Dear readers old and new,
I have decided after a long break and several re-reads of my previous Spirits Trilogy, that there are a lot of things that I'm not terribly happy with. Some aspects simply grew too far from canon, and since the release of the Smoke and Shadow comics there have been some significant changes to events and relationships that I really would like to work into my own story. So whilst old readers will find many elements familiar and the story not too changed, I hope that this version will be much more enjoyable to all.
For the moment, my previous stories will remain up for you to view, but if you're just starting this story, I hope you decide to stick around and avoid the spoilers!
If anyone would like a more indepth explanation, they are welcome to message me. But for now, let's keep this note short and get on with the story.
Events are set after the Smoke and Shadow comics, with speculation to the ending of Part 3.
The Firelord's Descent
There were a great many places in the world that shimmered and glowed with their natural beauty, but within that world came a humanity that, in itself, strived for beauty as great as any that could be produced with the changing of the elements and the passing of time. There were people in this world who were able to control said elements, and just as time made the forest grander, it made talent more refined. After many thousands of years of practice with the elements, and generations of knowlege passed down, a group of these element benders came together, and with fire and earth they created a hall every bit as beautiful as any of the flower dotted fields and snow tipped mountains that nature had curated. The height of the hall was impressive in itself, reaching up in the blue sky above as if aiming for the sun. The ceiling was a magical fete of fire and earth engineering, with striking white marble interlacing the large areas of deeply stained glass. When the light shone through it left a ring of warm, comforting colour across the very centre of the hall, and surrounding that ring, stalls of pure green stone lined it. And it was upon one of these stalls, head resting against the palm of his hand and his fingers nonchalantly scratching at the stone, the Avatar sat.
It wasn't to say that the Avatar didn't appreciate the beauty of the place. He, as much as any, admired the art of bending and the many marvelous things that had come as a result of it. But, as he sat in this hall for the fourth day in a row, his rump growing numb on the cold hard stone, it was difficult to truly appreciate his surroundings.
The Avatar and one of his closest friends sat side by side, one definitely more attentive than the other. The Firelord, a tall dark haired man with a scar across one side of his face, sat straight and proud, his alert amber eyes flicking from face to face as the audience around them spoke, occasionally nodding, other times shaking his head in disagreement. For the Avatar, a young man of sixteen with a bald head and an even bolder blue tattoo, the discussions at hand were growing tiresome.
"The exportation of goods from this City to others is beginning to vastly outnumber the amount of goods we are having imported into the City," said one of the men sat in the ring of green stalls. With chin length grey hair brushed sharply back from his face, and dark black eyes piercing out into his audience, the man was certainly one of the more intimidating in the room. "It seems to me that Yu Dao has become expected to support the Colonies that surround it, rather than allowing us to become the economical capital that we always planned to be."
To his right, Avatar Aang felt the Firelord stir, almost as if he had been supressing a sigh.
"Yuddha, we agreed from the beginning that Yu Dao would be an example to the surviving Colonies. As the largest Colony remaining in the Earth Kingdom, it is the city's duty to support the Colonies that surround it."
"Yes, but we are providing this support for free, Firelord Zuko," Yuddha continued, his dark eyes boaring into Zuko's bright amber ones. "I don't know how you expect our city to thrive when you continue to give over half of our supplies to other villages. It just doesn't make economic sense."
"But without Yu Dao's support how can we expect for the neighbouring colonies to expand?" Zuko explained, exhasperated. "The Fire Nation will continue to give support, and until we hear word from the Earth King we can't be the only ones willing to do that."
"And what of the other nations? I don't see the Northern Water Tribe, prosperous as they are, chipping into to help this new republic of yours. And the Air Nation remains abscent ... for obvious reasons."
Aang sensed eyes turn towards him, and his hands quickly stopped their disinterested scratching at the table. Zuko raised his eyebrows pointedly, growing clearly exhasperated with the young Avatar's lack of involvement in discussions, and swallowing Aang sat up.
"I can't ask the Northern Water Tribe for help until we have something we can involve them in," he said, turning his attention to Yuddha. "This colony is still one of Earth and Fire Nation occupation, and until we can prove that this idea is viable I'm not sure I can pursuade the Chief Arnook to drop his own priorities in his city."
