Chapter 57

"Was that how that technique was supposed to work?"

Aang asks me with uncertainty in his voice as we're cutting free the captured civilians.

I think about it for a moment and I'm pretty sure the spirit shouldn't have been in pain. Or at least not pain that would lead to tortured screams.

"No, I don't think so."

"Then why was it so awful. If it's always like that I'm never using the techniques again."

"Well, I've got two thoughts. First, maybe it was because the spirit was injured already. Then spirit bending just made the injuries worse."

"Yea I guess maybe"

"Or second maybe it was the wrong kind of spirit."

"What do you mean?"

"Spirit bending is supposed to be used on corrupt spirits"

"Yea so?"

"Spirits like the nature spirit we ran into in the earth kingdom. It was normally a nice forest spirit, but people burned down it's home. So then it got mad, corrupt, and then turned evil and was hurting people."

"Well it certainly seemed evil"

"Yea, but maybe this spirit was just evil, to begin with."

"That would mean we would have tried to purify a spirit that wasn't corrupted. Would that even work?"

"Aang what did this spirit look like?"

"Huh? like a big bug-spider-man monster"

"I mean coloring. Corrupted spirits are supposed to be kind of monotone and shadowy "

"Ohh no it didn't look like that."

"Then I guess it was probably us trying to purify an uncorrupted spirit and we're lucky it worked. Cause I was already on plan D and I don't think I had a plan E"

"Even, so I still feel awful about killing it"

'Huh? Who said we killed it. Can spirits even die? Who knows. Maybe we sent it back to the spirit realms, or maybe it did get purified and is actually nice now. We may never know."

"Yea I guess you're right. But I'm not using that technique again until I can ask another spirit about it"

"That's fair when I insisted you learn it I hadn't expected you to need it so soon."

The women we freed from captivity were still unconscious, so we had to carry them out of the Spirit Wilds. We climbed up the makeshift ice stairs where we met up with the rest of the civilians. Ideally, we were supposed to stay here until someone came and gave us the all-clear, but that was also assuming there were no giant spider monsters. We held a vote of whether we should stay here or go back to the city. The entire group voted to go back to the city. No one was trying to stay in these forests any longer. They were more afraid of whatever else lurked in the forest than the invading fire nation. It was a long, dark, and cold march back to the city. As we marched back through the tundra under the light of the full moon. Most of the group was exhausted and the adrenaline from earlier had worn off well before we would make it back. So, the return march ended up taking significantly longer than the trip to the forest. Many of the marchers plodded along all the way back, but there wasn't much we could do besides match on.

By the time the city was in sight, the sun would soon be rising. The city was in tatters. Large boulders were everywhere, and large sections of the city had been destroyed by what I assume was flaming rocks launched by catapults. The very evident destruction was contrasted by two things. First was a distinct lack of soot and fireballs currently attacking the city and second was the surprisingly light atmosphere. People were moving about already working on repairs. The people didn't seem to be panicking or afraid they seemed almost cheery. We were met by a surprised audience as no one had expected us to be back yet. However, we were the ones who were truly surprised. What was supposed to be a significant invasion attempt was repelled with unexpected ease. Team Avatar met with the elders again for a full summary. We were joined by one more participant who we learned was the elder in charge of the tribe's naval forces.

Their story began after we led the civilians out of the city. Just before dusk, the water benders began to whip up a light fog to cover the city and the ocean surrounding the city. Then two teams of water tribe warriors wearing fire nation armor went out under the cover of night and stealthily bored the commanding vessel. Despite out of date disguises the infiltration was initially successful. As they were able to board and enter the ship without detection. However, as the team was planting blasting jelly in strategic locations they were discovered. One team ran a distraction as the other changed into newer armor and continued the mission. The distraction team continued to cause chaos on the lead ship until they were 'captured' by the disguise team. The disguise team led them to the admiral in the war room where the trap was finalized. Those in charge of the invasion were assassinated, their plans stolen, and explosives planted. From there both teams made their escape off the ship before sinking it.

The whole operation sounded crazy. Like it was a heist movie with too many twists to ever be realistic. Which would explain why not everything was as good as described. Both teams suffered heavy casualties. With almost the entire distraction team dying. By the time the reformed infiltration team 'captured' the infiltrators only 2 of the original 8 men were still alive. The infiltration team was also down to just 4 members as they had lost several men before they could redisguise themselves. By the end of the operation only two made it back to the city, and as bad as that is their deaths helped save the northern water tribe.