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thatonebirdwrites · 8 months

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Chapter 11 of my Book 2 (Excerpt of the Book)

Notes: This is an excerpt of my TLOK: Shared Moments Book 2. I thought this would be a fun one to share because Asami fretting about having a crush on Korra is cute, and Korra being adorable and not realizing she's flustering Asami is hilarious to me. This scene also exemplifies some of the changes I did to Book 2: Korra breaks up with Mako earlier, they investigate the Southerners that went into hiding, and it's the start of their Spirit Investigations. You can read the whole series here: Shared Moments.

Day after Winter Solstice, Northern edge of Wolf Cove

Asami had to admit that sleeping at Korra’s parent’s home made it easier to prepare for the journey with Katara, mostly because they had the sorts of supplies needed for polar expeditions. Items she would have never considered packing. After Korra had left, Senna had chatted with her about if she felt well enough for this - Asami would never admit she wasn't, far too stubborn for that -- and then they went through supplies. The woman was thorough and highly efficient. Each item Senna put in the packs she explained why, and Asami wished she'd taken notes.

The biggest downside to staying at Korra’s parents’ home was the awkwardness, especially when Korra returned grumpy, only to crash by the fire. Which meant Asami woke up next to Korra. As in, Korra had rolled in her sleep to cuddle by Asami’s side, one arm lazily thrown over her, while Naga curled around them both. The arrangement didn’t bother Asami. She found she rather liked it. It was how much she liked it that had her troubled. It brought back painful memories that she’d tried to put out of her mind for the past few years.

The second issue was her being between Korra and Naga. It didn’t exactly leave room for her to slide out easily, so although she woke quite early, far before the appointed hour, she found herself stuck between a very warm and fluffy polar bear dog and a very warm and cuddly Avatar. At least Korra had remembered to pick up her red bag and drop it within reach.

Her clothes on the other hand were not within reach, so she hid under the pile of blankets, feeling increasingly self-conscious about Korra’s proximity to her and how she couldn’t even have the dignity of proper clothes for this arrangement.

So she was left with little choice.

She pulled her idea journal out of her bag and sketched the ludicrous situation.

Her brain refused to focus on anything else, so it wasn’t as if she could work on her airship designs or anything productive. Asami was quite certain she’d laugh over this later, but for the moment, she was a trifle mortified that Korra’s parents had witnessed this arrangement and left it as is. Like nothing out of the ordinary. Totally fine for two women to cuddle each other and a polar bear dog. Which then left Asami wondering if there was something wrong with her for simultaneously enjoying this immensely and feeling mortified at the witnesses.

Sighing, she stretched her legs a bit, glad to feel the pain mostly gone, and attempted to see if she could wiggle free.

Korra grumbled and only rolled closer.

So that wouldn’t work. Back to the sketch she supposed. Except now, with Korra nudged up so close that her breath was on Asami’s neck, her focus on drawing had scattered entirely. She set her pen in the journal and turned her head to look at the Avatar. Korra must have pulled out her wolf tails, as her brown hair lay in a halo around her head, and mingled with Asami’s own black hair. The firelight played across Korra’s brown skin, giving it a warm glow, and her thick muscles twitched a bit in her sleep, her arm still splayed across Asami.

Did Korra realize how breathtakingly beautiful she was? Likely not as her hair needed a proper brushing, Asami counted at least half a dozen snarls. She was tempted to run her fingers through them to try to gently untangle, but would that wake Korra? They still had some time before they had to be up to prepare for the journey, and the past few days had been pretty intense for the Avatar. Asami didn’t want to wake the girl before it was absolutely necessary.

Gently, she brushed some of Korra’s hair from her face. The touch seemed too intimate. She pulled her hand away and looked up at the ceiling. Painful memories she’d tried so hard to suppress trickled back into her mind. She recalled the one of the big fights she’d had with her father a year prior, when her father had found her lesbian romance book.

Her father entered the library, where she’d been reading by the windows. “Asami, we need to talk.” He held out a book.

Confused, she put down her current book, then paled at the sight of the other one. She snatched it out of his hand. “Why were you in my room?” The book was a romance between two women, a gift from Sana at the dojo where she practiced. Two weeks ago, she’d confessed to Sana how she often felt stronger attractions to women than to men, and it had resulted in the most wholesome conversation she’d ever had with a girl her age. Sana had gifted her the book a few days later. Asami had hoped it was a sign she had finally made a friend.

He pulled up a chair and sighed. “I wished to discuss an upcoming event with you. Why are you reading such books? It’s unbecoming of someone of your status.”

“Because…” Asami realized she had no defense. She’d never considered her father finding the book. Her fingers trailed over the cover. “It was a gift,” she said finally.

“From who?” His voice was angry.

“Why do you need to know?” Asami shot back, defensive. He’d never cared before what she read. This reaction made no logical sense to her.

“Such a person will sully our reputation. I cannot allow you-” he started to say, but she interrupted him.

“Father, this is ridiculous.” Asami stood, her tone switching to the socialite that the school had drilled into her. “The book was a gift, and the person who gifted it is inconsequential to your company. I am capable of reading whatever book I wish.”

Her father’s face darkened. He grabbed her arm. “You are my daughter, Asami. And you must not let these idle fantasies distract you. Eventually, you will need to find a man…”

“No, I don’t.” The words were out of her mouth before she even realized she’d said them. Oh spirits, she hadn't meant to say that, and it wasn't like she didn't have some attraction to men. She just preferred women. Looking at her father, she was about to clarify but then stopped. The look on her father’s face, his shock and confusion, hit her like a block of earth to the chest. She immediately regretted her words.

He sighed heavily, his hand dropping to his side. “Perhaps I’ve been too lenient with you. This cannot continue. What you do reflects on me and my company. If you are to inherit my work, then you must not let this…. this… nonsense taint your mind.”

“This nonsense taint my mind?” she repeated, flabbergasted. Anger overruled her regret. People like Sana weren't nonsense. “Same sex couples exist. Many get married and are recognized just like any other couple. It’s you who needs to adjust to our changing times.”

His shoulders drooped, and he looked suddenly much older. “I need you to focus, Asami. Future Industries' reputation requires both of us to do our part. We need to work together to continue to hold the spotlight, to continue to build a better world.”

Not that argument again. Last time he’d threatened to fire half the benders at the company claiming it was to build a better world, and that had turned into a yelling match. She was not doing that again. Pivoting, she marched out of the library. Her father called after her, but she ignored him. The walls of the mansion felt suddenly stifling. Tears stung her eyes, and she held the book tightly. Could Sana be wrong? Maybe queer couples weren’t as accepted by society as she had claimed.

Asami slammed the door to her room, locked it, and dropped down beside her bed. She dug under it for a battered box and pulled it out. This was where the book should have been, but she’d been reading it last night under the covers. She placed it over all her drawings of women at the dojo. Grabbing her toolkit, she worked a floor board under her bed until it pulled up enough for her to shove the box inside. She carefully readjusted the board back to its original position, then climbed into bed and cried.

The memory incited a wave of anger, and now that she’d seen his journals, she knew he had been far along his path of hatred by the time that conversation happened. And to think it held such influence still! She’d dated Yanchen not long after that conversation, hated it, then tried again with Song, that also barely lasted a few weeks. Mako was the only one she actually felt some attraction, but that hadn’t gone well either. Trying to pretend that side of her didn’t exist certainly hadn’t worked as Korra kept distracting her by being so damn beautiful. Thinking about her father just added a layer of fury and grief as well as shame to the situation, and she hated how he haunted her still.

No, whatever she felt toward Korra, she shouldn’t let it distract. First, they needed to be better friends, then she had to figure out this mess with her company. Besides, it was unlikely Korra would ever like her like that anyway. She sighed and opened her idea journal. The rough sketch of the scene needed some polish, but she shut it instead, and laid her arm over her eyes.

This mode of thinking was not productive. She needed to be useful, which meant she needed to get into proper clothes and check their packs again, verify supplies. Asami shimmied closer to Naga, so that her back was to the polar bear dog’s side. Korra’s arm still lay across her, though she no longer was pressed up as close. Gently, she picked up Korra’s arm but paused at the thickness of her muscles. Asami would never get over them. She swallowed hard and carefully laid Korra’s arm between them. Korra grumbled, but she thankfully didn’t wake.

Part one completed. Asami pushed herself to her knees, blankets slid off. Her body still felt sore, shaky, and now cold. Likely needed more food and water. She reached and grabbed her clothes then looked around. She had no idea where to go for a bathroom, though she vaguely remembered Senna helping her to a room where she could squat and wash with warm water. A lot of yesterday was a blur, most of it in and out of consciousness and sleep.

