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***
"Haaahhh~!" Exhaling a heavily and viewing his breath turning mist-like, a lean, bearded man leaned against the snowy openings resembling a window within the castle built on the opposite side of the giant wall that isolated the Water Tribe from the rest of the world quite literally. The man wore a red overcoat lined with golden fur as he silently viewed the fluttering flag that looked more brown than red due to the pervasive darkness.
*Tok*
*Tok*
*Tok*
Breaking the silence was a series of slow footsteps that seemed to echo through the icy hallway. For a moment, the man looked to his side, his expression briefly shifting from guilt to indifference as he turned to view the tribe outside. A few houses still had torches alight outside their doors that gave the viewer a sense of mysticism hard to find elsewhere in this world.
"Viewing the fruits of your labor?" The cold tone laced with sarcasm caused the man's brows to knit with displeasure but he kept his silence, "I remember the days when the lights wouldn't go out due to the waterbenders regulating the temperature... hmm, like that region." The cool and collected voice seemed to mark one portion of the region where the man refused to look.
While fire nation soldiers committed rounds upon rounds of patrolling— vigilantly, the man hoped, there was one small section of the tribe closer to the entrance that was similar to a beacon in this darkness. Many sources of lights were visible even from such a far location but the greater distance assured that instead of a prominent sight, the view felt like a small firefly resting by the port.
"I was not aware you were awake, my love," the man responded despite the annoyance that would flare nowadays when he met her, including now.
Hearing a derisive scoff emerged from the other party's lips as she soon leaned against the snowy window next to him, the man's mood plummeted further.
"Red suits you, Hahn," The woman commented with a deadpan expression as Hahn looked towards her for a second. Unlike other women of the tribe, she wore her silver hair in an elaborate manner that included two thick locks framing the sides of her face and the majority of hair pulled up and tied down by a blue pendant before parting outwards as if fashioned into two loops. Her blue eyes were lighter than most, including his, and her lips held a naturally remarkable light pink shade that made them alluringly inviting when contrasted with the exotic caramel, or sometimes darker skin tones of the water tribe members.
The woman wore a purplish fur-lined overcoat with the hoody pulled back and her white gloves seemed to be made of silk rather than an animal's tanned hide.
What made Hahn's eyes twitch wasn't the fact that her lips were curved in a scornful taste but her neck was... lacking something.
"I see you have kept your Betrothal Necklace somewhere safe," Hahn forced a smile.
"Yes," the woman turned to look at him. Her eyes curving in a genuine smile, a rare sight nowadays, as she surprised Hahn with her words, "Your Betrothal Necklace rests safely under the deep ocean."
"What?!" Hahn flared in an instant, his gloved hands clenching the snowy edges of the window while the woman mocked with a genuinely perplexed expression of her own, "Is that so strange? Did you really consider I would hold a shred of affection for you after you caused the death of my father? Caused the Fire Nation to invade successfully and now isolate our brethren!"
"I did it so that the tribe could survive!" Hahn growled, "Your father wouldn't listen to reason. It was about time the Tribe gained a chieftain who knew how to lead the tribe to survive!"
With her icy blue eyes gaining a tinge of pity, the woman looked outside once again, "Maybe it should have been you who rested under the ocean while I could have been spared the fate as hilarious and ridiculous as this—"
*Smack*
A large, backhanded palm struck the woman's cheek in that instant. Its force caused the woman to buckle down in an instant as her left ear issued a high-pitched ring as her left cheek grew warmer and warmer until it stung. In between the annoying shrill pitch, the woman looked up and heard Hahn scoffing. His words were barely audible.
"Don't forget your place," He remarked with a cruel gaze as he lowered slightly to then gently stroke where it hurt, "You know how much it pains me to hit you."
Disgusted by his sick, gentle gaze and tone, the woman gritted her teeth, swallowing a bout of blood that had formed within her mouth and bared her teeth more like a feral animal than a reputable princess, "My place? It's not on my knees, that I know!"
