Hey everybody!
(meow)
A golden ray of sunlight shone through a tall window, illuminating a peaceful, dark-skinned face. The light slowly made it's way toward two glistening objects on the bed-side table. One was a silver comb with the Water Tribe insignia, and the other was a dark blue necklace with a small, blue stone that had the same design on it. The girl in the bed stirred as the sunlight pulled her out of a fiery dream land. Adding to the ray of sun, there was a harsh pounding on her bedroom door.
"Katara! Get your lazy but out of bed! You're going to be late!" It was Toph. For some reason, she always made sure that Katara was in some sort of annoying discomfort. Letting out a quiet groan, she sat up straight in the huge bed.
"Thank you, Toph." she called, swinging her legs to the side and onto the floor, trying to remember what, exactly, she was going to be late for. Meeting? No. Sparring? No. Katara threw on her blue, silk robe and may her way to her bathroom, still trying to remember her, apparently, important engagement. Dressing in long, blue and white robes, she put the silver comb in her brown curls and put on the necklace. As she opened the door, she found Toph, still standing there, tapping her foot impatiently. So Toph.
"Come on, Sugar Queen. Aang already has Appa saddled up and ready to go." Appa? Finally, the memory randomly popped into her head.
"Ooooh, that's right. We're going to the school today. I completely forgot." Toph just stomped down the hallway in all her Tophiness, not bothering to see if Katara was following.
Today, the entire Gaang was going to the school to give a demonstration on various styles of bending and give insight to the cultures behind them. Sokka and Suki were coming to give demonstrations on fighting without bending, considering that there would probably be kids who might feel left out. Sure, it's for the kids.
When the two girls emerged through the doors of the palace, Katara noticed Aang, Sokka, Suki, and Zuko all standing around Appa, chatting it up with eachother. As soon as Katara and Toph reached the group, Aang smiled and threw himself onto Appa's head with a gust of wind, and took the reins. "Good, we're all here. Climb on, everybody." he said happily. Everyone climbed onto the saddle, everyone except Toph and Zuko. Katara looked down at the gloomy-looking Fire Lord.
"Zuko? What are you waiting for?" she asked.
"It's kind of hard to climb anything in these robes." He gestured to the long, red attire. Sure, they were regal, but Katara had to admit; it would be quite the challenge. "You guys go ahead. I'll just get a palan- WHOOOOA!!!!" Zuko suddenly flew about fifteen feet in the air and landed flat on his back on Appa's saddle. Toph stood on the ground with a sly smirk on her face as a large pillar of rock jutted from the ground, where Zuko stood. Quickly, she climbed onto Appa and sat next to Katara with a satisfied smile.
"There. Now, we're ready to go. Hit it, Twinkletoes!" she shouted. With out hesitation, Aang gave the command and sent Appa flying into the air. With an uncomfortable grunt, Zuko raised himself off his back. His hair was disshelved from it's usual top knot and a few strands hung in his face. Katara had to admit to herself, his hair looked considerably better when it was down.
"Gee, thanks Toph." he said, sarcastically, removing the red band and gold head piece. Using his fingers, he combed through the black mess until it looked somewhat presentable. "Great." he huffed.
"Hey, it beats that old ponytail you used to wear." Sokka commented, gesturing from across the circle. Letting go of his current frustration, Zuko chuckled at Sokka's unexplainable ability to make him laugh.
Appa landed gracefully, in the front courtyard, unleashing a large wave of wind that startled a few of the students. Everyone stared at the sight of the war heroes atop the flying beast. A few of the students dashed behind the teachers as others bravely approached the furry bison, but with extreme caution. The Gaang slid down Appa's sides and began greeting the students entheusiastcally, shaking their hands and accepting compliments. Clearly, the children were a little "iffy" about approaching their Fire Lord, directly, because they wouldn't come near him. It was probably the constant scowl he always had on his face. Zuko laughed inwardly, to himself when he heard an odd request from a young boy.
"Lady Katara! I scraped my elbow on the playground! Will you heal it for me?" he pleaded, eyes wide with hope. Katara giggled at the blatant admiration she was recieving from the children. Soon, a teacher interrupted the gathering. She had a stern look on her face that sent a cold shiver down Katara's spine. Clapping her hands twice, she adressed the students.
"That's quite enough! Go back to your classrooms immediately, or you will recieve a detention!" Quickly, the kids flooded into the doors of the school, leaving the group at the mercy of the teacher. The woman approached them with a more pleasant expression on her features, and bowed respectfully. "Our school appreciates you taking time out of your busy schedule to come and visit us, My Lord." She was obviously adressing Zuko, because she practically shoved her way past Katara and Toph. Zuko responded politely.
"It is my pleasure." Behind him, Aang slid off of Appa and landed gracefully on his feet, catching the attention of the teacher.
"Oh! You must be Avatar Aang. I'm so glad you've come. The children are so looking forward to meeting you." she added, giving a low bow. Katara was starting to feel a little left out of the conversation. She cleared her throat, wanting to be introduced. The woman just looked at her with a frown. "Oh, yes. You're the Water Tribe girl." she said, not even bothering to bow, or even shake her hand. Behind Katara, Toph cleared her throat as well. Katara could have sworn she saw the teacher role her eyes for a split second. "And you are the... let's see... the earthbender," she looked at Sokka. "... the warrior," she turned to Suki. "... and the Kyoshi girl." Katara was put off by her lack of entheusiasm and manners as she gestured casually to each of them. Zuko caught her irritation and cut in.