Korra was still asleep at least. Asami pulled on her shirt and jacket. Leveraging herself against Naga, surprised the bear dog tolerated it, she pulled on her inner liner and pants, socks, and boots. It tired her, and she leaned against Naga, breathing heavier than she liked. The dog nuzzled her sleepily. She stroked her fur and wished life wasn’t so frustratingly complicated. Too bad she wasn't a polar bear dog, then she'd just hang out with Korra, and wouldn't have a failing company, a group of Southerners angry with her possible deal with Varrick, and that confusing and worrisome claim that her technology could make problems worse with the dark spirits and Northern troops. Problems that Asami had no idea how to tackle, and that irritated her even more.

Footsteps came from the side rooms. Senna entered wearing her furs. “Awake?” She spoke softly.

Asami nodded. “May I wash up?” She was still sort of between Korra and Naga, her legs at least, and the blankets were a tangled mess at her feet.

Senna walked over and held out her arm. Asami grasped it and leveraged herself to her feet. She still felt a bit dizzy, her legs still weak, so she leaned against the older woman.

“How do you feel?” Senna led her into the side rooms past a room with a thick curtain and into the bath area. It wasn’t technically a bath per se, but more of a wash area and a place to relieve oneself. Senna pulled out some wash clothes and soap.

“I feel better.” Asami ducked her head to try to hide her blush and burst of shame. “Was extra warm last night.”

Senna smiled with a shake with her head. “You were shivering, even with almost all our blankets. Korra ordered Naga to keep you warm, then just went to sleep.”

“Is… she like that with others?” Asami asked, hesitantly.

Senna shook her head. “No, but then, she’s never had such good friends as all of you. Thank you for being here with her.” Senna squeezed Asami’s shoulder. “Go get washed up. I’ll make breakfast.” Senna left the room and the curtain fell into place.

Asami looked down at the soap and water basin. Korra wasn’t like that with others? She had no idea how to process that information, so she put that out of her head. Turning on the spigot to warm up the water, she cleaned herself up the best she could.

When she left the bathroom, she kept her hand along the wall to steady herself. Being this weak was infuriating. To her surprise, Naga met her at the entrance to the side rooms. The dog waged her tail and nuzzled Asami again. Looking past her, she saw Korra sitting up and stoking the firepit. The girl yawned and blinked sleepily at Asami.

“You sleep okay?”

Asami nodded and wondered if Korra had purposely cuddled her or if it had been all done in her sleep. Okay, there goes her trying to put it out of her mind. She felt irritated with herself. Leaning against Naga’s shoulder, she pushed away from the wall. Her legs still felt weak and that prickly-numbness still burned faintly off and on. Naga seemed to understand and walked slowly back to Korra, while Asami kept hold of her to stay upright.

“Huh.” Korra watched, surprised. “Naga, you’re such a good girl.” She reached out and ruffled the dog’s fur behind Naga’s ears. “Caring for Asami.”

Asami leveraged herself back onto the pillows using Naga’s bulk. “Does she do this a lot?”

Korra shook her head. “Only with me. Well, apparently you now. How you managed to charm my Naga is a mystery.” Korra laughed lightly. “Definitely a polar bear dog whisperer.”

Asami looked off to the side to hide the blush again. “Did… you sleep okay? I… saw you slept out here?” That was the closest she would come to mentioning anything about this morning.

“Yeah.” Korra shrugged. “You were cold, and Naga's warm. I figured I’d sleep nearby. In case you needed stuff.”

More than near, Asami thought, but she didn’t say it out loud. “Thanks for grabbing my things. Senna already packed our bags.” Asami gestured to the ones by the door.

“I saw.” Korra poked the fire again then blurted, “I… I think I might have broken up with Mako.”

“You did?” That was not as surprising as Asami would have thought.

“Yeah. I mean, I didn’t specifically say it’s over? But I guess I strongly implied.” She sighed. “We had a big fight. And he got all weirdly possessive and protective?” Korra flicked a one of the stones on the side of the firepit. “It’s just...”

Asami pulled her legs up against her chest and balanced her chin on her knees. She wasn’t sure what to say. So she waited and looked at the Avatar.

Korra looked up at her. “He got really insistent on coming with us. Demanded it. Said he needed to protect me. I don’t need that. And just… I said he couldn’t come. Why couldn’t he accept that? And, like, I didn’t want Dad with us on that South Pole trip, and Mako goes and tells him? He knew how I felt about Dad trying to dictate my training. Ugh.” Korra waved her hand at the fire in frustration. “I still care about him, you know? But I can’t figure out how to make it work.”

“Sometimes relationships don’t work out,” Asami said, softly. She felt like she ought to say something else, something more supportive, but her mind kept going back to this morning, even despite all attempts to shut that out of her mind. It left her feeling ashamed and off-centered.

“I guess. Makes me sad still.” Korra sighed and stood. “I’ll go wash up. Thanks for listening to me.”

“Always.” Asami watched her go to the side rooms. Korra really had no idea of how she’d woken up, did she? Frustrated with herself, Asami leaned her face into Naga’s soft fur. “Naga,” she whispered. “I can’t have a crush on her. It’s not right.” The dog didn't reply, but then she hadn't expected a reaction. She sighed and did what she’d done for years now. Shoved that side of her tighter into her heart and shut the door.

By the time they finished breakfast with Senna, Master Katara had entered leaning against a walking stick. “Good morning.” She smiled. “And I see Asami convinced you to come, Korra?”

Korra looked up with a smile. “Good morning. And yeah, Asami’s pretty convincing.”

Senna gestured to a pillow. “Would you like tea and breakfast, Katara? We have some left.” During the meal, Senna had chatted with them mostly about mundane topics like what Asami’s work was like and about life on the tundra. Asami had learned a lot about dog sleds, how to train the dogs, caring for them, and how they made the sleds. Then she'd learned there was eight clans within the Southern Water tribe, all focused on different styles of hunting and gathering depending on their location. Far more complex than her research had indicated.

“No, I ate already. Thank you, Senna.” Katara looked at Asami. “How do you feel, dear?”

“Better.” Asami put her down her tea cup. She stretched out one of her legs and winced a bit at the prickly feeling in the lower calf. “Still a bit shaky in the legs. Sporadic numbness, but it’s been fading.”

Katara studied her, thoughtfully. “I see. Korra, did Asami explain this journey?”

Korra nodded. “That there’s Southerners that can calm spirits, that the place is secret, and you are taking us?”

“Good. Senna, prepare Asami? I believe she needs better snowpants.” Katara looked pointedly at Asami’s black work pants. Even with its fur lining, the pants hadn't kept her all that warm, so she wasn't too surprised the older woman viewed them inadequate.

Senna nodded. “You’re a little tall.” She tapped her chin. “I have an idea.” She headed into the side rooms.

Korra grinned and nudged Asami. “Your clothes got vetoed again.” Asami smiled back, sheepishly. She wished she’d gone out and bought better clothes the day before Solstice, but she’d been too frustrated and feeling anti-social to do much more than muck around her lodgings and work on plane and airship designs.

“Korra, load up your bear.” Katara nudged her with her walking stick. “And stop playing around.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Korra jumped to her feet. She nearly tripped over herself to grab the bags Senna had packed and to tie them onto Naga’s saddle. Her dog shook herself but then sat on her haunches to allow Korra to attach the packs and saddle. The scene was almost comical to Asami.

Senna returned with thick blue snow pants. “Here.” She helped Asami to her feet, though Asami found herself leaning against Senna again to stay upright. Katara walked over to help hold her steady as she slipped into the snowpants. The length fit, but the waist did not, and Asami realized this was likely Tonraq’s. Senna quickly got to work adjusting the fit with her sewing kit, until the waist was snug against Asami’s own. “There.” Senna stood back, hands on her hips, to survey her work. “Not my best, but it’ll do.”

“Wonderfully warm,” Asami admitted. Much better than her own.

“Good. No more hypothermia for you.” Katara handed her the coats, and Asami donned them with Senna’s help. By the time she was ready, bundled up like an otter-penguin complete with a face mask, Korra had finished packing up Naga. “Thank you again, Senna," Katara said. "If all goes well, we’ll be back tomorrow at the latest.”

Which meant Asami would miss her appointment with Varrick. Part of her suspected that’d be so. She needed information, and Korra needed to learn more about her people. “Can you let Bolin know that I won’t make my appointment?” She asked Senna.

The woman nodded. “Safe travels, all of you.” She took Asami’s arm and helped her outside. A dog sled waited, the sled part small with a seat and packs tied to the back of the chair. The artic dogs barked and yipped in excitement. Naga barked back and sniffed a few, who turned skittish. Korra pulled Naga away. Twelve arctic dogs in total, all roped together to the front of the sled. Asami had never seen one up close.

Both Korra and Senna helped her onto the back of Naga, and Korra took the front. Asami realized she was going to have to hold on tightly to Korra’s waist to stay on. Great, that was not going to help her resolve to keep that part of herself shut off. Behind them, Senna stepped back into the doorway and held up her hand in farewell.

Katara settled into her sled, lashed down down her stick, and signaled her dogs with a few clicks. The sled hurtled forward, surprisingly fast.

