Disclaimer: I still don't own it!

On with the story!

Chapter Two: I'm Retired

The child of Aang was sitting alone on a misty balcony overlooking an abandoned temple. The rain was pouring down but Aang still sat outside while everyone else had retreated to the comfort of shelter. It was Gyatso that had found the young airbender sitting alone and welcoming the feeling of rain.

"Aang, why don't you come inside before you catch a cold," the monk suggested probably too late.

"I won't get sick, I never get sick!" the child stated happily, not wanting to leave the balcony now. The rain soothed him in a way. It reminded him of something that he couldn't put his finger on.

Gyatso was eventually able to coax the young airbender into coming inside for the rest of the evening which, much to the child Aang's surprise, concluded in a fever and a sore throat. Unsurprisingly, he was unable to sleep, and Gyatso, being the parent figure Aang never had, was there to sooth his unease.

"I'll tell you a story, young one, that is as old as the spirits themselves. When the world began, four spirits roamed the vast world, seeking purpose and life. Aillirame (eye-leer-uh-may) was the beautiful spirit of the breeze. She flowed freely through the earth singing her hallow song of self pity and loneliness. She was the element of air itself and being so, had no companion. She decided one day that she would take another form: the form of a human. She knew that she could be killed and was unsure of what would happen to her element if she were to die so she sealed all her power inside the ancient air artifact and hid it in the sky so no one could find it and use its awesome power. Eventually, the three other spirits followed suit, unable to find purpose in being immortal and impartial, sealing their legendary powers deep within their elements until one man discovered the four elemental relics. He released their unworldly powers, possessing the power to control not only the four elements of earth, water, fire, and air but a partial immortal life and thus the first bender, and avatar, was born. The man knew that this power in the wrong hands could become destructive beyond his imagination but also that these elements should belong to more than just himself. He decided to seal the ability to manipulate air in the gentle bison, the ability to control earth to the blind and meek badger moles, the power to direct fire to the majestic dragons, and the gift to bend water to the beautiful moon. He knew that only the humblest souls would consider learning these abilities from the animals that the world considered lowly or the moon which they considered distant and cold, which was his way of sharing the unique power while controlling who was able to harness it. Many people say the avatar hid the relics once again, making sure no one could find them, but whispers of their whereabouts pop up every now and then only to be hushed by the wind, or silenced by the earth. Many jealous and ungifted non-bending people have searched the world, throwing their lives away, looking for the mysterious relics in hope of receiving the power and control benders are gifted with, but none have succeeded." Gyatso smiled as the young boy merely gasped in awe, too full of questions to think of the right one to ask. Was it true? Did such a thing exist? But the image began fading quickly.


The morning began, distinguishing the stars and coloring the world in a hazy pink glow as the sun conquered the moon for the sky. Aang woke up trying to push the dream to the back of his mind. He had been having the same reoccurring dream since he defeated the fire lord. He somehow felt that the story Gyatso told him as a child was a watered down version of real history and he feared that only taking away Ozai's bending might not have been good enough. He worried that he knew where the fire relic was or heard whispers of its whereabouts and he feared that Ozai would somehow regain his fire bending, returning to once again try and rule the world. But that was impossible. He was locked away and he was never getting out. The idea was absurd. So he pushed it out of his mind.

He found his spirits lifting as he let the memory from the previous night wash over him. No meetings today; no paper work. Hopefully he would be able to spend the day with Katara. He jumped out of bed landing softly on his feet. He quickly got dressed into his air nomad attire, which complimented the nature of his stature, before exiting his room and heading towards the dinning hall. He was still getting used to the fact that breakfast, lunch, and dinner were always made for him. He kept forgetting that he didn't need to get an early start to go buy for find food.

He entered the exquisitely elegant room to find Zuko already sitting down facing away from the door eating toast with fire berry jam. It seemed he was the only other one awake so early. Aang sat across from him, startling the young fire lord who hadn't heard him come in.

"Good morning!" Aang chimed cheerfully, smiling warmly at the warm sun peeking through the eastern windows.

