Chapter Text
Slowly, the season of autumn was setting in. Though the mornings were colder already, the evenings shared remembrance with the warmth of summer with the sun shining brightly on the people that walked through the streets of Nishinoma, a district of Makapu City located west of the city's center.
Following their everyday lives, people rushed through the busy streets, hushing from one place to another, serving customers, chatting with friends or just trying to get through the day. The last couple of days had been truly nice – in terms of weather. They had also been very uneventful.
There had been meetings with the mayor here and there and forms to fill out following the last mission, but neither were huge or seriously grave that one could have lost their heads over it. The days had been busy but surely no grand adventure – not that anyone would have wanted any great disaster to strike as one spoke, however, the state of the recent days was to be observed… from a sober point of view.
General Iroh had been on shore leave for a couple of days now. Getting time to rest was nice. He finally found the time to do things he hadn’t a spare minute to focus on in a while. Like sharpening his Pai Sho skills and meeting with friends he hadn’t interacted with outside of duty for a long while.
It was indeed nice – but he wouldn’t have lied if he had ever claimed things were starting to look boring on his side. Words as such had never left his lips, however. And in the lights of what had happened as soon as the sun gave way for dark storm clouds one autumn afternoon, he was grateful he never even thought of saying it. Otherwise, it might have looked as if his words called upon the disaster that reached the shores of Nishinoma at only eight in the morning.
As soon as the sun sunk into the bed of the ocean, the clouds above turned an uneasy grey. People living and working by the bay knew just well enough what this was to mean: a storm was coming. Quickly, they rushed to their boats and ships, some made of wood: fisher boats that turned to the sea once in a while to make a small living without relying on the big industries of the present, others made of steel. No matter the materials used to build them, people were not eager to lose them in a storm that announced itself so vividly. One could only imagine what a little fisher’s family would do if their only boat was washed away due to a lack of precaution as night drew in.
Others closed their windows shut to prevent the wind blowing up their homes from the outside – possibly even carrying the salt of the sea. Yet others carried their stuff inside; Private stuff, business stuff. In the lights of a storm it didn’t matter if it was yours or if it was your boss that would fire your butt if it got blown away by the winds. What mattered was that it would not have been blown away by the winds.
Soft winds already began to take on as the people readied themselves for the oncoming weather.
The wind was cold – chilly – on someone’s skin but it was yet gentle and not freezing. Luckily, it wasn’t winter yet, even though autumn storms had their own charm too.
Usually at this time of day there would have been no way he would have been around to see the people reacting to their environment. He wouldn’t have been near the bay or the docks – unless he stayed late on board his ship but alas, he was off duty right now, so no ships for him this evening – he would have been downtown, enjoying a cup of tea while reading the dragon novel he had bought a couple of days ago. It was recommended to him by a… an acquaintance. The book itself wasn’t much of his spice, though, he had promised to read it, so he was now stuck with it. The book wasn’t exactly bad either – just not his general taste. Therefore, he was not exactly upset over not being at home, reading with a cup of tea waiting next to his seat. – He could do with a cup of tea now, though– No, instead of enjoying his shore leave at home and in solidarity, he was enjoying the night.
Out by the oceans, near a port that was less frequented than Yue Bay in Republic City. It had also been less lighted than Yue Bay, though this lack of illumination provided a sublime beauty to the smaller port, which should certainly be appreciated. He was walking along the path of the bay alongside Avatar Korra, who had just returned from a meeting with the president of Republic City.
Politics surely was not one of her favored parts of Avatar-hood. He wasn’t much of a politician himself; therefore, he enjoyed her rants about the stiffness and unnecessities within and around the structures of politics and how politicians spoke from one to another. As much as the young Avatar must have despised it, though being a politician or at least mediator was part of her duty. …surely, she must have dismissed it as much as he did… Either way.