“See you soon, Mom! And please stay safe!” Korra waved at her mother. Asami did the same, then grabbed hold of the girl when Korra urged Naga into a jog to stay abreast Katara’s sled. So they were off into the unknown. Asami hoped desperately that this would help. Yesterday things had seemed so clear, but today she felt scattered, unfocused, and troubled.

Read the full story here!

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a-mad-scientists-writing · 4 months

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A New Era (4)

Chapter 4: Playing With Air

AO3 1 2 3 4 5 6

P1 P2 P3 P4

Valkyrie’s bending is proceeding excellently. She trains hard and learns fast. Air is the element of freedom, and there is no one with a clearer idea of what Valkyrie’s freedom ought to be than Valkyrie herself. Every step of her training has her personal seal of judgement on it, and Skulduggery doesn’t object when her decisions don’t align with the stages he has in mind. He trusts her to know what she needs better than he does. Lessons progress at the pace she dictates, and anything she doesn’t want to do at the moment gets rerouted to being taught sometime in the future.

Of the things Valkyrie wants to learn, flinging objects around with the wind is a yes, as is sensing changes in the air, learning to follow air currents into fantastic gymnastic feats, and all the physical exercise she and Skulduggery can fit into one day. Valkyrie quickly decides that meditation is not for her, although Skulduggery does get her to practice a kind of mindfulness, as some form of spirituality is necessary for becoming more deeply involved with bending. Vegetarianism is not though, and the traditional garb of the Air Nomads is definitely not happening.

The Air Temples have not yielded the secrets of bending they hoped they would. What knowledge she and Skulduggery have gained of the airbenders has mostly been half-remembered stories from nearby villages. The journeys have been far from a waste, however. They go back and forth between the Air Temples and Ba Sing Se, meaning Valkyrie has seen a great deal of the Earth Kingdom by this point, and even some parts of the Fire Nation. She is excited by anything new that comes along, and these days, that’s almost everything.

Skulduggery’s arbiter duties mean that state messages are sent to them by hawk as to any unlawful activity in the area that requires dealing with: this person must be arrested, this town needs help, these bandits are trouble, etc. Local law enforcement always accepts Skulduggery’s authority. While they are more dubious of Valkyrie, Skulduggery has been training her not to rely on her bending all the time (though he does stress that at her age, bending is far more advantageous in a real fight than any punch), so she’s coming along nicely in hand-to-hand combat. This is useful in both proving her mettle and surviving the occasional bandit until Skulduggery can get to her.

News of the new airbender spreads, as well as the news that Skulduggery Pleasant is training her. This deters a great deal more people than either of them know from trying to track her down.

All in all, she’s having a blast. Skulduggery is a great teacher, despite being a firebender. He challenges her, and he knows exactly how to get her to understand concepts and lessons. He is unbothered, patient, and often amused with anything she has trouble with, such as facing a long drop off a tree branch to ‘see if you can cushion yourself.’

Valkyrie thinks he’s adapting moves from his own firebending for her to try, but it’s hard to be certain as Skulduggery’s own bending style is so quick and subtle. When she asks him about it, he tells her that during the war he tried to avoid painting more of a target on his back than necessary, which often meant not advertising the fact he was a firebender to enemy soldiers who might form a vendetta for assuming he had deserted their ranks. She has to admit, she doesn’t think anyone else has self-taught experience like she needs, so he is definitely the most qualified person to teach her.

It’s while they’re escorting some guy called Scapegrace to prison for multiple counts of annoying people with attempted murder that they receive an urgent communique from Ba Sing Se.

Baron Vengeous has broken out of prison in the Northern Water Tribe. Skulduggery is needed to track him down and re-arrest him.

Valkyrie never gets tired of the sight that greets them on their return to the Impenetrable City. The one-hundred-metre-tall Outer Wall is an awe-inspiring sight by itself, made even better when viewed from above as earthbending soldiers ferry them on a moving platform up the outside and then down the inside.

In the Agrarian Zone beyond, lush farmland stretches for kilometres, providing enough food for all the residents of the inner city to live on. And the inner city: every time the monorail passes through the Inner Wall, Valkyrie is blown away by the sheer number of houses crammed together. It is a vast change from the sparse little town she grew up in.

Valkyrie and her parents live in the Middle Ring, in a villa her uncle left them in his will. In their letters, her parents always tell her about the requests they still get from nobles in the Upper Ring inviting the esteemed parents of the First Airbender to parties and dinners. After close to a year of politely declining the offers of nosy insinuation into their lives, Desmond and Melissa Edgley nevertheless still receive them fairly frequently from Lord This or Lady That. Melissa works in the financial district. Desmond supervises construction projects. High society is not their scene.

Skulduggery also has a house in the Middle Ring. Like the Edgleys, he prefers to put some distance between himself and the palace. As of the past year, Valkyrie can see why…

Thurid Guild, the Earth King, doesn’t like Skulduggery, and beyond Valkyrie’s ability to make him look good, he doesn’t like her either. The first thing he brings up after the briefing on Vengeous is Valkyrie’s training.

‘You arrested him once, Arbiter. I’m relying on you to do it again.’

‘I’ll do my best.’

‘Do better.’ Without waiting for an answer, Guild acknowledges Valkyrie’s existence by turning to her and saying shortly, ‘The Administrator has compiled a list of the most renowned Air Nomad scholars and historians in the world. Let us know who you would like to meet for the continuation of your training, and interviews will be arranged.’

There is a thick silence. Once Valkyrie has pieced together what the Earth King is implying, which, due to the sheer unbelievability of it, takes some doing, she eloquently responds, ‘What?’

‘I’m sorry?’ says Skulduggery, equally disbelieving.

Guild is trying to find someone else to instruct her. It has been no secret that he and Skulduggery don’t get along, but Valkyrie had thought all this was settled. Apparently not.

‘What?’she says again. ‘No. What? I’m already being trained. By Skulduggery,’she adds, in case this isn’t evident. ‘I don’t need another instructor, especially not some scholar. The Air Nomads are extinct. Trying to resurrect their teachings from half-remembered stories is only going to be counter-productive. It’s better to just invent new ways of airbending; trust me, we’ve tried both ways.’

‘Regardless,’ Guild says, all but ignoring her again, ‘You’re a firebender, Arbiter Pleasant, and-’

Skulduggery is having none of this. His arguments are thus:

Firebending is the closest form of bending to airbending. Presumably.

He is the only one with the experience necessary to teach her. Who else is as effectively self-taught as him?

Thinly-veiled threats. ‘Caisson won’t be pleased.’

(From Valkyrie) ‘I’ll refuse to learn from anyone else.’

‘See? I’m her favourite.’

The Earth King shut down, they leave the palace before he locks them in the catacombs or something.

‘Caisson?’ Valkyrie asks. ‘As in Fire Lord Caisson?’

‘The very same.’

‘Wow. Why does he want you teaching me?’ She cocks her head in disappointment. ‘Is it for the PR value? The same as Guild?’

‘It had better not be. Anyway,’ Skulduggery adds, ‘He didn’t order me to train you. It’s my own decision, so he can’t order me to stop.’

‘Yeah,’ says Valkyrie doubtfully. ‘It’s not like you’re his special envoy or anything.’

‘Well, I suppose he can. But you can be assured that he won’t because of the large fuss I’ll kick up if he does.’

‘Aww, you want to keep teaching me?’

‘Want is such a strong word…’

‘You want to keep teaching me.’

‘I remember being coerced into taking you along.’

‘You want to keep teaching me.’

He grumbles incoherently.

Back in Ba Sing Se for the first time in weeks, their first stop after the palace is Valkyrie’s parents for a welcome home dinner. The sight of the floor cushions around the low table set for four is among one of the best scenes Valkyrie can remember. Despite how much she loves the adventure, she is relieved to be back home for a little while. Homesickness has been on her mind as of late, ever since the last Air Temple failed to give the answers they searched for. When her parents bring up their dissatisfaction with the amount of time Valkyrie has to spend away from home, she isn’t inclined to brush it off too much.

This being Valkyrie however, she does anyway, leading to a bit of tension in the room.

Their daughter has just expressed a definite feeling of relief at being back home, and although her half-hearted protestations as to not being bothered about having to head out on the road again are there, they are significantly more tempered than they know her dramatic complaining bouts can be. The difference between those and now is, what do you know, the presence of Skulduggery.

‘Mum, it’s fine-’

‘Yes, we know you are Valkyrie,’ Melissa snaps. Valkyrie closes her mouth. Her mother sighs and rubs her forehead.

‘You’ve always had a remarkable streak of resilience, Valkyrie,’ her father rephrases in a milder tone. ‘We just want to make sure that it’s not being brought out unnecessarily.’

‘We all want the best for you,’ agrees Melissa, before turning to Skulduggery. ‘Don’t we?’

‘Of course,’ Skulduggery says smoothly, continuing without any particular inflection, ‘And we also know that you are entirely capable of voicing what you think are the best courses of action for yourself.’

