when the world stops spinning

by Nautica_Dawn

Summary:

There's a reason the Avatar is never trained before the age of sixteen.

Chapter 1: all fall down

Katara shifts slightly so his weight is steady against her shoulder. Her hip brushes his, but she ignores it. There is a madwoman in chains not thirty feet away and the sky is on fire and he was just struck by lightning. She is fourteen and none of this is right.

Then again, she isn't quite sure what life is supposed to be like in a time when the world is at war and the aggressive side has a comet that makes them a hundred times stronger.

"Is it really okay to just leave her like this?" she asks.

He nods. "We need to get out of here. The Sages will be returning soon."

"They might let her go."

"They won't." He sounds so sure. She takes one last look at where Azula is fighting against the chains, blue fire flowing everywhere, before shifting Zuko's arm once more. She takes water from the air and thanks the ungodly humid climate of the capital. The water shines blue as she presses it against his chest, the angry red burn calming slightly under her touch. When his breathing evens out, he takes her hand and they start running.

How much time has passed? The comet is still in the same position it had been in. No, it isn't. It's moved slightly, she thinks. But not much. That battle against Azula felt like it had lasted ages. Instead, it seems it was over in less than an hour. That gives them more than enough time to meet up with Sokka and the others. Where did they say they would go again?

"Do you have the whistle?" he asks.

It takes her a moment to realise he means the bison whistle. She nods and fumbles for the white object in her belt. They are outside of the palace when the bison settles onto the ground, ash in his fur. They need to get to Sokka and the others and here's to hoping Aang shows up in time. The more time they waste here, the more time for reinforcements to go to Ozai's aid.

She dashes up his side and into the saddle, holding out a hand for Zuko. He takes it and quickly drops it, "What's wrong?"

He's holding one hand to the wound on his chest, the other supporting his weight against Appa, "It just stings a little."

That's not good, but she doesn't have the time or the resources to do a proper healing right now. She uses what water she can summon to pick him up. He settles softly into the saddle and she gets Appa into the air before moving over to him. Zuko needs to be battle ready when they rejoin the others.

She closes her eyes. Breathe. Draw water from the sky. Try not to think about the empty water pouch at her side. Wrap the water around her hands. Breathe. Press them to his wound, press the water in through his skin. Mix it with his blood and watch the damage light up against the healthy tissue. Breathe.

This isn't good. The damage is all around his heart and the valves aren't functioning right. The beat is steady, but irregular. She heals what she can and tries to drown out everything around her until it's just her and his heart. The healing isn't working right. She can't correct the damage with normal healing.

Katara opens her eyes. Zuko is stretched out across the middle of the saddle, gold eyes focused on the comet above. Despite all the soot and fire and death around them, he's completely serene. For once. She can't really blame him. Azula is done for and Aang will defeat Ozai (hopefully). His worries will be mundane from today on if everything goes well. He'll become Fire Lord. He'll help lead the world into an era of peace. He'll be a wonderful leader. He'll reunite with everyone he's left behind and in doing so, likely leave behind those he's met along the way.

"Katara?"

"Yes?" she says. He's looking at her and she remembers what she needs to do. "I'm sorry, but this is probably going to hurt."

He looks confused but says nothing. She crosses her hands over his heart and closes her eyes again. She can see his heart pulsing, the healthy portions of the organ a comforting, warm amaranthine. It's the harsher red portions of it she's concerned with. She's never done this before, but she knows the theory, knows that the full moon isn't necessary for little things like this.

It has always been a dream of hers to turn the dark legacy of the Southern Water Tribe into something to be proud of.

The blood is the same comforting red as the healthy tissue. It just shines differently; it has the siren's call of water with it. It shouldn't be that hard. It's just healing using the patient's own blood. It's just manipulating the water deep in the tissue to fix its home.

It takes longer than she's comfortable with. There are tiny vibrations in her vision where he's fidgeting. Maybe she shouldn't have warned him. This will hurt more if she screws up.

There's also a very good chance that this could kill him, but it's easier to think about other things, like saving his life.

She counts to five and moves the water. She can feel his body tensing beneath her hands. The time she's willing to bend around an organ as delicate as the heart is almost running out when something gives and the glow of health returns to the harsh areas. Katara waits a few moments before backing away.

His heart rate is back to normal. He should be able to fight again. That's all that matters right now. Appa dips down below a cloud of ash as Zuko sits up.

"Feel better?" she asks, trying not to show the sudden rush of exhaustion. Fighting mad princesses and then doing something like bloodbending to heal? Not a good idea, apparently.

He nods. "You weren't joking when you said it would hurt."

"Sorry."

"It's nothing." He waves her off, turning around to look out over the bison's head. There's nothing but water around them now. Even with Appa flying as fast as he can, it'll be close to the end of the day by the time they reach the Earth Kingdom. That's cutting it dangerously close. Victory has to be secured by then.

There is nothing to do but wait and pray Aang wins.

She hates waiting.

Zuko leans back on his arms, turning back to face her once more. "What are you going to do when this is over?"

"Go home."

It's a basic answer. She wants to see the Southern Water Tribe rebuilt. She wants to see her homeland stand on equal footing with its sister. She just doesn't think she can stay in one spot for very long. There's still so much of the world she hasn't seen. And even the places she has seen, she wants to see them when they aren't torn by death and heartbreak. The world is such a beautiful place. It shouldn't be marred by horror.

Once the comet passes. Once Ozai has been defeated. Once Zuko takes the throne. Once everyone has a place to belong.

All except her.

"No." he says. "You're not the type to stay put, not without a reason."

"Home is a reason to stay. My family will finally be whole again after this."

Lies. The Northern Water Tribe has been deprived of its heir because of this war. Though the Southern Tribe has fallen in prestige because of the destruction of their culture and waterbending population, it doesn't change the fact that the chiefdom is still hereditary. It's merely their sister tribe being snobs that keeps them from acknowledging that Sokka and Katara are of the right blood. But now that Yue is gone, Sokka and Katara are the only heirs left in the entire population.

Katara will likely go north. Her new step-grandfather will have too much praise for his home tribe to ignore her. Her grandmother is old and frail. Her father has been away for far too long. Her brother has to stay in the South. She will have to go alone.

If this war has taught her anything, it's that her family is stronger apart than it is together.

He's shaking his head. "Not for you."

She almost wants him to say what everyone expects. He says nothing more, though. There is no wink-wink-nudge-nudge like with Sokka. There's just nothing. Zuko doesn't even look at her.

"What about you?" she asks, even though she knows the answer.

"I'll likely let Uncle take the throne."

Katara blinks a few times before slowly trying to form words. "What? He said he wouldn't."

"I'm sixteen. That's way too young to lead a country." He shifts uncomfortably. "It's too young to be fighting a war. And to be Fire Lord, I have to be married or engaged. Uncle can circumvent that."

She's getting the impression he and his uncle have discussed this before, despite the General's refusal to take the throne. The too young quotes sound like something her father would say. "What about Mai?"

He is silent for far too long. "Mai and I have no future." The words are carefully chosen, she thinks. He's saying everything and nothing at the same time. And to think, he was a terrible liar when they met.

"Never say never."

"No, this time I can say never." He assures her. There's something he's not saying, but she won't push this time. He's talking to her and that's enough for now. They have too much time to kill to be antisocial. "What about you? Is there a Water Tribe boy your father has picked out for you?"

"The only one of marrying age is my brother." She says. "And we don't do arranged marriages. My grandmother would strand him naked among the polar bear dogs if he tried."

He starts laughing and the conversation turns from awkward to comfortable. The specter of the war is briefly gone, though they remain surrounded by the blood red of the comet's trail, the clouds black with ash.

She realises now that this could easily be the last time she is ever on Appa. Because these are her choices. She can go home and stay there; she'll marry a nice boy from the Northern Tribe and maybe she'll go lead them through their backward ways. Or, she can stay with Aang and become the Avatar's wife.

Both choices leave a bitter taste on her tongue.

She wants to travel, to adventure. No worries, no stress, and maybe even without company. Her entire life has been defined by other people and by caring for other people. She wants to know who Katara is. She's only fourteen, after all.

The comet is sinking low on the horizon when land comes into sight. Appa bucks slightly and she knows what that means. Aang is ahead. He's returned.

"Tui and La," she whispers as they draw closer, tiredness fading from her limbs and all excitement at the return of hope draining away, "What is he doing?"

The sky here is not the plain red of the comet. It is vibrant with a poison vermillion and a bright playful blue. It is energy, pouring out of two figures atop one of the stone trees along the coast.

The blue is too comforting to be dangerous, so that must be Aang.

Then the red is Ozai.

Aang is doing something amazing and she really doesn't like how the red looks stronger than the blue. She takes the reins and has Appa fly next to an airship. She and Zuko hop on, Katara keeping one eye on her companion to make sure he's really ready for battle. Once they've settled onto the airship, Appa disappears towards Aang.

"Katara?" Zuko says, tugging on her arm. "What exactly is Aang doing?"

The blue is wavering dangerously. There's a sinking feeling in her stomach as she tells him that she has no idea what the Avatar is doing. Avatar-stuff, she says. That's all she knows.

Sokka and the others are standing on the platform of the nearest airship. Katara can see that Sokka's sword is missing and he looks like he's been through hell. Given that there don't seem to be any firebenders on any of the airships, he probably has. There's some communication on the other side before the earthbender launches herself across the gap. Katara is half-way to worried sick when Toph lands and she realises that there was bending involved in that jump.

Sure enough, the blind girl has that wicked smile of the mischievous across her face. "You two took long enough."

"You have met his sister, haven't you?" Katara says.

Toph's grin widens, blank eyes staring at the space between water and fire. "Weak. Both of you."

"What do you need us to do?" Zuko cuts in. He's fidgeting again. It's starting to get annoying.

"Sokka wants to try something stupid and crazy."

Katara glances over at her brother. "How crazy and how stupid?"

"Steer the airships on the end into the ones in the middle and then make a suicide jump and hope Appa catches us," Toph says.

"No," Katara and Zuko chorus. She's too busy watching the blue fighting the red to pay close attention to what's being decided, though she can hear their voices. Aang is really the main concern. It doesn't matter what they do to the airships if he loses. Either the Avatar or the Fire Lord. One of them isn't going to walk away from this.

For the sake of the world, it really needs to be Aang who makes it.

Not for the first time, Katara thinks there must be something supremely messed up in the realm of the gods if they thought a twelve year old boy was the most inspiring hero for a world in need of saving.

"Crashing them makes more sense." She hears Zuko say. "Between the two of us, we'll be able to control the crashes so no one gets hurt. If need be, I can set them on fire after they're on the ground. The comet will take care of the rest."

Everything goes still then. Something isn't right. Katara looks around and finds everyone—bar Toph—staring in the direction of the two fighters. There's bile at the back of her throat but she forces it down to look over towards them. The sky is split perfectly between red and blue, the fissure between them searing white as the two clashed together. Aang is gaining ground. That's good. But that bright line where the two are in conflict is not.

The air is trembling. She feels something on her arm, pulling her down. The smell of dew and spices fills her senses as she's dragged down just as the world explodes. Even with her eyes closed, the blast of light is impossibly bright.

And the sound. Her ears are ringing to the point that she can't hear anything. Her sense of balance is off too; she nearly tumbles over when she tries to stand. She closes her eyes to the world and focuses on the water: her own gentle blue, Toph's sturdy green, and the unceasing red of Zuko. Now she can recognise the scents. The dew is Toph's hair. The scent of spices is coming from Zuko, who pulled the two of them down to shield them from the explosion.

It was an explosion, wasn't it? Katara tries to look around, but there is dust everywhere and her sense of balance is still off. The farthest she can see is Sokka on the edge of the platform, motioning like mad towards the area where Aang was. Someone needs to go check on the Avatar. That's what she thinks he's saying, because that's what's needed right now. The Avatar must be okay. If he is lost, then all is lost.

Zuko has gone very still beside her when the sound of chirping birds fills her ears. She only knows her hearing has returned by the way everyone else is reacting to it.

There is no warning when Zuko grabs her and Toph, racing towards the edge of the platform. "Jump!"

And they do, just as the fire strikes at the airship they were on. Her leg scrapes against the metal of the platform, her shoulder hitting hard against the metal. There's a scramble as everyone moves to jump to the next airship. Toph and Zuko are both having to use bending to help everyone cross the gaps.

Katara lands steady on the third airship, only for it to rock precariously as the burning second crashes into it. She slips and hits the platform shoulder-first. There's a slipping feeling around her neck. She opens her eyes just as another ball of fire burns it's way towards them.

And in the flames' way is a fluttering blue ribbon with a Water Tribe pendant. The fire consumes the necklace, searing across her hand as she reaches out to try and save the heirloom. She's only vaguely aware of someone's hands on her waist, pulling her up, when another fireburst breaks through the first and comes too close. The air she's breathing is burning, leaving none for her to breathe.

It takes only a few seconds for the world to go dark.

---

Zuko sees the necklace burn, sees Katara reach for it, and knows that this is not going to end well. By the time he pulls her away from the fire, she's unconscious. This is the part of fire no one teaches outside of the Fire Nation.

Get too close, and it'll burn up the air in your lungs.

He doesn't have time to do anything but make sure she's still breathing—she is, thank Agni—and to pick her up. Her hand is burned; that'll have to wait until after all of this is over. He tells Toph to get ready to run, but she's stopped, blank eyes turned towards the top of the airship. He's never seen her face something she's sensing.

"What's up there?"

"Nothing." She says. Her face scrunches up. He wants to ask about it, but there's not enough time. He grabs her shoulder, pushing her towards the edge of the platform.

They jump, her using metal to help and him using the now-waning power of the comet. When they settle, he sees for the first time that Appa is circling back towards them. Aang is stretched out across the middle of the saddle, much like Zuko himself was when they left the capital.

Katara shifts in his arms and he sets her on her feet. She's unstable, but slowly coming to.

He turns towards the youngest bender present, "Toph, if we have to jump from here, do you think you can use the stone trees to help us land?"

"They're too far away. I can't find them."

He looks around. Appa can be seen in the distance, near where they left Sokka. When did they leave those two? They're not benders, he remembers. They can't make it across the larger gaps. They climb into Appa's saddle, one of them checking on Aang. It must be okay, because they're coming towards them now.

"Zuko?" Toph says. "What's going on?"

He blinks for a moment. What's going on? Everyone's safe and they're about to get on Appa to get—oh.

This place—Wulong Forest if he remembers right—is too quiet. If Aang is unconscious, then that means the one attacking the airships is Ozai. His father isn't the kind to just back off like this, even with the comet's power waning.

And it is. This needs to be finished fast. He always wakes up with the sun, every firebender does, but this comet made him feel awake in a way the sun never has. Its power is burning through his veins, searing the ends of his nerves with the need to burn something.

The war suddenly makes sense now. He can understand how Great-Grandfather Sozin went mad. This kind of power can drive anyone insane.

His father is already insane. It's impossible to tell what that man will do. He remembers his father being irrational at the best of times—Azula had to inherit her instability from somewhere. Maybe Grandfather was unstable too and whatever happened to Sozin permanently stained the bloodline.

So, if Zuko were insane, what would he do? He'd attack Appa. Ensuring the Avatar's death is a priority, but if everyone the Avatar loved and trusted enough to be here at what was meant to be the final battle was all in the same place, he'd attack there. Emotional damage is sometimes more effective than physical damage, after all.

Which means Ozai is going to attack his own airships. But from where? Zuko can't see any sign of his father, not in the dim light of the coming twilight. The comet-enhanced duel has left the area burning, ash and smoke filling the sky. There's too much cover and the only one who can clear it is knocked out and likely worn out.

Sokka's near enough to yell for them and that's when Zuko realises what his father was waiting for.

"Get back!" he shouts, letting go of Katara to run to the edge of the platform. "It's a trap!"

He's too late. Appa jerks suddenly, veering down before soaring up. He can see Sokka looking on in fear and he can hear something being shouted.

Katara. Why is Sokka calling after his sister?

His feet leave the platform and he realises then that Appa didn't move. The airship did. There's a loud groaning filling the forest, the metal of the ships warping under the heat. Katara and Toph are already falling; the waterbender has lost consciousness again. He can hear the bison moving towards them, but the fires are too violent by this point. They're cut off. The Avatar's three surviving masters and they're in freefall above a burning forest.

Katara is closest. He grabs her arm and pulls her to his left side. Toph is beyond his reach. They've fallen too far for him to try and go to her when he feels something slam against the still tender wound above his heart. The black stone is gripping his shirt, the earthbender using it as an anchor to pull herself in.

"Stay close," he tells her. "And help hold Katara still."

The comet is weak now and he has no idea if what he's going to attempt will work. Someone like Uncle could do this. Someone like Azula could do this. Zukohas to do this.

The airships finally fall to pieces in a blast that shocks his ears and fills the sky with fire and metal. He has to pull on the last remnants of that searing bright power to do it, but he pulls the explosion around them, below them. It's not perfect, but it slows their descent enough for Toph to get a sense on the earth below them. They land roughly on one of the collapsed stone trees, sliding down to the ground. He adjusts Katara in his arms once they're settled. Her legs are scraped from the fall and she's out cold. Beside him, Toph is kissing the earth.

"We need to get out of here, don't we?" she says.

He nods. "Yeah. Now."

The first pieces of steel crash down around them when they make it into the still-standing portions of the forest. The earth is rolling beneath his feet as they stumble, his legs and arms burning with exhaustion. Katara is lighter than she should be given how old and how tall she is, but with the comet's continued disappearance, the weight is really more than he can handle. It's difficult to breathe down here where the ships are crashing. Ash and dirt and metal dust are filling the air, the acrid smell of burning everything choking his lungs.

Toph manages to get ahead of him, her pale skin a beacon in the dampening light. Even from behind, she looks like a madwoman: her hair flowing unbound as she runs barefoot across a fire-ravaged landscape. She veers to the right and he turns with her, his footing unsure as a large piece of a hull crashes down close enough for him to feel the heat radiating off of the steel. It sends the earth heaving beneath them.

The comet is too far to help him now, he realises. This exhaustion he's feeling isn't normal. When Sozin's Comet arrived, he felt more alive then ever. He was deliriously aware of his power and what was going on around him. Now, his senses are dull in comparison and his firebending feels like it's weak beyond measure. He should have known. For every high, there must be a low, just as every low must be followed by a high.

He calls after Toph, but she doesn't react. He doubts she can hear him above the explosions. She's still running at a breakneck speed towards the deeper part of the forest. It's all he can do to keep up and keep a steady hold on Katara.

He's close to falling, to dropping the waterbender, when Toph slides to a stop at the base of a thick stone structure. The airships are still falling on top of them. How many of them were there again? How big?

"In here," he hears her say. She knocks against the stone and opens a cavern inside it. They all rush in, Toph closing it behind them, just as a mass of flaming canvas blankets the ground.

He sets Katara down softly and feels the earth moving beneath his feet. Toph is in formation beside them. When she relaxes, the movement stops. To his left, the stone opens up. They are above the majority of the damage in the forest, the sky slowly clearing as a wind rolls in from the sea. He can't see any Fire Nation ships or balloons in the area, but he can see a small white spot slowly leaving the area.

They are inside a stone tree amid a burning rock forest and they've been left for dead. He needs to sleep off the effects of the comet. Toph looks wearied as well. Katara is hurt and he has no idea how bad it is.

"Zuko?" Toph asks, "What's going on?"

They've been abandoned in a world where Ozai is still king. It was stupid of them to let a twelve-year-old try to fight his father. Avatar or no, Aang is still a kid. Zuko was thirteen when he was forced to confront his father and he has the scar and messed up life to prove how much of a bad idea challenging Ozai is.

Now Avatar and Fire Lord have battled and Ozai is still alive to try to conquer another day and Aang is hopefully alive to make another attempt at stopping him. The world is still at war. The only good they've done is stop his father from succeeding in world domination. Azula will be released once the Fire Lord returns to the palace. The Wulong Forest is in complete disarray; only nature has the power to stop and heal this kind of damage. He has no idea what's happened in other parts of the world.

But the Avatar and his group have left and the implications of that are not hard to figure out.

"We're on our own from here on." He says. "Aang lost."

Chapter 2: revisiting all my regrets

Zuko has finally figured out what is truly flawed about Fire Nation education. Children like him are taught that all elements are inferior to fire, that no bender is stronger than a firebender. There has been a rather particular campaign against the Earth Kingdom and her earthbenders for the past twenty years or so. He remembers learning that earth is the weakest element after air. It's nothing more than children playing in the mud.

This is complete shit. They'd all be dead if not for Toph. The girl's genius and talent knows no bounds, he thinks. She learnt enough from the Ba Sing Se train system to create a carriage out of earth and to operate it over the rugged terrain of the Earth Kingdom coast without jostling the wounded inside. He doesn't know how she did it. He slept the entire journey, only waking up when the gentle rocking of the carriage stopped.

Katara is still asleep. That worries him, even though Toph assures him from outside that the waterbender will be fine. He has no idea where they are. They need water, a safe place to sleep. There's nothing in this world anymore. They're just a group of three benders likely thought dead, stranded in a hostile world. The light filtering in from outside is dim and grey-green.

The back of the carriage disappears, revealing Toph. "Welcome to our new hideout. Just leave Katara there. I'll carry her from here."

"Are you sure? I can—"

"I've got it, Sparky." She says. She's tense as she lowers the sides and roof of the carriage, leaving Katara curled up in the center of a stone slab on wheels. She moves it slightly before apparently rethinking things and raising a shallow railing around it. He steps off of it as the railing comes up and Toph barks a laugh at his fumbled landing. "You sure you got enough sleep?"

"I'm fine," he snaps. "Where are we?"

They're in the ruins of a city. Badgermole statues rest cracked and covered in green at what he assumes are the gates. The city itself runs up the sides of a valley. There's something at the very top of the highest mountain, but he can't see what it is. He takes a closer look at the stone of the statues. They've been exposed to a lot of moisture for a very long time. Looking around again, he can see that the city is on the windward side of the mountains. This place has to be under the greenish rainclouds nearly year-round.

"No idea." Toph says. "It's just someplace far from the forest and near the water. There are a lot of plants in the area."

She's right about that. There's green everywhere, almost like a garden went wild.

He frowns. A garden-heavy port city in ruins; he knows this place. There's only one Earth Kingdom settlement like that, at least any that are large enough and old enough to be this one.

"Taku."

"What?"

Zuko steps forward, turning around on his heel. "We're in Taku. It was one of the first places the Fire Nation attacked when it started its campaign against the Earth Kingdom."

He remembers this part of his lessons. The victory over Taku is still celebrated by his homeland. This place was best known for its medicines. Destroying it had severely damaged the Earth Kingdom's medical system in the years following the port's fall.

But plants are hardy. They're the true children of the earth. So long as the earth is healthy, there will always be plants. If they're lucky, the medicinal plants this place was famed for are still around. They could use the supplies.

He turns back to Toph, "So where would you recommend we stay?"

She shrugs, but spreads her bare feet out across the ground. She turns slowly, always keeping full contact between the soles of her feet and the stone of the city. He's always wanted to ask what the world looks like to her. He knows the theory behind how she uses her bending to make up for her lack of sight, but an actual description would be fascinating. Earth can't be the only element that gives added sight to its wielders.

Zuko cringes. He's starting to think like his uncle.

"This way," Toph says, straightening her stance and motioning for her cart to follow her. He followed behind as she led them through the winding streets of the fallen city. It's a testament of Earth Kingdom architecture that the buildings are still mostly standing after being abandoned for most of a century.

He can recognise a few after living in Ba Sing Se for the few weeks he did. Most are houses, but as they climb up the ruins, he starts to see shops and the like. There's something that looks like it could have been the teashop to his right. To his left is a hollowed out butcher's shop, the now-rusty blades behind the counter still at the ready. Toph leads them up through the winding streets. She's taking a long route, working her way around the rubble in the middle of the road.

He didn't notice at first, but it's almost ungodly humid here. It's not like his homeland, where humidity is the companion of scorching heat. This place is just sticky and cold. And wet. It starts raining after his legs start burning from exertion, somewhere along the journey up the mountain. Toph doesn't say anything, just puts a roof over the sleeping waterbender. The badgermole statues are impossible to see from this distance.

How the twelve-year-old is still going strong, he doesn't know. She hasn't slept since before the comet and she's been doing nothing but earthbending the entire time.

Unlike him, who slept a solid night and still can't stay steady on his feet. Not even the power high after the eclipse had left him this empty. His head is pounding, his heart is somewhere in the vicinity of his ears and speaking of his heart, what in the name of all that is holy did Katara do to it? That healing she did hurt more than the initial attack. It's not really in pain now, it's just like someone had her hand wrapped around it and was playing with it.

Which was effectively what she did, if he understands the process of waterbender healing.

He doesn't like that she's still unconscious. Toph doesn't seem worried and she did say that Katara was fine, but that doesn't help. She's still asleep and with a dead tired earthbender and a worn out firebender; their defenses are nonexistent. He can boil water if needed, but that's not going to guarantee good water.

And the plants. Uncle only taught him a few things and he remembers even fewer. Toph will be of no help there because she can't sense the plants to the point of identification. Katara is the only one who knows anything about which plants are safe for consumption.

There's also the tiny matter of getting out of here. He knows Taku is far from Wulong Forest; Toph did an amazing job getting them away from there. But they still have farther to go. They're likely listed as deceased. They need to get back to their friends so they can help with future plans and preparations. He's fairly certain Aang survived, which means they still have a student in need of training.

"Here," Toph says, pushing the cart into a cavernous structure. It's not a house; the columns and elaborate carvings are too ornate for a home. He steps inside and tries to summon up a flame. It sputters and sparks in the palm of his hand, so he lets it die.

"Do you know what this place is?" he asks.

The earthbender lowers the cart to the ground, letting Katara rest on a makeshift stone bed. "Not sure. There's a couple of statues at the back, though, so I'm guessing it's a shrine."

Now that his eyes are adjusting to the minimal light, he can see what she's talking about. More than that, it's open and high. If anything comes, they'll know about it. He turns to ask her what their next plan is, but Toph has already curled up on the ground beside Katara. The girl's breathing has evened out into sleep.

There is nothing for him to do. He can't sleep because someone needs to stay awake to keep watch. He can't explore because he doesn't know enough about this place, nor does he know enough about what's growing here to safely journey past the shrine alone.

He sighs and settles down at the top of the steps, out in the open but still under the cover of the shrine's roof. Uncle always said meditating was good for the soul.

---

She doesn't know what time it is when she wakes up. Toph has never understood the concept of time in the way others do. She knows the dirt, not the stuff that grows on it. Dirt has no need for time. She has no need for time.

She stays still for a moment and lets the feel of things come to her. Sugar Queen is still asleep where she left the waterbender. Toph doesn't know if this is good or bad. Katara's vitals look fine to her, but she knows it was a head wound and those are always the worse. Lying to Sparky was just easier than letting him worry any more than he already is.

Speaking of the firebender, he has somehow managed to fall asleep sitting down. He's on the precipice before the stairs, so she assumes he was watching out for them. There's been something off about him since the mess yesterday.

Or was it the day before yesterday?

All she really remembers is feeling the steel beneath her feet give way and then a terrifying period of time where there was nothing more than the feel of two hearts beating beside her. And then the stone trees. That place is her kind of forest. She can sense everything there.

Except the fire.

Her lungs still hurt from that. Whether it was whatever was around them while they fell or whatever was in the air when they were on the ground, there was something there that has left her body feeling like it's full of dust. She can taste metal and ash on her tongue. The lower portions of her legs—the bottoms of her feet especially—have a constant thrum of pain. She reaches down to run her fingers across the skin there. It's only minor, but there are some burns. She'll have to ask Sugar—

Nothing. Katara is still out. Head wounds are notorious. There is no healer who can help her. Toph can, however, find water. She can feel it in her skin, the heavy air pressing the moisture into every bit of her body.

She stands up, shifting her weight around. Her feet are more sensitive than any other part of her body. She'll have to be careful among the ruins. Before going anywhere, she carefully manipulates the earth beneath Sparky to move him over towards the sleeping waterbender. As funny as it would be if he fell, she needs him alive and healthy.

The rain has slowed to a soft mist. The stones of the city are slick as she wanders across them. She can tell that the rock is sturdy, but she doesn't trust the many cracks from roots. Plants have invaded every crevice of the ruins, their roots reaching down deep. If this were basic earth, she'd gladly use earthbending to move herself around. But this isn't. This is man-made and it's been compromised.

Toph is blind. She is not stupid.

Moving around without earthbending is actually quite refreshing. Especially after so much flying, solid ground is a mercy. All she wants right now is a basic layout of the land. Eventually, she's going to have to come out here with Sparky to find supplies.

Her nose wrinkles. She's only twelve—almost thirteen. She shouldn't be worried about things like this. Admittedly, going out onto the frontlines of a war probably wasn't the wisest idea for someone her age, but she did it anyway. No regrets. That was what she promised herself. She would do this and have no regrets.

But Twinkletoes wasn't supposed to lose.

The ground ahead is a pile of rubble. She steps lightly, sensing where the danger is before kneeling down on her hands and knees. Her hand slips when she makes it over the first mound; she runs her fingers over the surface to feel the soft moss growing across the stone.

She scowls. Moss is nearly impossible to sense. It blends in with the earth to the point of invisibility. The nasty stuff is just a nuisance when she has to climb over things.

The rain begins again, the vibrations of the drops making everything a little blurry. Over a mess of rock, punch through a couple of impassible spots, feel the way under a fallen tree, and out she comes. She taps the ground with the heel of her hand, concentrating through the strengthening rain to focus. A staircase is carved into the mountain in front of her, leading up to the summit. There is more plant than stone here, but the stairs seem to be clean.

Breathe in, breathe out, and tap the ground once more.

There is something like footsteps near the top of the mountain. From this far, she can't pick up anything more. Not with the abundance of roots and falling water. She can't even tell if the steps are human or not. Just that there is something bigger than a raindrop moving up there.

Standing, Toph takes two steps up the stairs before stopping. Something flickers on the edges of her senses. She waits until it happens again, forcing all her senses into the air and the earth.

She knows these kinds of movements. They're so familiar to her that it almost hurts to realise just how long it's been since she's felt them.

"Twinkletoes, is that you?"

Just like that, it's gone. She frowns and closes her eyes. It's just her alone on top of the ruins of the city. What she felt must have been the rain, or leaves or something. Just something a little heavier than normal.

There is no airbender present.

The corner of her mouth tugs down. It's no use waiting here. She needs to know what's at the building atop the mountain. Once she checks it out, she can go back down to Sparky and Sugar Queen and maybe the firebender will be awake so they can make plans. What happened at the stone forest is bound to attract attention. Running into Earth Kingdom troops is probably not good. Even if Gramps and the other old masters managed to reclaim Ba Sing Se, the bastard king survived. Ba Sing Se can fall again.

Moss fills the spaces between her toes as she takes another step. She's towards the middle of the stairs now and she can sense the structure at the top more clearly. Plant life is denser here, and it's obvious that someone has been caring for them. She hasn't felt plants this organised since Ba Sing Se.

A foot touches one of the steps ahead of her. It's light and delicate, like an airbender's, but she knows the body and it's vibrations.

It takes two seconds for her to lock the interloper in place, a hand of dirt stamped across the mouth. There's no resistance, though. Toph can feel the resignation in the bones of this woman and frowns. Carefully, she checks the surrounding area. No one else is there, no knives flying through the air, no lightning sparking up from nothing.

Just her and the circus freak.

She knows it's not safe, but dragging her prisoner underground with her and travelling down to where she left her friends is faster than working her away down aboveground. Stones tumble and split overhead from her tunneling and it's a shame, but she pushes on. Maybe someday this place can be rebuilt and the damage repaired.

They break the surface inside the shrine. Her companions are still asleep, so she builds up a cage around her prisoner. She doesn't even bother with the waterbender; Katara will get up when she's ready. For Zuko, though, Toph chooses to be kind. He was swaying rather dangerously when they first arrived here and she doesn't know how long it's going to take him to recover his strength. The fact that he's still asleep suggests he was really tired. The amount of noise she made coming down the mountain could have woken Snoozles.

Something tightens in her chest, but she ignores it. There's not time for that right now.

"Oi, get up," she says, shaking his shoulder. The vibrations from his body shift a little and she jumps away from him. Something searing hot passes by, close enough that she can feel the heat, but far enough away that she isn't harmed. "Calm down, it's just me."

"Sorry," he says. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Long enough for me to make it almost to the top of the mountain." She shrugs and points. "And to find her."

He's silent for a beat. "Ty Lee?"

"Is that her name?"

She hears him sigh as he stands up. "Can you take off the gag?"

"What if she screams?"

"Then knock her out."

That's acceptable to her, so she reaches out for the earth and lets it fall to the ground. She leaves the shackles around the girl's ankles and wrists.

"Ty Lee?" Sparky asks. He's kneeling beside the cage now. "Please tell me you're alone."

"I attacked Azula." She says. It's simple and matter-of-fact, but there's something creepy about her voice. There's something dead about it, almost. Even Zuko's vibrations reflect unease, so there must be something very wrong.

"At Boiling Rock?" the prisoner nods. Sparky settles down to sit. "And Mai?"

"Ba Sing Se. We were fighting. I ran. It's pretty simple."

"What happened at Ba Sing Se?"

"Everything."

"Like?" Toph says, moving over to crouch next to Zuko. "Saying 'everything' doesn't really help us, Stretch."

Sparky's glaring, she thinks. His vibrations show irritation. "Ty Lee, what happened?"

She feels the prisoner shrug. "I don't know. The comet was there and suddenly all these old people were attacking. I just ran away."

Toph frowns. Sparky's still asking questions, and he doesn't seem to realise what was said.

'The comet was there'

The comet was what? A day ago? Two? She got the impression Stretch was here before they were and they arrived the morning after the comet. There's no way this girl got from Ba Sing Se to here in that short amount of time.

And yet, no matter how closely she focuses, she can't sense anything wrong. So when Zuko asks her if their prisoner is lying, she simply tells him: "No, she's not."

Chapter 3: whispers at twilight

On the third night after Sozin's Comet passes, Katara of the Southern Water Tribe wakes up.

Water burns blue as it runs through her veins. She can see it clearly, the strange water seeping in through her skin. It glows impossibly bright as it twists around the wounded parts of her body. She has no idea how long it's been going on, but it is what it is and soon everything inside has returned to an unending sea of deep blue.

In, out. She keeps her breathing steady as her eyes adjust to the night. The roof overhead is ornate and old. There are vines winding across it and everything smells faintly of rain. At each side of her are the gentle beating hearts she knows so well. One, the steady red she fixed in Appa's saddle. The other is a sturdy and tentative spring green still waiting to bloom.

There's a strange heart here too. It's pale grey, the colour wavering like the wind. She doesn't know it and she doesn't care to. Not now. Right now, the moon is full and it is calling to her. The world is water as she stands, moving silently through the ruins. Moonlight guides her down to the bottom of the mountain. There, between the stones and plants, is a river.

Her outer robe falls silently to the ground. Slowly, her wrappings join it. She takes time, though, to remove the small comb from where she kept it tucked beneath her breasts.That she will use tonight. It's the least she can do.

The chill of the water's embrace is comforting. It's home. She disappears beneath the surface and lets the river soak into her hair before coming up for air. Her lungs are cleaning themselves, her breath coming easier with every intake of watery air. She leads the water to coil around her, washing soot and ash and blood away from her. Her right hand is a little stiff and she realizes that it must have been burned. It doesn't feel painful, but she can see the raw of the wounded skin around it. It has healed the most it can. The rest will just have to scar. She stands up in the water, sending out a whip to bring her the comb.

In the moonlight, it looks harmless enough. No one would ever think she stole it from a madwoman. The whale-tooth is obviously old, but her necklace—

Her necklace is gone. Memories are still filtering back to her and that one is one of the brightest. The only recollections more vivid are the ones of the fight against Azula.

She traces the shape of the necklace onto her neck, missing its weight. There's something almost laughable about the situation. Her grandmother's necklace is lost, but the madwoman's comb is perfectly safe. Katara turns the comb over in her hand, examining the trinket in the moonlight before gathering her hair over her shoulder.

For something over sixty years old, it is still strong enough to work through the tangles without issue.

The clasps for her hair loops are slipping and one is badly damaged. It hurts a little, knowing that they're done for. These clasps were her grandmother's. Why did she have them? Oh, right, it was because she was different and needed something to tie her more closely to her family. So she was given the necklace when her mother died and before that, Gran Gran used these clasps to create the loops.

She sighs and slowly works them out of her hair. They're gone and there's no use thinking about those memories. When she's done, she pulls her hair up and pins it in place with the comb.

This isn't the first time she's had blood under her fingernails, but it is the longest it's been there. She slowly works the grime out and lets it float away. She cleans her fingers twice before she's comfortable with her own hands again.

It's really the rest of the filth that bothers her. There is still a thin layer of soot clinging to her body. Just running water over it isn't going work, so she disappears beneath the surface. Lazily, she spins water around her hand, using the abrasive force to wash off the remaining ash. Once she's sure she's clean, she opens her eyes and stares up through the water at the moon. The night is lovely, wherever she is. Clouds are thick in the sky, but she can still see the full moon through the gaps.

She closes her eyes and sits on the river floor, letting her element hold her close. There's a strange light, but it's comforting. It feels almost like family.

"Are you going to open your eyes?" Katara does and sees the source of the light. The figure is in the water, her ghostly appearance offset by the power of the moon and the still striking blue of her eyes.

The waterbender tries to bow, only to be stopped by a slender hand. The spirit has done something and the water feels like air. "Please don't. We could have been sisters, so please just treat me the way you did. And you're free to breathe."

She nods, smiling softly, experimenting and finding that she can breathe with perfect ease here. "It's good to see you again, Yue."

"It's good to see you too. How have you been?"

"Asleep," she says. "But I think you knew that."

"Small talk," Yue shrugs. "It's always the little things you miss the most."

Katara's smile falls a little. "How are you?"

"Good, but I'm not here to talk about me."

"Of course not."

The Moon Spirit grins, "Social calls are difficult to manage these days. I can only really cross over when absolutely necessary."

"This is about Sozin's Comet, isn't it?" Katara guesses.

"Somewhat. It's really about Aang."

"We'll get back to him as soon as possible. I promise."

Yue holds up a hand. "That's not what I mean. You've done an amazing job training him. All of you. He's a master of all four elements."

"Yes, he is."

"Katara," Yue starts quiet, "How much has Aang told you about the spiritual side of the Avatar?"

There's a sick feeling in her stomach. The memories of the battle above the stone trees are slowly creeping back and she can see the lights and hear the explosion almost as vividly as she can see her almost sister standing before her.

"How long has he been having problems with the Avatar State?" Katara asks. "I knew there were some issues, but he always said he could handle it."

Yue's responding smile is sad. "He's a powerful bender, Katara. You should be proud."

"And I am. We all are." Somewhere at the back of her mind is a reasonable voice telling her that arguing with a spirit is probably a bad idea, but it's overruled by the fact that this is Yue and they are talking about Aang.

Aang is hers to protect. This is not up for debate. Ever.

"I'm not criticizing you. You've done the best you can in the situation you've been in, but there are lessons that he still needs to learn."

"Like what? He's done a great job so far."

"That he has, but his lack of control is concerning to some." Yue says. "Myself included. He is a boy, not a man. Until he can cross that bridge and remain on the side of adulthood, he will never be a proper Avatar."

"He's thirteen. He's grown up enough for that age."

The spirit nods, a frown pulling the corners of her mouth down. "Perhaps, but he isn't the only one who needs to do this."

"Excuse me?"

Yue smiles again, her blue eyes dim. Katara pulls away from the chill when the spirit reaches for her. She sees the way Yue's glow darkens and so she stays tall and firm. The translucent hand that touches her shoulder is gentle and despite the cold, is still calming. Yue reaches up to trace a hand along the whale-tooth comb. "You've gone through a lot, Katara of the Southern Water Tribe. You survived so much to become a master, to gain the respect of your tribe and the world. You've learnt great things, but you have not reached your full potential yet."

"I'm young. I'll grow."

"But you do not have the time." The spirit says softly, "This war must end. The Day of Black Sun and Sozin's Comet have both passed. The next celestial event to affect this war will be the worst yet."

"Is there something else that gives the Fire Nation power?"

Yue shakes her head. "There is something that takes power from those who oppose them."

Katara's stomach sinks. She knows that, logically, it had to happen. It has happened, in fact. It was the event that led to Yue becoming the being before her.

And she remembers it well. A hell like that is not easily forgotten.

"When?" she asks hollowly.

"In three years," Yue says. "It seems like so long, doesn't it? But it's not. Those years will pass before you know it. If the war has not ended before it happens, then there will only be two nations left in this world. The balance will be permanently destroyed."

"Isn't it already?"
"Not yet. There is still hope. All will depend on your choice."

Katara tilts her head. "Don't you mean Aang's choice? Or Zuko's? Or someone who actually has power in this world?"

Yue makes a sound that is suspiciously like a giggle and Katara is forced to remember that before this woman was the Moon Spirit, she was just a normal sixteen-year-old with hopes and fears. "One thing you learn from history is that behind every major historical turn, behind every famous and infamous man, is a woman who changed everything."

"Really?"

The spirit shrugs, "Our world has something of a woman problem. The men who write history like to forget we exist."

"You won't be forgotten."

"Someday I will be. We all will be, until our stories are nothing more than vague recollections about princesses and warriors without names or faces."

"And this has to do with Aang how?"

Yue smiles, reaching up to trace the whale-tooth comb once more, "You will have to make a choice very soon. Or, rather, a series of choices. Whatever you do will alter the course of history. This is why I cannot stress the importance of finishing this war within three years enough. At the same time, though, you need to give yourself and the Avatar room to grow into your destinies."

"Even if those destinies are not written in stone?"

"Correct."

"You're not making any sense now."

"We spirits rarely do." She says. Yue pulls herself close to Katara, the hug surprisingly strong. "You have done much and there is still so much left to do. Just have faith and do not fear the unknown. I know you can do this, my sister."

Katara opens her mouth to respond, but Yue is gone. She is alone in the water and her lungs are burning for air. She breaks the surface, breathing in deeply.

What was that? She stares up at the moon. There's no answer present. It's just her and the river and the silence of the night. She's suddenly aware of how tired she is. The ache in her head and the distinct emptiness in her stomach makes her realize that she has no idea how long it's been since the comet. The last time she ate was at the White Lotus camp and she's used up so much energy since then.

The fight with Azula was exhausting enough. Healing Zuko and then healing herself for who knows how long—and using nothing but the vapor in the air to do it—has been taxing as well. Even unconscious, her bending was active. She looks down at her body. It's not a noticeable difference, but she can see the top of her hipbone more clearly than she should.

She sighs and uses her whips to bring her wrappings to her. Her clothes are far dirtier than her body was. It's too tiring to stay standing for long, so she takes in a breath and disappears beneath the surface. The wrappings are only slightly harder to control underwater. They'll still be clean by the time she needs to come up for air.

There's a disturbance in the water near the shore. Katara snaps to attention and stands up, water at the ready.

It takes approximately three seconds to realize that it is Zuko standing in the water with her. She releases her hold on the river and sinks back into the water. She's tired, but she's still capable of using bending to finish cleaning her wrappings. When they are done, she puts them on as swiftly as possible before standing up again.

"Are you okay?" he asks. "You were under for a long time."

She opens her mouth to say that she's a waterbender and thus drowning is nigh impossible for her, but no sound comes out. Zuko is frowning at her; he steps towards her, the water coming up to his waist.

It's his heart she's interested in. She raises her hand when he's close enough and presses it against the spot where she healed him. It's not much but she just needs to be sure. Bloodbending is still relatively new to her. As far as she knows, this is the first time it has ever been used for healing.

The red is just as comforting as she recalls. The beat is steady and strong and everything looks healthy.

She smiles softly, her body too tired from the healing and lack of food and Yue and the waterbending. The excitement over this experiment's success will have to come later.

"Katara?"

"Sorry, I just needed to know." She says. "Just let me finish cleaning my clothes and then we can go back."

His hand is almost searing against her forehead. He frowns. "No, we go back now. You're barely stable."

"But my clothes—" she starts, only to stop when he shrugs off his robe and wraps it around her. When she puts her arms through the red sleeves, he ties the belt around her waist.

"I'll come down at dawn and wash them, but for now, you are going back to camp and sleeping until breakfast is ready."

The hunger is making her head hurt in ways it never has before and so she nods numbly. He leads her back to the building they've claimed as theirs and watches over her until she falls asleep.

When she finally does, she dreams of a world where the princess never left her warrior and the moon never died at the hands of fire.

---

"No, no," her grandmother says, pushing her away from the trees. "You can't do that here."

"Why not?" She's confused. Isn't this something to be proud of? That mean girl they make her play with always shows off and though this isn't the same, isn't it still something to celebrate?

Her grandmother has tears in her eyes. "Because you are different, little snowlion. And being different will only bring you harm."

Ty Lee wakes up when the morning wind is just beginning its rounds through the mountains. Her dream is blinked away as she sits up. She can't tell if the sun is really up or not. The clouds make it nearly impossible to tell time without a direct connection to the sun. She can only assume it's after dawn because Zuko is nowhere to be found and he is the kind who rises with the sun.

She yawns, eyes closing briefly. The earthbender and the waterbender are still asleep and she's beginning to think the Water Tribe girl is beyond saving when she notices there's something different about the girl.

Not only is she beginning to wake up, but her clothes are different. Ty Lee watches as the girl—she realizes here that beyond Zuko, she has no idea what to call these people—shifts and slowly wakes. Brown hair goes everywhere when she sits up and the acrobat watches the girl slowly brush through the mess before pinning it up with some sort of comb.

And then she stands and Ty Lee recognizes the clothes the waterbender is wearing. It's a welcome distraction, wondering how this girl ended up wearing Zuko's clothes. It's a nice non-war tangent.

But then the waterbender stretches and turns around. "What are you doing here?"

"Hello," she tries to answer happily. She clearly fails, because the waterbender looks more curious than suspicious.

"Are you injured?"

Ty Lee blinks. That's not what she was expecting. At all. She was Azula's left hand and this waterbender knows it. Why the compassion?

"No," she says.

The waterbender nods, walking slowly towards the cage. Ty Lee watches as she sinks to the floor with grace. "Why are you here?"

"I attacked Azula and Mai tried to kill me." She answers and winces, remembering that she's not supposed to let anyone know about that, "But don't tell Zuko that last part."

"Why not?"

Because I did something I shouldn't have. Because there are things I can't tell you.

"Because I don't want him to hate her." She lies easily. It's always been a talent of hers, even if she's sick of it all.

The waterbender tilts her head and Ty Lee sees that there's still a bit of sleep in her eyes. "Mai is Knives, isn't she? The girl Zuko walked out on?"

"Yes."

"And what's your name again?" Ty Lee answers and the waterbender nods, "Make one wrong move and I kill you."

Ty Lee nods but doesn't respond. She's fairly certain the earthbender or Zuko will kill her first if she makes a mistake. She doesn't intend to, though. Azula will kill her if she goes back and if Mai ever goes back—which she probably will, all things considered—then Ty Lee will likely end up with a bounty on her head.

When Azula handed them over to the Dai Li for imprisonment in Ba Sing Se, it was supposed to be the end. Ty Lee knows that. The daughters of powerful Fire Nation noblemen have no protection in the Earth King capital and the Dai Li are unflinchingly loyal to the mad princess.

Escaping was supposed to be simple. Security on their prison was lessened due to the comet and when they broke out just before the comet's arrival (thank you, An Lee. She's going to have to find her sister and thank her eternally for having the foresight to infiltrate the city) it was supposed to be simple. They would get out, leave the city, figure out what they were going to do and just pray the war ended.

They weren't supposed to be at the outer wall when the fire blasted through. Ty Lee wasn't supposed to react to the fire rushing towards them and Mai was not supposed to see. And then she went and made it worse by letting her emotions get the better of her and suddenly she was forced to use the mark on her arm to find those like her, those who could get her to safety and eventually she ended up in Taku. She had only been here for an hour or so when the earthbender caught her, but it doesn't matter.

She fucked up in Ba Sing Se. The Avatar's masters are the only ones who won't judge her. Then again, she's likely screwed up here as well. Zuko doesn't seem to think anything of it and the waterbender doesn't know the story yet. But that earthbender? That girl knows there's something wrong because no normal person could get from Ba Sing Se to Taku in under a day.

She's in trouble. Massive trouble.

And these people can probably help her.

Not that she'll tell them.

Never tell, that was what her grandmother always said. Always hide, because no one is safe unless they know the dignities. Her left hand wraps around her right wrist and she tries not to remember. It doesn't help.

Her chest tightens painfully at the thought of her grandmother. How long has it been again? Seven years this autumn. That's so long and so soon.

She tries to smile because smiling is what you do when your mind turns to darkness because good little girls never show their darkness.

Ty Lee realizes then, seven years after the woman's death, that her grandmother never knew Azula.

If only Ty Lee had never known her.

"Katara?"

The waterbender—Katara, she assumes—turns away from her cage. Zuko has finally returned, a bundle of blue in his arms. Katara stands and approaches, taking the fabric from him. They speak quietly. Ty Lee can't hear a word they say. She just watches silently as the waterbender disappears out of the temple and Zuko moves to wake the earthbender.

When Katara returns dressed in her own clothes and Zuko has put on his again, food is passed out and the three benders sit at the edge of the temple. It's far enough away that she can't hear what they're saying and all have their backs to her. Zuko must have told them she can read lips.

She has no idea what they're discussing. It likely has to do with her and there's a part of her that doesn't want to know. That line of thought is too close to war and death and betrayal and anger.

Ty Lee leans back against the bars of her cage and lets the wind play around her.

 

Chapter 4: the fine line

They've been in Taku for too long. It's been almost a week since the comet passed and they haven't left the temple. Zuko finally managed to convince Toph to release Ty Lee, who still was avoiding certain topics. It's frustrating, but this is all they're getting for now. The situation isn't perfect; he still hasn't won the argument in favour of leaving Ty Lee free when they gather to talk.

Even Katara voted against him in that one, though. If he and the other two masters were going to talk about their plans, it was going to be away from someone who once followed Azula's every word. He can see the logic in it. At the same time, he can see that Ty Lee isn't the same girl they fought before the comet.

And she attacked Azula. Willingly. To help him and the others escape Boiling Rock. That has to count for something.

Instead, it doesn't and Toph recreates the stone cage around their not-quite-prisoner every time they need to speak about what they are going to do next.

Like with this map Katara got from the herbalist up the mountain. When she brought it back yesterday morning, she'd pulled him aside and explained that she was told about a haven by a madwoman and given this. She'd written it off at the time—she'd only been up there to get some information about the region—but then had taken a good look at the scroll.

"Do we really want to risk it?" Katara asks. The question has been thrown around almost non-stop since they got the map. "Aang took us to the four temples. There's no way there's a fifth."

And that was the real crux of the issue. Not that they have a map given to them by a madwoman, but that this map carries the emblem of the Air Nomads and the destination it shows is very clearly an Air Temple.

"It makes sense." Toph shrugs, blank eyes staring at the wall over Zuko's shoulder. "They have all the directions except the middle. You would think people obsessed with balance would have a middle point."

The waterbender frowns and looks at him. "Does the Fire Nation have any record of this?"

"No. Just the four."

The Temple of the Winds is what the airy script beneath the strange temple says. It's in the Earth Kingdom, a few days from their present location. The area it is in is barely populated. He tries to remember what it is about the region and all he can think of are his uncle's warnings about lightning.

"Does it look safe?" Toph asks.

Katara shrugs. "It looks like it's in some sort of valley."

"This city is on the edge of one of the more dangerous mountain ranges in the kingdom. According to this map, the temple is towards the centre of it." He says, his geography lessons finally doing some good.

This place is bound to be the most treacherous ground in the range. Even if they head that way, getting through will be difficult without Toph and there will be no way to guarantee they'll be able to stay below the snow line and on sturdy, solid rock. Uncle made sure he learnt the geography of the world. In many ways, his education far surpassed his sister's. Not for the first time, he realises that this is very likely how he's managed to stay alive for as long as he has.

"We can go under the mountains if we have to." Toph says. "There's bound to be caves. Even if we don't stay there or make it all the way, we can set up a good hideout for when we rejoin Twinkletoes."

Beside him, Katara shifts uncomfortably. "Aang will be safe with the White Lotus. Right now, we need to focus on getting out of here and to someplace where we can prepare."

Toph makes a face. "Isn't that what we'll be doing?"

"We have Ty Lee to worry about too. Do we want to risk taking her back to the others?" Their conversation needs to stop, he knows. Redirecting them to something else is good.

He doesn't know why, but talking about the Avatar has done nothing but agitate the waterbender since she woke up.

She's nodding, blue eyes on the map, "I'm not sure we should take her if we go. Exploring the possibility of a fifth Air Temple is one thing, but taking someone so close to Azula is something else entirely."

"She hasn't lied to us yet." Toph points out, "She's clearly hiding something, but I don't think she's going to betray us."

"You've met Azula, haven't you?"

Zuko sighs, taking the map in hand. They can argue about Ty Lee; he'll focus on this.

They need to move soon. They have plenty of supplies and no information. Because Ty Lee apparently left as soon as the siege began, they have no idea what happened to Ba Sing Se. Ozai is still alive, Aang is unknown. Regrouping with the White Lotus may not be a wise choice. Not yet, anyway.

And then there's the issue of Ty Lee herself. Toph's right, the girl is definitely hiding something. She's not lying about attacking Azula, though, and Katara surprisingly has been rather accommodating towards her. It's just when they talk about this that the distrust shows.

Everyone but him seems to be hiding something.

Toph has been rather insistent about getting back to Aang and every so often, she'll go still and silent. She never tells them what she's sensing, but she always asks to about returning to the Avatar soon after.

He knows they have a long way to go before regrouping. Not only do they have no idea where to go from here, but Katara looks like she still needs to heal and he's still feeling the aftereffects of the comet. It's easier now than it was. He's not quite back to perfect, though. His reflexes are just a bit slow. Toph's feet are still on the mend.

And then there's their lungs; the waterbender has been dragging the two of them down to the river in cycles to clear out all the debris and heal whatever damage there is. She's finally cleared them for that, so now they should be able to move to safety.

Eventually they'll meet up with the others.

"Sparky, you listening?"

He looks up from the map. "What?"

"If we went and we took the circus freak, how much trouble would we have with food and stuff?"

"We've managed to do fine so far."

"Yeah, but you're still sick from the comet and Sugar Queen's still dealing with that head thing and, unless you've forgotten, I'm blind." She says, crossing her arms. "We've got to trust Stretch if we're taking her."

"And we have no way of knowing we can trust her. We don't know how good of a liar she is and we do know how dangerous she is if she turns on us." Katara points out.

"Which means if she comes, one of you has to stay with her at all times when gathering supplies."

He knows where this argument is going. They'll end up at another impasse.

So he sighs and sets the map down. They'd best settle this now before it was too late.

---

They've been arguing about Stretch and the map for a day and a night, according to Sugar Queen, when Toph senses them.

It's not the light, airy footfalls she's been sensing at random times. No, this is heavy and sturdy and very earthy.

"Guys, move!" she snaps, sending their things below ground. She grabs Stretch and runs to the back of the temple, hiding behind one of the statues there. One foot tap against the floor and she can sense Sparky and Sugar Queen behind the statue to her left.

One, two, three, four, five.

The soldiers come loudly. This place is supposed to be deserted, after all. They have no reason to be quiet.

She listens carefully to what's being said. Sparky's hearing is preternaturally good, but hers is better. She's Toph Bei Fong. She's always better.

The soldiers are talking about Ba Sing Se.

Good news: the White Lotus took it back.

Bad news: It's officially the last remaining stronghold in the Earth Kingdom. The Fire Nation soldiers inland are preparing a new attack on the White Lotus. Omashu has fallen again. Troops are heading this way to search Wulong Forest.

Stretch is too close to her. The circus freak's heart is racing, the beats pounding the air around them. It's messing with Toph's senses. And this scent too. It's familiar somehow, something light and bright. And speaking of this girl, how the hell did she get from Boiling Rock to Ba Sing Se to Taku in such short amount of time? She keeps meaning to ask, but the time never seems right.