Shoving Hahn's hand, the woman tried to get up to no avail. Her knees wouldn't listen and then finally, she pulled herself up by using the snowy edge as a support. Yet, her silk gloves slipped, causing the silver-haired woman to fall down once again.
"It seems that even fate has decided your position," Hahn shook his head with a disappointed gaze, "You're too much like your father, Yue. There's still time, listen to me. The rebels will be crushed or exiled, worse— imprisoned once again. Keep these shenanigans up, you won't be left with the honor of being my wife."
"Honor?" Yue coldly chuckled, her expression more vicious than Hahn could have expected as she hissed, "You stole the position of the chieftain similar to how you deceitfully stole my body, but even a thief must know what it is looking for. You don't have a shred of honor, how can you even think of stealing something you are so foreign to?"
Although Yue didn't curse Hahn outright due to the morals and the traditions of the tribe restricting a wife to do so to her husband, Hahn at his moment felt that it would have been better to hear a curse instead of his entire achievements settled to the point of nothingness in her eyes.
Gritting his teeth, Hahn snatched Yue's throat in a tight grip and pulled her up, both of their glares meeting one another, "Why do you always do this? It hurts me more to harm you but wench, you know the right buttons to push, don't you? If it is death that you seek—"
"Kill me!" Yue grinned, almost screeching in between her short breathes, "Free me of your cruel but impotent clutches. My death will only cause others to finally understand what a true piece of work you are!"
Scowling at her words, Hahn flung Yue away.
Just before the two could continue what Hahn explained as a domestic 'quarrel' to outsiders, a flash of fire rose high before disappearing quickly.
Other flashes followed soon and a soft clamoring noise got prominent. If it wasn't for their own ruckus, Hahn would have heard it earlier. Casting his gaze at the direction of the battle, his expression morphed into that of shock.
"Damn it! Weren't these guys supposed to go after Zhao?"
Not sparing Yue another glance, Hahn quickly left the area to probably increase the defense and send letters to alert everyone of importance.
Alone, Yue held her left cheek softly and bit her trembling lower lip. Her hair had gotten a bit disheveled due to the recent events as her locks covered a majority of her eyes.
A single teardrop glistened under the gentle rays of the bright moon before falling down her chin.
---
"Where did they go?"
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A small troop of fire nation soldiers soon approached a group of soldiers scuffled in various regions as they were regaining their breaths while keeping a tight hold of their weapons.
"Sir," one of the men on the ground with a bandaged left knee gasped, "We were ambushed. Only a small group of waterbenders kept us busy while almost all of them snuck towards the palace!"
"What?!" The leader of the group was instantly shocked as he turned to order his men.
Since they were still in the region rather unpopulated due to proximity to the rebel camp, the surroundings were quite gloomy and the sight of ragged soldiers charged the morale of the other soldiers who wanted to avenge the injured ones.
At this moment, the group of newcomers felt their ground tremble.
*Bfffff*
Snow and ice collapsed as the group of newcomers fell down in an icy cavern. Snow and ice instantly collected on these men and women as the same injured soldier who reported previously called out again, "Katara, Mai, they're all for you!"
Noticing a rather disturbing sight of a few men and women stripped to their underwear and with their limbs tied gazing at them desperately, credit to the number of torches placed around, the leader found two clothed individuals staring at him.
"Attack—" before his order could be formed completely, the woman in blue moved like an enchanting specter as the ice and snow around him turned into liquid before quickly freezing to form perfectly solid ice without any cracks.
"See? I told you guys trap would catch them off-guard!" One of the soldiers behind took off their mask to reveal a dark-skinned man grinning like a fool while Suki took off her mask, too, nodding, "Let's keep at it. Nik, can you move?"
"Why move when I can slide?" Nik chuckled, waterbending a slide before slipping down and stripping the newcomers, too.