The adults are all talking in measured voices and observing all the politeness a conversation over dinner warrants. But. Two sides are clearly being drawn and they want her to pick one. All of a sudden everything seems much more confrontational, and the illusion of conflict simmering below the surface of the discussion only serves to put Valkyrie on the defensive.

Her parents warn her not to answer what she thinks she’s expected to answer, not to put anyone else’s needs before her own. Valkyrie hotly replies that she never does, she wants to keep touring the world, she wants to continue taking on the duties of an arbiter. But she does pause, and takes a moment to consider her words. Speaking to Skulduggery, who’s listening to her intently but doing that thing where his face suddenly goes into unreadable mode so as not to influence her one way or another, she admits that… she doesn’t want to do that all the time. It’s nice spending time at home too. Maybe they could do a rota of a few weeks on, a few weeks off?

Skulduggery says that sounds perfectly reasonable to him. He’ll talk to the Earth King and the Fire Lord and get his travelling duties as arbiter adjusted.

The tension in the room dissipates, her parents and Skulduggery are friendly again, and they congratulate Valkyrie on the maturity of her response. She’s made a big decision, and they are very proud of her for wanting to help people and continue her training. Skulduggery smiles warmly and she knows he isn’t disappointed or anything.

‘Speaking of…’ Skulduggery says suddenly and briefly exits the room, returning with something in his hands.

He picked up a parcel from the palace while they were there. Now, he hands it over. Inside is an arbiter’s badge just like his, as well as the accompanying documentation. She is officially his partner, if she chooses. Valkyrie Cain goes to bed that night beaming.

The next morning, before Skulduggery comes to pick her up, Valkyrie and her parents go for a picnic in a nearby park. They ask her about what she’s been up to on her latest trip. Valkyrie eagerly tells all- minus a few of their more dangerous escapades. She doesn’t want them to worry unnecessarily. She’s perfectly safe now.

She feels the air shift and rolls aside. A man attacks Valkyrie. He doesn’t use any bending, but Valkyrie has learned that that far from detracts from a person’s ability to cause harm. He is fast and graceful, moving lithely like Tanith. When he grabs her from behind, pinning her arms to her sides, she can’t twist out of his grip.

Her father launches himself at him. The man stuns him with a solid blow.

‘DAD!’ Valkyrie screams.

Furiously, she kicks out her legs and a blast of air sends her rocketing backwards, bowling over the man and forcing him to release her. They roll, and he comes up first, re-orienting himself much quicker than Valkyrie.

A blast of fire razes the ground at the man’s feet. They both look around.

‘Dusk,’ says Skulduggery, one smoking fist still held out. ‘Been a while.’

‘To you too, Arbiter.’

Skulduggery flicks his wrists, two daggers of fire flaming in his clenched fists. Valkyrie gets to her feet. Her mother is helping her father stand, and they are both pale-faced as they watch the tableau. The park isn’t empty either: the commotion is bringing more people over. The Dai Li or the police or both won’t be far off.

Calculating his position, Dusk abandons the assault and disappears into the streets.

This is an entirely unprecedented situation and needs to be contained. Even more worryingly, very few people knew of Valkyrie and Skulduggery’s late-night arrival back in Ba Sing Se, all of them Earth Kingdom officials. Whoever leaked the information came from inside the palace.

Skulduggery decides to take Valkyrie somewhere safe until he can get a handle on things, and asks Desmond and Melissa to let the palace know what’s going on while he does.

The family, for their part, don’t want to let each other out of their sight. Valkyrie never considered that her parents would be in such danger, and seeing it up close has shaken her much more than she cares to admit. It’s much easier to deal with these things when it’s only her and Skulduggery. This is what ends up convincing her that it is better if they split up. The palace will be a safe place for her parents to go- there’s Dai Li, and soldiers, and guards, all of which have been doubled since the previous year’s attempted coup.

Her parents won’t accept this reasoning. Was this what it was like for their daughter last year? Did people hurt her then? Does she have to fight for her life often, when she is travelling? This isn’t the time or place for that conversation, and despite knowing this, they can’t accept that either.

‘Vengeous doesn’t care about either of you. You’re safe from him,’ Skulduggery says. ‘And he wouldn’t have sent someone after Valkyrie unless he was trying to send a message: in this case, a message for me. Believe me, I know- I know- that you want to keep Valkyrie close; I used to be a parent too. I understand. But if I bring all of you along on this it’ll only increase the danger. Until we know who is feeding this information to Vengeous, Valkyrie and I have to stay away, and you have to be the only people above suspicion inside the palace.’

‘You want us to be your eyes and ears,’ says Melissa, catching Skulduggery’s angle much quicker than Valkyrie thought she would. Skulduggery confirms.

Desmond says, ‘We’re trusting you.’

Skulduggery nods.

The undisclosed safe location they go to is China’s library. They send a message to Tanith, who is elsewhere in Ba Sing Se at the moment, and Skulduggery leaves to do ‘sneaky things’ that he won’t elaborate on.

Valkyrie and China pass the time in conversation about China’s past, and some of Skulduggery’s. The reveal that China was once part of the Diablerie is a shocking one. Now though, Valkyrie can see why everyone has a hard time trusting her.

Much more interesting are the stories about Skulduggery; he was the one who took Vengeous down in that battle: the Fall of the Fire Nation Capital. China tells her how desperate the situation at the time was, and hearing the account firsthand from someone who was there is much more gripping than learning about it in her history classes back in Léi.

The attack was a last desperate effort, an all-or-nothing attempt with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. Mevolent was ready to torch the Earth Kingdom using the power of a comet, and it was Skulduggery who brought them the information that unless they struck they would lose everything. He marshalled the remnants of the armies that were left, gathered every last ragtag fighter who could hold a weapon, and most importantly, found China and Caisson.

‘You and Caisson?’

‘Yes,’ China confirms, with a faint smile of reminiscence. ‘Before he was Fire Lord he was a banished prince- no, not even that, just the lowly son of courtier, his heritage not being common knowledge back then. He was only a little older than you, in fact. He’d lived his whole life in the Capital up until his exile. I don’t think I’m overstating myself here when I say that if it hadn’t been for me, he would never have survived to see the Capital’s Fall. And if it hadn’t been for Skulduggery’s training, Caisson never would have defeated Mevolent.’

Valkyrie takes this in with an open mouth. She knows Skulduggery is high up in the Fire Nation ranks, and known to pretty much everyone they meet who possesses any influence in the world, but from what China says, he played a much bigger part in the war than he’s let on. Odd, considering that she can only recall a couple vague mentions of him in the history books at school, and those only came to mind after she’d met him. China says that it’s kings and fire lords and the people they defeated who the Earth Kingdom chooses to remember. Besides, he isn’t proud of some of the things he did during the war- none of them are. He doesn’t mind being left out.

China’s library is then attacked.

They hear China’s assistant delaying someone- a very violent someone- for several vital seconds, which China does not waste. Valkyrie gasps as her coat seems to come alive, dragging her forcibly into China’s bedroom, like the buttons and clasps have been suddenly magnetised. China commands her to stay within in the tone of voice that once made the Diablerie bend at the knee, just as-

A man blasts down her door, dressed in a sharp war-era Fire Navy general’s uniform. He has a strange eye-like tattoo on his forehead, and, rather counter-productively to his entrance, he is looking to recruit China.

Baron Vengeous.

He is accompanied by Dusk and a blind man with sure steps, who commence the fine art of flanking China while not appearing too overt about it, and still managing to instil an aura of creeping menace into the room. The tinted, opaque glasses of the blind man glint in the light from the lamps, clearly well-made and made to look it. The rest of his clothes are in shades of what appear to be undyed greyish, tan and brown cloth, a choice at odds with the clear quality behind the custom cut; hanging around Skulduggery has given Valkyrie an eye for these things. But while he is dressed smartly, something about the fit and form give subtle hints of a certain streamlined efficiency, like the clothes are made just as much for function as fashion. A clue as to what that function may be is given when he draws a straight razor and flips it idly between his fingers.

‘Time to drop the façade and return to your old rank, China,’ the baron says with much grandiose. ‘Now tell me, where is the girl?’

Valkyrie’s heart thuds as China weaves lies as easily as breathing. The blind man cocks his head. Just as Valkyrie is wondering how he even fights without seeing, he interrupts the baron’s interrogation with an amused drawl.

‘Like you said baron, she’s good. But she’s still lyin’.’

The baron’s face contorts in displeasure, yellow-shot eyes focused poisonously on China, who tenses.

‘Kid’s in there, by the way,’ the man adds, nodding casually at the bedroom concealing Valkyrie. She freezes.

‘You’re proving yourself to be quite useful, Sanguine,’ the baron says, and turns back to China, breathing deeply through his nose in a way that Valkyrie would bet anything means something bad is about to happen.

Cover apparently blown, Valkyrie is about to step in and help… and then she witnesses metalbending for the first time.

