Disclaimer: the characters and places in the following work of fan-fiction are the intellectual property of Nickelodeon and, as such, they reserve the right to remove this story at their sole discretion.
This story is the tenth in a series, so please read the other nine before continuing!
Previously on Avatar
"Tell me Aang, do you know the difference between romantic love and platonic love?"
"Uh…what's platonic?"
The guru shook his head slightly and let out a small sigh before explaining.
"Platonic love is that which is formed by the spiritual connection of entities. It is the love shared by families, friends, and close companions. Romantic love is similar, but includes a physical attraction. Neither one is more powerful than the other, and both have a place and purpose in the universe, however, romantic love is exclusive to one person whereas spiritual love is infinite and can be shared with any number of individuals."
"So," Aang began slowly as comprehension set in, "you're saying that in order to go into the Avatar State, I can love Katara, but I can't be in love with her?" He looked at the guru uncertainly.
"Precisely!" the old man beamed.
"You have no idea what this war has put me through," Katara yelled, "Me personally!"
She turned her back to Zuko and crouched down with a sob. "The Fire Nation took my mother away from me."
Zuko turned sleepily in the darkness when his mother entered the room.
"Mom?"
"Zuko, please, my love, listen to me," Ursa whispered as she drew him into a hug. "Everything I've done, I've done to protect you. Remember this Zuko. No matter how things may seem to change, never forget who you are."
The young prince could only blink in confusion while his tired brain tried to make sense of the strange comment. He watched blearily as she walked down the dark hallway…and then she was gone.
"I'm sorry," Zuko offered genuinely, and then turned to regard Katara fully. "That's something we have in common."
The guru followed Iroh's gaze down to the children sleeping on the balcony below them. Three young faces shone peacefully in the dim moonlight, but Aang and Zuko both tossed fitfully, each of them lost in their own troubled dreams.
"Their link to each other is so much like the dependency between their native elements," Pathik observed, and he raised his arms slightly so that, in his field of vision, his hands cupped gently over Aang and Zuko's sleeping forms. Almost instantly, the two ceased their restless trembling.
"It is a shame my nephew and the Avatar cannot see that for themselves," said Iroh with a sigh. "It would undoubtedly make things much easier for both of them."
At this, the guru's eyes suddenly lit up with the glimmer of a solution as his hands dropped back to his knees.
"Hmph! Perhaps you are right," he chirped happily, and the two old men glanced at each other: Iroh with obvious confusion, and Pathik with a glint of mischievous epiphany. Looking back to the two sleeping boys, the guru mumbled to himself and nodded.
"It is certainly worth a try."
"I think something happened to him while he was there," Aang stated, "I'm not sure what, but I have a feeling that whatever it was, it wasn't pleasant."
"How can you know that?" Katara asked skeptically, "and why does it even matter?"
"Exactly!" he exclaimed triumphantly, as though she had just described the problem in its entirety.
Katara looked at him in bewilderment. "You've completely lost me, Aang."
Aang sighed in frustration before launching off into an explanation akin to a parent trying to explain a simple but foreign concept to a young child.
"I know that something happened to Zuko, and I know that somehow it was very important. But there's no way I could even suspect any of this since I wasn't there to see it. So how am I able to know anything at all?"
"By direct order of Fire Lord Ozai, Wanted for High Treason: Zuko of the Fire Nation…" Sokka paused as it occurred to him that the warrant did not refer to him as 'Prince Zuko'. His eyes widened when he saw the bounty reward.
"Whoa, Zuko's worth a fortune!"
"Keep reading," Iroh instructed grimly.
"Persons wishing to claim this bounty should-" Sokka stopped abruptly and swallowed uncomfortably as he digested the information on the page. And when he resumed, the distress and sadness he felt was evident in his voice and he struggled to get the words out of his mouth.
"Should present the…severed head of the criminal…as proof of…his demise," he finished quietly, laying the notice back down on the table.
Iroh placed the lotus tile in the middle of the board, receiving a knowing look from the man sitting across from him.
"I see you favor the white lotus gambit," the old stranger remarked. "Not many still cling to the ancient ways."
"Those who do can always find a friend," answered Iroh meaningfully.
"Then let us play."
Zuko sat down and watched intently as the two men placed tile after tile on the board in rapid succession. When they were done, the tiles formed the shape of a lotus, with the lotus tile in the center.
"Welcome, brother," intoned the old stranger with a slight bow, "The White Lotus opens wide to those who know her secrets."
"What are you old gasbags talking about?" asked Zuko irritably. But Iroh merely smiled as he rolled a Pai Sho tile across his knuckles.
"I always tried to tell you that Pai Sho is more than just a game.
Fire: Chapter 10
The White Lotus
The ocean glistened like a dazzling blue jewel in the noon sunlight as Appa carried his passengers over the shallow waters leading to the Fire Nation's southern islands. Since their conflict with Tanha two days before, the mood in the group had been somber and tense. They hardly spoke to one another, and when they did, the exchanges were brief and only when necessary.
