46 Haru

Pov Aang:

It had been almost a week since Kyoshi had possessed me to face this woman called Aki. She wasn't exactly a human, but a creature with human form.

After that battle, my body suffered all kinds of damage, one of which was that some of my bones were broken. Katara helped me most of all, and I was forever in her debt.

Because of my injuries, I couldn't find out what had happened to Bumi, so we flew over Omashu at dusk with Appa. All my friends were against my attempt to enter Omashu and rescue Bumi.

I raised my hand and noticed that I was covered in bandages. It was painful to move, but I felt I was getting better.

At the moment, Katara and I were waiting with Appa and Momo for the return of Sokka and Suki, who were looking for food.

Although I was against the idea of eating meat, I understood that it was a necessity for other people.

Suki, on the other hand, had joined our group, encouraged by her mother, Yukari. At first, she was against it because she was devastated by the loss of her home, but she recovered her fighting spirit to challenge the oppression of the Fire Nation.

- They're taking their time. - I commented, watching the clouds to distract myself.

- I wonder why. - muttered Katara, suspecting that her brother wasn't just hunting animals.

A sound of moving plants and bushes alerted Katara, who prepared to protect the weakened Avatar.

- Calm down, it's us! - said Suki, carrying some dead animals on her back.

Suki was wearing a greenish kimono without her characteristic war paint, but she still wore her battle fans around her waist.

- We brought lunch. - said Sokka, holding a bag of various fruits.

I struggled to get up, not wanting to aggravate my injuries. Everyone was starving and we needed to get some rest.

*Boom!*

We were all taken by surprise by a loud noise that sounded like an explosion.

- Are we being attacked? - asked Suki, her weapons ready for battle.

- The explosion was in that direction! - I pointed to my right. I used my airbending to make it easier for me to walk, reducing the stress on my body.

Katara quickly followed Aang, worried about her friend's recklessness in moving with his injuries, but also concerned about where the explosion was coming from. Suki and little Momo followed, curious about the source of the sound.

- Shouldn't we be running away from explosions and not the other way around? - Sokka complained, looking at the food that was being ignored by the group. - It would be rude not to eat some.

The young Avatar and his friends saw a brown-skinned man wearing a worn green kimono with a few rips in the fabric. His black hair was quite long, his eyes were green and he had a scruffy beard.

What impressed the Avatar team was the fact that the man could manipulate the earth with great skill, lifting stones with a single hand. His earth manipulation skills were quite impressive in the eyes of the Avatar team.

- An Earthbender! - said Katara, surprised and excited to witness a new mastery.

- He looks dangerous! - said Sokka, ready for battle.

- Let's stay out of trouble while we can. - Suki continued, embodying the group, noticing the waterbender's sudden disappearance.

- Hi, I'm Katara, what's your name? - Katara was practically a few meters in front of the mysterious man, causing Suki to slap herself in the face.

The man, realizing he was being watched, created a landslide on top of Katara, practically trying to hide any trace of a witness at the scene.

- Katara! - I shouted, using my Airbend to pull her safely into my arms. Something that was going to cause a lot of pain next. - Are you... Are you all right?

- I'm fine! Thank you for saving me.

- That bastard! I'll finish him off! - Sokka shouted, grabbing his gun to attack the stranger, but quickly realized that he had disappeared.

- There must be a village nearby. - said Suki, alert to the possibility of another attack.

- Katara, you can't keep exposing yourself like this, if it hadn't been for Aang, you would have been injured. - said Sokka, regaining her composure.

- That's strange, why did he run away? - I asked myself. - Maybe he acted on impulse when he saw me, he looked scared.

- Even so, we should continue on our way, if he turns out to be an informer, it will be difficult to escape the Fire Nation. - said Suki, putting away her fans.

- If there's a village here, I have to make sure everything's okay. - My words caught the group's attention. - It's my duty to keep the peace, and if that man reacted like that when he saw Katara, it means his village could be in trouble.

- It's still too risky. - Suki said.

- It's my duty as the Avatar, and until we reach the North Pole, I'll do everything I can to help people. - I said confidently.

Suki was thoughtful, not liking the idea of putting the Avatar in more danger than they were already in. Denying her instincts, she decided to follow Aang's wishes.

Climbing up the mountain, they found a village beneath several cliffs, all the buildings made of rock, from the smallest house to the largest.

Getting into the village wasn't difficult, the real problem was that we all had too many flashy clothes, so we decided to buy some cloaks to at least attract less attention.

The villagers are quite modest, some even amusing, but it was undeniable that the people looked sad and desolate.

Looking out of the corner of my eye, I quickly noticed Katara running towards an old store with several cracks in the wall.

- You! - Katara pointed at the Bender who had almost buried her an hour ago. - You almost buried me!

The man turned around in surprise and quickly became alert. His expression showed that he was frustrated and angry with himself.

- You must have mistaken him for someone else. - said the man, trying to convince Katara of a possible mistake.

- Do you know this girl? - asked an older woman standing behind the counter of her store.

Aang, Sokka, Suki and the flying lemur quickly joined Katara, all of whom immediately recognized the earthbender.

- Do you think you can get away with killing my sister? - Sokka approached and grabbed the man's shirt, managing to lift him off the ground in a fit of rage.

- Haru, what are you talking about and who are these people? - said the woman, worried that her son had gotten into trouble.

- They saw me practicing Earthbending. - said Haru, lamenting his bad luck.