China fights, and she is good. The reason for all the ornate metal creations adorning her residence is clear: it’s not just for show, it’s so she can rip entire sections of wall out of their bearings and flatten people with them.

Valkyrie sees combustion bending for the first time as well when Vengeous blasts apart China’s trap with an explosion straight from his forehead, throwing China back. Dusk moves swiftly in China’s brief moment of disorientation, drawing the dao slung across his back as he restrains her and puts the blade to her throat. Fire flares in the baron’s fist. China still refuses to give Valkyrie up.

So Valkyrie bursts out of hiding to save her, demonstrating her exemplary talent for giving the people she is in the care of aneurysms.

Apparently this is what Sanguine, who had remained unmoving throughout the fight, is waiting for.

Without turning his head in her direction, Sanguine slices with his hand, shifts his foot, and suddenly the stone floor disappears beneath Valkyrie. Instinctively, she pushes down and a blast of air propels her out of the hole. She rides out the momentum into a forward flip, but as soon as she touches down Sanguine is there reaching for her. She drops into a slide, skidding beneath his arm, and narrowly avoids the boulder that erupts out of the floor into her path by rolling. She comes up on all fours, ready to push herself back up, and is yanked to a halt. The floor has spat out restraints encasing her hands and feet. She looks up, releasing her first breath since entering the fray. Sanguine grins at her.

Something sharp and metallic that has a shape like one of China’s bracelets scythes through the air with a deadly hiss. Sanguine side-steps it, but it claims his attention enough that he misses when Valkyrie’s restraints crack open with a flick from China.

‘Go!’ China commands her, before returning to her own blurred fight with Dusk and Vengeous.

Valkyrie doesn’t argue, sprinting for the door to the main library. Sanguine is right behind her. She leads him down the stairs, their footsteps echoing off the tiles. He’s an earthbender, he has the advantage here, so when Valkyrie starts to feel the ceramic shift she is ready. They are rounding a landing, so she leaps and steps off two walls, boosts herself with the air to soar over his head, catches the railing over the open stairwell and swings over the side.

They are only one story above the ground; Skulduggery’s told her to fall out of trees that are higher. She cushions her landing with a vortex of wind, and takes off again, heading out into the daylit street. She notices she can’t hear Sanguine behind her as she darts into an alley, and she doubts he’s just given up. The quiet kicks her brain into high gear, her breathing and heartrate quickening along with it. Sanguine doesn’t earthbend like anyone she’s ever met. It’s like he can feel the earth itself. He listens to it. He knows where she is by sensing her in the ground.

Valkyrie lightens her tread, the air ensuring each of her footfalls are as weightless as feathers. Slowly she comes to a stop, and turning to face the alley entrance, she waits.

It’s not long before the bricks on the left buckle and crack, and Sanguine steps out. His head is tilted like he’s listening. Valkyrie waits breathlessly.

‘Clever,’ he remarks. ‘But I also got ears, little darlin’. I don’t need earthbending to catch you.’

He pulls out a straight razor and advances. Valkyrie readies herself. The ground swallows him, and her stomach drops. She jumps for the alley wall and kicks off, reaching for a roof to pull herself up, but the wall cracks open. Sanguine grabs her wrist and pulls it inside, then steps out and closes the wall around it, holding the razor to her throat.

‘But,’ he admits, ‘it is easier.’

The odd sensation of cold stone completely enclosing and immobilising parts of one’s person is an unpleasant one that Valkyrie considers she has experienced entirely too much of today. She can’t move her hand, and even if she could get away, the slightest pressure on the sharp blade at her throat makes her afraid to try.

Which is why the arrival of Tanith Low is so welcome.

Judging by Sanguine’s reaction to her, he isn’t too upset about her arrival either, despite being severely outclassed.

She makes an impression, to say the least.

Less welcome is the arrival of China, who blocks off the alley’s exit with a slam of brick walls and then releases Valkyrie’s trapped hand. The earth shakes as Mr Bliss drops into the alley. Least welcome of all is Valkyrie stealing his razor. Surrounded, Sanguine disappears into the ground.

Once Skulduggery has rushed back from his sneaky errand, made sure Valkyrie’s okay, and they’ve all helped right most of the overturned furniture, China tells them about the information on Vengeous she has, namely that he is going to try to awaken the Grotesquery.

The Grotesquery is a slumbering spirit of great power, claimed in legend to serve a greater evil: Vaatu, the Avatar Spirit Raava’s nemesis. During a lunar eclipse, when the world is held in balance between the elements of fire and water, the Grotesquery’s power could increase, and it would become able to open a doorway into the Spirit World. It was the only being apart from the Avatar able to do this, but its function was primarily to release said greater evil from its imprisonment in the Spirit World. In order to prevent the Grotesquery from freeing Vaatu, a long-ago Avatar sent it to sleep in the material world. It is unknown how this was accomplished, but apparently Vengeous has found a way to wake it up again.

China smiles without humour. ‘The next lunar eclipse is in two days.’

‘Which would explain why Vengeous is in such a hurry to act,’ nods Skulduggery. ‘Subtlety was never his style, but I only got back to the city yesterday and already he’s tried coming for Valkyrie twice. He’s desperate to distract me.’

‘Fortunately, the Grotesquery can only open a portal that already exists. It can’t create a new one,’ Bliss says. ‘There are only two portals in existence, in the North and South Poles. Vengeous won’t have time to travel all the way to the South Pole before the eclipse, so we know his eventual destination. I’ll alert the Northern Water Tribe.’

‘His plan sounds familiar,’ says Tanith, frowning. ‘Didn’t Mevolent try something like this?’

‘It never succeeded,’ Skulduggery dismisses. ‘Mevolent did want to release Vaatu and create a Dark Avatar, but the experiment was a failure. The spirit never fused with Vile, and both he and Mevolent died soon after. Now there is no Avatar. Vengeous’ plan won’t succeed.’

‘But Vaatu does not necessarily have to fuse with the Avatar,’ China reminds him. ‘Vengeous is more than capable of accepting the spirit and becoming a Dark Avatar himself.’

‘So we still need to find the- the Grow Thing before he does,’ says Valkyrie grimly. ‘Anyone know where to find a nasty old spirit?’

The Torment is a nasty old spirit able to shapeshift between the appearance of an old man and that of a great spiderlike being. He and his followers, the Children of the Spider, reside in a small, creepy Earth Kingdom town west of Ba Sing Se in the flatlands before the Taihua Mountains. The forest enclosing the nameless town was where the Torment resided for many years, until Vaurien Scapegrace offered him lodging in his basement, which the spirit accepted for reasons of his own. He might know where to find the Grotesquery.

As Valkyrie and Skulduggery go to the jail to collect Scapegrace, Skulduggery fills her in on his sneaky activity earlier: he and her parents broke into the Earth King’s office.

‘Wait, my parents?’

‘Yes. They were quite eager to help. Your mother was lookout, and your father was a surprisingly effective staller. Quite a capable couple, you’re parents. When it comes down to it.’

To Valkyrie, it seems that Skulduggery is being unreasonably casual about recruiting her parents for this mission. She herself doesn’t know how to feel about it; they’re her parents, they’re supposed to be safe, and out of danger, and not involved. She’s surprised Skulduggery thought using them would be a good idea, honestly, they’re just normal people. What had he been thinking? What if something had gone wrong? Well, Skulduggery would have gotten them all out of there of course, but what if something had gone really wrong? He wouldn’t have been that careless with her parents, would he? They aren’t meant to be anywhere near this kind of stuff! It’s dangerous, and they’re normal people!

Normal people, one of whom spent his entire life lying about and hiding his identity, and the other who married him in the knowledge she might be signing her future death warrant. And they both grew up in the shadow of Fire Nation attacks. Maybe they’re tougher than you think.

Valkyrie isn’t pleased at this whisper of her subconscious.

‘That was sneaky,’ she says instead.

Vengeous could only have received word that they were back in Ba Sing Se so quickly if he had an informant, and all the suspects were high-ranking Earth Kingdom officials- of which, Skulduggery trusts Guild the least. Unfortunately, the search of his office yielded nothing.

The revelation that the Earth King might be a traitor gives Valkyrie enough food for thought to occupy her for the entire cart ride.

The little town is grey, unfriendly, and sparse. On an old wooden sign on the outskirts, half-disintegrated, Valkyrie can just make out characters reading Roarhaven. The rest of the writing is illegible from disrepair.

Of all the villages she’s visited, it is by far the least welcoming. Scapegrace leads them through, pointing out the many uninteresting features of his home. The corner he used to sell cabbages on; the old stall that used to be his cabbage-selling headquarters; the bar he bought, renamed The Cabbage Patch, and sold drinks brewed from fermented cabbage at. The enterprise stank (of cabbage) so he branched out to amateur serial killing, which he also stank at.

After a barfight, a chase through a secret tunnel, and a pursuit by many spiders, Valkyrie and Skulduggery come face to face with the Torment. He is currently in the form of an unpleasant old man with long scraggly hair.