"Either you want this to be a replublic of all nations," Yuddha said quitely, his gaze not leaving Aang's, "or you want it to be a city for Fire Nation in the Earth Kingdom. You can't have it both ways."
"Look, we appreciate the Firelord's involvement in helping Yu Dao to grow," spoke another, this time a woman of short stature with a round plump face, "but if you keep asking us to give our crops and iron away then I don't think we will be able to support ourselves for much longer. And, no disrecpect to the Firelord, but I hear that his Nation isn't exactly full of joy over how much of his time he's been giving to the Earth Kingdom of late?"
It certainly was true. The events of the past few months had been difficult for many, but none had been affected quite as much as the Firelord had been. Just one month ago he had been forced to put his entire capital into strict curfew, none able to leave or enter the city for two very long and stressful weeks, after his estranged and insane sister had helped in a plot to overun Zuko and relieve him of his position on the throne. The culprits had been banished from the Fire Nation, and among those banished had been the Firelord's own ex girlfriend. The scandal was growing almost too much for Zuko to control, with some saying he had no control over his friends let alone his people, and others saying that he had already become too much like his father. His father who had banished him, as a thirteen year old boy, for simply speaking out of turn. Aang knew the amount of stress that Zuko was under was in part responsible for how beligerently he seemed to be trying to force through settlements and agreements in Yu Dao surrounding the public, but he also saw that the young king was swiftly starting to unravel at the seems.
"You let me worry about the Fire Nation, Ela," Zuko said, his voice coming out much colder than he had perhaps intended. "My people have been through a very difficult time over the past few months with the fear that the Kemurikage may have returned, and they understand that this coalition will only help to fight against any future threats our nation, or yours, may meet."
"And if this coaltion is to continue you must understand that your control over your people is very much our concern," Ela snapped in return, her eyes darting from Zuko to her husband, the mayor of the city, sat to her side. At this, Aang felt a rush of annoyance, and sympathy towards his friend. His brow narrowed.
"The fact is without Yu Dao's support and example we can't hope for any of the colonies to follow suit," he said sharply. Beside him Zuko sighed. "This new world is about inclusiveness," Aang continued, indifferent to the Firelord's discomfort. "And yes that invovles some sacrifices! Where do you think Yu Dao would have been if Zuko had refused to help after you both nearly destroyed each other?"
A silence fell over the room in that moment, both irritated and guilty faces exchanging covert glances. But Yuddha kept his gaze forward, looking coldly between the two leaders at his head.
"With respect Avatar Aang, you do not have to live in this city," he said. "Our citizens are unhappy with so much of our products being given away for free. And further more, you do not know what it's like to have a family to feed, and how devastating it can be to be asked to give half of what you produce each day to a cause that the Avatar and the Firelord deem worthy but that they see little benefit to."
Aang could feel Zuko practically wilt beside him, his proud stature hunching and a tired look returning to his face.
"I'm sorry, but I propose at this stage that either we halt our support to the colonies, or we get a fair trade and profit for all that we send out."
In dismay Aang watched as the Mayor of the Yu Dao, Mayor Morishita, stood. "All those in favour of this proposal, please raise your hands."
Yuddha, Ela, and the two other representatives in the room raised their hands, whilst Aang and Zuko remained silent.
"Motion passed."
It was in an uncomfortable silence that Aang and Zuko left that dazzling hall for the forth time, Aang looking up at his friend who kept his dull gaze forward. It had taken weeks to pursuade the Yu Dao council to voluntarily offer support to surrounding colonies, and it had been a win that had lay down the foundations of all that he and Zuko had planned for the future of the world and the Fire Nation's place within it. It had been a decidedly happier time, Zuko had not long ago found his mother alive and well in the small Fire Nation Town Hura'a, and that he also had a young half sister, Kiyi, and his happiness over the discovery had been part of the fuel that inevitably led to their successful negotiations with the Yu Dao capital. But now, all that negotiation seemed to have been for nothing.
