jing set her meal tray down gently. He looked over at her sadly but didn't say anything. He turned back around to leave. Then Katara struck.
She lifted her head. She had been swishing around spit in her mouth for hours and had gathered the perfect amount. She shot out an icicle that struck jing in the temple. He cried out in pain and fell on his face. She had gathered all the water vapor she could pull from the air in her sleeves and pulled it out in the form of whips. She threw one forward and wrapped it around jing's mouth so he couldn't cry out.
jing turned around and kicked her in the knee. She buckled but stepped back to avoid falling. She flung the other whip around his legs. She would knock him out and use him a hostage to protect herself from the other guards.
jing shot his fist at her, launching a floor tile at her shoulder. It knocked her straight to the ground. He got to his knees and began to shout for help, as the whip around his mouth had been ripped apart. Katara pulled on the remaining whip around his legs, making him fall hard on his chin and pulling herself up. The water from her first whip had already evaporated so she had very little left.
She whirled the whip around in her hand and it stretched until it tied around his neck. She would choke him until he passed out.
jing punched the floor, causing it to crack underneath her feet. She fell straight down. She had to brace herself with her hands to make sure she didn't harm the babies by landing hard on her stomach. This caused her grip to loosen. jing rolled on his back and encased his hands in floor tiling. He pulled his first back. As soon as Katara got back up to her knees he slammed into the side of her head. She fell on the floor, her head throbbing in pain. Another blow like that could kill her. It would at least defeat her.
She steeled her resolve and the whip in her hand formed into a long, sharp icicle. As jing tried to pin her down with a rock hand on her shoulder she cut him across the stomach then stabbed him in the arm, forcing him off her. She gave him a kick to the nose that knocked him flat on his back. She leapt to her feet and then was on top of him, pinning him to the ground with her knees while still holding the icicle still in her hand. He flung his arm up in an attempted counterattack. She in turn brought the icicle down.
Katara had won. The icicle had reached his neck before he could react.
But before she knew what she was doing, her hand stopped, just short of impaling his windpipe.
His surprise was obvious. He froze with a wide-eyed look on his face. He was unable to move. He seemed ready for the attack to land, almost hoping for it like the idea of death didn't bother him at all. But the finishing blow never came.
Katara couldn't get the look on his face in the Jasmine Dragon out of her head. He had been a second away from killing her. He seemed as ruthless as any enemy before. He changed into a totally different person when he learned the woman he was supposed to kill was pregnant. He just couldn't kill her.
And now Katara couldn't kill him, even to escape. She felt sorry for him.
Other guards had heard the commotion. They came running in and saw Katara seemingly about to kill jing. They tackled and wrestled her to her feet. They slammed her against the wall and fastened shackles around her arms and legs as she grunted angrily.
jing stood up, helped by others. His various injuries were still bleeding and he was out of breath. He looked at Katara with utter bewilderment, like he did not understand what had just happened at all.
"Are you ok sir?" one of the guards asked.
He was very shaken up but managed to say, "Yeah I'm fine."
"I'll teach you a lesson!" another guard said as he raised a fist to Katara. She wouldn't be able to stop him.
"No!" jing said, stopping him. "She's secure now." "She tried to kill you!"
jing shook his head, appearing very distracted. "Long Feng…ordered us not to touch her. I have to go meet with him now. Just…lock the door and keep standing guard."
The others didn't look satisfied with that but they complied. They all walked out. He slowly turned to follow them. He turned around and looked at Katara. She had a bruise on her head from where he had hit her. She was panting in exhaustion and the shackles pulled her tightly against the wall. She bowed her head in disappointment of her failure.
jing stared at her. Whatever he was trying to figure out he couldn't. He left.
"Someone did a number on you" poli observed when jing arrived to confer with Long Feng again. It was easy to quickly move from the prison to the mine. There was an underground tunnel connecting them.
"The Avatar's wife tried to escape" jing explained.
Long Feng was standing in a corner staring at a map of the Earth Kingdom. He was still paying attention though. "I assumed she would become more difficult to control once we killed her husband. But it hardly matters we've achieved our goal."
"What are we going to do with her now sir?" jing asked. He had been wondering for a while.
poli quickly responded, "I say we kill her! And I volunteer myself for the task. I still owe her for my hand." He rubbed the stump on his right wrist angrily.
Long Feng still faced the map. "Not yet poli. We may still have a use for her." Both of the agents were clearly surprised by that response.
"What use sir?" jing asked. "We already used her to kill the Avatar as planned."
Long Feng turned around. "The colonies have been proving a thorn in my side; the biggest obstacle towards quickly establishing total control over the Earth Kingdom but they have taught me a lot. For one thing when two benders of different elements end up mating the results can be unpredictable."