Valkyrie doesn’t know how a dinky little town like this one managed to become supplied with state-of-the-art crossbow technology, but somehow it did, because the Torment is levelling one right at her face.

Moving slowly and carefully and stopping when the old man fingers the trigger warningly, Skulduggery asks what this is about. The response is not ideal: the Torment doesn’t like airbenders, apparently. Valkyrie assures him the feeling is mutual.

The Torment tells them the only way he will give up the Grotesquery’s location is if Skulduggery kills Valkyrie.

It would be very convenient right now if Valkyrie had a doppelganger they could dispose of in her place. Unfortunately, there’s just the one of her.

If Skulduggery refuses, the Torment might just decide to kill Valkyrie himself. If they wait too long, Vengeous will find the Grotesquery and awaken it, very possibly dooming the world. They are boxed into a corner.

But killing Valkyrie is not an option. Right?

Fear tugs on her as Skulduggery goes very, very quiet.

‘Skulduggery, you’re not actually considering this, are you?’

He looks at her.

She turns to run, and flames surround her.

Valkyrie has known that Skulduggery was a good fighter from the moment they met. He doesn’t often use his bending, being skilled enough at hand-to-hand combat not to need it. At her inquiry, he’s told her that bending fire can easily spin out of control and cause a vast amount of unintentional damage. As such, he is often subtle in his moves: maybe he’ll temporarily blind someone with a sudden flash, or distract them by setting fire to their clothes, or light a campfire without matches. The most impressive thing she has seen him do thus far is redirecting a bolt of lightning, a move he invented.

She gathered that he has been spoken of with such respect/awe/fear because of his status as an arbiter of all nations, and because of the things he achieved during the war. His firebending isn’t a big part of his legend.

So, sure, she knew he was good at fighting. But she’d never thought of him as a particularly powerful bender.

That changes now.

Flames roar up and sweep around and between the three of them. Somewhere at the outer edge of the inferno is a shriek from Scapegrace.

Valkyrie loses sight of everything except the fire swirling around her. She is enclosed on all sides, unable to move from her searing position, but on the bright side, no giant spiders are going to come eat her. In fact, judging from the sounds, things aren’t going at all according to the Torment’s wishes.

She clears a path through the flames, parting them with blasts of wind, trying to find her way out before the air fries her. In doing so, she comes to the centre and witnesses through a haze of smoke and heat the far from inconsiderable efforts of Skulduggery Pleasant to fake her death by incineration.

The Torment is a spirit for whom the dark, cold and quiet spaces of the world hold no fear; he is the fear in them. He is also quickly finding out that none of that means anything in the face of a powerful firebender’s anger, and it has been vehemently established that Skulduggery is indeed a powerful firebender.

The Torment has no proof of Valkyrie’s death, no assurance that his terms have been met. Regardless, the foremost thought in his infuriated, afeared mind is to get the firebender and his pervasive light and heat away from him. He tells Skulduggery the location of the Grotesquery, and the blaze retracts. The girl isn’t there, and the Torment refrains from questioning it, even though the disappearance is far from conclusive. But this slight against him will not go unanswered, and he glares as Skulduggery takes Scapegrace and leaves.

Scapegrace was having a bad day. Then it got fantastic when Pleasant killed the girl. Then it got bowel-droppingly terrible as the Torment made no move to stop the Arbiter of All Nations, who was recently made to kill his student, take him back into custody. The hand gripping Scapegrace’s arm is still hot from the firebending display, and he distantly realises that this is it, this is the end, the Fire Lord’s own special envoy is about to burn him to a crisp and there is no one who will even protest- OH GOD SHE’S ALIVE?? She’s alive!

Scapegrace was going back to prison, but his day was unbelievably better than he thought it’d turn out to be. Valkyrie meets them by the ostrich horses.

‘You know, every spirit we meet doesn’t like me. Every single one,’ muses Valkyrie as they set off.

‘Surely not every one?’

‘Every. Single. One,’ she maintains adamantly. ‘Do you remember having any encounters that actually went well? Since I joined you, that is?’

‘…I suppose not,’ Skulduggery admits.

‘It’s because none of them like me. Which is barmy, according to my family legends.’

‘You have a lot of those.’

‘You remember the one about my spirit-tainted blood? Or airbender blood, whichever. You’d think that would mean the spirits would see me as one of them, right? The Sceptre did, after all.’

‘That it did.’

‘But no.’

‘No?’

‘It’s just my luck they like me even less.’

‘Hmm.’

‘Are you even listening?’

‘Hmm? Oh, yes. Spirits don’t like you. Personally, I thought you just smelled bad or something.’

‘Oh, cheers.’

‘Anytime.’

They drop Scapegrace off at the nearest Earth Kingdom law enforcement outpost. When they have travelled so far into the mountains that they can hear the distant roar of the Northern Ocean echoing through the crags, they disembark from their ostrich horses and creep forward on foot. Sounds are coming from over the precipice of the cliff they are walking on. Below, the night is held at bay by torches, which cast large shadows over the scene.

Vengeous has found the Grotesquery. From what Valkyrie can see from her perch on the ledge high above, the old spirit is motionless, wrapped in a shroud and appearing more dead than slumbering.

Skulduggery says he has a plan. It is vitally dependent on her staying right where she is. Then he vaults off the ledge and lands at the rear of the evil expedition party. He takes out Dusk with a stranglehold before anyone notices, but the subterfuge ends there.

The first thing Vengeous does upon seeing Skulduggery, aside from express his intense desire to kill him, is ask where Valkyrie is.

‘I would say that it’s a school night, but if you knew how to find her you probably also know that she’s never attended school in Ba Sing Se, so let me think… aha! Yes.’ Skulduggery straightens and nods happily. ‘She’s sick.’

Many explosions ensue, with some more displays of Skulduggery’s firebending prowess. Explosions doing little besides threatening to bring the ridges down on top of them all, the baron snarls and unsheathes his wickedly sharp cutlass. Skulduggery draws his own saber.

While old, it has nevertheless been maintained, the imperfections in the blade only serving to enhance the silky sound of it being drawn. Valkyrie has never seen him fight with it before: hand-to-hand and hand-to-fire are Skulduggery’s go-to methods. He doesn’t need a sword.

The drama of the moment is only slightly undercut by Valkyrie remembering the one time she’s seen him take it out, which was during a particularly frustrating camping session one night, where he used it to hack up some ham.

Sword fighting, Valkyrie realises quickly enough, is just a cover for normal fist-fighting, at least when Skulduggery is involved. For every clash and ring of steel, there’s a knee, a headbutt, a handful of flame, or an insult. The baron has a nobleman’s form and precision, coupled with all the experience of a lifetime of surviving battles. He’s older than Skulduggery, but nevertheless moves with the litheness and strength of a man ten years younger. Skulduggery’s blade switches hands often; it’s easy for him to escape any of Vengeous’ locks. He’s evasive, favouring sweeping strikes and slashes, and makes use of the sword hilt too.

There’s a shriek of metal sliding on metal as the swords whirl in a circle. A flick of the baron’s wrist brings his weapon up but Skulduggery catches it in an overhead block and his right hand presses on Vengeous’ blade. The metal glows red, then orange, then Vengeous disengages and Skulduggery spins, his saber blurring, and hits the glowing section of sword.

It breaks.

The top half flings into the cave wall point first and sticks, vibrating. The moment gives Vengeous room to concentrate however, and an explosion fires from his tattooed forehead.

Skulduggery just manages to avoid the worst of it, but loses his sword as he’s thrown back. The baron, still with half a weapon, is on him in an instant, pinning him to the ground, the remains of the jagged, half-melted blade at his throat.

‘I still win best out of three,’ Skulduggery groans, but Valkyrie’s not sure whether he’s dazed or being smart.

Vengeous, as he is wont to do, says something disturbing about slicing him up. He draws back the shard to do exactly that… and a gale of wind hurls him into the wall.

Valkyrie cushions her fall perfectly. This is stupid. Vengeous’ eyes lock onto her. This is stupid. Skulduggery finds enough breath to curse quietly. This is stupid. Dusk, coming back to consciousness from Skulduggery’s stranglehold, stands up behind her.

‘You want me?’ she challenges. ‘Come and get me!’

This is so stupid, she maintains internally.

Everyone’s attention upon her, she sprints out of the cavern entrance, using the air to boost herself over Dusk’s head.

The woods sprawling over the steeply sloping ground outside provide cover, but Dusk catches up, somehow managing to sprint over the treacherous ground while Valkyrie virtually flies, steadying her steps with the air. Dusk’s hand closes on her jacket. She pulls Sanguine’s straight razor out of her pocket and completely ruins not only his face, but his day. She keeps running. She has no idea where she’s going. There’s a sliding noise above and to her left, and Skulduggery drops from a platform of rock with a shower of gravel. He grabs her hand and they take off again.

The ostrich-horses are right ahead.

Sanguine, on the other hand, is right below.