The evening turned into night, and the night went by in the wink of an eye. Caught by the surprising beauty of this certainly ignored port in times past sunset… the mood of the night suddenly changed. In fact, both had been quite chatty. Despite the time of the day – the time of the night – neither felt exhausted or tired – ready to turn to bed. No, maybe this friendly exchange between friends that haven’t spoken in a while; and in fact, haven’t actually properly interacted outside of disasters while at duty, was what they had needed. – or maybe that’s what the Avatar had needed as for Iroh, the days had been quite boring since he set foot on land a couple of days ago.
This night had begun just like any other the previous days. But it wasn’t going to stay this calm for too long anymore. The sunrise was still a couple of minutes, if not even hours away, when suddenly Avatar Korra interrupted herself.
“It is amazing how important people see their trading deals, it’s like–” She was walking along the rocky cliff of the mountain that was slightly cut when the port had been built as her face turned towards the darkness of the sea. In an instant, her words cut off like the shore she looked towards, and her expressions turned confused and alarmed.
“What is that…?” she mumbled to herself as she symbolically approached the shore, slightly bending forward as if she tried to get a better look of something distant.
Instinctively without thinking about the situation that could be unfolding in front of him, Iroh wondered “What?” but then turned towards the horizon before the Avatar could respond, “This” with her arm pointing towards the picture of interest.
He only saw her movement in the wink of his eyes as he also had laid his eyes upon a tiny image that seemed wrong. In the middle of the night, in the middle of the ocean, a couple of miles away was a glowing… burning… dot. Slowly, the dot was getting bigger. The dot looked hot with the light it emitted burning in a strong reddish yellow.
It couldn’t have been a star; stars weren’t this far down near the surface of the ocean. Nor would they shine in such an ominous light or would get bigger as minutes passed. No, this wasn’t anything natural – it wasn’t a spectacle that only this port had ever experienced.
It could have been a spirit. But there had been a more likely and disturbing possibility what the General and the Avatar had just laid their eyes upon.
Without leaving another thought on the sight their eyes had caught; both rushed back towards the main part of the port. In the dead of the night, there were no people they could speak to, and the town officials were too far away to inform them about the ominous glow in the middle of the sea. No one was there – well, except the man within the lighthouse. Maybe they could have had him to ring distress if he was still awake. If… The lighthouse was quite a jump away and the ominous glow wasn’t getting any smaller.
“The lighthouse is too far away,” Korra insisted as she ran along the port, “We would only lose time barging in and convincing him we’re not crazy. No,” she shook her head, “We need to act fast and quick.” She stopped for a second and pointed out at sea where the burning dot was still approaching shore, “If you’re right and this is a ship in distress, we need to get out there fast and help whoever needs us.”
Iroh followed her quickly, he nodded, though couldn’t leave his consciousness of duty behind just yet. For all he could know, he and Korra were the only ones that caught notice of the ship alit in the middle of the ocean. He had to get it known somehow.
“I understand that. I still think we should radio the sighting.” He was hoping the lighthouse had a radio, even if just one for morse. He wasn’t exactly good with morse as it had been out of use for years now. But he was certain he could send an SOS of distress through either way.
However, Korra’s goal was set on getting to the ship as soon as possible and it seemed like she wouldn’t let him off the hook to try and look for a radio. “We have to assume they already radioed for help themselves,” she pressed on with determination and hurry to get going flashing in her eyes, “Come on,” she said further before turning away from him, jumping onto one of the boats the people had previously fastened to not be washed away in the storm.
Iroh clicked with his tongue, knowing that she was right and still thinking there must be more they could do while still on land. He surrendered to her reasoning, however. It wasn’t a given that the lighthouse had a radio. This port was less frequented than Yue Bay. Who knew how often people even drove by this lighthouse? Who knew how many people even knew of this lighthouse? He sure knew his fleet did basically never come here. What if he decided to leave Korra alone and rushed up to the lighthouse only to find that he came there to find nothing and therefore had wasted time he could have used to lend crucial help in a disaster, which was possibly unfolding right in front of him.
“Fine. You’re right.” He decided but couldn’t be helped to twitch at the sight of Korra untying a random person’s property. “You’re really just going to hop on someone’s boat?”