"Zuko, don't worry," Aang attemped after a while, as they walked down the quiet alley that led to the inn they were staying at. "Just because they've pulled their support doesn't mean we have to."
"You don't understand, Aang," Zuko said, his voice all but shaking with the emotion he was holding back. "The only way I could keep my financial advisers happy about this decision was because Yu Dao was covering some of the costs. Yu Dao was the one thing that I'd managed to get right, and now it's fallen apart just like everything else."
Aang fell silent, not knowing what he could say at that point.
"And Ela was right," Zuko continued without prompt. "My people don't trust me. Maybe they did before the whole Kemurikage incident, but after Azula, and Mai ..." he voice trembled.
"Look, you did what you had to do with Azula," Aang interupted. "You tried, we all did, but there was just no way she could be free and the rest of your family, or anyone else for that matter, could be safe. Locking her away was the only thing you could do."
"And Mai?" Zuko asked, his voice bitter. Aang hesitated.
"You're the Firelord," he replied. "You had to do what you felt was right."
At that Zuko let out a cold bark of laughter. "So you think it was wrong of me to banish her as well?"
"I ... I don't know if I would have banished her," Aang admitted. "I know she lied to you, but she was just trying to protect her father-"
"Who was a traitor!" Zuko yelled, stopping in his tracks and turning to glare at Aang. "A traitor who kidnapped Kiyi, or have you forgotten?"
Aang closed his eyes, looking away and sighing. "I'm not excusing what he did, Zuko."
A silence fell over the pair once more, before Zuko finally lowered his fists, turning his face away from Aang's and looking in the direction they had been headed.
"It doesn't matter now, anyway," he said, his voice low. "I've lost Mai and the trust of my people, and now we've lost the one deal that kept this coalition turning. It's done, and now we just need to work out how we're going to compensate."
"You haven't lost the trust of your people," Aang replied. "Perhaps you really should put your focus on the Fire Nation again. The coalition is still peaceful, and I'm sure once Yu Dao starts to get all this profit they're banging on about we can start to grow it again."
Dismissively Zuko nodded, and the pair made their way back to the Inn. It was in silence again that they ate their meal cooked by the landlady, Kama, and later that night Aang sat down heavily at the desk in his temporary room, uttering a long, low sigh, before reaching to grab ink and a quill.
Whilst Zuko was dealing with his own inner demons, Aang too had found himself struggling of late. Almost two months back, just as they were due to finally visit the Southern Water Tribe once more, Aang had been called by Zuko and been forced to say goodbye to Katara. It was the first time they had been separated for any real length of time since the war had actually ended nearly four years back. Of course, they hadn't been glued at the hip, but certainly they had never gone longer than two days without seeing each other. It had been his first bitter awakening of what his future possibly held. He certainly couldn't expect Katara to follow him everywhere he went, not when she had her own family and responsibilities that were becoming more and more urgent of late. As he had left on Appa that day she had hugged him and told him that it was just part of dating the the Avatar, and her words had hit him like a stab in the gut. They had been exchanging letters weekly ever since Aang had arrived back in the Fire Nation, at first just to keep her informed of what was happening, before finally having to tell her that he wasn't sure when he would get a chance to come and see them in the Southern Water Tribe. It wasn't just that he had a responsibility to try and help smooth things over in Yu Dao. With Zuko being as heartbroken as he was he didn't feel that he could, in good conscience, leave his friend alone so soon after he had cemented the breakup between him and Mai. In truth, they had all expected the pair of them to reconcile, but when Mai returned with a new boyfriend it had seemed unlikely until, finally, Zuko had discovered that she had lied about her fathers involvement with the kidnapping of children in the Fire Nation, including his sister Kiyi. After apprehending Azula and getting the truth, he had locked her up, and Mai's father, and with a dead look on his face he had ordered Mai to leave the Capital and to never again return. Her mother and brother, Tom-Tom, had left too, and it was at that point that Zuko seemed to spiral into his pit of self hatred and disappointment. By all accounts, the only people that remained that Zuko felt he could have trust in, were his family, Suki, and Aang. And whilst Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors remained back in the Fire Nation to watch over Zuko's family, Aang had come along to Yu Dao, as much for emotional support as to assist with discussions. And so, Aang finished up his letter to Katara explaining that he still had no real idea when he would be able to leave.