The two brothers were clearly intrigued, which was his intention, so Long Feng went on. "In the colonies we've seen all matter of occurrences, Firebenders birthing Earthbenders, Earthbenders siring Firebenders, both benders producing non-benders or any combination. This has taught me that it is possible the baby growing in Katara might be an Airbender."
poli was clearly not happy with a line of thought that led to sparing Katara. "Why does that matter?"
Long Feng's response was quite arrogant. "Firebenders have no tact. Their strategy for victory is always just to burn down everything in their path. They never stop to consider the possibilities. The destruction of the Air Nomads was a short-sighted decision."
jing was surprised. "You want to rebuild the Air Nation sir?"
"In a sense" Long Feng answered. "One child would not be enough to do that. But still having the world's sole Airbender under my control would be quite useful. As you know we plan to conquer the Water Tribes after the other two nations to ensure the next Avatar doesn't rise up against us. I'm hoping we will be able to discover the new Avatar at a young age in order to raise it as our ally."
"Our ally?"
"It's been seen all throughout history. The side with the Avatar is nearly always the side that wins. Avatar Aang was our enemy, an obstacle that had to be removed, but a new Avatar could be a blank slate, the most valuable weapon in our arsenal."
"Excellent idea sir. But what does that have to do with the baby?"
"A worthy question" Long Feng acknowledged. "You see an incomplete Avatar would be less useful. With Aang dead all Airbenders are gone so there will be no one to teach it to the next Avatar. Because the next Avatar will be born in the Water Tribe air will be the last element it will need to learn. If Katara's baby turns out to be an Airbender we can spend it's early life seeing if it's possible to teach it using intuition and historical texts and that way it will be able to teach the next Avatar.
I will have both the last Airbender and the Avatar under my control."
"Brilliant!" poli complimented. "No one will be able to oppose you!" Long Feng drank in the praise gladly. "Indeed."
jing asked, "What if the baby turns out to be a Waterbender or a non-bender?"
"Haven't quite decided yet," Long Feng answered. "Having a Waterbender in our service could be
useful, especially one raised to be loyal to me since birth. However, it might not be worth all that effort compared to the last Airbender. However, if I decide such an agent is an unnecessary luxury or if the baby is a non-bender I suppose I will let it die with its mother."
jing's brow quirked. "Die with its mother sir?"
"No matter what happens with the baby Katara will have to die as soon as it is born. It's not as if she'll agree with our plans peacefully. She would raise that baby to be our enemy. Besides she will have no further use at that point. It's not as if she'll be producing any more Airbenders with her husband dead."
poli curled his lip in anticipation. "After her baby is born may I kill her sir?"
Long Feng chortled. "Sure, after all you did an excellent job of killing her husband, that is unless your brother wants a turn." He looked at jing.
jing felt uncomfortable. "No sir…poli can do it."
Long Feng apparently had been trying to see if jing would react. "You've seemed rather distracted lately jing. What exactly is on your mind?"
poli eyed his brother with anger. He may not have told Long Feng the failure at the Jasmine Dragon was jing's fault but that doesn't mean he had forgotten jing's reluctance to kill Katara.
"It's nothing sir…" jing said. He could immediately tell that wouldn't be enough to placate either of them. "It's just…the Avatar's wife is so pathetic. It's difficult not to pity her on occasion."
poli snorted in derision. "You've always been so weak."
Long Feng seemed more or less content with that answer. "You certainly have always been almost too kind for your own good but of course that's why I choose you to watch over Katara. You're the one of my men I knew I could most trust to keep your own enemy healthy. That's why you will remain in charge of Katara's protection until her baby is born."
Long Feng wasn't a fool. He knew jing had reservations. He just had never been given a reason to think jing would disobey him since he didn't know about the Jasmine Dragon.
"Yes sir."
Long Feng marked a few more things on the map then turned around with a clear sense of purpose. "In two days' time our army will reach Ba Sing Se. When it does, we will tear the walls down, kill that fool of a king, and take total control of the Earth Kingdom. The Avatar's friends may try to rescue Katara while most of our focus is diverted toward the battle. Return to the prison and make whatever preparations necessary to ensure she stays there. Then return to join us in battle. You two will be rewarded for all your loyal years of service with a front row seat to our victory."
"Very good sir," jing responded. "Have you figured out a resolution to the colony issue?"
"I have thought of a solution" Long Feng responded. "I'm still working on the details. Right now, we have more pressing matters." He walked over to the coffin where they had placed Aang's body, unable to detect the subtle hints of life in it. He put his hand on the casket. "I can't wait until we march onto the battlefield waving the Avatar's dead body as our flag. Wouldn't be surprised if they surrendered right there."