"Actually, this is Lady Katara, the Water Tribe Representative, Sokka, my personal Military advisor and Master Swordsman, Suki, the Head Kyoshi Warrior, and Toph, the greatest earthbender in the world." Everyone appreciated Zuko's subtle defense of their titles, especially Katara.
"Yeah. Katara and Toph were my waterbending and earthbending teachers. They taught me everything I know." added Aang. The two girls grinned in triumph as the teacher just nodded and led them into the school. Zuko gave Katara a comforting smile before following through the doors.
Katara felt a little uncomfortable being surrounded by so many rules. In every hallway, there were at least ten posters that displayed a different rule. No running, no talking, bow to your elders, all uniforms must be worn correctly, speak only when spoken to. The teacher led the group to a classroom filled with students who seemed to be about ten years old. All of them sat up straight when the stern teacher entered the room. All of the girls smiled when Zuko entered the room, and the boys' eyes went wide when they looked at Katara and Suki. How cute she thought to herself.
Immediately, the teacher admonished the students for not looking alive, but soon anounced the visitors. "These are the Young War Heroes. I expect you all to give them your undivided attention. If I catch anyone doing otherwise, there will be extreme concequences. Understood?" The students all responded in unison, "Yes Madame Jing." She gestured to Zuko to begin. He stepped forward, looking extremely nervous.
"My friends and I have come here today to... uh... teach you about the other nations...um..." This was going nowhere. Katara stepped to his side and took control.
"We've come to give you all some demonstrations on other styles of fighting and to teach you about other cultures." she said smoothly. Aang joined in as well.
"Yeah. Since the war is over, we figured it would be best to promote our era of love and peace, starting with you guys." he held his hands toward the mass of students. Madame Jing spoke to Aang from behind her desk.
"Why don't you go first, Avatar Aang?" He nodded and proceeded to speak.
"As most of you know, I am an Air Nomad, but what most people don't know is how I lived a hundred years ago. The air nomads did their best to dettach themselves from the world and live peacefully. I grew up in the Southern Air Temple, where I mastered airbending. Unlike the other nations, we were all benders. When a monk masters airbending, she or she is marked by these arrow-shaped tattoos. They represent the arrows on the flying bison, the first airbenders..." Aang's speech progressed smoothly as he led the students through the Air Nomads' history. Soon, it came time for the airbending demonstration, in which he made an air scooter and flitted around the room, causing laughter to errupt from the children.
Next, it was Toph's turn to talk. "Alright, everyone knows that earth is the best element out there, so I'll keep my speech short..." Toph was, indeed, good to her word. In about three minutes, she had explained the history of earthbending, it's style, and given a demonstration, using her meteorite bracelet. The kids seemed to enjoy her insulting jokes the most, however.
Soon it was Katara's turn to speak. She rose from her seat and began her talk. "What makes the Water Tribe different from the other nations is that we are a very fluid people. We can adapt and adjust to many changes, like water can." The kids listened intently as they had for Toph and Aang, giving Katara a bit more confidence. "Water can be used for more than just fighting... as some of you already know." she added, looking for the boy who asked her to heal him. "Waterbending girls are taught, at a young age, to use water to heal the sick and injured." She turned to look at Aang. "It really came in handy during the war." Suddenly, she heard Toph chime in.
"Tell them about that bloodbending thing you do!" she blurted out. Katara'a eye's grew wide with fright. There was no way she was going to bloodbend in front of a multitude of young children, much less with their teacher in the very room.
"No, Toph. I don't think I should. It's not a very... moral thing to do." Before she could divert their attention, the kids perked up and blurted out questions and pleas pertaining to bloodbending.
"Lady Katara! What is bloodbending?" "Show us, please!" "I want to learn to be a bloodbender!" What was she going to do? She couldn't show them that horrible, dark side of waterbending, but the kids would not let it die.
"No. I can't. I'm sorry." But no matter how many times she refused, the pleas kept on coming. Suddenly, she felt a warm hand surround hers as Zuko cleared his throat, reminding the classroom that the Fire Lord was still in the room. They all, immediately quieted down after being admonished, not by their teacher, but their supreme ruler.
As quickly as she could, Katara finished her speech and demonstration. At this point, all she wanted was to go back to the palace and get away from the pleading gazes of the children. She sat quietly and clasped her hands together in her lap, wishing she had never come. Finally, Zuko stepped forward. "I believe that since you all live in the Fire Nation, there is no need for me to eplain it, but we will take any questions you have." Immediately, every single hand flew into the air. "No. Katara is not going to bloodbend for you." All of the hands, slowly went down, all except for one. The girl with her hand still in the air had to be much younger than the others, for she was smaller with an innocent expression. She sat in the very center of the front row, probably because of her menial height. Katara reminded herself to thank Zuko later for his protection of her. He pointed to the girl signaling for her to ask her question; one for which he couldn't bring himself to answer.
"Fire Lord Zuko? How did you get that scar?"