FF: Afterwards
Jan. 24th, 2010 10:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quaggyTitle: Afterwards
Show: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Category: Post-Series AU
Rating: PG
Notes: I'm actually embarrassed over how long it took me to finish this fic. (Season 3 hadn't even started.) This originally was going to be a sequel to this AU that I wrote after the season 2 finale, but I think it stands on its own now. I'm not sure where this fic diverges from cannon. One of the main differences is that Iroh is the Fire Lord and Zuko... well, you'll just have to read the fic to find that out.
It’s what comes after that’s most difficult.
So you’ve taught yourself earthbending. Great! Now what? So you’ve decided to leave home and become the Avatar’s teacher. Great, now what? So you helped save the world from a destructive madman and his psychotic daughter.
Now what?
You can’t go home and wouldn’t want to even if you could. (Or at least that’s what you tell yourself.) You could stay here in the Fire Nation. But what will you do? You can’t just sit by Zuko’s turtle-duck pond, getting fat and lazy.
“Hi Sokka,” you say, as you feel the Water Tribe boy’s vibrations head towards you.
“Hey, Toph. Did you know that Zuko was looking for you?” he asks as he plops himself down next to you.
“Yes.”
“Ummm… It doesn’t look like you’re trying to find him. In fact, I’d say that it looks like you’re trying not to be found.”
“You trying to start something, Snoozles?”
“No, no, no!” he stammers out and you smirk at how panicky he sounds.
“I’m not really avoiding him. I just needed to think for a bit,” you sigh.
“About what?”
“Stuff,” you reply helpfully. He falls silent for a moment, thinking.
“You’re still upset because King Bumi was able to sneak up on you, aren’t you?”
“HE CHEATED!!! As soon as I figure out how he did it, I will have my revenge,” you promise. “And I’m not upset,” you add somewhat after the fact.
“Sure, you’re not,” Sokka agrees in that nauseatingly patronizing voice of his. “So why else have you been avoiding the guy?”
“I told you I’m not avoiding Zuko!”
“Oh, yeah. You’re avoiding him too. But I meant King Bumi.”
“I’m not avoiding Zuko OR King Bumi. I… I just don’t have an answer yet.”
“An answer to what? Toph, I can’t hear you if you talk into your arms like that.”
“I said, whether I would be willing for King Bumi to adopt me.”
“Adopt you?”
“Yeah.”
“But your parent’s are still alive… aren’t they?”
“Last I checked. What difference does that make?”
“Well, don’t you think they might have a problem with someone else claiming their kid?”
“Hey, if the King of Omashu wants to make your kid his heir, are YOU going to object, because my parents sure wouldn’t.”
“Heir? As in heir to the THRONE?!”
“Yeah, kinda. If I want it, I guess. I mean, that’s why Bumi wants to adopt me.”
“Toph, are you planning on ruling the entire freaking world?”
“Huh?”
“It just that I was figuring that you well on your way the first earthbending Fire Princess and now you’re going to rule the Earth Kingdom!”
“Not the entire Earth Kingdom. Just Omashu.”
“AHA! You see! You have already made up your mind!”
“No! Are you crazy? How can I decided something that big?” you object. You can feel Sokka giving you THE LOOK. Damn. You thought that it only worked on Katara because she was his sister. “Well, okay. Maybe I have. I just don’t know how I’m going to tell Pops and Sparky.”
“Zuko and Iroh will be happy for you! Why wouldn’t they be?”
“I don’t know. I… If I do this, then everything will change.”
“Probably. But not as much as you think. Zuko will still be broody and short-tempered. Iroh will still be trying to make you tea. And they’ll both still consider you family. The only difference is that you’ll have a small army at your command.”
“I AM an army.”
“And the universe has been set back in the proper order,” Sokka sighs. “Well, my work here is done.”
“Yeah. You can run along now,” you joke, waving your hand in dismissal. “You may continue on with your usual busybody behavior.”
“Yes, your highness,” Sokka replies with a half decent bow, despite the fact that he has remained seated.
“So, what’s next on the agenda? Teaching the Dai Li the value of public service over power trips? Trying to get the Unagi to admit his aggression is just because he’s painfully shy?”
“Actually, I was looking for Suki,” he says and you can feel his heart speed up. “Yeah. I had better go find her, I guess.” He stands up, takes a deep breath and walks off as if he’s about to face a rabid iguana-moose single-handedly. You think of the suspicions that Katara had shared with you about future sister-in-laws and you realize what he’s off to do.
“Hey, Sokka!” you call out. He stops without turning around. “Good luck!”
“Thanks, Toph,” he sighs. “I’m going to need it.”
“No you won’t,” you say, even though you know he’s already gone. There’s a chill in the air. It’s gotten late. You really should find Zuko. But first you’re going to have to have a long talk with King Bumi. Maybe if you’re careful you can sneak up on him.
Rule the freaking world, hun? You grin. Well, it beats watching turtle-ducks.
~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~
You are an idiot. You can say all the right things to reassure a reluctant earthbender, but when it comes to your own future, you are reduced to a babbling fool. You have practiced your proposal over and over, but when it came to the moment of truth, you looked at Suki and all your well-planned thoughts went flying out of your head.
“Did you say something?” she asks, confirming your suspicions that your incoherent prattle was inaudible on top of everything else. You are both relieved and mortified all at the same time.