There's a tapping at her left. It's Sparky. He's signaling something.

Oh.

They're moving. She brings their stuff up behind the statues, where they can gather their things. There isn't much, just a couple of bags filled with food and some supplies the crazy herbalist gave them. Zuko takes the map and Katara takes one of the bags.

"You're coming with us." Toph says quietly, handing the remaining bag to their guest.

No one says anything else and so Sparky takes the lead. The passage through the city is surprisingly easy. With his stealth skills and her basic skill, they're making good time. It seems he's finally gotten over whatever was bothering him post-comet.

The rain has started falling again by the time they enter the forested mountains beyond the city. The vibrations are mostly on the leaves, thank goodness. She's always had trouble sensing leaves, so this disturbance means the land is clear for her. The sound, however, is somewhat troubling.

With the interference, her senses will have to be in top shape. She can't miss anything, not when they might not be able to hear anything.

In hindsight, she probably shouldn't take so much responsibility on.

It takes them a week and a half to skirt around villages and troops to get to the mountains closest to the Temple of the Winds. The map, as it turns out, is quite old and this part of the Earth Kingdom has changed dramatically in the past century.

It's been a week and a half since Taku and she's been told that it's been almost three weeks since the comet. Three weeks and they haven't seen or heard anything about Twinkletoes. She doesn't like it.

And she doesn't like this. No one needs to tell her that this area is impassible. The mountains here are impossibly high and above the humid forest, are dangerously rocky. It wouldn't be any problem for her if not for the fact that the mountains went almost straight up. There's no way any of them can get through.

Thunder shakes the range, her senses faltering for a moment. It's dangerous to be this close to the storms above. And there's the issue of that non-stop roaring in the not-far distance.

They need cover. This storm smells worse than the rest and she can hear Sparky and Sugar Queen discussing the weather. They've reached the same conclusion. Stretch is starting to get nervous too. She says something about the wind just before a gust rips thorough the tops of the trees. Okay, searching for cover now. Toph kneels down and taps her hands against the ground a few times.

There. Up fifty paces, left twenty-five. She moves quickly, not bothering to instruct the others. They each need a break from each other after this.

Seriously. The tension between them is beginning to give her a headache. And they've been out of supplies for the past two days. There are wounds coating their arms and legs from fighting their way through the forest. None of them have slept much since leaving Taku.

Toph is the first to reach the cave. Something covers it, and she can feel the leaves on her hands.

"Careful, Champ." Sparky is behind her, moving the plants away. "Go on in, we'll be there in a second."

She goes in, waiting for the others when she notices it. The floor of the cave is disturbingly smooth as she runs her foot across it, trying to get a better sense of whatever is at the back of the cave. The vibrations are distorted, but not in the way wood or water messes with them. It reminds her of something. She knows she's felt these kinds of vibrations before.

Focus. What comes up when trying to remember? The feel of silk and the smell of gardenias. Where has she encountered this before? It hurts, almost. The memories leave something that tastes nasty on her tongue.

"Toph, are you okay?" It's the first time in four days Katara has spoken directly to her.

She shrugs, focusing on the person next to her. "There's something weird back there. It's not stone."

The sound of water reaches her ears. Sugar Queen is ready to attack; that's good. "Zuko, can you come back here?"

Toph stands still as he moves past, a spot of unnatural warmth in the cave. Stretch tries to follow him, but Toph reaches out and holds the circus freak still. "Not you."

A beat later, Sugar Queen gasps. It's surprised and she can hear Sparky asking what the problem is. Toph calls after them, asking a similar question.

"There's a door here."

"Okay, and?"

Katara's excited, "No, Toph, it's an Air Nomad door. Only a master airbender can open it. They have them in the Northern and Southern Temples."

"So the map is real?" she asks.

"Apparently," Sparky calls back.

She takes Stretch by the arm and walks back to where they are. "Can you open it?"

"Maybe," Sweetness says.

"You sure?"

"I'll have to send water up into the valves. There has to be some sort of lock system in there. I can probably trigger whatever switch needs to be."

"Just do it."

She can hear the water moving. It's going to be a while. A door meant to be opened by one element can probably be overcome by another, but it will take time and some serious ingenuity. Just to be safe, Toph sits down next to it. She wants to know what exactly this door is made of and if there is any dirt in it. Sparky is a last resort. If they get in, they want the defenses to be sturdy.

By the time her back starts to hurt and Stretch is getting anxious, Katara withdraws her water. "I can sort of see something."

"Can you get it moving?"

"I don't know."

Toph considers getting up and entering the conversation, but thinks against it. There's been something odd about the waterbender's vibrations for a time and Sparky's been getting odder by the day. There's something going on. It's probably just best to leave them be.

"It's a pinwheel of sorts." Sugar Queen is explaining, "I can probably get it to move, but I'm afraid of damaging it. I don't know what it's made of and I have no idea how old it is."

"Katara, just do it."

She hears a sigh and then the water is moving again. A gust of wind works its way through the cave, bringing with it the smell of the storm outside and everyone is holding still, waiting for Katara to finish.

There's a groan, the vibrations behind her warping. She jumps up just before the door swings open. The air beyond it smells surprisingly fresh.

She's the first to go through. When they're all through, Zuko and Katara push the door closed again. It clicks when it locks.

"So, where are we?"

The cavern she senses isn't quite natural. Parts of it are, and there's water rushing somewhere. It's just this path they're on that is weird. It's smooth and there are railings.

"It's a road." Zuko moves past her and the others start to follow. She hangs back, walking next to their guest. She kind of expects him to continue speaking, but he doesn't. Instead, they just move quietly through the cavern.

The incline isn't too severe. Almost like it was expecting something heavy to move down it. Probably carts. Toph can't see anything, but she can feel the stone. They aren't as old as the Western Air Temple. Not anywhere near that. If she had to guess, she'd say they're less than a hundred years old.

This place was built after the war started.

And as they get closer to the cave's exit, she starts to sense why.

There is a forest in the valley they're about to enter. And in that forest, hidden by the trees and water—water's vibrations are too distinct for her to not recognise that irritating pattern—is a city.

Not a temple. A city. An empty one. There are animals moving around, but no people.

Her toes dig into the dirt when they exit the caves. The air smells sweet, like water. There are sounds filling the valley, most drowned out by the rushing of a river. At least, she thinks it's a river.

She asks Zuko and he tells her it's the Demon's Fall: a giant waterfall in the Thunder River.

Ah, she remembers those stories. Her first minder was a lively young woman who figured out pretty quickly that the young Bei Fong heiress was more interested in the world than in manners. She loved that governess. Her parents hated her. The poor woman didn't last long.

There's a groaning sound nearby and something comes through the trees from above. That sound is so familiar she feels something burn at her eyes.

Not tears. Of course not. She does not cry.

The sound echoes through the forest again.

Screw it, she's going to be human for a while.

"Twinkletoes!" she calls, moving forward. Zuko catches her shoulder and pulls her back. "Hey, what are you—"

She stops short as she gets a good feel for what has settled before her. The vibrations are similar and it's definitely the same, only not.

"That's not Appa." Katara says quietly. "And it's not alone."

Chapter 5: a road to somewhere

The city is amazing. The temple proper rises up in the middle of the lake at the back of the valley, the waterfall above never reaching it. The fall is too tall; by the time the water reaches the highest spire of the temple, the water has turned to mist. The effect is gorgeous.

And, admittedly, being surrounded by so much water is making her a little giddy. The last time she was around this much water for any real amount of time was when she was the Painted Lady.

So yes, Katara is happy.

Until Zuko mentions Aang.

"Not now. We should check this place out first." She's stalling and she knows he's finally figured it out.

They're exploring the temple, trying to find supplies for them to live. If sky bison and the weird little lemur-cat things can thrive here, then there has to be some sort of food source. Toph and Ty Lee are down in the city, looking for that. She and Zuko are here looking for other things.

A change of clothes, for instance. They're all wearing rags at this point. The forest wasn't kind, nor were the various battles they've survived as of late. Rather than things they can wear, though, all they've managed to find are a lot of blankets and a few saddles for the bison.

"We have to go back to him sometime."

"We still have Ty Lee with us."

He grabs her arm and pulls her around to face him. "Katara, now. We're the adults here."

"I'm fourteen."

"And I'm only sixteen, but Ty Lee isn't one of us and Toph is twelve."

"She's still a master. She should be involved in this."

"She doesn't care what happens so long as we get back."

Katara can't argue with that. The earthbender so much as said so when they separated this morning. She knows she's outnumbered. Both Zuko and Toph are insistent about getting back to the others. Ty Lee is just a minor hang-up.

It's Katara who is the major issue.

Since her chat with Yue, she's been having weird dreams. The apocalyptic kind is there, yes, but they're not as common as the mundane dreams. And it's the mundane dreams that make her wake up sweating and—at least once—screaming.

Now that was embarrassing.

"She should still be a part of the conversation."

Zuko is starting to get angry. She can see that, but she really doesn't care. Her heart is fluttering dangerously at the memory of the dreams.

Like the ones of her married to Aang with three children. A waterbender, a non-bender, and an airbender. Sweet kids that make her stomach roll unpleasantly. She sees years spent as the Avatar's wife and it leaves her terrified of marriage. She knows that, had the war ended with Sozin's Comet, that there is a very real chance that these dreams could have been her reality.

More than once, she's seen Yue in the background of some of these dreams. The Moon Spirit is trying to tell her something. She just doesn't know what yet and it's slowly driving her mad. She hasn't been sleeping. It's so much better than dreaming of things that leave her with the distinct feeling that she's a prize to be won.

She completely blames Yue for the sense of objectification.

Yue, after all, had to deal with Hahn. She probably more than knows what this feeling is like.

"Katara, do you want to go back?"

"I don't know." The words are out before she can think of something better. She almost says something after it, but she sees Zuko's expression. The anger has passed.

"What do you mean?" He's curious. Of course he is. She's the Avatar's almost girlfriend, his most protective comrade. She should be the most adamant about returning to him.

"I'm not sure it's a good idea."

"We have a student still in training."

"And he has masters with the White Lotus."

"Katara!"

She steps away from him. She should have just told him about Yue and the dreams. The apocalyptic ones, of course. Azula will wear flowers in her hair and spread peace and love before Katara will tell him about the other dreams.

"I don't know about you or Toph, but I've taught Aang everything I can."

"And?"

This conversation can't be happening. She can't get away, though. He won't let it go and she knows she can't outrun him. He's stronger and has longer legs and physically, is in better shape than she is. And he actually slept last night.

She runs her hands through her hair. "You've said it yourself. I mother him. He doesn't need that right now. It might be best if I stay away for a while. Old habits die hard, right?"

"What about Sokka?"

"Suki can watch out for him."

"That's not what I mean," he says. "He watched us fall. I could hear him calling out for you. He deserves to know you're okay."

"He can't. If you go back and tell them I'm here, Aang will just come after me."

He tilts his head and she regrets her words. He's finally figured it out. "Does this have anything to do with his feelings? Running away doesn't help anything. It usually makes things worse."

"What was I supposed to do? Leave a note?"

He's silent. He's tense too and she wonders at it before realising with a sickening chill exactly what she said. An apology won't do anything to fix this. It was accidental, but it was still a low blow. Apologies don't go far with mistakes like that.

She takes half a step back before turning completely. The hall is silent as she walks. Above her, the painted clouds in the ceiling mural seem darker than they were. Who made this place? Toph has said that the stone structures are relatively new, that this place is younger than the war.

It's not the first time she's entertained the idea that airbenders survived the genocide. Something about the stories never seemed right. Aang always swears that there is no such thing as a non-bending Air Nomad, that bending is a spiritual thing only. He points to her parents being non-benders as proof.

She never told him that her grandmother came from a very long line of powerful benders and had many waterbending relatives in the North. Honestly. When women have few rights, families tend to be large.

During one of the arguments with Aang, Toph had pointed out that her own parents were non-benders, but her mother's family had many earthbenders. Katara had almost pointed out her family history when Aang used her as an example once again, but had kept silent. Too much information would lead to too many questions.

The boy had still clung to the spirituality argument.

But there was also the issue that the South Pole isn't a very spiritual place. At all. The war did that to them. It's hard to have faith in anything when tomorrow is never guaranteed and the mere rumour of a waterbender can lead to an attack. Katara still remembers the fear the villagers treated her with when she was a little girl. She's worked every day of her life so far trying to make up for that.

So the Air Nomads had to have had some non-benders. They just had to. The idea of a race of nothing but benders was just nonsense. Even the highly spiritual Foggy Swamp Tribe had a few non-benders. They were just sent away from the Tribe because of how dangerous the swamp can be to a non-bender.

Who can say the Air Nomads didn't have a similar policy?

"Zuko," she says, stopping and turning to face him again. He hasn't moved at all. "Do you think there could still be airbenders out there?"

"My great-grandfather was rather notorious for being obsessive about things, so I doubt it."

She shakes her head. "I don't mean original airbenders. I mean descendents of non-benders."

"There's no such thing."

"Then who built this place?"

"A non-bender would have no knowledge of his or her heritage." He finally starts walking towards her, arms crossed across his chest. "No descendent would either. This place had to have been built by refugees."

"You said it yourself, Sozin was too obsessive for anyone to escape."

"You said there were bodies in the Southern Air Temple, remember?"

"What does that have to do with this?"

"Were any of them children?"

She thinks back to the wreckage, pushing away the memories of Aang's fury and focusing on the details of the Temple. She remembers Gyatso and the soldiers, but nothing else.

Gyatso was the only airbender she remembers.

"No."

He nods, "It's far more likely that there were refugees and even that is impossible because my great-grandfather didn't leave things unfinished like that. Stories say he built refuges in the mountains and filled them with Air Nomad artefacts. When the Nomads would come looking for sanctuary, he had soldiers posted there to kill them. Toph got the age of the Temple wrong. It's a simple mistake."

"Still," she shrugs, spinning on her heel to continue walking. "What if? When he grows his hair out, Aang can easily pass for Fire Nation. What would happen if he were part Fire Nation? If there were survivors of the Air Nomads living there?"

"Irony would be named king of all." He catches up to her easily, the tension between them faded.

"No, it would be poetry. The Fire Lord tried to become the Phoenix King and the airbenders rose from the ashes within his lands, just like the phoenix."

"Poetry can be ironic. There would have to be airbenders in the Earth Kingdom too."

"But not in the Water Tribes," she says, glancing at her arm and then his as he falls into step beside her. "No airbender could pass for a tribesman."

He sees her looking, "No one can pass for a tribesman."

Not quite true, but she'll never tell him that.

They lapse into silence. Exploring the Temple is relaxing. This one saw no murder. She's inclined to believe Toph's estimate of the city's age. If this place had been through the war, there are no signs of fire anywhere; buildings should be damaged, things should be burned. The sky bison population should not be so healthy. The bison shouldn't be so friendly; they're intelligent enough to remember people, even it was nothing more than behaviour inherited from a parent.

This Temple and her city is a strange place. It's peaceful, a world away from the chaos of the nations. Everything is in balance here.

She likes it here.

---

The little earthbender hasn't spoken to her since they parted from Katara and Zuko. Ty Lee has learnt by now that this girl's name is Toph. The dynamics of the group have also become clear.

Katara is the mother. Zuko is the father. Toph is the daughter. She assumes the Avatar is the son and the waterbender's brother is an uncle figure.

She and Azula and Mai were never like that.

It's pleasant. Charming, even. She's just an interloper here. It doesn't really feel right, sitting with them at meals and working with them. She just has nowhere else to go.

And they brought her here. She can't just leave after finding this place.

Ty Lee has always wanted to see an Air Temple. A real one, untouched by the Fire Nation or by squatting refugees. And this place is. It's beautiful. No words, as clichéd as that is. The city is gorgeous beneath the watchful Temple. She could stay here forever.

The winds aren't haunted by death here. They're just hushed, as if waiting for someone who knows them to come and keep them company. She looks up at the sky as she follows Toph, eyes fixed on the clouds high above the valley. They drift quickly over the mountains, the high altitude winds coursing with power through the heavens. Something tugs in her chest and she has to look back at the ground.

The longing to fly is almost too much to bear.

She hears a noise behind her. Turning around, there's that bison again. It's been following her since they arrived. As much as she wants to run over to it and learn from it—because that's how this originally went, her grandmother once told her—she knows she can't.

She's safe and she's still too terrified of the world to act on the instinct and desire running through her veins.

So she follows the earthbender and examines the silent city.

There are snowlions here. Not real ones, of course, but statues. They make her heart leap and last night, she dreamed of her grandmother and nothing else. They stand guard throughout the valley and every time she sees one, she ends up with this idiotic smile on her face.

She fiddles with the wrappings around her right wrist. Katara said she would keep an eye out for clothes or fabric to replace everyone's ruined garments. If that happens, Ty Lee isn't sure she'll keep the wrappings on. The only ones she'll have to explain the marking to are Zuko and Katara, and that is assuming they spend any real amount of time outside of the Temple proper. Inside the Temple, she should be able to sit quietly and not draw attention.

She doubts they will leave it much. She doubts anyone will. The spires of the Temple are tall enough to see everything and that makes it a great place to settle in. It's the easiest place in the city to defend and it's the most likely to have some kind of supplies.

Toph moves deliberately through the city, her bare feet regularly tapping the ground. It doesn't take long to figure out how the blind girl sees. Ty Lee has always been very good at reading body language.

When trying to survive Azula, it becomes a necessary skill.

The earthbender watches the ground. Ty Lee takes to watching the sky again. She just doesn't look up to where the high winds call her. She keeps her attention firmly within the confines of the valley.

There are trees and lemur-cats and occasionally a sky bison will move past them. Once again, she sees the bison that's following her. It's a young one and she gets the impression it's a female. As much as she doesn't want to acknowledge it, it's still comforting to know that this bison will always be there if she needs it.

She doesn't want to leave this place. Logically, the people she's with have to leave. They're the Avatar's masters. Their place is with him. But her? She's just a traitor, a fugitive twice over, completely alone in this world. This silent city of the wind is the perfect place for her.

"Are you coming?" Toph says and Ty Lee looks away from the sky. The girl has moved too far down the road.

She steps lightly across the way. When she gets to the earthbender, Toph is giving her a strange look. "Sorry, I got distracted."

This expression is familiar. She's gotten it from Azula, Mai, and even from her sisters. It's the one that comes after she does something her grandmother warned her about. It makes her nervous and she grabs her right wrist, her thumb tracing an image on the wrappings.

"Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Mess with your arm like that. There's nothing there."

Oh, right. As good as the earthbender's senses are, there are some things that would escape her. Toph is probably the only one that has any sense of what the Avatar looks like without his tattoos.

"Habit," she says. There's no reason to explain what's really there. It's nothing more than a memento.

It's not important anymore.

Toph scrunches her nose. Ty Lee remembers then that this girl is capable of telling a lie from a truth.

Ty Lee is a good liar, but she's not that good.

And she doesn't want to lie anymore.

"You're weird."

"I know."

"You're different."

She smiles weakly and moves past the earthbender. "I know."

"Just talk to me," Toph orders. "I'm bored and we've already found everything we need."

"What do you want to know?"

"Anything. What was it like growing up with a psychopath? Why did you join the circus? What was your home life like?" The earthbender shifts all her weight to her right leg and moves her bangs out of her face. Ty Lee's seen the same behaviour from her before. It's a tell. The girl is searching for something and she's nervous.

Ty Lee just shrugs and keeps walking. "I grew up in an aristocratic family. Azula really wanted Mai, but I came with because I had to. I have six sisters and we all look exactly alike. I spent most of my time with my grandmother and my aunt. I joined the circus to get away."

She hears Toph sigh. "You know, my parents wouldn't let me learn earthbending because I'm blind. I had to run away at night to compete in the Earth Rumble to get any practice in."

Ty Lee's heart skips. She knows the earthbender noticed it, because that funny look is back. It's hard to breathe, actually. Of all the things for the girl to say, that was probably the last thing she expected. It's certainly the last thing she wanted to hear.

She doesn't want to have anything in common with these people.

And now Toph has pointed out that they aren't so different.

It's just the minor details that are different.

It's so, so tempting to tell her the truth because Ty Lee is really very sick of lying. The weight of her lies are beginning to drag her down. They're grounding her and she's been having trouble keeping a smile up.

Maybe telling the truth would help.

But she won't do that, because she was raised to never let anyone know the truth.

What was it her grandmother always said? Always be cheerful, no one will look deeper if you appear happy. Never let anyone know the truth, but never forget the truth. Be proud of who you are, just don't tell anyone. Always hide and pray no one ever looks beyond the façade.

She's gripping her right wrist again. It's her tell, she thinks, the action that gives away when she's nervous.

Toph takes steady steps towards her, stopping when they are next to each other. One small hand comes out and touches her right arm, fingers grazing the wrappings. A second later, it's gone and Toph is walking away, barking orders at her.

Ty Lee feels faint. She's fairly certain that her secret is out, again, and like in Ba Sing Se, it makes her want to run away. She knows it's foolish. She's with three master benders and has no where else to go. It's just instinct to hide when she's in danger.

Breathe. The world will not end if they find out the truth. It's just habit and old habits die hard.

Chapter 6: all the small things

 

Katara won't stop fiddling with her neck. He knows the loss of the necklace weighs heavily on her, but so should the separation from the rest of their group.

It's starting to drive him mad. They've been arguing for the past day about rejoining the Avatar. Toph has cut in a few times, but to no avail. The waterbender is hiding something.

Night has settled into the Temple of the Winds. Katara and Toph are off to the side of the hall they've claimed as a camping ground, the elder measuring the younger for new clothes. It's a sweetly domestic scene and for a moment, he can forget that both of his comrades have been hiding things.

They need to get back to the Avatar and the White Lotus. Ba Sing Se is far away, yes, but if they leave within the next day or so, they should be able to reach it before the Fire Nation army. There are only three of them and they don't have the same needs as an army.

Yes, they still have Ty Lee, but she's proven that she doesn't want to go back to the other side. In their last group meeting, Toph pointed out that their not-prisoner is pretty desperate to avoid going back.

And then Katara said Ty Lee could stay here with her while he and Toph go on.

That he didn't like. At all. He's starting to notice that she's not sleeping and her appetite isn't as strong as it should be. She hasn't been acting like herself either. It's almost like she's lost. He's seen the same behaviour in Ty Lee, come to think of it. They're both unnaturally quiet and withdrawn. Katara is just the worst. She looks truly adrift. Ty Lee just looks nervous.

He glances over at where Ty Lee is reading a book she found in the city. She's not going to cause any problems if he leaves her here by the fire. He stands up and joins Katara and Toph beneath a mural of sky bison, similar to the one in the Western Air Temple. Idly, he wonders if all the temples have paintings like this.

"Hold still," Katara says. "I can't get a good measurement if you don't."

"Is this really necessary?"

"Yes, it is. You're about to outgrow your current clothes and there's no point in mending them if they aren't going to last."

Zuko sits down beside the waterbender. "Just do what she says, Champ."

"Yes, Dad," she mocks.

And for the third time since they settled in for the night, Katara reaches up to brush her neck. "Zuko, is there something you need?"

"Why do you want to stay here?"

She marks down a measurement. He can see the measurements she's taken for the rest of them written elsewhere on the page. She even has Ty Lee's scribbled toward the bottom of the paper. "What do you mean?"

"Aang," Toph says. "Why don't you want to go back?"

"I just don't."

"What happened when you woke up?" he asked, pulling a scrap of fabric towards him. He still has trouble believing they found the things they did, but then again, this place likely wasn't meant to stand empty for so long. If it is as young as Toph says, then this was likely meant to be a refuge for the Air Nomads who escaped. Rather than separate themselves, the entire population could be isolated here. Something just happened that kept them from coming here, and so all the hard work that was put into this place was in vain.

He lifts the fabric up, watching as the blue silk glimmers in the firelight. Despite having been dyed just that day, it looks perfect. Finally, he turns his attention back to his companions. Beside him, Katara is silent and Toph is grinning like a rat viper.

He's finally asked the right question.

He's never been good at that. It's how Azula manipulated him all the time. He never thinks to ask the right question.

But this time he apparently has.

"I woke up and went to the river."

"And when you were underwater?"

"I was washing up."

Toph clicks her tongue. "Half true. What's the rest of the story?"

Katara shifts, reaching up to tug Toph into place and looking everywhere but at him. He's fairly certain he's seen that same behaviour from her before, but he can't think of when.

They've known each other for almost a year, he realises. Almost a year and he probably knows Katara better than he knows Mai. Toph is still something of an enigma, but he has the distinct feeling that no one knows her very well.

He can tell when the waterbender is trying to avoid something. It's different than when she's nervous. When she's nervous, she bites the right side of her bottom lip. When she wants to avoid talking about something, she plays with her necklace. When she's angry, her bottom lip sticks out a little. When she's sad, her head always tilts a little to the right. It tilts to the left when she's curious.

Right now, her hand keeps reaching for the necklace that is no longer there and her head is leaning to the right, just a little. He saw the same actions the few times they've spoken about her mother.

So what is it this time? What did Aang do to bring out this kind of response?

"I saw Yue." Her voice is so quiet and frail. It's nothing like the Katara he's used to.

He glances over to make sure Ty Lee is still occupied with her book. "What did she say?"

"That it might be best if I don't go back."

Toph makes a face and he knows it's only half true. Yue didn't just say it might be best if Katara didn't go back. There's something else and it's not good.

Suddenly, their arguments don't seem quite so silly anymore.

What happened when he found her that night suddenly makes a little more sense too. He reaches up and rubs the scar on his chest. It still hurts from time to time and he's been careful not to show any pain. Every time she notices it, she has a tendency to reach for it, just to see if there's something wrong.

And he really doesn't like her touching him. It's not unpleasant, but it's just the way his blood reacts to her. Ever since she healed him, there's been something weird about her touch. He first noticed it that night at the river, when she checked on him and it was like every part of his body was under her control.

His heart still beats strong, he knows that. She did good work with it. Whatever she did is worth working on. If he was the first try, then there's a lot of potential in that odd bending style.

He wonders if the Moon Spirit told her anything about her own potential.

But maybe now isn't the time to talk about it. What she wanted to say is off her shoulders and maybe now she can sleep again. She's glancing up at Toph in a way that makes him think she doesn't want to have this conversation around the earthbender.

"Okay, you're done," she says to Toph. The earthbender sighs in relief and rushes over to where Ty Lee and the campfire are. "Zuko, are we done?"

He puts the piece of fabric down. "No, we're not. What happened?"

She scowls. "She and I talked."

"About?"

"Aang," she hisses. "I've already told you this."

He shakes his head, thinking again of this waterbender and what she's capable of. "You never said she talked about you."

"It's not important."

"Yes, it is. Whatever she said has upset you."

"Concerned?" She's mocking him and suddenly, it feels like they're back to where they began at the Western Air Temple.

He sighs, focusing on his breathing until he's perfectly calm again. Getting angry with her will accomplish nothing right now. "Yes. The last thing we need is an unstable bender. I need to know that you'll be at your best if we have to fight."

She looks angry and just for a moment, the expression falters. He's struck a nerve, which means whatever the Moon Spirit said, it's making Katara doubt her abilities.

And that's one of the worst things that can happen to a bender. For a moment, his mind is back in the Fire Nation, back when he was just a little boy trying desperately to impress his father because his mother was no longer able to help him. It's a terrible feeling to be told you're not good enough. To someone young enough to still be impressionable, it can be absolutely devastating.

Yue had no right.

There's nothing he can say to make her feel better, something like this can only be solved by Katara herself. He lapses into silence and just stays beside her while she works. When she's ready to talk, she will. And when she's ready, he'll be there to listen.

---

"Spar with me." Katara says to Zuko the next morning. They're sitting at breakfast, a usually peaceful time. Usually, at least. The Western Air Temple wasn't that long ago and Toph knows that the tension has been building between the waterbender and firebender. Whatever they talked about last night after she left them has left Katara angry. The waterbender's vibrations have been bad since last night and Toph is fairly certain Katara didn't really sleep.

"You want me to what?"

"Spar with me. The war isn't over and who knows what might happen."

Toph has been with them long enough to know that tone. Katara's cranky. She doesn't think Zuko will accept, so when he does, she follows them. She can't actually see a fight between the firebender and waterbender. The action mostly takes place in midair and fire doesn't give off vibrations she can pick up. And water? Water is just a nightmare to deal with. There are vibrations, but they're so messy she can't sense a damn thing.

Stretch is following silently and they all settle in when Sparky and Sugar Queen take their places in the courtyard. They've all wondered if this is maybe a training ground. As pretty is it is (Katara gave her a description), there is a surprisingly lack of everything.

She slams her foot down on the ground, creating a round platform large enough to accommodate a sparring match and high enough to clearly mark a boundary. "You two know the rules. First one out of the ring loses."

"Do they do this often?" Ty Lee asks when they settle down a safe distance away.

She shrugs, "Not really. They usually try to avoid fighting each other. Sparky's the only one who can give her a good challenge and vice versa. It's only logical that they spar."

"What about you?"

"I don't need it," she grins. "I'm the Blind Bandit. I don't lose."

"You still need practice."

She waves it off. Earth vs. water never ends well. Maybe she can spar with Zuko. Maybe.

With the other two consumed with fighting each other, she and Stretch are essentially alone. Now is the time she's been waiting for. "Hey, Ty Lee, right?"

"Yes?"

"Why were you in Ba Sing Se?"

The girl's vibrations shift then. Toph's made her nervous. "Holding us at Boiling Rock was impossible while Mai's uncle is warden. They didn't want to replace him, so we were turned over to the Dai Li. They didn't care who we are or to whom we're related. Or the fact that it was becoming clear that Azula was falling apart. They answered to her and so she could trust them to keep us secure."

Truth. Very true. Stretch is relaxing, her vibrations settling down. Telling the truth usually does that to people. "But you got out."

"Security was lax."

And now is the time to strike, "And then the comet came and you got from Ba Sing Se to Taku in under a day."

Yep, there it goes. The vibrations of the body beside her are so completely messed up, Toph herself is getting nervous. Eventually, the girl answers, "Trade secret."

Truth. Damn it. How did she do it? Even using one of those wicked fast eel hound things would take more time. A combination of those and something faster, though, might just do it. But how did Ty Lee get to the hounds? And what is the something faster?

Beside her, she hears Ty Lee whistle low. Though she's never seen it, she's heard from Twinkletoes and the others that fire vs. water can be a spectacular sight, especially in the hands of masters like Zuko and Katara.

Around the time she hears Stretch say something about how pretty it is she notices it. There's something odd about Sugar Queen's footwork. It's familiar somehow, but she can't really place it. Not until she suddenly notices the vibrations of water covering the ring and Katara's heavy footfalls amid it all.

The waterbender is using earthbending techniques. Her technique of using the element to 'see' to be precise and that's not all. The water vanishes from her senses and Katara's vibrations are no longer on the ground.

"That's a firebending move!" Ty Lee stands up. In the ring, both Zuko and Katara have stilled.

"When did you start stealing my moves?"

"When did you start stealing mine?" Sweetness shoots back. Toph can only sense the heat from fire, so she assumes he did something water-ish to block Katara's latest attack. Whatever happened, there's history here and Toph isn't entirely sure she knows all of it. Ba Sing Se is the only major fight between them she can recall and no one knows what happened there.

"It makes for stronger attacks if you blend bending styles."

"Exactly, that's why I started paying attention. Know thy enemy and all that." Sugar's vibrations are settling down, surprisingly. She's relaxing too.

This is good for her, apparently.

"Champ, up here," Zuko says. "I want to test something."

"I'm not a test subject."

"You are a master bender, though."

She sighs and pokes the girl next to her. "You can wander around if you like, but don't go far. Even from up there, I can attack you."

"Understood."

Toph nods, standing up. The earth helps her jump up into the ring. Sparky and Sweetness are discussing this new development, quietly enough that she can't hear them. She can hazard a guess as to what this is going to be. Maybe. She hopes she's not joining the spar. Earthbenders can usually hold their own against other elements, but Toph is blind and other elements play in midair. It's how Twinkletoes was able to defeat her. She couldn't sense his attacks.

Air and fire are the most frustrating elements. There are no vibrations to either. There's heat with fire, but nothing with air. And even with fire, she can't get a strong enough sense on it to really dodge an attack. Fighting a firebender is part skill and a ton of luck. Waterbenders are only slightly more complex. She can occasionally get a vibration from the water, but nothing if it's in the air. It doesn't give off heat and the benders' movements are all so fluid that it's nearly impossible to get a good read on battlefield behaviour.

And airbenders? If she never has to deal with one again, she'll be thankful. She can never fight them. Aang has proven that time and time again. Her spars with him only end in her victory because she knows him. If she were to cross paths with another airbender, she probably wouldn't know it.

Something clicks into place. Yes, she's suspected it, but there's no way, though. She's already though of all the possibilities and she knows enough about what happened one hundred years ago but, then again, there's new evidence. In Taku and the door and everything. Even that damn bison that keeps following them.

But wait. That's not right.

It's not following her. When she's with the others, that thing is nowhere to be found. It's just when—

It's just when Ty Lee is there.

Toph falls still just as Katara and Zuko end their conference.

They have no idea; how could they not know?

Zuko's known Stretch for how long?

And he never noticed anything?

That crazy sister of his didn't notice anything?

How did she, Toph Bei Fong, not piece it together?

"Okay, Melon Lord," Katara says and Toph can hear the sound of knuckles cracking and can feel their vibrations slip into something excited, "Ready for round two?"

"How about a rain check, Sweetness?"

Because this needs to be discussed now, when they can be sure Ty Lee is nowhere within hearing range.

---

It's not often she gets away from the others. This time, she's only apart because Toph is still in the courtyard. From that distance, Ty Lee is still under surveillance.

The shadows of the Temple are welcoming. When she's sure she's out of sight of everyone she takes the wrappings around her right wrist and lets them fall away. The tattoo hasn't changed at all and yet she can't remember the last time she really looked at it. Sometime before Azula forced her to return, she thinks.

The head of the creature is still nestled against the bottom of her hand, the greenish mane skirting around the edge of the palm. The body is still impossibly white, even against her pale skin. It still looks happy and as she looks at it, she can remember her grandmother even more clearly.

Her grandmother, after all, had the same tattoo. Her great-grandmother too. All the women in the family like them had it. Her grandmother had always been so proud of her. Of the seven children born to her younger daughter, only Ty Lee was like her.

This tattoo was supposed to have been given to her by her grandmother, but the woman died years before she was ready to receive it. Her aunt, the only one of her grandmother's children to be like them, had given it to her instead.

Has Aunt Jetsun heard about her yet? When Mai inevitably goes back to Azula, will they hunt down her family? Will Aunt Jet and anyone else born with the family gift be harmed? Because Mai is going to go back. This is too rich, too good and Mai is too much of a politician. With the results of Sozin's Comet in, the logical choice will be to go back and beg forgiveness from their psychopath friend, who will likely welcome Mai back after this. Azula will readily accept anyone who can give this kind of information because this will give her power over her elders.

One little mistake and it could tear down one of the oldest, most powerful noble families in the nation.

They're silly fears. There's no reason to harm them.

Then again, there's no reason to harm the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes, either.

There was no reason for the genocide to happen in the first place.

Her family is screwed.

The snowlion will fall with her, it seems. She knows it's foolish to keep hiding. She and Aunt Jetsun are hardly the only ones. Avatar Aang would want to know about them. These people she's with right now, they'd probably like to know. They're allies, not enemies.

But old fears are hard to get rid of. She's lived in terror at the stories passed down in her family about the beginning of the war. Dark stories told by one snowlion to another.

Ty Lee turns a corner. She's fairly certain she's still within range of the earthbender. No one has come after her and if she strains, she can hear them talking amongst themselves.

Or maybe not. Certain aspects of the gift have just become second nature to her. The hearing thing is one. The stuff she used in the circus is another. Things like the door are just flukes.

She rounds a corner and finds another door at the end of the hall. It's giant and imposing, the emblem of the Air Nomads etched into the centre. There are many doors here. Given that Katara said a master was needed to open them, it makes sense. Whoever built this place was expecting the art to survive the war.

Ty Lee is not a master. The only training she has is in little things that can easily be covered up and the stuff she read in Aunt Jet's books. But these doors are something else entirely.

She's done it once. She can do it again, right? She's done more. When the eel hounds the others loaned her tired, she used the gift to get to the next outpost in the system. Everything to get to Elder Sora in Taku as fast as she possibly could.

Ty Lee settles into a stance she picked up from Azula. Breathe, sway from one side to the other. Calm down and centre her focus. One step back, brace yourself, and push the wind up.

A groaning sound fills the hall as the door swings open. She jumps up, happily, and spins around in a circle, trying her hardest to keep her squeal of delight quiet.

"Ty?"

She freezes and turns. In her excitement, she didn't notice that she wasn't alone. "Zuko."

This isn't bad. It's okay. He won't hurt her. No one will.

But Ty Lee grew up with Azula for a friend. Azula, who liked to gloat about the genocide Ty Lee's family told horror stories about. It has been instilled in her that in this world, being an airbender is a bad thing. People like her; they stay silent and never let anyone know their secret.

Except, her secret isn't a secret anymore.

 

Chapter 7: hours of the sky

 

The morning after finding out the truth about Ty Lee, Katara takes one look at the acrobat and decides that this conversation needs to happen away from Zuko. Airbender plus Sozin’s descendent plus talk of the Water Tribes post-Southern Raiders? Not a good idea. Not right now, at least.

“Hey,” she says, tapping Ty Lee on the shoulder, “I need to do laundry. Do you want to help?”

Ty Lee hesitates, then nods and Katara helps her up. She’s already put the clothes and blankets in the water. She only came back to make sure she’d gotten everything. Asking the airbender to help her is just an impulse.

Airbender.

Dear sweet Tui and La. Ty Lee is an airbender.

Ty Lee, she of the chi-blocking and Azula-following. This is probably the last thing anyone expected.

Only Toph has taken to the idea particularly well. Zuko has gone silent and Toph is sticking by his side, trying to keep him from doing or saying something stupid. Ty Lee looks traumatised and Katara? She’s starting to remember things she doesn’t want to. 

The laundry room is really just a bath. There’s at least two communal baths in the Temple. One is currently unused. The other is here, filled to the brim with soapy water and dirty clothes and blankets.

Katara pulls off her outer robe and tosses it in; she pins her hair back with the whale-tooth comb. Stepping into the water, she looks back to see if Ty Lee is following her lead.

She is; she strips down to her wrappings and steps into the water, just as Katara did. That’s good. The poor girl has been somewhat catatonic for the past two days. Actually, she’s been odd since she’s been with them. Katara reaches in to find a bit of laundry and then takes one of the stone washboards Toph made her in hand, passing a second one to Ty Lee. “How are you?”

A nice and easy start. There doesn’t need to be any tension present. It’s just one female bender talking to another.

Just one bender who had to hide talking to one who stayed hidden for far longer than is healthy.

“Fine.”

A lie. Ty Lee is clearly not fine. She’s pale and trembling, like she’s terrified of the world. Which she might be. Katara has no idea what any surviving airbender might have been told upon manifesting his or her power, but she can hazard a guess.

She can’t force this to happen. The acrobat needs to choose this topic.

“Have you ever been outside the Fire Nation before?”

Ty Lee shrugs, “Not really.”

“What’s it like there?” she asks. “I was only there for a couple of months and I didn’t see much. Zuko said you were in the circus, so you must have seen a lot of the country.”

Is that a smile? “I suppose. It’s pretty, but mostly all the same. The palace is the only truly different part of the country.”

“I was only there during the comet. I only made it to the city below during the eclipse. What’s it like the rest of the year?”

“Quiet. Even when we were kids, the palace was always quiet. It’s too big.”

It’s lonely is what she means. Katara’s heard that description before. The one time Toph talked about her childhood in Gaoling, quiet and big were the same words she used.

One blanket clean. She sets it aside. “There are a lot of places like that.”

There’s silence for a moment. Then, “What’s the South Pole like?”

Katara doesn’t look up from her work. “Cold. And beautiful, in its own way. Ice is very pretty in the sunlight and the sea is so beautiful with nothing distracting around it.”

“Is it quiet?”

“Frequently, but it’s usually welcome.” She pulls another bit of fabric out; this time it’s Zuko’s shirt. He has a new one now because men’s clothing is so much easier to make than women’s. It’s something about the lack of curves. She fingers the burnt hem and remembers the chill of the lightning. “The Southern Tribe is communal. Privacy is a rare and cherished thing.”

The other girl is smiling now. It’s soft and barely there, but it’s still a smile. “Are there many waterbenders?”

And now the conversation really begins. Ty Lee is an aristocrat. She should have had a proper education. There’s no way she doesn’t know. Which is why Katara is the one talking to her.

She stops moving. “No, there aren’t. I’m the only Southern waterbender alive right now. The rest are dead.”

Except Hama, of course, but no one needs to know about that. That’s just between her, Toph, and the whale-tooth comb here.

“What’s that like?”

“Terrifying. Officially, I’m the first one to be born in over half a century,” she says. After a moment, she sits down in the water and begins washing again. She needs the embrace of her element and the distraction of the chores if she’s going to talk about this.

The acrobat looks interested, her grey eyes—and here Katara has to wonder how no one ever figured out the truth when it has been staring out at the world all along—sparking with curiosity for the first time. “What do you mean?”

“Waterbenders were considered bad luck. Our tribe had been destroyed because of us, so we became an omen of death.”

She has to look down at the water. No one talks about this. Her childhood is off-limits in conversation for a reason. It’s easier to let people think she’s the happy daughter of a chief, a waterbender who came from nothing and succeeded in a time of turmoil. A war hero, in short. No one needs to know the truth.

No one needs to know about this. She’s not even sure her brother knows about this. Her parents and Gran Gran were always so careful when she was a child. Waterbending was only allowed in the safety of their home. Beyond those walls, she was the little girl who looked like her grandmother and stuck close to her mother at all times.

“Are you?”

Katara smiles wryly. Only a Fire Nation native would ask that. The people of the Earth Kingdom are too sensitive, Toph being the obvious exception. “Possibly. Someone found out there was a waterbender around. They told the Southern Raiders and there was another raid. Only my mother died, nothing else happened.”

And even though her mother died by claiming to be the waterbender, by the time night fell, the entire tribe knew it was really Katara. “When the Raiders left, the tribe convened. They wanted to return me to La, said it was in the best interests of the tribe.”

“Return you to La?” Ty Lee echoes. Katara looks up in time to see the acrobat turn dangerously pale. “They wanted to kill you?”

“Sacrifice is what they would call it.”

“But that’s—”

“Barbaric?” she says. She’s thought about all of this before. “Maybe, maybe not. The Water Tribes have always been superstitious. Not necessary spiritual, but definitely superstitious. Especially in the South. It was part of how we stayed sane for so long.”

“What happened?” Ty Lee asks, sitting down as well. The laundry has been forgotten for now.

She shrugs, “They didn’t, obviously. Being the daughter of a widowed chief helped. Had I been anyone else, I would have been killed. My family wields enough power to protect me. At the time, it was okay. Then the men left to join the war.

“At first, it was rocky. I wasn’t allowed anywhere without my grandmother. It didn’t really bother me. Before, I had to be within sight of my father or Bato at all times. Now, though, it was worse somehow. Gran Gran put me to work using my skills for good. She came from the North, so she knew a bit about healing and the like. She taught me what she could and supplemented it with midwifery and other things. Eventually people started accepting me.”

She starts messing with the water, twisting it around them. Just focus on something else. These are close to the memories that need to stay put away. Go too far into this and that will come out as well.

Her chest constricts a little at the thought. Breathe in, breathe out. Calm down and do not get sick.

“I fell.”

It takes her a moment to register the comment. When she does, she looks up. “What?”

Ty Lee smiles bashfully, her colour is returning and the tremors have stopped. “The first time I used my bending, I fell. I was about five or six.”

Katara shakes her head, smiling as well, “I turned dinner into an icicle bomb. I was three or four.”

Finally, a laugh. Ty Lee actually sounds proud when she says, “My family are aristocrats, but that’s only publically. We’re a ninja clan.”

“You’ve got to be joking.” It makes sense, though. She’s seen the way the acrobat moves and not all of that could have been learnt in the circus. It also explains the chi-blocking.

That’s a paralyzing thought: an entire clan capable of rendering a bender helpless.

Ty Lee shakes her head, brushing a bit of hair away from her face. A strand of soap suds is left behind. “Nope. It’s how I met Mai, believe it or not. Not the airbending, just the ninja thing. She was three when she started showing an interest in sharp, pointy things, so she was sent to my family to learn.”

She pauses and looks away. “The autumn I turned six, we were visiting my grandmother. She’d always taken a particular interest in me. I think I must have shown signs of airbending before then and I just don’t remember. My sisters and I were playing a game and I made it up onto the roof somehow. All I really remember is standing up there one minute and floating to the ground the next. My grandmother was near where I landed. She pulled me away before the sister who pushed me could find me.”

“Wait, stop.” Katara holds her hands up. She’s heard a lot of sibling relationships in the time she’s been travelling and the Fire Nation’s just get weirder by the day. “Your sister pushed you off the roof?”

“It was an accident.”

“You sure?”

The acrobat nods, “An Lee never hurt me. She’s the oldest and I’m the youngest. There’s a special kind of camaraderie there when you’re in a family as large as ours.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” She leans back against the edge of the bath. “So how much do you know about your family?”

“Everything. The only other airbender in the family has no children, so I’m the heir apparent to this side.” Ty Lee gives her a look and then begins pulling the wrappings off of her right wrist. The airbender holds up her arm, showing the tattoo. “It’s a snowlion. It’s part of Air Nomad mythology. Because my great-grandmother escaped with nothing more than a snowlion figurine, it became our symbol. Every airbender in the line has this tattoo.”

Katara tilts her head. Ty Lee’s talking and that’s good. The laundry can be finished another time. Right now, she wants to hear the stories. She shifts around to get comfortable, and then she asks for the rest of the story.

It takes a moment, but then Ty Lee is smiling and telling her everything.

 

__________________________ 

He waits until Ty Lee has gone to sleep to wake up Katara and Toph. They need to have this discussion now and since neither one seems overly keen on talking with the airbender around—seriously, how did no one ever notice that? So much of his childhood suddenly makes sense—they need to do this when there’s no chance of Ty Lee turning up.

The girls are silent beside him as he leads them through the Temple to the sealed room the acrobat opened the previous day. There’s no risk of Ty Lee betraying them now. From what he understands, Katara now knows everything about the girl.

Which means they finally have a possible solution to their dilemma concerning the Avatar.

When they enter the room, he lights a fire in his hands and searches for torches. It takes some time, but eventually all the lights are burning bright. There’s a beauty in it, watching the shadows slowly melt away to reveal the bookshelves.

There’s a low table in the centre. A single book rests in the middle. They all gather around it and he draws the book towards him. Flipping it open, it turns out to be a registry of sorts.

They can look at it later. He pushes it away and rests his elbows on the table. “What are we going to do?”

“We should work on what we started yesterday.” Katara says softly.

Ah, yes, that. He completely agrees and Toph says she does too. They need to do that. The power behind combining the elements like that is a heady feeling, especially with fire and water. Something coils around his chest. It’s burning and alluring and for once, the scar on his chest isn’t hurting. It’s a different feeling, much like the one left when Katara last touched the mark. His blood is shifting unnaturally, but as disturbing as the sensation is, this time it’s different.

Maybe because she’s not touching him this time.

This time, this is his own doing. It’s just the excitement of a new experiment.            

How long has it been since he’s had a decent challenge like this? Something untouched by Ozai or Azula or the Avatar?

Nothing, of course. Everything in his life has been influenced by someone else. Running off to join the Avatar is the only thing he’s every done because he wanted to. It had been thrilling, of course, even with all the setbacks.

But this? The opportunity to change everything known to bending?

“Are we going back?” Toph asks, “That’s the major thing, isn’t it? Are we going back or are we going to leave Aang to the White Lotus?”

“I’m staying,” the waterbender says, “I’ve been thinking about what Yue told me.”

This is new. Her refusal to return was already known, but she’s avoided talking about the Moon Spirit’s visit ever since that one night.

“And?”

“She said Aang needs to grow up. We all do, actually. She said the war has to end within three years and we have to grow up before it can end.”

“I think we’re already pretty grown up,” Toph points out.

Katara shakes her head, folding her arms on the table in front of her. There’s something in the action that bothers him, but he can’t figure out what it is. It just doesn’t look right to see her so resigned. “We’ve been lucky. Really lucky. Eventually, that luck is going to run out. What’s going to happen then? I can’t fight without my bending. Zuko and Ty Lee can, but I can’t. You can’t either. And how much do we actually know about the Fire Nation’s military? How much do we know about anything?”

“What are you getting at?” Toph sounds upset. No one likes having their abilities questioned and Zuko knows that suggesting Toph’s survival is anything less than her own sheer skill is definitely questioning her abilities.

“The Fire Nation has a sophisticated communications system. What do we have? We’re not organised. We have an army trying to fight, but rarely succeeding and a bunch of kids trying to save the world. There’s something really messed up about that. I’m not saying we need to step back and just leave the war. I’m saying that maybe we should step back and work behind the scenes for a while. Do covert stuff instead of big things. Just until we can be sure we’re actually ready.”

“The little things are always the most powerful.” He finally says. They need to talk this out, he knows, but the conversation also needs to resolve itself in an agreement. They’ve been gone for a month and they need to have a plan. “Katara’s right.”

Toph scowls, “And how are we going to do that?”

“With the Air Nomads.” The second Katara says it, the library goes silent until she speaks again. “Ty Lee said that there were non-bending Nomads. Families were established to care for them and a safety system was created as a result. When the genocide happened, the children from the Western Temple were evacuated and dispersed among these families. That’s just in the Fire Nation. If the others did the same thing, then the Earth Kingdom should have close to three times the number of Air Nomad families. I think we should try to find them and see if they’ll help us.”

“Why would they do that?”

“Because we’re going to train Ty Lee and give her the ability to train others. And we’ll be helping build a world where they can use their bending freely.” Zuko answers, just guessing at where the waterbender is going with her thoughts. He sees Katara nod and oh, she’s brilliant. Sokka isn’t the only one in the family with a tactical mind, apparently.

He knows how this is probably going to turn out. If they can get the Air Nomads on their side and they can train Ty Lee, then the knowledge will pass along and eventually there will be a covert army working in the shadows against the Fire Nation.

It won’t be anything big. It’ll just be little things, like spirits doing day-to-day miracles. They’ll disrupt supply lines and the like, all keeping with the non-violent philosophy of the Air Nomads. They can personally handle any issues of violence.

And if he understood her correctly, Katara wants to aim at destroying the Fire Nation’s communication system.

Why didn’t anyone think of doing this before? Not the Air Nomad part, but the sabotage part. Done correctly, they could cripple the military with little effort and minimal casualties.

Four master benders, one of each element, doing this work? That could be glorious. He knows they can train Ty Lee. What they started yesterday would allow any element to train another. It’s a universal bending style, one influenced by the very nature of the Avatar they’re about to abandon.

Because they are going to abandon him. Maybe not forever, but for the meantime they’ll have to. Taking an untrained airbender into the war would be too risky. The distraction Ty Lee would cause for everyone, but especially the Avatar, would be too damaging. Good for morale, bad for getting things done. If they keep her separate, though, and train her while doing their own part in the war, then they could rejoin the Avatar and the White Lotus and hopefully minimise the level of distraction. They could be stronger than ever. If they play their cards right, the Fire Nation could be weaker than ever by the time they finish. 

There’s a part of him that feels a little guilt. This is his people they’re talking about. But war is war and he’s on the other side now.

“I’m in,” he says.

Katara nods, “I am too.”

“What about you, Champion?”

If anything, his use of the nickname pisses off the earthbender even more. “I can’t believe you two are seriously talking about leaving Aang like this.”

“It’s for the best. We’re not Aang’s parents,” Katara says, “We can’t teach him certain things and he isn’t very mature right now.”

“Exactly. Remember what happened when he lost Appa?”

Katara squirms. He’ll have to ask about this particular incident later. “He’ll get over it. If they’ve regrouped with the White Lotus, then he’ll have plenty of support to help deal with this. He’s not going to be the only one grieving.”

“Grieving? We’re not dead, Sweetness.”

“Except,” he says, looking away. He’s starting to feel sick. “We kind of are to them. You don’t know what that fall looked like. A blind earthbender, an unconscious waterbender, and an unsuspecting firebender fell hundreds of feet through massive explosions and had we landed safely, the airships came crashing down. It wasn’t skill that saved us, Toph. It was luck. We got very, very lucky that day.”

His hands are shaking. How could they have made it this far? That fall, the escape, Katara’s head wound, Toph’s burned feet, the ash in their lungs, Ty Lee; they shouldn’t have survived. Even before that, with Ozai and Azula and Zhao and the Dai Li and the airbender genocide and the Southern Raids and everything that should have killed them. The odds were stacked against them so spectacularly.

Katara’s right. They can’t keep relying on chance like this.

The blind girl seems to be reaching the same conclusion. He hasn’t seen Toph this expressive since he burnt her feet at the Western Air Temple. She doesn’t show emotion like this. She doesn’t show when she’s sick or taken off guard and right now, she looks absolutely miserable.

Toph nods weakly. “Okay, we train the airbender. But what are we going to do about Aang? We can’t ignore him forever.”

He and Katara exchange a look. She’s the one who answers, “Let’s wait until Ty Lee can be classified as a master. Between the three of us, with intensive training, she can probably do this in no time. She already has some training and who knows what’s in here that can help.”

“And in the meantime, we’ll work intelligence and see what we can do about the Fire Nation’s communications.” He has to swallow around a rock in his throat when he says it. He knows that system inside and out; he actually helped redesign parts of it when he was briefly reinstated as a prince. It was one of the few things his time at sea qualified him for. It kind of hurts, knowing he’s going to be destroying something he helped create.

But it’ll be worth it. Saving the world is worth more than anything. Now that they’re all in, he pushes the book towards them, opening it up. Tomorrow, they’ll start training Ty Lee. Right now, none of them can sleep and they have some nomads to hunt down. They might as well get started. 

Notes:

My computer kept spazzing, which is why there are some formatting issues present in this chapter.

Chapter 8: beautiful day

            The Fire Nation is gorgeous. During her travels here, she never saw this part of it; the gentle day-to-day stuff. It was always about the war. It’s still about the war, just different.

            She hasn’t seen Aang or her brother in over two months. Her body hurts in ways she didn’t know was possible; Toph’s style of earthbending is surprisingly easy to adopt, but the sharp movements of Zuko’s firebending is more strenuous than she’d expected. And that weird training tool of the Air Nomads that they found, the one with the giant spinning boards used for footwork?

            That thing hurts like nothing else when she fails to make it through correctly.

            But they’re making progress. That’s all that matters. They’ve got Ty Lee studying the books in the library while they work on figuring out this new bending style. There have been more than a few Melon Lord battles in the past couple of weeks.

            She tugs on the collar she now wears. Hers doesn’t have the fur Sokka’s had, but it’s still new to her, as is the clothing beneath it. She can’t imagine how it must look. She’s dressed in the dark blue of a Southern Water Tribe warrior and she has the collar to back that up, but the actual style is based on the more simplistic clothing she’s seen Azula wear—as much as she dislikes the idea of having anything to do with the mad princess, even she has to admit that Azula’s clothing allows for more movement and thus easier fighting. Ty Lee even found a pair of dark grey Fire Nation boots for her to wear and they just blend in. She has pulled her hair back in a mock warrior’s wolf tail.

She stands out here in these beautiful islands, but she would stand out in the Water Tribe too.

            The wind dances across the land, trees swaying with it. It’s beautiful and serene. It’s amazing how this gorgeous land created such a bloodthirsty ruling class and the likes of Zuko and Ty Lee at the same time.

It’s fitting, in a way. This place gave birth to death of the old Air Nomads and it’s been one of the sites of rebirth for the new. 

            “Katara,” she turns and sees Ty Lee approaching with an older aristocratic woman, “This is my Aunt Jetsun. Aunt Jet, this is Katara of the Southern Water Tribe.”

            Katara bows in the traditional way of her people and the woman bows in a foreign manner. It must be Air Nomad; Aang never really used the manners of his people. There was no need to. The boy is still under the assumption that he’s the last one. “It’s an honour to meet you.”