Sokka had made several admirable attempts to lighten everyone's spirits, all to no avail. So he'd finally given it up and, at the moment, he was occupying his time with a knife and a piece of wood. Beside him sat Zuko who was unbearably fidgety.
If the banished prince could have managed pacing in the saddle without fear of falling out, he would be doing just that. As it was, however, he was still not completely comfortable up in the air, so instead he sat and worried the buttons on the lower half of his tunic. It seemed that the closer they got to the Fire Nation, the more Zuko fidgeted…and it was driving Sokka nuts.
One of the few things the warrior could count on was that Zuko was always focused. Whether he was training, meditating, or doing nothing at all, the fire bender had a sense of calm intensity about him that, for whatever reason, made Sokka appreciate his company.
Maybe it was because it presented the challenge of trying to cajole the prince into displaying some normal teenage behavior such as showing interest in girls. Or perhaps it just made Sokka feel a bit more grounded himself, like when they were tracking Jet and Katara. Whatever it was, the fact that Zuko was no longer behaving like his usual unruffled self, that he was instead blatantly exhibiting his anxiety and restlessness, irritated Sokka to no end.
Finally, the water tribe warrior couldn't stand it anymore, and he picked up another piece of wood from his small pile and thrust it under the prince's nose, forcing him to jerk back from the sudden appearance of the object in front of his face.
"What's this for?" asked Zuko as he took it uncertainly, throwing a sidelong glance at the other teen.
"Carve," instructed Sokka tonelessly as he resumed whittling, keeping his eyes fixed critically on his own project. Muttering under his breath, he added, "Before you tear all the buttons off that shirt."
Zuko looked from the piece of driftwood to the warrior, then back to the wood before pulling out his knife. Peeking furtively from time to time at Sokka to see how he approached the task, Zuko tentatively shaved a few slices off before attacking the bit of lumber with mindless fervor.
Katara spared a glance at the two boys across from her, then to Iroh and Toph leaned up against each other taking a nap at the back of the saddle with Momo tucked between them, and at last then to Aang sitting silently at the reigns.
The Avatar had been no quieter than the rest of them for the past two days, but she couldn't help but feel that he was somehow more upset by the encounter with Tanha than anyone else was.
He seemed to have a constant glower on his usually cheerful face, and his mood was almost as dark as it had been when they'd lost Appa in the desert. For what seemed like the hundredth time, she wondered what the demon had used to try and tempt him. But the one time she had asked, his response had been so cold that she didn't dare try a second time.
With a small sigh, she turned her gaze back to the water below, lost in her own lonely thoughts as the group continued their ominous trek northward.
A single dragon-hawk soared past the gilt-edged banner, an indication that a member of the royal family was onboard, waving proudly atop the battle cruiser cutting through the waves of its nation's native waters. The bird landed gingerly on the rail outside the bridge and let out a shrill cry to let its presence be known. With military proficiency, a young fire bender quickly took the bird inside to the captain.
The pudgy, older man read over the note carefully, his face paling somewhat as he did. Rolling it up with shaking hands, he looked over at one of the ensigns standing nearby.
"Request an audience with the Princess," he commanded nervously. "I have some news to deliver."
With a curt bow, the boy hurried off to do his commanding officer's bidding, not looking forward to being the one to interrupt Azula, but having no choice in the matter. He was sweating visibly as he neared the royal chamber, and hesitated before knocking. After what seemed like an eternity, the door opened, revealing the solemn, black haired girl who traveled with the Fire Lord's daughter.
"What do you want?" she droned.
Barely holding back a sigh of relief at having avoided a direct, face-to-face encounter with the ruthless princess, the ensign bowed quickly.
"Captain Zhen would like to request an audience with Her Royal Highness Princess Azula," he stated formally.
The young noblewoman looked expectantly over her shoulder for a moment, into the room behind her, before nodding slightly and turning back to the quaking soldier, her voice remaining passionless.
"She's not seeing anyone today."
"But there's a message…"
"It is urgent?"
"He…he didn't say," stammered the boy, "But-"
"Then it can wait until tomorrow."
With that, Mai slammed the door in his face and, not knowing what else to do, he headed back to the bridge feeling as if he'd only narrowly cheated death.
The first rosy colors of sunset brushed across the western sky as Appa continued his flight. Sokka and Zuko were now covered in piles of shavings, both of them deeply intent on their artistic endeavors. At last, Sokka held up his creation.
"Tada!" he said triumphantly.
Zuko looked over at the boy's work, and immediately drew away with a look of disgust on his face.
"You spent five hours carving a pile of rhino dung?" he asked incredulously.
"What!? Rhino du- It's a flower!" he cried indignantly.
"It's hideous," remarked Zuko tactlessly.
"That's because I don't have any paint," Sokka retorted haughtily. "It's supposed to be red and gold like the ones in Yaozu's garden."
Zuko frowned in thought for a moment as he tried to recall what flowers had been present at the governor's house in Omashu. There was only one red and gold variety that he could think of.
"That looks nothing like a star-flare rose," he pointed out dryly, and then returning to his own carving, added as an afterthought, "The petals are the wrong shape."