“No, it’s nothing,” you hear yourself say and curse yourself for being twelve kinds of fool.
“Alright then,” Suki replies. “I’m going go check in with my team. I’ll see you around?”
You nod dumbly like the idiot that you are and she’s gone before you can even begin to process what just happened. You’re left alone in the moonlight, slackjawed and horrified. What had Aunt Wu said again about your anguish being mostly self-inflicted?
Materializing from nowhere, Katara slips her arms around you. You don’t question her sudden appearance. It’s almost reassuring that she is here to witness your utter humiliation. You feel her press something into your hand.
“Try again,” she urges. “Yue will give you strength.”
You open your mouth to object, but she has that confident, hopeful look on her face. The one that always makes you want to do the impossible. Because even though she can bring entire armies to their knees, you are still your little sister’s hero.
You open your hand and start when you realize that Katara has given you her necklace. Mom’s necklace. You look back at your sister and smile. You know what to say now.
You run after Sukki. She stops when you call and her eyes widen when you catch up, as if you have physically changed from only moments before. Maybe you have, because you feel different. You feel confident, as you look into her eyes. The words that you were stumbling over, now come easily.
“Suki, this is a Northern Water Tribe betrothal necklace, but it means so much more to my family. My grandmother wore this necklace when she left her home and family in search of a better life in the South Pole. When my mother married my father, my grandmother gave her this necklace to welcome her into the family. Mom wore it when she defended our tribe against the Fire Nation. She gave her life to protect us and the necklace was passed down to my sister. Through all of our adventures with Aang, Katara has worn it like a talisman. She’s worn it until right this moment… when she gave it to me.” You pause to see how Suki is taking all of this. Her eyes are wide, silently encouraging you to go on.
“Suki,” you continue, embolden. “This necklace has been worn by the brave women in my family. Warrior women. Now, I’m asking that you wear this necklace… as my wife. Suki, will you marry me?”
Your heart is pounding so loudly that you don’t really hear her answer, but she’s crying and laughing and she throws her arms around you, so you think she probably said yes. Over her shoulder you can see your sister hopping up and down in silent celebration and Zuko, who is inexplicably at her side, casually offers you a thumbs up. Katara mouths the word congratulations and then she and Zuko turn to leave you alone with Suki. You hold your fiancée tightly and silently offer up your thanks to Yue for her assistance and your gratitude to the water spirits for blessing you with a little sister.
~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~
Well, this wasn’t how you expected the evening to go. From start to finish.
You definitely weren't expecting Uncle to take you aside and offer such an opportunity. Not that you objected. To be able to help your nation and have it perfectly align with what you wanted for yourself was almost too good to be true. The only thing that remained was getting Katara to agree. Of course, your luck never did run smoothly. You had been looking for Toph to tell her the news when Katara offered to help. You didn’t exactly know how to say no. You weren’t sure you even wanted to.
Suddenly, unexpectedly, you found yourself alone with the one person who you would have to work up the courage to explain what had happened with your uncle. You were searching for the right words when Katara suddenly grabbed your arm and pulled you onto the ground next to her, with a hissed command to be quiet. Soldier that you are, you tensed bracing for the attack of some unknown adversary, only to realize that you had stumbled, not on an enemy camp, but Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe doing a very bad job of proposing to Suki of the Kyoshi Warriors. (At least, you assumed that the woman was Suki. You can never tell them apart when they are wearing their make-up.)
You’ve been on dates before. (Well, one.) So you can say with some confidence that lying behind a fallen tree next to a girl you are crazy about while listening to her brother make a total fool of himself does not count. But your heart was pounding anyway.
“Oh, if only he hadn’t lost his confidence,” Katara had exclaimed and scampered off to help. You knew that she was referring to her brother, but she could just as easily been referring to you. You’ve know what you wanted for quite sometime now. Ever since her brother confronted you in fact. But you’ve been to scared to do anything about it. You lost confidence. Maybe you never had it to begin with. Not when it comes to this. Fortunately, Katara and her necklace seemed to help Sokka find his. There is now a betrothal celebration in process and it’s time to find yours.
She’s by herself when you finally find her. She must have heard you coming, because when you draw near, she looks up and honors you with an open, happy smile. You've both come a long way since your first encounter at the South Pole.
"Hey Zuko. Did you find Toph?"
"Not yet," you grumble. "She'll have to turn up at some point, right?"
"She always does," she nods. She seems content to just sit quietly with you and you certainly aren't going to object. It gives you a chance to study her unobtrusively. You notice that, ever so often she'll reach towards her neck, only to quickly abort the movement, as if she has to keep reminding herself that her necklace isn't there for a reason. It must be a disconcerting feeling after wearing it for so long. Without thinking, you reach out a hand to touch were her necklace used to be. Her sudden stillness is the only indication that you have crossed an invisible line between the natural physical closeness that you all have with one another into something more… intimate. You quickly draw your hand away.
“Is… is it strange not having your necklace?” you ask, trying to cover your embarrassment.
“A little. But this isn’t the first time I’ve been without it,” she sighs and your face flames as you remember your role in that. She smiles at your discomfort.
“Not just then,” she tells you gently. “I had to hide it when we masqueraded as Fire Nation citizens. Besides, I would have to take it off soon anyway. It would have cause confusion if I didn’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s a betrothal necklace. It doesn’t matter so much now, but I’ll be of age next year. Things could get a little awkward anytime I visited the Northern Water Tribe.”