            Jetsun smiles and it’s so easy to see the heritage in that smile. “The honour is mine. I’ve heard much about you.”

            So this is the woman who kept Ty Lee sane. As she leads them into the house, Katara can see where she’s removed whatever she normally wears on her wrist. The Snowlion tattoo is bright against the pale skin, branding this woman as an Air Nomad born into a family of fire.

            She’s a regal woman, Katara notices. Tall and stately, with carefully formed features that mix the sharp angles of the Fire Nation with the gentleness of the Air Nomads. Her eyes are just as stormy grey as Ty Lee’s. She wears what looks like red, but when she moves from shadow to sunlight, it can be seen that the robes are actually a deep, deep red-orange.

            Even in hiding, the children of the wind do not let go.

            “Tea? Fruit tarts?” Ty Lee asks, bouncing ahead of her aunt towards the modest kitchen.

            Katara nods blankly, letting the airbender go. She’s too busy staring at Jetsun’s home. For a woman from an aristocratic family, this place is almost too modest.

            “It was my grandmother’s, then my mother’s. I was hoping one day to give it to Ty Lee.”

            She blinks a couple of times, looking around to find Jetsun sitting at the table. There are shelves of cookbooks behind her. “It’s beautiful.”

            The elder airbender smiles, “Most of the refugees from the Western Air Temple who were old enough to remember the time before the war lived in places like this. The few who made it into the aristocracy never did fully assimilate. There’s always something that gives us away.”

            Katara sits down on the other side of the table. She kind of gets it. Aang is peaceful and exuberant in a way no other being is. Yet this Jetsun has the same brand of peacefulness and Ty Lee certainly has the exuberance. In all their travels, how many times did Aang cross paths with another airbender and not know?

            Are there airbenders still alive who remember the Air Temples and the monks and nuns?

            Unlikely. If Ty Lee’s great-grandmother was the one who made it out of the Western Air Temple, then the chances of finding any centennials that came from the Temples is slim to none.

            “Fruit tarts coming through!” Ty Lee’s voice is cheery and bright. For the first time since they’ve started traveling together, she’s truly happy.

            This is her element, after all, and her people.

            Katara knows what this is like. Despite everything, there’s still a deep longing to know Hama. A loyalty of a sort; it’s the kind that arises from shared history and shared hardship.

            The fruit tarts look familiar. They’re nothing more than a yellow cake with a soaring, fluffy fruit filling. She thinks she’s seen or heard about them before. Maybe from Aang? It’s only when Ty Lee proudly tells her that the filling is as fluffy as it is because of airbending, that making these tarts is a training tool for young airbenders, does Katara remember the stories Aang would tell about Monk Gyatso.

            “How many of you are there?” she asks quietly.

            Jetsun’s smile is almost sad. “Not as many as there were. We have few men. The draft sends them to war and because they are not firebenders, they’re more likely to die. With few men, we marry outside our own and that lowers the number of airbending children that we can have. There is nothing more heartbreaking to an airbender than to have a child who conjures flames.”

            It’s like that in a lot of places, she wants to say. But those are memories she doesn’t want to deal with, no matter how triggering recent events may be.

            “Is there any way to identify a Nomad from a normal citizen?”

            “Other than the personality quirks?” Jetsun asks. Katara shakes her head in response. “No, I didn’t think so. There are some lines, like ours, who use a tattoo of some sort to acknowledge which members have the gift. Not all do, though. There’s a family in the capital that wears a specific type of perfume, but no airbender has been born into that family since my grandmother’s generation.”

            Ty Lee slides into the seat beside her, setting the tray of tea down among the tarts. “Oh, that family. Weren’t there bets on whether or not my generation would produce an airbender?”

            “Odds on the daughter,” Jetsun confirms, leaning back and pulling a few books off of the shelf. They are heavy and dark and when Katara takes the top one, flipping it open, the careful calligraphy inside is not what she was expecting.

            This woman has been keeping Air Nomad genealogical records in plain sight. Amongst cookbooks, at that. It’s the one place no one would ever think to look.

            Because really, who is foolish enough to mess with a woman’s cookbooks? Jetsun doesn’t seem to have any servants and Katara remembers Ty Lee once saying that her aunt had survived both husband and children because of the war.

            So this is the home of a widow who doesn’t want anyone around.

            It’s the perfect hiding place.

            She flips through a few of the books, idly watching aunt and niece play with the wind and chat about airbender gossip like they’ve done this a thousand times. They probably have, she thinks, going back to the books because she’s the outsider here. It isn’t until she reaches the third book that she recognizes a name.

            “Ilah? Isn’t that—” she stops speaking when she sees the twin looks of smug victory in the eyes of the airbenders.

            The Fire Nation Royal Family has Air Nomad ancestors. That’s rich. Very rich. And if the daughter of Ty Lee’s generation was suspected to be capable of bearing an airbender child—

            They were expecting Azula to out the family.

            Mad, murderous Azula with an airbending child. Now that would be interesting in a bloody, ugly, horrific kind of way.

            These people are Air Nomads, but they’re not the Air Nomads of old. This is why Aang never noticed, she realised. He was too busy looking for the signs of his people and his people are dead. They’ve been replaced by a war-hardened group that has taken the natural mischievousness of the airbenders and turned it into something devious. 

            “It wasn’t just Lady Ilah,” Ty Lee says, reaching for one of the books Katara’s already been through. She flips to a page at the back and points to Zuko’s name. Next to his is a name that’s been struck out. That name and the one above his, his mother’s name she thinks, are both written with the symbol of the Air Nomads beside them and a clan symbol beside that.

            Jetsun takes up a pink-coloured tart and grins cheekily as she takes a bite. “The nuns were always the more vicious of the Nomads.” She takes a sip of her tea, “You should have seen the amount of work we had to do to make the Western Air Temple safe for outsiders after the genocide. The Mother Superior there was rather inventive. When Avatar Roku warned them that Sozin might take action against them once the cycle continued, the monks considered it but took no real action. The nuns, however, took action. The temples didn’t exactly see eye to eye on a lot of things.

            “And then there was the action taken by the non-benders. They had a long history of marrying their daughters into aristocratic families in an attempt to weed out the firebending. When the survivors of the genocide found out about that, the nuns quickly embraced that tactic. At least here. I’m not sure what the Earth Kingdom does.”

            Katara nods blankly, trying to absorb the details. Jetsun hands her another book and together, the picture begins to come together.

            From Sozin to Ozai, all those on the throne or who aspired to inherit the throne were married to women of Air Nomad blood.

            And of this was arranged in hopes of snuffing out the firebending tendency in the royal bloodline.

            Slowly, she smiles. Their job of convincing the Nomads to help with the war suddenly seems so much simpler.

 ___________________________

            Of course they had to come here. Of all the places in the Earth Kingdom to be an Air Nomad safe haven, it had to be here. He’s already bowed low and given a formal apology, but Toph’s insistence to know what happened is getting annoying.

            The abbey with the perfume, the place June and that creature of hers led them to all those months—he stops there. All those months? It’s been two since Sozin’s Comet and another ten since the Avatar returned. They’ve already spent a year out here. Ty Lee turns fifteen next month. Katara, as a waterbender, likely has her birthday the month after that. Toph’s will be sometime in the spring and then his is in early summer.

            They need to end this war sooner rather than later.

            “Here they are,” the Mother Superior—an airbender elder named Kunthea, they discovered—says, reentering the room with several massive books in her arms. “These are the records for the northern portion of the Kingdom.”

            “Just the north?” Toph asks as he takes the books.

            The nun nods. “There’s simply too many of us and we’re too spread out to try and keep all the records together. So I keep the northern records, Sora keeps the western records, Wu keeps the south, and Chun keeps the east. Only Chun and Wu have heirs, so Sora and I have been getting some help from various novices as we get older.”

            They’re going to need help with this. He and Toph had declined a sky bison on grounds that they wouldn’t be travelling across water. But this is too much. He knows who Sora is; she’s the herablist at Taku. They can easily get those records. But Wu and Chun?

            He quietly asks where the other two elders can be found. She tells him and he files the information away. Both are too far away to deal with on their own.

            “I can send word to them,” the Mother Superior offers, “They can send someone with the records to you. All of the elders know about the Temple of the Winds and we all have a map to it.”

            Toph tilts her head towards him. “That sounds good to me, Sparky.”

            “No,” he shifts the books in his arms, “We can’t risk it. We don’t know what’s going on with the others and we agreed not to let them know about all of this.”

            The blind girl scowls, “And we don’t need the Fire Nation finding out about this. So we’ll go ourselves.”

            The Mother Superior smiles weakly, “I am sorry I couldn’t give you all the records. We’ll be happy to help. We’ve had our own campaign against the Fire Nation going, but I’m afraid there’s very little we can do without revealing ourselves.”

            “You’re very organised.” He’s suspected it after hearing some of Ty Lee’s stories, but he wasn’t expecting anything of this level. There’s something about this that seems familiar. He just can’t place it.

            The Mother Superior shrugs, “We do what we can. Every culture has those who believe in preparedness and when the genocide happened, ours became our salvation. Since then, we’ve merely embraced it.”

            “And the campaign against the Fire Nation?” Toph asks, “I thought you guys didn’t believe in violence.”

            The nun smiles, a devious glint in her eyes. “There are ways to win a war without resorting to violence.”

            “And if violence is unavoidable?” the earthbender asks.

            The nun sighs, “Well, that’s why we’re going to form the treaty with you.”

            This is the crux of it. They’ll be doing the dirty work. The Air Nomads will give them the communication system needed to do this and they will serve as spies and will handle some espionage, but the messy stuff? That’s up to them.

            Ty Lee’s going to be a very odd airbender if they’re the ones training her. Not that he didn’t already know that. Years of dealing with Azula means Ty Lee is going to be very odd regardless of what she does.

            “So, about training,” he asks, “Did any of the old training methods survive? We have some resources at the Temple, but we’re not sure if it’s everything.”

            The Mother Superior shrugs, “It depends on where the child is born. Elder Jetsun of the Fire Nation has the biggest collection of scrolls. Her grandmother came from the Western Air Temple and managed to salvage many of their documents over the course of her lifetime. Sora would be the most knowledgeable, though. She was one of the survivors from the Eastern Air Temple, so she’s the only one among us with first-hand knowledge. The Temple of the Winds should have some things from Malu’s collection.”

            “Jetsun?” he asks. He never thought to ask about Ty Lee’s family. He’s been too focused on figuring out the bending and it’s just kind of awkward for him to ask after a people his great-grandfather sought to eradicate. Jetsun is a rare name in the Fire Nation. In fact, the only one he knows of is Ty Lee’s widowed aunt.

            And the information about the herbalist is most interesting. He files that away for a later date.

            “Yes,” the nun says, smiling softly, “Her niece actually came through the area a while back. I was rather impressed by the amount of force she was able to put into her bending. Even though she was terrified and was trying to run to safety, she still showed much promise. She’ll be a powerful bender someday.”

            “She is, isn’t she?” Toph says and Zuko realises that the little earthbender knew. Or at least suspected it enough to be comfortable with the idea. She did adjust the reality of Ty Lee being an airbender better than anyone else did.

            How has it been two months and he didn’t realise that there was something seriously off with Ty Lee’s timeline? He knew she and Mai had to be imprisoned somewhere outside of the Fire Nation—Mai’s father may be popular, but her mother is dangerously powerful and Ty Lee’s entire family is the worst enemy anyone can have—but for her to get from Ba Sing Se to Taku in under twenty-four hours? Even using an eel hound, that wasn’t possible.

            But using an eel hound and then using the wind? And airbending is like firebending, it can be easily affected by the bender’s emotions and for an untrained airbender scared out of her mind and desperate to get away from whatever frightened her, and especially if that airbender is naturally talented and in tune with the pattern of the winds around her, travel would be simple and fast.

            Azula was absolutely right. He’s an idiot.

            He bows awkwardly around the records in his arms. “It’s been an honour meeting you, Elder.”
            She bows in return, “The honour is mine. Now, will you be needing transportation?”

            “No,” Toph shakes her head, sliding a foot across the stones, “Ty Lee and Katara are here.”

            They say their goodbyes to the nun and make their way outside. Kiki—the bison that followed Ty Lee around when they first arrived—has settled down. The Airbender jumps down from the bison’s head, smiling brightly. She rushes towards the Mother Superior, talking too fast for him to understand.

            “Have a good time?” Katara asks, stepping out of the saddle and onto Kiki’s tail. She gives him a look and he can only imagine what she’s seeing. He hasn’t had time to heal completely from the last run in with soldiers.

            He hands her the records as Toph bends herself up into the saddle. “Somewhat. You? How was the Fire Nation?”

            “Beautiful,” she says, “Jetsun’s approved the treaty and we have her records.”

            “Given how long you were gone, there must be something good.” He’s scowling as he climbs into the saddle behind her.

            “We left two weeks before you did. Most of that was spent travelling. It’s not easy to cross an ocean with a sky bison and not be seen. How was your journey here?”

            Painful, he wants to say, but she can probably see that and he lets Toph tell the story. The earthbender is at the part about the first round of Earth Kingdom soldiers when Ty Lee returns.

            “Kiki, yip-yip!”

            The Mother Superior is down on the ground, waving them off as the bison climbs higher above the trees. Kiki is smaller and thinner than Appa, and her markings are somewhat different as well. She’s quick too. There are variances in the bison at the Temple that suggest the species is beginning to change under the influences of isolation.

            “Wait, so you guys were recognized?” Katara says.

            Ty Lee turns around and drops the reins, leaping into the saddle. “We had no problems. I mean, we could have had some if I had worn Air Nomad colours, but I didn’t, so we were okay.”

            “Really?” he says, coming back to the conversation. “I would have thought Katara would be caught.”

            The waterbender shakes her head. “I had no problems. No one was looking for a Water Tribe girl wearing the clothes of a warrior. And Ty Lee’s company was probably a good deterrent. If someone had thought they knew me, seeing me with a Fire Nation girl would have thrown them off.”

            “And we weren’t really in any populated areas.” The airbender tilts her head, “I wonder if something could be done to make you two less recognizable.”

            “Toph could wear her hair differently and wear a darker shade of green for the short-term. There’s always the possibility she’ll look different as she gets older,” he says. “As for me, I should probably just stay at the Temple.”

            “Maybe not,” Katara says. She reaches over and brushes her fingers across his ruined cheek, just below the edge of the scar. It’s a terribly intimate thing. To date, she’s the only one who has ever touched it.

            Mai always avoided it.

            And he really shouldn’t be thinking of Mai at a time like this because Katara has a look on her face that is dangerously similar to her brother’s and the last time Zuko saw this expression, it led to that first, failed breakout at Boiling Rock.

            “What do you mean?”

            “I think I can heal it.” She’s distracted as she speaks, her mind rushing through whatever she knows about healing. “It’ll take time and it will hurt, but it might work.”

            She doesn’t tell him it’s worth the risk or anything like that. It takes him a moment to realise it, but she’s asking his permission. She won’t do anything about the scar unless he tells her to.

            He’s thought about it before. Ever since the Crystal Catacombs, the possibility of living without his scar haunted him. He’s just never seriously considered it because it seemed like such an impossibility. And now, when the option is there, he’s not sure. This scar has defined him for nearly four years. This is who he is.

            But if he could live without it, what then? Would he still be defined by Ozai?

            His heart flutters painfully at that. He’s never imagined a world where he could live without his father’s shadow looming over him. This, though, this could be a step towards such a world.

            He can feel something around the scar. The area was severely damaged, but like it always is when she touches him, his blood is reacting. This time, though, the disturbing aspect of her having full control over the liquid in his body is overshadowed by the promise that this ability can be used to get rid of the scar.

            Slowly, he nods. Katara tells him to be in her room the next full moon for their first healing session.

            “Um, guys?” Ty Lee’s voice breaks through and reminds him that there is more than the waterbender and her promise right now.

            “Sorry, did you say something?” He leans away from Katara.

            “I was waiting on you,” she says. “It’s about the Avatar.”

            Katara sits up a little straighter. “What?”

            “Kunthea said he’s left Ba Sing Se with some members of the White Lotus,” Ty Lee says. “They’re heading towards the Eastern Air Temple.”

Notes:

So, this chapter didn’t exist in the original outline. I wasn’t going to do anything with the three years between last chapter and what was supposed to be chapter eight. Then I realized that I really kind of needed at least one chapter per year, so this begins the first of three chapters that cover those missing years. The pacing is off to me, but there are some really important things that will be dealt with here that don't really fit anywhere else.

And about the timeline. Sozin’s Comet happens in August, so this chapter takes place in October. Also, I play with geography here. There’s just too much Earth Kingdom and we saw too little of it, so in my attempt to avoid too many OCs, there had to be some changes to canon geography.

About Kiki and her very quick training as a proper companion sky bison, she’s not fully trained yet. I’m going with the Olivander Theory, which is that the airbender doesn’t choose the bison; the bison chooses the airbender. So Kiki chose Ty Lee and she’s on her very best behaviour as a result.

Also, it's going to be a long time before Zuko finds out about his family.

Chapter 9: there's a whisper in the clamour

Notes:

This chapter takes place in late May, so Zuko is almost seventeen while Katara and Ty Lee are both fifteen. Toph has just turned thirteen. I know Zuko is supposed to be almost eighteen, but I really don’t care.

            Ty Lee spins around, pushing the wind away from her. The boulder Toph threw at her flies backward and the earthbender has to blast it to pieces to avoid being hurt. Not that it does much good. Ty Lee sees the way Toph’s footing is knocked off balance by the attack.

            Finally. This spar has been going on for way too long. They began just after breakfast and the sun is now hanging over the centre of the valley. Ty Lee takes half a step back and falls into one of the stances Zuko taught her. Then she jumps up and swings her leg, bringing it down to create a sharp gust. The earthbender braces herself, but it’s no good. She goes sliding back until she disappears over the edge of the ring.

            The training yard is quiet for a moment. Then, Ty Lee is jumping up with the wind rushing around her, her squeals of happiness echoing through the area.

            She’s been training for months and for the first time, she has just defeated one of her masters. It’s not entirely fair, she knows. Toph is arguably the most powerful bender alive, bar the Avatar, but she is still a blind earthbender. Airbenders are a massive weakness for her.

            Ty Lee twists through the air, landing softly at the edge Toph went over. “You okay?”

            The blind girl glares, pale eyes staring at her with creepy accuracy. “I’m fine. I just really hate that trick.”

            She’s moving to stand when Ty Lee drops down to the ground beside her. “So what now?”

            “Well, you’re done with me for the day and I have a mission with Sugar Queen tomorrow night.”

            She nods, “Will Zuko be clear to train by tomorrow?”

            Toph shrugs, “Ask Katara. She’s the healer.”

            “She said this one might take more time, didn’t she?”

            “Probably not, then,” Toph says. “If she’s starting on the really severe parts of the scar, then Sparky’s probably going to be out cold for a while. Let’s ask her.”

            Ty Lee frowns. She has no idea what Toph means until she hears footsteps approaching. They’re light and the movement sounds fluid. Sure enough, Katara steps into the training yard a few seconds later. “You two done already?”

            “Yep,” the earthbender says. “Snowlion’s getting good.”

            “She won, didn’t she?”

            “Yep!” Ty Lee chirps.

            Toph stomps on her foot. “Sugar, is there any lunch left?”

            “I haven’t even started it.” The waterbender turns and motions for them to walk with her. “I just started reconstructing his ear. Ty Lee, thank you for showing me how to knock him out before the pain can.”

            She grins widely, skipping up to walk alongside Katara. Teaching the others chi-blocking was the least she could do. They’ve given her the freedom to be a proper airbender. It’s invaluable. Teaching them the tricks of her father’s clan isn’t nearly enough to pay them back.

            What would her grandmother say if she could see this? Ty Lee has taken to wearing the colours of her ancestors (though she ditches the orange and yellow when they wander beyond on the walls of the valley) and she uses her gift freely.

            Once the war ends, Ty Lee and the others have been talking about opening up the Temple of the Winds as a school. First for airbenders, then for waterbenders, then for earthbenders, and finally for firebenders; they’ve taken to following the pattern of the Avatar in most things they do.

            Her airbending currently consists of everything they’ve been able to teach her about how the Avatar fights. Katara’s only just started teaching her waterbending techniques.

            Which makes her victory over Toph even less impressive; she didn’t defeat the earthbender by skill, but by chance.

            “What is for lunch?” Toph asks, catching up to them.

            “I don’t know. What do you two want?”

            “Tse Tentuk,” Ty Lee says at the same time as Toph says, “Liu Huang Tsai.”

            Katara nods, “Liu Huang Tsai it is. Toph can you go get the eggs?”

            The earthbender shrugs and veers to the right when they pass the hall leading to the gardens. It’s one of Ty Lee’s prouder accomplishments. During her studies in the library, she found the plans for the gardens tucked in among the cultural documents. Since they needed a steady food source, it seemed like a good idea.

            She hadn’t expected it to turn into a training exercise, though. Somehow, they’ve managed to figure out how to use airbending in nearly every aspect of the gardens.

            Strangely, doing that leaves her feeling exhausted in a way sparring practice never does.

            “Zuko’s probably not going to wake up until tomorrow afternoon,” Katara tells her quietly when they enter the kitchen. “Even after the chi-blocking wears off, the pain’s going to hang around for a while. He’s not to do anything strenuous until I get back, understand?”

            “Yep,” she says, handing the waterbender a jar from one of the higher shelves. She takes a closer look at Katara and tries to ignore the signs of fatigue. She’s not sure when the waterbender last slept soundly, but she does know that Katara’s condition has been deteriorating for some time. There’s something stressing her and Ty Lee isn’t sure how to approach the topic. But it does need to be talked about.

            The last thing they need is to lose someone.

            “And do keep up on your training. Focus on the household things and training the bison.”

            “How long are you going to be gone?”

            Katara hesitates, then pulls three bowls off a shelf and sticks them on a wire rack above the fire. “I don’t know. We start at sundown tomorrow, but it will take a few days to do everything. Speaking of the bison, do you mind if we take Pana?”

            “Go ahead. He seems to like you.” Ty Lee picks up a moon peach and twists it around in her hands. She knows that Katara won’t listen to her if she asks the waterbender to stay behind and she knows she can’t get any information about what’s really bothering the Water Tribe girl. The mission is the only open topic right now. “This is one of my aunt’s missions, isn’t it?”

            Katara doesn’t answer and Ty Lee sighs. Aunt Jet, as it turns out, is the youngest of the Elders and because she is the only Elder in the Fire Nation, she is the one they answer to the most when it comes to working in the islands. Because they don’t want the military to recover in the time between the destruction of the communications system and the final battle, they’ve been holding off on doing too much with that.

            Which means Aunt Jet sends them on missions concerning the more immediate issues. Sometimes they disrupt communications, but more often than not, it’s the supply lines they’re attacking.

            Though they do occasionally go right for the source of the supplies. Ty Lee’s first mission had involved the four of them and an iron foundry on one of the northern islands.

            That was during the winter. As far as she knows, the military still hasn’t recovered from that incident.

            It’s not that she hates taking orders from Aunt Jet. She doesn’t mind it, really. As the only other airbender in the family, she was raised knowing she had to obey Aunt Jetsun before she obeyed her own mother. Grandmother made sure of that.

            It’s just that these missions are oftentimes the most dangerous and she almost always requests Katara’s aid. Ty Lee finally has a female friend who isn’t a psychopath or a politician and she keeps getting sent on the most dangerous missions.

            Ty Lee has always had a protective streak. This is just the first time she’s ever been concerned with keeping another person safe.

            Or, rather, other people. She wants to protect her three masters, and she’s never felt the need to protect a group like this. The Air Nomads have been safe for as long as she can remember.

            But these three, who with her can form a group of perfect balance and harmony, they are something a little beyond friends and not quite to family. They’re partners and it is one of the best things to ever happen to her.

            “I’ve got five eggs,” Toph says, entering the kitchen with a stone basket in hand. “That enough?”

            “It’s plenty,” Katara says, taking the basket and going on with preparations for the dish.

            As they talk, Ty Lee hangs back and just watches.

            She will fight to end this war because this scene before her is calm and happy and she doesn’t want anything to take it away.

 _____________________

 

            The sea is still around her. La has apparently listened to her prayers. There is no life around her. The only things that move are the heavy steel ships slowly heading her way. That, and the spinning whirlpool she’s encouraging in the waters behind her.

She loves it, this feeling of being swallowed by her element. It’s like coming home, in a way. Nothing is certain in this world but the sea.

            The sea is always certain.

            She dives down and comes up, swimming in a circle around her designated starting point. The ships are still trudging along. 

            It’s crucial that they get the timing right. They only want water to hit the shore. The ships need to crash away from the ports.

            Katara comes up for air and then sinks back down. After a few seconds, she feels the ripple of power rush through the water. Toph has made her move. The waterbender smiles and releases the maelstrom behind her. Toph has already used the sea floor to launch herself upward. They are just going to have to trust Pana to catch the earthbender.

            And now, Katara starts moving. She keeps prayers to the spirits in her mind as she dances underwater. The power from Toph’s assault behind her is displacing the water at a dangerous level. She reaches out for it, moving it and shaping it only slightly. The wave will still be horrific when it reaches shore. She’s just going to give it a little push to make it stronger.

            She moves in front of the wave, feeling ahead of her for the shore. When she senses it, she begins pulling the water from the port toward her monster. The ships are directly ahead of her when she helps the wave push up out of the sea.

            Up and up the rise. From land, the wall of water and steel must block out the heavy full moon. Katara doesn’t really care. She freezes the water around the ships and fights to keep them still while the wave crashes on. When she’s on the wave and they are mostly on ice and air, she lets them fall.

            One by one, the ships crash into the sea, steel twisting and groaning.

            She pushes off of the wave, soaring through the air and landing safely on Pana’s saddle. The bison follows the wave and she settles on his head, the moon’s power helping her strengthen the wave. It’s not the same as being a part of the wave, but she can still feel the heady power of it all.

            When it reaches the port, the naval base disappears into the swirling waters that rush inland and seem to never end.

            Turns out, Aang was on to something when he told them spirituality could strengthen bending. She turns and gives a salute to the moon, whispering thanks to Yue for the help and asking forgiveness for the lives she’s taken.

            “What’s our next objective?” she asks, leaping back into the saddle and settling down next to Toph. Below them, the island is being ravaged by the wave. Pana dips down, close to the rushing water where he can blend in with the white churning tide.

            “Aftershocks,” the earthbender says grimly. “Jetsun said there’s a steel mill on the other side of the mountain and according to Zuko, the area’s actually built on top of a dormant volcano. He said if we disrupt the underground rivers and trigger earthquakes in the right areas at the right times, then we might be able to wake it up. Do you have the map?”

            Katara leans over Toph and digs it out of their pack. Sure enough, Zuko has taken red ink to it, circling and numbering each location. Wisely, the rivers seem to be marked first. They’ll have to do that tonight, while the moon is still full.

            She sighs. Even if they shut down the rivers tonight, creating the earthquakes would take longer. They’ll only be able to do that stuff at certain times. One of the spots is near the barracks.

            “Let’s get to work.”

            By the time they finish on the island, it has suffered so many catastrophes that it is completely useless to the crown. Thousands are dead and the navy has lost their biggest production site.

            And it’s all written off as a natural occurrence, a side effect of the Fire Nation being on some of the most volatile land in the world.

            Jetsun sees them off, giving them a collection of books from her personal library and a letter for Ty Lee. Three weeks after they set out for the Fire Nation, Pana touches down in the stables at the Temple of the Winds. It is night and Katara remembers what happened the last time they came back at night.

            Lemur-cats, as it turns out, do not like to be woken up.

            “You okay?” she asks, helping Toph climb down from the saddle. The earthbender isn’t steady on her feet and she did sleep most of the journey home.

            “I might sleep here tonight. Do you need help with the saddle?”

            “Do what you need to,” she says. “Can you reach the buckle on this side?”
            When she steps out of the stable—Toph has elected to sleep on the tail of a particularly fluffy elderly bison—the tiny sliver of moon is high in the sky. It’s sometime after midnight, she guesses. If she’s going to get up in time to check on Zuko when he wakes up, she should sleep now.

            The Temple of the Winds is oddly serene at night. A part of her loves this about the silent city. To think that someday, it will be filled with students, breaks her heart a little.

            But that might just be because she can’t imagine a life without the war.

            She pauses on one of the outdoor walkways. The sky is clear tonight, only the mist of the too-tall waterfall blurring the stars above. There’s a lemur-cat curled up on the roof ahead and other than that, she is alone.

            When was the last time she was actually alone? The conversation with Yue, she thinks. Since then, she’s been with one of the others at all times. She doesn’t even sleep alone; they all, normally, sleep in what they’ve guessed is a meeting hall. It’s located towards the middle of the Temple and from that spot, the stables and training yard can be easily reached.

            There’s almost always a few lemur-cats there, which makes going to bed late an interesting affair.

            Silence is beautiful. She said it once, to Ty Lee. Privacy is a rare and cherished thing. The quiet of the tundra, the hush of the icebergs; they are examples of perfect stillness. It’s oblivion and it’s in her blood.

            She hates it.

            It’s too much like the abyss.

            Having Aang and Sokka around, she got used to never knowing how peaceful the night can be. She got a taste of it, once, as the Painted Lady. That was so brief it never really affected her.

            But this, this silent city with no citizens? This is beauty. The night isn’t still like death, the way it is in the South Pole. It’s still because the world is holding its breath, because the world never sleeps. Eternally awake, eternally alive, the world is constantly moving.

            It’s easy to forget this during the day.

            And this is why Katara loves the night. The night doesn’t make accusations. There are no expectations to meet. Everything just is.

            There is no one depending on her here. In the morning, she will check on Zuko but it will be as allies. She will train Ty Lee and it will be as allies. She will plot with Toph and it will be as allies.

            As friends.

            She knows she treated Aang as if he were her son. She treated Sokka the same way too. She was the one in control there. Here, there is no control. There is only survival, only growing up.

            And the thing is, Katara’s entire life has revolved around other people. For the first time in her life, she can be herself.

            The problem is, she has no idea who she is. She’s never actually needed to know and this thought leaves her paralysed. She’s fifteen. She’s been at war for a year with no parents and no home. And yet she’s still been dependent on other people to define her identity.

            Sokka’s sister. Aang’s waterbending master. The Avatar’s guardian. Daughter of the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe. The last Southern Waterbender. The Painted Lady. Student of Pakku. Student of Hama.

            She’s simply never had the time to be herself. There’s always been something to do: food to be gathered, meals to be prepared, wounds to be healed, clothes to be made.

            And now there is nothing most days. Just training Ty Lee and she, Zuko, and Toph don’t need someone to care for them. Ty Lee and Zuko are both adept with a needle and thread and both can cook and dress wounds. It’s not just up to her to do things anymore. Yue’s words still haunt her, maybe. Just the combination of that and the lack of responsibility has left her feeling like she’s drifting.

            “You’ve gone through a lot, Katara of the Southern Water Tribe. You survived so much to become a master, to gain the respect of your tribe and the world. You’ve learnt great things, but you have not reached your full potential yet.”

             What did that even mean? Katara still feels the need to protect Aang and though she’s certain that being away from him for a while is the best way to protect him—he is, after all, his own greatest threat until he can master the Avatar State—she is more than a little confused by what exactly is being asked of her. Initially, she thought it just meant figuring out her power.

            She’s done that, but it feels blocked. Every now and then, she can relax and let go of everything but her element and then she can do things like create a monster wave and destroy a naval port. With the help of Toph, of course. Someone has to trigger the initial movement.

            Does Aang feel like this? Like he can’t use a portion of his power because there is something holding him back? Little things don’t bother her, but when she tries to do something big, there’s a feeling like she is spread out among every bit of water. It feels dangerously, deliriously wonderful. She can feel the world’s oceans just breathing, waiting for someone to hear their dreams.

            But when she tries to listen, it sounds muffled. When she tries to reach out for that power, she can’t do it, not without Yue’s help during the full moon. Even then, she has to reach out to La and hope he answers.

            They have stayed away from Aang because he needs to grow up and learn what it really means to be the Avatar.

            It’s been almost ten months since Sozin’s Comet. In that time, they’ve managed to set an airbender on the path to becoming a true master and they themselves have grown stronger. Katara has done so much with her waterbending. The way Yue traced the whale-tooth comb, she assumed the Moon Spirit was trying to tell her something about Hama.

            So she took bloodbending and the knowledge of what she did after that fight with Azula and she’s learnt that bloodbending is, while still extremely difficult, possible in the light of day if she works with the person’s chi. It’s overriding the chi and the individual’s will that makes bloodbending impossible without the light of the full moon.

            She’s learning that there are downsides to bloodbending as well. The more she uses it to heal Zuko, the more aware of him she is. Manipulating a persons blood is painfully intimate and she knows that the closer she gets to knowing his chi pathways, the closer she gets to being able to control him. And that scares her.

            She’s learnt to listen to the ocean and to work with the natural energy there to accomplish things that should be beyond her reach. She’s learnt to embrace the night.

            She just has no idea who she is. It’s like there’s nothing tethering her in place and she’s adrift in the sea.

            Katara slinks down to sit with her back pressed against the railing of the walkway. Above her, the spires of the Temple reach toward the dissipating mists of the waterfall. If she looks off to the side of the falls, she can see a moonbow arching across the sky. Aside from the thunder of her element, the night is silent.

 __________________________

 

            “So this is one of the Air Temples of old?” Ty Lee’s voice sounds almost reverent and her vibrations suggest she’s giddy.

            Toph can understand. The scene her feet are giving her is impressive. The Eastern and Western Temples were for the women, Aang once told her. If she remembers what Twinkletoes said, it was that these were the architecturally impressive Temples.

            He promised to bring her to this one after the war, since she’s already been to the Western Temple.

            Her chest tightens and she slides her feet across the stones. It’s a stretch—they went to the place the Guru told them—and on the edges of her senses she can detect Aang’s vibrations.

            He’s so close and he has no idea.

            “Let’s go, we need to get this over with.” There’s no reason to worry the airbender. It’s best if they keep to the far edge of the Temple. She knows she taught Aang well and if he tries, he can easily sense them. Ty Lee doesn’t know that and she doesn’t need to know it as far as Toph is concerned.

            But it does mean they need to move quietly and get out of here quickly. The longer they’re here, the higher the chance of Twinkletoes or one of his White Lotus guards seeing them.

            And that cannot be allowed to happen. As much as she still wants to go back, Toph knows that right now, they are in too deep with the Air Nomads to go back to Aang. It’s why they’re here. They received a report that he had moved from Ba Sing Se to the Eastern Air Temple to train with the Guru here. The information this Guru Pathik has is what they need.

            According to Elder Chun of the Eastern Earth Kingdom, the Guru was the first non-Nomad to form a treaty with them. He’s been under her observation ever since and he’s apparently proven to be quite helpful. Since part of this mess started because the spirits decided Twinkletoes wasn’t learning his Avatar stuff well enough, Toph and the others need to be able to keep up with his training. And this is where the Guru comes in.

            Toph taps her foot and feels for the Guru’s footsteps. She’s not familiar with them at all, but they’re pretty unmistakable. He’s not light like an airbender, but there is a certain weightlessness that comes with being old. Even Bumi has vibrations like that, like his bones have gotten hollow with age.

            She beckons Ty Lee to follow her. They follow the winding halls in silence until they’re back outside. This close to him, Toph can feel the familiar structures of a bison stable.

            It feels weird to step inside without the vibrations of giant six-legged flying things.

            “You the Guru?” she asks, paying close attention to the area around the stable in case someone decides to come for a stroll while they’re still here.

            She can feel him sitting in what Sparky calls the lotus position; legs crossed and back perfectly straight. “You must be the Blind Bandit.”

            Ty Lee steps around her, twirling with the breeze. “Elder Chun said you would help us.”

            “I can. I’m afraid I cannot offer guidance, but I can offer information to the masters.”

            There’s a quirk of irritation in the airbender’s vibrations. “Understood.”

            He laughs, the sound bright and happy. “You misunderstand me. You are not yet a master, little snowlion, but soon you will be.”

            “Okay,” Toph holds up her hand. “We’re here about Aang, not about us.”

            “The Avatar will continue his training here. He needs to master the Avatar State and without certain distractions, he should be able to accomplish this.” The Guru unfolds his legs and stands up. “But the four of you are my concern. Even if he masters his training, he is still young. If you reintroduce yourselves in the wrong way, it could destroy all I will have taught him.”

            Beside her, Ty Lee crosses her arms. “Then what would you have us do?”

            Toph reaches out and holds onto the airbender’s arm, stopping her from saying more. The Guru’s vibrations have shifted since their conversation began and they aren’t good anymore.

            There’s something Sokka’s princess didn’t tell Katara.

            Or Katara hasn’t been completely honest with them.

            Which is the more likely event. As cryptic as spirits are supposed to be, their resident waterbender has been seriously unstable for a while now. She had been getting better, but then she started getting worse. So far, it hasn’t done anything to Sugar Queen’s efficiency in the field, so there have been no disruptions on missions or in Ty Lee’s training.

            That doesn’t mean it will stay that way.

            “Stay away,” he says quietly. “The spirits have been whispering about you for some time. If you come back at the wrong time or in the wrong way, it will mean disaster.”

            Toph’s grip on Ty Lee’s arm tightens. “We already knew that. We know Aang better than anyone.”

            She doesn’t like what he’s suggesting. They trained and lived with Aang for the better part of a year—Sparky excluded. Sugar was with him for ten months. It was a high pressure situation and they all learnt a lot about each other.

            How dare this Guru suggest they don’t know each other.

            Surviving Sozin’s Comet and the Day of Black Sun and Ba Sing Se and the Western Air Temple; everything they did brought them closer together.

            Toph knows when Aang is angry that his legs tense, like his about to escape to the sky. She knows when he’s hurt that his shoulders slump and his vibrations send a longing for flight through the earth.

            Actually, Twinkletoes flies away at every emotion, even happiness.

            It doesn’t seem to be an airbender thing. Every single one they’ve met so far seems more inclined to stand their ground and fight. Ty Lee, for instance, has stood up to Sparky when he’s too hard on her in training more times than anyone cares to count. The airbenders don’t seem inclined towards physical violence, but they are masters with words and manipulations.

            Aang just doesn’t. It’s like he isn’t tethered to the earth. He doesn’t understand people. Toph’s eye twitches as she thinks about all the times Twinkles has expected humanity to be good and then had to deal with the fallout when humanity turns out to be pretty awful.

            For an Avatar, Twinkletoes is pretty terrible.

            “You know the deadline, right?” She takes a step forward, all her attention on the vibrations of the earth around her.

            “Of course I do. The beginning of winter, three years after the passing of Sozin’s Comet.”

            That’s a bit more specific than what Sugar was given. “We’ll be ready. Just let us know what’s going on with him.”

            “Of course.”

            “You know where to reach us?” Toph curls her toes, trying to get a better read on this guy’s vibrations. He’s withholding information, but she can’t figure out what it is.

            “My reports will go through Elder Chun. As much as they trust me, this last secret of the Nomads is not one for me.” He’s not lying. He actually sounds almost like Bumi when he says it, like he’s perfectly okay not knowing something important because to him, it doesn’t mean anything.

            Must be an old person thing.

            Ty Lee pulls away from her and bows. “Thank you for your assistance.”

            Toph does the same, giving her thanks as well. This is one of the downsides of going out on missions with the airbender. Both were raised to be aristocrats and both have the manners, even if they don’t use them when at the Temple. She normally wouldn’t do anything about it, but there’s something about the way Ty Lee does it that makes her feel guilty about not using her manners.

            Sometimes.

            She is still the Blind Bandit, after all, and she has a reputation to uphold.

            They turn to leave. The Guru’s vibrations shift then and Toph stills, letting Ty Lee go on without her. “Is there something else?”

            He sighs. “The waterbender. Is she okay?”

            “What do you know about her?” She spins around to face him, arms crossing as she turns to stare at the direction his vibrations are coming from.

            “That she’s important.” He takes a step towards her. “The spirits have been whispering about her as well. She must be ready when the time comes. I will see to it that the Avatar learns what he needs to know, but I need to know that the waterbender is learning what she must. If things go wrong in the future, then she is the only one who can fix it.”

            “And if she doesn’t learn?”

            “Then all will be lost. Please understand she is only a failsafe in the spirits’ plans. She will only be needed if the Avatar fails to learn his lessons.”

            That doesn’t sound good. At all. “And what happens if he does fail?”

            “If he fails and she has learnt the lessons she must, then balance can still be restored.”

            “Why her?”

            She feels him shrug. “The Avatar chose her, not the spirits. Just make sure she is prepared for the worst and I shall do my best with the Avatar.”

            She nods, giving her word before leaving the stable. She has no idea what he meant by any of that.

            Well, other than the Twinkletoes has potentially screwed over the world and Sugar Queen somehow has the ability to save it if he fails to fix whatever mess he’s created.

            “Ready to go?” She can hear Ty Lee’s voice, but can’t locate the airbender until Kiki’s tail settles onto the stones of the Temple.

            Toph races up the tail and settles into the bison’s saddle. “Yep. Let’s get out of here before Appa notices there’s another bison around.”

            She can’t sense anything in the saddle other than the bison’s steady booming heartbeat. From somewhere towards the head, she hears Ty Lee speak.

            “Kiki, yip-yip.”

            The bison takes off and she settles down in the saddle. It might be her imagination, but she thinks she hears a second bison calling in the distance. Kiki doesn’t react, though, and soon they are up in the higher winds that will carry them home to the Temple of the Winds.

 

 

 

Notes:

Tse Tentuk is a Tibetan dish consisting of pulled noodles in a vegetable broth. It’s very good and very simple to make, but Liu Huang Tsai, a dish from Peking, China, takes far less time to make and is high-protein, so it’s the better choice in a situation where there is little time and a need for something filling.

Also, I've had some serious issues with the internet lately, which is why this chapter is late and there are still some formatting issues.

Chapter 10: the night shall be filled with music

Notes:

This chapter was a week late because I fell behind on the writing. I've tried to keep a minimum of three chapters ahead of posting and with this chapter being nineteen pages long and chapter twelve being about the same, it was just a bit too much to handle on time. With this one, we'll be getting to the major action (sort of) and I should warn you now that as a general rule, I don't write much action. I'm trying to get better about that, and from here on out, there should be more action.

This chapter takes place in June of the following year, so this is two years after the main series. Zuko is eighteen, Katara and Ty Lee are sixteen, and Toph is fourteen.

 

            The letter comes when the summer is starting in earnest. It’s from one of their Air Nomad contacts in the Fire Nation capital, not from her aunt. It is when they see that; that the scroll doesn’t carry the snowlion emblem of her family that they know something is wrong. Their dinner is forgotten as Katara takes it from her shaking hands and opens it, reading it silently to herself.

            Ty Lee can’t remember ever seeing the waterbender so disturbed by something. The others look similarly concerned; they all know there is nothing good in that letter.

            The words are simple: Ozai is dead. Azula is Fire Lord.

            Ty Lee’s chopsticks echo throughout the dining room as they fall to the stone floor. She can feel the disturbances in the air as Zuko goes still across from her and the two who are largely unaffected start moving. She’s only dimly aware of Katara’s hands on her arm, dragging her from the room. All she can think is that this is not good.

            Water fills her lungs. And for a moment, it’s peaceful. She can drown here and never feel numbing fear like this again. Her death has probably just been ordered, anyway. Why give Azula the pleasure?

 Then she’s dragged out and the water is flushed out of her body and she’s left gasping for her own element. 

            Katara is kneeling in the water beside her. She blinks a few times, recognizing the room as the second of the communal baths. It’s only been used by the girls and usually only after a tough mission. And now, apparently, when someone needs to be shocked.

            The water is bitter cold until Katara smiles weakly and closes her eyes. Of all the things she’s learnt about her waterbending, that she can boil water as easily as she can freeze it seems to be the part that makes her happiest.

            Sort of like Ty Lee’s flight. It’s like nothing else to take to the skies. It’s freeing and entrancing and sometimes, she never wants to land. Being up atop the winds and clouds, that sounds lovely right now. There’s always been that instinct in her. When the world gets too terrible, the skies are always there to offer a safe haven.

            The water is starting to steam when Katara opens her eyes. Ty Lee looks over the waterbender. Katara isn’t wet, but she does take off the collar she wears over her shoulders, tossing the blue fabric off to the side. She doesn’t look too terribly perturbed by the recent turn of events, but she probably doesn’t realise the full implications.

            Like the implication that a member of Ty Lee’s family—because they’re master assassins, after all and this would not be their first Fire Lord—probably obeyed Azula’s order to kill Ozai.

            “There’s a Fire Lady too, isn’t there?”

            Katara tilts her head, curiosity in her eyes when she reaches for the letter sitting on the edge of the bath. “I didn’t get that far into the letter.”

            “It’ll likely be below everything else, sort of as an afterthought.”

            Blue eyes blink slowly. “Yeah, there is. Mai of the Samui Clan. Isn’t that the girl with the knives?”

            Ty Lee just nods blankly.

            So Mai did go home.

            And she’s Fire Lady to Azula’s Fire Lord.

            Admittedly, Ty Lee saw that coming. It was logical; Azula would never accept a Fire Lady she couldn’t trust. Mai has a lot of counts against her, but the incident at Boiling Rock was nothing more than politics—Mai is nothing if not her mother’s daughter.

            She would do whatever was necessary to be on the right side, even if that meant selling out Ty Lee.

            Which was never supposed to happen because even though Azula is the most powerful one within their circle, it is Ty Lee that Mai is bonded to.

            They are a pair. They are sworn sisters. Their families drew up the contract when they were still small and after being raised by it, they each knew that they belonged together. Theirs isn’t the kind of bond most girls had; the kind that dissolved upon marriage and is essentially an empty promise.

            Theirs is the kind that lasts for life.

            And then Azula came along and saw in Mai something pretty and controllable. It was only because Mai convinced Azula that Ty Lee could be a shared plaything that was what let the snowlion and the aristocrat were allowed to stay together.

            But then they grew up and nothing could stay the same.

            “I knew she would do it.” Ty Lee says quietly. Her thoughts are too messy and she knows she can trust Katara. There just needs to be some kind of order. She needs to think of everything and anything that isn’t Aunt Jet and the other airbenders hidden away in the Fire Nation. “Mai knows about me, which means she knows about my family. I knew she would go back and tell Azula.”

            “You don’t know that she told Azula.”

            “I can think of a few ways she could get Azula’s forgiveness, but none that would put her in the position of Fire Lady without revealing that Sozin failed.”

            Katara moves in the water, sinking down to sit rather than kneel. “You don’t know that.”

            “No,” she says, shaking her head. “You don’t know Azula and you don’t know how this whole thing between us and Mai works.”

            “Then explain it to me.”

            It’s tempting. Very tempting. No one on the outside has ever been let into their world. Not even Zuko knows—not, that’s not quite true. He might know a few things, if his recent behaviour with regards to Mai is any indication.

            But even he can’t know the whole thing.

            “When Mai was sent to my family to learn how to safely handle knives, a contract was drawn up between our families with the approval of a matchmaker.” Ty Lee speaks slowly, her eyes on the water. She’s never tried to talk about this before and isn’t sure how far into this she can really go. Airbending is one thing; this is betrayal on a whole different level. Mai might be okay with this, but she has always thought that the things they wrote in the language of women actually meant something. “She and I are sort of married. It’s not like an actual marriage. It’s just an emotional thing to establish a sisterhood between girls destined to be in a loveless marriage.”

            “Is that common in the Fire Nation?”

            “Loveless marriage is the norm.”

            “I meant the sisterhood thing.”

            Oh, right. The Water Tribes have nothing quite like it and the Earth Kingdom’s version is too different. She’s calming down a little too. This topic is easy. It’s just explaining culture. It’s not talking about Mai specifically, so she’s not betraying her vows. “Not really. It’s only the aristocrats who do it. In the Earth Kingdom, the contract is dissolved once the last girl gets married and is typically found only among the lower classes where it’s usually a group of girls. In the Fire Nation, it’s exclusive to two girls and it lasts for life and renouncing it brings shame on both families.”

             “So how did Azula get involved?”

            How did Azula get involved? Ty Lee’s thought about that a lot over the years. She takes a deep breath and explains to Katara that Ozai overlooked tradition and let Azula choose her own sister.

            Except Azula isn’t like most girls.

            She chose Mai, despite Mai already being tied to Ty Lee. Maybe it was because of Aunt Zen, Mai’s mother, who was a stickler for tradition and tradition said the contract couldn’t be broken and maybe it was because of Mai herself that the rules were bent to allow the princess her choice.

            Ty Lee knew her sworn sister had stood up for her, albeit by presenting her as a toy. So they got to stay together and Azula got two for one.

            And everything was okay for a while, but then they grew up and things changed because marriage was suddenly being discussed and Azula did have a Crown Prince for a brother.

            “I saw his name in your aunt’s records,” Katara says quietly.

            Ty Lee nods. “There was some talk about possibly proposing me as a bride, but there was no guarantee that I would be an airbender and they wanted someone they could guarantee.”

            “How would they have managed that?”

            Oh, right, she never told anyone that part. “The royal matchmaker is an Air Nomad. A non-bender. She’s one of Aunt Jet’s subordinates. Because the Nomad Council in the Fire Nation was starting to get upset that they had married four of their daughters to the royal family and still there had been no airbender, they wanted a guarantee of sorts.”

            “And that could be accomplished how?”

            “Lady Haneul, Sozin’s wife, was an airbender. Since her, no other confirmed bender has been married into the royal family. They wanted one for Zuko, so they needed a girl who had already been confirmed. Because I was born two years after him, there were others who were confirmed before me.”

            Ty Lee bites her lip, drawing her knees up close to her chest. It’s been a while since she’s really thought about this, though it is a safer topic than Mai. It’s just the memories attached to it that bother her. To this day, she still isn’t sure which part of the story disturbs her more.

            “Ty?” Katara’s voice is soft and it isn’t until her fingers lightly brush away the hair that’s fallen into Ty Lee’s eyes that she gets any kind of reaction. “Ty, what happened?”

            “Ozai killed her. Or Azula asked him to. I’ve never been sure which it was. She was a confirmed airbender. A prodigy. And she was so beautiful and sweet and happy. She was the perfect Air Nomad.”

            Memory is such a lovely thing, she thinks. She remembers meeting the girl for the first time, when it was Ty Lee being confirmed as an airbender before the council. From the perspective of a child, Masuyo had been the image of perfection. Even back then, when the girl was only seven or so, she was already showing signs of being the perfect Fire Lady.

            Of course Azula couldn’t stand her.

            Azula, despite her own perfectionism, hates perfection in anyone else.

            “I remember when it happened.” Ty Lee says, pulling her hair around to mess with it. The tangled strands are too long and too heavy and she really can’t remember why she has such long hair. “Azula was so happy. She gave Mai the order that day.”

            She’s not supposed to talk about it. Azula was very, very clear about that but right now, Ty Lee doesn’t much care.

            And this really isn’t betraying Mai. It’s just explaining how beautiful, dangerous Azula ruined everything.

            Something like laughter bubbles up through her chest and there’s this twisting feeling in her stomach and she just knows she’s about to say too much because whenever she gets like this, she always says too much. “I have no idea what she was thinking. Mai is a politician, yeah, I get that. Boiling Rock was just politics. It looked like Azula was going to lose and that meant Zuko was going to be back in line or on the throne soon and if Mai wanted to make her mother proud, then she had to switch sides. Aunt Zen always wanted her daughter to be Fire Lady and she had raised Mai with the expectation that one day she would be.

            “But even taking that into it, I don’t understand why she did it. Seducing Zuko on Azula’s orders is one thing, but doing that and still spending the night in Azula’s bed and then turning around and betraying Azula only to go back by betraying me when I’m the one she promised forever to? That’s a whole new level of sick and now my people in the Fire Nation are in danger because I let Mai see what I am and she’s taken that right back to Azula—”

            Katara’s hands are on hers, slowly working them away from her hair. The pain registers slowly. She’s been pulling her hair, apparently, tighter and tighter the more emotional she became. “Ty Lee, calm down.”

            “I can’t! Mai’s gone back and now Azula knows that Sozin failed and because Azula has to be Azula, she’s going to hunt down every airbender she can find to finish what he started. What if it were waterbenders in danger? Would you be calm?”

            It takes her two seconds to realise she’s said the wrong thing. She’s crossed the point of no return with Mai and Azula, by spilling some of their darkest secrets, but this is different. This is something wrong in Katara’s world because clearly, the waterbender has been keeping secrets.

            Another two seconds and she thinks Katara may understand her better than she initially thought.

 

.

 

            She can feel him all but running away from the area. She finally got him to calm down with the suggestion that they go find Sugar to find out what the rest of the letter said, but apparently her timing really is that bad.

            Toph sighs and opens the door to the bath the rest of the way. The vibrations are fuzzy, but she can hear the water sloshing.

            And really, she can’t be blamed for them leaving the door cracked open.

            “Hi.” She pushes the door open the rest of the way and just leans against the frame. “So Knives and Crazy had a thing behind Sparky’s back and now it’s official?”

            The vibrations have shifted. It’s hard to read them through the water, but it feels like Snowlion has gone too still and like Sugar has figured something out.

            “Toph, where’s Zuko?”

            She runs her foot against the floor, feeling for where his heartbeat is. “He just made it to the gardens. I always knew he could run fast, but I never expected him to be able to move that fast.”

            The sound of water splashing fills the room and a second later, Sweetness is running past her. She sighs and crosses the wet floor to reach the bath. Rather than get in, she perches on the edge, her feet in the water and her hands firmly on the stone around the water.

            Silence. It slowly becomes clear that Snowlion isn’t going to talk, so she tries to think of something safe to talk about.

            Crazy and Knives are clearly out of the question and given the circumstances, it’s probably best to not mention the other Air Nomads in the Fire Nation.

            But airbending itself, that’s a different thing.

            “What’s it like to fly?”

            She can’t really pick up small details about Snow’s movements; the water has seeped into the stone of the bath and everything is just a bit fuzzy because of it. There’s a bit of movement that sends the water rippling and suddenly Toph can sense just a little bit more as the airbender leans against the edge of the bath.

            “It’s like nothing else.” Snow’s voice is a little weaker and a little stronger. Emotionally exhausted but excited by something that makes her happy. “What did it feel like the first time you used your earthbending?”

            She shrugs. “I don’t really remember it.”

            “No, I mean the first time you really used it.”

            Like in the Earth Rumble, Toph guesses. She hasn’t thought back to that in a long time. For the past couple of years, it’s been all about the war and about staying alive and about training Ty Lee and about making sure Katara isn’t going insane and everything that isn’t that which she loves most.

            Yes, she’s worked hard to become even stronger and she has. It’s just that life has been so busy that she hasn’t really taken the time to focus on the earth the way she used to.

            And that first Earth Rumble is something she cherished once.

            What was that like? After dealing with nothing but beginner’s lessons and then running away to learn from the badgermoles, she had no opportunity to put her skills to use.

            Then she heard about the Earth Rumble from the guards and she just had to go. The memory of the curiosity is faint but the memory of the actual fight is not.

            It was exhilarating being there among the crowd, the feel of the battle rushing up through her feet. She remembers feeling bad for the other spectators. They were restricted to observing with their eyes and there was so much that they missed because of it.

            The way the muscles of the fighters tensed, giving away every move before it happened. The way their hearts beat in time with the earth at the height of battle. The way their breathing fell in line with the element.

            It was glorious, delirious, beautiful. It made her dizzy and reckless and that was why she went down to the ring when a competitor for the champion was called for.

            And her first real fight?

            She remembers the feel of tears in her eyes; her heart feeling like it was about to burst.  Living with the badgermoles, she learnt what it meant to be a part of the earth. There, in that ring amid hundreds of people who thought she couldn’t do a thing, she learnt what it meant to be a child of the earth.

            It was a high that will likely never be replicated.

            “Unlike anything else,” she finally says, lips spreading into a small smile. These memories always do this to her.

            There’s something that feels like nodding coming from Snow’s direction. “Heart-stopping and breathtaking and the kind of pure joy people could die from. Right?”