"Yeah? Well let's see yours," challenged the disgruntled warrior, petulantly snatching Zuko's project away from him.
When he opened his fist to see what the prince had made, Sokka's jaw dropped to his chest with an almost audible thud. Resting in the palm of his upturned hand was an almost perfect miniature of a sleeping Momo. An instant later, the fire bender whisked it back.
"It's not finished," he growled.
By now, Iroh and Katara had noticed the conversation and, catching a brief glimpse of Zuko's handiwork, the water bender crawled over.
"Wait, let me see that," she requested eagerly.
With an annoyed sigh, Zuko offered up the figurine for inspection. She took it carefully from his hand and turned it over a few times, viewing it from every angle with wide eyes.
"Where did you learn how to do this?"
Suddenly feeling a bit self-conscious, Zuko rubbed his neck awkwardly as he admitted, "I didn't know I could."
"It's amazing," breathed Katara, obviously impressed.
"Pft, he had a model," interjected Sokka resentfully.
"And so did you when you tried to carve Momo once," she reminded him sardonically, "and it still looked like a turnip with rabbiroo ears."
At this revelation, the faintest hint of a wry smile lit Zuko's face as he glanced smugly at Sokka. But if he was expecting some admission of defeat from the other boy, he didn't get it, for Toph finally chimed in.
"Can I see it?" she asked timidly, sliding forward to sit near the siblings.
Katara handed her the statuette and let the blind girl run her fingers along the shaped surface, while Iroh examined it with interest from beside her.
"It really does look like Momo," Toph announced with admiration, before handing it to Iroh, "only smaller."
"Ursa always said you were quite the artist," Iroh offered appraisingly as he took a closer look. "And that you used to get in trouble for drawing pictures instead of doing your studies," he finished merrily.
"Uncle!" protested Zuko in shock, positively mortified by the public disclosure of one of his childhood quirks.
Katara and Sokka unsuccessfully tried to stifle their giggles as they imagined a young Zuko doodling in the margins of his notes. And when the prince yanked the figurine away from Iroh and tucked it into his tunic, they laughed outright for the first time in days. Even Toph was grinning at the prince's obvious discomfiture.
"Of course," continued Iroh with amused consideration as the laughter died down, "if I had known you were so talented, I would have apprenticed you to a sculptor in Ba Sing Se instead of putting you to work serving tea."
"Well that's one thing I can be glad for," Zuko grumbled, "The teashop was bad enough."
He irritably brushed the wood shavings from his lap and onto Sokka, who promptly swept them toward his sister. She, in turn, scooped them up and chucked them back at her brother with a glare.
"Keep your mess to yourself," she snorted.
"It's his mess too!" he replied defensively, tossing a handful toward Zuko and instead getting most of the lot blown back into his face.
Several curls landed on Toph, the unexpected foreign particles eliciting a small panicked shriek from the blind girl and she frantically batted them away. Once she figured out what had hit her, however, she reached across Katara and picked some up.
"Watch where you're throwing that stuff," she huffed, hurling wood curls in his direction.
"You know," he remarked good-naturedly, spitting out shavings, "for a blind girl, you've got really good aim."
And he scooped up another handful and lobbed them at the earth bender. But when his feeble attack hit Katara, she plucked up some more and flicked them back toward her brother.
"And your aim is atrocious," she laughed.
"Why else would he use a boomerang," taunted Zuko lightly, casually letting a fistful of shavings drift on the wind into Sokka's face, "if it didn't come back he'd never find it."
"Oh yeah?! Well find this!" declared Sokka, picking up handful after handful and flinging them directly onto the other three in turn. "Ha!"
This only served to egg the entire situation on, and suddenly wood shavings were flying in all directions as the four of them playfully pelted each other with the mess. Momo soon joined in, haphazardly chasing the curls through the air.
Smiling, Iroh moved away to allow them their fun, his old heart full of happiness as the dreary pall that had engulfed them recently was finally dispelled. It was especially gratifying to see his nephew participating, despite the fact that, unlike the others, the boy was not laughing with anything beyond his eyes. But that was more than Iroh had seen in years…and it was enough.
The four teens continued their little battle until the wind eventually carried all the shavings away. Their source of diversion finally gone, Toph, Sokka, and Katara settled back down with lingering snickers and giggles, and even Zuko was indulging in a rare, relaxed smile as he pet the lemur purring in his lap. He hadn't done anything like that since…well, he couldn't honestly remember the last time he had engaged in such silliness and actually enjoyed it.
Meanwhile, from Appa's head, Aang had been discretely watching the entire scenario with a dour expression. He knew he should be feeling happy, relieved, grateful that the oppressive gloom of the past two days had finally been broken. But instead, it made him irritable, and he didn't even understand why.
So when he turned his gaze back to the horizon ahead of them and saw the Fire Nation coastline looming in the distance, he was all too eager to crush the cheerful mood.
"We're here," he announced grimly.
And no one noticed the way Aang's jaw clenched, selfishly satisfied that the joy his friends had shared just moments before, had effectively been sucked away.