“You come of age at 15 in the Water Tribes?”
“16,” she corrects and smiles at your look of confusion. “My birthday is…” and now she pauses and her eyes grow wide “…only a few weeks away. I can’t believe I forgot!” She looks so stunned, you can’t help but grin.
“I turned seventeen while my uncle and I were working in the tea house in the lower rings of Ba Sing Se. My uncle remembered. I didn’t.”
“Hopefully, your memory won’t fail you next year,” she laughs.
“I don’t think I’ll be able to forget. We come of age at 18 in the Fire Nation. People will probably take the excuse to… fuss.”
“You’re the crown prince. I think they’ll do more than that.”
“I’m not, though.”
“Did your uncle suddenly disown you when nobody was looking?” Katara scoffs.
“No, he made me an Ambassador,” you reply without thinking and then freeze when you realize what you just did. Katara is looking at you with a mixture of shock and confusion and you find yourself trying to explain. “I guess I’m still technically heir to the throne, but my title is Ambassador now.”
“Ambassador to where?” she asks. It’s a reasonable question, but if you tell her, you then have to scare up your courage to ask her. Though there really is no way to avoid it. Or any reason to other than the fact you are being a coward.
“The Water Tribe. I’ll be spending a few months in south, a few months in the north and the rest of the time here in the Fire Nation.”
“And here I thought this would be the last time we’d be able to hang out like this,” Katara smiles.
Now is your only chance. You could just leave it there and never say another word, but you still have the courage, so you press on.
“Katara, Aang said that you were going to open a school in the South Pole to teach a whole new generation of children waterbending. I was hoping you’d be willing to take on a slightly unorthodox student.”
“Who?” she asks, clearly perplexed.
“Me.” You take a second to appreciate her shocked expression, before pressing on. “I’ve learned more about firebending from watching you waterbend than I have from any Firebending Master.”
“I know. Don’t think I haven’t noticed that you’ve been stealing my moves.”
“So, what do you say?”
“Zuko, I’m not comfortable being your teacher. Not when you are a master bender yourself,” she explains and your heart sinks, until she grins at you suddenly. “But I’d like to train with you whenever you visit the South Pole. I think if we work together, we’ll both improve.”
You grin back at her, feeling almost giddy with relief. It’s not everything that you wish for, but it is more than you ever expected and you are content. This is the point when you normally do or say something completely stupid and ruin everything, but before you can, a resounding boom that could only come from a powerful earthbender showing off echoes through the night, causing both you and Katara to jump.
"I think that might be Toph," Katara ventures with a knowing grin.
"Yeah, I had better..." you shrug helplessly. "Stay here. I'll be right back." As you make your way over to the commotion, you wonder if you should be frustrated or grateful that Toph that chose that moment to make her reappearance.
~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~
You sit under the stars wondering what you will do now. You thought you had it all figured out. But in the hours since Zuko left you to continue his search for Toph, you become increasingly confused.
You’ve taught Aang and fought alongside him. Now it was time to return home and help rebuild. You will set up your school just like you dreamed about when the war seemed never-ending. Everything will work out perfectly. Why does Zuko’s plans make you feel so restless?
“Hey, Katara!”
“Toph! Where have you been?! Zuko and I’ve been looking for you! Well, Zuko’s been looking for you. I was helping,” you practically stammer before you pull yourself together. You really should be more careful. Just because Toph can’t see you blush, doesn’t mean she won’t be able to figure out that you’re flustered.
“Yeah, I found him. I just need to figure some stuff out first.”
“What kind of stuff?” you ask.
“What I’m going to do next,” she replies with the confidence of someone who already knows the answer.
“I know how that is. What did you decide?” you ask, slightly envious.
“I’m going to be Queen of Omashu.”
“Queen of…”
“King Bumi told me that he thought I would make an excellent heir to the throne. But I didn’t want to tell Sparky until I had made up my mind. Then after my big dramatic announcement, he tells me that his Uncle is going to name him as Ambassador to the Water Tribe. So he’s not even going to be around to miss me!”
“Yes, I know. I mean, I know about the Ambassador thing. I think he’ll miss you no matter where he is.”
“You better be right,” she grumbles, then suddenly brightens. “Hey, do you think Pops would be willing to make him Ambassador to the Earth Kingdom instead?”
“Maybe,” you say, with more reluctance than you’d like. “But Toph, you wouldn’t see him as much as you think. He probably would be expected to spend most of his time in Ba Sing Se.”
“Damn. You’re probably right. So… Water Tribe, hun? I guess that means your going to be seeing a lot of Zuko in the future,” Toph smirks in her all too knowing way.
“Only for three or four months a year. He’s going to have to divide his time between the Northern and Southern Water Tribes. I don’t know what he’s going to do about the swampbenders.”
“Sounds pretty sweet.”
“Yeah, it does,” you say, unable to keep the wistful note out of your voice.
“You want to go with him?”
“I… Maybe.”
“Well, I think it’s a great idea!”
“Toph, I can’t travel with Zuko by myself,” you squeak.
“Well, I’ll come too. I mean, we’re all going to have to travel a lot in the future and we can’t exactly expect Aang to be our own personal ferry service. I’m going need to spend some time in Omashu, but I’ll still want to come back here as often as I can. You can drop me off along the way.”
