Beyond Airbending: Return of the Phoenix King
Chapter One: The Invitation
Katara sighed as she paddled her canoe down the misty tundra of the North Pole. After her Gran-Gran had married Master Pakku, she had moved to the North Pole. Of course, Katara and Sokka didn't, as Hakoda had finally returned home to assume his position as chief of the South Pole.
As of right now, Katara, Sokka and Hakoda along with Suki were vacationing at the North Pole to visit the closest thing to a mother Katara had left. Aang wasn't there though; recently he and Katara had suffered a nasty breakup and now both Aang and Toph had left to Ba Sing Se. It was for the best that Katara was all by herself; after her relationship with the Avatar had gone up in flames, Katara just wanted to be by herself. And yet, there was this feeling in the bottom of her gut that wanted to have some company. As she rowed her canoe up and stepped out, she thought of her options. The first was her brother. However, that wasn't really all that possible at that moment, for he was showing Suki the Spirit Oasis. The next person that came to her mind was her father. But at that particular moment, she had no idea where he was. The next person to pop into her head caught her by surprise: Zuko. The man who at one point she had hated and envisioned as everything that was wrong with the world, who was able to redeem himself; who was willing to sacrifice his own life to save hers. In just the last week before Fire Lord Ozai's downfall, she had realized that he was just as hurt as she was, and the man that had chased them all over the globe was not the person he truly was, but was the example of what even the most noble of persons could become if given no other option. For some odd reason, the thought of Zuko made Katara's heart speed up. She knew that if Toph were there, she would never let her live it down. However, Zuko wasn't there right now; he was busy ruling the Fire Nation and steering it in the right direction. Katara also knew that Zuko intended to find his mother. Well, it had been a year since Sozin's Comet returned—could Zuko have found his mother by now?
All these thoughts ran through Katara's mind as she approached her grandmother and new grandfather's home. Poking her head inside the door, she found the house dark and empty.
"Hello?"
Of course, there was no answer. Katara found herself wandering through the halls of the house. As soon as she was sure that no one was home, she went to her room. She was about to open the door and step inside when she felt a hand grab onto her shoulder.
Gasping out in shock, Katara whirled around to come face to face with Suki.
"Sorry!" Suki apologized. "I didn't mean to scare you."
Katara smiled slightly as she brought her hand up to her chest. "You didn't scare me. You just startled me."
"Sorry."
"Suki, where is everybody?" Katara asked, getting to the point.
"Oh, that's why I came to get you." Suki explained. "Everyone is at the Tribal Hall Meeting place. They wanted me to come and get you."
"What for?" Katara urged.
"Chief Arnook is throwing a huge feast! They didn't want to start without you." Suki answered.
&
Katara could hear Arnook's voice boom through the halls as she and Suki entered the Meeting Hall. She quickly glided over in-between her father and Gran-Gran and sat down while Suki sat down next to Sokka.
"Now that we are all here…" Arnook started. "I would like to throw this dinner in honor of not only the upcoming year anniversary of Fire Lord Ozai's defeat, but that some of the heroes that helped bring him down are here to enjoy it with us."
As his voice trailed off, he brought his glass into the air before speaking again. "A toast to the warriors that fought against the Fire Lord."
Everybody raised their cups and murmured before taking a drink.
&
The party went out without a hitch. Everyone seemed to be having a great time while Katara talked to Arnook.
"So…" Katara started. "…This is the first time we've met since the siege. So, how are things going after well, you know…?"
"Things are going quite fine." Arnook replied. "Although I am sad that Yue is not here to witness and experience this time of peace, she fulfilled her destiny that night."
No sooner had these words come out of his mouth, Arnook soon grinned before starting to laugh.
"What's so funny?" Katara asked.
"Look at your brother." Was all he said. Katara turned her head and nearly fell over laughing as she saw her brother drunkenly dancing like a fool on top of a table.
Turning to her father, Katara asked: "Couldn't you have cut him off, dad?"
"He only had half a glass." Hakoda replied.
"I'm going to go make sure he doesn't hurt himself." Katara forced herself out of her seat, but she stopped before she could take a step. She stopped due to the fact that she saw a messenger hawk swoop in and land on Arnook's perched arm. Arnook stroked the hawk as he took the scroll from it and unraveled it.
"What does it say?" Katara asked as her father and Suki approached.
"It's for you." Arnook replied. "It's a message from the Fire Lord."
"Zuko?" Katara asked, taking the letter from Arnook's hands and reading it. Hakoda and Suki both read over Katara's shoulders as she read it to herself.
Dear Katara and Sokka,
As you are probably perfectly aware of, in only a couple of days, it will be the one year anniversary of the day that Aang defeated him. In honor of the anniversary, I will be holding a party at the palace to celebrate. Um, I don't exactly know how to put this, but I would like it if you guys could come. There will be some great food, dancing and my Uncle will even be playing the Sungi Horn. I already sent a message asking Aang and Toph to come, and they sent me a message saying that they will be there. You don't have to send me a response, as I'm rather busy; so really all you would need to do if you decide to come is to just show up.
Fire Lord Zuko
&
Once they got back to Pakku and Kanna's home, Katara found herself pacing around as Hakoda, Pakku, Kanna and Suki all stared at her.
"So Katara, what do you think?" Hakoda asked.
"Gods, I can't go there if Aang is going to be there!" Katara replied. "He hates me, I know he does!"
"Katara," Kanna spoke. "It's not your fault that you were not ready to make a commitment as big as what Aang was asking of you."
"Besides," Suki added. "I'm sure he still loves you. He always did and he probably always will."
"But I don't know if I love him." Katara admitted. "Besides, I don't see what the big deal is. It's only been a year. It's not like it's been a full decade of peace or even 5 years. Now that's something to celebrate! But it's just a year."
"You don't mean that." Kanna replied sadly.
"Yes I do!" Katara shot back.
"Katara," Suki interrupted. "We don't need Toph here to know that you're lying. It is a big deal. This is the first time in a century that we've had peace. Besides, it's been a year since you've seen Zuko. Don't you want to see him again?"
"What makes you think that?" Katara asked.
"Katara, we all know that you like him more than you let us know." Suki sat down. "I mean, he burned down my village and yet, in a way I'd like to see him again."
"What do you want from me?"
"For you to go to Zuko's party; for old time's sake…" Suki said bluntly as she got up.
"You know, you're really starting to sound like Toph." Katara sighed. "But fine, I guess we can go to the party."
&
Sokka groaned as he rolled over in bed, his whole body sore from his hangover. As he forced his eyes open, he saw Katara besides him packing some things in a small bag.
"Are we leaving already?" Sokka asked, making Katara jump slightly.
"Yes." Katara replied. "While you were as loopy as a rooster-goat, we got a message from Zuko. He invited us to a party to celebrate the one year anniversary of his father's defeat. We're leaving first thing tomorrow."
"Boy," Sokka said as he forced himself to his feet. "Zuko must have hated every inch of Ozai from his feet to his creepy pointy beard."
"Why yes," Katara retorted sarcastically. "However did you guess? Was it the fact that Zuko joined us or the fact that Zuko mentioned that Ozai was an abusive, murderous monster?"
She then exited the room.
END CHAPTER
A/N- Okay, this might be a slow start, but hopefully if I play my cards right, Zuko's upcoming party should be a huge blast that none of them will soon forget…Anyway, please review. Oh, and the dialogue between Katara and Hakoda while Sokka was drunk was quite similar to a certain movie. See if you can guess what movie it is…