moved back as the flames became too strong, and soon, Hideki was by my side. "I can't send the energy anywhere!" He panted. "I try to absorb it, but there's not enough time.

I looked around nervously, there didn't seem to be a good solution to what was happening. But with the amount of energy alone, we should be able to do something. Anything! Even fly...

I looked at Hideki and he returned my intense glance with a nervous one of his own. "What are you thinking? Because it feels like you're going to freak me out."

"I have an idea," I told him.

"What?"

"We have nowhere safe to direct the flames, right?"

"Duh."

I gave him a flat look, "what if we were in the air?"

"We're firebenders, not airbenders," Hideki said dryly.

"But with as much energy as there is, I think I could keep myself up. Absorb the nearby flames and energy, and keep the fire in the air. It wouldn't burn anything below, because it wouldn't reach it," I said quickly.

"That's insane," Hideki said.

"What's insane?" Kenzou questioned as he ran up, also out of breath, trying to fight a never-ending fire.

"Xia wants to fly," Hideki summarized.

"What? You can't fly," Kenzou said in confusion.

"If I can get up there, I think the extra power from the comet will keep me up. And if I channel all of the fire, all of the energy, from the fire coming out of Ozai and his goons, I can stay up there. I can use what they're making, against them."

"And then get shot full of lightning," Hideki said.

"I have to try," I said sullenly as I took a deep breath.