“Toph, you do realize that Omashu isn’t a port city?” But Toph waves her hand, in a regal dismissal of such petty concerns. She will make an excellent queen.
“Toph!! Be serious!”
“I don’t see what you’re getting so worked up about. It’s a good idea!”
“I can’t just pack up and travel! I’m going to open a school. I can’t just abandon my students!”
“You’ll have a whole group of students waiting for you at the North Pole.”
“What are you talking about? They have Master Pakku.”
“Master Pakku doesn’t teach girls.”
“He taught me.”
“You were with the Avatar and that made you special. And special has a funny way of turning into the exception.” She has a point unfortunately and you sigh in frustration.
“See! You know I’m right!” she crows. “I suppose they could travel down to the South Pole, but they would be leaving everything behind and that’s not easy to do. It’s better if you come to them. Not everyone is as cool as your grandmother.”
“Or as cool as you,” you smile.
“No one is as cool as me,” Toph smirks. “So you gonna go?”
“I don’t know what I’m thinking. I don’t even know if Zuko will think this is a good idea! He just wants to train together when he’s at the South Pole. It doesn’t mean he’ll want me tagging along when he leaves.”
“Katara, you can be pretty stupid sometimes,” the earthbender laughs and something about her tone makes you think about the way Zuko's fingers skated around your neck. You attempt to quash that strange feeling fluttering in your stomach. You think it might be hope.
“Hey, Zuko! Over here! I found her!” Toph suddenly calls out. There’s a crashing from the bushes and Zuko emerges looking disgruntled. He glares at you as he flops down in between you and Toph.
“Why don’t you ever stay in one place?” he grumbles. “You’re never where I think you’ll be. And then you usually turn up exactly where I don’t want you! It’s the only thing that’s stayed the same the entire time I’ve known you!" He's working himself into a fine rant. Even Toph looks impressed. "Seriously, would it kill you to hold still for five minutes? Because this disappearing act of yours is getting old.”
“You know, there’s an easy answer to that, don’t you, Sparky?” Toph smirks. “You just gotta never let Katara out of your sight!”
“Don’t think I haven’t considered it,” he replies, darkly and then his eyes widen and he shoots you a panicky look as if he just realized the implications. “I didn’t mean like that, Katara!” he stammers.
“You’re lie-ing,” Toph sings and Zuko glares at her.
“You know, that can kind of be arranged,” you’re amazed to hear yourself say. Your heart is still fluttering and your neck still tingles. Maybe that’s where all this bravery is coming from.
"What can be arranged?" Sokka asks, appearing out of the night with Suki in tow.
"We're going to be travelling the world together," Toph announces.
"That's nothing new," Sokka scoffs.
"Sure, it is. We'll be going by Zuko's diplomatic ship instead of air-bison. Zuko is going need to go back and forth between the Poles because he's now Ambassador to the Water Tribes, Katara is going to need to go back and forth because she'll be teaching waterbending, and I'm going just because it'll be fun," Toph says as if all this were already fact. You and Zuko look at each other helplessly, but since neither of you are objecting, it looks like this is officially a plan.
"Really? Hey, this could work out for us too. Suki and I were just trying to figure out how we were going to go back and forth between the South Pole and Kyoshi Island."
“Kyoshi Island? Man! Why do I keep having to go back to places I’ve attacked?” Zuko objects.
“That’s because there’s nowhere left that you haven’t,” Sokka laughs.
“That’s not true! There are plenty of places I haven’t tried to destroy.”
“Oh yeah? Name three!” your brother taunts.
“Ummm… Omashu and…” Zuko frowns, perplexed. “I guess, Omashu is about it.”
“Well, that showed some great foresight on your part, if you ask me,” Toph announces. “Now you have no excuse not to visit me!”
Suddenly, your half-formed hopes seem to be rapidly turning into permanent plans on a far grander scale than you could ever had dreamed. Everyone is talking at once, each having an opinion to voice about itineraries and water routes. You wonder how your quiet moment of introspection lead to a free for all. Not that you're complaining. There's a lot of laughing and excitement in the air. You begin to look forward to this coming year in a way you haven't in a long time. There's just one thing missing. You turn to Zuko and he nods, because he's just realized it too.
“Hey,” Toph says suddenly. “Has anyone seen Aang?”
~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~
A flying top was a delicate thing. Made of paper and a little rice paste, they flew high yet never lasted very long. You remembered making these with Gyatso. They all would fall to pieces within a week, even if gently handled, but that was their nature. So, how could this particular flying top manage to survive for over 100 years?
It couldn’t. It was impossible.
Yet, the only other explanation was even more impossible. Could the air nomads have really survived after all this time or is it only your wistful heart that makes you feel this way? Either way, you can’t let this go. You’re going to leave tonight, before anyone has a chance to change your mind. Your friends are all making plans, but you know they will abandon them all if you ask. But you can’t do that to them. They’ve all have already given up so much. Besides, this is something that you must do on your own. You and Appa. You just hope they’ll understand that.
You’re not abandoning your friends for a slight chance that your people may still be alive. It’s the total opposite. It's because of your friends, that you will be able to face this journey, no matter what the outcome is. You’ve learned that you can let someone go and still love them with all your heart. Even though you and your friends will be separated for a while, you’ll think about them often and know that you are stronger because they love you.
