Operation Avatar

“The boats?” Azora exclaimed after Shen explained his half-thought plan. Without warning she took his head in her hands and examined the gash on his forehead. “We need to get this gash taken care of; it’s making you talk crazy. I’m sure we can go see the physician before-"

Shen pulled away from Azora, shaking his head. “I’m fine, Azora. Listen, we don’t have time. We need to go. Now.”

“I know. But…” She sighed and looked at the flaming docks. “But…How can we do it? Fire Nation soldiers are all over the place looking for me. How are we going to get past this, Shen?”

Shen grabbed a hold of Azora’s forearms and pulled her close to him. His eyes caught hers. “Do you trust me?”

“What kind of question is that? Of course I trust you. But how-“

“Do you trust me?” Shen repeated with authority.

Azora couldn’t tear herself from Shen’s eyes. For as long as she had known him they were warm and playful, but right now, they were hard, anticipating what was to come. For the second time today she was surprised by how much he had grown.

“Yes.”

“Then do exactly as I say.”



Azora looked over the cliff edge. The ocean splashed violently against the wall of earth at least two hundred feet below. A sudden sensation of vertigo overcame her and Azora quickly sat down for fear of falling off the side.

“Is there any other way?” she asked, her voice weak.

“Not unless you want to confront the Fire Nation.”

Azora’s eyes remained fixed at the ocean below. It was a crazy plan; scale down the cliff side, swim to shore and sneak onto one of the Fire Nation boats. Then they would have to commandeer the ship and sail away, evading the rest of the Fire Nation as they did so. It was crazy, but it was the only chance they had.

Without saying anything further Shen swung his legs over the side of the cliff. He flipped over onto his stomach and, giving Azora a cheeky grin, started his descent.

Azora watched in terror as Shen slowly climbed down the cliff side. His hands clung to the earth and feet balanced on small ledges. Whenever he couldn’t find a clear hold he would pound the earth with his fist and bend a ledge into existence. His muscles bulged from the exertion and Azora could see a deep frown of concentration cross his face.

She glanced over her shoulder. A great plume of smoke now hung over the forest, which rested at the bottom of the cliff. The Fire Nation was coming nearer. She didn’t have much time to waste. Without giving it any real thought, Azora swung her legs over the edge, twisted her body around, and started following Shen’s path.

Time had no meaning to her. She had no idea if she had been hanging onto the side of the cliff for ten minutes or an hour. All she was thinking about was finding the next handhold and stepping firmly on the next ledge.

In no time her muscles shook with fatigue and she could feel her heart pounding in her throat. Her palms were slick with sweat. She braved a glance down to see how much further. She was about halfway down the cliff; Shen was twenty feet lower than that.

Okay. You’re almost there, Azora. Almost there. Almost—

Suddenly, she slipped. Her hand fell through the air. She waved her arm around wildly, trying to grab hold of the stone. It didn’t work. If anything, it made it worse. Her balance was gone and the next thing she knew, she was falling through the air.

Azora screamed, or at least she thought she did. She didn’t know exactly what was going on. It was like someone else had control of her body, and she couldn’t do anything but watch her approaching death.

She felt a strong arm grip around her waist. For a split second she had stopped falling, but that short moment of relief was cut short as Shen lost his own balance. Together they tumbled to their death.

Azora wretched her eyes closed and thought only of Shen’s arm around her waist. She didn’t want to die thinking of fear or regret. She wanted to die thinking only of Shen, the man who loved her.

Shen, apparently, wasn’t ready to die. A mighty cry tore from his throat as he punched the cliff with his free hand. A sickening crack filled Azora’s ears. Azora’s limbs flailed down like a ragdoll and there was a tight pressure around her midriff as Shen pulled her to a stop.

Not knowing what was going on, Azora peeked an eye open. She saw the churning ocean about ten feet below. She turned her head upwards. Shen had his eyes closed, his jaw was clenched, and he was panting. His arm was elbow-deep in the stone.

Azora quickly bended a small ledge for them to stand on. It was difficult to do; Earth Bending was best done when the bender had a steady stance. Azora did not have that, dangling off the side of a cliff. But she somehow managed.

