Through Grey and Golden Eyes: Prologue
The bison ride was long, and passed in silence.
Night had fallen on the Day of Black Sun, and the whole group had been drifting in and out of a worried sleep that was haunted by nightmares. Aang was having trouble staying awake to steer Appa in the darkness of the New Moon. Teo, Haru, and the Duke were fast asleep on Appa's back, not as affected by the day's events as the members of the Avatar's party. Katara and Toph attempted to join them in sleep, but fear of an unknown future kept them awake. Sokka stared out into the distance; lost in his thoughts.
Appa flew under the cliffside where the Western Air Temple was hidden. Even the exhausted group took time to admire the odd design of the once-great temple. Katara wished she could have seen it when it was in repair and was filled with airbenders, who were all as light-hearted and fun loving as Aang was, though he was not at the moment. Everyone slid off of Appa as he landed with an ungraceful thud, and Toph lowered Teo down with a few tired earthbending motions. The three "guests" of the group sleepily made their way to the bedrooms and fell asleep. But Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph knew that their troubled minds wouldn't be merciful enough to them to let them go to sleep. Aang found some spark rocks and Sokka gathered a few twigs, and they lit a tiny campfire.
The four sat there, huddled around a pathetic fire in the stone courtyard, for a long time. There were no words for what they were feeling, and if there were, they lacked the ability to say them. So they sat there in silence. Sokka was trying to think. It seemed like The Day of Black Sun had been their plan forever. To the young warrior it felt like years ago since they found out about the solar eclipse, Yue's attempt to help even more than she had by sacrificing herself. But he messed it up. Azula outwitted him. He felt like he and she were in a game of Pai Sho, and she had just worked the few tiles into a corner. So the question became…
"...What do we do now?"
This simple question unearthed a feeling of despair deep inside Toph. She tried very hard to hide the tears that were rolling out of her unseeing eyes and down her face. She tilted away from what was left of the fire and into the darkness of the New Moon. Katara saw past Toph's attempt to hide her weakness, but Aang and Sokka were too engulfed in their own thoughts. Eventually, a single sob burst from the youngest of the group and went echoing through the temple. Aang, Katara, and Sokka looked over and saw that Toph's outer shell had been cracked, leaving a crying, blind, twelve-year-old girl in front of them. They moved closer together to comfort each other, as more sobs echoed through the canyon.
Without the Moon to shine on them, it was too dark to see beyond the tiny burning embers where fire once was, but they knew the Sun would eventually rise to the height of the sky and beat down on everyone under it.
The four children who were being asked to be heroes knew that it was only a matter of time.
A/N: Alright, my first fan fiction! Please review, it's always good to know that people enjoy my writing. I promise the rest of the chapters will have more "meat" on them. (Meaning: dialogue, action, romance, plot) This was sort of a fun experiment for me that also set the stage. I wanted to try long descriptive stuff with lots of symbolism. Because it's a big part of this, and maybe only I get this part, the Moon is hope, and the Sun is the Fire Nation.
The story will be Kataang, I promise, but I want to actually get some non-romance stuff in before I get into relationships. It will start sort of Zuko centric, with plot, action etc. But then it'll switch to Aang centered and have the romance everybody loves. That's the second reason it's called "Through Grey and Golden Eyes." The first one I want to keep secret.
AM