Despite the clear fact that the council weren't willing to help their surrounding colonies, there were still other things that needed to be discussed. Satoru, a young man with whom his friend and past Earthbending teacher had partnered with, was hoping to help the Yu Dao mines to expand, making use of his technology that allowed even non-benders to work the mines. The pair were expected to arrive in Yu Dao in the next couple of days, and both he and Zuko were expected to remain at least for that. But as excited as Aang was to see Toph again after many months of being apart, he still couldn't find himself wishing that he, Appa, and Momo would be heading south instead. With a small sigh, Aang began to roll his litter to Katara, tying it off neatly with string, and putting it aside to take down to the postal room the next morning.
Kicking off his boots he started to make his way to the wash room, before he was called to a halt by a shrill series of hoots and chittering. He looked back to see Momo, standing on his back legs, scratching and sniffing at the closed wooden blinds, before turning his wide intelligent eyes back to Aang. Curious, Aang walked forward, leaning over his bed to push open the window, only to jump back in surprise as a large hawk urgently bustled through, screaching all the way. Momo snapped and flapped his arms angrily.
"Whoa, relax Momo!" Aang laughed, reaching out for the hawk that had alighted on his desk. Around one of its legs was a small leather cylinder, and ignoring the hawk tenatively mouthing the back of his hand, he opened it up and pulled out the note inside.
Avatar Aang,
Mahi Kah is under attack, please come urgently.
Mayor Tarutr
Surprised Aang swiftly shoved the note into his pocket, reaching back round to grab his discarded boots and pulling them on with such haste that he almost toppled. Grabbing his staff he paused only to pet an irritated Momo on the head.
"Gotta go, buddy. Don't fight you two!" Swiftly he jumped through his open window, opening his glider as he fell and shooting off across the swiftly darkening evening sky.
It wasn't the first time since the end of the War that Aang had been called away on urgent business, but this was the first time he'd specifically been asked to come to the aid of a village under attack. To say it worried him would be an understatement, but Mahi Kah was the closest coaliton village to Yu Dao, and at his speed little more than a ten minute fly. His mind raced as he soared over the wide open woodlands that surrounded Yu Dao, wondering what anyone could possibly want with a small coalition village that was hardly big enough to home more than a dozen families. However his wondering swiftly gave way to horror when he saw the red glow on the horizon, and the smell of burning wood and smoke reached him.
Angling himself down he shot across the top of the little woodlands that remained so close to the village, eyes wide as the sight of huts on fire came into view, a small group of people stood outside of the village gates, and he saw arms raised and waving in his direction.
"Avatar Aang! Oh thank the spirits!"
Quick as a flash Aang dropped to their side, closing down his glider and hurrying over to the man he recognised and Mayor Tarutr.
"What's happening?" He demanded, looking from the Mayor to the fires through the village gates.
"We don't know!" Tatutr cried, his eyes wide with panic. "We were woken by screams, and then the fires started. There are still people in there!"
Without hesitation Aang turned and ran through the gates, eyes pierced through the growing smoke. He could hear the screaming and weak calls from people trapped inside, and he looked around for anything that he could use. Running through the center, pushing the flames back with a raised hand, he came across the village well and instantly dropped his staff to his side, focusing all his energy on raising the water deep down in the ground below. A veritable mountain of water rose siwftly from the well, bursting its banks, and Aang pulled it high over his head, twisting his body as he directed the water across the nearest burning hut. Swiftly he worked, putting out fire after fire until the screaming died down and, finally the glow of the village fell. Breathing easy Aang let the water fall back down into the well, before looking around him for signs of life.
"Get everyone out!"
Tarutr had already run back into the village center, and those who had congregated outside came running through the doors, hurrying towards the homes that lay in a ring against the village walls. Aang grabbed his staff from the dirty stone ground, ready to go to the aid of anyone who had been trapped inside their huts, before he was stopped in his tracks by another scream behind him. He turned swiftly on his heal, coming face to face with a tall cloaked figure standing still and emotionless on the other side of the well. Behind the strange figure a mother grabbed her daughter, pulling her back into the doorway of their home, and he heard the Mayor cry out behind him. Calmly Aang raised his staff, pointing the top directly at the newcomer.