            Toph just nods. Snow’s talking and if she’s lucky, the airbender will keep talking.

            And lucky she seems to be.

            “I never really used my bending before. Grandmother and Aunt Jet both stressed how dangerous it was to reveal myself. My confirmation took place in one of the caves Sozin used to lure survivors to. Everything has always been about safety and keeping quiet and about never, ever letting anyone know the truth.”

            “Is that why you didn’t tell us?”

            Another nod-like vibration. She hears Ty Lee take in a shaky breath. “I grew up fearing the sky. I was restricted to doing small things and I was never allowed to fly.”

            “And then Ba Sing Se happened.” Toph is just guessing, but given that Snow has made it this long with only a limited number of people knowing, then it’s likely that she never did any major bending until the comet.

            “Right. I don’t know why I did it. It was more than possible for me to dodge the fireball without using my power.”

            “Then why did you?” The answer is fairly obvious, Toph thinks. It’s amazing a bender can go that long without doing this because this is the very essence of bending and not doing it would drive anyone insane.

            And then she thinks back to the first time she met Ty Lee. Insanity may be an apt description for that time.

            The water sloshes and she thinks Snow is shrugging. “I just reacted. Something in me told me to do that movement and to move the wind in that way. I almost jumped for joy, but then I remembered where I was and that Mai had just seen everything. So I ran.”

            “And you got to an eel hound?”

            “There’s an Air Nomad sanctuary just outside of Ba Sing Se. Every sanctuary keeps at least one eel hound on hand for emergencies.” Snow sounds almost bored. No, that’s not right. She sounds tired, but then her voice shifts and it sounds brighter. “It couldn’t carry me to the next sanctuary. I wore it out before then. I knew it would make its way home, so I just left it there. I had no idea what to do next, so I started looking through the saddlebags for something to help.

            She takes in a shaky breath and Toph can hear the underlying energy. Whatever is coming, it is to Ty Lee what that first Earth Rumble is to her. “There was a glider tucked between the saddle and the bags. I had no idea how to make it work; I’d never seen a real one. Finally, it opened and I just jumped. I didn’t know what I was doing. I could just feel the wind telling me what to do.”

            Yep, there it is. The fundamental she’s been pushing with the others and they’ve been working into all their bending. The element wants to move, wants to work with its bender. It’s just a matter of listening and embracing.

            “What happened?”

            “I never really felt comfortable at home.” Ty Lee suddenly moves and Toph can feel the heat of the airbender’s body near her legs. “I never got what all the fuss was about mothers and home. My mother considered me a failure and home was a place of terror. And then I was in the sky and it all made sense.

            “I didn’t want to come down, but I knew I needed to check in with the other sanctuaries. When they told me Elder Sora was the one who could help me, I knew I had to use the eel hounds. But I flew as much as I could. It’s intoxicating. The world is so small and it’s like you’re everywhere and nowhere. It’s freeing. I took up acrobatics because I wanted to fly, but it’s nothing like the real thing. And the worst part is, I can explain it time and time again, and no one will ever really understand what it means to be held by the sky like that.”

            She’s right. Toph never really thought about it, mostly because Twinkletoes never really talked about it, but it also doesn’t make much sense to her. But she is Toph Bei Fong and she is an earthbender. The sky is a stranger to her.

            To a child of the wind, though? To one who spent a century in an iceberg or fifteen years in fear, the welcoming of the sky would make flight the default setting for an airbender.

            And they are rightfully nomads. Staying put isn’t in their blood.

            So this is why Aang was so hard to hold down. And now Ty Lee has taken up that mantle too. There’s something about that that doesn’t sit right with her. Maybe it is her rooted senses, but she doesn’t like the idea of someone she cares about flying off at the smallest thing.

            After all, what guarantees that the wind will come back to earth if the sky is home?

 

.

 

            Katara finds him in the gardens in an alcove above the main yard and sitting with his head in his hands in the shadows beneath the Temple’s largest moon peach tree. He appreciates her silence, but her presence is kicking off that feeling in his veins, the one where his blood rises up to greet her.

            Turns out, working with his chi to heal his scar has done nothing but familiarize his body with her power.

            Well, the scar has been healed, so the chi thing is really just a side effect.

            “Please leave.”

            “Can’t.”

            He looks up. “Katara, I just found out my ex is also my sister’s lover.”

            “Did you hear the rest of it?”

            “You mean Azula ordering Mai to pursue me or the part about Mai and Ty Lee?”

            She nods.

            He waves it off. “I already knew about that. Azula’s not that great at keeping secrets. Not when it involves manipulating me. And sisterhood arrangements like what Mai and Ty Lee have is meant to teach women how to be proper wives just as much as it’s meant to give them emotional support through life.”

            The sun is setting. He can feel it’s power fading and as it does, he can feel Katara’s presence growing stronger. It’s distracting, but not uncomfortable.

            “You wanted her to love you.” Her words are soft. She’s not accusing him of anything and there is no pity in her voice. Only understanding.

            For some reason, it irritates him.

            “Yeah, I did. Stupid, right? I knew she was nothing more than a politician but I was always told that everything happens for a reason and I had a dead fiancée and a pretty girl trying to get my attention. What was I supposed to do?”
            She shrugs. “I don’t know. I’m not you. Arranged marriages don’t exist in the South and though the chiefdom is hereditary, we live alongside our people because there is no difference between us. Things like royalty and peasants don’t exist in the Southern Tribe.”

            “Must be nice.”

            He knows he’s being pathetic. Toph has already yelled at him for not thinking about the big picture but this is fair isn’t it?

            Ozai is—was—a monster, but he was still Zuko’s father. Once upon a time, that actually meant something. Once, they were a happy family. Back before firebending and before Azula, there had been love in their family. Uncle Iroh told him more than once that the marriage between Ozai and Ursa was as much about love as it had been about politics. It just went wrong.

            And Azula too. Azula was once a sweet baby sister. All humans start out innocent, after all. Not even his mad sister is an exception. He clearly remembers her when she was really little, back before she learnt what she is capable of and she was nothing more than a smiling, happy baby.

            And him? He had been the proudest big brother in the Fire Nation and even when it all fell down, he tried his damndest to be the best son he could be.

            When did it go wrong? Some time after they began learning firebending and after their parents’ marriage began to crumble. It just was like everything was fine and then the next morning, it was all wrong.

            Not that it matters. He still tried to make his parents happy, even after his mother left. Azula was deemed a lost cause early on.

            If he’s completely honest with himself, he’ll admit that there is a part of him that prayed the sweet little girl was still in there somewhere.

            Only now his sister has had their father killed and has taken the throne and has taken his ex for a wife and he doesn’t even want to think about the political side of all this.

            Azula is mad. She is homicidal and manipulative and destructive and very, very disturbed. A general and a politician all wrapped up in one murderous body.

            It’s a worst-case scenario for the Fire Nation.

            For the world, it’s a death sentence.

            Katara shifts beside him, raising her hand to brush against his shoulder. He can feel the movement and he can feel when she stops just a breath away. The sensation in his shoulder is not quite burning and not quite anything.

            There really isn’t a way to describe what bloodbending feels like.

            “Sorry,” he hears her mumble. “Full moon. I probably need to leave.”

            Right, their last full moon she cleared up the rest of his scar. Or, at least, the rest of it that could be fixed.

            And that made a year spent manipulating the blood in his body, with working in time with his chi to reopen the wound and to direct the healing to properly correct the damage.

            She’s been resistant to using it in battle, though he knows she’s come up with a few shortcuts to make aggressive bloodbending possible without the use of the full moon.

            “Don’t.” He reaches out and grabs her wrist. It’s probably a bad idea and now his hand is tingling from the connection, but she’s here and she at least sort of gets it.

            She takes in a sharp breath. “Zuko, let me go.”

            “No.” He’s feeling reckless and this is probably bad, but his mind is kind of a mess and this—dealing with Katara’s issues and fighting her—is easier than thinking about the fact that his sister just killed their father and that the world is heading for disaster and the Guru’s reports about Aang have not been promising so the balance is likely forever screwed and it’s all Great-Grandfather Sozin’s fault.

            “I don’t want to hurt you.” She says it slowly, just as the sun completely disappears and the moon begins its journey above the horizon.

            She really doesn’t believe she can control this.

            Not for the first time, he wants to curse at the Moon Spirit.

            He and Toph have been over this. Talking to Katara about her issues is a no-no. The waterbender needs to handle this herself but it’s been two years. All the progress she’s made will mean nothing if she can’t get over this and right now, the world is teetering on the edge.

            They can’t rely on Aang anymore.

            Up until now, the plan has been to set everything up so the Avatar could swoop in and defeat Ozai. But Ozai is dead now and Azula is exponentially more dangerous.

            They need Katara to be at her absolute strongest and clearly, leaving her alone isn’t going to push her to discovering what she can do so this has got to happen.

            Now is as good a time as any.

            He tugs on her wrist and brings her closer to him, catching her other wrist in his free hand. “This is familiar.”

            Only not. This is nothing like the pirates because back then he couldn’t feel his blood pulling towards her the way plants pull towards the sun. Neither one is a child now and there is nothing but her own mind to save her from this time.

             “Go jump in the river.”

            He stills. There’s a glint of amusement in her eyes and she’s relaxed somewhat, but he can still feel the tug on his blood and knows she’s still struggling for control. He shakes his head. “I know this is scary. Manipulating blood is a terrifying concept, but you can’t be afraid.”

            “It’s not that simple.” She pulls away from him, trying to tug her wrists free. “I’ve seen what happens when a bloodbender loses control. I will not be that.”

            “You don’t have to be, but to neglect this aspect of waterbending is to insult your element.”

            “How?”

            He’s probably crossed a line. She’s starting to look angry. The hold on his blood shifts slightly, a difference in intensity the only indication between accidental bloodbending and intentional.

            She’s taking control. Whether this is good or bad, he doesn’t know.

            Now he just needs to justify his words.

            “Water is life. It’s in plants and animals and the earth and the sky. It’s everywhere. As a waterbender, you’re connected to it all. To ignore one section of it is to deny your element’s presence and to ignore that is to deny its importance in the world.”

            Maybe. He’s just making it up, but she’s released the intentional hold on his blood, so he’s going to count it as a step forward. What he said probably doesn’t make any sense, but it’s nothing more than Uncle’s lecture on lightning, retooled for a waterbender.

            Actually, no. It makes more sense when thinking of it as water. It’s for lightning that it doesn’t make sense.

            But he can’t generate lightning and probably never will, so it’s not like it—no, that’s not right. He’s going to have to now. He can’t defend bloodbending and then turn around and ignore lightning generation.

            “Maybe so, but if I can’t control it, then what’s the point?”

            Yeah, that sounds like lightning. What was it Uncle said about control? Something about balance, he thinks. It had to do with a stable mind and steady emotions. It’s why, despite everything, Azula is capable of generating lightning. His sister is fully able to divorce herself from her emotions and with lightning, control is everything.

            Maybe it’s that way with bloodbending too. What could it be like, to be aware of the bodies around you like a puppeteer is aware of a puppet’s strings?

            He can remember the advice about lightning, but how to rework it for her?

            “Push and pull.” He pulls her back towards him. “It’s a waterbending concept, isn’t it?”

            She nods. “It’s the tides going in and out. The Moon bending the oceans.”

            “Like breathing?” And she nods again. “Then what about letting your power do the same thing?”

            She shrugs and tugs on her wrists again. The action causes a gentle tug in his blood. As she steps back, he steps forward, closing the distance between them.

            “Zuko, you need to let me go.”

            “Not until you get this under control.”

            “I can’t right now.” She hisses and tries to step away, but he holds her in place. She has to get this. Even if it’s just a momentary release of her hold on his blood, it will be enough to convince her that she can do this.

            “Yes, you can. Just try.”

            Her eyes close and he can feel the return of intent behind her hold. It varies in strength now, oscillating between barely there to strong enough to make his breathing laboured.

            But it never fades completely and that is the objective here.

            And this is probably not his brightest idea. It’s not that the constantly shifting power in his blood is uncomfortable. In fact, she seems to be doing everything she can to make sure it doesn’t hurt. Instead, the sensation is pleasant in a way he’s only really heard of.

            That’s not a good thing right now. Of all the things to remind him that, despite the war and the banishment and all of that, he is still nothing more than an eighteen-year-old still stuck at the crossroads between boy and man, having his blood manipulated is probably not the best thing.

            “Just do what feels natural.” He says, hoping to push her into embracing her power.

            That’s not the resulting effect, though. Rather than relax into the push and pull of his blood, she goes completely still, her eyes snapping open. She bites on her lip, and the tug on his blood actually fades almost completely, down to the point that his awareness of her could very well be nothing more than their position and his focus.

            She’s done it, and probably not intentionally.

            Which doesn’t help; she needs to be able to willfully turn off her power.

            “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She finally says, trying to free her wrists once more.

            Why she doesn’t just make him release her, he doesn’t know. She already has control over him—and control that’s quickly returning, he can feel—and she probably has the finesse to make the action seem like something he did willingly.

            “Why not?”

            She looks uncomfortable. “Because I want control. This is why bloodbending is so difficult. It’s intoxicating and addictive. Do you have any idea what it feels like to see your heart the way I do? With bloodbending, I’m aware of everything that goes on in your body. That kind of control is dangerous, no matter how you look at it.”

            And finally, he feels the blood in his left hand shift just enough to make him release her right wrist. Rather than use it free the other, she runs it along his upper arm and over his shoulder, stopping to press against his neck, just above the major blood vessel that runs through it.

            “Water is everywhere and every kind of water feels different. I can’t really explain the differences. It’s just a knowing. And blood is so different than all the others.” Her thumb traces the path of the blood through his neck, from jaw to collarbone. “All water feels alive, but this is like nothing else. I can feel the chi that runs through it. I think I can see it too. Every time I look, everything looks red, like warmth. But in Toph, it’s the green of new leaves. Ty Lee is sort of grey-blue, like a cloudless morning.”

            “And what does that colour have to do with bloodbending?” If there’s something to the chi, then maybe this can help her gain control of her power.

            “I don’t know, but I want to drown in it.”

            He blinks. That is not the answer he was expecting. “What?”

            She looks away, pulling her hand away from his neck. “I like colour? In the South Pole, the only colour is blue and whatever the sky is willing to show. It’s not much and it’s rare for anything to be vibrant like this. Colour like this is like life itself, and that’s something I want to hold onto and never let go.”

            So this is the real root of the problem. Which means whatever the Moon Spirit said to her merely exacerbated a preexisting issue. It wasn’t just that her abilities were questioned, it’s that she’s afraid of her own power and more than that, she’s afraid of taking control of her own destiny.

            No one sure of their path would desire life like this.

            And in that case, can she really have total control over her power if she doesn’t know what it’s like to lose control?

            “Then drown.” He has no idea what that would entail, but she needs to let go if she’s going to learn. Just like him with his firebending, she needs to learn what she capable of before she can learn to control it.

            She reaches up with her free hand to trace the remains of the scar beneath his eye. He’s seen what’s left. She’s done what she can, but a wrinkle in the ear remains and there’s a thin line starting at the inside corner of his eye and stretching out across his cheek. His eyebrow is still growing back and the tear duct will likely never work again, but the ability to feel has returned full-force.

            Her fingertips are soft against the still-sensitive new skin. The feeling is amplified by the way the repaired blood vessels react to her touch. Even with it gone and without the bloodbending, the act of touching the area where the scar was is still incredibly intimate.

            With bloodbending, it makes his mouth go dry.

            He’s not entirely sure which one of them starts it, but in a blur of movement, he finds himself pressed against the tree, Katara’s lips against his. Rather than push her away, he releases her other wrist and pulls her closer.

            She’s a rush of feeling. Everywhere she makes contact with his skin, his blood lights up, enhancing every touch. She is soft and calloused and warm and cold all at once. Around the time she moves to press a kiss to the blood vessel in his neck, making him hiss from the way the blood reacts, he’s started tugging at the belt holding her shirt closed.

            They should probably move and this should probably not be happening, but there’s a war and his sister is about to ruin the world and his father is dead and Katara’s maybe going insane and they’re only teenagers.

            Besides, it’s easier to drown than to swim.

 

.

 

            By the time Katara sneaks back into her room, the Moon is on the way down. She pulls water from the cistern and cleans and heals the aching muscles and the one minor burn on her hip.

            She knows that, at sixteen and eighteen, they’re supposed to have impulse control issues. And really, it was probably only a matter of time. She’s not attracted to women and from his perspective, Ty Lee is for all intents and purposes his ex-girlfriend’s ex-girlfriend and Toph is the kid sister he never had, which leaves Katara.

            They’ve been spending an extreme amount of time alone together for two years. Something was bound to happen.

            It’s something of a relief, almost. She doesn’t really want to linger on how it felt to give in to the sensation of his blood and his chi. Bloodbending is dangerous because of how good it feels to have total control over someone, but it’s also dangerous because of how good it feels to enhance physical contact like that. The mere awareness can be an obsession.

            She leans against the window, watching the moon. She knew back then that Yue wanted her to explore bloodbending, but Katara is no closer to learning how to control it than she was back then and her power has only grown since then.

            She needs a master.

            And there’s only one.

            Katara sighs, quickly pulling off her clothes and replacing them with the deep blue she made for infiltration missions on Ty Lee’s observation that black is too dark to blend into shadow.

            She runs water through her hair; pulling the moisture out and then pulling the mess back with the whale-tooth comb. It might not be much, but the madwoman she’s going to see deserves to know what happened to her most beloved possession.

            Throwing a cloak over her shoulders, she grabs a bag and her map of the Fire Nation and scribbles out a quick note before she slips out of her room. In the kitchens, she gathers some supplies and on her way to the stables, she picks up her sword, strapping it across her back.

            Pana finds her before she can find him once she steps into the stables. The bison is wide-awake and looks ready to fly. Not for the first time, she questions the true intelligence of sky bison. She doesn’t bother with a saddle; she’s the only one he’s going to have to carry and she’ll be sitting on his head. She clicks her tongue and leads him outside.

            Climbing up, she quickly ties the reins to his horns. Settling into position, she checks to make sure everything is secure against her back. “Yip-yip!”

            It takes three days to reach the first of the islands. She leads Pana into a wide, open cave set into the cliffs on one side, just long enough to check her map. According to Zuko and Jetsun, there’s only one prison in the islands designed to hold the most powerful master benders. The White Tower, they called it, is located just west of the capital on an isolated island. From where she is, she estimates it will take her another two days to reach the far side of the main island, where she’ll have the easiest access to the prison.

            It actually takes her another three days, by which time she has the feeling she should probably restock just to be safe. Pana lands quietly just outside a forest. It’s early morning, when his fur is the hardest to see and by the time the light has increased, they’re both safely tucked into the forest.

            Taking what she knows of bloodbending and what she learnt from observing Huu in the Foggy Swamp, she bends various plants into a shelter for her bison before setting out to find what food she can.

            By the time night falls, Pana is resting after eating a full meal for the first time in almost a week. Katara puts out the fire by suffocating it with the water in the air and slips out of the shelter, checking it to make sure it’s steady and safe and completely hidden.

            The journey to the shore is a fairly short one; she was careful to keep camp close by just for this. She needs to be able to get in and out as fast as possible. She doesn’t want to be gone too long and she sure as hell doesn’t want to be here for too long. Azula’s still a major threat and something could easily happen while she’s out.

            It’s just that this is really, really important.

            Staring down at the water below the cliffs, she takes a deep breath before jumping. The sea rises up to greet her, swallowing her whole and giving her a safe passage to the island. She comes up just below the shore and uses ice to scale the rock. Once on shore, she dries off and pulls her hood up.

            Jetsun once told her that the Tower doesn’t have many guards, only the warden and a handful of adjuncts to help with the day-to-day business of running the prison. Few are willing to attempt breaking in; the island is heavily protected by the thrashing seas around it and the cells don’t start until a certain height on the building. According to Zuko, the prisoners have to be flown to the top of the fortress to gain entry to the prison.

            And no one is entirely sure who is held here. There’s a chance the woman Katara is looking for isn’t here, though she doubts the old waterbender would be held anywhere else. No other prison has the potential to hold a master bloodbender.

            Katara looks up. The Tower is impressively tall. Climbing it without bending is going to take too much time. She runs the ice up the exterior wall as far as she can before creating a platform to stand on. And then, she raises the platform with the ice as a guide. Slowly but surely, she takes away the guide she’s passed and brings it up to extend the path before her.

            The wind becomes a problem eventually and after nearly falling off from a strong gust, she raises the ice of her platform to cover her feet and kneels down, one hand held on the path at all times.

            Eventually, she makes it to the top, freezing the water in place along the bottom of the door so she’ll be able to access it when she’s ready to leave.

            Now she just has to find where her prisoner is. Probably an interior cell, one without access to the outside. The last thing they would want would be exposure to the sea or the moon.

            The guards must be out on patrol; there’s only one at the door and he looks ready to fall asleep. She reaches out and follows his blood until she feels it relax. All it takes is one small, simple movement to slow his blood enough to knock him out and leave him unharmed.

            She checks the records as quickly and quietly as she can. There are only twenty cells and nearly half are empty. Of all of them, only one interior cell is occupied. It’s the farthest down. There’s no real way to get down to it without following the main spiral staircase.

            She’s just going to have to be creative.

            Slipping away from the desk, she moves down the hall, keeping her senses open for any beating hearts. There are those quietly beating within the cells and she tries not to notice the irregular feel of their blood. Slowly but surely, Katara creeps along the stairs.

            She hears the guards before she senses them, their heavy armour clinking loudly in the silence of the prison. Using water from the small flagon tied to her hip to make ice, she jumps up and holds herself flat against the ceiling. When they enter into her field of vision, she repeats the process of familiarizing herself with their chi and then making them go to sleep.

            Dropping down, she moves on. There are no more guards by the time she reaches the door she wants. It’s impressive: massive and all heavy steel and complicated locks.

            Now to get it open.

            Taking a deep breath, she pulls more water out and lets it seep into the cracks around the door. It takes time to work the water around the lock, but eventually she figures it out and moves the water just enough to turn the right parts. Putting the water away, she opens the door.

            “Who goes there?” The voice inside is angry and suspicious and just as sharp as she remembers.

            Entering the cell, she can see that the prisoner isn’t chained, but there is no reaction that would suggest bending of any kind. She walks in and kneels down, pushing back her hood. “Master Hama.”

            The older waterbender relaxes. “Katara. This is a surprise.”

            She moves from a kneel to sit down, shifting the sword at her back out of the way so she can be comfortable. “You don’t look surprised.”

            Hama shrugs, sitting down across from her. “I’m not really. It’s surprising that you came here, but I figured we would cross paths again at least once. You never finished your lessons. It’s a little surprising to see you wear my comb.”

            “That’s why I’m here. The lessons, not the comb. I went back to the village and retrieved it.”

            “Keep it. I have no use for it now.” Hama waves her off. “It’s a shame about the lessons, though. I can’t teach you anything now.”

            Katara blinks. “What?”

            “They took my bending away.” Hama is scowling and suddenly all the irregular presences make sense. The prisoners here are benders. Without their bending, the chi in their blood would feel wrong.

            But it’s still there. Katara takes a deep breath and focuses on the woman before her. There’s a sharp intake of breath and she sees it as a flaring of Hama’s chi, a flash of white amongst the cold blue-green of Antarctic seas.

            The chi is still there, sluggishly moving along the blood. Benders look a little different, she’s figured out. There’s a brighter vibrancy to their colour; and with this, Hama’s bending is clearly still there. It’s just been slowed to the point that she probably can’t access it.  

            If Hama could just focus and grasp the smallest amount of that chi, Katara thinks the old woman might be able to force her bending to come back.

            “How did they do it?” She’s fairly certain she knows how it was done, but she needs to know for sure.

            “A little girl came in and knocked me out. When I woke up, my bending was gone.”

            Chi-blocking. She’ll have to ask Ty Lee about this particular move because chi-blocking, unless it results in death, is always reversible.

            “Will you at least explain a few things to me?”

            Hama nods. “Control issues?”

            “How’d you know?”

            The old woman smiles. “I had the same problems. And you’re stronger than me, which means you’ll feel the pull of the heart more than I did.”

            “How do you ignore it?”

            “You can’t. You just learn to deal. What does it feel like to you?”

            “I don’t feel it so much as I see it.” Katara adjusts her posture, moving her legs into a more comfortable position. “It looks like colour.”

            One thin white eyebrow rises. “You see it? Can you use bloodbending without the full moon?”
            Katara nods and quickly explains that she started out using it to heal certain wounds, leaving out any identifying information about her patient.

            When she finishes, Hama looks extremely interested. “So you’ve essentially reworked the entire process to be something gentler and easier than what I created.”

            “It’s not about will or force. It’s about push and pull.”

            A laugh. “Spoken like a true waterbender. Perhaps you’re right, but you still have trouble controlling it. Have you lost control yet?”

            Katara blushes and nods. She doesn’t go into detail, though. Going to bed with the banished Crown Prince of the Fire Nation is probably not what Hama has in mind with regards to control loss.

            “Violent?”

            “No.”

            Hama smiles. “Bloodbending mixed with attraction is a dangerous thing. But really, Katara, the Avatar’s a bit young.”
            “What, no!” She raises her hands, shaking her head. When the elder looks surprised, Katara remembers that Hama has been locked up since before the Day of Black Sun. There’s no way the old woman could know about Sozin’s Comet. “I haven’t had any contact with Aang for two years now. Or Sokka, for that matter. Toph and I were separated from them. We met up with a couple of allies and we’ve been trying to do what we can on our own.”

            Simple and clean. There’s no reason to tell Hama that their allies include Prince Zuko, who was with them during the comet, and Ty Lee, a relative of the woman who took Hama’s bending away.

            “Really?” And then it’s like something clicks in the elder’s mind. “So that’s why you’ve been experimenting with bloodbending. The monk and your brother aren’t there to make you promise not to use it.”

            Essentially, that’s it. Katara knows that what she did with Zuko’s scar, and what happened last week would never have happened if they had stayed with Aang and Sokka. Because they would have. In the rush of the war, they hadn’t had the chance to actually make her promise to never use bloodbending, but the implication was there.

            And she knows that, had the war ended then, she would have tried to have Hama transferred to the South Pole and that would have set off the argument that would end in her swearing to never use what this woman taught her.

            She’d probably hate them for it too.

            Because this is a part of her power, of her bending.

            And her waterbending is who she is.

            “How do you control it?”

            Hama shrugs. “Because you’re so different than me, I doubt my methods will work for you.”

            “Can you try to explain it?”

            Hama sighs. “A good Southern waterbender is the ocean. The Northern Tribe is made up of the children of the moon but us? We’re the daughters of the ocean. Like the ocean, we rage as we see fit. We can be merciful and we can be lethal. And we have our darkness. Just as the ocean has the impossible dark of the abyss, we too have an abyss in our souls. I jumped in and decided to live in my abyss. For you, though, you might be able to embrace it and force it to bend to your will.”

            “What do you mean?”

            “Make the ocean yours. You are more the water than I am. I’ve lived on a land of fire for far too long. You, though, you can be the ocean, and that means the abyss must obey your currents. No waterbender can eliminate the abyss and only the most powerful can embrace it and make it theirs. The North never accepted this, focusing only on the defensive power of water. We in the South, though, we jumped in blindly and took hold of the offensive power of water.”

            Katara nods. “And I have the training of both tribes in me.”

            And she’s seen quite a bit of the third, oft-forgotten tribe in the Swamp, but Hama doesn’t know about their backwoods cousins.

            “Push and pull.” Hama grins. “Attack and protect. I always knew you were powerful, but you have the potential to go above and beyond what anyone expected. No one knows the full power of water and no one seems to realise the most important truth of all.”

            “Water is everywhere. It’s life.” Katara answers.

            Hama grins, nodding. “And water always wins. Water is patient. It can wait forever and it is omnipresent. Even in the driest of deserts, there is still water. It will spend an eternity wearing down a mountain and though the rock is solid and though it may take time, eventually the mountain will be nothing more than a pebble. The oceans clean the sky and extinguish the fire of volcanoes. All the world is dependent on the water and no one seems to understand it. It’s why waterbenders are the most powerful. Our element is everywhere and it is the strongest and the most plentiful.”

            “Water always wins.” Katara echoes the words, thinking back.

            Azula’s defeat is the first that comes to mind. Part of that was luck, but it was also that there was a major source of water running through the palace itself. Even if it hadn’t been there, she had plenty of water in her skins and even if it evaporated under the heat of Azula’s flames, it wouldn’t have mattered.

            Water vapor is still water and the Fire Nation capital is almost disturbingly humid.

            “Water is more versatile.” She points out. “It’s not necessarily that it’s stronger, it’s just that it’s more versatile than any other element. We have vapor and ice and liquid and blood and perfume and anything that has enough water in it. The other elements are limited to one or two different forms. We can do almost anything.”
            “Exactly. And our morality is different too.” Hama is grinning now and Katara can’t help but wonder why they never had this conversation before. If the elder had started with this, their first round of lessons might not have gone as badly as they did.

            “It is?”

            Hama nods. “We, like our element, are fluid in the way earthbenders are steady and firm. Our morality isn’t set in stone and it’s not a tether to keep us tied to ground. Like the ocean gradually grows dark as it nears the abyss, our morality isn’t black and white like other elements. It’s why waterbenders will almost always defeat firebenders.”

            “But the Southern Raiders defeated us.”

            “Through sheer numbers, not by actual skill or force. It’s hard to fight when you’re one waterbender against thirty or forty firebenders. We were usually outnumbered ten to one until the end when there were too few of us. They defeated us with strategy. Had any of us known about bloodbending back then, or been powerful enough to use it during the day, they wouldn’t have stood a chance.”

            “Control would still be an issue.”

            “There is that. I think our philosophy would have taken care of that.”

            “Embrace the abyss and make it submit?” Katara guesses.

            Hama smiles.

            Of course that’s what it is. Katara doesn’t even know where to start with that. She’s fairly certain this is what Yue meant when the Moon Spirit told her to explore her potential, but what does that mean?

            The abyss is what? That loss of control?

            Assuming it is, her situation with Zuko is less than ideal, though it might make this somewhat easier.

            He is, after all, the only one she really and truly has a control issue with. If she can limit it to an awareness rather than an actual pull on his blood, then maybe that can serve as a starting point.

            Her mind is swirling with possibilities when she bows once more to Hama, swearing to her that she’ll see the war ended before the next winter.

            It isn’t until she’s back on Pana and halfway across the ocean that she starts to think that maybe, Hama isn’t so bad after all.

            She is, after all, nothing more than a powerful old woman with sixty years worth of anger built up in her heart. If the war ends in their favour, then maybe she can get Hama’s bending returned and the old waterbender returned to the South Pole to spend her last years in peace.

            And that, Katara thinks, is something worth fighting for. 

Notes:

I can also now say definitively that Suki will be appearing in chapter thirteen and that Aang will be appearing in chapter fourteen.

And just because, the White Tower where Hama is being held? Shamelessly based on Catcall Tower from Okami. Also, bonus points to anyone who can catch the Doctor Who reference. And Hama just would not stop talking.

As for Katara boiling water, it's just logic. If the other benders have near-full control of the basic forms/functions of their elements, then it makes sense that waterbenders should be able to boil water if they can freeze it. I'm just going to assume waterbenders before her know about this function but that it was probably only taught to women via mother/daughter interactions. No one ever thought to tell Katara what she can do because she was so focused on learning to fight.

Mai's clan name, Samui, isn't necessarily her last name. The family-clan relationship will be explored later on. Samui, according to the Japanese textbook my cat keeps trying to destroy, means cold as in cold weather. It seemed appropriate.

This is also where I give some information about this story. I first drafted this back before the series was finished. Before Hama, actually, so it was probably between Earth and Fire. Very little about this story resembles that one, other than the basic outline of the story. Obviously, it's changed a lot given that this is now a series that encompasses the Korra era too. The things that have stayed the same are: Zuko/Katara, Toph/Ty Lee, Ty Lee being an airbender, Azula taking over/Ozai's assassination, and Aang's story.

Chapter 11: listening to old wind

Notes:

This chapter takes place in late March, three years after canon. Katara and Ty Lee are seventeen, Toph is almost fifteen and Zuko will be nineteen early in the summer of this year. And I’m using the old tradition that gave May 1st as the beginning of summer.

And I wrote Ty Lee's scene at four in the morning. I think it shows.

            “No, Ty, you need to loosen up. Airbending relies on spiral movements and while that makes all bending stronger, it is the loose action of waterbending that will make it more effective.”

            Toph knows that this is different. Of course it is. Listening to Katara teach Aang versus teaching Ty Lee is going to be different. It’s been that way for all of them. Three non-airbenders training an airbender is naturally going to be different than anything else.

            They’ve spent three years doing this and it still hasn’t lost its novelty. There’s always something new to discover and the covert missions to sabotage the Fire Nation have been oddly fun. It’s amazing what they’ve been able to do without a monk demanding morality.

            Except it’s been three years. They’re running out of time. Ty Lee is almost a master and they’ve got a treaty with the new Air Nomads. They get reports from various sources—including the Eastern Air Temple—about the progress being made by the White Lotus and Aang and about the movements of the Fire Nation.

            Ty Lee is almost a master and it’s been three years. They agreed to go back after the first and before the second.

            “How are things going?” Zuko asks quietly, sitting down beside her. She taps her fingers against the floor to get a better look at him.

            His vibrations are a little weak, but she knows he took a fairly bad hit during his last spar with Katara. Turns out, Sugar’s pretty dangerous with a sword. “She going to heal you?”

            They’ve all changed. Toph can sort of feel the differences. Katara’s spent the last two years slowly healing Zuko’s scar. She knows clothes and hair are different. Katara now carries a sword at her hip and Zuko has finally found a new pair of swords to use; weapons became something of a necessity when Ty Lee pointed out every member of her family knows chi-blocking.

            And, of course, Ty Lee has been teaching them everything she knows about chi-blocking, including how to do it themselves and the weaknesses the fighting style has.

The way they all stand is different too. Three years in isolation has changed the way they carry themselves.

            Maturity, apparently.

            “Don’t you and Sweetness have a mission tonight?” She lays her hand flat on the floor. She can’t see airbending or waterbending, but the movements of the bodies are gorgeous to sense.

            “Yeah,” he says, “If this one goes right, we’ll all have only one mission left before the communications system is down.”

            Three years. Ty Lee is almost a master. Their main objective in the war is almost complete.

            If it all works out, then they’ll be scheduled to reunite with the rest of the world in under three months.

            “Do we have any reports?”

            She can feel him nodding. “We’ll go over those after dinner tonight. There’s one from the Guru.”

            So a report on Aang. They’ve been talking about that more and more lately. In the beginning, it was easy to focus on Ty Lee and the immediate changes in their lives. Now, they’re having to think about the consequences of their choices.

            Maturity is easy when you don’t have to mess with the mistakes of the past.

            “There you go!” Katara’s voice is bright with excitement. “Now try again, and this time let the wind do what it wants.”

            Toph listens to the ground as the student moves. A gust of air rips through the courtyard, followed by the happy sounds of someone who finally got it right.

            “She’s ready for testing,” Zuko says.

            The vibrations strengthen briefly as the waterbender jumps down from the platform. “Yeah, she is.”

            “Next week?” Toph suggests. “You two will be gone for a couple of days and then we’ll be out on a mission.”

            “Next week sounds good.” She hears the waterbender speak before she feels the vibrations hit the ground below the training platform. Katara sits down on her other side. Ty Lee is still practicing, sending wind rushing around the training grounds. “Do we know what we’re going to do for it?”

            “Combat, obviously.” Zuko says, shifting to cross his legs beneath him. “It might be against Air Nomad philosophy, but Ty Lee’s already a fighter.”

            “Why not a Melon Lord battle?”

            “Too complicated. She can’t have help and her against all three of us will be unfair.” Toph points out. “Why not one-on-one battles and then when she’s defeated the last of us, the other two go in at the same time and when one is knocked out of the ring, the last one goes back in?”

            “And then she fights all three of us?”

            Toph bites the inside of her cheek. That is the logical conclusion.

            Sparky sighs. “Only with ground rules. No bloodbending, no metalbending, and no combining attacks. You two are the only ones capable of the first two and no one but us combines attacks.”

            “And no chi-blocking,” Toph adds.

            The others agree and they set the test for the first day next week when they’ll all be home all day. She feels Sugar’s vibrations turn towards the airbender again. “What are we going to do for her when she passes?”

            “No tattoos.” She still remembers the time Twinkletoes explained how that was done. That, and she somehow doubts Snow will let them shave her head.

            “A glider?” Sparky suggests.

            “We haven’t found any within the Temple. They were all kept for emergencies in the havens outside the valley. I don’t think they have any spares.” The waterbender says. “What about fans?”

            Toph tilts her head. “You mean like the kind the Kyoshi warriors use?”

            There’s a nod. “They’re weapons meant to be used with airbending. I think Ty Lee would do well with them.”

            “I can make her a pair.” Toph sighs and raises a block to lean against. She can feel Snowlion’s movements against the earth, though it’s blurry because the airbender is rarely touching the ground. Beside her, she can feel Zuko and Katara trying their hardest not to talk.

            Things are getting complicated again.

            After three years, they’ve got a pattern now. They’ve got peace, despite all the shit going on outside the valley. It’s become clear why the surviving Air Nomads chose this place to relocate post-war. If the war had ended at the comet, what would have happened?

            Not this, certainly.

            Going back is going to be painful. These training sessions with Ty Lee have been drawn out as long as possible; partly because they know Aang isn’t ready for their return and mostly because they really don’t want this to end.

            Snow is an easier student than Twinkletoes. She’s not moralistic and she’s not so much a pacifist as she is a pragmatist. It’s been a good influence on everyone else. Snow has, in many ways, supplanted Sugar Queen as the glue holding them together. There’s been some difficulty figuring out how to mix air and earth in battle, but as challenging as it is, Ty Lee has never backed down from it.

Unlike a different airbending student of Toph’s.

            Sugar seems okay with Ty Lee taking her place. The waterbender is finally settling into her own. Toph can feel the way the nervous vibrations are settling down. She’s stopped mothering everyone and has begun treating them like equals. Things with Zuko are still a little weird, of course, but it’s going to take more than time away from the world to settle that mess.

            And Sparky has finally starting coming to terms with his psycho sister and Knives. He’s relaxed now; not a little bundle of nerves like he was leading up to the comet. Even with the war still looming over them, it’s like it’s just become another part of life, the strife in balance with the peace they find here. His bending has gotten stronger and Toph is pretty sure he’s made his Uncle proud, even if the old man doesn’t know yet.

            Because it is yet. Eventually, the world is going to find out about their three years locked away in a hidden Air Temple. Maybe not all the small details, but there are things they can’t hide. The Air Nomads and everything, most of it will be linked back to them once people start finding out even the small details. The personal stuff will be difficult to hide too, and no one is going to be willing to hide it.

            She doesn’t want to give up what she has with the others. None of them should have to give up what they’ve built. None of them want to give up what they have.

            But Twinkletoes and Snoozles and parents and uncles and masters and all that will make it difficult to keep things going the way they are. Here, they’re just four teenage benders doing what they want to save the world. Out there, they’ll have to go back to being daughters and princes and people with obligations.

            It’s been three years and their student is almost a master. The war has to end before winter begins. It’s the start of spring now. They need to return. The balance they have found here can’t last forever. The ones they left behind need them.

            Except, Toph doesn’t want to go back. And she’s not sure the others do either.

 

.

 

            “You’ve got to be joking.”

            He completely understands Katara’s irritation. After reading through reports from the Air Nomads about which supply lines have been disrupted and recent attacks by the Fire Nation and about rumours heard concerning future moves, they’ve finally moved on to the Guru’s report about Aang. 

They did as Yue suggested and the Avatar hasn’t done what he was supposed to. The Guru’s reports are growing more and more frustrated; not obviously, of course, but the increased terseness of the language suggests frustration. They’ve put him in contact with Jetsun and Sora and yet no one can seem to figure out why Aang can’t do whatever he needs to do to master the Avatar State.

            It’s making their side of the war more difficult than it should be.

            Without him maturing to the point where he can control his power and his emotions, they can’t safely return.

            Whether this is a blessing or a curse depends on perspective. They’ve been debating this so much in the past year that they’ve set aside a room in the tallest tower to serve as an office. They meet here once every week to go over reports and make plans. 

            “I know we’ve been over this before,” he starts, “But how severe is his history with instability?”

            It can’t be as bad as Azula, he tells himself. Nothing can be as bad as that.

            The waterbender glances at Toph. “It depends. He always loses control if someone he loves is in danger.”

            “But none of us are in danger.” Toph points out.

            Katara shakes her head. “No, but what we’ve done can be construed as betrayal. If he’s grown more comfortable with the four elements, that’s only going to make the Avatar State more powerful, which means we need to avoid him losing control at all costs.”

            “We’re sure about the timetable for the war?” He asks, glancing down the report once more.

            “The first day of winter,” Katara confirms, taking one of the other reports from the stack in the middle. “And with what’s happening in the Fire Nation, we really can’t afford to risk going that close to it.”

            “So what you’re saying is we need to do our stuff before regrouping and hope it cripples the psychobitch enough that we can win sooner rather than later?” Toph leans back in her seat, crossing her arms.

            Zuko sighs. He’s gotten used to the idea of killing his own countrymen; to harming his homeland for the sake of the world. He’s even gotten used to the idea that his sister is irreparably mad.

            Azula is far worse than Ozai.

            But she’s still his baby sister.

            Admittedly, he expected her to kill their father long before she did. She was too desperate to have the Dragon Throne as her own that when the Phoenix King thing fell apart, all her hatred must have focused on Ozai. He was, after all, a failure by his own standards.

            Zuko runs a hand over the formerly burned side of his face. It’s been almost a year and he still hasn’t quite gotten used to not having the scar anymore. The hair that was damaged by the fire has finally come back and his vision has stopped being so sensitive in the formerly damaged eye.

            Katara does good work in terms of healing and her ability to use blood in battle has gotten stronger as well. They’ve had a few hiccups with her bloodbending and basic impulse control, but Toph has graciously refused to comment on anything she senses in the dead of the night, so they can just pretend those indiscretions never happened.

            “If we do go back, are we going to tell them what we’ve been doing?” The waterbender asks; he doubts she even notices the use of the word ‘if’.

            “We’ll have to tell them about Snowlion,” Toph points out. “And we should probably start including her in these conversations, rather than have them when she’s busy with Kiki and the others.”

            He and Katara both glance towards the window. From where they are, they can see the bison stables and the creatures Ty Lee is training. He sees one of the bison swing up into the air and curl back down in something similar to a circus act. “Okay, but that doesn’t help with Aang and the others.”

            “We’ll have to tell him about Ty Lee and the other Air Nomads,” Katara confirms, “But I’m not sure we can tell him about the rest of what we’ve done.”

            “He’ll just figure it out. Or someone else will and they’ll just tell him or he’ll find out from rumours or something. No matter what, he will eventually find out.” Toph’s voice is blank, her fingers tracing a pattern on the table. “We’d be better off telling him the truth from the beginning.”

            “And deal with his guilt-trips?” Zuko says. He leans back and pulls the Guru’s other reports off of their shelf. “He’s still taking the not killing thing really seriously. Just last week he tried again to convince the White Lotus to find non-lethal means to end the war.”

            “He’s not going to trust us as it is.” Katara flips through the report. The handwriting looks like Elder Sora’s. “We’ve already taken lethal action in this and with Azula in power, it’s going to get worse. There’s been increased movement along the eastern coast of the Earth Kingdom and some along the west. It’s only a matter of time before the Fire Nation starts sending ships to the Tribes.”

            “If he doesn’t trust us, then how can we rejoin the fight?” Toph’s become an intuitive young woman. It’s hard to tell how much anyone was really expecting from her, but she’s taken her gift to sense heartbeats and put it to use. “We won’t be of any use if we’re treated with suspicion and it will only disrupt the effectiveness of the army if we do our thing and then Twinkletoes throws a fit.”           

            “He’s not going to take the bloodbending or the Temple or anything well.” Katara sighs, rubbing her eyes with her hands. “And Sokka’s going to be just as bad, if not worse. Our only allies are likely going to be the White Lotus, and it’s debatable how much they’ll be willing to trust us when we’re not members.”

            “Uncle likely sees me as an apprentice, but the White Lotus is male-only.” Zuko shrugs, trying to ignore the glares from the women present. “I know, trust me, I know. For guys obsessed with balance and peace, they’re not very good at keeping up with it. They won’t have any problem with you guys fighting with them, but there’s probably a few who won’t want to fight in a team with you. Especially those from the Water Tribes, Master Pakku a likely exception.”

            “So where does this leave us?”

            “Right back where we were.” Toph leans back against the wall, blank eyes staring up. “The Guru said we’re not supposed to go back until Aang is ready. If we go too soon, it could throw off the balance even more than it already is and then Sugar will have to fix it. How, I don’t know, but somehow apparently.”

            The waterbender makes a face. “Let’s not talk about that.”

            “Then what are we going to do?” They need this answer, Zuko knows, but they just keep talking in circles. No one wants to address the obvious solution of just permanently staying away. It’s partly because they know it’s impossible; they’ll eventually have to return to the rest of the world. The other part is because it’s an unspoken truth that staying at the Temple is what they all really want.

            They’ve got a good thing going here. They produce almost all of their own food—an upside to not eating meat; they don’t have to go out and hunt and can stay safely within the confines of the valley—and they have plenty of drinking water. There are dozens of reams of fabric they haven’t even touched still in storage and they have the bison if they need to leave for any reason.

            And they’ve been talking with the Air Nomad elders about opening up a school here after the war. That’s just a best-case scenario. If something goes wrong and they lose, then the Air Nomads will send their children here for safety.

            One way or another, they’re going to have a school here, actually.

            But they can’t let the war go past the first day of winter. The damage there would be irrevocable and they’ve heard from their contacts in the Fire Nation that Azula’s government is definitely leading up to something.

            And to stop things, they need Aang to be able to work with them.

            Maybe they should have thought this out before hand.

            “We made the best choices we could.” Toph says. “What else were we supposed to do?”

            She has a point. They were considered dead post-comet and then they found Ty Lee so soon after and then the map to the Temple and what were they going to do? Take Ty Lee to the White Lotus? That would have gone over brilliantly. The poor girl would be more traumatised than she already was when they finally figured out she’s an airbender. And the distraction to the Avatar would be unbelievable. The kid would want to find his people before he’d want to fight and that was an impossibility.

            And then there was Katara’s bloodbending. She wouldn’t have made the advances she has if they were still with the Avatar and her brother. Right now, she stands as the world’s most powerful waterbender. Would she still have had that title if they had immediately gone back to the others?
            With Toph, her maturity has been invaluable. She probably would have matured there too, but would it have been the same? Right now, she’s a brilliant, intuitive, genius, young woman. She’s still the sarcastic Blind Bandit, but now she is both the world’s greatest earthbender and a burgeoning mastermind.

            And then there’s him.

            If he had been with the Avatar and Sokka when Ozai fell and Azula took the throne, it probably wouldn’t have been pretty, especially with the news that Mai had become Fire Lady. There would have been pity and Agni knows what else. His scar never would have been healed and he wouldn’t be capable of the tiny sparks of lightning he’s managed when sparring with Katara.

            And, of course, his current understanding with the waterbender wouldn’t exist. Not with an overbearing brother and a love struck Avatar in the mix.

            And this new bending style. Those small sparks of lightning can be turned into a storm if Katara catches them in her water. Ty Lee has figured out how to use his fire and her wind to make instant fireballs. Katara and Toph have blended ice and earth and created something nearly indestructible. Ty and Toph have struggled to find a way to combine air and earth, but they’ve slowly been working on system to confuse a combatant with a mix of sand and dust carried on the wind and they’ve been working on something that could help them create dust storms and sandstorms.

            “So what do we do now?” Katara asks, tossing the reports down in the middle. “We’ve been working on the communications system under the assumption that we’d be rejoining Aang immediately after the last attack. If we stop now, they’ll only be able to recover and we’ll have to start over.”

            “There isn’t enough time for that.” He can see where she’s taking this. It’s not an outright confession, but it’s pretty close to admitting that which no one will say.

            Toph shrugs. “Play it by ear?”

            “I think that’s all we can do.” He glances out the window once more. “We do need to start bringing Ty Lee into this. A fresh perspective might help us and she does know the spiritual side of bending better than any of us. In the meantime, Katara and I have to be in the southeast of the Earth Kingdom by tomorrow afternoon. So let’s call it a day?”

            There’s a beat of silence and then the other two nod in agreement.

            They’re talking in circles, after all, and that will get nothing solved.

 

.

 

            Katara tugs on the river as they pass. She hates the heavy feeling from it. After her time in the Fire Nation, she’s learnt to recognise the feel of pollution, and she will never get used to it.

            It’s sickening, the feel of heavy metal in her element.

            Water always wins, Hama said, but how can anything win with that weighing it down?

            But water is resilient, so she will do what she can.

            “This would be easier with Toph.” She grumbles, moving down and behind a rock. Beside her, Zuko takes out a spyglass to check the positions of the guards.

            “That bad?”

            “You have no idea.”

            “Maybe she can come out when this is over and help you clean it up.”

            “I figured we’d be doing that anyway. She’s the only earthbender capable of dealing with metal and since Azula took over, the pollution’s been getting worse.”

            They lapse into silence. She pays close attention to the feeling of the air. There’s low humidity, which damages her ability to sense things from a distance and the guards are too far for her to pick up the pull of their blood. It’s almost a new moon tonight; her power is nearing its weakest point.

            It’s making her sleepy.

            She yawns and tries to stay away from Zuko. His natural warmth makes the lethargy even worse. They have a mission, though, and if this doesn’t go wrong, then there will only be one more before the communication’s system is down.

            They’ve held off on all the big things. The Fire Nation, after all, can’t know what’s coming. Mostly it’s been distractions and disruptions, but now they’re closing in. In the past, they’ve stuck to things that serve multiple purposes. Destroying the navy’s largest base not only cripples the navy, but also a major communications outpost. Messenger birds go missing all the time; the Air Nomads have been slowly retraining as many of them as they can. 

            Everything has been hidden until now.

            This factory specialises in building materials for the communications systems. According to Zuko, this is the place responsible for the navy’s communications and most of the systems on land. Once it’s destroyed, the Fire Nation will have no way to recover once they make their final attack.

            “Guard’s changing.” His voice is soft and for a moment, she finds it comforting.

            Then the words sink in.

            It’s time to move.

            The path to the factory is dark but open. If they’re caught here, it will be a fight and it will get messy and there’s a very real chance the news will spread before they can finish.

            Which means reinforcements.

            Which means a failed mission for them.

            And they really, really can’t afford to fail now. Katara has read all the reports more times than she cares. Between everything, her mission is slowly becoming clear.

            If Aang screws everything up, she has to fix it.

            There’s nothing in that that says she has to do it alone.

            She reaches out, feeling for the blood of the guards and moving just enough to make her power feel harmless, followed by the small twist of blood required to render the men unconscious.

            “We’re clear.” She keeps her voice soft, senses still alert for any other guards that may be in the area.

“Mask on.” Zuko says, taking out his own mask and tying it on to cover his nose and mouth. She follows suit, moving around and leaving him to the main door while she circles around to the back. This close, she can feel the water source the factory uses. Jumping in, she pulls the water up to carry her up to the roof, her element swirling around her. There should be vents somewhere. If she can just get the water through them—ah, there.

            She lets the water go, directing it through the vents. There’s a hissing noise from inside, but no sounds of people. Zuko must have done his part to incapacitate those inside.

            The vents are just wide enough for her to slip through, steadying herself with ice. It’s unearthly hot, but she can’t put the fires out. All she can do is get in and hope the heat doesn’t vaporise the water before she can safely get to the floor.

Why couldn’t Zuko have been the one to come in as back up from above? The fires wouldn’t be an issue for him.

Eventually, she drops down into the main room of the factory, sliding off an ice ramp to avoid the fires.

            Neither she nor her partner speaks. It’s just easier to work in silence. Less risk and they know each other well enough by now to not have any disastrous misunderstandings. As quickly and gently as they can, they work around the factory, placing the small jars of blasting jelly one of the sandbenders had secured for them.

            She still doesn’t understand how such a small amount of the jelly can be destructive enough to demolish the factory. There was no chance to test this out beforehand. All they have right now is the word of the man who gave it to them.

            She can’t move any of the guards or workers. It has to look like something overheated and set off the explosions. Like it was an accident.

            The flames flicker blue-white. Sighing, she reaches out for the cooling system and quickly disables it.

            And then they run.

            They make it back to Pana without any signs of an explosion. She worries at her lip because this cannot be happening. With a failing Avatar in charge, the work they’re doing is all the more important.

            Zuko helps her up into the saddle just in time to hear the first explosion. She scrambles up to the bison’s head, giving the order to fly. Keeping low to the ground and circling around to the mountains to the south, they eventually move high enough to see the explosions as they occur.

            “Good blasting jelly.” Her partner murmurs. “Clever too. There won’t be enough left for anyone to find.”

            She merely nods in agreement, tugging on Pana’s reins to direct him home.

            Home.

            When did she start thinking of the Temple as home? It just happened without her ever noticing and now she can’t really imagine a future without the Temple.

            She wants to go back to the South Pole, but not permanently. She’s been away from the ice and snow for far too long to go back to that. There’s a risk in that. If she goes back without a plan, then she can get roped into helping rebuild and then her family will ask her to stay for one reason or another and then she’ll never see the Temple again.

            It makes her stomach churn.

            And so does the thought that she might not be welcome at all. It’s going to go one of two ways: she’ll be banished for abandoning Sokka and Aang, or she’ll be roped into staying permanently and being a good little waterbender.

            Leaning back, she can see the small sliver of moon. Surely Yue would look out for her if it meant keeping a fellow Water Tribe woman from falling into the trap of duty. Katara refuses to bow to another. Just like Hama told her, she’s been working on making her darkness her own. Reconciling being a healer and a warrior isn’t simple. It’s a balance of life and death, of the calm ocean and the raging waters.

            Whatever her destiny is, it’s inside her and she will seize it.

            Even if that destiny isn’t good. Toph told her what the Guru said. If Aang fails, it will be up to her to clean up the mess. It’s becoming apparent what that means; Aang isn’t doing what he needs to for them to safely return and if he can’t access the Avatar State, then there’s no way he can end this war.

            She’s already defeated Azula once. To date, she is the only one to ever defeat Azula in one-on-one combat and that was with Sozin’s Comet high above them. Admittedly, most of that was just luck. Katara outsmarted Azula. She can probably do it again, but this time she’ll have the added benefit of everything she’s learnt in the past three years.

            Theoretically, she could end the war quietly by stopping Azula’s heart with a flick of her wrist.

            She doesn’t want to. Since they began their campaign without Aang, all of the deaths she’s been responsible for have been incidental. Sailors on boats she’s sunk to destroy whatever their cargo was. Guards and the like in places like the factory. She’s killed personally once before and it’s not something she wants to repeat.

            But if Aang can’t do his thing, she may have to.

            And that terrifies her because for all the work she’s done, what if she can’t control the abyss the way Hama believes she can?

            What happens if she falls into darkness?

            She turns around to ask Zuko, but he’s asleep in the saddle. Of course he is. The one time she wants to reasonably talk about his troubled past, he’s asleep. She shakes head and turns back to face the path head.

            There will be plenty of time to talk about this in the future.

 

.

 

            It was supposed to be simple. Just go in, destroy the communications systems on the airships and set the schedule back by months. But no, they manage to finish their main objective and think that maybe destroying more than just the communications would be worth their time. They have plenty because Zuko and Katara aren’t back yet from the Earth Kingdom and the airships are just begging to be destroyed.

            After all, as an Air Nomad, there’s something in Ty Lee’s blood that bristles at the idea of the Fire Nation having control of the skies.

            Ty Lee only has a moment to prepare for Toph dragging her underground. “Incoming. Seven of them. Full armour.”

            She hates being underground. With a passion. It’s something instinctual; it just sparks up this need to destroy everything until she can see the sky again.

            But this is not the time for that. “What’s going on up there?”

            “From the feel of it, they’re searching for something.”

            “Us?”