And that, someday, you will all be together again.
Show: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Category: Post-Series AU
Rating: PG
Notes: I'm actually embarrassed over how long it took me to finish this fic. (Season 3 hadn't even started.) This originally was going to be a sequel to this AU that I wrote after the season 2 finale, but I think it stands on its own now. I'm not sure where this fic diverges from cannon. One of the main differences is that Iroh is the Fire Lord and Zuko... well, you'll just have to read the fic to find that out.
It’s what comes after that’s most difficult.
So you’ve taught yourself earthbending. Great! Now what? So you’ve decided to leave home and become the Avatar’s teacher. Great, now what? So you helped save the world from a destructive madman and his psychotic daughter.
Now what?
You can’t go home and wouldn’t want to even if you could. (Or at least that’s what you tell yourself.) You could stay here in the Fire Nation. But what will you do? You can’t just sit by Zuko’s turtle-duck pond, getting fat and lazy.
“Hi Sokka,” you say, as you feel the Water Tribe boy’s vibrations head towards you.
“Hey, Toph. Did you know that Zuko was looking for you?” he asks as he plops himself down next to you.
“Yes.”
“Ummm… It doesn’t look like you’re trying to find him. In fact, I’d say that it looks like you’re trying not to be found.”
“You trying to start something, Snoozles?”
“No, no, no!” he stammers out and you smirk at how panicky he sounds.
“I’m not really avoiding him. I just needed to think for a bit,” you sigh.
“About what?”
“Stuff,” you reply helpfully. He falls silent for a moment, thinking.
“You’re still upset because King Bumi was able to sneak up on you, aren’t you?”
“HE CHEATED!!! As soon as I figure out how he did it, I will have my revenge,” you promise. “And I’m not upset,” you add somewhat after the fact.
“Sure, you’re not,” Sokka agrees in that nauseatingly patronizing voice of his. “So why else have you been avoiding the guy?”
“I told you I’m not avoiding Zuko!”
“Oh, yeah. You’re avoiding him too. But I meant King Bumi.”
“I’m not avoiding Zuko OR King Bumi. I… I just don’t have an answer yet.”
“An answer to what? Toph, I can’t hear you if you talk into your arms like that.”
“I said, whether I would be willing for King Bumi to adopt me.”
“Adopt you?”
“Yeah.”
“But your parent’s are still alive… aren’t they?”
“Last I checked. What difference does that make?”
“Well, don’t you think they might have a problem with someone else claiming their kid?”
“Hey, if the King of Omashu wants to make your kid his heir, are YOU going to object, because my parents sure wouldn’t.”
“Heir? As in heir to the THRONE?!”
“Yeah, kinda. If I want it, I guess. I mean, that’s why Bumi wants to adopt me.”
“Toph, are you planning on ruling the entire freaking world?”
“Huh?”
“It just that I was figuring that you well on your way the first earthbending Fire Princess and now you’re going to rule the Earth Kingdom!”
“Not the entire Earth Kingdom. Just Omashu.”
“AHA! You see! You have already made up your mind!”
“No! Are you crazy? How can I decided something that big?” you object. You can feel Sokka giving you THE LOOK. Damn. You thought that it only worked on Katara because she was his sister. “Well, okay. Maybe I have. I just don’t know how I’m going to tell Pops and Sparky.”
“Zuko and Iroh will be happy for you! Why wouldn’t they be?”
“I don’t know. I… If I do this, then everything will change.”
“Probably. But not as much as you think. Zuko will still be broody and short-tempered. Iroh will still be trying to make you tea. And they’ll both still consider you family. The only difference is that you’ll have a small army at your command.”
“I AM an army.”
“And the universe has been set back in the proper order,” Sokka sighs. “Well, my work here is done.”
“Yeah. You can run along now,” you joke, waving your hand in dismissal. “You may continue on with your usual busybody behavior.”
“Yes, your highness,” Sokka replies with a half decent bow, despite the fact that he has remained seated.
“So, what’s next on the agenda? Teaching the Dai Li the value of public service over power trips? Trying to get the Unagi to admit his aggression is just because he’s painfully shy?”
“Actually, I was looking for Suki,” he says and you can feel his heart speed up. “Yeah. I had better go find her, I guess.” He stands up, takes a deep breath and walks off as if he’s about to face a rabid iguana-moose single-handedly. You think of the suspicions that Katara had shared with you about future sister-in-laws and you realize what he’s off to do.
“Hey, Sokka!” you call out. He stops without turning around. “Good luck!”
“Thanks, Toph,” he sighs. “I’m going to need it.”
“No you won’t,” you say, even though you know he’s already gone. There’s a chill in the air. It’s gotten late. You really should find Zuko. But first you’re going to have to have a long talk with King Bumi. Maybe if you’re careful you can sneak up on him.
Rule the freaking world, hun? You grin. Well, it beats watching turtle-ducks.
~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~
You are an idiot. You can say all the right things to reassure a reluctant earthbender, but when it comes to your own future, you are reduced to a babbling fool. You have practiced your proposal over and over, but when it came to the moment of truth, you looked at Suki and all your well-planned thoughts went flying out of your head.
“Did you say something?” she asks, confirming your suspicions that your incoherent prattle was inaudible on top of everything else. You are both relieved and mortified all at the same time.
“No, it’s nothing,” you hear yourself say and curse yourself for being twelve kinds of fool.