"You're—" The leader's teeth clattered due to the cold as Nik smiled, "If you say a cripple, I'm going to take your underwear, too." Nik narrowed his eyes, causing the man to quickly shut his mouth because he was well aware of Nik and his accomplishments. Almost every upper-level personnel was made privy to Nik's dangerous abilities.
Yet, all was for naught.
With the new group captured, too, Suki had to leave a few men here to escort the prisoners to the rebel camp.
If they win this battle then all will be fine but if, due to some unforeseen situation, they didn't, Suki wanted to have some soldiers hostage just so they weren't sitting ducks later on.
With this task settled, Nik and others were promptly pulled out and the remaining hunters set out again.
By now, they were completely subdued. If it wasn't for Nik easily procuring so many uniforms and weapons with a single tap of his left hand, the hunter would have definitely faced some losses and now with cold weapons in their hands instead of bony ones, they could temporarily play the role of fire nation soldiers.
For a second, Nik couldn't help but stop and look up. Aside from the chilly gusts, he heard the soft flapping of wings which stood out but being unable to see too far in the dark and this environment, Nik put this fleeting discovery out of his mind. After all, if a bird wants to fly this late in the night, why would Nik want to try and stop it? Not to mention the fact that his whole reputation with the spirit world, due to Mokshi, is freedom.
---
*Flutter*
Up on the crow's nest with a golden monocular scope in his hand, Zhao observed the pattern of the attack carefully, unfazed by the chilly wind.
It has been almost 30 minutes and aside from the first cruiser the waterbenders could topple, Zhao could see them struggling. Truly, the Northern Water Tribe was a magnificent fortress that was lost to the northerners due to their unfortunate generation but the same cannot be said about the ocean and sea.
Although surrounded by their own element, the waterbenders were human and needed to balance themselves before waterbending. As long as Zhao continued to fire in the general direction of the benders, he could make them struggle to form their defenses and return attacks. Not to mention the fact that even if the waterbenders took to the sea and surfed, they would be wasting their chi in a non-essential aspect of the battle.
Still, Zhao had yet to move any cruiser closer to the benders.
Well, he did try but the other party. was shrewd, too. They wouldn't let themselves get encircled by the fire nation cruisers and almost toppled another one of them which made Zhao a bit cautious. It was a common piece of knowledge that the prowess of a waterbender is significantly boosted during the night as would the firebender's prowess increase during the morning.
What Zhao looking for, however, wasn't Pakku that was easy to find. It was a little critter by the name of Nik whose abilities had begun to haunt him.
While Zhao may have been defeated due to Aang in Omashu, it was Nik who got out of the bounds, first. Similarly, in Makapu Village, it was Nik's ability that made it so easy to break the prisoners out.
The thought of Nik made Zhao gnash his teeth together when he heard the sound of someone stepping on the metal ladder. Giving appropriate space, Zhao found a young interpreter stepping out and saluting before handing him a small rolled-up piece of parchment. The parchment was only tied instead of being sealed and even then, it looked quite... bad.
"Admiral, this was delivered to us from the Messenger Hawk settled within the palace of the Northern Tribe." The youth reported.
Still, not to be the one who would miss out on important information due to the way it is represented, Zhao undid the knot and silently went through the contents before cursing loudly.
"Little Bastard!"
Zhao growled.
"Move," shoving the youth aside, Zhao hurried down the ladder and ordered every single ship—
"To the Water Tribe!"
Instantly perceiving the movements of the ships, Pakku couldn't help but grumble, "Never should have expected things to go easily... I hope they have enough in stock to make Zhao apprehensive..."
"Master Pakku, what's going on?" Noting the lack of attacks, one of the men inquired cautiously.
"This is a diversion. Quick, to the entrance. We must protect the wall at all cost!"
Zhao only needed to say such and already known to his nature, his many generations of students did as he commanded without another thought.