"Who are you and what do you want with these people?" He demanded. The robed figure remained silent, the black hood pulled so far forward over their head that their face remained shrouded in shadow, not a single feature visible to anyone around them. Aang frowned, his unease growing.
"I said, who are you and what do you wa-" He was shut off by the figure in front of them suddenly bursting into high, hot flames, robes bustling but remaining undamaged. The figure raised their arms outwards, the flames growing larger and more furious. But before Aang had any chance to subdue this strange person, he felt his skin start to tingle, like pins and needles across his entire body, before his head exploded in pain. He cried out, dropping his staff and grabbing his head, and from beneath him a large crack in the stone formed, shooting off like lightning across the ground until it hit one of the farthest stone walls of the village. To the cries and screams of the village folk the wall cracked and parts began to fall before, all at once, everything stilled. The figure of fire lowered their arms, and through watering eyes Aang watched as they turned and vanished, taking the billowing flames with them.
For a several heartbeats Aang stood stock still, panting and staring at the spot where the figure had stood but seconds ago. A high pitched whistle filled his ears and it took a hand shaking his shoulder for him to take notice of his surroundings once more. He looked round to see Tarutr, panicked and yelling, but with the ringing in his ears he found it impossible to make out what he was saying.
"W-what?" Aang breathed, blinking and rubbing his head.
"I said, what just happened?" Tarutr cried. "Who was that man?"
Aang once more looked back where the hooded figure had stood, shaking his head. "I don't know."
"He was a firebender!" The woman sheltering her child stood forward, eyes wide and furious. "A firebender did this!"
"No! A firebender wouldn't do that!"
"You're kidding? You do remember one hundred years of War don't you?"
"We live here peacefully! You know us!"
"Maybe we don't know you as well as we think!"
"Enough!" Tarutr drew himself up tall, looking round as the villagers. "We don't know what that was!"
Aang only half listened to the arguing villagers, his gaze now drawn to the crack in the earth that started below his feet, following its jagged path to the crumbled and destroyed section of the wall. "Did I do that?" He whispered, his voice coming out with difficulty.
"Avatar Aang, what do we do now? Do you think that man will come back?"
His head still fuzzy from the intense pain he had experience only a minute before, Aang turned his attention back to the villagers, their hopeful and frightened faces all looking directly at him. In truth Aang didn't know what to think. Whoever that stranger had been had had the power to wipe all of the villagers out in that moment when Aang's guard had been dropped, but instead of doing so they had vanished. In the past few years Aang had grown quite used to having a target on the back of his head, with Ozai loyalists still at large in various places across the world, and though this felt similar there was something more intense about this most recent encounter. He felt as though this figure had been there for him.
"I don't think so," Aang said at last. "Whoever this person was they've made their message clear."
Tarutr looked back at him doubtfully, and for the first time Aang really saw the fear in the mans eyes. Quickly Aang smiled comfortingly at the Mayor, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry, whoever this person is I'll find them."
Several hours later, after helping to make sure that everyone who had been trapped in their houses were ok and repairing what he could, Aang made his way back to Yu Dao, the sky now pitch black as clouds obscudred the moon from the world below. Though his head no longer hurt he remained on edge, his body sharp and his skin still sensitive. There was too much about the events that had taken place that worried him. For starters, the power that firebender had displayed seemed to rival even Zuko's, yet he had held back enough not to let the entire village burn in what should have been minutes. It was possible that they could have been one of Ozai's loyalists, perhaps wanting to stub out the Earth Kingdom habitance in the colonial villages, but in truth a person had never made him feel that uncomfortable and that uneasy in his life. No, the only time he'd even felt that shiver up his spine had been when facing one of the most terrifying spirits he'd ever come across ... But then there was that pain, and that crack in the stone. There was no way the strange figure could have earthbended, only Aang could have done that. But he'd not lost control of his bending for many years, not since he was first learning to control the Avatar State, and the Avatar State never came with such excrutiating pain.