“We will repay them afterwards,” Korra said untouched as she undid the hemp rope that was used to fasten the ship to its place.
Defeated, knowing that she was right, he left his consciousness of duty behind and jumped in the little boat with her. Creating a whirling wave around them, Korra turned the ship around to where they needed it to be and then pushed them away from the stone made frame of the sublime little port, leading them towards the burning dot faster than this little boat had ever raced in its life. A proper ship had been faster.
A boat with a steam motor had been faster but in the face of disaster and a moment of fleeting possibilities, this waterbent express fisher boat would do just fine… hopefully. Hopefully, they would be there in time.
Any more modern ship had arrived at the scene of the burning dot faster. But when the two arrived, they saw the disaster unfold right in front of their eyes: Iroh’s suspicion had been right.
It was no spirit playing games with the mortal world. It was a ship, large with a good carrying capacity. It steamed ahead at normal pace for nighttime with its exterior being lit as it was usual for a passenger ship at these hours.
But the brightness that had produced the glow Iroh and Korra had seen from the shores were not the lightbulbs hanging around the deck; it was the stinging orange that flickered through the windows at the center of the ship.
For seconds that felt like minutes, Korra and Iroh stared at the ship in horror. The ship. A passenger ship. Something must have caught fire during the middle of the night, and it was burning on, from inside, from the middle eating its way outside. One could only hope it hadn’t reached the decks where the passengers were resting yet.
One second of staring at what they had found in the middle of the ocean later, a plan was to be made for what to do now that they found the source of the ominous glow. With her hands formed into fists, Korra stood up in their little boat that looked like a nutshell in comparison to the passenger steamer ahead of them. Though it was about to be ablaze in a short while, she stood upon them in their majestic size and design as she had when she sailed onto her maiden voyage a couple of years ago.
There was no doubt, despite the fire being the main attraction and the name of the ship obscured by the unbalanced spread and light of the fire, that this was the USV Dragon Lion. A glorified passenger steamer that brought travelers from the United Republic of Nations or western cities of the Federal Earthern States, the former Earth Kingdom, to the islands in the south.
Mainly used as a vessel to transport civilians, the Dragon Lion was equipped with luxuries that would make the voyage remarkably more comfortable than one on the United Forces’ military ships. For that, however, the Dragon Lion just like her sister ships, the Supreme Lionturtle and the Mighty Salamander, enjoyed the freedom of design. Even though wood and wooden objects have been discarded from ships due to being impractical in case of interior firebending, ocean liners often liked to fancy themselves with wood carvings and wooden furniture. While it did seem quite nice to look at indeed, it was also heavily impractical and was the number one reason for the ‘no uncontrolled bending’ rule upon ships like these.
Now, whether the fire was started by accidental bending outside the bending area or due to other reasons was indeed intriguing to figure out, but completely unimportant right now.
“The fire is spreading from its center,” Iroh shared his observation, though he was more than certain that the Avatar had already noticed that herself. “If it reaches the upper deck, the flame will feed on the wind and will turn into an even larger blaze.”
“We have to act before that happens!” Korra responded determined, almost ready to jump into the water and act before discussing what she was about to do. “For starters,” she paused for a second, still ready to jump into the cold sea, “I’ll go into the Avatar State and bend water upwards and extinguish the fire!” she declared determined.
Iroh allowed himself one more glimpse at the Dragon Lion before stopping Korra from jumping into the ocean and acting upon her announcement. “Hold on.” He said strictly, “There’s no life boards down. You might risk drowning a lot of innocent people.”
“I understand that but–”
“Let’s first try to get as many into our nutshell as possible and help with the rescue operation. We don’t know how many firebenders are on board but having two more, who can lead the flames to spread no further, and even one that can take its air away, will surely get people out of danger.” Iroh said determinedly. “If that doesn’t work out, you can still call upon the ocean.”
He looked at the Dragon Lion once more to see if life boards were already lowered by the time they were speaking. But there were none. He did, however, notice shadows walking past the lights emitted by the fire. If they could catch some passengers on deck and ease the work of the crew, maybe then they could ease the fate of the Dragon Lion already.
