The Moment of Change Part 5

If there was an expression to describe Aang, Sokka, and Katara's reaction, it would be confusion, disbelief, and utter outrage. Finding out that Yoshie, the person responsible for killing one of their friends, was currently roaming the streets of the North Pole was too much for them to handle, and to make matters worse, discovering that Suki was completely healed thanks to her powers further complicated the situation.

"Why is that monster here?" Katara asked, stunned by the news.

"She just decided to honor the Neutrality Pact, and to be honest, there's not much we can do." Suki said, frustrated by the situation they were in.

Aang clenched his fists and gripped his staff as tightly as he could to calm his emotions. "Why is someone like her here... why would Lord Arnook allow this?"

Suki closed her eyes and breathed deeply. "Yoshie is a person on another level, it is very likely that Arnook knows that one should not provoke a monster that can destroy everything with a single wave of his hand."

"Maybe if we all join forces with the tribe, we can defeat Yoshie." Sokka suggested, doubt in his words.

"Sokka, just as waterbenders can be more powerful when they are at the south and north poles or when the moon is full, Yoshie's powers will also increase." Suki watched the pain in her friends' eyes, the resentment in them. "I wanted to remind you that Yoshie has the ability to easily paralyze us if she wanted to. We were lucky that she didn't kill us all the first time, but that doesn't stop her from using her power on us and the whole tribe again."

"She killed Haru and now she's here, taunting us." Aang commented. "This is unacceptable."

"Aang, from a more logical point of view, Yoshie has the entire tribe hostage, unfortunately she is completely emerged with an absolute advantage." Sokka said, understanding the magnitude of the danger they were in. "Not even you in your Avatar state can do anything against her without causing widespread destruction throughout the Water Tribe."

"Our home was destroyed by the Fire Nation, we cannot allow the Northern Tribe to suffer the same fate as the Southern Tribe." Katara said, hugging herself to calm her emotions, her own fingers pressing tightly into her skin.

Suki, seeing the fear hit Katara, decided to try to ease the critical situation. "Let's be positive, if Yoshie really wanted to harm me, she wouldn't have healed me or even stayed away during this time."

"What if she's just toasting us?" Katara asked with fear in her voice.

"Then we will fight her the moment she makes a hostile move, we cannot fall without offering some resistance against her." Suki said with determination.

"It's my fault... if I were more powerful, I might be able to fight her," Aang said. "Maybe my Avatar state could defeat her. When Haru died... I guess I went into Avatar mode and somehow we all survived."

"Still, you don't know how to use that power, it would be stupid to provoke a battle like that." Sokka commented with Suki's support, nodding in agreement.

"In a battle scenario, the end result is the destruction of the northern tribe." Suki said bitterly.

Aang remembered the vision of the future that Kyoshi had shown him, that the northern tribe could suffer a great disaster. However, he did not know how to solve this problem when he did not even have the tools, powers, and experience to prevent such a disaster. Even though he was still against the ropes, he was now more powerful and perhaps he could fulfill his role as Avatar the way he should have started.

***

The party to celebrate the Avatar's arrival had begun, but even in the festive atmosphere of joy and dancing, the guests of honor did not show the same enthusiasm as the people.

Yoshie enjoyed the party outside the palace, just drinking alcohol and watching the stars. She enjoyed the songs, which this time were played with much more rhythm and emotion due to the people's trust in the Avatar.

Yoshie smiled subtly when she felt Yue's presence beside her, holding a glass of alcohol in her hands. She passed the glass to Yoshie's other hand, who silently accepted it and drank it without even checking the liquid.

"The night is beautiful." Yue said, leaning against the wall next to Yoshie and resting his head on her shoulder.

Yoshie just ignored Yue's affection, but still kept a subtle smile on her face. "Spoiled princess."

Yue just rolled her eyes at her spiritual counterpart's teasing, not wanting to ruin her serious princess persona with carelessness.

"This night is great." Yue said, feeling the icy breeze from the North Pole touch her skin.

"Shouldn't you be fawning over the Avatar?" Yoshie asked with irony in her voice.

"And leave the most powerful person in the North Pole alone with his dramatic thoughts? I don't think so." Yue gave her a flirtatious look, hoping to elicit an embarrassed reaction from Yoshie.