He arrived back at the inn sooner than he had expected, alighting outside of the inn ricketing front door. Numbly he pushed the door open, only to have the life frightened out of him when a loud yell welcomed him.
"Aang!"
Surprised Aang jumped back, holding the point of his staff outwards, before he recognised Zuko standing there, looking both relieved and furious. With an irritated sigh Aang lowered his staff and kicked the door shut behind him.
"Are you trying to scare me half to death?" He snapped, before pushing past Zuko to place his staff on one of the tables, dropping gratefully into one of the chairs.
"Scare you half to death? What about me?" Aang looked up curiously. "Aang you've been gone for hours, no one had any idea where you was."
"Oh, right." Aang leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table in front of him. "Sorry about that."
Zuko cocked his head slightly, his narrowed eyes looking over the exhausted Avatar with more concern than anger now. His friend pulled out his own chair, sitting opposite him.
"Aang what happened? Where were you?"
With a heavy sigh, Aang looked up at Zuko.
"I got a hawk from Tarutr, just after we got in, saying that Mahi Kah was under attack."
"And you didn't think to come and get me?" Zuko asked exhasperated.
"Well it was pretty urgent, Zuko, and I could get there faster on my own," Aang replied irritably, crossing his arms across his chest. The Firelord growled in this throat before waving his hand.
"Well, what happened?"
"When I got there, the entire village was on fire," the Avatar replied, his voice notably tired. "I managed to put it all out easily enough. But afterwards there was this ... this person there. He just bent all these flames up around him and disappeared."
"What did he look like?"
"I don't know. He had a hood up the whole time covering his face."
"Sounds like there are still some loyalists around causing trouble for the colonies," Zuko muttered angrily, his fists clenching. "Did he say who he was working for? Did he have anything to do with the New Ozai Society?"
"He didn't say anything," Aang replied. "Not a single word."
"I bet some of the people that worked with Ukano are still at large," Zuko continued, as if he hadn't heard anything that Aang had said. "I should have know that this wasn't over!"
"No, Zuko, I don't think that's what's going on here," Aang replied quietly. Zuko snapped his attention back to Aang, frowning.
"What do you mean? What else happened?"
"I don't know exactly. It just ... it didn't feel that simple. Like, almost like he wasn't human."
"A spirit?"
"Maybe. Except spirits don't firebend, Zuko."
The pair sat in silence, Zuko watching Aang with concerned etched across his features, whilst the Avatar stared off into the fireplace.
oOoOo
"I mean it could be a bit bigger, and those wavey lines still don't make any sense to me, but otherwise I think it looks great!"
On the outskirts of a small village crafted from ice, on a wide snowy tundra, two individuals stood, their heads tilted back to look up at a tall watchout post, also crafted from ice. With their chocolate skin and vivid blue eyes, they were unmistakably water tribe, and whilst on the face of one was placed a wide, satisfied grin, the second looked on with an unmistakable air of frustration.
"Sokka, those wavey lines are waves. And you've drawn them upside down."
The grin feel sharply from the face of the first, and he looked sharply round at his sister, who now had her hands on her hips, frowning at him.
"What do you mean they're upside down?" He cried. His sister, Katara, raised an eyebrow pointedly, and with a grunt of anger Sokka dug his gloved hands into one of his pockets, pulling out a brown scrap of paper, holding it up in front of him. With a sigh, Katara walked forward, taking the paper from her brothers hand and rotating it one eighty, before passing it back to him. Sokka's face turned a dark shade of red instantly, and he hastily shoved the paper back in his pocket again.
"Well this was just a practice run," he said awkwardly, not wanting to look back at the large upside-down water tribe insigna that he had pain stakingly carved onto his ice watch tower. "Besides, what have you done today, anyway?"
"What have I do done today?" Katara cried. "How about made your breakfast, washed your stinky socks, delivered the updated plans to Bato, and I've been taking care of Gran Gran! All in the time it's taken you to do one lousey drawing. Upside down!"
"Well, you know, Ba Sing Se wasn't made in a day!"
"What does that even mean?"