Azora helped Shen remove his arm from the cliff by bending the earth outwards. Shen didn’t say anything, but his panting intensified into short bursts of air. The moment he removed his arm Azora knew it was broken. There was a deep twist in the forearm signaling it was misaligned. But the bone had not broken through the skin; that was a good sign.

“Shen, your arm…”

With a grimace Shen folded his lame arm against his chest. “It’s okay. I’ll manage. Look, we’re almost to the docks.”



By some miracle they made it to the shore. Azora supported Shen the rest of the way down the cliff which, thankfully, had many wide ledges as they approached the ocean. There were many protruding rocks that broke the crashing waves, so it was an easy swim to shore.

Azora could hardly believe they made it to shore. The docks were only fifty feet away. She smiled. They did it. Now all they had to do was get on a boat, which should be easy enough because all the soldiers were in the village.

Together Azora and Shen snuck across the shore and to the docks. There was a wooden ramp leading up to it. They were halfway up the ramp when there was an explosion a few feet in front of them. Flaming splinters of wood flew everywhere and Azora was forced to shield her eyes.

“Who goes there?”

Azora looked up in horror. A masked Fire Nation soldier was looking down at them. His fists were raised and tendrils of smoke from the fire bomb he just sent rose from them. Much to her dismay, a handful of soldiers quickly backed up the first.

Shen protectively stepped in front of Azora.

Azora placed a hand on Shen’s shoulder. “What are you doing?” she whispered

“I’m not going to let them take you. Don’t worry, we’ll get through this.”

Azora bit her lip in silence and looked at Shen’s maimed arm. There was no way he was going to be able to stand up against four soldiers.

“I said: who goes there?”

Shen didn’t say anything and Azora couldn’t; she was paralyzed by fear.

The soldiers advanced closer. Azora and Shen slowly backed away down the ramp until their feet rested on the shore.

“Say, boy. Who are you protecting? What’s so special about this girl?”

Shen slowly twisted his body into a fighting stance. This made the soldiers laugh.

“Be reasonable, boy. You don’t stand a chance against us.”

Shen didn’t say anything, but he deepened into a crouch. Don’t do it, Shen. Don’t do it.

The soldiers were only an arm’s length away. They weren’t taking Shen seriously.

“Just let us see the girl and you can be on your way. As long as you have nothing to hide everything is going to be fine.”

Azora looked at the soldier in horror. She was aware of his hand reaching for her, preparing to grab onto her arm, but there was nothing she could do to stop it. It’s over. I’m caught.

It all happened so fast Azora didn’t know what was happening until it was over.

The soldier grabbed onto her arm and yanked her out from behind Shen.

In reaction, Shen sent a boulder, bended from the sand, hurtling at the soldier. The soldier dodged it.

A blink of an eye later the three other soldiers retaliated, each sending a fire bomb straight at Shen. He didn’t have a chance to block or dodge. All three bombs hit him right in the chest, knocking him to the ground.

He didn’t move.

Azora wasn’t thinking. Wasn’t breathing. She was just staring in horror at the still form on the ground. He wasn’t moving. Wasn’t breathing. He wasn’t alive.

“Shen! Shen! Shen!” Her screams tore from her chest like some sort of beast. She tried to break free from the grip the soldier had on her, but to no avail. Her body was fatigued from climbing and she had no strength left.

“This one’s a feisty one,” the soldier laughed. A grubby pair of hands reached to her face and pried her eyelids wide open. “Yellow eyes. Yep, this is the one we are looking for. Call Commander Zenshu; tell him we have the girl.”

Impossible rage boiled in her blood. The world turned red and a ringing filled her ears. The earth beneath her began to shake. Wide chasms formed in the ground, causing the soldiers to leap around to avoid being swallowed into the earth.

“What the—? Is that little bitch doing this?”

“I don’t know. Will someone just take care of it?”

“For crying out loud—“

Azora felt a sharp pain in the back of her head. She fell to the ground. The rumbling stopped and she felt the world dissolve into blackness.