            “Probably. It’s about time they upped security.” Toph motions for her to follow and quietly, they make their way through the earth. “There’s an alley up ahead.”

            “Anyone around?”

            “A few people, I don’t think anyone’s actually going to see us, though. None of them feel like fighters.”

            “Then let’s get out of here.”

            “Afraid of the dark?” The earthbender is smiling. Ty Lee can’t see a thing down here, but she can still feel the movement ripple through the air.

            Her training has been with the best and Toph’s ability to use bending to see was something Katara insisted on learning and teaching. It doesn’t change the fact that she does not like being underground. She isn’t the Avatar after all. Ty Lee is an airbender and an airbender only. This suffocating environment is not natural for her.

            Eventually, they break surface. Ty Lee jumps out ahead of her partner, air swirling around her. The night sky is a little blurry in the light of the city around them, but the alley they’re in is dark. They’re covered and the wind is winding through the streets.

            Or maybe not. Ty Lee swears when she sees the young nun standing on the other side of the street just outside the alley. There’s not a lot of light, but someone staring into the alley like that would undoubtedly see the shadows move.

            And she was clumsy. Her airbending like did move the wind outside the alley. Knowing Toph will be able to follow her, she dashes off when she sees the nun turn and run.

            This just can’t happen. They haven’t actually heard anything from inside the Fire Nation that Azula has done anything public concerning Mai’s information. They do know that something has been done. Airbenders have begun disappearing and the death rate of Air Nomads in the Fire Nation military has almost tripled since Azula took control. The death rate for firebenders, on the other hand, has gone down.

            Somehow, the government has figured out how to identify them.

            And this could be bad. It’s one thing for them to quietly hunt innocent Nomads. If word got out that there was an airbender actively working in the Fire Nation, the hunt will get worse.

            She can hear Toph behind her and she can hear the nun ahead of her. In the back of her mind, she can’t help but notice that this nun is sticking to the alleyways. All it would take to stop this chase would be to step out into the open and then Ty Lee wouldn’t be able to follow.

            She slides around a corner and stops dead. The nun is standing in front of an older sister. Toph comes in behind her after a moment. “What the hell, Snow? We don’t have time for this. Azula brought back Dai Li agents and any one of them could hunt us down if someone thinks to have them check underground for signs of an earthbender.”

            Ty Lee flicks her hand against the blind girl’s arm. Toph falls silent, apparently finally focusing on their surroundings long enough to detect the nuns.

            The elder nun says something to the younger. Ty Lee could probably listen in, but decides to give them some privacy. Courtesy will get her and Toph out of this, hopefully. It can’t hurt.

            “Perhaps you should come with us.” There’s something familiar about the elder nun’s voice, but Ty Lee can’t place it.

            The airbender nods, pulling her partner behind her as she steps forward. “We mean you no harm.”

            “Nor do we mean you any harm.” The nun puts an arm around her younger sister, leading them all down the alley.

            “We’re not seriously going to follow them, are we?” Toph says.

            “It’s that or leave and potentially have them alert the government. It’s better to try and work out a deal.”

            This is the better choice, she hopes, following the nuns through the winding city. The capital is just up the mountain from here. It wouldn’t take much for someone to alert Azula or Mai to her presence.

            Especially since, according to Aunt Jet’s last letter, her family has become slightly more public with the regime change.

            And Ty Lee really does look like the rest of her sisters.

            And her mother.

            They make one last turn and then the nuns are motioning them inside a building. She doesn’t hesitate in following, looking back to make sure Toph follows.

            The abbey is small and clearly meant to be something else. It’s not unusual. Since Sozin began the war, religion in the Fire Nation has suffered. The Fire Sages have lost a considerable amount of power and the smaller organizations have fallen. Nuns are rare these days.

            But most are of Air Nomad descent. She has to take comfort in that fact and hope that this abbey in the city beneath the capital is one of those havens.

            The younger nun has left them alone in a small room. Toph is scowling in the direction of the elder nun, who is currently busy making tea at the corner fire. Idly, Ty Lee plays with the wind. From the nun, she picks up the smell of oolong tea and the vaguely familiar perfume.

            And then the nun turns around.

            Ty Lee’s world stills. This is a face she hasn’t seen in so long and now she knows why that voice made her think of happiness and safety. No wonder the perfume is familiar. She knows this scent and this voice and this face.

            Somewhere at the back of her mind, the part of her mind rooted in the logical world is going of course she stayed this close.

            “Snow, you okay?” Toph is tapping her feet against the floor, trying to get a clearer view of what’s going on.

            “I’m fine.” Her voice is weaker than she means it to be and it hurts when this nun smiles at her apologetically.
            The earthbender doesn’t look convinced and turns to the nun. “So who are you?”

            “I am called Thanh.”

            No, no, that’s wrong but oh the meaning is so perfect. Azure sky is how the Air Nomads write that name and it’s perfect. So absolutely perfect.

            “You going to sell us out?” Toph asks.

            Ty Lee wants to curl up and die. Of all the people for Toph to ask that of, this is the last one.

            “I mean you no harm.” The nun—this woman who calls herself Thanh—is so calm, so peaceful. There’s a flicker in her grey-gold eyes that tells Ty Lee that this woman knows exactly who she is. “You’ll have to excuse my sister. She’s new and hasn’t yet learnt the intricacies of the world.”

            But that should be okay.

            She did know about Ty Lee being an airbender, didn’t she?

            “You want something from us.” The earthbender leans back in her seat. “Why should we help you?”

            Ty Lee lets her hand slip underneath the table and she flicks air towards her partner with enough force to make Toph hiss.

            The nun smiles softly, turning to face Ty Lee and Ty Lee alone. “It’s about Azula. I think someone’s poisoning her.”

            She can hear Toph grumbling beside her and she reaches out to grip the earthbender’s wrist because now is not the time to say anything about Azula and her mental stability because this, if true, bodes far worse.

            “What kind of poison?”

            “Something that suppresses her power. It seems to keep her stable, but the last time she used bending in public, the flames were orange around the edges and she couldn’t seem to call up lightning.”

            Ty Lee scowls. She can think of a list of poisons that would do that and it breaks her heart. No one should have their bending taken away or limited, even if the bender in question is someone like Azula.

            It’s just not humane to take away such a vital part of a person’s being.

            And having that power slowly drain away? That’s even worse.

            Her grip on Toph’s wrist tightens slightly. “What would you have us do?”

            “Save her.”

            Ty Lee’s hold on her partner is painful now, but anything to let Toph know that now is not the time. Azula is the enemy, yes, but if she’s really being poisoned, then the firebender is nothing more than a figurehead. Whoever is poisoning her is the one calling the shots and that’s who they need to focus on.

            But first, they have to establish that Azula really is being poisoned.

            And that won’t be easy.

            This whole war isn’t easy. It’s been one setback after another: Ozai was killed from within the Fire Nation, Azula might be under the control of someone else, Avatar Aang isn’t doing what he should be.

            This, though, this is worse. If Azula is being manipulated in any way, then that means whatever intelligence they have on the Fire Nation could be compromised.

            If Azula is not the Big Bad, then who is?

            “What if we can’t?” She loosens her hold on Toph.

            The nun smiles sadly. “Save her from herself, then.”

            She would give that answer, Ty Lee thinks. Even if it means a quick and painless death, it’s still preferable to letting Azula suffer.

            Ty Lee herself has that inclination because for all the darkness, Azula is still her something-friend. Not quite real friends and not quite anything, but they had a system and for a time, it worked.

            They had the potential to be real friends.

            And maybe Ty Lee’s held on to the hope that somewhere beneath the madness, Azula is a normal girl capable of normal human things like friendship and sisterhood.

            Then again, Grandmother always did say that an Air Nomad’s greatest curse is a certain brand of optimism that bares a striking resemblance to naïveté.

            “I can’t make any promises.”

            “Just try, that’s all I ask.”

            Ty Lee nods and the nun returns the gesture before standing and announcing that she’s going to check if they have a safe passage out of the city and oh, they can help themselves to the tea.

            The airbender stands up gingerly and fetches the tea, sitting back down to face a glaring Toph. “What was that about?”

            “Politics and history.”

            “You know her.”

            “I did, once.” Ty Lee bites her lip. She can’t take this back to Zuko. Just as she couldn’t go with them to the White Lotus because of what it might do to Avatar Aang, she can’t let Zuko know about any of this because despite everything, family is still all-important to him. As much as he cares about Katara and them, there is still a bond between him and his blood family that could potentially take him away from them.

            Even when the blood is bad, blood is still more precious than all.

            “You’re not seriously going to go through with this.” Toph doesn’t phrase it as a question. It probably isn’t mean to be one. Their objective in the war is to defeat Azula, not save her.

            But if Azula is being poisoned or manipulated in some way, then that changes things.

            “I don’t know.” She rubs her hands over her eyes, a headache beginning to form. “Can we not tell Zuko about this?”

            “Which part? The nearly getting caught and running into Mystery Nun or the part about Crazy maybe being poisoned?”

            “All of it.” It takes a while, but eventually the earthbender nods.

            Ty Lee can deal with this on her own.

            Hopefully. 

Notes:

I have a very good reason for being almost three weeks behind on updates. Really, I do.

I have a 100+ year timeline for the dynasty of storms au. It's not complete right now, especially since there's a second century I'm going to have to cover, but it's almost half finished. It kind of took precedence over updating because I'm working on chapter thirteen (it's monster in terms of plot) and I need to know some things because not only is it the beginning of the return of the rest of the Gaang--it's when Suki appears--but it's also where the story starts getting into things that will be referenced in later stories.

There's also a more refined outline of what the series is going to look like. There are five main stories, three character-specific stories, two bonus stories (currently), and one epilogue-esque story for the a-plot.

Right now, it looks something like this:

 

A-Story
• when the world stops spinning
• the game has changed
• the darkening of the light
• bargaining with the beast
• headlong into the abyss
Character-Specific
• Sokka: you would kill for this
• Mai: half sick of shadows
• Aang: strange birds

Other
• touch the sky: The story of how the Air Nomads survived the genocide.
• the black banner: The story of the Black Banner Wars between the Northern Sandbenders and the Earth Kingdom, led respectively by Rohan of the North and Queen Xuan.
• the temple of the winds: Life after the end, or something like it.

And then there's dynasty of storms itself, which will be a drabble series containing everything that got cut or skipped over in the rest of the stories. It's a dumping ground, essentially.

Chapter 12: dismantle.repair

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.

.

 

            The morning of her testing, Ty Lee dreams of Azula and Mai.

            She’s back in the rooftop gardens of the school her parents sent her off to. It’s built into a mountainside with technology she knows was stolen from her ancestors, but still she loves it. Here, in this place where flowers grow on roofs and the wind races around everything, she feels free.

            It’s not quite like coming home, but it’s as close as she can get.

            “Can we go back in yet?” Mai’s bored voice breaks the day and Ty Lee has to close her eyes and focus on the wind to keep from snapping.

            It’s been a stressful day.

            Her sister Ya Lee is graduating this year. Ty Lee keeps getting dragged into conversations with teachers concerning the seven sisters of the Kagami clan and all the trouble they’ve gotten into over the years and isn’t Ty Lee just so excited to have such wonderful predecessors to live up to?

            She sighs, letting her breath mingle with the wind. She can’t fly and can’t do anything that might reveal herself.

            “It’s pretty out here.” She needs to justify this because it’s Mai and as much as there is a rift between them, they are still sworn sisters and that means something.

            “It’s filled with pollen.” Mai does sound miserable, so Ty Lee turns. Her sworn sister is older than her, but doesn’t show it. She knows that Mai’s mother fought long and hard to get her daughter into school—Mai is the first Samui daughter to go to go school—and the end result was that the dark girl is a couple of years behind where she should be.

            It’s worth it, almost. Mai’s porcelain skin and midnight hair are striking on their own, but with her more mature features and refined disposition, she’s perfect and she’s all Ty Lee’s.

            “I think it’s wonderful.” The new voice is one Ty Lee is still struggling to get used to. She doesn’t like it; it sends chills up and down her spine. Azula is beautiful in her own right, but it doesn’t make her feel hyperaware in a good way the way Mai’s beauty does.

            Azula is dangerous.

            And she’s trying to take Mai away.

            Ty Lee forces down all the darkness and turns around to face the new girl with a bright smile. “You like it too?”

            The firebender grins. “Of course I do. From here, I can see everything that will be mine.”

            The words are bad. Ty Lee has heard enough of Aunt Jet and the others’ worries to know that Azula is dangerous and the country cannot fall into her hands. Zuko must be protected.

            But Azula is confident and pretty and she can be sweet.

            To Mai only, of course. Ty Lee’s chest tightens at the thought of Azula helping the dark girl learn how to write with her right hand instead of her left. There’s a closeness and a lightness there and not for the first time, Ty Lee can’t help but wonder if Mai really does see her as a toy instead of the equal that she is.

            She knows there’s an age gap. Two years is more than any other set of sworn sisters she knows about but this is right because they work—and because Mai is a part of one of the few pureblooded Fire Nation families still around and swearing her to Ty Lee, the confirmed wind dancer, is the best they can do until she grows up.

            But Ty Lee really likes Mai and she can’t help but hope her sworn sister will like her back. Like the way Masuyo pressed a kiss her to lips when she said she would be a lady-in-waiting for the Crown Prince’s betrothed.

            She knows she’s not supposed to like girls that way, but it’s so hard to ignore because it’s Mai. Graceful, elegant, dangerous, beautiful Mai.

            She doesn’t like the way Azula looks at Mai. It’s possessive and it’s never directed at Ty Lee.

            And she really kind of wants it to be.

            Ty Lee sighs and turns back to the sky.

            And then she wakes up.

            Her heart is twisting in her chest. It’s hard to breathe; there’s something burning at her eyes. She scrambles up from her blankets, looking around to make sure everyone else is still asleep. There’s Katara, curled up close to where Zuko fell asleep, but the firebender is absent.

            Of course he is. The sun is peeking over the horizon, turning everything baby blue. Katara will be up soon. But Toph, sprawled out not far from her, will sleep for a while yet.

            She turns toward the closest edge of the tower and runs, flinging herself off the edge. The winds come out and rush around her, welcoming their daughter home to her element. It’s calming, having the freedom to take to the wind when she needs to relax.

            She spins and spins, moving up and down as the strangest bird in the valley before alighting at the edge of a balcony on the tallest tower, grey eyes focused on the sunrise.

            There is hair in her mouth. Without caring if she tears it, she rips out the bindings and starts brushing the braid out with her fingers. It’s too long. It never stays put when she’s using her bending and it tangles like nothing else when she flies. How did the Air Nomads of old keep such long hair?

            “Want some help?” Zuko’s voice breaks the silence gently, not at all like the voice she remembers of Azula.

            “Do you know how to cut it?”

            “I’ve never cut a woman’s hair before, but I can try.” She turns, a questioning look on her face. He just shrugs. “Someone had to cut Uncle’s hair while we were on the run.”

            Makes sense. She nods slowly, watching carefully as he draws the knife from the holster hidden in his boot. “Mai was the last one to cut my hair.”

            She doesn’t mean to say it, but she does. To his credit, he doesn’t look surprised or uncomfortable. He just nods and silently accepts the information before drawing close and taking her hair in hand. “Just a trim?”

            “No,” she says, reaching behind her to place the knife higher up. “Chop it all off.”

            He’s gone tense behind her. It’s understandable. In the Fire Nation, short hair is a sign of dishonour among noblemen and women? They never wear their hair short. At any level of the social ladder. No woman wears her hair shorter than her shoulders unless it’s been cut in dishonour, the way Azula had the hair of the Kyoshi Warriors cut. Even then, it was still cut to just above the shoulder. Never anything shorter. The Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes are the same. Even the Air Nomads of old were like this: long hair is beautiful.

            It’s also a pain in the ass.

            “You sure?” He only asks after a few moments of silence. Ty Lee can imagine what’s going through his mind. The last time he cut anyone’s hair short would have been when he cut off his topknot.

            “I’m sure. To the chin should be fine.” Still long enough to get in her way, but short enough to deal with easily. It’ll be faster to clean and that short, tangles should be few and easy to deal with.

            She feels him tug on her hair a little more, arranging it until it’s ready. “What do you want me to do with your bangs?”

            The strands in question have grown out considerably in the past couple of years. She stopped considering them to be bangs after they got to her shoulders. “I’ll show you when everything’s been cut.”

            It takes a moment, but then she feels the hair on the right side of her face go taut before the knife slices through. Glancing down, she can see some of the locks falling down to the lake below the Temple.

            Farewell, my past. She has to bite her lip to keep from giggling. It’s best if she holds perfectly still while Zuko works. And then she’s hit by a realization. “How long has it been since we spent any time just the two of us?”

            “The last time Toph and Katara went out on a mission together.”

            “Not that time. You were still having trouble with your eye and spent most of your time locked in a bedroom where it was dark.”

            He pauses, the hair just behind her ear held straight. “I don’t know. We never spent much time together, though.”

            No, they really didn’t. She knows why too. Mai kept close to him at Azula’s request and Ty Lee kept close to Azula at Aunt Jet’s request. And the other stuff too.

            Like Masuyo. And Ursa. And just the general fact that Ty Lee tends to stay close to women.

            The knife cuts through her hair once more. Zuko is surprisingly gentle. She remembers when they were young and he was so angry, so full of life and desperation. He’s matured wonderfully into someone capable of being a great leader.

            Not that he likely ever will be. They haven’t been particularly close but Ty Lee’s always been good at reading people—it’s surprising how much Azula let her get away with once she claimed to be able to see auras—and Zuko doesn’t seem like he’s particularly keen to claim the throne any time soon.

            “So you and Mai?” His voice is soft. There’s no sign of any negative emotion in the words, so she assumes he merely wants to know.

            “She never much cared for me.”

            “But you wanted her to love you.”

            This is dangerous ground. She knows she has nothing to fear here; why would she? He is one of the people who have given her the freedom to be herself.

            But this is different.

            It’s one thing to be an airbender in a world where there are supposed to be none. It’s quite another to be a woman who isn’t particularly interested in men. She can like men, she thinks. Maybe. She’s just never really met one she really liked in that way.

            And then there was Mai. Caustic and dry and soft and beautiful and intelligent and maybe just a little wicked. A politician to the core. But even when Masuyo kissed her that one time so long ago, it was never quite the same as when Mai did it.

            This isn’t what a sworn sister is for, not really. There’s supposed to be talking and maybe a little experimentation. But eventually they’re supposed to grow up, get married, have children, and their sisterhood becomes exactly that: familial, nothing else.

            “Yeah, I guess I did.”

            “You’re not alone.”

            “No, we’re not. Mai learnt from the best how to charm.”

            She hears him sigh. “You mean Aunt Zen.”

            “So you knew?”

            “Kind of hard not to. The palace isn’t that big.” He runs the knife through another section of hair. “It took me a few years to fully understand it, but when I did so much made sense.”

            Ty Lee hums in agreement. She remembers her own discovery of Aunt Zen’s hobby. It took her two weeks to look Mai in the eye after that and she never looked at some things the same way again.

            “Can we change the subject?” She turns her head as she speaks and feels the knife slide through whatever lock he’d been holding.

            “Hold still,” he says. “And sure. What do we have that isn’t related to Azula or Mai?”

            “Or the war. No war talk.” It’s her testing today and that’s enough of a reminder of what’s going on because once she passes whatever test has been set up, then she will be considered a master and their focus will shift to reuniting with the Avatar.

            And that means saying goodbye to the life they have here.

            He finally brings the knife around to the last bit of long hair. “Katara wants to stay here permanently.”

            Ty Lee blinks. “But the Avatar—”

            She can feel the air move as he shrugs. “It’s been a long time, Ty. Things change.”

            She’s not quite sure what to make of that. “What do you mean?”

            “You wanted to protect so much when we found you, right?” He’s speaking slower, she notices, but then she feels her hair tugged in an odd direction and realises he’s focusing more on cleaning up the cut than the conversation so she quietly shows him what to do with her bangs.

            “Yes.”

            “And now do you still have those same desires?”

            She opens her mouth to respond, then closes it. She hasn’t quite thought about it that way. The people she wanted to protect the most—herself and the other airbenders—are confirmed safe.

            But the others—like Mai and Azula—they’re different. Mai doesn’t need protecting. If anything, the world needs protecting from Mai.

            Azula was a lost cause at Boiling Rock and her oath to Mai took precedence over whatever relationship she had with the princess. At the same time, a part of her did cut off Azula’s bending to protect the princess from doing something she would inevitably regret because at the end of the day, Azula did actually care about Mai.

            And whatever Mai loved, Ty Lee vowed to protect.

            The way things are now, though, she can still feel the desire to protect. It flared up when she heard about the potential poisoning. It’s just not as strong as it used to be. She hasn’t seen Azula; has no confirmation that any harm is coming to her. The princess is vulnerable. Always has been. Even at her most controlled, Azula is still an emotional being. As calculating as she is, she is not the same kind of politician Mai is. As controlling as she is, she is not the same kind of manipulator Ty Lee has had to be.

            Azula is just a little girl who never grew up.

            And beautiful, mad, unstable Azula is loved by Mai and what Mai loves, Ty Lee protects.

            But it’s been three years and there’s still a bit of terror in her because she hasn’t heard directly from Aunt Jet since Azula and Mai took the throne. And yet the possibility of Azula being poisoned and controlled—and likely by Mai—is another kind of terror.

            Because Ty Lee is Ty Lee and she does not like those she loves in danger.

            But it’s been three years and the desire to protect has been dulled by the movements in her heart. The worry she has for Azula, no matter how much love there is, is more in the it’s-bad-for-the-world-if-there’s-someone-who-can-harm-even-Azula kind of way.

            “It’s not the same.” She admits it softly, almost hoping Zuko doesn’t hear her.

            “Exactly.” He always had has good hearing. “They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but it really doesn’t. After a while, you move on and start to care about more pressing things. Right now, we’re more concerned with Aang doing what he needs to do to ensure victory than we are about his personal safety. The White Lotus will take care of him, so we don’t have to worry so much.”

            The knife moves through her hair one last time and then she hears it slide back into its sheath. She shakes her head experimentally, curious about the way her head feels now. The strands blow into her face, but it’s not as bad as it was.

            This is better.

            She looks down and watches the last of her hair fall off her shoulders and into the wind. Looking back up, she can see the sun peeking over the mountains. It’s time for the day to really begin.

            Ty Lee turns around and hops off the ledge, standing as tall as she can in front of Zuko. Which isn’t much. They’ve both grown in the past couple of years but Zuko is Zuko and he towers over them all. “Thank you.”

            He just kind of shrugs, a maybe smile flickering in his eyes. “Just get to the training field. Katara and Toph are probably up by now.”

            Then she takes off around him, the wind pushing her on, and she feels her element rushing through her hair. Airbending already feels like freedom but this is different. This is the freedom of a new future.

 

.

 

            She’s doing better than he expected at this portion of the test. They’re all exhausted and Ty Lee’s showing signs of slowing down, but she’s still weaving around their attacks and returning the best she can. She’s defeated them all individually; her ingenuity in using everything they’ve taught her displaying a clear advantage to using a blended bending style.

            Since she won’t be encountering anyone else using that style, they’ve mostly stuck to the style of their individual element.

            And now, exhausted as she is, there’s still a chance she could defeat them all at once.

            Zuko is beginning to remember why he had so much trouble catching the Avatar.

            Fire is pretty useless against air.

            It can’t block it the way water and earth can and there’s this nasty tendency of the flames to either die or blow back into his face if he isn’t careful about controlling them just so. And worse, she can turn his bending against him. Fire relies on air to exist. All she has to do is take away the air and his bending will die at his fist.

            He’s starting to wonder exactly how the Fire Nation was able to defeat the Air Nomads. There had to be something else going on if this is what a fire vs. air fight is like.

            Like Ty Lee, he didn’t eat anything this morning. Given the hunger currently gnawing at his stomach and the cramp forming in his leg, he’s probably going to be the first to fall out of the ring. After him, it will probably be Katara. She’s more inclined to use jumps when bending and that gives the airbender an advantage; even if it makes waterbending more maneuverable, it still leaves Katara completely unstable.

            Toph will probably be able to stay in the ring. Ty Lee has only been able to defeat the earthbender with strategy and given that Toph is fully rested and fed and Ty Lee is nearing the end of what she can do, it’s unlikely that Toph will fall.

            Now, if Ty Lee could find a way to unbalance all of them and then blast them all, she might be able to knock them all out of the ring at the same time.

            He leans back, dodging a blast of wind aimed for his chest. He can feel the sun moving through the sky, nearing the end of the designated time period they set aside for testing.

            Just a little bit longer and then this is—

            The ground beneath Ty Lee’s feet is moving. He almost misses it, focusing more on the movement of the airbender herself but sure enough, the space she’s about to step on is shifting.

            And then she steps, her left leg sweeping out from underneath her. She gracefully drops down into a particularly painful position with her legs stretched out in one long straight line. It’s probably meant to destabilize her, but Ty Lee was an acrobat for a long time and a trained assassin for even longer. A movement like that is nothing to her.

            Sure enough, she leans over and twists up onto her hands, holding her legs in the air just long enough to bring them down and sweep the air towards Toph in a particularly strong attack.

            Not that it does much other than create an opening for Katara to slap a whip across Ty Lee’s hand, sending the airbender up on one hand before she bounces back to her feet.

            There.

            He slips down into a familiar position, swinging his leg around to send fire towards Ty Lee’s lower legs while she’s still getting her bearings straight. The flames brush against her, singing the fabric of her pants and then she’s busy blocking another attack from Katara and completely not paying attention to Toph.

            Bad move.

            Seconds later, Ty Lee goes flying out of the ring.

            He relaxes, finally, because now they can go do something about a late lunch and maybe talk about their plans from here on out.

            “Not bad, Snowlion.” Toph is the first to reach their—no, that’s not right. Ty Lee isn’t their student anymore. She’s officially a master, just like them. The last portion of the test was really just a work-out of sorts. The chance of her fighting against three separate elements at once is next to zero.

            The airbender is smiling, dancing her away up to the ring. “Really?”

            “You held out longer than any of us expected.” Katara hops down, slinging an arm across Ty Lee’s shoulders.

            He jumps down, catching up to them easily. “Though you’re probably never going to have to face all three elements at once, so that last bit was probably unfair.”

            “It was actually kind of fun.” She’s grinning widely, a bit of her old bubbly personality seeping through. “Now, lunch?”

            “Please.” He sees Katara’s expression over Ty Lee’s head. It’s somewhere between amusement and weariness. “I’ll help you, if you want.”

            She nods, looking thankful.

            “Hey, guys?” Toph is still in the ring. She points back towards the part of the Temple where their rooms are, blank eyes staring over their heads. “I’ve got to go get something, so I’ll meet you in the kitchens.”

            As she disappears into the depths of the Temple behind them, Ty Lee wraps her arms around his and Katara’s waists and begins leading them towards the kitchens. “So, food.”

            “What do you want?” Katara is smiling, actually looking happy.

            He can’t remember the last time he saw her really happy.

            “My choice?” Ty Lee almost bounces with excitement. “What do we have out of the gardens right now?”

            “Eggplant, some herbs, a few chilies.”

            The airbender lights up. “Pad kaprow!”

            He stays silent as the two women talk about lunch. It’s rather amazing how things have changed in the last three years. The chi-blocker is an airbender and now has healthier friendships with a waterbender and an earthbender than she ever did with those left behind. Ty Lee has calmed down some. She’s still a bright, bubbly personality. It’s just been tempered with something.

            Then again, it’s more than likely that she was a neurotic mess trying to hide her bending and this is just who she really is now that she doesn’t have to worry.

            And she’s a master now, which means they have to rework their entire plan. They put off her testing for a long time. She’s properly been a master for a long while now; it was just the formal recognition they held off on because it meant facing the impossible choice: go back or stay away?
            When they reach the kitchens, Ty Lee detangles herself from them and skips off to the cold frames where the kitchen herbs are kept. Katara hangs back only for a moment before moving over to wash her hands. He follows, lighting the stove as he passes.

            “Thanks.” She works her way around him, slicing the vegetables Ty Lee brings her.

            He evaporates the water lingering on his hands and finds a place to help with the cooking. Beside him, Katara is more relaxed than she’s been in a while.

            “Okay, Snowlion.” Toph’s voice breaks the easy silence as she comes rushing into the room. “We’ve got something for you.”

            Ty Lee doesn’t move from where’s she’s perched on the counter, instead waiting for Toph to reach her. Zuko can see the glinting metal in the earthbender’s hands before she hands the objects to the new master.

            “What are they?”

            Toph grins. “Avatar Kyoshi used them for her airbending. They’re not exactly like those of the Kyoshi Warriors, but I did get a good enough feel of Suki’s to come up with something close enough.”

            The airbender opens the fans, glancing over them and slowly working the wind with them. Then she grins and jumps off the counter, wrapping Toph up in her arms. “Thank you! They’re perfect!”

            “Where did she get the metal for those?” Katara asks softly.

            “The last mission she and I did together.” He turns away from their companions and focuses on the peppers in front of him. “It was at one of the northern trading ports in the Earth Kingdom. We were asked to sink a merchant ship from the Fire Nation. When we did, she took some of the metal from the ship, said it was some of the strongest she’d ever encountered and would make good fans for Ty Lee.”

            He keeps quiet about the other thing taken from that ship, the thing he picked up when he was working his way through the interior of the ship so he could find the engine room to set fire to the right things.

            It’s still sitting heavy in his pocket, kept close to his heart at all times because he does not want Katara finding it until it’s finished. She’s spent three years without her necklace and he does actually know what such a necklace means. It’s for the best if he keeps the new one hidden until everything is settled and the war is over and then he can explain that it is nothing more than a replacement for the one she lost.

            Except it doesn’t feel right every time he sits down to sketch the old pattern. There’s just something that doesn’t fit about it anymore. The last time he sat down to work out a pattern, he ended up drawing the symbols of the ancient goddesses Uncle Iroh used to tell stories about.

            Looking back at her, he can see her chewing on her bottom lip, brow furrowed as she keeps a close watch on the pan. “Strong metal on a northern merchant ship? Like the kind to build icebreakers?”

            Zuko busies himself finding the tea kettle and filling it with water. He’d been hoping Katara wouldn’t put that together, but there likely was some mission of hers that would have brought her near the truth.

            “Zuko?”

            He sighs. “I only found out when Jetsun asked us to sink that ship. I don’t think it’s a military treaty.”

            She just nods and puts the finishing touches on the food before dishing it out onto individual plates. “That’s all I wanted to know.”

            He could stop her and have this conversation here and now, in front of Ty Lee and Toph, but he doesn’t. Whatever happiness Katara was feeling has been replaced by something different. It’s not anger or anything like that. It’s almost like—acceptance?

            He just stays quiet and hangs back, waiting on the tea while she sets the table and gets the others rounded up. The teakettle begins to whistle. He flicks his wrist, vanishing the flames. What is Ty Lee’s favourite tea again? Toph likes Oolong and Katara prefers Jasmine, but Ty Lee likes that green tea with the mint and lemongrass that Elder Sora gave them the last time they were in Taku, right?

            It’s not the best match for the food, but it this is for Ty Lee, so he gathers the tea and a pot and cups, fixing everything before taking it over to the table. He sits down next to Katara, who takes the cups from him and passes them around.

            Lunch passes in relative comfort and it isn’t until the food has been cleared away and the tea has been replaced in the pot that the reports are brought in and stacked in the middle of the table.

            Toph grins wryly. “Welcome to being a master, Snowlion.”

            Ty Lee, for her part, doesn’t look as overwhelmed as she could be. She’s already seen all of the reports from the Air Nomads. It’s the reports from the Guru that she’s been kept from. And now she’s faced with three years of them, the most recent sitting on top.

            “The Avatar isn’t ready for us, is he?” It's all she says and it’s then that he remembers that she was with Toph when they went to visit the Guru back when all of this started. And quietly, they tell her the story of how they all came to be the Avatar’s masters. By the end of it, she just has this look. “This is why we never came out to him.”

            It takes him a moment to realise she’s talking about the Air Nomads. “You knew what was going on?”

            She shrugs. “Some. He’s met with Guru Pathik and Elders Wu and Sora, as well as a few others within the community. Stories spread. Especially the one with the sandbenders. There was an execution over how the bison was treated in that incident.”

            Toph curses next to her. “That’s why I couldn’t figure out how to do some of what they were doing. Some of the little bastards are airbenders, not earthbenders.”

            “How did Aang not notice?” Katara has her hands over her mouth.

            “Because he didn’t want to.” Zuko knows this pattern. It’s what landed him in so much trouble with Azula time after time. Humans have this astounding ability to blind themselves to the truth.

            Which means Aang’s condition is potentially worse than they expected. If Air Nomads have used airbending in front of him and he didn’t recognise it, then there’s something deeper to his refusal to properly master the Avatar State.

            And Ty Lee has been holding out on them.

            “So we can’t go back.” Ty Lee pulls the conversation back on track, taking the top report off the stack. “He’s still mourning. That’s not normal.”

            “Aang lost his entire civilization and then lost the closest thing to family he’s had since.” Katara speaks carefully, refilling the teacups around the table. “That’s not something you get over easily.”

            “No, but normal people would at least be moving on by now,” Toph says. “Especially if they have something like a war to win. The safety of the world takes precedence over personal issues.”

            “Especially if you’re the Avatar,” Katara says. “What do we do if he completely fails?”

            It’s Ty Lee who offers up the suggestion. “We do what he won’t. That’s what the Guru said, isn’t it? That Katara is supposed to fix things if the Avatar can’t do his job.”

            “Only with you guys there to help,” the waterbender answers.

            He shrugs. “Theoretically, four master benders working in perfect harmony should be able to come close to matching the Avatar’s abilities. We just don’t have the Avatar State and a few extras he gets because he’s a spirit in human form.”

            They lapse into silence until Toph speaks up. “We’re not seriously considering this, are we?”

            “The four of us know Azula better than anyone and between Ty Lee and me, we can probably come up with more about the Fire Nation.” He’s fairly certain of that. Uncle knows a lot, but even he can’t know the things Ty Lee knows because the assassin clans always know more than everyone and Zuko has spent the last three years running around the Fire Nation behind Azula’s back. Uncle and the rest of the White Lotus have been based in the eastern Earth Kingdom for the past few years. Whatever information their Fire Nation members can give them, it’s probably outdated.

            “If we did this, what would our plan be?” Katara finally looks at him, blue eyes filled with determination. She’s serious about doing this.

            “We go ahead with the final attack on the communications system and then we enlist the more morally questionable members of the Air Nomads to help us with a blitz attack on the major military centers. We can contact the Water Tribes if we need to, I’m sure they’ll help us given what’s coming.” In his mind, he’s already drawing up a list of the things they’ll need to do to truly cripple the military because he knows Azula and he knows Mai. He and Ty Lee can undoubtedly out-maneuver them using their own logic. Each of the current monarchs has their own quirks with commands.

            “Can your Aunt call in some favours to get us as much information as absolutely possible?” Toph asks the airbender. “We’re going to need to move our base of operations to the Fire Nation too.”

            “No,” Katara says. “The next attack is aimed at the Water Tribes. They’re going to keep their major operations in the Earth Kingdom.”

            Silence again. None of them want to acknowledge what they’re actually going to be doing and Ty Lee, the only one not emotionally invested in this, probably doesn’t know how to address this.

            But someone has to say it, so he speaks up. “So we go on with the war under the presumption that Avatar Aang will not be a major player and that the White Lotus will not be there to provide help with any battles.”

            And slowly, the three young women sitting with him nod in agreement.

 

.

 

            Katara sighs, listening to the sound of Toph stomp away. She hadn’t come out here looking for an argument with the earthbender. They did genuinely need to talk. It’s been a while since they’ve ever really had the time to talk to each other, just the two of them. But that did not go as planned.

            Really, though, she probably should have expected it. Toph maybe be the great Toph Bei Fong, Blind Bandit and Earthbending Master of the Avatar, but she’s still a fifteen-year-old earthbender. They like certainty and stability.

            Right now, nothing is certain or stable.

            She hears a low sound beside her just before a white paw presses down on her leg. A second paw comes up and bats at her cheek, trying to catch her attention. She smiles softly, reaching for the lemur-cat’s ears. This one is one she usually sees around Zuko; a small female with dark brown ears and tail with light brown spots across her back. She’s one of the more vicious lemur-cats at night but at day, like this, she’s one of the sweetest.

            The lemur-cat eventually steps all the way into her lap and curls up to sleep. Katara leans back against the wall. She’s sitting on a wide ledge overlooking the smaller waterfalls behind the Temple, just beneath one of the windows. Given where it’s located, it was probably meant to hold potted plants.

It took a long time to find the records about the Temple’s construction, but now she knows that it was specifically built here because the valley could easily be flooded with the water-filled caverns in the mountains around it should the Fire Nation find this place. That’s a bit extreme, but this was built by people who saw the destruction of the other Air Temples first-hand.

            It makes sense. The village she grew up in was constructed in much the same way. They could easily leave it if there was another raid; the only reason they didn’t run at the sight of the black snow the last time is because they knew enough about the Southern Raiders to know what a battleship is like. There wasn’t enough soot for more than a small ship and sure enough, it was just Zuko.

            She’s beginning to forget what it felt like living in that small village, surrounded by people who look like her.

            When was the last time she actually sat and thought about Sokka and Dad and Gran Gran? Too long, really. She has no real reason to stop and think about them anymore. It’s been three years since she last saw her brother and her father and it’s been four since she last saw her grandmother. That’s a long time, especially since she’s spent the times in between worrying about Aang and Toph and Zuko and Ty Lee and the war and the world.

            And now that the end is maybe in sight, she’s more lost than ever.

            Katara feels his heart flickering on the edges of her senses before she hears his footsteps. She closes her eyes, sinking her consciousness into the feel of his chi. It’s warm and comforting, something steady to hold on to.

            Zuko is nearly nineteen, though. It’s expected that he would have his life together more than the rest of them. He’s the grown up among them.

            “Did you talk to Toph?” She asks him quietly, doing her best to not wake the sleeping lemur-cat.

            He climbs down from the window and settles down beside her. “No, but Ty Lee went after her. What did you say to her?”
            “I couldn’t answer her questions.”

            “About?”

            “What comes after the war.”

            “That’s a good question.”

            The lemur-cat chooses then to wake up, standing up and stretching. Claws sink into Katara’s leg, but she ignores it until the lemur-cat prances off. She shrugs, pulling her blood to heal the wounds. It’s an unconscious action, but she’s aware of his attention to it.

            Here they go again.

            “I don’t know what I want to do,” she says. “I know I want to see the world without the war, but at the same time, I don’t think I know how to live without the war.”

            “I don’t think any of us do. Ty Lee and I are like you. We’ve lived in the war all our lives and Toph only knew the Earth Rumble and her parents prior to joining the war. None of us have any idea of what peace is like.”

            “Isn’t it like this?” She hopes he knows what she’s referring to because even she’s not sure of it. Is it the Temple of the Winds and the easy balance they’ve created or is it the mere serenity of the coming twilight?

            He reaches up and brushes a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “Someone once told me that peace is what you make it.”

            “Uncle Iroh?”

            “Cousin Lu Ten.” The correction is quiet. When she turns to face him, he’s focused on the waifish remains of the great waterfall above them.

            She’s never heard him talk about his cousin before. Ty Lee mentioned him once, in passing, when they were doing the laundry and the airbender had decided to give one of her rare talks about Azula. “What was he like?”

            “Like his father,” he says, looking away from the water. “He should never have been a soldier, not while my father got to stay safely behind in the Fire Nation.”

            Katara has no idea which man he’s talking about and she doesn’t press for details. Instead, she leans against him. “What do you want to do when this is over?”

            “Assuming we survive?”

            “And assuming we succeed in defeating the Fire Nation.”

            He adjusts his position, pulling her into a more comfortable position. It’s a more intimate position too, with his arm around her and her body curled up against his. She says nothing about it, though, just relaxes into it. He takes a deep breath before saying, “I don’t know.”

            “It’s strange isn’t it? The last time we were facing the end, it was all we could do to stay on task. Now it’s like none of us want this to end.”

            “We were young back then.”

            “We’re still young, Zuko.”

            He says nothing. She gets it. They’re not really young anymore. Seventeen and almost-nineteen are very young indeed, but after a lifetime of war, that youth becomes old.

            Neither one was ever really a child. Nor were Ty Lee and Toph. They are children of conflict; raised in isolation and death and destruction and fear and sorrow. It’s not exactly the best upbringing to encourage healthy relationships.

            This thing that they have is complicated and uncomplicated at the same time. They work. It’s not love and it’s not romantic, but it is what matters. It’s companionship and partnership and trust. Not complicated in the slightest and she actually quite likes their lack of definition. There’s a freedom here.

            But out there? Out there, people will demand a label and they will demand this to end. He will be taken and put on the throne, either immediately or after Iroh decides things are stable enough to step down. He’ll marry a noblewoman. Probably not Mai, not after this incident with Azula, but if anything that’s even worse. It’s one thing being in an arranged marriage with someone known. It’s another to be in one with a stranger.

            And then there’s her life. If they’re forced to leave this place by pressure from the outside, then she’ll likely be taken back to the South Pole and who knows what might happen. She could get backed into marrying Aang, though that’s looking less and less likely as the years wear on—she’s grown up to be someone completely incompatible with someone like Aang.

            Which means she’s looking at a future a lot like Hama’s. Alone and bitter and powerful and maybe a little bit mad, watching the world move on without her.

            “I don’t want to leave.”

            He shifts beneath her. “The Temple? You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

            “No, not that,” she says. “Well, no. I don’t want to leave the Temple, but I mean after the war. Who says we have to go back?”

            “I’m a prince, Toph’s an heiress, Ty Lee’s probably being set up to take over from Jetsun, and you’re technically a princess.”

            She sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. “No, I mean the world thinks we’re dead. Who says they have to know we’re still alive?”

            “They’ll find out eventually.”

            “Not necessarily. If they never see us, then won’t there just be rumours?”

            There’s a fluctuation in his chi, the kind she’s seen when he’s unsure of how to respond. She moves a little, shifting so her ear isn’t pressed against his chest so close to his heart. The still-falling twilight is stunning when the golden light dances off the water. It’s a good distraction.

            “You want to become a legend?” He sounds careful, like Sokka right before something bad happens.

            Her heart twists a little at the thought of her brother. “Not really, but if that’s what it takes to find peace, then so be it.”

            “Maybe. No one would recognise us now.”

            “Exactly.”

            What would Sokka say if he could see them now? She’s dressed like him, like a Southern Warrior and her hair is tied up much like Zuko’s, in the high tail typical among boys. She doesn’t smile much anymore and she’s killed more than she cares to think about.

            She doesn’t like to think about the future. Three years ago, she would have said she wanted to go and rebuild the Southern Water Tribe and then settle down and have a family and teach waterbending but now?

            Now she just wants the war to end and to find somewhere quiet and peaceful to disappear. Yes, she wants to teach because she’s given her word to help train airbenders and it would be nice to help war orphans of all elements and this valley is the perfect peaceful place to stay.

            But rebuilding the Southern Water Tribe?

            She’s going to be lucky if Sokka’s willing to talk to her after abandoning him for three years and because she turned her back on her brother, chances are the tribe won’t welcome her back as one of their own.

            Maybe that’s why she feels so disconnected. She’s effectively disowned, even if no one knows it yet. She has no family that will recognise her as their own. She should have known better. She did know better at the time. Abandonment is a serious crime in the Southern Water Tribe. The only way she’ll ever be welcomed back is if she goes back as a representative of another nation and even then, it won’t be the warmest of welcomes.

            She just wants her life to really feel like hers, without the war.

            Is that even possible at this point?

            Her chest tightens painfully, her breath coming short. The memories are just below the surface of her mind. All she has to do is make one wrong thought and everything—the isolation as a child, the fear of her bending, the last firebender of the South, Yon Rha, Aang, Azula, everything—will come crashing back and she doesn’t want that to happen.

            It’s come close to happening and that time, she nearly pulled her hair out and killed half the plants in one of the small flower gardens.

            Thinking isn’t a good thing right now.

            Warmth surrounds her and she feels Zuko’s arms tightening around her, his body temperature raising just enough to be noticeable. She shifts, returning to the position where she could hear his heart the clearest. At the top of her head, a kiss is pressed.

            This is why she doesn’t want to disrupt the balance here. There are no labels and there is no need for words. Everyone just gets it, even if Toph is being difficult. She’s the youngest one here, eventually she’ll get it.

            “This is good,” she says softly. “Can’t we just stay like this?”

            He says nothing, merely holds her a little closer.

 

.

           

            Is it really so bad to want a proper plan? All she wants to know is something definitive on Aang because it just doesn’t sit right to leave so much up to the spirits. That’s the way of the other elements, not her earth.

            Earth is certainty and stability. Water is change and restlessness. Air is uncertainty and recklessness. Fire is instability and inconsistency.

            Toph spins on her heel, running a hand through her hair. She understands why they don’t have a plan; Aang’s condition could change at any moment and right now, the whole world could change at any moment and yes, she understands that the world comes before personal issues and that that’s especially true if the someone personal is a spirit in human form.

            It’s just that Aang is a fifteen-year-old kid, just like her and this war is bigger than either of them.

            And she promised herself no regrets, so she takes a deep breath and focuses on the world beneath her feet. She’s in one of the grassy courtyards, where the soil is loose enough to dig her toes into the dirt. It’s comforting and she falls backwards onto the grass. The earth hums through her bones, steady and alive.

            Did she teach Aang to do this? She knows she taught him to listen to the earth but did that blasted airbender ever actually get it?

            Bumi will probably fix that. Maybe Aang will actually listen to the mad king.

            Because as much as he listened to them, there was still a sort of disconnect because they were learning alongside him. They were teachers and students, and even though they were his masters, they had little authority outside of bending practice.

            That’s what it was, after all. The little bastard already knew how to bend. He just needed to be reminded because the Avatar Spirit has a cycle that it likes to keep.

            Damn the spirits, every last one.

            She takes a deep breath, closing her eyes and focusing. There are five lemur-cats nearby: one to her left in the courtyard with her, two in the hallway just beyond her feet, and the other two are playing near the tree to her right. If she stretches, she can feel the bison in the stable and Zuko and Katara are on the very edges of her senses, at the far end of the Temple.

            Some of her anger fades at the dim image their vibrations create. Going back to Aang would mean destroying that and whatever it is that they have is bringing them some amount of peace.

            But at the same time, it’s Twinkletoes.

            She draws her senses in to where her heart is beating in sync with her element. Holding it there for a moment, she lets her zone of sense expand with every heartbeat until it’s at the edge of the courtyard and she can feel Snowlion’s vibrations.

            “Hello, Snow. Care to join me?”

            The airbender makes a movement that feels like a nod before gliding over to where Toph has sprawled out on the grass. That’s always irritated her about airbenders. It’s part of why she calls Aang ‘Twinkletoes’. Airbenders don’t walk or stride or stalk or any of that. They glide and it’s just annoying.

            The vibrations for gliding don’t feel real when compared to other forms of movement. It’s unnerving.

            And then Snow has spread out beside her, head next to hers and body lain out in the opposite direction. “Want to talk?”

            “About what?”

            “Avatar Aang.”

            “Not really,” she says. But then she’s thinking about those sandbenders/airbenders and Appa and the Earth Rumble and home and everything and it’s a little hard to breathe because there is just too much feeling that needs to get out. “Okay, maybe I do.”

            “You just don’t know where to start.” Snow sounds abnormally somber. It’s rare for her to be the mature one, but she’s a master now so maybe that’s changed something in her. Ty Lee’s vibrations show her careful breathing and the odd beat to her heart. Toph has encountered that beat before. It’s when someone doesn’t want to talk about something, but knows they need to. Toph herself probably has that same vibration.

            “My parents never acknowledged my existence for the first twelve years of my life.” She might as well start this, though she has no idea how that’s going to fit into the real issue at hand.

            Snow takes a shaky breath. “The first time Azula ever kissed me, Ba Sing Se had just fallen.”

            So that’s how this is going to go. She can work with this. This is harmless enough. This is distraction.

            “I’m allergic to most nuts.”

            “I don’t really like sweets, but Mai does, so I pretend to.”

            “I had a crush on Sokka until I realized that Suki is so much more fun and neither one will ever look at me because they’re too busy with each other.”

            “My first kiss was with Zuko’s first fiancée. She promised me the position of her most trusted companion and then a year later, she was assassinated.”

            Toph takes a deep breath. “I abandoned the first person to ever offer me real freedom and I don’t regret it.”

            Snow doesn’t respond and the sounds of the coming night fill the void.

            What is there to say? She just admitted to leaving Twinkletoes and not feeling bad about it and that is what’s making her feel like curling up and hiding from the world. For the past three years, she’s been trying to figure out what exactly isn’t sitting right with her about this whole situation.

            It’s not the running away part. She is the Runaway, after all. If it suits her purposes, she’s completely okay with leaving.

            It’s just that, in this case, she doesn’t feel bad about it. Even when she left home, there was still a part of her—is still a part of her—that missed her parents and there was an acknowledgement of what she did to them.

            With this, though, there’s nothing.

            Maybe it’s because Twinkletoes is safe and alive, even if the idiot isn’t doing what he should be. There was never that guarantee of safety for her parents, not with the war and their position in society.

            “Isn’t that what freedom is?” Snowlion is quiet, for once. “That first offer of freedom is just a springboard. You paid him back for that by teaching him earthbending. Once he mastered that, your duty was done and you were free to do what you wanted.”

            “Is that what’s going to happen to you?”

            “No, it won’t. I like it here. So if you don’t mind, I want to stay.”

            “Even after?”

            “Even after.”
            The war is going to end soon. Summer is approaching and the last possible day to end this is the first day of winter because that night, all will be lost if the Fire Nation can’t be defeated before then. Even if they lose, there’s still a chance to regroup and rebuild with the other Air Nomads but they will never be able to defeat the Fire Nation. They’ll just have to join the Nomads in hiding and hope for the best.

            But that’s from her perspective. She has no concept of what Katara refers to as ‘race’. She doesn’t understand what’s meant when they say no one can pass for a tribesman. And that brings to mind a bigger question: can the world actually survive without one nation?

            Because assuming that the Water Tribes fall, the only waterbenders left in the world would be Katara and those in the Foggy Swamp and how long before they fall? She’s been told they’re well protected by the swamp, but the Air Nomads were well protected high in the mountains and the Water Tribes are well protected in their ice and the Earth Kingdom has always been protected, surrounded by their own element.

            And yet they’ve all still lost to the Fire Nation.

            If they lose, they’ll spend the rest of their lives in hiding and hope they can see the end of their lives naturally. They likely won’t live to see the downfall of the Fire Nation.

            If they win, then that brings up even more complicated things.

            There are things in Gaoling she needs to settle, because she doesn’t want to go back there permanently. Like Snow, she wants to stay here. It’s not so much the Temple itself as it is the people here.

            But if they win the war, the people here might not be able to stay.

            Because Aang will eventually find out or the White Lotus will or Snoozles will or somehow, someway, their secrets will get out and then they’ll have to answer for what they’ve done.

            “Do you regret leaving Azula and Mai?” She’ll be respectful this once, so long as it gets Ty Lee to answer her.

            “Not really,” Snow says. “I regret how it happened. I never wanted to hurt either one and I didn’t want to expose my people. But it happened and I’d like to think it’s worked out for the best. I still miss them, but it’s more for the things that were lost long before Boiling Rock.”

            “Like?”

            “Azula actually was fairly sweet if you got her away from Ozai and the rest of the court. She was a perfectionist and she was cruel, but if you had even a small amount of her trust, she would be helpful if no one was looking.”

            Toph bites down on some laughter. “I have trouble with that.”

            The earth gives her the sense that Snow is shrugging. “A lot of times, her cruelty was really helpful. When I was trying to learn how to do basic gymnastics, she taunted me and in the end, I’m better than her.”

            “That sounds like you’re trying to justify her actions.”

            “Maybe I am. Maybe I want the Azula who shared her chocolates with us and who gave us flowers when no one was looking to be the only Azula in my memory. Maybe I don’t want to remember the Azula who set my net on fire or who tried to kill us. Is that so wrong?”

            Toph almost responds, then remembers everything about Aang that made her furious. Not the flighty cowardice but the other stuff. The stuff where he looked down on everything he didn’t perceive as right, even though he was a twelve-year-old kid who belonged to different world.

            It’s the part where Aang had a tendency to think he was always right, even when he wasn’t. He expected humans to be this good thing when really, humans are pretty terrible. Even the Air Nomads of old were human. There are clearly a few things missing from his education.

            But it’s still Twinkletoes. And that’s who she wants to remember, even if she only knew him for about half a year. It’s the child she wants to remember. That’s how he’s always going to be to her, she thinks. Even if she meets him again, now that they’re fifteen, she’s probably not going to be able recognise him as anything other than the twelve-year-old kid who learnt how to earthbend and made her heart swell with pride.

            He’s the kid who made her realise she wants to be a teacher.

            There’s a lot she wouldn’t know without him. There’s a lot of earth she would never have walked if not for him. And that’s not even going into the mere fact that he taught her to not back down.

            Strange, how it would be the boy who can’t keep his feet on the ground to teach her how to really stand her ground.

            “No, there’s nothing wrong with that,” Toph says.

            Ty Lee says, “Remember those you love however is best to help you move on, be it the bad or the good.”

            “Is that one of Uncle Iroh’s?”

            Snowlion is quiet for a moment. “No, that one is all Mai.”

            “Can you tell me about her?”

            “Maybe some other day,” Snow says. “Can you tell me a story about the Avatar?”

            Toph blinks. That wasn’t quite what she expected, but then again, Snowlion is an airbender and she’s beginning to think unpredictability is engraved on their bones.

            So she takes a deep breath, bringing in the scent of grass and dirt and water and something uniquely Snowlion. There will be time later to talk about Snow’s memories. Right now, though, she supposes she can talk about Twinkletoes.

            “Well, did I ever tell you how I actually met him? It was the Earth Rumble VI, and I was the reigning champion…”

Notes:

So my normal computer got struck by lightning. Theorhetically, it can be fixed, but I live a few hours away from the closest Mac repair shop. About five to eight hours away, to be exact. Not exactly an easy trip to make.

As a result, Oberon is currently not available. Which means all of my files are unavailable because I didn't have the time (the battery was only partially charged when the lightning hit) to pull every file I needed. I focused on the completed stuff only, since that was my major concern. In my defense, my only copy of the only completed original novel I have is on that computer. Getting a second copy onto something else was a bigger priority and storage options are limited when one shares a home with an English professor. And getting second copies of the two completed novellas and various short stories were also at the top of my to-do list, alongside making sure the damage was minimal.

In short, fanfiction was not my main concern.

So none of my fanfiction files are available on this computer. I got very lucky in that the friend I'm writing this series for, as well as a couple of other friends who have helped out, had copies of files. Like this chapter and the incomplete chapter thirteen. And an (outdated) outline and the master timeline for the entire dynasty series.

In short, I will be actively writing again. Since this is the only completed upcoming chapter right now, updates may be a little slow--real life is kind of a bitch like that--but I will be doing my best to get this back on track.

In other news, I was not completely useless in my time off. I got a start on "touch the sky". I think I've mentioned it here before. It's about the original Air Nomads who survived the genocide. I'll probably be posting it sometime soon on a bi-weekly schedule (as in one chapter every two weeks). Probably.

Now, a few notes on this chapter:

So here is where the plot really begins. Because this is part one in a five-part series (not counting the character-/group-centric fics), most of this is really just setting up the main plot of the series. So while some parts of the plot may seem a little odd or unusual, they have their place in later events. And most of this isn’t supposed to be logical. The characters are teenagers in a war. Neither teens nor war are logical.

On the ages, Mai is listed as fifteen as of ATLA, but nothing is ever really said about people’s birthdays, so she gets a really early birthday vs. Ty Lee’s relatively late birthday (Ty Lee is in November in this and I’m thinking Mai suits a February birthday—I’m only sticking to the season/element correlation with benders), thus creating an age difference closer to two years than one.

As of completion of this chapter, we are only one chapter away from the return of Aang. Next chapter, we meet up with Suki. And a note on the food, the dish Ty Lee requests is a Thai dish known in English as Stir-fried Eggplant with Holy Basil. I got it out of a cookbook known as Buddha’s Table.