He can sense every one of their footsteps through the earth, their positions down to the whip of their clothes in the wind. It’s far too easy to track them.

Less than a minute later he’s dragging the kid down and away from the arbiter’s grip, feeling her go rigid with terror, her heartbeat pounding through the rocks. He supposes it must be hell for her, down here. It’s probably the first time she’s ever been unable to airbend.

She’s in the hold of a ship now. The metal of her cell is old, but unfortunately not weak. In the opposite cell is the Grotesquery, motionless but for the sway of the vessel.

Valkyrie almost escaped three times before they locked her in, but Sanguine proved to be a match for her each time. It was like he could sense her thoughts. Realistically, she knew he must have just felt her micro-movements through the ground, but still, it seemed that as long as he was close she wasn’t going anywhere.

The air grows colder. She shivers and thinks.

They don’t want her as a hostage. As was triumphantly revealed when they locked her in this cell, instead they want her to awaken the Grotesquery.

Vengeous thinks that the Grotesquery can be awakened by spirit-touched blood, which would mean the Avatar, if there was an Avatar. Since there isn’t, the plan would have been impossible- had not Dusk and Sanguine received word of a new member of the most spiritual culture of people ever, who the Sceptre of the Spirit World itself was unable to destroy.

As soon as they reach the North Pole she will die.

Valkyrie’s teeth are chattering before the ship even makes berth. She is not dressed for a visit to the North; her clothes are light and easy to move in, and normally if she gets cold there’s a firebender with her who can act as her own personal heater.

There’s no chance of such comfort now. Dusk double-checks her hands are still cuffed behind her back before he leads her out of the cell; there’s no need- she couldn’t find anything to pick the lock with, and her hands are too numb and shaky to try anyway.

The wind is piercing outside. It’s still night, so she can’t be any more specific about how long they’ve been travelling than several hours. The air hurts to breathe in, and ten paces off the boat Valkyrie is already beginning to stumble in the deep, bone-chilling snow. Dusk practically lugs her the rest of the way to the circle of firelight where Sanguine and Vengeous have carted the Grotesquery.

Sanguine’s head cocks slightly at their approach, but rather than come and take her off Dusk’s hands himself, he waits for them to come to him, one hand on the cart. He seems grimmer, much less self-assured than before, stamping down impatiently to flatten the snow. The only words he utters are short responses to Vengeous’ orders.

The thought strikes Valkyrie that he mustn’t be able to ‘see’ like usual, what with the only earth around being buried far under the snow and ice. Any thought of escape is quickly dashed from her mind, though: it is dark, freezing, and any direction she tries to run in- if her legs even hold up with how much they’re shaking- leads to deserted tundra.

Sanguine uncuffs her and takes hold of her wrist. The baron and Dusk unwrap the Grotesquery. The old spirit is half-wrapped in bandages, misshapen, and huge. It seems pieced together from all sorts of animals and monsters.

Valkyrie tries to twist out of Sanguine’s grip but he’s got her arm in a tight clamp, her hand palm-up in front of her, fingers forced open. His razor glints in the torchlight. Her skin is so cold she wonders if she’ll even feel anything when he cuts her- but she does, and clenches her teeth to stop from crying out, feeling hot blood well up and begin to drip down. Red splashes over the Grotesquery’s bandages. Valkyrie waits with bated breath, but nothing more happens. The Grotesquery remains motionless.

Vengeous nods to Sanguine. ‘Spill the rest.’

Right now would be a really good time for a skeleton to show up and save the day.

One doesn’t.

Because he’s not a skeleton here.

Skulduggery strides in from outside the circle of firelight, one hand full of flames and a keg handily labelled ‘DANGER – EXPLOSIVE’ hanging from the other.

‘Don’t mind me. I just came here to drop this off.’ He plants the barrel nonchalantly on its side and gives it a gentle kick to roll it nearer to the cart. Vengeous steps forward with a snarl but stops when Skulduggery raises his fiery hold.

‘I wouldn’t. As you know, I have rather good aim.’

‘Somebody’s gonna have to tell me what’s goin’ on,’ says Sanguine irritably.

‘I have a keg full of dangerous explosives and I’m threatening to blow you all up if you don’t hand over Valkyrie,’ Skulduggery informs him helpfully.

‘See? Was that so hard?’ Sanguine throws a dirty look at the silent Dusk, or rather, at the patch of snow where he last heard Dusk.

With narrowed eyes, Vengeous tells Sanguine to release Valkyrie. She snatches her hand away and forces her legs into action. Skulduggery draws her close as soon as she’s near.

The warning sign on the keg has been hastily written on. The barrel is empty. Valkyrie’s mouth goes dry.

‘When I say so,’ Skulduggery says quietly into her ear as they back away, ‘blow the Grotesquery out of the light.’

Skulduggery closes his hand, extinguishing the fireball and all the torches. Black closes in.

‘Now!’

There’s pitch black all around. Valkyrie hazards a guess at where the cart is and whips out a current of air. Judging by Sanguine’s cut-off shout, followed by the thump of a body hitting snow, she misses. Skulduggery dives on her and they roll out of the way of an explosion from the baron.

There’s a rapid crunching of footsteps and Tanith races by, lit by moonlight as Valkyrie’s night vision returns. She takes a running leap at Dusk, and a furiously fast fight of sword against dao begins.

Shaking snow out of her hair, Valkyrie blinks the last of the firelight out of her eyes. She shoves out a blast of wind that carves a deep rut in the snow and sets the Grotesquery’s cart rolling.

She and Skulduggery run after it and leap on board as it trundles rapidly away, Tanith joining a moment later. The snow threatens to bog them in, but Valkyrie breathes in as deeply as she can, gathering as much air as she can take, and blows it out in a burst of propulsion, repeating whenever they start to slow. Wind stings their eyes and freezes their faces as they are blasted faster and faster.

Behind them the site dwindles rapidly until vanishing behind a drift, leaving only starlight in the sky curving overhead to guide them. Admittedly, this isn’t much, and Valkyrie numbly- wearily- thinks that they’re just going to get lost until she sees some little points moving: those aren’t stars near the horizon, they’re distant pinpricks of torches- the Northern Water Tribe.

Everything feels numb and Valkyrie is so tired. She can’t feel the wind very well anymore, and it’s so difficult to keep the cart moving. Shifting her balance, she trips on the Grotesquery and can’t get back up. The lights are getting bigger- closer? Skulduggery bothers her with a lot of questions all at once and then takes off his heavy parka to wrap around her. He hugs her too, which is nice, and Tanith is on her other side rubbing her up and down, which is also nice, but her fingers are icy cold on Valkyrie’s neck and Skulduggery’s fire dazzles her eyes. She closes them and goes to sleep.

Escorted by incoming water tribe warriors, they make it to Agna Qel’a, the Northern Water Tribe’s capital city, before Valkyrie dies of hypothermia. She wakes up relaxed and warm in a steaming indoor pool. There’s a hand supporting her head, but the pool is shallow enough that she lies flat on its smooth bottom. As her eyes blink open, she swears the water was actually glowing for a moment there.

The healer treating her, a grumpy old waterbender who brusquely introduces himself as Kenspeckle Grouse, nevertheless takes an instant shine to her, despite having his night disturbed. He likes Tanith, too. Skulduggery is a sticking point.

The Grotesquery is locked away in Kenspeckle’s morgue. The healer reasons that Vengeous’ theory was wrong. The Grotesquery never awoke because Valkyrie’s blood was not that spiritual after all. Skulduggery agrees: she won’t even meditate. Tanith agrees: she won’t even wear monk clothes. Valkyrie is offended.

‘How did you know where to find me?’ Valkyrie asks, accepting the thick blue garments Kenspeckle offers her and shrugging them on over her tunic and leggings. Also provided are some sturdy leather snow boots, much more effective at keeping her feet dry than the cloth shoes she normally wears. Her desire to be warm far outweighs her usual preference to be unrestricted by heavy, unwieldy clothes.

‘I sent Tanith a message by hawk as soon as I reached the law enforcement outpost,’ Skulduggery tells her. ‘I knew she was at the palace with Bliss, so I knew I could also let someone trustworthy in power know the situation at the same time.’

Tanith, also wrapped much more warmly than her usual form-fitting lightweight green robes, nods. ‘Bliss was organising Earth Kingdom reinforcements when I left. It took longer than I’d have liked, but I managed to meet Skulduggery at the northern harbour before he left. We took a boat and set off.’

Valkyrie raises an eyebrow. ‘You just took a boat?’

‘It may have been more like stealing a boat,’ Skulduggery admits. ‘Not the first time I’ve had to do that though, so I knew what I was doing.’

‘You’d been kidnapped Val, we weren’t going to waste time considering other options,’ Tanith says.

‘Fair enough,’ Valkyrie grins. ‘How’d you catch up to us so fast?’

‘I have friend from here who once showed me all the dangerous shortcuts between the isles and currents,’ Skulduggery answers with a shrug.