The pair's bickering was interupted by a voice calling them across the small expanse of snow between them and the gates of the village. Looking back, they saw their father, all tall man with the same bright blue eyes as his children, walking up towards them.
"How's it going?" He called, before his eyes were drawn towards the unsuccessful insigna attempt on the ice watchtower.
"It's only a practice," Katara said, smirking, whilst Sokka glowered at her. Hakoda, their father, tilted his head to the side for a moment, before reaching over and rubbing his son on the head.
"Well, good to practice these things first, champ," he said.
"Champ?" Sokka cried indignantly, waving his father away and trying to flatten his ponytail.
"What's up, dad?" Katara asked, once she had stopped laughing at her brother.
"Your grandmother has made dinner," Hakoda said brightly. "So I've been sent to come and fetch you."
"Gran Gran made dinner?" Katara's voice was concerned, her brow arched worryingly.
"She insisted," Hakoda replied, and though his voice was tipped with the same concern, the grin never left his face. "She seems better today."
Doubtfully Katara bit her lip, glancing back at Sokka who shared the same worried look.
"Well, come on then. Don't keep her waiting for spirit's sake." Their father laughed, turning on his heel and gesturing for the pair of them to follow him.
Sure enough, when they entered their large ice hut, their grandmother was placing bowls of steaming stew on the low wooden table within. She was an elderly woman, and though she had always seemed to be someone who defied age, in the last few months she had grown tired, weight dropping from her bones. Much of her time was spent resting, so it was a huge surprise for the three of them to see her standing with such a wide grin on her face. As doubtful as Katara felt, she couldn't stop herself smiling in return, taking her seat on the fur covered cushions around the table.
"This looks great, Gran Gran!" Sokka said enthusiastically, his stomach rumbling comically as he eyed the mountain of flatbread in the centre of the table.
Another man came into the room from the kitchen, carrying the last two bowls of stew. He was a tall, older man, with a long white goatee, and after placing the bowls in front of Katara and Sokka, he gently assisted Gran Gran in dropping onto her cushion.
"Thank you, Pakku," she said, before turning her attention to her grandchildren. "Well, I figured it had been a while since I made my famous sea prune stew and, no offence to your father, but Hakoda has no idea how to make it properly."
Hakoda pouted slightly as his mother laughed at him.
"Well, dig in!" Gran Gran cried happily. Her voice was still somewhat strained, but she did truly look much better than she had done only that morning. Katara kept the smile on her face, enthusiastically thanking her grandmother for what had to be the best stew she had tasted in a long time, but the rational part of her knew that there was no way that Gran Gran had just suddenly gotten better in the space of a few hours.
It was an animated meal time, Hakoda, Pakku and Sokka eagerly going through the new plans that had been made up for the outskirts of the village, past the watch tower and slowly growing into their very own docks. It had been over a century since the Southern Water Tribe had had any opportunity to grow past the small village that it was. Whilst they did have plans to finally start to have some degree of influence over what was happening in the rest of the world, for now they just wanted the Southern Tribe to become a place where their people wanted to live and stay. Since the end of the world there had been a number of people who had chosen to leave the South Pole, searching fortunes in the Earth Kingdom, and it had left the Tribe diminished and struggling. But with Katara and Sokka having finally returned, and an explosion of births in the last year alone, things were finally looking up for the Tribe once more. Of course, for Katara, the situation was a little more complicated. Whilst Sokka never really seemed to concern himself with the affect his living in the South Pole may have upon his relationship with Suki, assuring they were both independent enough to cope, Katara couldn't help but wonder where it left her standing with her own relationship. She didn't want to leave the South Pole whilst her grandmother was still ill, and there was a good chance that she could one day be the one training new generation of Southern waterbenders in a few years, but Aang's place certainly wasn't in the South Pole. He would visit, of course, but the Avatar was, for the most part, expected in the Earth and Fire nations. Unlike Sokka, she couldn't content herself with the odd visit, and if she was to be honest with herself, she was sure that much of Aang's nomad natures had become to rub off on her.
As if in response to her musings, the sound of a screaching hawk at one of the windows made them all jump. Katara excused herself whilst everyone else continued to eat and talk, taking the note from around the birds ankle before setting herself back down at the table.