 

Thank you all for being patient and I am so very sorry about the wait. This chapter is probably a little rough, but I hope you liked it.

Chapter 13: torches burn blue

            Taku in autumn is one of the most beautiful sights Katara has ever seen. It’s peaceful and calm, with heavy rainclouds caressing the mountaintops and a lazy feeling seeping throughout the forest. They’re just outside of the ruins and given previous trips, Elder Sora won’t be up for another few hours, giving them plenty of time to relax before getting back to work.

            She’s perched above the river where she first spoke to Yue three years ago. Out here, it’s wild and doesn’t seem to have much regard for its banks. Zuko is off meditating somewhere amongst the trees and Pana has drifted off to graze, leaving her by herself.

            Which is okay.

            They’ve been going out on missions almost non-stop for the past couple of weeks. The constant travelling is both nostalgic and tiring now that she has a bed back at the Temple to call her own. She misses sleeping on a proper bed and being sure of her next meal.

            She misses being home.

            Katara sighs and takes the sword from her hip. While she has some downtime, she might as well make sure it’s sharp. Running a hand along the blade, she carefully examines the metal for any damage. Finding none, she reaches for the whetstone Zuko gave her last winter. The sound it makes against the blade is both chilling and comforting.

            Does Sokka do this for his weapons? Surely he must. Even if he never recovered that space sword, there’s still the boomerang and the other various Water Tribe weapons he always carried. Every one has some kind of blade on it and a blade has to be taken care of.

            She brings water up from the river, carefully bending it to clean the weapon across her lap. This sword is of Fire Nation origin. Ty Lee brought it back for her after a mission the airbender and Zuko took together about two years ago.  And then Zuko spent all of his downtime teaching her how to use it.

            Who knew waterbending was so compatible with weapons?

            Hama mentioned it once, long ago, that Southern waterbenders typically used a short sword when they fought. But in the North, she couldn’t remember any weaponry being used by the waterbenders. There may have been spears given to the soldiers during the Siege, but there was nothing about weapons in Master Pakku’s instructions.

            Then again, the North had a treaty protecting them. They had no reason to emphasize offense during the war.

            The whetstone comes down a little harder than necessary on the blade. She lifts up her weapon, checking it to make sure there is no damage before putting the whetstone away and returning the sword to its scabbard.

            The Northern Water Tribe is going to be interesting in the coming months. No one is quite sure of what their exact treaty with the Fire Nation is, but the rumours are that they had a treaty that granted fishing rights to the Fire Nation and gave a promise that a North-born Avatar would be turned over to the Fire Lord.

            Elder Kunthea was rather helpful with that bit of information.

            The problem with it is that there is apparently a new treaty, one that fosters a more intimate relationship between the nations and there’s no guarantee the North will take the threat seriously if they go and explain what’s coming this winter.

            She sighs, standing up and pulling her clothes off before jumping in the water. Thinking about the Northern Tribe just makes her furious. The cold water of the river is somewhat calming. It’s tempting to meditate and try to talk to Yue, though she doubts it would work at day and during a waning moon.

            It’s just that they went to the Northern Tribe and were treated as backwoods peasants, which suggests the North knew what was happening in the South. Which suggests they knew that Katara is the first waterbender born to the Southern Tribe in over fifty years.

            And still they initially refused to train her. It wasn’t until Master Pakku made the call to train her that they got anywhere and as far as she could tell, it was completely Master Pakku’s decision to go south. The ruling class of the Northern Tribe didn’t seem to have any control of that situation.

            When Master Pakku left, no one commented on the fact that all of those who went with him were the peasants of the north.

            But still.

            Chief Arnook looked her and Sokka both in the eye and didn’t even acknowledge that the Southern Tribe was close to death.

            Abandonment must not mean the same thing in the North as it means in the South.

            She slips beneath the water, pulling the tie from her hair. She sinks down to the bottom of the river. Her element rushes around her, washing away the stress. It doesn’t do much, though.

            Because the Southern Tribe views abandonment so severely, Katara will likely be ignored by her birth tribe for the rest of her life. But for the Northern Tribe, it will be more severe. This treaty, if it truly exists, could cause a civil war. The Northern families who went south with Master Pakku will not be welcomed any longer and the South will refuse all aid from the North.

Which would offend the North and politically, it’s going to get ugly.

            She surfaces, looking upriver towards the ruins. How many other cities in the Earth Kingdom have been heavily affected by the Fire Nation? Do any of them have treaties to protect them from the ruin of their sisters?

            What’s going to happen when the war ends? If they succeed and defeat the Fire Nation, the world is going to be in shambles. They will be incredibly luck if there isn’t a civil war somewhere in the world within the first couple of years.

            Not that it’s going to happen. The colonies in the Earth Kingdom are going to be a mess when this is over. There are firebenders and earthbenders living in the same families and no one is entirely sure which nation they really belong to.

            Idly, she plays with the river’s surface, creating and destroying tiny models of the areas most likely to fall into chaos once the war ends. In the time between their missions, this is what they’ve been doing. She and Ty Lee have been working on a system to create temporary Air Nomad sanctuaries in all of the hotspots until things settle and the Temples can be reopened. Toph and Zuko have been talking law enforcement in disputed territories.

            And all the while, they’ve been going out and blowing up military bases and sinking ships and gathering information. Now that they aren’t waiting on Aang and the White Lotus, they’re getting a lot more work done.

            And quite a few of the younger Air Nomads, who aren’t nearly as pacifistic as the elders, have been volunteering and taking over some of the smaller missions. Much to Toph’s chagrin, the sandbenders have been the most helpful.

            The final battle is coming and it likely won’t be a battle at all. Just as she outsmarted Azula during Sozin’s Comet, it’s looking like they’ll be outsmarting her this time around.

            She hears the rocks slide behind her and turns to catch sight of Zuko climbing down towards the water. “Is there trouble?”

            “There’s a storm rolling in.” He stops just above the water line. She looks below his feet at the slowly crumpling ground. Zuko is slender, but he’s not exactly small. That bank isn’t going to hold him.

            “Do you want to go on to the ruins or stay out here?”

            “The supplies we’re here for, do they grow in greenhouses?”

            She shakes her head. “In this climate, they’ll do better outside.”
            “Then let’s not go to the top of a tall mountain in a thunderstorm.”

            “I’ll set up a shelter then.” She turns away from him, lifting her hair up. “Can you toss me my comb? It’s in with my spare clothes.”

            There’s a rustling sound as he goes through her pack. She raises a wall of water to catch the comb, drawing it towards her. It slides into her hair easily, holding the mess up and away from her shoulders.

            “Aren’t you going to come out?”

            “Is there lightning yet?”

            “Well, no.” He’s speaking tentatively. Turning slightly, she can see him examining the unstable ground beneath him.

            They’ve been either plotting or working every waking moment for over half a month. A little bit of time to relax without sparring or fighting in any way, shape, or form might do them some good.

            Who knows when they’ll next get to rest?

            Beneath the surface of the river, she pushes the water into the ground beneath him, pulling dirt away and severely weakening the already fragile ground.

            There’s a moment in which there is no noise but the rush of the river and the sounds of the coming storm. 

            And then there’s a splash.

            He comes up with steam rolling off of him. “That was unnecessary.”

            “It was completely necessary.” She pushes the water between them, drifting over to the other side of the river. “You’ve been talking about the potential for a war crimes commission and riots and everything else since we made the choice to do this on our own. When was the last time you did something that wasn’t related to the war?”

            Zuko does not look amused, but he still strips off his shirt and pulls his shoes up from beneath the water, tossing all of it back onto the shore. “And you? I haven’t seen you doing anything relaxing.”

            “What do you think I’m doing now?” She grins briefly before shoving water towards him. There is no bending in the action, but it still soaks his hair.

            “I think you’re being silly. There’s a storm coming and you’re in water.”

            “And I’m with a firebender who can redirect lightning.” It’s easy to do this now. It’s hard to think of what things were like back then, when Aang and Sokka were still around and she was still angry at the world and couldn’t bring herself to speak to Zuko.

            And it’s hard to think of what will happen to the dynamic they have when they have to return to the world.

            But for right now, there’s a storm rolling in and a river to swim in.

 

.

 

            Recon is boring.

            Really boring.

            Worst of all, most of it is spent in the saddle. Which leaves her completely blind to pretty much everything except the heartbeat of the beast beneath her. Snowlion is up on the head, scanning the ground below for a safe place to land for the night. They’re in the desert, heading towards a meeting with one of the helpful clans of sandbenders. It’s nothing but open ground below them until they reach the mountains far in the north where the nomads should be rounding up the last of their summer bounty before heading south into the desert to trade with the Earth Kingdom.

            So Snow gets to stare down as the sand slowly gives away to the foothills of the northern mountains. 

            And her? She’s stuck in the saddle, trying to hold onto a sense of duty.

            It’s hard, staying focused on recon missions. The mind wanders with all the downtime and it gets a little too easy to forget they’re fighting a war.

            How long has it been since they were in a real battle? With just the four of them, they’ve stuck to covert stuff. There have been a few assassinations and a ton of natural disasters that have taken a lot of lives and every now and then someone will run afoul of a soldier.

            It usually ends in the soldier dead and whatever injuries sustained healed by Katara. Not all, though. The three who aren’t healers all have scars from missions when the waterbender was too far away to heal it in time and bloodbending is not perfect. Toph knows Snow has a scar wrapped around half of her left thigh, where a Dai Li agent nearly took her leg off. Sparky had to pull the stone fragments out and cauterize the wound to get her to where Toph and Sweetness were in the desert. Sparky himself has one over his right shoulder where one of Snow’s sisters caught him trying to break into a military base in the colonies.

            They came away from that one with a new weapon, another military leader dead, and the job of having to inform Ty Lee that they killed one of her sisters (the vibrations from that discussion still gives her nightmares).

            And Toph? She leans her head back against the side of the saddle and reaches up to feel the raised skin of the wound around her right wrist. Another gift from the Dai Li, that one was.

            One of these days, she’s going to make sure those bastards know right from wrong.

            One of these days, of course, assuming she survives and they win the war.

            They’re close to winning. It’s surprising how much they’ve been able to do by working in the shadows and only striking where it actually does good. There’s something about the Water Tribe’s method of facing their opponents with honour on the battlefield and the Earth Kingdom’s preferred system of dominating with sheer numbers and perseverance that just doesn’t work.

            It’s been the guerrilla warfare of the ninja that’s been the most useful. It’s like using chi-blocking on the Fire Nation. There are weak spots and sensitive spots. By striking those with the right kind of force, they can cripple their enemy.

            And it’s working.

            They’ve just got to deal with Crazy and Knives and the actual capital. But right now, saving the Water Tribes is more important.

            “Snow, are we going to be landing anytime soon?” She doesn’t bother raising her voice. Airbenders, after all, can catch sound on the wind with ease.

            Which reminds her, she needs to beat the snot out of Twinkletoes for pretending he couldn’t hear her all those times.

            And conversely, Snow can bend the wind carrying her voice back to Toph. “I’m not that tired and we’re not that far out. As long as Kiki can stay in the air, I think we’re going to keep going. If we’re lucky, we can get to Shan’s camp before she moves tomorrow.”

            “Are you sure she’s going to move that soon? She knows we’re coming, doesn’t she?”

            “Yes, but the snows are already starting here and the winds are changing. Tomorrow is the last day she can move and make it out of the mountains ahead of the snows. Just get some sleep. I’ll wake you when we stop.”

            She’s not particularly tired, but there really is nothing else to do. She feels around in the saddle for the blankets and furs, dragging a couple over to her and forming a makeshift bed in the saddle. Just focusing on the beat of Kiki’s heart is enough to lull her to sleep.

            “Toph, get up.” Snow is shaking her awake. “We’re here.”

            Her covers fall away as she sits up. “What time is it?”

            “About an hour or so after midnight.” Snowlion pulls the blankets away and Toph can hear the airbender moving around the saddle. “Shan has a couple of beds set up for us. We’re leaving again at daybreak, so can we please get some sleep?”

            Not outside, obviously. It’s freezing cold this far north at this time of the year. Toph pulls her thin sleeves around her hands. She probably should have listened to Katara and put on the furs Shan gave them the first time they came up here in autumn before leaving.

            Beside her, Snow is shivering. There had been a time when she questioned why one airbender could freeze at these temperatures but another could be perfectly fine sans coat in the South Pole.

            Then she remembered that one of those airbenders is the Avatar and is thus also a firebender and a waterbender. Even untrained, those instincts would have kicked in pretty quickly.

            Toph helps gather the packs and jumps down, Snow following her. Kiki will be fine outside; she isn’t one of the sandbender’s bison with the abnormally heavy and dark coat, but she is still a bison with a thick coat of heavy fur.

            The feel of solid ground beneath her feet is luxurious. She rubs her feet in the dirt, getting a good sense of the round temporary houses set up in the area and the animals lurking about and most importantly, Shan.

            The two airbenders help carry everything into the shelter. Toph follows mechanically, sinking onto the bed set up for her. Everything can be dealt with in the morning.

            Which comes too soon.

            She wakes up with a cyclone playing on her cheek. “Ty Lee, if that’s you, I will bury you so deep you will never see the sky again.”

            “The snowlion is outside with the horses.”

            Ah, Shan. Always fun.

            “Need help breaking camp?”

            “Not from you. I need this place to last for years.”

            Toph nods, sitting up. Her hair is a mess, but she can feel the missing furs from around the structure. Shan’s ready to take this place apart. Breakfast, apparently, will be on the road. “I’ll just get my things.”

            With three sets of hands, it doesn’t take long to gather everything. It’s just the mode of travel that gives Toph some issues. Because she’s blind, she has to stay behind Snow on the horse Shan has loaned them. Kiki will be getting this journey off and they will be helping herd animals to the next campsite.

            “We’ve had some new visitors.” Shan doesn’t start talking until they’re well on their way. “Aadi sent a hawk. One of them will be at the market.”

            “They might be gone by the time we get there.” Snow says, her voice reverberating through her back and against Toph’s chest.

            “No, this one’s coming in with Aadi’s family.”

            “Which side are they on?”

            “Not sure. Either one will be helpful, won’t it?”

            Toph adjusts her position in the saddle. It’s not that this one is uncomfortable; it’s just difficult to get comfortable with Snowlion sitting between her legs and the horse is not a smooth ride at this pace. “Yeah, but there might be a murder at your marketplace if it’s the wrong side.”

            “And if it’s the right side?”

            Snow takes a deep breath. “We’ll deal with that when we have to. Have you heard anything about the Fire Nation moving through the desert?”

 

.

 

            He wakes up when a hand presses down on his chest. He had originally woken up at dawn, but since neither Katara nor Sora would be awake at that time and it wouldn’t hurt to sleep in for once, he stayed put.

            But now, apparently, it is time to get up. He opens his eyes just in time to see Katara climb over him to get out of the bed. “You know, you could wait for me to get up.”

            She spins around, swooping up his shirt and pulling it on to cover her body. “Where’s the fun in that?”

            Zuko props himself up on his elbows, watching her move around the room. It’s weirdly nice seeing her like this; dressed only in his shirt and with her hair long and wild around her. “Is the elder up yet?”

            “Probably.” She gathers up her clothes and moves over towards the water basin in the corner of the room. “Are you going to get dressed or not?”

            He catches his shirt across his face, sitting up completely. Water runs around her body as she washes. When was the last time they had a morning this quiet? At the Temple, they would have woken up by now to help prepare breakfast and to set up everything that was needed for the day. “We leave tomorrow, right?”

            “We’ll be heading towards the desert to meet up with the others at the market.”

            He nods and begins getting ready. A bit of water races around him just before he pulls his clothes on. Over in the corner of the room, Katara shrugs before pulling her shirt on. Slowly, he starts to dress. “We’re here for medical supplies right?”

            “Mm, and if there have been any other visitors here.”

            “What are we going to do if there have been?”

            She glances over her shoulder at him, her hands busy dragging her whale-tooth comb through her hair. “We find out which side they’re on.”

            And if they’re Fire Nation, what they were doing here. He knows that much, though he doubts Fire Nation has been through here. There are enough herbalists at Azula’s disposal that they would have simply killed Elder Sora and replaced her with one of their own.

            Which means they’re only real concern will be whether or not anyone from the Avatar’s camp has been here. He doesn’t even want to go into that. They’ve agreed to leave everything be until the war was over or until something critical happened.

            Given that they have three years’ experience with avoiding their former comrades, he isn’t too worried.

            And they know the Air Nomads don’t particularly want anything to do with the Avatar or the White Lotus.

            Unless, of course, it’s to hear from the spies planted in the ancient organization.

            He finishes dressing and looks for something to deal with his hair. Katara hands him her comb, her hair already tied back into the familiar phoenix tail (though she swears up and down this is a modified warrior’s wolf tail, he will always know it as the phoenix tail worn by boys and women in the Fire Nation). He’s started to wear it like that too, and so has Toph. In three years, Ty Lee is the only one to have bothered with short hair.

            Times change. If he had stayed in the Fire Nation, he would be wearing his hair like Ozai and Uncle did—half up and half in a topknot.

            If he had stayed in the Fire Nation, he would probably be the Fire Lord and Azula’s puppet and probably married to Mai.

            Not the most ideal life.

            He actually rather likes life the way it is.

            Which is why he puts up with some of the stuff he does.

“You’ll need to consider eyeglasses within a few years.” The herbalist leans closer to him, bony hands around his eyes. It’s the first thing she does when they walk into the kitchen to find her. He has no idea what set her off, but she grabbed him first thing and forced him into a chair before making her announcement. “Waterbender, you’ve said you can’t get the tear duct to work right?”

            Behind Sora, Katara is perched on a table with Miyuki curled up in her lap. “I’ve tried repeatedly. It’s not coming back. There was simply too much damage.”

            Sora hums. “I can give you something to help with the dryness, but there’s still going to be some problems.”

            “So glasses?” He asks, pulling away from her gingerly.

            “Glasses. Probably just for distance. I suspect you’ll be fine with things up close, like books.” She turns away, bustling around the kitchen’s plants to gather things for breakfast. “What do you need?”

            That question is meant for Katara. “We’re just here for the usual.”

            “You’ll need more of the salves for treating burns and lacerations, correct? Painkillers too, I suspect. I have some things to help fend off hunger; very good for tracking missions, that is. You’ll need this eye medicine and anything for the ladies?”

            “The usual, but with enough for one more. And maybe some headache medication for the rest of us. The stuff I’ve been making doesn’t seem to work when Toph is involved.”

            “The earthbender finally grew up?”

            Katara grimaces. “With much suffering and destruction.”

            It takes Zuko a moment to realize exactly what they’re talking about. Women’s issues. Toph’s induction into womanhood is something he prefers not to think about. All it did was give him a brand new respect for the sex and an eternal thankfulness to Ozai for banishing him before Azula got to that stage of life.

             The two women bustle around the area, preparing food. They’ll all head out into the gardens to collect the supplies they need around midday, when Taku’s autumn storms usually weaken for an hour or two.

            But for now, he will sit and listen to his partner discuss plant usage with a woman who survived the fall of a nation.

 

 .

 

            Ty Lee loves the first winter market. There’s something intoxicating about being around this many airbenders and not having to hide what they are. Nomads use their bending to round up animals and to set up their temporary homes. Children go flying through the makeshift roads, the winds rushing around them.

            There are cities somewhere in the north where the airbenders who don’t want the Nomad lifestyle live. Someday she wants to see them; wants to walk among her kinsman who grew up without fear.

            “Stop that, Snowlion. You look like an idiot.” Shan comes up alongside her, northern accent stronger now that the nomad has to switch between the language of the Lungta and the common tongue Ty Lee speaks.

            She stops grinning, trying her best to stay serious because there is a war going on and she is on the front lines. She can’t be whimsical, no matter how badly she wants to jump around and fly.

            Behind her, she hears Toph snort.

            Ty Lee flicks her hair out of her face. The wind that flows away from her with the action and sends a shock of tundra air down the earthbender’s shirt is completely accidental. She busies herself helping Shan set up her stall. “So when is Aadi going to be getting here?”

            “She should be here before sunset.” The nomad says before turning to a customer and switching to her native language.

            Ty Lee falls back to where Toph is sitting atop a clay barrel. It hurts a little to hear the Lungta speak in a language that is both foreign and familiar. Her grandmother spoke a little bit of the ancient Air Nomad dialect, but only bits and pieces. The old tongue is only reserved for writing and only for the most precious of texts. It’s almost obsolete now in the Fire Nation. There just simply aren’t enough people who understand it anymore.

            It’s been too dangerous to learn it for the past century, so what survivors that knew it kept it quiet from their own children, only teaching a few words here and there to the ones they knew were blessed by the wind.

            Ty Lee knows nothing of her ancestor’s words. And the Lungta have had a century in isolation to take the old language and twist it into a new dialect that better serves their grounded lifestyle. It doesn’t help that these people are descended from the Eastern and Northern Temples; according to the records and the Elders, there have always been dialect differences between the four temples and those differences were stronger between unrelated temples.

            The Kagami clan—her clan—is descended from the Western sisters and the Southern brothers. What words she might have learnt would be useless here. She sidles up closer to Toph. Even wearing the heavy furs Shan gave her on their second trip to the north, it’s still cold. How Toph isn’t shivering, she doesn’t know.

            “So, sunset.” Toph kicks her feet against the drum.

            “Yep.”

            How do they look to the others? Her hair is Fire Nation brown, though her features are the rounded, youthful traits of her Air Nomad kinsmen. She’s dressed like the Lungta and she can carry herself like an airbender, but there’s still this ruggedness and awareness that exists among these nomads that no one can copy. And then there’s Toph. A blind girl of blatant Earth Kingdom descent wearing the clothes of a nomad. She stands out the most, but she’s so small and despite her tendency to draw attention, she knows how to blend in.

            Ty Lee still feels horribly exposed.

            A small hand touches her back, just over the spot where her heart is. “You’re tense.”

            “Aren’t you?”

            Toph shrugs. “A little. We already know it’s someone from the White Lotus. I can’t believe a Fire Nation spy would make it here.”

            “I know.” Ty Lee says. Shan had no knowledge of the Fire Nation moving through here and the nomads have good instinct. It’s unlikely anyone from Azula’s camp would have survived long enough to find out anything.

            Northern airbenders are a bit paranoid.

            Not that she can blame them. They’ve hidden out for a century. Not in plain sight, hiding among the enemy and pretending to be something they’re not. These people have built an entire civilization over the entire northern coast of the Earth Kingdom. That’s not a small feat. It’s damn impressive and it didn’t happen through lax security.

            Ty Lee remembers the first time she came up here. It was her and Katara and despite the Elders notifying the current leader of the Lungta, they were still almost killed until she got enough freedom to prove she’s an airbender.

            Even then, it’s taken what amounts to a year or so to get enough of Shan’s trust that they can do what they’re doing.

            “What are we going to do?” Toph shifts, moving closer to her. “We can’t let news of my survival get back to Aang.”

            “And I don’t want news of my bending to get out. I’ve been lucky so far.”

            The earthbender snorts. “Like Crazy would publicize the fact that her great-grandfather’s greatest achievement was a complete failure.”

            The girl has a point. “Still, let’s be careful.”

            “Don’t need to tell me that. We’re too close to crippling the Fire Nation. The last thing we need is something going wrong.”

            Ty Lee isn’t sure, but she thinks that might be Toph’s way of saying they don’t need the Avatar interfering. “You miss him, don’t you?”

            “He was one of my best friends.”

            She smiles softly, reaching out to brush a lock of hair out of Toph’s face. She makes no comment about the use of the past tense in the earthbender’s acknowledgement of the Avatar. “It’s almost sundown.”

            “Is it?”

            She nods. “It’s beautiful out here.”

            Toph flicks her head lightly. “Describe it.”

            “Serene. It’s peaceful and everything looks soft and gentle. It’s like the sky is singing a lullaby to the world.”

            The earthbender leans against her, head resting on top of hers. “You’re better at this than the others.”

            “Describing things?”

            Toph nods. “Describing things so I can understand what you’re seeing. Katara’s been getting better at it, but Zuko struggles to do it without colour.”

            “So Zu-Zu’s terrible?”

            “No. He’s far better than Twinkletoes or Snoozles ever was. Especially Twinkletoes. That’s why I’m so surprised. My experiences with airbenders haven’t been so great.”

            “Badgermole, we’ve been living together for three years.”

            “Which is not that long compared to my fifteen years of life.”

            “You spent about six months with the Avatar, if not less.” She points out. There’s no negativity in it. Ty Lee likes this, the times when she and Toph can just be. It’s terrifying, frankly. She knows what this is and knows there’s a high chance Toph doesn’t like this the same way.

            So she keeps quiet and stays respectful.

            But still, she’s allowed to relish in the earthy scent that clings to Toph no matter what and in the feel of the small sturdy body resting against hers.

            Right?

            Toph breathes in sharply, sitting up straight. Her feet and hands are pressed flat against the drum. Ty Lee almost asks what’s wrong when she hears Shan greet a fellow nomad. She doesn’t really understand it, but she does recognize one word.

            Aadi.

            The visitor is here.

            She turns her back towards Shan and Aadi and whoever the stranger is. The White Lotus doesn’t know she’s no longer an ally of Azula’s. They don’t know she’s an airbender. “Do you know who it is?”

            Toph has gone pale. “Yeah, I do. I only knew her for a short while, but I never forget a friend’s vibrations.”

            “How bad is it?”
            “Bad. Keep your head down and stay hidden. Act like you don’t know me.”

            “What?” Ty Lee almost grabs her companion, but then Toph is hopping down from the barrel and the ground is moving airbender away from earthbender.

            “Toph?”

            Ty Lee freezes. She knows that voice. She only heard it a few times, but that was Azula at her worst and Ty Lee will never forget it.

            “Suki.” Toph greets the stranger smoothly and Ty Lee knows the name.

            The leader of the Kyoshi Warriors.

            This is not good.

 

Notes:

A small time-skip, as this one takes place later in the same year as the last couple of chapters. It’s after Zuko’s birthday, so he is now nineteen. If I had to guess, I’d say this one is in late September, so it’s getting close to the deadline for the war. And now, without further ado, the beginning of the return of the rest of the Gaang.

This chapter is a little choppier than I wanted it to be. It’s one of those odd transition chapters that never turns out the way you want it to. Suki was originally Sokka who was originally Haru who was originally Haru and Teo who was originally Sokka. Shan only showed up when I was actually writing and only got her name because I was out of ideas and had a Shan Sa book sitting on my desk. The name of the northern airbenders, Lungta, is derived from the Tibetan name for the Wind Horse.

Chapter 14: inevitable

            Elder Sora sends them away during the evening lull in the autumn storms. It’s to get them out and active, according to her, but Zuko is convinced it’s so the old woman can take a nap. It leaves them time to spar in a strange land, to study plants they might encounter in the Fire Nation or in the poles.

            It also gives them some downtime so they don’t go insane focusing on the war.

            Instead, they can talk about how life might have been if everything had ended at the comet.

            “I can see how it would have gone.” Katara has her back to him as they walk through the fields around the ruins. “You would have been Fire Lord, I would have been Aang’s girlfriend, and some attempt at harmony would have started in the colonies and it would have come crashing down and Aang would be forced to choose between condemning the world to another war or killing you because you’ve apparently gone rogue and I’d give him some story about having a multicultural family like those in the colonies and hope he wouldn’t kill you but when did he ever listen to me?”

            “Would he have killed me? This is the kid who went out of his way to avoid killing Ozai.” He crosses his arms, watching the way her back twists when she stretches her arms above her head.

            “Probably not. The past Avatars would be split and you’d do something like say you need to get in touch with your mother’s side of the family because Ozai is too poisonous or something like that and Aang would decide you deserve another chance.”

            “Do the Avatars frequently disagree?”

            “If Aang is to be believed, then yes.” She jumps over a stray stone, dark hair swinging free around her shoulders. Around them, twilight is sinking in with the vibrant violet only stormy days can produce. “I think Yangchen and Roku would have wanted to kill you. Kuruk would have been against it. Kyoshi doesn’t count because she seems like she would always be in favour of killing.”

            “Why would my great-grandfather want me dead?”

            “Because you’re also Sozin’s great-grandson. I can’t imagine he’d be happy about that.”

            He jumps over a hole in the ground, lengthening his stride enough to catch up to her. “Is this part of the information Yue gave you?”

            “It’s influenced by it, but nothing more.”

            Thunder echoes through the twilight. Katara doesn’t seem to be concerned by it and for a woman who grew up surrounded by the endless white of snow and ice; she’s remarkably at home in the colourful and muggy chill of Taku in autumn. There’s something about the poor light that compliments her.

            She is a daughter of the moon and ocean, though. Night is her time.

            “Has Yue said anything to you lately?”

            She shakes her head, looking at him briefly. The blue of her eyes is brighter in the violet twilight. “It’s just been the dreams. They’re getting worse.”

            He can’t remember when it started. It was just one night she was sleeping fine and the next she was using her bloodbending against him. She’s gotten better about not throwing him across the room, but the dreams are getting worse. He can’t remember the last time Katara had a decent night’s sleep.

            A curl of her hair sticks up at an awkward angle. He reaches out to adjust it, only to have water shoot past his wrist, blood leaking from the scratch.

            “Shit, I’m sorry.” Katara has his arm in her hands, his blood twisting around to knit the flesh back together.

            And then there’s that. She’s been getting more and more nervous. The combined stress of whatever the Moon Spirit is doing to her and the reality that the four of them are going to have to win this war is beginning to take its toll. He sighs, watching her work. “Spar with me.”

            She scoffs, finishing the healing. “I thought we were supposed to be relaxing. Sora’s orders were to not strain ourselves.”

            “Sparring can be relaxing. Exercise is healthy, after all.”

            “Uncle Iroh?”

            “You’re getting better at this.” He grins, brushing a lock of hair away from her face and letting a small flame arc over her cheek. It’s too weak to burn, but it still has her leaning away.

            There’s a familiar look in her eye. He only has a few moments to brace himself before she pulls the water up from the mud, destabilizing the ground beneath him.

            And from there it’s really just muscle memory. They’ve fought against each other so many times, both as enemies and as friends. It’s gotten to the point that their spars are less like fighting and more like dancing. Neither one is aiming to harm the other. It’s just about movement and the elements.

            It’s about harmony. The push and pull of opposing and complimentary elements, of night and day and peace and storm.

            The twilight has settled into the flawless golden violet he remembers from monsoon season in the Fire Nation. It’s more beautiful here, but water really does look best at twilight and Katara’s twisting form surrounded by fire and water is breathtaking amid the gentle light.

            She jumps up, the water carrying her over his head as she swirls the element around him. He knows how this looks from the outside. He’s seen this attack before, but with a different element. It’s stunning, really, the way the attacking element twists like a lily around the victim. The fire fades away because this is Ty Lee’s move and it shouldn’t work with water, but here it is.

            But Katara doesn’t have the same power to destabilize the air itself and force her opponent to their knees as they gasp for air. All she can do is distract him with the beauty of her attack and force him down with bloodbending; he feels the tug on his veins too late and he’s down before she lands.

            “Not bad.” She’s smiling, for once and they’re both breathing heavily. Really and truly smiling and there is life in her eyes and colour in her cheeks and he knows he feels more alive than he has in a long while and it’s sick. They shouldn’t be like this when it comes to fighting.

            But they are children of war.

            He twists and sends fire at her feet. It singes the grass, Katara’s feet nowhere near it as she jumps up. He moves to attack again, but then she’s there. She doesn’t weigh enough to hold him down. She doesn’t need to, though. All it takes to hold him down is her hand against his chest, over his heart. He knows she won’t do it. If even in the midst of her worst nightmares, she won’t kill him, she won’t do it now when she’s awake and almost happy.

            “Feeling better?” He asks, reaching up to brush her hair to one side.

            “A little. I still don’t think this is what Sora wanted.”

            “Maybe not, but it’s what works.”

            “So it is.” She’s still smiling, but it’s softer now. The hand next to his head comes up to brush the remains of the scar. For a moment, it looks like she’s about to speak and all he can focus on is the blue of her eyes and the curve of her bottom lip.

Then the colour drains from her cheeks and the brightness in her eyes dims.

            He hears her name from somewhere and she looks up. But he didn’t say anything.

            It takes a moment to sink in.

            He, Zuko, the only other one here with her, said nothing.

            Sora shouldn’t be down here. By his estimate, it’ll be another hour or so before she summons them back.

            But if he didn’t say anything and Katara didn’t say anything—

            They’re not alone.

            Maybe they shouldn’t have listened to Sora when she suggested going out.

            Katara sits up, her weight settling against his midsection and his hands are at her hips and hers are at his heart and this is really not the best position to be in when an interloper has shown up.

            “Katara?” Zuko hears it again and doesn’t quite recognize the voice. It’s familiar in the same way Azula’s was when he went back to the Fire Nation in the wake of the Crystal Catacombs. The waterbender clearly does, and so he starts to move to tilt his head back and see who it is when her voice stops him.

            All she says is one name.

            And it makes this whole thing go from Bad Situation to Worst Case Scenario.

            “Aang.”

 

.

 

 

            “Toph?”

            She keeps her feet firmly on the ground, her attention split between the Lungta, Snowlion, and Fans. This needs to not be a fight. There are children around and they really can’t afford any of the Lungta—or Snow—revealing the continued existence of airbenders. She maps out the camp the best she can with only a tap and they are too close to the centre to get away in the event of a fight.

            Then again, Snow does know how to fight without bending, but that would mean revealing who Snow is. This is already bad. They don’t need Suki going back and telling the White Lotus that Toph Bei Fong is in league with Azula’s pet circus freak.

            “Suki, it’s been a while.”

            Okay, probably not the wisest of things to say. The warrior’s vibrations do not look good.

            They look—not angry really, but something not good.

            “What the hell? I saw you fall; we searched everywhere for you!” And then Suki’s vibrations shift, just a little. “Oh sweet spirits. If you’re here—Katara’s alive, isn’t she? And Zuko? But Sokka and General Iroh, what were you thinking?”

            Toph sighs and taps her foot on the ground. Suki hits the ground ass-first a moment later. “You never saw me. Go home and if Snoozles or the White Lotus comes looking for any of us, I will bury you so deep not even a badgermole could find you. Okay? Okay. Thank you kindly for your cooperation.”

            The warrior’s vibrations are suitably shaken.

            She gives the small, wicked grin she saves for lording victories over her victims and turns to walk away. There is every intention to get Snowlion, thank Shan, and the fuck out of this place before Suki has a chance to recover. With luck, the warrior will think she was just given cactus juice by somewhat shifty nomads she met in the desert.

            Or, at least, that’s how Snoozles will laugh it off because Snoozles is the type to believe that over the possibility that she and the others are still alive. And Twinkletoes will mope some more at the reminder of his rather embarrassing (for her—he was her student and that makes his defeat partially her fault) failure during the comet and he’ll brush it off too because the Gramps and the White Lotus won’t let him focus on it and Fans will take some shit for being gullible or something, but it’ll all be good.

            It has to be.

            The vibrations beneath her feet shift.

            Three.

            Two.

            One.

            A hand grabs her arm. “Oh hell no; you’re coming with me.”

            She sighs and taps her foot. The ground moves and Fans almost loses her balance. Almost. “You’ve gotten better.”

            “I’ve had three years.”

            Toph smiles grimly. “So have I.”

            It takes little effort to move the ground to suck the warrior in and from there, it’s the sinuous movement Katara taught her to move the earth like waves to deposit Fans outside the market.

            The vibrations of the Lungta nearby show amusement. It never ceases to amaze her just how organized the entire civilization is. Something big happens, everyone knows about it within a couple of days.

            Their communications system is something to be admired.

            Something happens at the corner of her awareness and she stops, realizing belatedly that she broke Sparky’s Number One Rule.

            She took her attention off the enemy.

            And she didn’t pay close enough attention the first time.

            Or in other words: Suki’s got a new toy. It’s wood, so Toph can’t get a good read on it, but there’s something familiar about the warrior’s stance.

            “Get out of the way!”            That’s Snow’s voice, and Snow’s hands pushing against her chest until her back hits the ground. Nearby, something swooshes. “She has a crossbow.”

            “You couldn’t have warned me about that sooner? Projectiles and blind earthbenders are not good friends.” She pushes Ty Lee off of her. “And she shot at me?”
            “It was aimed for your furs, if that helps.”

            “How does that help?” She feels Snow hold out a hand to help her up. She ignores it and jumps up. Around them, the Lungta have vanished into their homes. It’s just them and one very determined Kyoshi warrior.

            This is probably not going to end well.

            “I’m a trained assassin, Toph. She’s not the only weapons expert.”

            “And you’re mostly unarmed. I’ll knock her out and we can get out of here.”

            Off to the side, it feels like Suki’s taking aim again. Toph sighs and kicks the ground up to form a wall around them. After a moment’s hesitation, she creates a roof with an air vent that can’t be seen from the ground.

            And nastiest spikes she can manage around the edge of the roof.

            Just because.

            “This is excessive.” Snow hisses, her body sending out waves of tenseness.

            “No, it’s reasonable. I’m protecting a civilian.”

            “She probably has White Lotus training.”

            “Probably.”

            “Which means General Iroh.”

            “Probably.”

            “And Master Piandao, correct?”

            “Probably.”

            “Then we’re fucked. She’s going to be armed tooth and nail. No one in their right mind would send out an under-armed non-bender into potentially hostile territory.”

            Toph sighs and slides her feet across the ground, focusing on Suki’s form. It lights up with metal. What was she thinking, not paying attention? Was it because it’s Suki?

            Had they underestimated the effect of three years’ absence?

            She swings her fist out to shift the stone safe house enough to protect Ty Lee while she steps out. She seals it closed behind her.

            This fight needs to happen away from the Lungta and away from Snowlion.

            It’ll be easier to go to Suki. Tilting her neck to release pressure, Toph grins.

            It’s been too long since her last decent fight.

            She takes off running.

            What does she know about the Kyoshi way of fighting? It’s close-range mostly and uses the opponent’s momentum against them. The fighting styles closest to that are waterbending and the Kagami clan’s.

            When she reaches Suki’s position, she drops down close to the ground and sweeps up topsoil. This is the first time this particular style of earthbending has ever been used in a real combat situation.

            It’s kind of exhilarating.

            And terrifying because this is Suki she’s testing this against.

            “You’re just not going to let me leave, are you?”
            “Hell no. Aang’s been a wreck since the comet. He needs a morale boost. We all do.”

            “And I’m that morale boost?” Just a little more; she needs Suki to step three back and two to the left to get her over the best place for the attack. “Sorry, fan-cakes, I’m not your girl.”

            Something metal swings by her ear. Toph drops the topsoil and catches it. It’s a nice knife, something in the long and thin range. She pockets it before picking up the topsoil again to form a whip. It’s not an overly handy move with earth. The soil has to be loose enough to move but solid enough to hurt and speed is almost always an issue with earth.

            But something comes away with the whip after it makes contact with Suki’s head and Fans sounds like she’s in pain.

            Blood. She’ll have to tell Katara it worked.

            “We need a united front, Toph. We need you to win the war.”

            There. She swings around and drags the ground with her. Suki stumbles and Toph pins her down with spikes. “Tell me, what have you been doing for the past three years? Training Aang and trying to regroup? Open skirmishes that don’t do anything to really hurt Fire Lord Psycho and Lady Knives? Excuse me if I have more important things to do than play war with a faulty army and an unstable Avatar.”

            …okay maybe not the best thing to say if those vibrations are anything to go by but now she’s kind of getting angry. It’s one thing to ask her to come back and to be upset that she and the others lied. It’s completely different to fight and try to force her to return.

            Suki huffs. “Look, Aang’s in Taku right now. That’s not that far away, so he’s going to find out regardless.”

            Or something like that. Toph doesn’t really hear anything after the first bit. “What was that about Twinkletoes?”

            “He’s in Taku. Or almost. We’re running low on some supplies and there’s this herbalist there who can help.”

            “So are we.” She says it low enough Suki can’t hear it. This is definitely a Worst Case Scenario, as Sparky likes to call them. She doesn’t quite understand the difference. To her, this is a Break Shit and Hope for the Best kind of deal.

            Somehow, she doesn’t think that’s going to work this time. She releases Suki and grabs the warrior by the collar of her shirt. “How has Aang been lately?”
            “What?”

            “Is the idiot still a complete failure as an Avatar?”

            “Toph, that’s not really—”

            “Does he have control of his power?”

            Suki’s quiet. “No.”

            “How would he react to seeing me or Sweetness or Sparky again after what happened?”

            Silence this time.

            Toph shakes the warrior. “Answer the damn question.”

            Quiet again, then: “We ran into Jun for the first time since the comet a few weeks back. She said something about Zuko and Katara in less than platonic sense.”

            “And? What did Twinkletoes do?”

            “He blew up the stables we were in and stripped the roof off the tavern nearby by the time Iroh got him to calm down.”

            “And you thought taking me back to him would be a good idea?”
            “It would be a controlled environment.”

            “Seriously?” She’s about to say more when the wind rushes by and Suki goes slack in her arms. The next thing she knows, the warrior has been taken from her and Snowlion has her thrown over a shoulder and they’re flying away from the market. “What the hell, Ty?”

            “We need to get to Taku.”

            “We needed to deal with the witness we just left behind.”

            “Shan can handle her. Case of undiluted cactus juice combined with a head wound from a cranky horse.” Snow jumps up and they’re in Kiki’s saddle. The airbender is at the reins before anything more can be said. “Yip-yip!”

            “What if he’s already there? We don’t exactly have a plan for this and the Guru’s apparently left out a few things.”

            Snow is quiet for a moment. “We hope for the best.”

            Toph groans and leans back against the saddle. “He’s going to kill us, isn’t he?”

 

.

 

 

            He’s taller than he was, closer to Zuko’s height than Toph’s. Some of the baby fat has disappeared, revealing a long, sharp structure to his face. Black hair sticks up above a green headband. His eyes aren’t as wide and his skin is paler now.

            Despite the Earth Kingdom colours he wears, Aang looks like he’s pureblooded Fire Nation. The Southern and Western Temples were related, though, so he could be Fire-born.

            The eyes are the only features that give away his ancestry. Only Nomads have grey eyes.

            And the closed glider in his hands, which is something of an obvious sign that he’s not of any major nation. But that can be passed off as a staff to most people.

            He doesn’t look anything like the boy she left, not really.

            She jumps up and away. Beside her, Zuko is on his feet as well. Both stand in a relaxed stance that can very easily turn to something else if they need to move quickly.

            “Aang,” she starts, but can’t finish. What do you say in a situation like this? Her heart is hammering so hard it might just break everything in her chest and she can feel Zuko and Aang.

            Aang is terrifyingly calm.

            Zuko even more so. The beating red beside her is calm and determined.

            She takes a breath and shuts down her bloodbending. If they don’t show aggression, then maybe Aang will talk.

            Right now, talking is ideal.

            “This isn’t what it looks like.” Zuko speaks slowly and calmly and all she can think is how obvious the lie is.

            It’s clear that this is exactly what it looks like.

            They’re alive. They were in a somewhat compromising position. There is something not entirely pale going on between them. They’re here, which means Toph has to be somewhere.

            Which means they abandoned him.

            And this is Aang. He’s never handled abandonment well and in the Guru’s words ‘the boy just won’t let go of anything’.

            “It’s not?” The boy still looks like a mousefish out of water. “Then what is this?”

            “We can explain.” She holds her hands out, trying to be as non-threatening as possible. “Or he can. I wasn’t exactly awake when all of this happened.”

            Zuko glares at her. “The comet was still in the air. I slowed us down enough that Toph was able to guarantee a safe landing.”

            “And the airships crashing down?”

            “Running on pure adrenaline,” her partner answers. She’s never really heard the story of what happened that day. Not exactly, anyway. Toph and Zuko never really explained how they escaped the stone forest. There was never a reason to talk about the particulars. By the time she woke up in Taku, Ty Lee was already with them and there was Yue and the war and what happened the day of the comet wasn’t really as important.

            “And after?” Aang’s getting angry. She knows that tone. It’s strange, almost, hearing something so familiar and yet it’s so strange. This boy has a deeper voice than she remembers and after three years, she has to struggle to bring up a memory of what he did sound like.

            She knew him for almost a year.

            It’s been three since then.

            The reports she’s seen have only been about his training. There’s been nothing about him personally, not really. She doesn’t know him at all. 

            La, this is not going to end well.

            “After we were recovering here in Taku when some things happened.” She takes over because this next bit requires no mention of Ty Lee. They’re probably screwed with most of their history, but this is enough. Aang doesn’t need to know about the continued existence of his people. This is all the distraction the war can afford. “Yue, among other things. She came with a message that it would perhaps be best if we allowed you to learn with other masters.”

            “Why?” He’s getting angrier.

            “Because we were students alongside you. You needed real masters, ones who could teach the life lessons we couldn’t.”

            Zuko sighs. “You needed to grow up and we were coddling you too much.”

            “So you let us think you were dead?”
            “It was the obvious choice at the time.” Zuko, again.

            She explains a little more, “You already thought we were dead. The White Lotus was already there and ready to train you. We didn’t want to distract you from that. It was the right path.”

            Hopefully. Maybe. It’s possible that Yue was wrong and none of this should have happened this way but the last three years have been kind of wonderful on their end.

            But what have the last three years really been like for those left behind?

            There’s a flash of something bright at the corner of his eye. She forces herself to relax just a little more and lets her bloodbending activate just enough to get a feel for the chi in his blood. It’s brighter than it should be, closer to white than multi-shaded grey.

            Zuko must see it too, because he takes an almost imperceptible step in front of her.

            Almost imperceptible.

            Aang apparently sees it because in the next moment, his blood flares burning white to the point that it sears against her senses and burns her bloodbending out of his system. The wind starts rushing around them, the earth rocking and plants wilting and this is really, really not good. Zuko is fully in front of her, pushing her away when the wind forces them apart. Her partner flies back and she hears something crack when he lands on his back.

            From there, it’s just instinct.

            She forces her bending past the raging chi and forces the boy’s limbs to obey. It’s harder than any other attempt she’s made at offensive bloodbending, but her partner is down and this situation needs to be contained as soon as possible. Hama said she had to take control of the abyss and make it her own, so she digs deep to find the resentment and the pain and everything she’s tried to bury for the past three years and just pushes.

            Aang goes down and the chi calms. The second she’s sure he’s calm, she brings water up from the ground to hold him in place, half her attention on controlling the water and his blood and the other half is spent rushing over to her partner to make sure he’s okay.

            Zuko landed on a stone and it feels like there are broken ribs. His chi is used to her enough that it works with her quickly and easily, setting bone and healing tissues. It’ll take more to heal it—tomorrow’s full moon and a good clean supply of water with some of Sora’s best herbs should do the trick, but bones only really heal with time.

            She’s about to help them up when she hears her name. It’s just instinct that she jumps up to protect her partner.

            Then she sees Aang.

            He looks crushed and in one sick second, she knows what he’s about to do.

            She takes a step towards him, an apology on her lips. He takes a step back and sure enough, the glider opens and he takes off, the wind thrashing behind him. She starts to run after him, water at the ready to pull him out of the sky when she remembers Zuko. Turning, she can see him struggling to his feet.

            “Idiot,” she says, rushing back to him. She offers support, one hand monitoring his ribs. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

            “Are you?”

            She pauses. “I think I made a mistake.”

            He says nothing in response.

 

.

 

           

            Ty Lee lands Kiki in Taku almost three days after the market. She and her bison tried their best, but they weren’t able to travel any faster. The storms in this area are just too strong and too violent.

Kiki is exhausted, her massive form curled up into a ball in the corner of the cave. Pana stands guard beside her, eyes bright and alert. It’s hard to see the bison like this. They were never meant to be used in war and the plan has always been to leave the bison out of it when the war entered the endgame stage.

But when does anything go according to plan?

            Ty Lee rubs her eyes and turns back to her companions. They’re each running on a few hours of sleep. It’s not enough for them to be thinking clearly but there’s not much any of them can do. Not in this situation.

            “Whatever the Lungta did to Suki to explain us away, it’s not going to work now.” Toph groans as Katara heals her feet. Kiki’s already been healed; their landing upon arrival was less than stellar and none of them walked away unscathed. Ty’s own injuries are minor in comparison, though. Privilege of being a quick-footed airbender.

            “We don’t know for sure if Aang’s going back to the White Lotus. He might not.” Katara never looks up from her patient.

            “Are you sure?” Ty Lee tosses another piece of wood onto the fire.

            The waterbender turns to him. “Remember Ember Island?”

            “What happened there?” Ty Lee busies herself with preparing the rice.

            Toph snorts. “The little shit ran away right before the comet. He didn’t come back until after the comet arrived and so we were left going into battle not knowing if he was going to be there and completely expecting to die.”

            Katara shrugs. “At least we all got to say goodbye to everyone before we left.”

            “So he’s unreliable?” She twists the air to help spread out the furs they’ll be sleeping on.

            “Not exactly,” Katara starts.

            Toph cuts her off. “Twinkletoes runs away if anything goes wrong. Remember the Crystal Caverns? He was supposed to be at the Eastern Air Temple completing his spiritual training and instead he runs in to battle Azula and we all know how that went.”

            They lapse into silence as the rice cooks and stay silent for the duration of dinner. Zuko is still asleep off to the side. Broken bones never heal quickly, even with bloodbending. He’s going to have to stay out of the worst of the fights just in case. Katara’s apparently done all she can to repair the damage, but the ribs are still fragile.

            That alone worries her. If Avatar Aang is so uncontrollable that he’ll use potentially lethal force against his masters before allowing them to explain the situation in full—nope, it was probably always going to go like that, wasn’t it?
            What would Azula do if Ty Lee stepped before her wielding the wind and wearing the colours of a Nomad?

            No, that’s probably not the best comparison.

            What would her sisters do if she stepped before them wielding the wind and wearing the colours of a Nomad?

            Her heart plummets at that thought. If Ty Lee comes out to her family as an airbender, then Aunt Jet and Grandmother and Great-Grandmother will likely be ousted as well. Her mother will likely be killed because really, who can be born of a bender, raised beside a bender, and bear a bender without knowing? The Kagami were among the assassin clans who rose to power hunting down the Nomads.

            The silence stays until after dinner and is even there when they’re done cleaning up. Katara finishes healing Toph before checking on Zuko and succumbing to exhaustion when she’s done. Toph sprawls out on her furs and starts snoring soon after, the strain of healing taking its toll.

            Ty Lee picks up the waterbender’s furs and carries them over to where the healer fell asleep beside her patient. It only takes a little airbending to help nudge Katara onto Zuko’s makeshift bed enough to wrap the furs around her. She’ll settle in how she wants to be before the night is over.

            The wind seeps into the cave, twisting around its daughter as the airbender collapses onto her own furs. By tomorrow, Elder Sora will have an answer as to what Avatar Aang has done. Until then, they can only rest and hope for the best.

            So Ty Lee goes to sleep. Pana will wake her if anything happens.

            In the meantime, she’ll dream of flying.  

Notes:

Can you tell I don’t like the comics? I got stuck with this chapter and just decided to rant instead, so sorry about that.
Now, about Aang.
Know that this plot line has been planned since I started plotting this story back when Book Two was still airing. What happens to Aang from here on out is, other than the pairings in the story and Ty Lee being Ty Lee, the only surviving plotline from the original story. This is also setting up an entire world, so this whole twenty-three chapter fic is really just groundwork. Just know that everything happens for a reason. I have fifty pages worth of notes outlining this world year by year so I know what’s going on where and when and with what group.
In short: please don’t hate me. The scenes with Aang were written multiple times and I still have a love-hate relationship with them. Toph’s scene is the only one I’m really happy with.
Also, can you catch the Homestuck reference?
And I know Katara's not right. She won't be a for a while because her character development is currently very screwed up and absolutely nothing like canon. It'll be explained a little more in the next chapter.

Chapter 15: blinded by the rain

The sea is calm around her, the moonlight shining through the surface in brush strokes of blue. Saltwater presses in around her, the cold seeping into her bones as the winter oceans welcome home their daughter.

                  She knows this water. If she breaks the surface and looks behind her, she will see ice rising out of the darkness. Beyond that lay land she hasn’t seen in years. It twists her heart to know it’s there, that she can easily encourage the ocean to carry her back.

                  But this is wrong. Winter is coming and the seas should be teaming with life as the fish and whales prepare for the season. There is nothing here. Just her and the water and the moon.

                  And something standing atop the waves.

                  She moves towards it, stopping when the water moves just enough to see the glider held behind him and the bright blue arrow on his hand.

                  Aang.

                  She has to get up there. She has to talk to him, to explain more fully why they did what they did, but the sea won’t let her move. Turning and twisting, she tries to fight her element, but nothing works. It holds her too tightly.

                  “Settle down, my daughter.”

                  She stills. Something in her knows the voice, though she has never heard it before. Around her, the water is coalescing and forming something solid.

                  Forming someone solid.

                  It’s comforting, this embrace. Like her father’s, but different. Older, more instinct and the indescribable essence of being a bender. She knows this being is male. He has to be. The oceans are her father and the moon is her mother. Every waterbender knows this.

                  So she settles down and lets La hold her as they watch the moonlight above gather and reveal Yue. The words don’t break through the water and her stomach twists at the memory that she told Aang it was Yue who sent them away from him.

                  “You did nothing wrong.” La’s voice is steady and calm. The tone relaxes in her blood until all she feels is an echo of worry. “Tui only told you what the Spirit World decided. The consequences are ours to bear.”

                  “The consequences?”

                  La rubs her upper arm in what she thinks is supposed to be a comforting gesture, but his other arm is still around her stomach, holding her in place. “The Avatar Spirit has been in turmoil for many incarnations now. We’ve been expecting one like Avatar Aang for some centuries.”

                  One like Aang?

                  She doesn’t know what he means until he points up at the surface. Yue looks like she’s pleading, her hands gesturing in a very familiar manner. And Aang—Aang’s arrows are glowing and the ocean is beginning to pull in an unnatural way.

                  No.

                  He can’t do this. He just can’t. Aang’s facing the South Pole. Yue is all that’s standing between an unstable Avatar and her homeland.

                  The dread and sickness are present in her mind, but she only feels a faint impression there. She almost asks why, and then feels it. It’s just a small spike of chi, just enough to let her know what’s going on. La tucks her hair behind her ear. “You can do more with bloodbending than kill or heal. It’s amazing how much control over emotions the heart has. If it’s regulated to stay at a resting pace, it’s difficult for some of the stronger emotions to surface. It’s a shame Hama never figured this out. It’s even more tragic that you never realized this power. Avatar Aang could have been subdued at Taku without the Prince getting hurt and without the Avatar losing his mind to the storm.”

                  “So this is my fault?” The anger does surface there. La is a god. He is her god but how dare he blame her for this. She did what she was told to do and she tried to handle it the best she could but she is only seventeen.

                  She is still a child who never had a childhood. How can anyone be an adult when they have never been a child?

                  “No. There are other forces at work here. Older forces.”

                  The sea begins to rise up, but La takes her hand in his, reaching out for the ocean around them and pulling the water away from Aang’s control. The spirit’s chi against hers is cool and impossibly deep and terrifyingly strong. She can feel it rattling her bones, the strain of holding the water back from the Avatar pulling at her joints until it feels like her body is going to break apart.

                  A kiss is pressed to her temple. “I’m sorry, child, but the Avatar has borrowed my strength before and I let him in at my most vulnerable. I’m afraid he might be able to break my hold, so please let me borrow your strength for just a little longer.”

                  He can keep her heart calm, but blood has nothing to do with pain. He can keep her heart strong, but he cannot control her mind.

                  She can see Aang’s face, see the anger and ache bunched up in every bit of his body. It doesn’t matter what La says. There may be something else going on. There may be unresolved issues from his past lives, but whatever Aang is feeling right now, it’s her doing. He cared for her the most and she hurt him in the worst way possible.

                  There’s nothing she can do to make this up to him. She can save the world in his place. She can apologize to everyone, beg for forgiveness and it won’t do anything.

                  Something flashes silver above the water. No, that’s not it. It’s ice, the cold sealing off Aang from the ocean. His form obscures and just before he vanishes from sight, she thinks she sees the blinding light of the Avatar Spirit’s eyes staring down at her.