“Alright then,” Suki replies. “I’m going go check in with my team. I’ll see you around?”
You nod dumbly like the idiot that you are and she’s gone before you can even begin to process what just happened. You’re left alone in the moonlight, slackjawed and horrified. What had Aunt Wu said again about your anguish being mostly self-inflicted?
Materializing from nowhere, Katara slips her arms around you. You don’t question her sudden appearance. It’s almost reassuring that she is here to witness your utter humiliation. You feel her press something into your hand.
“Try again,” she urges. “Yue will give you strength.”
You open your mouth to object, but she has that confident, hopeful look on her face. The one that always makes you want to do the impossible. Because even though she can bring entire armies to their knees, you are still your little sister’s hero.
You open your hand and start when you realize that Katara has given you her necklace. Mom’s necklace. You look back at your sister and smile. You know what to say now.
You run after Sukki. She stops when you call and her eyes widen when you catch up, as if you have physically changed from only moments before. Maybe you have, because you feel different. You feel confident, as you look into her eyes. The words that you were stumbling over, now come easily.
“Suki, this is a Northern Water Tribe betrothal necklace, but it means so much more to my family. My grandmother wore this necklace when she left her home and family in search of a better life in the South Pole. When my mother married my father, my grandmother gave her this necklace to welcome her into the family. Mom wore it when she defended our tribe against the Fire Nation. She gave her life to protect us and the necklace was passed down to my sister. Through all of our adventures with Aang, Katara has worn it like a talisman. She’s worn it until right this moment… when she gave it to me.” You pause to see how Suki is taking all of this. Her eyes are wide, silently encouraging you to go on.
“Suki,” you continue, embolden. “This necklace has been worn by the brave women in my family. Warrior women. Now, I’m asking that you wear this necklace… as my wife. Suki, will you marry me?”
Your heart is pounding so loudly that you don’t really hear her answer, but she’s crying and laughing and she throws her arms around you, so you think she probably said yes. Over her shoulder you can see your sister hopping up and down in silent celebration and Zuko, who is inexplicably at her side, casually offers you a thumbs up. Katara mouths the word congratulations and then she and Zuko turn to leave you alone with Suki. You hold your fiancée tightly and silently offer up your thanks to Yue for her assistance and your gratitude to the water spirits for blessing you with a little sister.
~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~
Well, this wasn’t how you expected the evening to go. From start to finish.
You definitely weren't expecting Uncle to take you aside and offer such an opportunity. Not that you objected. To be able to help your nation and have it perfectly align with what you wanted for yourself was almost too good to be true. The only thing that remained was getting Katara to agree. Of course, your luck never did run smoothly. You had been looking for Toph to tell her the news when Katara offered to help. You didn’t exactly know how to say no. You weren’t sure you even wanted to.
Suddenly, unexpectedly, you found yourself alone with the one person who you would have to work up the courage to explain what had happened with your uncle. You were searching for the right words when Katara suddenly grabbed your arm and pulled you onto the ground next to her, with a hissed command to be quiet. Soldier that you are, you tensed bracing for the attack of some unknown adversary, only to realize that you had stumbled, not on an enemy camp, but Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe doing a very bad job of proposing to Suki of the Kyoshi Warriors. (At least, you assumed that the woman was Suki. You can never tell them apart when they are wearing their make-up.)
You’ve been on dates before. (Well, one.) So you can say with some confidence that lying behind a fallen tree next to a girl you are crazy about while listening to her brother make a total fool of himself does not count. But your heart was pounding anyway.
“Oh, if only he hadn’t lost his confidence,” Katara had exclaimed and scampered off to help. You knew that she was referring to her brother, but she could just as easily been referring to you. You’ve know what you wanted for quite sometime now. Ever since her brother confronted you in fact. But you’ve been to scared to do anything about it. You lost confidence. Maybe you never had it to begin with. Not when it comes to this. Fortunately, Katara and her necklace seemed to help Sokka find his. There is now a betrothal celebration in process and it’s time to find yours.
She’s by herself when you finally find her. She must have heard you coming, because when you draw near, she looks up and honors you with an open, happy smile. You've both come a long way since your first encounter at the South Pole.
"Hey Zuko. Did you find Toph?"
"Not yet," you grumble. "She'll have to turn up at some point, right?"
"She always does," she nods. She seems content to just sit quietly with you and you certainly aren't going to object. It gives you a chance to study her unobtrusively. You notice that, ever so often she'll reach towards her neck, only to quickly abort the movement, as if she has to keep reminding herself that her necklace isn't there for a reason. It must be a disconcerting feeling after wearing it for so long. Without thinking, you reach out a hand to touch were her necklace used to be. Her sudden stillness is the only indication that you have crossed an invisible line between the natural physical closeness that you all have with one another into something more… intimate. You quickly draw your hand away.
“Is… is it strange not having your necklace?” you ask, trying to cover your embarrassment.
“A little. But this isn’t the first time I’ve been without it,” she sighs and your face flames as you remember your role in that. She smiles at your discomfort.
“Not just then,” she tells you gently. “I had to hide it when we masqueraded as Fire Nation citizens. Besides, I would have to take it off soon anyway. It would have cause confusion if I didn’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s a betrothal necklace. It doesn’t matter so much now, but I’ll be of age next year. Things could get a little awkward anytime I visited the Northern Water Tribe.”
