Blazing Crystal

A Taste of Victory

Katara stared down at the letter with horror, reading over the contents in disbelief. She looked at me with question as the last two minutes sunk into her.

"Where did you get this?" She looked back down. "That's definitely an official seal."

Sokka had been petting Appa still, and pondering over our next steps, but he overheard and stepped over to Katara reading the letter over her shoulder. Zuko waited for someone to explain from where he stood a little off from the group, and Aang and Toph waited with anticipation as well from beside Appa. As Sokka read the letter, his eyes narrowed in fury. "What?! The Dai Li knew about Omashu and didn't do anything! What's wrong with these people?!"

At the name Omashu, Aang quickly stepped over grabbing the letter from Katara and reading it. His eyes widened when he read the drastic note from his friend Bumi.

Gritting his teeth, he snapped, "Bumi asked for help and was ignored!" He looked at all of us with fury. "That's it! We're getting to the King right now! It's time we take Long Feng and his followers down." He turned and walked over to Appa. "Who's ready to break into a palace?"

Zuko was astonished by Aang's rash decision. "What? We're breaking into the palace?"

Sokka beamed with excitement. "Bring it on!"

"Wait!" Katara exclaimed. "Long Feng is in control of the city. His conspiracy with the Dai Li is too powerful. I think we should just keep flying and leave this horrible place behind us. I don't think you can go on much longer anyway, Crys."

"I'm fine," I promised, trying to sound convincing. "The sooner we stop the Dai Li then the sooner I can rest. King Kuei needs to know about the war if we're ever going to get one step closer to winning."

"Yeah!" Aang jumped back in. "And now that we have Appa back, there is nothing stopping us from telling the Earth King the truth about the conspiracy and the war."

"See! Aang and Crys are onboard!" Sokka was pumped and ready for an ambush. "It's the whole reason we came here in the first place... we have to try."

Katara let out a heavy sigh. "Well, I guess if the Earth King knew the truth, things could change..."

Toph pointed her finger at Sokka. "I don't trust the new positive Sokka. Long Feng brainwashed you, didn't he!"

Zuko looked at Toph with surprise. I smiled, saying, "Don't take her seriously. She's a goof."

Toph nodded in agreement. "You'll learn loverboy."

Sokka broke back in. "Enough chitchat! Let's get moving."

Just as the group was about to board Appa, Toph suddenly asked, "Wait... what about Zuko though? How do we explain the Fire Lord's son being with us?"

The group looked at Zuko with sudden uncertainty, and then Aang had an idea pop in his head. "Well technically King Kuei doesn't have to know Zuko is the Fire Lord's son. He probably doesn't know who the Fire Lord is anyway. If it gets out Zuko's a firebender, and the King questions us, we'll just tell him that Zuko grew up in the Earth Kingdom and offered to be my firebending teacher." Aang smiled with pride at his tale. "He'll never know!"

Katara scoffed. "Right... Because Zuko's such a model citizen now."

Her spite towards Zuko caused me to look at her with hurt. She caught my gaze and turned her head so she wouldn't have to feel guilty for being so cold to the guy I loved.

"I think it sounds great," Sokka commented, trying to lighten the mood.

Zuko smiled weakly. "It's not bad..."