                  La’s chi recedes a little. He’s still holding the ocean, but Yue has taken control of the surface water. The Moon Spirit should have more than enough power to keep the Avatar from attacking.

                  But the ice also keeps those below from seeing what’s going on. La’s power recedes a little more and his arm loosens around her stomach and she pushes against him with everything she has left. She sinks a little in the water. So much of her own power went into holding back the sea. Her bones feel shaky.

                  La reaches down and takes her wrist in his hand, pulling her back up to face him. He doesn’t look like what she was expecting after what she saw at the Siege of the North. His skin is darker than hers, his eyes bluer. Short black hair curls around his head. He’s a few years older than her, but still young enough that she would talk to him as a peer if they met a different way. He gives her lopsided grin. “I thought this form might be easier for you to talk to. The new Tui seems to prefer it when we must speak.”

                  “What do you want?”

                  “To warn you.” He says it so simply. “The war is ending and you must be ready.”

                  “We still have time.”

                  “Not much. I am afraid you cannot wait for our season to begin.”

                  She wants to slap him. She wants to slap Yue. “What is it with you spirits interfering with our world? This is a human war. It has nothing to do with you.”

                  La’s mouth twists into something halfway between a grimace and a smile. “If it affects the Avatar, then it affects all of us.”

                  “So why are you just telling me? Why aren’t other benders dealing with their own spirits?”

                  “Water has always been closer to the spirit world.” He says it calmly, smiling at her and reaching up to brush her hair out of her face. “And the Avatar chose you. By holding onto you so tightly, he has brought you to our attention.”

                  The taste of metal is bitter behind her teeth. She hates him, hates Aang too. It was never supposed to be like this. 

                  If Aang hadn’t been so foolish to hold on to everything he’s lost, none of this would be happening. She knows some of what he has to be going through and it’s poison. The agony of losing everything and everyone, the pain of realizing that you will never see the home of your youth again can and will destroy a person.

It’s bad for her, but losing everything the way he did is incomprehensible. He’s holding onto his past too tightly and now he’s held on too tightly to the short history he wrote in that one year after waking up.

                  Yue and La—both of them because this is a team now—just keep interfering. She does what one tells her and it ends with a battle that shouldn’t be happening and the other holding her still beneath the waves. She doesn’t like the way the spirits are just meddling with their lives.

                  Then she remembers Tui.

                  La’s expression is softer than any she’s seen before. “I am not as removed from this war as you think.”

                  “If I ask you what I’m supposed to do, will you give me a straight answer?”

                  “It is unlikely.”

                  “Bastard.”

                  He laughs. “It has been a while since any of you have taken me so lightly. This is the real reason we keep seeking you out. Hama has taught you well.”

                  Her instincts override the foreign chi in her body and panic floods her veins. Hama taught her well? Bloodbending? That’s what this is about?

                  The fury is building up and she doesn’t know why. Bloodbending has been such a valuable tool these past three years. She’s saved the lives of those she loves more times than she can count and though she has killed many with it, she has also spared more innocents than could be with other bending forms.

                  “No. Not that.” La has her face in his hands, his blue eyes startling close to hers, his nose brushing against hers. “Do you not remember what she told you about waterbending?”

                  She pulls away from him, looking down into the depths. The words I don’t remember are just on the tip of her tongue when she realizes what he means.

                  The pitch-black depths of the ocean.                  

                  The abyss.

                  It’s the darkness that lurks in their element; the kind that swallows people up and slowly devours their hearts.

                  It’s the darkness she still struggles to control.

                  La presses a kiss against her hairline. “Now you see. Tui was the only one who was going to speak with you, but you kept struggling with that last shadow. I had to step forward. You are the daughter of the ocean.”

                  “So you’re here to help me?”

                  “Mostly.”

                  “That’s not very helpful.”

                  “We spirits rarely are.”

                  She sighs. “So I’ve noticed.”

                  He’s about to speak again when the water suddenly shifts. It’s almost strange how quickly it changes. One moment, everything is pale in the illumination of Yue’s ice. Then the ice is broken, the sea is screaming, and giant knives of ice are blindly stabbing the ocean in search of prey.

                  She only has a moment to brace herself before La takes over her power again, bringing the fallen Yue to them. With the Moon Spirit held between them, the oceans begin fighting back against their assailant.

                  Wind slices through the waves, a storm quickly brewing above them. This isn’t going to end well. The South Pole can’t handle a storm like this and she doubts the southern Earth Kingdom could handle it should this go north.

                  “’Tara?” Yue’s voice is too weak and there is silver blood leaking into the darkness. “’Tara, you need to go back now. You can’t get hurt on this side. They need you.”

                  She ignores most of what the Moon Spirit says, her hands searching for the wound, her instincts screaming at her as more blood is lost. She presses a kiss to Yue’s temple. “Hush, don’t waste energy.”

                  Around them, La has unleashed everything. There is only a small area of peace surrounding Yue and here. The waters around them churn, thrashing about towards the Avatar and doing everything it can to stop the Avatar from moving any closer to the Pole.

                  Something doesn’t feel right.

                  Yue slips out of her arms as the ocean begins to take form, the maelstrom twisting, mixing black and blue and silver all together. The control on her blood slips and everything comes crashing in for just a moment when one silvery hand catches her arm. Yue smiles weakly. “I’m sorry for doing this to you, but you need to go back now.”

                  Everything goes dark.

                  And then she opens her eyes.

---

 

                  It’s the sudden, clanging vibrations that wake her. She’s on her feet, ready to attack in a moment when she realizes that there’s nothing going on.

                  Except Katara.

                  Katara’s missing.

                  Toph sighs and taps her foot against the cave floor. There’s the waterbender, a ways outside the cave and with vibrations that feel like chaos.

                  Sparky’s still asleep and he needs to stay that way. Snow got no sleep on the flight from the Lungta market and needs what she can get.

                  And it’s been a while since Toph has really spoken to Sweetness.

                  The ground is wet. It doesn’t mess with her bending the way snow does, but it does create an odd echo effect. She moves the ground to get rid of Sugar’s sickness before creating a dry place to sit. “You okay?”

                  “I hate the spirits.”

                  Okay, not what she was expecting. “Moon Girl again?”                 

                  “Partly. Can we not talk about it? My head is still spinning.”

                  “Fair enough.” She stretches out her legs, tapping one heel against the ground to make somewhere comfortable for Sugar to curl up. She’s not sure she’s done it right. It’s difficult to determine small plant growth, but if she did it right, then it should be cushioned.

                  “The moss is a nice touch.”

                  Success!

                  Toph grins, folding her arms behind her head. “Now all we need is tea.”

                  She hears nothing, but Sugar’s vibrations twitch in a pattern similar to laughter. “Give me a second.”

                  Something swishes around in the air. A small table is created at the waterbender’s request, alongside stone cups and a teapot. The liquid inside the cup that’s handed to her doesn’t smell like tea, but it’s good.

                  “It’s a tisane. Some of Taku’s herbs have naturalized, so it’s easy to find them if you know what to feel for.”

                  “Feel? You sound like an earthbender.”
                  “You are where I got the idea.”

                  “Really?” Learning across water and earth has been one of the most difficult things they’ve encountered. Opposing elements are always easier to combine.

                  “It’s like the way you use your bending to see. All living things contain water and that water forms a different pattern inside each being. Animals have blood that flows along certain paths and plants have certain paths inside their leaves and stems. It takes some concentration, but you can see the pattern and it sort of forms a skeleton of sorts. It makes identifying things a lot easier.”

                  “Sweet. You’re just feeling the presence of water, though, right? Not the pulse of the element?”

                  “Water doesn’t really have a pulse the way the earth does.”

                  “You said it was like colour?”

                  “For benders. They have too much chi in the blood. It alters the way the water feels and gives it a distinctive marker that translates into the mind as colour.”

                  Toph brings one hand down and presses it against the stone beneath her, focusing on her companion. Moving aside the vibrations of stress and the beat of the heart—no, that’s breathing. That needs to be ignored too.

                  So when all of that blocked out, what’s left?
                  Nothing, as far as she can tell, but she’s been around benders almost exclusively for the past three years. What did Suki feel like?

                  “Toph?”

                  She grins. “Sorry, I was trying something out. Want to talk about Moon Girl now?”

                  “Not really.”

                  “Was it about Twinkletoes?” There’s a spike in stress. Toph sighs. “Look, I know you don’t like to talk about him, but you’re going to have to face this at some point.”

                  “I abandoned him.”

                  “So did I.”

                  That’s the crux of it isn’t it? The real reason they haven’t spoken to each other very much in the past few years. She and Katara were there the longest. They had more good history with the Avatar, living alongside him as family for more than half a year each. It’s taken some time to see it, but they were family. He was their son and brother, the one who bound them all together into one cohesive unit.

                  Everything was always about Aang. As his masters, they swore to protect and raise him to be the warrior the world needed. Instead, when they failed, they abandoned him to new masters without warning.

                  It was kind of a shit move.

                  No, it was a shit move.

                  Abandoning a family member the way they did is an awful thing to do and it’s apparently seriously fucked up little Twinkletoes. Her parents at least adjusted, though she doesn’t want to know what’s happened in the three years since the comet.

                  But it’s different with Aang.

                  He was their responsibility and they blew it.

                  Not the best situation for an already struggling friendship. She and Sugar have always had their moments, both good and bad. They just oscillate between the two. They didn’t click the way they each did with Snow.

                  Maybe it’s their elements. The constantly shifting water and the always steady earth have very little in common. Water wears earth down and earth restricts the water’s movements.

                  Katara sighs. “Yeah, you did. We’re awful people, aren’t we?”

                  “We were kids. I think we were supposed to be awful.”

                  “We were never children, Toph.”

                  She doesn’t respond. There’s no real reason to. Sugar’s right. None of them were ever really children. They were mothers, prisoners, politicians, soldiers. There’s no room for childhood in any of those positions.

                  “So we fucked up Twinkletoes. I don’t know why anyone was expecting a different result. The young can’t raise each other. We don’t know enough about the world to do that.”

                  There’s another sigh. “He attacked the South Pole.”

                  …What?

                  “In the vision, or whatever it was. Yue was fighting Aang. He was facing the South Pole, Toph.”

                  “Did he see you?” The question comes automatically. She doesn’t voice the second question, the one that wonders whether nor not this happened in the spirit world or in this world.

                  “I think so.” Sugar sounds stressed. Her vibrations are a wreck, but her heart’s steady and the trembling pulse that comes with each breath is mostly calm. “I’m not really sure. La held me under the water most of the time. He was using me to try and keep the ocean out of Aang’s control.”

                  Toph nods and asks her second question.

                  Katara’s silent for a moment. “I think it was this world. Aang was in this world, at least. I was on the other side.”
                  Every curse she knows runs through her mind, but instead she tightens her jaw to hold the words back and ignores the growing pain behind her eyes. “We need to wake up Zuko and Ty Lee.”

---

                 

                  The sky is sickly green. Somewhere behind the clouds, the sun is still rising. For the moment, the rains have stopped.

                  Ty Lee uses it to her advantage and runs. Little creatures dash out her way and plants bow as she passes. She is the wind, a part of nature. Nothing will obstruct her path.

                  Taku is silent when she reaches Sora’s home. There are no birds. Miyuki is no where to be seen.

                  Sora ushers her in. “The Avatar saw them.”

                  Ty Lee’s heart sinks when she realises it isn’t a question. “How much damage?”

                  “Terrible waves washed up along the southwestern coast of the Earth Kingdom and a few made it to the Fire Nation.” The Elder moves quickly, digging through stacks of things throughout the room. “Does he know about you and the earthbender?”

                  “I don’t think so.”

                  “Good. That will limit the damage. He won’t think to attack Gaoling until later.”

                  “He’ll go to the Fire Nation next, won’t he?”

                  “More than likely. He is still an Air Nomad and there is still fury in our wind. The Water Tribe was simply an immediate reaction. The Fire Nation will have more anger. There is more history behind it, between the elements and between the Avatar and the prince.”

                  “He’ll go for the capital.”

                  “I believe so.”

                  “How many airbenders?”

                  Sora pauses. “None. We removed all but the most skilled Acolytes when the Mad Princess claimed the throne.”

                  Ty Lee nods. “We need to leave now, then.”

                  The Elder shakes her head and keeps digging, placing odds and ends in a sack, until she jumps up and pulls a stick out of the pile.

                  No, not a stick.

                  A glider.

                  “Take this. You’re going to need it.”

                  The wood is old beneath her hands and she holds it close to her heart, bowing before the Elder. “Thank you.”

                  Sora smiles. “It’s time you had one and these bones are too old to fly.”

                  She takes it and turns to leave before stopping and turning back to face the Elder. “Send out the hawks. It’s time.”

                  “Go with the wind, child. Save the world.”

                  Ty Lee rushes out, the glider at the ready and the supplies secured across her back. It’s faster going downhill than going uphill—even more so with the glider—and she’s back at camp with time to spare. The ground is soft beneath her when she lands, the glider snapping closed in an action that is more instinct than anything. “Sora’s sending out the hawks.”

                  Toph nods. “It’ll take a couple of days for them to assemble and prepare for attacks, so that’s roughly a week before anything can begin.”

                  “Even longer before they can reach the Fire Nation.” Zuko coughs, leaning heavily against Katara as she helps him up. His ribs are still damaged, but no one has made the argument to leave him here with Sora. His knowledge of the palace is too valuable and they don’t have time to draw up maps and the like. “A week and a half at the earliest.”

                  “So we need to get in and out and deal with Aang as quickly as possible. The fewer people who know about this, the better.” Katara helps the firebender up a set of stone steps created next to Kiki.

                  Ty Lee jumps up into the saddle from the other side, setting down the supplies and her glider before jumping down again. Kiki really should rest some more, but this next journey is going to be intense and it’ll be better to have her bison.

                  At the same time, they can’t have two bison in the Fire Nation. So she takes Pana by the reins and leads him out into the cold outside the cave. “Go home, be safe, and keep yourself hidden. Yip-yip.”

                  The groan as he takes off is covered up by the sound of thunder. The sky is already darkening. Lightning can’t be far off.

                  She goes back to Kiki and the others, helping pack up the rest of camp. Grabbing Toph by the waist, she jumps up and sets the earthbender in the saddle before moving on to the reins. She nudges Kiki to move out of the cave and once they’re clear, she gives the command to take off.

                  A few hours later, when they’re clear of land and storm, she leaves the reins and jumps back into the saddle. Kiki’s made this journey enough times she knows what she’s doing.

                  In the saddle, Zuko is asleep once more, Katara at his side. The waterbender’s hands are spread out over the bruised bare skin of his side. Ty Lee settles down on his other side, beside Toph. “Did you put him to sleep?”

                  “Sugar says he heals easier when he’s asleep.” Toph answers, blank eyes focused down.

                  “Is he going to be clear to fight?”

                  Katara tilts her head to the side. “Maybe. I know his ribs won’t be completely healed, but they should be well enough that, with a brace, he can move and maybe fight a little. Just as long as he doesn’t get hit, he should be fine.”

                  “Can we do this without a full-scale battle?” Toph shifts, crossing her arms across her chest.

                  “I was planning on simply subduing Azula and Mai,” Katara says, giving Ty Lee an apologetic look. “Aang will be the difficult one. He can throw off bloodbending and I’ve already used it against him once. He’ll know what to expect.”

                  “I can deal with him.” Ty Lee says. “I’ll just take away his breath.”

                  “And if Twinkletoes gets there before we do?”

                  “Hope for the best.” Katara covers up Zuko’s side and leans back against the saddle. “We should probably hit the main communication’s tower since it’s on our way.”

                  “Won’t that take too much time?” Toph says.

                  “I think we can handle it.” Ty Lee can see what’s going to be suggested. Katara can take lightning from the sky and turn it into something catastrophic with her water—lighting combined with Katara’s waves and Ty Lee’s wind could be just enough to cover up an earthbending attack from the bottom. It’s a messy way to handle this, and the loss of life will be high, but this is the stormy season. Things happen.

                  She wrinkles her nose at the thought of the season. She can’t take them above the storms where the air is thin and traveling under or through the storms is going to be difficult. Under will likely be the easiest. Katara will be able to send them below the oceans if need be.

                  There’s an odd tenseness in the saddle and Ty Lee takes it as her cue to return to the reins. Sure enough, once she’s settled down on Kiki’s head, Katara moves over to sit beside Toph. Earthbender and waterbender are speaking too low to hear without bending the air in her direction, but she leaves them be.

                  The situation with the Avatar has history only they know.

---

                 

                  It’s the smell of lightning that wakes him. It’s a unique scent, almost sweet and certainly bitter. The world comes into focus slowly. His side is the first thing he notices. Sore, but not in extreme pain. It feels like there’s something around his middle. A brace, maybe?
                  Up above him, a tent of sorts has been erected over—the saddle. He’s in a bison saddle and if he’s hearing everything correctly, then they’re in the middle of a storm over the ocean.

                  Tilting his head to the sides, he can’t see anyone in the saddle with him. Being careful with his ribs, he sits up, gasping when pain screeches through his side. “Katara? Toph? Ty?”

                  There’s a crash and a boom and it sounds almost like stone is falling when the bison dips down and a body tumbles into the saddle. Green and grinning, Toph looks like she’s on top of the world. Katara comes in from the front and he can see Ty’s boots land on the bison’s head, her glider being passed to the waterbender—

                  —who sees him up and awake and promptly scowls. “What are you doing?”

                  “Trying to figure out what’s happening.”
                  Toph’s grin widens. “We just took out the main communication tower. We’re on our way to deal with your sister and Twinkletoes. And Knives. I suspect we’ll have to deal with her.”

                  “Zuko, you have two broken ribs. You really need to be resting.”

                  “I’ll be fine.” He scoots back, leaning against the furs that have been piled up as pillows. “You destroyed the tower? In this storm?”

                  Toph laughs. “The storm wasn’t that bad when we got here. Snowlion and Sugar Queen used their bending to make it worse, then Sugar Queen caught lightning with water and hit the tower and Snow started making the wind really bad while I got down on the island and started destabilizing the isle. It was brilliant!”

                  There’s a sigh off to the side and then he’s moved down and back into a laying position. “I said, rest. You don’t need to ruin the healing while you’ve still got time to mend.”
                  “She means that we’re going to need you to fight Crazy and Knives. So try to be in tip-top shape before we get to the capital.” Toph says. “It’s going to be four against the entire palace and a mad Twinkles. We need all the power we can.”

                  He sighs. “What’s our plan for that?”

                  The other two benders exchange a glance. Finally, the earthbender answers, “Land, hide Kiki, get into the palace without alarming anyone, knock out all the guards we find, locate Crazy and Knives, deal with them, wait for or hunt down Twinkles and deal with him.”

                  “And do all of this with as little attention as possible,” Katara adds. “The last thing we need is to run into the White Lotus without a plan and in the middle of an operation.”

                  ‘Operation’. The word sounds wrong coming from her. Has she always spoken like that?

                  Then again, what does normalcy have to do with any of this?

                  Three benders just destroyed the Fire Nation military’s main communications tower in the middle of a squall and with a bison in the mix. They’re how old? He’s nineteen. Katara and Ty are seventeen. Toph is fifteen.

                  Aang is fifteen.

                  Azula is seventeen.

                  How is any of this normal? They’re kids. How does the world justify expecting them to be adults at this time? Marriage at sixteen? Ruling a country at seventeen? War meetings at thirteen? Killing another person at any of these ages?

How is this okay? Why is this okay? This isn’t their war. Why didn’t anyone think to ask them whether or not they wanted to be killers and soldiers and husbands and wives?

If someone doesn’t have the freedom to choose their own path, then how are they supposed to grow up to be intelligent, functioning members of society? How can any society progress when their youth is sent to war or to marriage without having the chance to do something of their own volition?

He did what he was told. It got him a scar, banishment, and global humiliation. But when he took control of his own destiny, what then?

Training the Avatar, the dragons, the Temple, Ty Lee, the Lungta, this.

What about the others? By Water Tribe standards, Katara should be married. She should be a healer, not a warrior. Instead she fought and now she holds the power to change the world. Toph should be hidden away from public sight and rather than that, she’s made it clear that anyone can be great regardless of disability or sex.

And Ty. Ty—who should be an assassin and toy for his sister—is the beginning of a new era. She’s the return of the wind.

But they’re still too young. The loss and mistakes they’ve made might not have happened if they were older, if they knew the world just a little better.

More than that, they are children of war. Their entire lives, the most important early years especially, have been spent in war.

If the war really ends this night, then what will happen to them? Can they function in peacetime? If they are not warriors, soldiers, killers, then what are they?

They never stood a chance, did they?

“Zuko?” Katara leans over him, blue eyes concerned. “Are you okay? Your heartbeat is a little fast.”

“I’m fine.”
                  “You don’t sound fine.” Toph moves closer. “Sweetness, did he damage anything when he sat up?”

The waterbender’s hand is gentle when she touches the fabric above the wound. “No, everything’s just as it was.”

“Really, I’m fine. I was just thinking.”

“About?”

He reaches up to ruffle Toph’s hair. “What comes after.”

“We still have to make sure we make it to after.” Katara’s voice is soft, almost drowned out by the sound of the wind.

“Yeah, I guess we do.”

                  

Notes:

Since we’re getting into the chapters not covered by the outline I have (my computer is in the shop and all I have is the outdated original), I’m kind of running blind right now. I know where it has to go because the ending has been the only constant throughout this whole thing, but what comes before that is still a little shaky. Azula’s story, for instance, has changed more times than I care to count. This is really a transition chapter. I knew the thing with La was going to happen, though I anticipated his behavior would be very different.

Now, since I have been bad at keeping up to date with everything, I am dedicating this chapter to Moon, Mars, Mercury, and Venus. Eventually you all will get your proper birthday/holiday fics. Until then, this is yours.

Update: I actually have my computer back now. And better internet. So I might be able to finish this before February ends. And AO3 still hates my computer, so formatting is still an issue.

Chapter 16: gentle lightning

 

Kiki sets down half way up the mountain the capital calls home. Toph hops down from the saddle, landing heavily on the sweet—nope, this is sour. Too volcanic.

But still, dirt is dirt and she’s been in the air for way too long.

The vibrations behind her show Snow and Sugar working to get Sparky safely down from the saddle. When he’s safe and weapons are handed out and preparations made, she grins and takes position, raising one foot and slamming it into the ground. “This way to the end.”

There’s a jump in the vibrations behind her. Maybe that was the wrong thing to say. It’s true, though. What happens here determines what happens from now on. The war is going to end tonight (she pauses briefly to sniff the air. Yep, cool and kind of wet and little animal movement. Definitely nighttime). Whether they win or Crazy does is another question, but by the time the fighting stops here, the war will be over. They might have to deal with Twinkles still, but that’s another issue entirely.

She makes a ramp up through the mountain; steadily climbing toward the water source she can feel towards the top. There’s excitement and dread building up in the air and in their bodies. The war is going to end tonight.

It’s actually ending.

After everything, all the battles when they were with the others and all the covert things they’ve done on their own. It all ends once they reach the palace.

How absurd is this?

They’re four benders, some of whom are only old enough to be considered adults if you’re in the right part of the world, and they are about to end a century long world war.

That’s big.

And kind of stupid. A century of fighting and now four benders—a banished firebending prince with a couple of broken ribs, a potentially unstable waterbender, a Fire Nation noblewoman turned airbending master, and a blind earthbender—are about to do what a century of trained soldiers couldn’t.

They’re about to do something the Avatar couldn’t do.

But that one doesn’t much count. Twinkles tried to do things his way and spare Ozai’s life. Admirable, yes, but not very practical when going into a crucial battle with a move that hasn’t been tested before.

Hm, this isn’t right. She feels the stone with her hands to try and get a better look. Water, yes, but what’s around it? Stone, yes, but…wood?

She steps back and builds a set of stairs up and over where she thinks the water line ends and where there is some kind of big open space. Up at the top, she cautiously opens a passage. “Can one of you see any danger in there? Something’s messing with my senses.”

Snowlion hops up beside her. “It’s the Palace of the Fire Lady.”

“That’s still standing?” Sparky chokes out the question, jerking to stand up straight. There are twinges in his vibrations, markers of pain and she just sighs.

“Mostly. It was made of stone, remember?” Snow says. “My grandmother used to tell me stories about this. I never thought I’d get to see it for real.”

“How about sharing, since there are some of us here who don’t know the history of the Fire Nation.” Toph steps out into the passage. It’s definitely wood, and old. She can kind of feel things, but nothing distinctive enough to trust herself to walk safely.

Sugar comes up to stand beside her, her scent saltier and colder than the water in the cavern. “Is this a lake?”

“Yes, it is. Lake Himiko.” Sparky answers. “The original city and the Fire Lord’s Palace were where the Royal Plaza is today. But this place is older. Much older.”

Someone grabs her hand, pulling her along after the others. Small, soft hands—Snowlion. Yep, the glider Sugar helped tie across the airbender’s back just hit her leg, so this is definitely Snow. “The Fire Nation was originally ruled by a priestess queen. This palace was the first Fire Temple.”

“Let me guess, everything was fine and then Sparky’s family happened.”  Yes, this is good. Talk. Focus on Snow’s hand. The uselessness of her bending in this cavern doesn’t matter.

“Pretty much,” Snow answers. “They were sea-lords from the eastern islands.”

Somewhere up ahead, Sparky sighs. “This isn’t in any of the history books, Ty. The palace was built after the rise of the Fire Lords. We started out as Fire Sages, not pirates.”

“It was Queen Himiko. Most of the other priestesses had been killed by the time the invaders made it to the caldera.” Snow takes over, ignoring the firebender and pulling Toph closer to her. “But Himiko had brought the youngest to the heart of the temple to protect them. When it became apparent that they were going to lose control of the island, she made a deal with the leader of the invaders. She would marry him and he could call himself Lord of the Fire Islands so long as he left the remaining citizens, including the surviving priestesses, alive and safe.”

Toph snorts. “And he took the deal?”

“Legends say Queen Himiko was a great beauty and a fair ruler,” Snow says. “She was allowed to keep the caldera as the Fire Lady’s Palace and a new one was built along the harbour for the new Fire Lord. As the years passed, this place remained the home of the Fire Lord’s wife and trueborn children.”

“So why is it buried?”

“The Dragon War,” Zuko says. “It’s the usual story. Younger sibling decides they’d make a better Fire Lord and tries to take the throne by force. It sparked a civil war that divided the islands for nearly twenty years. In the end, the Crown Prince—the eldest son of the eldest son—decided to end things by killing both his father and his uncle and taking control for himself. His mother had died over the course of the war and he didn’t like the idea of anyone else living here, so he used captured earthbender mercenaries to sink the palace and help build a new one here, along with moving the noble families up to the caldera and building what would eventually become the Royal Plaza where the original lord’s palace was.”

Toph nods. “So there’s a whole city up there?”

There’s an odd sound from up ahead. Sugar answers, “Not unless Mai and Azula have done some serious construction.”

“What do you mean?” Snow asks, dragging Toph up closer to the other two.”

“The Agni Kai with Azula,” the firebender starts slowly. “It was during the comet and Azula dragged Katara into it—”

“You destroyed the city.” Toph finishes, grinning widely. “Very nice.”

“Not all of it.” The waterbender’s defense is so weak.

“The palace mostly survived. It was fireproofed after years of training accidents and Avatar Roku’s destruction of the throne room.” Zuko sighs heavily. “As for the rest of the caldera, I don’t know. Most of the noblemen only live here during the season and for major events. Their main estates are elsewhere, so I doubt any of them took the precaution to guard against firestorms.”

“They didn’t.” Snow confirms flippantly.

This place is strange. Not the buried palace, but the Fire Nation as a whole. Maybe it’s just the fire aspect of it all. Fire is temporary and fleeting unless constantly fed. It’s a cycle of destruction and rebirth that can’t be healthy for a society as a whole.

Sparky has his issues and Snow scares her sometimes. She’s heard stories about how cutthroat the Earth Kingdom nobles can be, but it’s nothing like here.

As far as she knows, the Earth Kingdom doesn’t have assassins among their nobility. The things Snow knows about the Fire Nation and her fellow nobles and the things that don’t seem to be in the history books—how do they do it?

And what will they be like after the war?

“Badger, we’re going around to the back of the palace. That should put us near the bunkers. If we get it right, that should put us on a clear path to the surface.”

“Ty, how do you know this?” Sparky sounds wary.

“My family has been investigating the bunkers since they were built. Just in case we needed to kill someone who was down there.”

There’s an unsaid portion of that that goes in case we needed to kill the Fire Lord or Crown Prince.

Scary.

Toph lets Snow lead her where she needs to be, and when it comes time, she uses her bending to forge a path towards the surface. The tension is slowly returning and she’s focusing on getting them safely to the palace and trying to sense what’s going on up at the surface. It doesn’t escape any of them that Snow directed them to a bunker that did lead directly to the surface, no pools of molten earth or rivers or any obstacles at all.

A decoy, obviously.

The air is chilly when they finally break the surface. They stay hidden beneath the entrance to the underground, Toph on her hands and knees.

“Guards on the towers of the wall. Can’t feel anything closer to the palace.”

“We stay underground until we’re in the palace,” Sparky says. “There’s no cover between here and there and those guards are archers.”

“What about the Dai Li?”

“Mai hated them, so she probably wouldn’t allow them to serve as guards here.” Snow whispers.

Toph nods. “Okay then, back down we go.”

She forms the necessary tunnels, being careful to avoid sending anything up to the surface where someone might notice the earth shifting. She keeps it as quiet as she can too, constantly feeling towards the surface to see if anyone is around.

No one. Odd.

When she feels the palace close in around them, she slowly brings them up to the surface. Kneeling down, she feels for anyone nearby. “There’s no one here.”

“Are you sure?”

She nods. “This place is either empty or anyone here is too far for me to feel.”

 

---

           

Toph’s assessment holds true. They make it to the main portion of the palace without seeing anyone else. Ty Lee’s feeling the wind and she knows Katara’s focusing on feeling for any foreign heartbeats and Toph’s doing what she can and Zuko’s focusing on feeling for any heat sources but really?

Where is everyone?

Has the Avatar already been through here?

No, not likely. There’s no sign of a fight and given what little she knows about him, there would be mass destruction if he had been here already. Instead, it’s like the calm before the storm. She and Zuko work on leading the group towards the throne room, but the closer they get, the more she gets the feeling that something isn’t right.

“Wait.” Katara’s voice is soft. They all pause to wait on her. “Toph, can you sense anything down the passage to the right?”

“Not really. They used metal in the construction, but there’s not enough for me to get a good feel.”

“Ty Lee?”

She takes a breath and focuses, moving the wind down the hall. Closed doors, mostly. The wind slides around the doors, filling the rooms. Mostly bedrooms.

Wait, that one there at the end. It’s bigger and there is someone inside. “Just one person. I think they’re asleep.”

Zuko nods. “Ty Lee, take Toph and look around. Katara, come with me.”

She takes the earthbender’s hand, leading her away from the corridor as Zuko and Katara disappear into the shadows.

“Do you know where we are?” Toph speaks quietly, stepping carefully.

Ty Lee shrugs. “Not really. I spent most of my time here in Azula’s rooms or in the Royal Spa.”

“Not even when you were a kid?”

“No. Zuko and Azula lived in the villa at the palace gardens when Azulon was still alive.”

“So you really don’t know where we are.”

“Not without a good look. It’s too dark to see anything clearly.”

“If you had to guess, where would you say we are?”

“Near the throne room.”

“So let’s see if you’re right. If we are where you think we are, then which direction do we need to go to find the throne?”

“Straight, then up and right.” Ty Lee tugs on the earthbender’s hand, dragging her down the hall. Her wind is heavy here, stagnant in an unhealthy way. The picture it gives her of her surroundings is nebulous without something moving through it.

Or something breathing.

Breathing is good for airbender senses.

She moves closer to the wall, keeping on hand around Toph’s and the other dragging along the wall to help guide them. After a bit, her foot hits something. “Stairs, be careful.”

She hears a mumbled acknowledgement from her companion. Taking a deep breath, she slowly starts to lead the earthbender up the stairs. “There’s more metal here.”

“Are you sure?”

“It’s still not enough to sense anything.” Toph stops suddenly. “Wait, no. There’s a huge source of metal up ahead. Steel, I think. Maybe. Someone’s wearing it, but it was odd and I only got a brief sense of it. Is there gold in the mortar used to hold everything together?”

“Yes, there is,” she answers blankly.

A guard? No, that’s not right. Uniforms aren’t made with steel. The firebenders can’t wear it partly for the heat and partly for the way it reacts with lightning.

Steel, and odd. Something someone would—like a holster full of knives.

Brilliant.

She steps carefully, telling Toph to be quiet along the way. The throne room is exactly where she thought it would be. It’s dark now, the fires around the throne burning low and orange. Sitting behind the fire is a dark figure she knows so well.

“Stay put,” she whispers to Toph, pushing the earthbender against a pillar. The younger bender looks ready protest. How to stop her from letting Mai know they’re here?

Mai, of course.

Ty Lee takes a deep breath and does what her sworn sister did to silence Azula every time their princess got to be a little rowdy and there was no one else around.

She kisses Toph.

“Stay put, badgermole. Please.”

The earthbender, for once, has no response.

Ty Lee steps out from behind the pillar. At first, there is no reaction from the woman on the throne. It’s just Mai, hair down and loose, dressed in her nightclothes with a dark robe over her shoulders. It’s just an armed Mai and Ty Lee is standing in the Fire Lord’s throne room dressed blatantly in the clothes of an airbender, a glider strapped across her back.

“Mai?”

Silence. Then: “Hello, Ty Lee. It’s good to see you again.”

 

---

 

Katara sidles up to the door, Zuko farther back. With her bloodbending, her senses are stronger and she’s faster with reactions.

And, of course, she doesn’t have any broken bones. “Remember to be careful.”

“Yes, dear.” His answer has the same sarcastic drawl Sokka used to use and for just a moment, it hurts.

 She takes a deep breath, and opens the door as silently as she can. It’s a bedroom, and feeling around with her waterbender, she identifies a small teacup mostly empty beside the bed, a vase disrupted by flower stems by the door, and one female human, curled up asleep in the bed.

A very familiar female human.

Katara steps to the side and finds a window, pulling the curtains open. There’s a sharp intake of breath from Zuko’s direction and the body on the bed begins to move.

“Mai, is that you?” The rough voice is nothing like she remembers it being. There’s no cruelty, no mocking edge. It’s just slow and so very, very tired.

Zuko takes a seat beside his sister. “No, La-La. Mai’s not here.”

“Zu-Zu?”

“Shh, I’m here.”

Katara tilts her head. There’s something odd about the way Azula looks to her bloodbending. She creeps closer, ignoring Zuko’s concerned look.

It’s almost like Hama. The chi isn’t completely gone from the bloodstream, but it’s so dim. She doubts Azula can manage any bending in this state. But why? This doesn’t look like the damage done by chi-blocking.

And then she gets close enough to smell the tea.

Her breath is shaky when she picks up the teacup, bringing it up to her nose to make sure she’s certain of the scent. “Clock-flower.”

“What?” Zuko’s quiet, one hand still stroking his sister’s hair. She’s seen him do the same thing to Toph and Ty Lee on nights they have horrible nightmares.

“It’s clock-flower tea. It’s a sedative, but you can’t give it to benders. It messes with the chi and ruins their bending.”

He’s gone so very still. “La-La’s being poisoned.”

It’s not a question and she doubts he notices his use of the nickname. “It’s not necessarily a poison.”

“Just if it’s given to benders.”

She bites her lip and looks down at the princess, pressing a hand against the weaker girl’s chest. The chi in her blood has gotten so thin. “She’s been on this for a while. Sora’s told me about this, but I’ve never heard of it being this bad.”

What was the rate of degradation for the chi? Clock-flower tea takes weeks to begin to show an effect on the bender, and even then, the dosage has to be consistently increased as the body begins to accommodate itself to the sedative.

“How long?”

“For it to be this bad, more than a year. Daily dosing with an increase in concentration every month or so.”

“Zu-Zu, who’s there?” The princess tries to sit up, but Azula’s movements are too slow. She’s in bad shape, but how to tell Zuko that? Katara removes her hand and stands up straight.

Her partner helps his sister up. “Be careful, you’re sick.”

Azula ignores him, instead reaching out for Katara. “Who are you?”

“You don’t remember me, do you?” She kneels again, moving so she’s more in the light.

The princess shakes her head. “Father doesn’t like strangers being in my room.”

“Azula, Father’s not here.” Zuko speaks slowly, each word careful but steady.

“But when he gets back,” she responds.

This isn’t—wait, no. Ozai’s assassination happened when again? Two years ago, and there was a year of silence in which the Fire Nation was quiet before they started moving again.

Is it possible Azula’s been under the effects of clock-flower tea and other sedatives since that time, or even before?

Katara remembers what the princess was like after the Agni Kai and doesn’t doubt it for a second.

But who would do this? Who would kill Ozai and put a mad and ineffective Azula on the throne? Who would be so focused on ending the war that they would severely weaken their military outposts just to ensure enough power to destroy the Water Tribes?

And the issues in the Fire Nation. The increased patrols Jetsun told them about. The complaints from the airbenders living here, like they’re being hunted again.

“La-La, where is he?” Zuko asks, holding his sister’s face and forcing her to look at him.

“He went to go find Mother.”

Zuko smiles softly, standing up and taking Katara’s arm. “Did the tea do this to her?”

She shakes her head. “Clock-flower alone can’t do this. It would take away her bending and keep her sedated enough that she wouldn’t be violent, but it shouldn’t do anything else.”

“So this is all Azula?”

Katara nods. “Do you think it was Mai?”

“Probably. She’s the only one who could be able to get close enough to do this.” He’s quiet for a moment, looking back at his sister. “Can she recover?”

There’s an interesting query. Can she recover?

It is possible to wean someone off clock-flower, but it would take time for the chi to rebuild in the system. Whether or not Azula would ever regain her full strength is questionable, and there’s her mental health to consider too.

The tea would only take her bending and her violence. Everything left behind is all Azula. What must that be like, to have the things that made her functional taken away and to be locked up alone with her madness?

It’s cruel.

“She might be able to regain her bending.”

“Her sanity?”

She sighs. “Zuko, this just made a preexisting condition worse. Yes, it’s possible with serious help she might be able to function in normal society, but given how bad this is, it’s likely she’ll spend her entire life either in a hospital or in and out of one.”

He nods. “Katara, can you go find Ty and Toph?”

She almost protests, but then sees the look in his eyes. She nods, and leaves the room, closing the door behind her.

Breathe in, breathe out. Zuko knows what he’s doing.

Now to find the other two. She takes a deep breath and reaches out, searching for water. There are pipes in the palace walls, but there, at the edge of her senses, is the fluttering of a nervous heart.

Green—Toph.

Grey—Ty Lee.

And a non-bender—Mai.

Katara starts to run.

The room is dark when she slips by the door. From the shadows, she can see the three figures in the darkness of the dying fire.

Fire. There’s a structure behind a low-burning fire. And the gallery of pillars, the dark and imposing architecture; she knows this place. Zuko’s told her stories about it, about how Sozin rebuilt it following Roku’s attack.

So this is the Dragon Throne.

Ty Lee is kneeling beside a fallen Mai, Toph standing off to the side. “Yo, Sugar, is that you?”

The airbender looks up. “Katara, where’s Zuko?”

“With Azula. What happened here?”

Neither one answers her.

Katara pulls water out of the skins at her hip. With one hand controlling Mai’s blood, she moves the unconscious woman over to a pillar before setting ice around her, locking the non-bender’s body in place.

With Toph on one side and Ty Lee on the other, she leads them back to where she left Zuko and his sister.

 

---

 

“Zu-Zu, where have you been?”

He closes his eyes and focuses on his breathing for just a moment before returning to sit beside her. She looks so tiny, gold eyes bleary and skin so pale. She looks fragile and that word doesn’t seem right. It’s Azula. His sister: military genius, firebending prodigy, and seventeen-year-old girl.

He sighs heavily brushes her hair out of her face. “I’ve been everywhere.”

“Mai said you died.”

He smiles softly. “I did.”

She blinks. “You are here, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am. La-La, how have you been?”

She grins and it’s a bright vacant expression. “Zu-Zu, when are we going home? Mama will get worried. You know we’re not supposed to leave the gardens after dark.”

He doesn’t answer. How is he supposed to answer?

Her sense of time and reality is shaky. If Katara’s right, then Azula will be sent to one of those hospitals in the countryside that no one speaks of. If she ever does recover her sanity, she will be put before a court and tried for all her crimes. If she isn’t visibly mad anymore, then it will be to prison.

Even if she hasn’t recovered her bending, it will likely be the White Tower.

Hospital or prison.

His sister is seventeen. She’s his baby sister, his—his what?

His responsibility? Like Toph or Ty Lee?

When has he ever looked out for her the way he’s looked out for them? Thirteen years with Azula and he’s been a better brother to an earthbender and an airbender in three.

How did La-La get to be this bad? Ozai was obviously only involved long enough to be a bad influence, but what about Mother?

No, not Mother. Azula was seven or eight when Mum disappeared. She was still too young to realise Ozai was an awful influence and Mum never really tried, not once Azula was old enough to use her bending.

And what was it Uncle said? Azula’s a lost cause and needs to be taken down?

The taste of bile is bitter and burning at the back of his throat. How could anyone say that, being sympathetic to Zuko’s own situation when Azula was a product of the exact same family?

Azula never really had a chance did she? One parent clearly favored him and the other demanded violence and perfection in exchange for attention. Ty Lee and Mai were the only sources of affection she must have had, but they were sworn to each other and she was the interloper.

Seventeen, and no one has ever even tried.

Even if he did arrange for her to be in a hospital, if he did visit and did try to be a brother, what good would it do? If she gets better, then she goes to prison because in the wake of this war, someone is going to have to pay. With Ozai gone, the duty of paying for Sozin’s crimes will fall to Azula. Iroh and Zuko are both protected by the White Lotus and the Avatar and the airbenders.

But Azula—she’s not only going to answer for her own crimes, but for this regime that’s being run in her name.

A hospital or the White Tower.

Those two can’t be the only choices.

He pulls her close to him, pressing a kiss to her temple. “I love you, La-La.” And he means it. She’s been awful, she’s hurt him and those he loves, but it doesn’t change the one thing she has been and will always be.

She has been princess, Fire Lord, madwoman, killer, girl, soldier, monster, child. She has been so much in her life and it’s almost like she’s fire itself, constantly waving and flickering and changing.

But she is still his baby sister. No matter what, she will always be that.

It’s why he had Katara leave her the day of the comet, why he didn’t ask that the Agni Kai be ended properly.

He’s never regretted anything more.

He holds her tighter and with one hand pressed against her back, just over her heart, he lets the dark and the light collide.

Notes:

Chapter sixteen, in which there is another shameless Okami reference. Well, it’s also in reality in that odd space between history and myth.

And on the Azula thing: I don’t want to see anyone complaining about that. I say that not as a writer, but as someone living with madness. Azula is my absolute favourite character in this series simply because for the first time in my life, there was someone like me on screen. With this story, everything happens for a reason. What happens in this chapter has an impact on what happens for the rest of the dynasty series. And just for my defense of her, the girl never did have a chance. It was a terrible situation and Zuko had someone to save him in Iroh. Azula had no one.

Chapter 17: freezing cold fire

             Thunder crashes outside, the wind picking up when they reach the door. Ty Lee has her hand on it, ready to open it, when the wind inside the room shifts.

            It’s an exhale and it isn’t followed by an inhale.

            Ty Lee turns to look at Katara and Toph, just to see if they felt it too. Toph, not so much, but there’s a stillness to Katara that just isn’t right.

            The door slides open and Zuko steps out, closing it behind him. “I think the Avatar has arrived.”

            Ty Lee looks back to the windows. The storm is getting worse and yes, he’s right. There’s an abnormal shift to the winds outside.

            Learning airbending from Toph was a lucky break. Most benders don’t seem to learn to listen and feel and above all, know their own element.

            Toph sighs. “How soon until he reaches the palace?”

            “Assuming he doesn’t make any creative waterbending choices, sooner rather than later.”

            The earthbender nods. “I don’t know about you lot, but I’d rather face him outside where we have room to move.”

            “He’ll be going towards the coronation plaza. That’s outside the palace walls.” Zuko moves past them, leaving the rest to hurry after him.

            “Why would he be going there?” Ty Lee asks, pulling Toph along behind her.

            “That’s where he and I fought Az—It’s where our battle here was. During the comet, I mean.” Katara keeps level with them. “You think he went to Ember Island too?”

            “He started with the South Pole, so it follows. It’s the only explanation for why he got here after us when he had a lead of several days.”

            Toph makes a noise of protest. “I think those of us who haven’t known Twinkles since he woke up from an iceberg are missing a few things.”

            Katara scowls. “The South Pole is where Zuko and I met. From there, we all lived at Ember Island. We fought here on the comet, and then went to Wulong Forest. He’s going in a circle.”

            “What do you mean?”

            “Ba Sing Se,” the earthbender answers. “You two were in the Crystal Catacombs together.”

            “And after this he’ll realise you’re still alive, so he’ll go to Gaoling after Ba Sing Se, then.” Katara swears. “He’s going to go to the Foggy Swamp.”

“And the Northern Water Tribe,” Zuko adds. “We were at the oasis together. He knows that, doesn’t he?”

            “So he’s going to try an eliminate everything that reminds him of us?” Katara’s voice moves up to a screech and they’re running now. Ty Lee doesn’t question it, and sincerely hopes the Avatar doesn’t see Kiki on his way to the plaza.

            “He’s grieving.” Ty Lee says quietly.

            The waterbender turns to her, looking ready to murder. “Grieving justifies destroying the world?”

            “It can be used to justify it.” The answer comes from Zuko and just in that one moment, it’s an acknowledgement of what has just happened.

            Ty Lee stumbles, the weight of recent events crushing her lungs and her throat feels too tight and since when is she crying?

            Mai, beautiful, graceful Mai, stepping over the low flames and moving towards her and there are no daggers, just loose black hair and shimmering black silk and Ty Lee just had to kiss her and then Mai was falling down, asleep on the floor of the throne room. 

            She took away Mai’s breath.

            And then that sound. The one of that last shuttering breath that sent her princess far, far away. Farther than Ba Sing Se or the South Pole or even the sun—Azula is gone away farther than she’s ever been.

            There are strong hands around hers, pulling her along after Zuko. The wind is ripping through the city when they finally make it out of the palace and then the earth is shifting. Toph stops the earth in the protection of the plaza’s main building, the area used by the Sages when they crown a new Lord, any guards around the palace distracted by the approaching storm.

            Has this place always been so small?

            What did it look like when Azula knelt here? Did they even hold the coronation here or did they keep it in the palace?

            “Breathe, babe, come on. In and out. You’re an airbender, this should be easy for you.” There’s screaming somewhere, but she’s fairly certain it’s Toph speaking to her. There are small hands on her, rougher than she would expect from the waterbender.

            Toph, then. Yes it is. Katara’s looking on angrily because Zuko has just gone into the center of the plaza.

            “Idiot.” The waterbender huffs and sits down beside her. “Are you okay?”

            “Fine, I think.”

            “I think she’s in shock.”

            Katara sighs. “Toph, consider yourself lucky your earthbending isn’t very effective with wood.”

            For a moment, Ty Lee is confused, but then she remembers. Just as she could hear that final breath, Katara would be able to feel the final heartbeat, to feel the chi fading away completely from the bloodstream as mad, breathtaking Azula went away forever.

            And she stole the breath of beautiful, beautiful Mai.

           The wind go still and there, just opposite Zuko, is the Avatar.

 

---

 

           This has gone on long enough. Not just Aang, but this whole Fire Nation-war-battle-destruction-death thing.

           It’s time this ended.

           Which it has, sort of. With what he just did back at the palace, the war is over. The Fire Nation has no claimant to the throne but him and Uncle and neither one will continue this.

           It’s the end of an era, with one loose end.

         “You’re not going to talk this out, are you?”

          Aang doesn’t respond and somewhere behind him, he can hear Katara yelling at him to get back there and be careful because he has broken ribs and Aang is the one who broke them.

          Zuko doesn’t particularly care.

          Aang stays silent.

         He nods. “Yeah, didn’t think so. You want to fight me? I did steal your girlfriend. And abandoned you in the process. It’s fair, though. You did leave us for dead in Wulong and that was three years ago. Things change.”

         Lots of things change. The airbenders are still alive. The war is over. His sister is—was—no longer the powerful monster from his memory.

         He killed his baby sister.

        Uncle always said it was better to wait for your opponent to make the first move.

        Uncle isn’t here right now.

        The chirping sparks whip out in long arcs, just like Ozai’s the day of the eclipse.

        Someone screams.

       He ignores them.

       Lightning is easier than fire in some ways. It’s solid in a way fire isn’t. It can be shaped differently and the range of attacks possible is far more impressive.

       But it’s tiring.

       He scowls and switches to fire, but something’s wrong.

      “Blue fire, not bad.” It takes a moment to recognise the Avatar’s voice.

       For some reason, it just makes him angrier.

      His sister is dead and she will be remembered as a monster. Her blue fire, even if he wields it, will be associated with evil.

      He killed his sister. His baby sister and he did it because it was the only way to save her from being the beast kept in a cage for all the world to see because she dared to be mad and the great-granddaughter of the man who started a world war by trying to exterminate an entire race and the daughter of the man who tried to end the world.

       The world kind of sucks and there’s no good way to burn off all the anger, all the hurt and blind fury and sorrow. So he fights. The Avatar—dear sweet Aang who tried to stop the war             without killing, who fancied Katara and preferred making people smile to fighting—is the only relic of that era still standing. The war, Sozin, Ozai, all of it connects back to Aang.

       He can live with beating the crap out of the little shit and reminding him exactly who his masters are.

       He leans back to dodge one of Aang’s earthbending attacks and his left leg gives out beneath him, pain blinding his senses. It hurts to breath and there’s blood in his mouth when the earth explodes beneath him, swallowing him up and spitting him out in the shadows of a building.

      “You idiot!” There’s brown and blue all around him, something cold slicing off his clothes. More pain, his bones and blood moving around unnaturally.

      “Katara?”

     “No, I’m La, here to destroy you.”

         Yep, definitely Katara. He looks around and sees Toph out fighting Aang—maybe, there is quite a bit of dust and the ground keeps moving—and there’s Ty Lee sitting in the corner, looking like the caldera could explode and she wouldn’t notice. And yes, that’s Katara straddling him and focused on his side.

        “I broke more ribs, didn’t I?”

        “And you managed to puncture your lung. Now shut up while I work. Mending organs isn’t easy, even with bloodbending.”

         He waits until the feel of blood shifting around begins to abate to speak next. “I killed my sister.”

         She’s quiet for a moment. “Yes, I know. That’s no excuse for going into battle with broken ribs and no help.”

         “You cleared me for battle.”

         “No, I cleared you for fighting that would be over quickly and inflict little damage. Guards and the like. Not an unstable Avatar.”

         “There were no guards.”

         “I know. Is that normal?”

         “No, it isn’t. I think Mai was hoping someone would come.”

         “The war had to end sometime. We’re all tired of it.”

          There’s an explosion off to the side, and the sound of fighting quiets.

           “The war is over, isn’t it?”

            The waterbender sighs and looks up to meet his eyes. “Yes, it is. But we still have fighting left to do.”

 

---

 

           

            Her fist colliding with Twinkle’s face is the absolute best feeling in the world.

            Okay, well, not really, but it is damn satisfying.

            There’s a crunch of bone and she’s not sure it’s hers or his. “You idiot! What the hell were you thinking? Did I teach you nothing? You are an earthbender. You stand your ground and fight and most importantly, you listen. You don’t go running off and attacking places just because you’re unhappy and they remind you of why you’re unhappy. Understand me, you little twerp?”

            “Sifu T, please get off of me.”

            “Make me.” She’s snarling and she doesn’t much care. Twinkletoes has had funny vibrations since Zuko attacked him—which was stupid for many reasons and she’ll deal with him later.

            Now, it’s all Twinkles.

            He doesn’t move, doesn’t do anything that might remove her from her position on top of him, one hand fisted in the collar of his shirt and the other prepared to strike again. “Toph, I’m sorry.”

            “Are we seriously going to ignore the fact that I’m a human lie detector? Twinkles, you are spewing bison dung.” And that’s more annoying than the fact that he tried lying in the first place. Does he think that because she’s sitting on him, her senses are distorted? Yes, she might have a thing for airbenders, but this is Twinkletoes.

            He’s not an airbender. He’s a flaming idiot she once called her student.

            “Why did you lie?”

            She pauses, lowering her fist. “Lie? You mean what happened after the comet?”

            “Yeah.”

            “Moon Girl told Katara you were better off with the White Lotus and we were better of alone because we all needed to grow up. And then Snow showed up and we had our hands full, especially when we realized the war wasn’t going to be won with big battles and direct confrontation.”

            “I thought direct confrontation was the earthbender way.”

            “Extenuating circumstances. There was a war to stop.”

            It’s not a great excuse, but there’s no other explanation right now. Things were messy after the comet. They were—and still are—too young. They were too ill prepared back then. It was too much following in the footsteps of those before and trying to figure things out without a real plan. The libraries of the airbenders have been so very valuable, the network of the spies even more so.

            What the hell were they thinking, trying to win a war with no intelligence network to guide their movements? How has this war managed to go on for as long as it has with one side so organised and well armed and unified and the other side such a mess?

            The Fire Nation should have won decades ago.

            “Aang, why are you fighting us? Why do this?” She just wants to understand. She wants him to understand.

            They are fifteen.

            Still children in the opinion of most of the world, but they cannot afford to be children. Despite being among the few of their ragtag, shattered group to have something resembling a normal childhood, they are the ones who have the greatest need for adulthood.

            A blind, female earthbender and a twelve-year-old Avatar.

            The world has never been in their favour.

            “Nothing’s right.”

            “No shit, fruitcake. Life doesn’t like plans.” Oh, Hei Bai are those tears in her eyes. Not good, not good at all. She can’t cry. Not now. Not in front of or because of this idiot.

            But it has to be because it kind of hurts to breathe and her throat is all rough and tight and her eyes are burning and she’s about half a heartbeat away from punching him again just for the sake of it.

            “I didn’t think I would fail.”

            “No one ever does.”

            He laughs and it’s that dark, cynical laugh she usually hears from Zuko, the laugh that has no real humour in it. “That’s what Yangchen said.”

            “You’ve been talking to her?” Sora likes to tell stories about Yangchen. Toph grins slightly, remembering the tales. “She’s supposed to be a take-no-prisoners kind of girl. She hasn’t beaten any sense into you?”

            His heart does something funny. That odd little flip she remembers sensing in Snoozles when Suki—no, this is what it did when Moon Girl was mentioned. It’s that painful twinge she’s never liked. “Yangchen is the only one I can speak to. The others won’t talk to me.”

            She almost punches him then too, but then realises what he means. “What about Roku and Kuruk and Kyoshi?”

            “They’re not the ones I want to see.”

            Of course not.

            It is about Yangchen being of his own kind. Which means the Guru’s reports haven’t been completely right. Aang’s not so messed up about losing her and the others so much as it is their apparent deaths have exacerbated the preexisting depression concerning the genocide.

            She’s definitely crying now. Not entirely sure why. Growing up has been complicated; there are times when things make her sadder than they normally would. Growing up has been complicated because of the war and Twinkles and everything, but this is the part no one warned her about.

            So she sniffles and punches him again.

            “You can’t go talking to the dead about your problems. You have to trust the living sometimes. It’s not like you can just go off and fly away at every little thing. Holy badgermoles, all you airbenders ever do is fly away. What about those of us stuck on earth? Are we not allowed to love you? Are we not allowed to help you? You’re a part of this world now, Sparklecheeks. Yes, we screwed up when we left you, but that doesn’t mean we stopped caring.”

            She realises belatedly that his heart has done the other kind of skip. The kind that happens when not so bad but sill earth shattering is learned.

            “Airbenders?” He sounds like he’s choking and his breathing pattern isn’t far off from it either.

            She grins, wiping away her tears. “Did I say that? You know what I meant.”