“You come of age at 15 in the Water Tribes?”
“16,” she corrects and smiles at your look of confusion. “My birthday is…” and now she pauses and her eyes grow wide “…only a few weeks away. I can’t believe I forgot!” She looks so stunned, you can’t help but grin.
“I turned seventeen while my uncle and I were working in the tea house in the lower rings of Ba Sing Se. My uncle remembered. I didn’t.”
“Hopefully, your memory won’t fail you next year,” she laughs.
“I don’t think I’ll be able to forget. We come of age at 18 in the Fire Nation. People will probably take the excuse to… fuss.”
“You’re the crown prince. I think they’ll do more than that.”
“I’m not, though.”
“Did your uncle suddenly disown you when nobody was looking?” Katara scoffs.
“No, he made me an Ambassador,” you reply without thinking and then freeze when you realize what you just did. Katara is looking at you with a mixture of shock and confusion and you find yourself trying to explain. “I guess I’m still technically heir to the throne, but my title is Ambassador now.”
“Ambassador to where?” she asks. It’s a reasonable question, but if you tell her, you then have to scare up your courage to ask her. Though there really is no way to avoid it. Or any reason to other than the fact you are being a coward.
“The Water Tribe. I’ll be spending a few months in south, a few months in the north and the rest of the time here in the Fire Nation.”
“And here I thought this would be the last time we’d be able to hang out like this,” Katara smiles.
Now is your only chance. You could just leave it there and never say another word, but you still have the courage, so you press on.
“Katara, Aang said that you were going to open a school in the South Pole to teach a whole new generation of children waterbending. I was hoping you’d be willing to take on a slightly unorthodox student.”
“Who?” she asks, clearly perplexed.
“Me.” You take a second to appreciate her shocked expression, before pressing on. “I’ve learned more about firebending from watching you waterbend than I have from any Firebending Master.”
“I know. Don’t think I haven’t noticed that you’ve been stealing my moves.”
“So, what do you say?”
“Zuko, I’m not comfortable being your teacher. Not when you are a master bender yourself,” she explains and your heart sinks, until she grins at you suddenly. “But I’d like to train with you whenever you visit the South Pole. I think if we work together, we’ll both improve.”
You grin back at her, feeling almost giddy with relief. It’s not everything that you wish for, but it is more than you ever expected and you are content. This is the point when you normally do or say something completely stupid and ruin everything, but before you can, a resounding boom that could only come from a powerful earthbender showing off echoes through the night, causing both you and Katara to jump.
"I think that might be Toph," Katara ventures with a knowing grin.
"Yeah, I had better..." you shrug helplessly. "Stay here. I'll be right back." As you make your way over to the commotion, you wonder if you should be frustrated or grateful that Toph that chose that moment to make her reappearance.
~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~
You sit under the stars wondering what you will do now. You thought you had it all figured out. But in the hours since Zuko left you to continue his search for Toph, you become increasingly confused.
You’ve taught Aang and fought alongside him. Now it was time to return home and help rebuild. You will set up your school just like you dreamed about when the war seemed never-ending. Everything will work out perfectly. Why does Zuko’s plans make you feel so restless?
“Hey, Katara!”
“Toph! Where have you been?! Zuko and I’ve been looking for you! Well, Zuko’s been looking for you. I was helping,” you practically stammer before you pull yourself together. You really should be more careful. Just because Toph can’t see you blush, doesn’t mean she won’t be able to figure out that you’re flustered.
“Yeah, I found him. I just need to figure some stuff out first.”
“What kind of stuff?” you ask.
“What I’m going to do next,” she replies with the confidence of someone who already knows the answer.
“I know how that is. What did you decide?” you ask, slightly envious.
“I’m going to be Queen of Omashu.”
“Queen of…”
“King Bumi told me that he thought I would make an excellent heir to the throne. But I didn’t want to tell Sparky until I had made up my mind. Then after my big dramatic announcement, he tells me that his Uncle is going to name him as Ambassador to the Water Tribe. So he’s not even going to be around to miss me!”
“Yes, I know. I mean, I know about the Ambassador thing. I think he’ll miss you no matter where he is.”
“You better be right,” she grumbles, then suddenly brightens. “Hey, do you think Pops would be willing to make him Ambassador to the Earth Kingdom instead?”
“Maybe,” you say, with more reluctance than you’d like. “But Toph, you wouldn’t see him as much as you think. He probably would be expected to spend most of his time in Ba Sing Se.”
“Damn. You’re probably right. So… Water Tribe, hun? I guess that means your going to be seeing a lot of Zuko in the future,” Toph smirks in her all too knowing way.
“Only for three or four months a year. He’s going to have to divide his time between the Northern and Southern Water Tribes. I don’t know what he’s going to do about the swampbenders.”
“Sounds pretty sweet.”
“Yeah, it does,” you say, unable to keep the wistful note out of your voice.
“You want to go with him?”
“I… Maybe.”
“Well, I think it’s a great idea!”
“Toph, I can’t travel with Zuko by myself,” you squeak.
“Well, I’ll come too. I mean, we’re all going to have to travel a lot in the future and we can’t exactly expect Aang to be our own personal ferry service. I’m going need to spend some time in Omashu, but I’ll still want to come back here as often as I can. You can drop me off along the way.”