- What? You promised me you'd never bend the earth! - said the woman as she ran towards Sokka, holding his arm but unable to stop Sokka's fury. - Whatever my son did, it wasn't on purpose, he's a good boy.

Katara saw the woman's upset reaction and immediately remembered her dead mother, quickly forgetting any grudge she might have held against the man called Haru.

- Sokka, let him go! - Katara asked, influenced by memories of a past trauma.

- Katara? - Sokka looked at his sister, seeing the pleading in her eyes.

Sokka reluctantly let Haru fall to the ground, making her sister sigh with relief.

- I'm so sorry. - said Haru, looking contrite. - You have every right to punish me, but please leave my mother out of this.

- I'll forgive you if you tell me why your mother told you not to bend the earth. - Katara crossed her arms, trying to resolve the doubt that had arisen in her heart.

- The reason I shouldn't bend the earth is...

*BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!*

Everyone turned quickly to see a Fire Nation soldier looking old and grumpy. His body was clearly overweight, which made his steps seem heavy.

- I may have heard wrong, but who knew! - The soldier walked as if he were untouchable. - Haru, so you've inherited your father's skill... you're not as useless as I thought.

Everyone was tense, especially Haru afraid of being separated from his sick mother and Suki with his warrior instincts ready to kill the Fire Nation soldier.

Sokka clenched his fist and prepared to strike at the first opportunity.

Before any rash moves could be made, someone knocked on the door, drawing everyone's attention, especially the Fire Nation soldier, who turned around curiously, but his skin turned white with fear when he saw who was entering the humble store.

- May I ask why this tense atmosphere? - said a woman wearing a distinctive Fire Nation military uniform.

The newcomer was 157 centimeters tall, her armor didn't reveal much of her physique, her skin was white, her eyes blue and her black hair in a ponytail.

The woman was accompanied by two other soldiers, dressed similarly but with masks covering their faces. The most striking feature of their uniforms was a golden bracelet on each of their arms.

Katara and Sokka looked at the bracelet, their faces frozen in astonishment for a moment, for the bracelet bore a very unusual but familiar symbol. The bracelet had a symbol that represented the flame of a fire, but inside the flame there was an insignia of the water tribe in the center. This pattern was repeated on the two soldiers, one with the Earth symbol and the other with the Fire symbol.

- Captain! What a surprise to see you here! - Said the soldier with a nervous expression, sweating with tension at the presence of his superior.

The woman coldly analyzed her surroundings, quickly realizing that the Avatar team was not from this region, which increased her suspicions. Her gaze focused on Haru's mother, noticing how frightened the old woman was and how her son was probably involved.

Suki was nervous because the woman who had just arrived had a dangerous aura around her.

- What is the reason for this approach, soldier? - asked the captain, preferring to keep the situation under control.

- I heard this girl say that Haru bends the earth, and since his father is a bender, it wouldn't be surprising if he inherited the ability. - said the soldier, pointing at Katara.

Katara lowered her eyes, feeling guilty and realizing that the situation in the village they were in was more serious than it seemed.

- Girl, can you confirm that you saw Haru earthbend? - the captain asked Katara seriously.

Time seemed to pass slowly for Katara, her hand trembling with fear and anxiety at his next words.

- I...

- My friend Katara was near a landslide that had occurred on a trail, and Haru was near the area, it was just a coincidence. - I spoke quickly, trying to hide my nervousness. Something that was easily noticed by everyone.

- A coincidence...- muttered the captain.

- Captain, I heard very well what was said, that girl explicitly said that Haru was an earthbender. - said the soldier angrily, increasing the existing tension.

- Have you spoken to anyone else about Haru's powers? - The captain asked the soldier.

- No...

Before the soldier could finish speaking, a flask strapped to the captain's back spilled water, but the liquid ran down the woman's arm and froze into the shape of a blade.

The soldier's head was separated from his body in a second, a second that none of the Avatar team members could comprehend with the murder that had just taken place in front of them. The head fell to the ground with a strange and terrifying sound, accompanied by a pool of blood.

The ice blade thawed, quickly returned to its liquid state and flew through the air to the canteen, an action performed quite naturally by the woman.

- Get rid of this body, if anyone sees you they'll say you've been attacked by a wild animal. - The woman ordered and saw her subordinates obey without any problem.

- You... you killed him... - I said, feeling my voice weaken.

- A waterbender... - muttered Sokka, staring intently at the golden bracelet.

Haru and his mother looked at the floor, especially at the pool of blood that was fresh on the wooden floor. The sight of someone being murdered so casually made an impact on the hearts of the more naive members of Team Avatar.

Katara was the most affected by the situation, seeing a water bender wearing the robes of the nation that destroyed her home and killed her mother was almost a blow to her spirit. Years of practice and culture based on the freedom to express herself with her waterbending seemed to fall apart, just like the man who had his head cut off.

- You were lucky, Haru. - commented the captain, indifferent to the terrified reaction of the witnesses to her murder. - If anyone else had supposedly seen an earth bend, I would have been forced to arrest them, but for lack of evidence there's nothing I can do.

The woman looked closely at each of the foreigners, noticing that, underneath the old cloak they wore, they had clothes characteristic of other regions, especially the water tribe. She approached Haru, ignoring the difference in height, and muttered - Your mother is sick, if you keep messing up, will you want to go to prison to leave her alone? You're her only son, so cut the crap.

The woman headed for the store door, with every step she took, the threatening pressure lessened, but she stopped a step away, looking back with a serious air.

- It's just a coincidence, I hope that's all it is. - The woman left the store without looking back.

Next chapter: Broken Heart