"If you say so," Zuko replied flatly. Aang's smile slightly faded but he said nothing more, figuring nothing he said would be helpful anyway. He never had a way with words. The stress Aang was feeling was probably nothing compared to Zuko's. He couldn't figure out how to make everyone happy. He felt frustrated and angry with his nation who seemed only half heartedly willing to cooperate with their new fire lord. The nation had been told the young price was a traitor, scheming and plotting the demise of the fire nation so they hardly felt comfortable with him in power. The lower classes, which were most of the nation, supported the end of the war, but the few and powerful upper class citizens felt angry about how little they had control over now. High ranking officials held no power in the new era of peace. However it was the voices of these few but wealthy citizens Zuko heard.

Aang reached for a cup of fruit which looked much more appealing to him than the trays of assorted breakfast meat next to it. Sokka was pleased to find out his first day at the palace that, yes, it was possible to eat meat for not only dinner, but breakfast and lunch as well. Aang tipped the contents of the cup into a napkin while grabbing a couple slices of bread which he carried outside to the turtle-duck pond. He was exceptionally fond of the shy, little creatures and felt that the morning was too beautiful to pass up being cooped up indoors.

Aang sat at the edge of the pond beckoning kindly to the shy little animals who almost forgot their bashful nature at the sound of Aang's soft voice, daring to swim into touching distance from the young avatar. He broke the bread into small pieces, dropping it in front of the young turtle-ducklings who ate it quickly and greedily, leaving no pieces behind. Aang ate his fruit, smiling at the nature of the animals before him. For being such shy creatures, they sure weren't shy about eating.

The sun was rising higher in the sky now beginning to shine over the roof that had been shading Aang for the past 20 or so minutes he had spent sitting at the pond. Mai had walked up behind Aang causing the turtle-ducklings to begin to retreat into the safety of the middle of the pond but ceasing to do so once they heard and recognized the sound of her voice. She, like Aang, had received their trust.

"You're up early," she said in her usual monotonous tone, sitting down next to the young airbender. He merely smiled in response. He knew Mai was going to bring up something of importance because she always used that tone while stating the obvious before plunging into something that had meaning behind it. Seeing his positive reaction as encouragement to continue, she sighed, taking time to figure out how to word what she wanted to say correctly. She wanted to ask Aang to help Zuko somehow, to side with him in meetings and possibly sway the other nations into an agreement that didn't end in taking fire nation land or rights. She opened her mouth to speak but wasn't quite sure how to ask, so she closed it instead, getting up and muttering something about getting some breakfast. Aang just watched her as she walked off, a look of confusion clear on his face. He felt like he must have missed something.


Katara woke up as the sun settled itself comfortably in the middle of her window. She sat up and stretched, feeling rejuvenated and excited about the possibilities today held. Aang had his first day off in weeks and she was going to take advantage of as much of it as possible.

Katara left her room and began walking down the hall when the door to Suki's room opened and out walked Sokka who, upon seeing his sister, quickly turned back towards Suki yelling loudly, "Yeaaa…good morning Suki! I just came to wish you good morning and that's all. So, good morning," he yelled before shoving her back in her room and slamming her door shut and nearly running towards the dinning hall in embarrassment.

Katara wasn't quite sure how to feel about what she'd just seen. She wasn't born yesterday but the thought of her brother – and there went her appetite. She decided to pretend she didn't see what had just happened and go find Aang instead. She walked outside and watched as Mai get up and walked towards the dinning hall leaving a puzzled looking Aang behind. Katara took the spot Mai had just left next to Aang and asked what that was all about.

"I dunno," Aang said sounding genuinely confused, "she seemed like she was about to ask me something but just got up and left instead," he finished still looking in the direction Mai had gone even though she was no longer visible. After a moment he shook off whatever had just happened – or failed to have happened – and turned, smiling at Katara. "Good morning," he said brightly, fully appreciating the presence of someone else who might agree with the statement. She smiled, confirming his assumption, and returned the greeting.

"Did you sleep well?" Aang asked, although judging by the good mood she seemed to be in, he didn't need to ask.

She stretched, smiled, yawned, and nodded and Aang laughed asking, "Oh, did you only just wake up? Did you eat yet?"

Katara mused over how to answer the latter question and settled on just saying that she wasn't hungry this morning and Aang didn't question her further.

The two debated over all the things they should do today with all the free time they had together, when a servant approached the two, apologizing for interrupting the conversation.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, Avatar Aang, but you are needed in the fire lord's chamber immediately," he said while bowing in respect to the young man.