“Toph, you do realize that Omashu isn’t a port city?” But Toph waves her hand, in a regal dismissal of such petty concerns. She will make an excellent queen.
“Toph!! Be serious!”
“I don’t see what you’re getting so worked up about. It’s a good idea!”
“I can’t just pack up and travel! I’m going to open a school. I can’t just abandon my students!”
“You’ll have a whole group of students waiting for you at the North Pole.”
“What are you talking about? They have Master Pakku.”
“Master Pakku doesn’t teach girls.”
“He taught me.”
“You were with the Avatar and that made you special. And special has a funny way of turning into the exception.” She has a point unfortunately and you sigh in frustration.
“See! You know I’m right!” she crows. “I suppose they could travel down to the South Pole, but they would be leaving everything behind and that’s not easy to do. It’s better if you come to them. Not everyone is as cool as your grandmother.”
“Or as cool as you,” you smile.
“No one is as cool as me,” Toph smirks. “So you gonna go?”
“I don’t know what I’m thinking. I don’t even know if Zuko will think this is a good idea! He just wants to train together when he’s at the South Pole. It doesn’t mean he’ll want me tagging along when he leaves.”
“Katara, you can be pretty stupid sometimes,” the earthbender laughs and something about her tone makes you think about the way Zuko's fingers skated around your neck. You attempt to quash that strange feeling fluttering in your stomach. You think it might be hope.
“Hey, Zuko! Over here! I found her!” Toph suddenly calls out. There’s a crashing from the bushes and Zuko emerges looking disgruntled. He glares at you as he flops down in between you and Toph.
“Why don’t you ever stay in one place?” he grumbles. “You’re never where I think you’ll be. And then you usually turn up exactly where I don’t want you! It’s the only thing that’s stayed the same the entire time I’ve known you!" He's working himself into a fine rant. Even Toph looks impressed. "Seriously, would it kill you to hold still for five minutes? Because this disappearing act of yours is getting old.”
“You know, there’s an easy answer to that, don’t you, Sparky?” Toph smirks. “You just gotta never let Katara out of your sight!”
“Don’t think I haven’t considered it,” he replies, darkly and then his eyes widen and he shoots you a panicky look as if he just realized the implications. “I didn’t mean like that, Katara!” he stammers.
“You’re lie-ing,” Toph sings and Zuko glares at her.
“You know, that can kind of be arranged,” you’re amazed to hear yourself say. Your heart is still fluttering and your neck still tingles. Maybe that’s where all this bravery is coming from.
"What can be arranged?" Sokka asks, appearing out of the night with Suki in tow.
"We're going to be travelling the world together," Toph announces.
"That's nothing new," Sokka scoffs.
"Sure, it is. We'll be going by Zuko's diplomatic ship instead of air-bison. Zuko is going need to go back and forth between the Poles because he's now Ambassador to the Water Tribes, Katara is going to need to go back and forth because she'll be teaching waterbending, and I'm going just because it'll be fun," Toph says as if all this were already fact. You and Zuko look at each other helplessly, but since neither of you are objecting, it looks like this is officially a plan.
"Really? Hey, this could work out for us too. Suki and I were just trying to figure out how we were going to go back and forth between the South Pole and Kyoshi Island."
“Kyoshi Island? Man! Why do I keep having to go back to places I’ve attacked?” Zuko objects.
“That’s because there’s nowhere left that you haven’t,” Sokka laughs.
“That’s not true! There are plenty of places I haven’t tried to destroy.”
“Oh yeah? Name three!” your brother taunts.
“Ummm… Omashu and…” Zuko frowns, perplexed. “I guess, Omashu is about it.”
“Well, that showed some great foresight on your part, if you ask me,” Toph announces. “Now you have no excuse not to visit me!”
Suddenly, your half-formed hopes seem to be rapidly turning into permanent plans on a far grander scale than you could ever had dreamed. Everyone is talking at once, each having an opinion to voice about itineraries and water routes. You wonder how your quiet moment of introspection lead to a free for all. Not that you're complaining. There's a lot of laughing and excitement in the air. You begin to look forward to this coming year in a way you haven't in a long time. There's just one thing missing. You turn to Zuko and he nods, because he's just realized it too.
“Hey,” Toph says suddenly. “Has anyone seen Aang?”
~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~~<*>~
A flying top was a delicate thing. Made of paper and a little rice paste, they flew high yet never lasted very long. You remembered making these with Gyatso. They all would fall to pieces within a week, even if gently handled, but that was their nature. So, how could this particular flying top manage to survive for over 100 years?
It couldn’t. It was impossible.
Yet, the only other explanation was even more impossible. Could the air nomads have really survived after all this time or is it only your wistful heart that makes you feel this way? Either way, you can’t let this go. You’re going to leave tonight, before anyone has a chance to change your mind. Your friends are all making plans, but you know they will abandon them all if you ask. But you can’t do that to them. They’ve all have already given up so much. Besides, this is something that you must do on your own. You and Appa. You just hope they’ll understand that.
You’re not abandoning your friends for a slight chance that your people may still be alive. It’s the total opposite. It's because of your friends, that you will be able to face this journey, no matter what the outcome is. You’ve learned that you can let someone go and still love them with all your heart. Even though you and your friends will be separated for a while, you’ll think about them often and know that you are stronger because they love you.
And that, someday, you will all be together again.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-22 01:20 pm (UTC)