Korra turned her head towards the Dragon Lion as well. She must have also seen the shadows hushing away from the fire. She nodded, leaving her idea aside for now, “Okay. You’re right. Let’s do this.”
Effortlessly, thanks to waterbending, the two reached the deck of the Dragon Lion. Crew and passengers alike ran past them with faint glimmers of hope as some eyes that were laid upon them recognized Korra for who she was. Though, not none of the crew spoke to her as they were busy fighting the flames their ship had been engulfed by. A couple of passengers, who noticed her, however, approached her, reaching for her shoulders, begging her to help them and fight the flame off for them. For, though, their friends and children are stuck in their cabinets.
The fire came from the decks below. The trail of the flames had made that very clear. For now, the upper deck seemed to have stayed unharmed by the fire that must have eaten its way through the interior of the ship herself. The Dragon Lion was a good vessel, equipped with the technology of the time and should have been varnished with one of the best fire suppressing systems of its era. If the steel doors had been shut properly, the spread throughout the ship should have been put to a halt once the flames ate through to the steel.
The mood on deck was frenzied, however. The people were in panic, trying to fight the flames for their lives or wait for lifeboats to be lowered to save their lives altogether. This certainly was not the time to ask a crew member if the steel doors had been shut properly, and it also had not been the time to announce their presence to the captain on the bridge. The captain just had to accept that two outsiders had seen their distress and had come to see if they could help deescalate the situation.
Without losing a word or even just nodding at the Avatar, Iroh headed down towards where he could feel the heat coming from. On his way, he saw people running for safety and it didn’t seem as if most of the people were benders at all.
People; passengers, that crossed his path were too hurried to bow or greet him – understandably. Most of them were wearing their nightgowns and were wearing no shoes. They must have been woken by the faint fire alarm – it certainly rang way too faint. It surely wasn’t too hard to sleep right through it. …maybe they had been woken by their fellow passengers or the staff instead. Either way their reason to be awake, they were scared.
Some had life vests, others held wet towels to their faces or had thrown them around their neck to protect them from the flames. Without words but by gesturing, he assured them that this was the path to reach the deck. He went further down. Towards the flames. Though he wasn’t all too familiar with the structure of Dragon Lion, he soon found the cabinets of passengers on the A-deck, where to his dismay, he saw that the carpet had partly caught fire already, eating its way through doors without the need to open them first.
Quickly, Iroh went into position and despite the smoldering heat around him, he laid his concentration on the heat trying to push it back to prevent the wooden structures around him to get fired up by the warmth of the air. The heat did hardly back away; the fire below him must have been raging heavily and hot, however, the small flames on the carpets did. Just a little, they grew smaller and were pushed back– away from him. They haven’t gone out in his attempt to regulate the heat, but as they were, they were enough. For now.
The fire had stopped eating through the doors. That was enough. For now.
With his qi holding the fire at bay as much as it could in this heat and with the smoke rising from below this deck, Iroh walked towards one door after another, kicking it down to assure that either no one was inside that needed or awaited rescue or that the sleeping passengers were woken on an instant. He would have had it rather his efforts were in vain, and all had already evacuated their sleeping quarters as the fire alarm rang. But luck was not on his side.
His ungentle wakeup call caught many passengers off-guard, and half awake. In an instant, most of them jumped out of bed, grabbing whatever they thought necessary and hurried out of their rooms. Though seeming confused by the situation and some likely not fully awake yet, the presence of a press-declared hero of the nation must have told them to act quickly. Well. That, or the thick smoke that was already waiting in the rooms for them to notice it. A couple of them did wonder what was going on as soon as they saw the flames ahead but did not speak to him but rather to someone else or said it to themselves.
Hopefully, Iroh briefly thought, the crew on deck would get a hand of evacuating all those people in time. He would go see himself and lend a hand too. But first, he had to fight the fire in those narrow corridors to help as many as possible.
With all the people who could still be in need of help in mind, he pushed forward.