"Aang?" Sokka, taking the smallest pause in shovelling bread in his mouth to speak to her, asked.
Katara opened it up, then nodded, before proceeding to read the letter.
"Oh no ..." she muttered.
"What is it?" Hakoda said, concerned.
"It's Yu Dao," Katara said sadly. "They're refusing to send aid to the other colonies."
"It's not really a huge surprise though, is it?" Sokka said, dropping his bread on his plate. "I'm impressed Zuko was able to pull it off to begin with."
"Apparantly Zuko isn't taking it too well," Katara sighed, still skimming the letter. "Poor Zuko."
"Poor Zuko?" Sokka scoffed. "Katara, he banished his ex girlfriend. Remind you of any other firelords?"
"Sokka that's not fair," Katara snapped. "He just ... He's just a bit lost, is all."
"The Firelord being lost isn't particularly encouraging," Hakoda muttered, whilst Pakku nodded in agreement. He saw the withering look his daughter threw him. "Look, I know Aang is with him and hopefully he'll stop him doing anything stupid, but you have to admit this entire situation is starting to get a little worrying."
Katara fell silent, looking glumly back at the letter. Sokka leaned back, peering over his shoulder.
"Love and kisses?" He read, poking out his tongue and making a gagging sound.
"Buzz off Sokka!" Katara cried, turning pink and hastily pushing the letter into her pocket.
The meal continued with conversations of a different vein, with the subject of Zuko and his rule clearly being one that no one wished to dwelve into any more than they already had. Katara remained thoughtful, and notably concerned. As much as she trusted that Zuko would trust what Aang told him, she also knew that he and the Firelord wouldn't agree on everything. It almost taken a war for them to both see eye to eye on the Harmony Restoration Project, though in that case it often saddened her to think that Aang had been the one with the narrow mindset at that point. But now they both had the same goals with the coalition, so she had nothing to worry about. Right? Much later, she and Her father stood to tidy the bowls and dishes away, thanking Kanna for an amazing meal, and whilst the others remained in the living room, Katara felt her fathers hand on her shoulder.
"Are you ok, poppet?" He asked. There was a smile on her fathers face, but she couldn't miss the serious look in his eyes. She hesitated for a moment, considering telling her father that all was fine, before she let out a huge sigh.
"He's only sixteen," she said at length. "It's not that I don't think he can take care of things on his own, but he's always had me, and Sokka, and Toph with him. A few years ago Zuko made Aang promise that he would take him out if he ever showed any signs of following in Ozai's footsteps. I know Aang better than anyone does, and even I thought maybe he was going to keep his word back in Yu Dao."
Hakoda watched her for a moment, slowly swirling the pots around in the soapy water, before at least saying, "you're worried Aang may still have to?"
Katara looked across at her father sharply, and for a moment she looked horrified. "No! No, I know Aang wouldn't, couldn't, do that. I just ... I know that Zuko must be feeling confused, hurt even. He's our friend now, but he's never been the most rational person when it comes to dealing with his feelings. I'm just worried that Aang may end up caught in the middle of something. And you know what he's like," she added, throwing a sideways glance at her father as she proceeded to dry the plates. "He has to try and fix things. And I get it, he's the Avatar, he has all this power, but he is still just a kid."
"A kid without you to look out for him," Hakoda said wisely, a knowing look on his face as he looked over at her. "Katara, you don't have to stay."
Katara looked away, her face turning pink once more as she took the next plate from her father. It wasn't that she didn't want to stay. Of course, being with her family again for the first time in many years had been wonderful, and though Aang hadn't been with her, it would still stand out as some of the best months of her life, just focusing on her family and her home. But as much as she knew she could help here, she was a natural worrier, and situations in the Earth Kingdom were quickly spiralling into worrying.
"I'll wait until Aang's next letter," she said at last. "If it still seems like they're having trouble ..." she tapered off, knowing that she didn't need to finish the sentence.
The next day, Katara woke, her mind still full of concern, but her wits eased by her decision to wait until Aang's next letter. And, though the work was back breaking, there was a lot that she had to be doing in the South Pole, and that knowledge alone managed to keep her going.