‘It was pretty amazing,’ Tanith agreed. ‘You were hours ahead of us. Skulduggery worked a miracle.’

‘After all these years I have yet to stop outdoing myself.’

Kenspeckle re-enters the ward carrying Skulduggery’s now water-free parka, looking even grumpier than before. This may have something to do with the sour-faced woman standing behind him with an attitude of incredible dissatisfaction.

‘Your methods are almost as questionable as your student’s dress sense, arbiter, but you did well warming her until you arrived here. She’ll be fine. Now I’m afraid we’ve all been asked to vacate this Healing House, as spirits forbid I actually get to treat patients on my own graveyard shift!’ He tosses Skulduggery’s coat at him and stomps off, incensed.

When Valkyrie asks what that was all about, the healing woman sniffs and tells her that men should be warriors, not healers. She directs them to the Northern Chief’s palace, where they are expected, and assures them that the Grotesquery will be in safe hands at the Healing House. The crisis is over now.

Psych! The Grotesquery wakes up and terrorises the place.

The attack takes the still-waking city by surprise, sending waterbenders and warriors scrambling. It escapes Agna Qel’a with ease, flattening all who stand in its path, and heads for the centre of the land.

The Northern warriors restrain themselves from giving chase. The damage done to the city is substantial, and heading off after the Grotesquery before sufficient forces have mustered would be unwise. They have until the lunar eclipse that night to stop Vengeous, who is undoubtedly waiting for the spirit at the portal.

Chief Dragunov raises his warriors to arms, eager to recapture Vengeous and imprison him once more. Earth Kingdom reinforcements arrive. With them is King Thurid himself, and Mr Bliss. Valkyrie thinks hard about what could very well be her last night alive, and decides to write a letter back to her parents. It’s something that has become a habit every time she visits a new place.

They’ll be worried about her, and that’s the last thing she wants. Tanith was able to tell them what was happening before she left, and Valkyrie knows they must be sick with anxiety. They were supposed to be having a big family reunion tonight with the rest of the Edgleys. Valkyrie can’t say she’s entirely sorry to be missing that, though.

After spending a great deal of time describing the massive icy walls enclosing the city, and the tiered levels all made of compacted white snow, and the way warmth can be so easily trapped despite the apparent lack of it, and the gondolas that serve as transport, and all the waterbenders, whose motions are so flowing and deliberate, so different in her eyes to the earthbenders (although she thinks she can see some similarity to Skulduggery’s style)… after all that, she moves on to the difficult stuff.

She knows they want her to be safe, and she wants the same thing for them. They are who she fights for. They are who she needs to protect. She couldn’t face herself if she didn’t try her absolute hardest to do what she can to save them. And right now, that means that this thirteen-year-old airbender needs to go to battle with an ancient dark spirit.

While she sensibly explains this, the Earth King argues very loudly with Skulduggery. They are accusing each other of treachery. She’s pretty sure Guild just tried to fire Skulduggery, despite not being his boss. He’s very angry (‘he’ referring to them both).

Eventually, they get themselves together enough to head out across the tundras for the Spirit Portal. By the time they approach, night has fallen, which the forces have waited for as per Chief Dragunov’s recommendation; waterbenders are stronger in the moon’s presence.

The sealed portal is a pulsing red sphere half-submerged in the rocky ground at the centre of a dense, dark forest lying at the heart of the North Pole. No snow has fallen nor ice grown here. The air is warmer, and a buzz seems to caress Valkyrie’s skin the closer the marshalled forces approach the red-lit scene. No one is waiting in ambush.

The Grotesquery stands by the closed portal. Vengeous and Dusk are nearby, but Sanguine is nowhere to be found, and neither are any reinforcements. The good guys have the overwhelming advantage in numbers.

Despite this, literally everyone gets their butt kicked.

Vengeous’ explosions take out upwards of three people every time he focuses. Skulduggery makes straight for him.

Tanith and Bliss head for the Grotesquery. Soil and bedrock undisturbed for centuries erupts and batters the old spirit again and again; Bliss never believed in subtlety. Tanith flits across the rumbling earth with the balance of cat, her sword flashing and slicing, but the Grotesquery’s hide is thick and its rebuttals swift in the same way a train is.

Valkyrie sprints straight into the middle of it all. Dusk and his cut-up face make a beeline for her. She twists out of the way of his twin dao, ducks under an arm, kicks his knee with a lucky shot and blows him head over heels with a veritable windmill of air. He lands and rolls, but is quickly swamped by water tribe warriors before he can pursue her.

As many hits as they deal, they take. Just as Valkyrie reaches Tanith and Bliss, the Grotesquery punches right through one of Bliss’ rocky walls and he goes flying back, leaving Tanith and a few Earth Kingdom soldiers to defend alone. She shouts at Valkyrie to keep back, but it’s at that moment that the Grotesquery knocks her sword out of her hand. Valkyrie distinctly sees her wrist snap, but she isn’t finished yet. She retrieves the blade and switches hands even easier than Skulduggery did yesterday.

Valkyrie remains out of range of the Grotesquery’s tentacle arm for Tanith’s sake: a sword master can’t be expending some of her attention looking out for Valkyrie while she fights injured. Her teeth are bared, her face splashed with black blood. Valkyrie decides she never wants to go up against Tanith.

A screech of rage heralds the arrival of an old spidery spirit, whose rage is fixed on Valkyrie.

The Torment is included among said butt-kicked people twice over, appearing unexpectedly to rampage in giant spider form. It takes a special kind of grudge to carry someone over an ocean, but the Torment is a special kind of guy. He is at home- terrifyingly so- leaping between the trees she tries to lose him in.

Skulduggery is busy. Valkyrie buys time with a blast of air that knocks the Torment into his own web, but he escapes quickly. There’s no one who can save her. She stops running and concentrates, knowing what she wants to do, but never having attempted something of this scale before… her hands move in a circle like she’s stirring a pot. The wind picks up. It roars, gusts, and the approaching spirit is caught up in a tornado and dumped on his back, legs thrashing in the air. She grabs a discarded water tribe pike, holds it to where she guesses his neck is, and offers him a deal. His life for his help.

Unfortunately, he has very little to contribute in the end. The Grotesquery takes him out even quicker than Bliss, Tanith, and the other earthbenders, becoming enraged (as much as can be told from a shrouded face) as the injuries add up.

The fast, furious swordfight between Skulduggery and Vengeous pauses abruptly as Vengeous’ sword bites deep into Skulduggery’s arm. Skulduggery yells out in agony, drops his saber, and falls. The rest of the water tribe warriors have also fallen to various fireblasts and explosions. Vengeous bends over Skulduggery to gloat, not noticing Skulduggery’s other hand straining to grab his weapon again.

It stabs through Vengeous’ chest. The baron’s shock is palpable, like it never occurred to him that he might actually be beaten. He stumbles over to the Grotesquery. It gazes at him sightlessly, and breaks his neck.

Skulduggery is unconscious and bleeding out on the ground, just as Tanith, Bliss, Dusk, and the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe forces all are. Somehow, Valkyrie is the only person left standing, and even she can barely do that, exhausted after all the running and fighting. But the eclipse is beginning. She can tell by the way the Grotesquery upturns its face to the heavens before heading back to the portal.

She stumbles over, scooping up Tanith’s sword and forcing both hands to hold onto it tightly. She darts between the Grotesquery and the great glowing orb, and resolves past her fear, her doubt, her exhaustion and hurt, that she will not let it pass.

It swipes at her, she cuts it. It lashes out and rips the sword from her hands, but thanks to her reflexes it doesn’t catch her too. It reaches past her, reaching for the portal, reaching to open it, reaching for the very thing that it is up to her to keep closed. She tries to intercept and grazes the glowing red surface.

The next thing she knows, she is flat on her back on the earthy ground, staring up at the swirling northern lights arching above her. The portal is still closed. The Grotesquery is a motionless shape on the ground nearby. Skulduggery, bleeding profusely from a deep cut on one arm, is leaning over her, asking if she’s alright.

At her inquiry, he says he doesn’t know what happened. He came to just as the portal flared, and then both she and the Grotesquery just dropped, unconscious. It, however, didn’t wake up again. Once more, it was asleep, and will remain that way until another airbender comes along and wakes it up. Hopefully that won’t be for a good long while. Like, at least a year.

Valkyrie looks at the portal and thinks the faint swirling of light inside looks like water smoothing out after a severe disturbance. There are no clues as to how, or why, the Grotesquery failed to open it, but she won’t complain that it did. And for all intents and purposes, it looks like she was the one who stopped it.

Sanguine never appeared during the fight, but Dusk is arrested while everyone is being revived by the waterbender healers who arrived soon after the bright flash from the portal. Sanguine is a problem for later, Valkyrie decides. For now, she’s due back in Ba Sing Se for a picnic with her parents.

#skulduggery pleasant #fanfic #avatar au #fusion #we in book 2 now #and the lore is coming UP

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