Yoshie turned her eyes away, not wanting to give Yue a taste of the effect she had on her.

The intimate moment between the two was interrupted when Katara appeared, surprised to see Yoshie and the princess having a friendly conversation. The atmosphere was tense as the three of them watched each other, waiting for one of them to make a move.

Yue looked at them, not knowing what to do with the situation they were in, and did the only thing someone like her could do, whistling in hopes of easing the tension.

Yoshie and Katara looked at Yue, who was whistling in an obviously clumsy attempt to calm the situation, but only managed to make it more uncomfortable. Yoshie summoned a small snowball above Yue and dropped it on her head, causing her to stop whistling.

"That was unnecessary." Yue commented irritably, brushing the snow off her clothes.

"It was the only solution I could think of." Yoshie replied slightly irritated.

 Katara watched the interaction between the two, which made it seem as if Yoshie was just an ordinary woman. It was hard for her to describe the feelings in her mind, but she was sure that she wanted to avenge Haru's death, even though she knew that it was a futile attempt.

"Is everything a joke to you?" Katara asked Yoshie, watching her seriously with clenched fists.

"I'm just playing this game neutrally, my turn to play actively ended the moment I killed your friend." The naturalness with which Yoshie reacted to Katara made her even more irritated.

"People's lives have value! You can't treat death as something trivial!" Katara threatened and took a step forward, but soon hesitated when she felt her foot covered in a layer of ice.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Yoshie smiled, her tone falsely friendly. "Your friend is dead, but his soul is preserved, he can choose to be reborn in this world or not, even though he should rot depending on me."

 Katara bit her lip, growing increasingly irritated. "That still doesn't give you the right!"

"I must remind you that you and your friends were responsible for many deaths because of your actions, you are not the heroes of this story, just idiots who do not know how to measure their own consequences." Yoshie's statement made Katara cringe in fear, reminding her of the consequences the journey had had on her life and others. "You and your brother should not have taken the Avatar out of that ice."

"Yoshie, that's enough." Yue held Yoshie's shoulder to calm her. "I understand that you both have your good reasons to hate each other, but I don't see the need to stay stuck in this stupid past."

The way Yue warned the two women made them both move away so as not to start a fight beyond the verbal. Still, Katara was confused, feeling pain and anger from everything she had been through. She had been through so much in the past few months, watching people die, watching friends die, finding out that her family and home had been destroyed. It was a miserable situation for her life, much worse than the weight of guilt when her mother died.

"Katara, the pain you feel is too much and needs to be processed over time." Yue said softly, using her power to touch Katara's shaken heart. "You are a talented soul with much potential for growth, but you have not had the chance to heal your heart. The right thing to do is to leave the journey with the Avatar and heal the wounds of your soul."

Katara opened her eyes and felt a comforting and maternal feeling coming from Princess Yue, a nostalgic and safe feeling that only a mother could give. Her eyes began to water and tears streamed down her face, comforted by Yue's embrace.

Yue hugged Katara, letting her finally vent her inner frustrations, not because of the stress of the journey, but because of the guilt she felt when her mother died protecting her.

Yoshie simply crossed her arms, deciding not to discuss the situation any further while her spiritual counterpart tried to calm Katara's emotions. A few seconds later, her previously impassive eyes became alert, as did his fighting senses.

Yoshie lowered her head in a quick motion, dodging a sword that sliced the strands of her hair, and immediately kicked the ground with force, creating a spear of ice that went through the ground to the head of the person responsible for trying to kill her.

Three more people stealthily appeared from the shadows, their fists blazing, all wearing red and black clothing and masks that concealed their identities. The three assassins unleashed a blast of flame at the three women, but their attacks were quickly countered by a blast of ice that not only extinguished the flames, but froze their bodies, turning them into ice statues.

Yue opened her eyes in surprise, along with Katara, who took a few seconds to realize what had just happened. They looked up and saw soot falling from the sky, mixing with the snow.

"Yue, let everyone know that the Fire Nation has arrived." Yoshie warned, her eyes glowing with influence as her powers activated.

Next Chapter: The Battle of the North