Chapter 8

Iroh, Roku, and Kya had gone off on their own once reaching the village. The fourteen, nine, and eight year old children had been joined by the sixteen year old Ms. Coldfire.

Not one of them knew they were being watched.

Loyalist watched and waited for their opportunity to snatch the children. They, unknowing of Ursa's identity, decided to take the older girl as well. At the very least they could use her to send a message without damaging the other hostages, at most, they figured another hostage couldn't hurt.

They also figured that they would need to take out the older girl first. Having seen her golden eyes, they logically assumed she was a fire-bender assigned to protect the children while they wandered the village.

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Ursa was talking to Roku about the swords her father made, when she spotted a fireball heading for her out of the corner of her eye. Not knowing Roku and Iroh's level of training, she did the only thing she could thing off, she spun to face the fireball and bended it around the small group.

It was then that she noticed they were surrounded.

"Roku," she said, "I don't suppose they are your father's men?"

Roku shook his head as he took a stance. "You can firebend?"

She smiled, "Yep."

"Good."

Soon the four children where under siege as balls and streams of fire streaked at them. Roku and Ursa deflected the majority of them, while the younger two children, still novices in bending their respective elements of fire and air, did their best to help.

"Roku, protect the others," Ursa ordered.

"What are you...?"

Ursa smirked. "I'm going on the offensive.

And before Roku could speak any more, blue flames erupted from Ursa's hands as she let loose a stream of flames at their attackers, clearly surprising them.

But while their attackers were surprised, they still outnumbered the children. And soon, they began to overwhelm them.

It was when one got close enough and knocked Ursa out, that Roku made a decision. "Kya!" he called. "Run! Now!"

The young airbender needed to further prompting, opening the small glider she carried with her everywhere, Kya took off into the sky, and evading fireballs sent her way.

She looked back once, only to see her two firebending friend's fall to their attackers.

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Word spread fast in the village of Tigris.

So when Zuko, Aang, Katara, Toph, Ty Lee, Mai, Suki, and Ursa herd that four children, one of which was identified as Ms. Coldfire, had been attacked by firebenders, they were all running for the fight. Mai and Toph, being separate from the rest of the group, were not part of the split-second planning o the others.

Ty Lee and Suki were sent with Ursa to return to the vineyard. This was so that, should any attacks be made on the non-bending Ursa, she would be protected. While Zuko, Aang, and Katara ran for their children.

Mai and Toph, upon hearing the word, ran into action without hesitation.

It was them that Kya first spotted. "Aunt Mai! Aunt Toph!" she called, landing in front of them.

"Kya!" Toph shouted, scooping the young girl into her arms. "What's happened?"

"Firebenders, they attacked us. Ms. Coldfire helped defend us, but we couldn't stop them. Roku told me to run and I did," she explained with tears in her eyes. "I saw them knock Ms. Coldfire, Roku and Iroh out."

"Take her back to the vineyard," Mai told Toph.

"Now just a min…."

"Damn it Toph!" Mai yelled. "We don't have time, and Kya needs to be taken to safety."

"You're not a bender!" Toph pointed out.

"No," Mai agreed. "I'm a mother."

Without another word, Mai ran off, leaving Toph behind her.

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By the time the three benders and Fire Lady reached the area, the fight was long over, but it was clear the kids had put up a fight.

Armored bodies lay in the street, dressed in a variant of Fire Nation armor.

"Where are they?" Katara asked worriedly, looking around for her daughter.

"Kya's alright," Mai told the waterbender as she too looked around for signs of her children. "She found Toph and I, Toph's taking her to the vineyard." She turned to their respective husbands, "She saw Iroh, Roku, and Ursa knocked out."

"Ursa?" Zuko asked. "But mother was with us."

"Ms. Coldfire," Mai supplied, distractedly, having noticed on the men begin to move.

He screamed as a knife was suddenly plunged in his leg.

"Good, you're alive," Mai said.

"You bitch," the man spat.

Mai twisted the knife, causing the man to scream. "Why did you attack our children?" she asked, no trace of the anger coursing through the Fire Lady's blood in her emotionless voice.

"We were following orders!" the man screamed. He chuckled. "Soon, Azula will take her rightful place."

"Azula organized the attack?" Zuko asked angrily.

The man smiled, but just spat at Zuko. Before anyone else could act, he pulled his own knife and plunged it into his chest.

He died in seconds.

"Azula's not behind this," Mai told the other three.

"You heard what he said," Katara snarled. "How can you say that?"

Mai took a deep breath. "Because Azula would have no need to attack her own daughter."

Zuko's eyes widened in realization as he put what his wife had said together, understanding the significance that Ms. Coldfire shared the name of his mother. "Mrs. Coldfire's Azula," he said. It explained why she was avoiding the group, and Mai's reluctance to say why after they'd met.

His simply nodded in response.

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Please Review and Checkout the Challenges in My Forums and the stories I have up for adoption, posted under the title Please Adopt Me!

First, I'd like to say Sorry for the wait. The first half of this chapter has been sitting on my computer for so long that, until I re-read the whole story, I'd thought I had already posted it. I don't really have an excuse as to why it took so long, except that I got distracted.

Hope you enjoyed.

Special thanks to CallMeMatrix for pointing out that I used Coldwater when it is supposed to be Coldfire. I don't know why I even used Coldwater.