            He sits up, but doesn’t push her away completely. “No, you said ‘all you airbenders ever do’. What did you mean by that?”

            Oh, sweet Momo. His vibrations feel like hope. But hope tempered with that odd calm that always comes before an almighty temper-tantrum. 

            No. This is bad. This is very, very bad.

            He’s already upset about their abandoning him. If he finds out that they’ve not only been living among airbenders for the past three years but have trained one without informing him?

            Forget that, if he finds out he has met airbenders without recognizing them, it’s going to be ugly.

            She smiles softly and takes aim again.

            Her fist never reaches him.

 

---

 

            “Now stay put. No more fighting.” Katara stands up, crossing her arms and staring down at her patient. “I mean it. Try and do something that stupid again and I’ll break your ribs myself.”

            He glowers at her, but stays silent.

            She steps away from him. Ty Lee is standing up now as well, and Katara only has a moment to reach out for the airbender because when Ty Lee looks at her, it’s painfully clear what’s about to happen.

            The airbender is gone before she can be stopped.

            Toph comes flying towards them, but only makes it halfway before tumbling to a stop. A mess of black hair and green fabric and dirt, she looks unhurt, but Katara still rushes out. A quick tug on her blood reveals no severe damage. The younger girl’s fist is damaged in way Katara remembers her brother’s and Suki’s.

            “You hit him?”

            “He deserved it.”

            She pauses. “Well, yes, maybe. Still, you hit him?”

            The earthbender snorts. “It’s tame compared to what he’s done.”

            Katara sighs and reaches down, helping up her companion. “Ty’s out there with him, isn’t she?”
            “You’re the one with sight, Sweetness. Take a look for yourself.”

            Breathe. Three, two, one:

            Yeah, that’s Ty, standing proud in orange and yellow with the wind twisting around her and her new glider held at the ready.

            Katara feels like fainting.

            She can’t really see Aang. The dust in the air has mostly cleared, but Ty Lee is in the way.

            But there he is when she closes her eyes and feels for the hearts around her. The first time she really felt it, it looked stormy and almost grey, but looking at it now, it looks more like morning clouds. There are other colours there: blue, green, pink, and yellow. They shift together like the dawn.

            So this is what he looks like when he’s calm.

            Amazing, that his presence can chance so dramatically.

            No, that’s not right. The grey was mostly one colour and Ty Lee’s own chi looks like the grey of the north wind. This colourful arrangement must be that of the Avatar, not Aang.

            Is that a good sign or a bad one?

             The colours shift and the next second, Aang is visible, flying off with the wind carrying the sky child away.

            She thinks he might look at her as he goes. She isn’t sure. Beside her, Toph is swearing. Ahead of her, Ty Lee is perfectly still.

            Something sinks into her bones, a feeling like she’s standing on the edge of the world.

            No, it isn’t the world.

            It’s an era.

            The war is over.

            But there’s still one last thread that has to be tied up.

            

Notes:

Dedication: Moon, for being patient and reading the absurdly angsty Mai companion fic. And to Mars for being patient with my worrying.

Note: Yeah, Zuko’s scene is a little choppy, but he’s kind of messed up right now. And wow, this ended up being way shorter than I expected, but this is a transition leading up to…crap, another transition. The final battle (which may not be a battle. Aang isn’t doing what he was meant to do) doesn’t begin until chapter nineteen and then it’s the aftermath in twenty and the epilogue/bridge between world and game with chapter twenty-one.

This story is actually about to be finished.

Chapter 18: the breaking world

  

            Katara isn’t quite sure what she should be feeling right now. What to feel when you’ve just sensed a princess’s heart stop and in that same moment, know the world may finally know peace? What to feel when you’ve face a child you once saw as a mother might a son and realise you don’t know him at all?

            Things are changing so quickly.

            Whether this is good or bad remains to be seen.

            Kiki settles down in the remains of the plaza, ready for them to move on after the fleeing Avatar. She and Ty Lee help Zuko into the saddle, but Katara moves the furs he rests on toward the front of the saddle.

            As a group, they need to have a chat.

            Ty Lee hops up onto the bison’s head as waterbender and earthbender settle into the saddle on either side of the wounded firebender. Katara waits until they’re clear of the island and over open water to begin the conversation.

            “What did Aang say to you?”

            “Nothing,” says Zuko. She nods and turns her attention to the earthbender.

            “Not much.” Toph grins like a sky-cat caught chewing on the library books. “I didn’t really give him a chance.”

            “What did he say, Toph?”

            “He’s been talking to Yangchen and ignoring the others. The Air Nomads are the only ones he wants to speak to.”

            That’s not good. That’s really not good. Aang always had dark moments when he was faced with the fact that he was supposedly the last Air Nomad.

            Which makes sense. He is the last Air Nomad. There are Lungta and hidden airbenders, but there are no Air Nomads anymore.

            And maybe that’s why the sandbenders and Sora and Elder Wu—the fortuneteller, that was an interesting introduction—and Ty Lee were able to stand before him without revealing what they are. The sandbenders and Ty even went so far as to use airbending in front of him without him noticing.

            Maybe that was the problem. They are airbenders, but not Air Nomads.

            He was looking for his people, and they are gone.

            So what now?

            “He’s grieving.” Ty speaks quietly. Katara almost doesn’t hear her, but then the airbender turns and speaks a little louder. “He finally understands.”

            What the—

            Oh, that does make sense.

            Aang was twelve when she released him from the iceberg. Those first few moments, he thought it was still the era before the war. He thought he could just fly back to the Southern Air Temple and find Monk Gyatso.

            Even over the course of their year together, Aang kept holding out hope that he would find an enclave of Air Nomads somewhere, that he wasn’t the last one left alive.

            But he’s fifteen now. He’s been in this world for three years. The fact that his people are gone so completely the world will never forget their passing has to have finally sunk in.

            That’s what the Guru was missing.

            It wasn’t that Aang was being stubborn. He was just growing up and learning to accept the truth.

            Something settles around her heart and through her bones; a tiredness that whispers things she doesn’t want to believe.

            “This isn’t his world.” She says it slowly, testing out the words.

            There is silence in response.

            She looks around at the other masters. Toph isn’t scowling, her blank eyes focused on the sky behind Kiki and her mouth pulled into a contemplative frown. Zuko has his eyes closed, and it’s just the unsteady pattern of his breathing that keeps her from believing he’s asleep.

            “The spirits said you would fix things if he failed.” Toph shrugs, black hair flying across her face.

            “But what does that mean?” Zuko opens his eyes, turning his head to look at the earthbender.

            The younger bender shrugs. “Like I know.”

            “I don’t understand anything anymore.” Katara sighs. Above them, the clouds are thickening again in preparation of another storm. It’s pretty, seeing all the colours of the sunrise splayed across the rain-burdened clouds. It’s mostly pinks and violets and just a bit of gold here and there.

            It is the first sunrise of the new world.

            It’s not really her world anymore. She doesn’t really get what peace is. Being still is something she’s not very good at. Water doesn’t like to sit still and more than that, she has spent most of her life trying to be a warrior.

            And now she is one and the war is over.

            “Neither she nor Aang had a chance to end the war.” Toph points it out carefully, sounding almost like she’s afraid of what the reaction will be.

            She’s right, though. Zuko killed Azula and Ty Lee incapacitated Mai. Katara and Aang never had a chance to stop things.

            But it still feels like the world has gone sideways. There’s a tugging on her thoughts that doesn’t feel like, almost like she’s forgotten something. The sense that something big is coming weighs down on her shoulders, sinking into her bones and leaving her oddly detached.

            “Aang hasn’t exactly made any mistakes. He’s overreacted, but that’s his normal state of being.” What did Yue not tell her? There has to be something else going on here. Even if the spirits couldn’t predict Zuko’s actions, there’s still what La said.

            “The Avatar Spirit has been in turmoil for many incarnations now. We’ve been expecting one like Avatar Aang for some centuries.”

            ‘Expecting one like Avatar Aang’. As in an Avatar like Aang? One who would overreact and be lost and—

            She almost says it out loud, the memory of the solstice, but catches herself before she does. She is the only one who remembers that. She’s the only one who was there.

            Sweet Tui, Zhao was still alive when that happened.

            So long ago and so easily swept aside. The problems Aang had with contacting the Spirit World, with communicating with past Avatars; is any of that normal? The Air Nomads taught him to be spiritual and he always meditated, but what was blocking Roku from reaching him without the aid of the solstice? What caused the problems with the Avatar State later on?

            Was it Sozin’s actions? Roku can’t be the first Avatar to be murdered, however tenuous that description may be for what happened. Was it Roku’s own difficulties with the Avatar State and the spiritual side of the world?

            Or was it all Aang?
            Did the century spent in the Avatar State disrupt the cycle or the connection between Avatar and Spirit World?

            Aang once told her, in those first couple of days after the iceberg, that he had always wanted to see the South Pole. That it was someplace that just always drew his attention. She’d written it off as being nothing more than a boy eager to see the world, but what if it was more?

            Aang’s century in the iceberg had to have disrupted more than just the world order. By now there should be a new Avatar, a water-born Avatar—

            She scrambles away from her companions and is promptly sick over the side of Kiki’s saddle.

---

 

            Ribs be damned, this is not good. Zuko bites his lip, fairly certain blood is being drawn as he turns to his side, propping himself up on his elbow. White spots form across the world, the pain worse than anything he cares remembering. He’s fairly certain he hasn’t damaged anything. Not that it matters. Katara is more important right now.

            He reaches out and just barely touches her back. “Katara?”

            “I’m fine.” The weakness in her voice is too familiar at this point, that mix of sorrow and fear and shock they’ve all spoken with at some point over the past couple of years.

            She turns back to face them, slumping against the side of the saddle. She glares and holds up her hand to make him lie down again. Her influence of his blood is weak by now. No matter how familiar his body is with her power, she’s clearly too tired to use bloodbending. He settles back down, pain flaring again.

            “No, Sweetness, you’re clearly not.” Toph crosses her arms, scowling in full. She almost looks like she’s twelve again, the bold Blind Bandit ready to take on the world.

            “It’s nothing, really. Everything just finally sank in.”

            She’s lying. Zuko doesn’t have Toph’s skill, but he does know body language. He grew up with the world’s greatest liars. Spotting a bad one is easy after that.

            But he doesn’t push it. Whatever is going on with her, it’s her business. They just need her to be ready to face Aang.

            “All of you should get some sleep.” Ty Lee’s voice floats back to them.

            Ty Lee probably needs the sleep as badly as they do. He doesn’t know what happened with Mai. At least, he thinks the airbender faced Mai.

            Katara nods and slides down into a come comfortable position against the edge of the saddle. “Sleep sounds like a good idea.”

            It’s not until it’s clear the waterbender is sound asleep that anyone speaks again.

            “We still need a plan.” Toph keeps her voice down.

            “We do.”

            “I don’t like what she said, but she’s right. This isn’t his world.”

            The era is different, but the world is still the same, isn’t it? Yes, Aang should be dead by now and a new Avatar in his place, but that’s not the way things went.

            The war, though, that is another situation entirely. Aang, even before the iceberg, was an Avatar destined for war.

            And that war is over now.

            Pain blossoms behind his eyes. He knows where that train of thought is going and doesn’t like it one bit. “Can we talk about something else?”

            “Like what?”

            “After Aang, what are you going to do?”

            She sighs, moving to lay down beside him, blank eyes turned skyward. “I have no idea. I like that school idea, the one about training airbender children at the temple.”

            “But it doesn’t feel right, does it?”

            “I want to teach metalbending.”

            “And I want to reverse as much firebender instruction as possible.”

            She’s silent for a moment. “You’re going to be Fire Lord someday.”

            “When I’m older, yes. Uncle has no other heir.”

            “Which means you have to go back to the world.”

            “It does.”

            Toph’s breathing evens out and for a moment, he thinks she’s fallen asleep. “What about the rest of us? None of us really want to go back and can you really walk away?”

            “I’ll deal with it when the time comes.”

            “And the issue of an heir? You’re going to have to take a wife, Sparky.”

            Ah, yes, that. “Your point?”
            “What about Katara? You two have a good thing going, and it works. The Fire Nation isn’t going to take kindly to a Water Tribe Fire Lady.”

            She’s right. They won’t. They might accept Ty Lee if she doesn’t come out as a bender, but Ty is too much his little sister, just like Toph.

            It’s not romantic with Katara, but it’s functional. She understands when he sets fires while asleep or when he wakes up screaming. It’s respect and understanding and trust. After everything that’s happened, the three benders with him are the only ones he trusts with anything.

            That’s going to be a problem later on.

            “Go to sleep, Toph.”

            She protests, but he merely closes his eyes and goes to sleep.

            They can talk when this is over.

---

           

            Sparky’s breathing evens out after a few moments. She can’t feel the vibrations, but she does know the sound of his breathing well enough. Too many nights have been spent curled up around a fire; all four of them trying to keep warm in when winter and nightmares got to be too worse.

            He’s being an idiot.

            So is Sweetness, but stress is a fairly good excuse.

            Zuko, on the other hand, has had three years to think about taking the throne. There is no ambiguity there. It’s actually very straightforward: Azula is defeated, Iroh takes the throne, and then Zuko inherits.

            It’s very, very easy.

            Especially the part where he will have to marry and produce and heir.

            She herself will have to deal with that.

            The air tastes like rain when she hears the rustle of the tarp being fixed over the saddle to keep the water out. “Snowlion?”

            “You should sleep.”

            “Can’t.”

            Wind ruffles her hair. “We’re not going to get to Wulong until tomorrow morning. Kiki should be able to make it, but I’m not comfortable pushing her any more than that. If we don’t catch him there, it’s going to be on you to get us to the Avatar.”

            “Do you want the war to end?”

            She hears Snow sigh. “Yes and no.”
            “Why?”

            “Because ending this means finally getting to live, but the end of the war means revealing the existence of my people.”

            “Reconstruction is going to be a bitch.”

            There’s silence after that, but she knows Snow agrees. Living through the war is one thing. It’s living day by day and making plans that constantly change.

            Reconstruction is different.

            It’s making plans that will shape the world for generations to come. That’s a big responsibility and they’re just kids. She’s fifteen.

            But she’s going to be expected to take part in this conversation because she is a master. She is the Avatar’s earthbending master and she is the sole heir of the Bei Fong family. There is no way she will get out of this unscathed. The political ramifications of living in a lost Air Nomad temple with two runaway royals and a Fire Nation airbender is enough to put her in a very public situation.

            What were they thinking?

            The world is going to eat them up and spit them out when this is all over with. If Sparky’s smart, he’ll make it clear that Sweetness is the only one.

            Which leaves her own situation. Her parents, when she was young, never seemed to understand that just because she is blind, she is completely helpless. That includes hearing. She heard those conversations, the arguments about her future. She would never have siblings, and it was marry her off and let her produce an heir or keep her forever hidden and hand the family business off to one of the branch families.

            If they go back, there will be marriage demands for all of them. Each will be ferried off and likely married to a stranger.

            That can’t happen. It just can’t. Everything they have done has been for the sake of the world. Can it really take everything they’ve gained away? How often will Snow and the others be able to visit if she returns to the Earth Kingdom?

            “Snow?”

            “Yes?”
            “Promise me you’ll stay.”
            “Can you promise me the same?”
            The tightness in her chest relaxes just a little. Just enough. “I can try.”

            “Then so can I. Now sleep.”

---

           

            Kiki almost crashes when the sky is just starting to grow light in the east. She manages to use her bending to help ease the landing, but it’s still clear that Kiki isn’t going anywhere after this, not without a good long rest.

            Ty Lee moves quietly, making sure Zuko and Toph are still asleep before moving over to Katara. “Hey, we’re here.”

            The waterbender jerks, eyes opening. Ty Lee puts a hand over the other bender’s mouth. Neither the firebender nor the earthbender seems to have heard anything.

            She motions for Katara to get up and out from under the tent. Gently, she holds the waterbender around the waist and jumps down, using the wind to land softly and silently. Before there’s a chance to speak, she takes Katara’s hand and pulls her into the silent stone forest.

            “Ty, what are you doing?”

            She sighs. “It took me a while, but I think I get it. Why the spirits keep contacting you and why everything keeps coming back to you. Even before this, you learned waterbending too quickly and you’ve come too far with too little training. It’s just natural for you. I had to learn my bending from Aunt Jet and from everything Azula would tell me about learning firebending. You have no training at all and you found the Avatar.

            “What was he even doing in the South Pole? I’ve thought about it before, but if he were running away from the Southern Air Temple, he would go somewhere familiar, where he had friends. Zuko mentioned a Kuzon in the Fire Nation and Toph and you have both told stories about King Bumi of Omashu. He should have been heading to one of them.”

            “The ocean currents probably dragged the iceberg south.” It’s pathetic, almost. She knows that tone of voice. It’s the same one Ya Lee would use when she was still trying to learn the art of lying.

            “You said this isn’t his world.”

            “Because it’s not. There are no Air Nomads here.”

            “And because he should be dead by now.”

            Katara finally looks her in the eye. “He should.”

            “And the Avatar should be water-born.”

            “Your point?”

            She smiles. “This is your fight.”
            For a moment, Katara looks like she’s about to fight. It’s cute, almost. Now that things almost make sense, Ty Lee can see things a little more clearly. If Katara was meant to be the Avatar, then that explains why Aang has always been so drawn to her. It’s not him, necessarily. It’s the spirit inside him recognizing a lost lifetime.

            And that’s what this is about. This whole mess is about the Avatar Spirit, not Aang. That century in the iceberg, the century this world spent without a bridge to the other side, none of that could be healthy for the world.

            And to think, all it took was that one little sentence for things to fall into place.

            This isn’t his world.

            She probably understood that in a way neither Zuko nor Toph did.

            “It might be my fight, but that doesn’t mean I have to do this alone.”

            Ty Lee shakes her head. “No, I think you do. By running from his destiny, he stole yours. This is a private matter now.”

            Katara crosses her arms and look around them. What does the world look like to her? Does the beautiful morning light look as hopeful and as sweet? What about the water in the air? Does that give her a vision no one else can access?

            Can she feel the Avatar’s heart from here?

            “What will you tell the others?” the waterbender’s voice sounds steadier and Ty Lee takes just a moment to sense the wind moving in and out of Katara’s lungs in a rapidly steadying rhythm.

            “What I have to. What will you do when you find him?”

            Katara sighs. “What I have to do. Aang is an Avatar of war and the war is over.”        

Notes:

So Aang might seem a little off. He is. Intentionally. It’ll be explored over the course of dynasty and there is a side-story that covers everything from his perspective, but just know that everything goes back to chapter one and the Battle of Wulong Forest.

I hate transition chapters. This one, sadly, was necessary as it sets down some stuff that's vital to Korra's arc.

Chapter 19: the price of peace

Notes:

Please don’t hate me. I know you’re not going to like this plot-wise, but it had to happen for the plot of the series (especially Korra).

            Toph wakes up when the movement stops. It takes her a few moments to fully awaken. She just stays put, breathing even and attention focused on the light breeze. Something rustles off to the side and she sits up. “Who’s there?”

            There’s no answer and she moves to stand. Or tries to, at least. The tarp is still fixed over the saddle, apparently, so she stoops down until she finds the edge of the saddle and climbs over. Her landing is not the most graceful, but it’s strong enough to give her a good sense of where she is.

            And she’d know these stones anywhere.

            Wulong Forest, it has been a while.

            Kiki’s heart is steady and strong, but there are vibrations that scream of exhaustion emanating from the bison with every breath. There’s a second set of vibrations here too, a lot like Kiki’s but older and belonging to a bigger beast.

            It’s suddenly very hard to breathe.

            Kiki’s fur is coarse beneath her hand, the warm body beneath giving just enough support to keep her standing. Experimentally, she kneels down and presses a palm against the ground for a better sense of what’s around her.

            There is a second bison ahead and to the left of her, a few hundred paces away. Older and bigger and male and—Appa. Really Appa. She’s sure this time. Three years of living with Kiki and the other temple bison and the occasional visits with the Lungta’s small herd and she knows the difference between modern bison and old world bison.

            She pats the ground, trying to locate Aang. Twinkles has to be around here somewhere if Appa’s here. Maybe there? No that’s a bird. Damn airbenders, they don’t stay on the ground long enough.

            Someone else, then. Where’s Katara? Sweetness has a unique vibe to her, gentle and steady as the tide.

            There. Where exactly is that? Directly ahead and a little to the left, but far from Appa. There’s a thicket of stone trees in that region and—there he is. Of course she should have been checking the tops of the monoliths because of course that’s where an airbender would hang out.

            Sparky’s too badly hurt to bother waking up and Sweetness is off dealing with Twinkles alone and where the hell is Snowlion?

            Toph sighs. She’s hungry, it’s early based on the smell of things and it’s pretty damn cold.

            Best get this over with. Best-case scenario, they can get Aang under control and back to the White Lotus and be back at the Temple of the Winds by tomorrow. Maybe.

            Worse case scenario—well, it’s best not to think of that.

            She manages to take three steps in Sugar’s direction before a hand catches her arm. “Leave it be, badgermole.”

            Snow’s landing sends gentle ripples through the earth. Amazing how someone so light could have such a strong grip. “Let me go.”

            “No.”

            “Excuse me?” She can’t have heard that right.

            “This is Katara’s fight, not ours.”

            Nope, apparently she did hear that right. “No, it is ours. It’s just not yours. His failure is our failure. This whole mess is our responsibility as his masters.”

            “You don’t understand. She has to do this alone.”

            “Because the spirits said so?”
            “More or less.”

            What kind of excuse is that? The spirits are never straight with anyone. Moon Girl gave Sugar bad information the first time round and look where it’s gotten them. If the spirits hadn’t intervened, none of this would be happening. They would have gone back to Aang immediately after recovering and there wouldn’t have been all the lies and—and the war wouldn’t be over.

            “Snow, this is not okay. Twinkles was our student, not yours. It wasn’t your call to send Sweetness after him alone.”

            “Katara is more a part of this than anyone else.”

            “Doesn’t matter. Aang is ours. Us. His masters. That’s more than just Katara.”

            “And he’s my kin.” Snow sounds angry; her presence more grounded than it’s ever really been before. “That means something, doesn’t it? He’s one of the last remaining pieces of my people’s history. Do you think I didn’t take that into consideration when I encouraged her to go?”

            “That’s not the point. The point is that this happened because we didn’t do our job properly.”

            “No, this is happening because he spent a century in ice and fucked up the cycle. Of course, before that, some idiot tried to hoist the responsibility of the world onto the shoulders of a child.”

            Okay, that’s not what she was expecting. “What does that even mean?”

            Snow sighs. “Aang should be dead by now. There should be a water-born Avatar in power right now.”

            “Still not getting it.”

            Another sigh. “The spirits speak directly to Katara. She picked up her bending at a dangerous speed without any ill effects.”

            It feels like her spine is stone, impossibly and painfully still. For a moment, she just has to stop and breathe because Snow cannot be suggesting what she thinks is being suggested. “You think Katara was meant to be the Avatar? What makes you think that?”

            “Avatar Aang is drawn to her—”

            “Yeah, because she’s by all accounts a beautiful lady and she woke him up from the iceberg and took care of him. He fancies her, it’s completely normal.”

            “—Because the Avatar Spirit is drawn to its lost vessel.”

            No, no, no.

            This can’t be happening. It’s stupid, it’s madness, and there is no logical reason for why Sweetness would be an incarnation denied the Avatar Spirit. Is that even possible? Wouldn’t her birth have just been postponed until Aang died?

            “How long have you been thinking of this?”

            “Since Katara pointed out that this isn’t his world. She made the same conclusion.”

            “Brilliant. So we’ve got an Avatar who should be dead, his possible failed successor, and oh, let’s not forget the fact that he’s apparently unstable and has the power to level whole nations.”

            “You couldn’t have known this would happen.”

            “No, but I should have. We should have, especially Katara and Zuko. They’ve known him since he came out of the iceberg. They’ve seen him at his worst and at his best, especially Katara.” Her throat feels raw and it’s hard to breathe. All she can think about is Aang and what might happen if this theory about Katara is true. And then she realises exactly what Snow said. “This isn’t his world.”

            “No, it isn’t. He’s an Air Nomad and the Air Nomads are gone for good.”

            “You’re an Air Nomad.”

            “I’m an airbender. Not an Air Nomad. There’s a difference.”

            Airbender but not Air Nomad?

            Oh, hell no.

            “Your aunt and the other elders, what are their plans for Aang?”

            “I don’t know.”

            “Don’t lie to me.”

            “I’m not. I really don’t know what they’re planning. As far as I know, they’re waiting on you to make your choices about him to decide anything amongst themselves.”

            “So what’s Katara’s plan?”

            Hesitation. “I don’t know.”

            “Now I know you’re lying.”

            Snow sighs, the grip on her arm finally relaxing. “Katara just pointed out the obvious, but it doesn’t mean anything, really.”

            “Ty Lee.” She makes sure the warning is clear. 

            “Aang is an Avatar of war.”

            She doesn’t need that finished. Aang is an Avatar of war and the war is over.

            She slams a foot into the ground to determine where they are and then runs.

---

 

            He lands carefully just before her, grey eyes unnervingly calm. She reaches out to feel for the chi in his blood, and it’s faded back to the grey that only hints at the power concealed within. “Hi.”

            “Hey.” He’s grown up so well. Physically, at least. Fifteen and he already has the makings of a handsome man. She tries to imagine what he might look like in five or ten years, but can’t seem to.

            She crosses her arms and tries to smile. “How have you been?”

            “I’ve been better. You?”

            This is absurd. It’s surreal and inane and very possibly insane. He’s tried to destroy her homeland and then did La knows what kind of damage to the Fire Nation before the resulting destruction of the coronation plaza.

            But she doesn’t know what else to do. He’s calm and he’s talking and right now, she’ll take that over fighting.

            She’s tired of fighting.

            And maybe he is too.

            “I’m here.” It’s the most honest answer she can give. The morning light is growing stronger, lighting up Wulong with gentle golden light. It really is beautiful. Even the skeletal remains of the airships in the distance, the only reminder she can see of what happened here three years ago. “The war is over.”

            “Is it?”

            “Azula is dead.” She doesn’t mention the rest of it, that Azula was being medicated so heavily that bending was impossible, that she was killed out of mercy and love that came too late.

            He nods. “And Mai?”

            “Alive, but incapacitated.” At least for now. She doesn’t know what Ty did, but she checked carefully when she moved the Fire Lady and made sure the blood moved just right to put pressure on certain points. She’ll wake up eventually, physically unharmed, but by now it’s too late to salvage the regime.

            “That’s good. There’s been too much death already. Yours, for example.”

            She sighs heavily. “Aang, about that, I can explain.”

            He holds up a hand. “You don’t need to. Yue’s already taken responsibility for her actions.”

            It’s so tempting to laugh. Yue didn’t do anything wrong. Yes, this outcome isn’t the best, but what else was supposed to happen? She can’t stand the idea of being reduced to a trophy, especially when she was still so young and so naïve. She’s already dreamt of what would have happened: her marriage, her bending, her children. None of it felt right.

            Especially the bending.

            She wants to say she’s missed him. It is good to see him again, to know he’s okay, but the pain of loss isn’t as severe. She only knew him for a year and it’s been three since then.

            It feels like it’s been a lifetime since then, like she’s an entirely different person. Maybe she is. Removed from everything she’s ever known, away from controlling male influences like her brother and Aang, she’s had the chance to get to know who she is without defining herself by anyone else.

            “How are the others?” She says it not because she means it, which surprises her. It’s just something to pass the time, another little thing to keep the real issue here from being addressed.

            He shrugs. “Sokka’s been quiet. He mostly spends his time with Suki or Master Pakku. Master Iroh has thrown himself into work. I see now why the Siege of Ba Sing Se lasted as long as it did.”

            Small talk. Inane talk. Is this all they’re going to do?

            How to start the conversation that actually needs to happen?

            “Zuko misses him.” Admittedly it probably isn’t the brightest thing to say. She should have said she missed Sokka.

            Except, she doesn’t.

            Sokka is safe. He’s with Master Pakku and Dad is probably there and they’ll be fine. The men of her family are just as strong as the women. This is how they made it in the years her father was away: just knowing he was alive out there or at least the idea that he was, was enough to get them through the day.

            And now, the war is over and her family is safe.

            There’s no reason to worry anymore.

            “Everyone misses you guys. It was good to see Toph again.”

            Ah, now they’re getting close. “She’s grown up a lot.”

            They all have, especially her and Toph and—

            “Ty Lee’s changed a lot too.” He says it carefully and now they’re here. “That was Ty Lee, wasn’t it? The short hair really changes the way she looks.”
            “It does, but it’s apparently easier to fly with.”

            There, open acknowledgement of what Ty is.

            Aang looks away, toward the brightest part of the horizon where the sun is just starting to creep up. “How many are there?”

            “Enough.”

            A few thousand hidden in the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom and another few thousand among the Lungta. And that’s just the confirmed and suspected benders. Counting all of those who aren’t airbenders but are the descendents of them, the total population is far larger. Still a small population, but probably more than twice the population of the Water Tribes in total.

            Actually, it’s probably closer to three times the size of the Water Tribes. The Foggy Swamp Tribe is very small, the Southern Tribe is nearly extinct, and the Northern Tribe is small and has a negative birth rate. The population of actual waterbenders is absolutely dismal compared to the numbers of confirmed airbenders.

            There are more than a thousand airbenders out there.

            There are less than thousand waterbenders in the whole world. If she had to guess, she’d put that estimate closer to five hundred or fewer.

            The airbenders have been treasured in the past century. How many waterbenders have been killed out of fear that they might be the Avatar or might bring the Fire Nation to the poles?

            “That’s good.”

            “We considered telling you when we found out.” This is not a good idea. At all.

            But it’s Aang and he does deserve the truth, doesn’t he?
            Before any choices are made, the whole truth must be known. This was part of the problem, she thinks. The monks were honest with him too soon and then after that, no one would be completely honest with him when he needed it most.

            No wonder it’s come to this.

            He nods. “So, Taku. You have no idea how many times we were there. And we never crossed paths.”

            “Actually, we do know how often you were there. Sora kept us up to date.”

            “Sora?” And then his face lights up in recognition and he looks at her. “You mean the herbalist.”

            “Yeah.”

            “That’s an Air Nomad name.”

            She bites her lip and looks down at her feet.

            Aang laughs. “Let me guess, Eastern Air Temple? She has to be younger than me if she’s still alive, though Bumi’s still around and going strong.”

            “She’s about six years younger than you.”

            “How many Air Nomads did we meet during our travels?” There’s fear in his voice, a subtle shake to the words.

            She looks up. “None. There are airbenders, but no more Air Nomads. Even those that survived the genocide have stopped identifying with the Nomads.”

            “How many airbenders, then?” He looks away again.

            “Sora, Aunt Wu, some of the sandbenders not involved with Appa going missing—that was all earthbenders—and Ty Lee.”

            “Any others?”

            “Probably, but they’ve been reluctant to come out with the war going on. We’re not entirely trusted just yet, so we’ve only really dealt with community leaders and the like.”

            He smiles and it isn’t cynical or dark or broken.

            It’s happy.

            Genuinely happy; that odd serenity that comes from true peace.

            She doesn’t like it.

            “That’s good. Really good. You trained Ty Lee, right?”

            “We did.”

            His grin widens just a little more and he finally looks her in the eye. “I’m glad.”

            He looks so happy and the chi in his blood is flaring up into the mess of colours again. Aang steps up to her until he’s close enough she can feel the heat rising from his skin.

            “Aang?”

            He says nothing, just steps closer and pulls her to him. There’s nothing romantic in the action, his arms stay up around her shoulders the entire time. After a beat, she relaxes and unfolds her arms to wrap them around him.

            He’s gotten so tall. It’s almost hard to believe that this almost-man is the boy she found in the ocean. The heartbeat pushing at her senses is finally loud enough to hear. It’s a steady sound, as a heartbeat should be, but it’s different than Zuko’s or her own.

            No, that’s the chi interfering with her bloodbending. That’s what’s influencing the sound. She scowls a little and pays more attention.

            The colours aren’t in combat with each other, but rather shift around like a wind is moving through them.

            It’s at peace.

            The feeling in her bones that’s been with her since the caldera finally settles and she knows how this is going to end.

            Tears rise up and he must feel them, because he pulls away from her and holds her face until she looks him in the eye. “We looked everywhere for you. Bumi came and helped us go through the forest top to bottom, but there was so much damage. You know, we even went to Taku. We even hired Jun to look for you.”

            “Jun’s an Acolyte.” She says it without thinking, then realises that Aang probably has no idea what an Acolyte is. “A non-bending descendent of airbenders, that is. She knows about the survivors.”

            So Jun covered for them. That was lucky. In three years, it never crossed their minds that the bounty hunter would be able to track them down. It’s twisting the truth a little to call her an Acolyte, but it’s the best description and it protects Jun’s actual ancestry.

            Aang doesn’t need to know about the Lungta, who don’t really mix with the other airbenders.

            He smiles so softly and steps away far enough to take something from around his neck. He doesn’t show it to her, but puts it in her hand and keeps his folding over her closed fingers to keep her from looking at it. “She did find this for us.”

            It’s small and round, whatever it is.

            Oh.

            He has her left hand held in his and so she reaches up with her right to pull his head down far enough to kiss his forehead. “Aang, what do you want to do? What comes next?”

            She knows how this is going to end, but she still needs to hear him say it. This has to be his choice, even though there is no other path that she can see right now.

            He presses his forehead against hers, grey eyes shining with apology. “I want to go home.”

            Her breath shudders and there are tears burning at her eyes but she manages to smile and mean it.

            “Okay then.”

---

 

            She manages to catch Toph just on the edge of the clearing where Katara and the Avatar stand.

            They’re so beautiful together. Her dark and his light, the morning sun rising up behind them. He holds her like a friend or brother and Katara’s hand is at the back of his head.

            And then it isn’t.

            Ty Lee watches the waterbender move, hand slowly tracing a line from the back of his head to his chest. She forgets about Toph for a moment, but the earthbender has stopped.

            What is she sensing?
            Ty Lee bends the wind to carry any sound to her, but there is no speaking to be heard.

            There’s only a sharp intake of breath that she has heard once before.

            The Avatar stays standing for a moment, and then falls to his knees.

            Like a lover confessing or a child begging, he’s holding onto one of Katara’s hands. The waterbender’s other hand, the one that had been on his chest, slides up to his face.

            And there’s the exhale.

            The Avatar falls towards the rising sun, his hands slipping away from Katara.

            Toph has gone perfectly still, blank eyes wide.

            Ty Lee slowly releases her and begins walking towards Katara. She’s halfway there when the waterbender falls to her own knees, hands up around her mouth.

            “Katara?”

            There are no tears. That’s good or bad, maybe, she doesn’t really know. She only took Mai’s breath away long enough to put the beauty to sleep.

            She didn’t go this far.

            Katara puts her hands down and from the edge of the clearing, there’s a mournful groan as a bison ambles near. Slowly, the waterbender stands and greets the beast quietly.

            “Ty, could you open his glider?”

            For a moment, she doesn’t understand, and then it clicks. She nods and does as is asked, jumping up into the saddle with the open glider and setting it out across the middle of the saddle. Katara follows a moment later, the Avatar in her arms.

            At the back of her mind, she thinks it’s brilliant to use bloodbending to help carry the larger Avatar.

            She helps Katara spread him out, the center of the glider aligned with his spine and his head resting just above the primary wings. There’s an odd sureness to the waterbender’s movements as she carefully arranges his tattooed hands on his chest.

            “To the Southern Air Temple?” Ty Lee asks only to make sure.

            Katara nods, never making eye contact.

            “I take Toph and follow on Kiki.” She jumps down, leaving waterbender alone with the silent Avatar and the bison.

            The earthbender is still silent when she takes the other bender’s arm and gently leads her back to Kiki. Zuko is awake, but asks no questions. Her bison groans in protest, but eventually clambers to her feet, ready to fly.

            Kiki takes off quietly and the saddle is silent. The sun is almost clear of the horizon when they catch up to Katara. She trails behind, unsure of exactly where they’re going.

            At midday, Kiki has to land to rest. It’s going to be a while before they get there. They settle on a small island with no settlements and wait for the younger bison to recover. No words are exchanged between anyone, and Katara only comes down from the older bison to work on Zuko’s ribs.

            After nightfall, Kiki is ready to travel again and they begin moving. It takes two days to enter the cold islands of the Patola Mountains. Just as the sun begins to set, the blue roofs of Jongmu come into sight.

            The twilight is heavy around them, weighing down on their shoulders when they touch down on the highest platform available.

            Kiki settles a little farther away from the other bison than Ty Lee would like, but once her bison is down, the big girl is sound asleep. Toph hops out of the saddle and Ty helps a still-recovering Zuko down when there’s a heavy swoosh of air. Her eyes close and she holds onto Zuko a little more, his arm slung over her shoulders. Ahead of them, Toph has begun to cry.

            Katara moves over to them silently and takes the firebender’s other arm and places it over her own shoulders, one of her hands pressed against his wounded side. Toph follows reluctantly when they pass by her, moving to stand so they form one line. The sun is setting off to the side, and it looks so beautiful. The Jongmu Temple Complex was considered one of the greatest beauties of the old world for a reason. It’s like the Temple of the Winds, the holy portion of the building—the actual temple part—is built high and where it can take advantage of the natural beauty of the surroundings.

            It’s striking to see the silent serenity of the abandoned temple and the bison on the edge of the yard. He looks like he’s sleeping.

            “We can’t just leave him here.” Zuko is the one to break the silence. 

            Ty Lee sighs, looking between Katara and Toph. Neither one is going to say anything, so she speaks up. “We usually burn our dead.”

            He blanches. “Won’t that be disrespectful?”

            “We do it so the wind can take our ashes and scatter us through the sky and around the world. It’s the only way we can return to the sky and not alert the Fire Nation that we still exist.” It goes unsaid that death is frequently the only time her people get to wear their colours proudly.

            “We can’t leave him here. Once they realise he isn’t coming back, this will be the first place they look.” Katara’s voice is low and almost hollow-sounding. “There’s no telling how long that will take and no one should see what’s coming.”

            “So burning it is.” Ty Lee looks to the elder masters for confirmation, and both nod. She steps out from under Zuko’s arm so he will be free to move.

---

           

            There’s still enough raw emotion to keep the fire burning blue, almost white at the edges of the flames. He has to stay and meditate to keep it going long enough to burn both bison and rider, and night has long since fallen when enough is gone that he can relax and let some of the intensity fade away. It won’t be done until morning, but the silence is okay.

            He can do this last act for Aang.

            Ty Lee took the crying earthbender back to where Kiki has curled up to sleep hours ago. Katara, though, has stayed beside him the entire time. They just sit next to each other, him in meditation and her in silent study of the fire.

            He doesn’t know what to say to her. Is it even appropriate to speak? After what happened with Azula—

            Azula and Aang. Seventeen and fifteen and with too much power and too much hurt inside.

            It’s almost sick that he can draw any kind of comparison between his sister and the Avatar she struck down in Ba Sing Se.

            But they were alike, he thinks. Both just needed to belong, but had nowhere truly their own. Azula was born into a family that had no room for her and Aang was reborn into a world that was not his own. Both have been abandoned and in the end, maybe death was the only mercy for Aang just as it had been for Azula.

            He doesn’t know. He won’t until Katara talks about what happened in Wulong. Given how he feels about his sister’s death, it’s probably best if Katara not be pushed into talking about whatever happened between her and Aang. 

            The war is over and somewhere where the ice is thick and the winters brutal, there is a child with the power to change the world. His brain feels fuzzy and his throat is dry. So much has happened in the past week and nothing is like he thought it would be.

            So he breathes and focuses on the fire, letting the wind carry away its child. 

Notes:

I'm sure you noticed that there’s a bit of time play between scenes one and two here. The two take place at roughly the same time and then scene three picks up after both.

And I’m aware that the character of Jun is officially named June, but that name just looks wrong every time I write it, so it’s Jun. Pronounced the exact same way, but with a spelling that doesn’t clash (though, admittedly, Toph was a problem for me too. I grew up knowing a guy named Toph, so it was weird initially to see it attached to little girl. Now, though, Toph is definitely a girl’s name).

For clarification, the early previews of the Southern Air Temple and The Lost Scrolls: Air refer to the Southern Air Temple as the Jongmu Air Temple. I’m here using the name to refer to the entire Air Temple complex (as in, the temple here is like the Temple of the Winds. There's the actual temple and then there are accommodations for travelers. My headcanon is that this temple was a trading center between the Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom at some point. Maybe before Aang's time, but just at some point), while the name Southern Air Temple exclusively refers to the actual sanctuary/temple portion of the structure.

Also, this is the last chapter.

Yeah, you read that right. This is the final chapter of when the world stops spinning. After this, there's an epilogue wrapping up some final stories and there's a postscript that will serve as the bridge between when the world stops spinning and the game has changed, which is book two of dynasty.

Chapter 20: epilogue: innocence and instinct

Notes:

So this is the end of 'when the world stops spinning'. It's taken longer than I expected, but it's great and you all have been wonderful for sticking with the story this long and across two archives. I've had a lot of fun working on this and I really hope you stick around for 'the game has changed' and the rest of the dynasty series.

             The water is gentle against her ankles. The tide pushes and pulls, sweeping across the sand. It’s peaceful here, silent and mostly still but above all alive.

            “You’re never going to leave me alone, are you?”

            Beside her, La sits on the beach, blue eyes focused on the sea. “Probably not. I like you and Tui always used to complain that I have a bad habit of meddling with those I like.”

            Katara sighs, falling down to sit beside him. “So I’m the victim of the century?”

            “In my defense, Yue started it.”

            “Why am I here?”

            “I was worried.”

            She scoffs. “Yue asked you to check in, didn’t she?”

            He grins. “Am I that obvious?”

            “Just a little.”

            “I am worried, though.” He leans forward a little, just enough that she can see him without needing to turn all the way. “You have not been using your bending since the incident with the Avatar.”

            She sighs, falling back against the sand. The tide is sweeping up past her knees now, but she doesn’t care. Let the water take her. If nothing else, maybe it can clean away the feel of Aang’s heart beating in her palm until it stopped. “I can’t.”

            “Your bending is a part of who you are. You can never truly lose it.”

            “I know that. I can still feel the water, but it won’t answer me.”

            “Perhaps you offended it.”

            There is no moon in this place, the light coming only from the water. She doesn’t ask about it. There’s no point. La probably won’t give her a straight answer.

            “Was I supposed to be the Avatar?”

            He leans back against the sand, propping himself up on one elbow to look down at her. “Perhaps. There is no point in lingering on things that will never come to pass. Those paths have closed and those futures are gone. There is only this life and the many paths left open to you now.”
            “So what comes next?”

            “That would be your choice. The future is shaped by every choice you make.”

            “That is incredibly unhelpful.”

            “Life often is.”

            She turns, mirroring his position. “I thought you and Tui gave up your spiritual forms for the mortal world. If you can do this, why couldn’t you contact Aang before the Siege of the North?”

            “That was before the Fire Nation decided killing my Tui would be a good idea.” His grin is vicious, so like the ones she remembers Azula wearing.

            She sighs again, curling up against the sand. So many dead, and so many of them dead at such young ages. Aang, Azula, the countless people killed over the course of their missions.

            And even before that: her people, the other Southern waterbenders, the Northern waterbenders who might have been the Avatar in a post-Genocide world, the people of Taku and the other Earth Kingdom cities that fell in the beginning. And Ba Sing Se—Jet and all the others. There was Yue and Zhao and so many over so little time.

            Less than five years and how many have died?

            And the century before, what then? A century, compared to the rest of the world, is not very long at all.

            How many gave their lives because one man sought to rule the world?

            How many spirits and grieving souls cross both worlds?

            “I made the right choice, didn’t I?”

            He brushes a lock of hair away from her face. “I cannot tell you that, little one. Yue is much more accommodating than I am, but she is young. As are you.”

            “I don’t like you very much.”

            “I do not expect you to.”

            “What do you expect of me?”

            He smiles again and this time it’s softer and for a moment, she almost likes him. “Live. I want you to live.”

            “And if I can’t do that?”

            “You will, child. You will.”

---

 

            The night of the eclipse begins with a stunning twilight. Ty Lee wanders out to one of the yards where the grass is plush and sweet smelling, just for a place to lay and stare at the clouds.

            She doesn’t expect to find Toph there. The other three benders have all been distant since returning to the Temple. She can’t blame them, not really. Azula and the Avatar—no, he’s not the Avatar anymore. Azula and Aang were both complicated.

            It’s going to be a long time before any of them heal.

            She sits beside the earthbender and waits for the conversation to begin.

            “It’s really over, isn’t it?”

            “Yes, it is.”

            “So what now?”

            Ty Lee shrugs. “Whatever you want.”

            “That’s not an answer.”

            “Yes it is.”

            Toph tilts her head. “No, it isn’t.”

            Ty Lee sighs. “You can do whatever you want, badgermole. You’re alive and you’re young. The whole world is ahead of you.”

            “The whole world is in shambles.”

            “So we’ll rebuild.”

            “Rebuild after a century of war? Does anyone in this world even know how to live in peace?”

            “Maybe, maybe not. That’s the point of being alive, isn’t it? Learning how to live?”

            “That’s a shit reason to live.”

            “I agree, but it’s the way things are.”

            “So no one knows what they’re doing?”

            “I don’t think so.”

            Toph sighs and flops back against the grass, blank eyes staring up at the twilight. “And these are the people who are supposed to rebuild after a century long world war?”

            “People are resilient. We’re kind of amazing like that.”

             “People are stupid.”

            Ty Lee shrugs. “They are, but they can be smart too.”

            “It’s really over isn’t it?” She almost sounds like she doesn’t believe it.

            “It is.”

            “And Twinkles is really gone, isn’t he?”

            “Yeah, he is.”

            The earthbender hisses. “Stupid airbender. Never could stay put. Are you going to be like that?”

            “I’m not planning on dying anytime soon.”

            “Not that. The flying off and forgetting those of us on the ground. Are you going to do that to me too?”

            “I won’t if you don’t want me too.”

            “So no more of this kissing me and then running off crap?”

            She cringes. “Sorry about that.”

            Toph sighs heavily. “Yeah, I figured you would be.”

            “What do you mean by that?”

            The earthbender stands up and brushes off her clothes. “Nothing. I’m going back to bed.”

            “Toph, wait!” The other bender doesn’t stop, though, and soon Ty Lee is alone in the yard with no company save the twilight.

            Well, that went well.

            Just what did that mean? Even ignoring the kiss, what did she mean about flying off? Was this about what they talked about on the way to Wulong? Ty Lee has already given her word that she’ll try her best to stay. What more could be wanted?

            She sighs and leans back against the grass.

            Tonight is the eclipse and tomorrow will be the start of winter. Beyond that, the whole world is a mystery.

---

 

            The morning after the eclipse is bright and calm. Zuko wakes up with the sun and for the first time since Wulong, decides that a proper breakfast would be the best thing.

            There isn’t much in the gardens. Someone has been caring for them. Probably Ty Lee. She walked away from the war with the least damage. The temple is silent while he gathers up a few things here and there. Mostly fruit. Something fresh and bright sounds good.

            Something to remind him that he is alive just sounds good. And it’s one of the advantages of this area. It’s warm enough that plants will grow year-round.

            And if he’s lucky, a good meal might entice the others to wander out.

            Sure enough, he’s halfway through the persimmons when Katara wanders in. She looks tired, her hair messily pulled back and her clothes wrinkled, but she’s alive and out of her room. It’s not much, but it’s a start.

            “Hey.”

            She moves over to him, blue eyes peering down at the food. “What are you making?”

            “I have no idea.”

            “Dumplings?”

            He nods. “I can do that. Do you want to help?”

            “Why not?” She unfolds her arms and reveals the necklace Aang returned to her. He wants to ask about it, about what happened between her and the Avatar, but doesn’t know how to start that conversation.

            Does he start with Azula?

            Or does he wait for her to begin?

            Or does he go away from that and focus only on the future?

            She sets about making the dough and he watches her work. The fruit is finished quickly and he asks her quietly where the other ingredients are. Honey, some salt, and some spices. The fillings are finished and so he waits for her to finish the dough.

            She hasn’t been sleeping well. That much is clear. The skin around her eyes looks bruised and there’s a certain kind of lethargy to her movements that only comes with insomnia.

            With nightmares. Is it as bad for her as it is for him? Every time he sleeps, he can still feel the lightning sparking between his palm and his sister’s back. He can feel the heat in her body fading away as her chi dissipated. He wasn’t there when Aang died, but he can imagine what it must have felt like. According to Ty Lee, Katara used bloodbending. She would have been able to feel Aang’s heart shudder to a stop and the push and pull of his blood cease in his veins.

            Why did no one ever warn them of this? Being benders in wartime, the intimacy of death should have been at the top of the list of ‘things to know’.

            Instead, they are now under twenty and already killers, haunted by things they did for the sake of a world that will eat them up and spit them out when their bitterness turns them into monsters.

            That can’t be allowed.

            He silently helps her prepare the dumplings and when the food is cooking, he takes a deep breath and removes the item he’s kept in his pocket these past few months. In the days since Wulong, he gave up and carved it the way that felt right. It’s not exactly what he planned when he took the untouched pendant from that ship, but this is the best choice.

            He takes her hand and places the necklace in her palm. “I know Aang gave you your mother’s necklace back. I made this one to replace that one because I didn’t think you would ever get it back.”

            She arches an eyebrow and takes a look at the pendant. “That’s not the same carving.”

            “No, it isn’t. It’s a Fire Nation symbol for the Goddess of the Seas.” How best to explain the triple moon emblem, the three crescents pressed back-to-back and each holding a full moon in a close embrace? “Uncle used to tell me stories about the three goddesses who were revered before the Fire Sages rose to power. The Goddess of the Seas was also the goddess of wisdom. It just seemed like it fit.”

            “You do know what this means, don’t you?”

            He nods. “It’s a betrothal necklace.”

            “And we’re not together. Yes, we share a bed most of the time and I do love you, but it’s not like that.”

            “I know. Honestly, I’m not in love with you either.” It’s true. What he feels for Katara is just slightly different than what he feels for Ty Lee and Toph. It’s trust and love but not familial but still more than friendship. It’s just not like what he felt for Mai. It works, though, and that’s all that matters.

            “Then why are you doing this? It’s sweet, but if we’re not going to marry, then there’s no reason for me to have this. It’ll just cause problems with the Tribes if it’s found.”

            “Because I am asking you to marry me.”

            She bites her lip and he can see the gears turning in her mind. “Why?”

            “I have to go back to the Fire Nation. If I don’t, then when Uncle dies or decides to step-down, it’ll just spark another war as different parties fight for the throne.”

            “Yes, I know. But you’ll be Fire Lord and I’m Water Tribe. I somehow don’t think that’s going to go over well with the rest of the world.”

            “They can fuck off.”

            She coughs lightly, covering a laugh. “What?”

            He shrugs. “I don’t care what they think. I trust you more than anyone. This isn’t about love and it’s not about politics. It’s about knowing that I am never going to have to explain myself if I set the bed on fire in the middle of the night because of a nightmare. You are my partner and occasionally a lover. There’s trust and respect between us and I don’t know about you, but I would rather have that than whatever is waiting for me out there.”

            The only sound that follows is the cackling of the dumplings in the pan.

            This was stupid. Very, very stupid. Yes, he has to go back, but Katara’s explained the situation with her people. There’s nothing obligating her to return to the world outside the Temple of the Winds. She can easily stay here with Ty Lee and train airbenders. He and Toph are the only ones who have no choice about returning.

            And here he is, asking her to return to a world she doesn’t particularly like and that will like her even less when the news about Aang finally reaches the public.

            He’s an idiot. It’s just that he likes the simplicity of what they have. It’s not messy and emotional and it’s surprisingly stable given the conditions that gave birth to their relationship. Katara is his best friend. It’s selfish of him, but she stood by him through a war and he can’t imagine facing the dragons of the future without her there.

            He’s probably going to lose Toph, the closest thing he’s ever had to functional brother-sister relationship. Ty Lee will probably visit infrequently, whenever her duties to the airbenders allows.

            Katara, though, she can stay.

            This is easily his worst mistake.

            He turns to apologise and to ask for the necklace back, but she’s moved her hair over her shoulder and is holding out the necklace for him. “Can you help me? I don’t know how this clasp works.”

            He nods and helps fix the necklace around her neck. The clasp is different—he got a good look at the original when he had it all those years ago and remembered the faults in the design. Toph was kind enough to help fashion a stronger clasp for this one.

            She fixes her hair again, this time securing all of it up with the whale-tooth comb. When she turns around, the pendant he made falls perfectly to the hollow where her neck meets her chest. Hanging below it, her mother’s pendant rests between her breasts.

            “For the past.” She touches her mother’s pendant and then raises her hand to touch the new one. “And for the future. You do know that this is a Northern tradition, don’t you?”

            “I’m not familiar with the Southern traditions.”

            She shrugs. “Most people aren’t. But in this case it works to our advantage.”

            “How?”

            She reaches around him to check on the food. “In the Southern Tribe, a necklace is made for the woman, but one is made by her for her husband-to-be. Once the necklaces are exchanged, the two are considered married.”

            “So we don’t have to go through an actual wedding?”

            “Do you want to?”

            “No.”

            “Then we don’t have to. I’ll find something to make a necklace from and we’ll call it done.”

            This is probably the strangest proposal in the history of his family. But he and Katara are far from normal and so maybe this is okay. At the very least, it promises that the stability they’ve found here at the Temple of the Winds might be able to survive into the peacetime.

            At the very least, it means neither one will be alone, no matter what happens.

---

 

            “This has to be the worst idea we’ve ever had.” Toph tugs at the silk she’s been forced into, fighting the urge to mess with her hair because it’s pulled back into a formal style and how does anyone in their right mind wear any of this?

            “We don’t have much of a choice.” Zuko’s voice comes from her left, but she can’t really find him. Not only is she standing on wood, but she’s also wearing shoes. For the first time in her life, she is very aware of her blindness.

            “Yes, we do. We go back to the Temple and stay put.” She feels someone pull her hands away from her dress and the blurry vibrations she gets from the earth that exists in the human body shows Katara in her own finery.

            “You and Zuko both have unfinished business, and if you go back, then everyone will come looking for me.”

            Ty Lee’s voice comes from her right, a little further off than the rest. “And eventually the airbenders need to come out. It’s best if we present a united front. Four benders of the four nations, standing together as friends and allies. It’s our best shot at keeping control of our futures.”

            She wants to say that they can’t be a united front. Sparky and Sweetness may have reached some kind of agreement and Snowlion seems to have maintained bridges with both of them, but there’s still her.

            Snow confuses her. She understands the logic in standing together, but there’s still that kiss and Snow’s promise to try and stay. She apologized, so did it mean nothing?

            It’s hard to stand united if you don’t know where you stand with someone.

            “Remember that we were going to start a school together?” Katara says, her voice soothing. “We can’t do that if we don’t show that we are united and going to fight for our right to live our lives the way we want. By controlling how and when we make our return, we give ourselves power to control our own lives.”

            She understands that, but still thinks it’s absolute shit. The world is in shambles and they’re supposed to fight for their rights? To do what? Control the world’s future? Sparky stands a chance at that—he’s the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation. Snow has a chance too. By coming out tonight, she’s declaring herself the voice of the airbenders.

            Sweetness, though, that’s another story. She’s a rogue Tribal Princess and with the South devastated by the war, the North is going to have control over the future of the Tribes. Katara may have fought them once and won, but can she do it again?

            She feels someone take her hand—Snowlion, the vibrations show. Sweetness and Sparky are on the other side of the airbender. She can’t really sense anything except the heartbeats passing along their connected hands. It’s complete blindness, save her companions.

            She has her reservations about the likelihood of success, but like this, with their hands connected and their hearts beating together, she can maybe believe that they can take on the world and win.

            They’ve stopped a war. Maybe, just maybe, they can survive peacetime too.

            Each one takes a deep breath, the vibrations shaking her senses. And then, as one, they step out into the world.

            

Notes:

Reference: the symbol on the necklace Zuko made is the Mark of Nayru from the Legend of Zelda.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of the dynasty of storms series »