"But – wait! Today's supposed to be my day off," Aang said, disappointment clear in his voice.

"I'm sorry Sir but I am only the messenger," he said bowing again.

Aang sighed, giving Katara an apologetic look mixed with sincere discontent, and rose from his comfortable stop next to Katara to begin heading towards the peace chamber.

"You are needed as well, Lady Katara," the servant said, causing Katara and Aang to exchange quizzical looks. Katara wasn't a representative so why was she needed for this meeting?


After recovering from the shock of being shoved back into her room, Suki made her way to the dinning hall where she knew she would find Sokka and sure enough, Sokka was happily shoveling down all food in arms reach. Suki sat down across from him, amazed by how much the warrior could eat without gaining a pound.

"What was that all about?" Suki asked, obviously referring to getting her own door slammed in her face.

"Whut wush whut bouh?" Sokka said with more food in his mouth than Suki thought possible.

"I'm sorry?" she said understanding Sokka as well as if he was speaking a foreign language.

Sokka swallowed everything in his mouth at once, nearly choking in the process, and repeated himself: "What was what about?"

Suki laughed at his inability to remember beyond the span of a couple minutes but decided to just let it go as Sokka just acting weird as he always did. That's why they meshed so well; Suki was easy going enough to accept all of Sokka's special personality traits, like his overbearing sarcasm and his inability to cope in the world without meat.

Sokka continued eating once he realized she wasn't going to say anything else about the matter when a servant entered the hall, delivering the same news to Sokka and Suki that Katara and Aang had just received. So they too headed off towards the fire lord's chamber.


Toph woke up feeling almost as bad as when she had fallen asleep. She opened her unseeing eyes but didn't get out of bed for a while. She wasn't hungry and she didn't feel like facing all the happy couples this early in the morning. She finally settled on the fact that she was bored at the palace which was why she was letting her emotions get so out of control. She had nothing to take her mind off of the things that bugged her and nothing to take her frustration out on. Before, they had always had a mission on which she could focus on, but there was nothing for her to do around here.

Suddenly, her thoughts were rudely interrupted by a set of knocks on her door which startled her. She wasn't used to not knowing who was at the door before they knocked.

"Who is it?" Toph said rather rudely.

The servant announced his name and why he was disturbing her so early in her room. Toph told him he could enter so he let himself in, bowing deeply, even though she could not see it, before giving her the news he had to deliver.

"You are needed in the fire lord's peace chamber," he told her simply as she picked herself off her bed and landed roughly on the floor. She thanked the servant, hardly sounding thankful at all, and changed into her green dress which she wore now that she didn't have to worry about fighting all the time and headed to the chamber to see what Zuko could want with her. She wasn't sure why he'd need her; she wasn't a representative and didn't know about anything that had been going on in the meetings the past few weeks.

She entered the chamber to find Aang, Katara, Sokka, Suki, Zuko, and only a few other important feeling fire nation persons. She was wondering what this meeting could be about if the other earth kingdom and water tribe representatives hadn't been invited to it. The peace chamber, which was renamed so after the war was over due to the fact that 'war chamber' might be imposing the wrong idea, was a large, dark room that seemed to glow a sinister shade of red. In the middle of the chamber, a large map of the world resided on the floor and the members of the meetings sat around the map, always using it as a reference when necessary. It was ironic that now, however, it was being used as a source for plotting new trade routes and boundaries whereas only a few weeks prior, it was being used to plot the demise of the entire world.

Once Zuko realized everyone he asked for was there, he began without hesitation to inform the gaang on why they had been summoned.

"We have a problem," Zuko began already causing tension to build itself inside the small crowd of his friends before him, "my father escaped from prison last night with the help of several guards who apparently remained loyal to him." At this news almost everyone in the room gasped in shock but Toph had decided this was no big deal.

"So what? Twinkle Toes took away his bending already so how big of a threat could he be?" she said deciding this was not news worthy of getting her out of bed.

Aang had a vague idea what might have been coming next and feared the worst.

"He might have a way of getting it back," Zuko said, unsurprised to see that Aang wasn't shocked at all by this news like everyone else. "You knew that could happen didn't you?" he said causing everyone to look at Aang.

"I had a feeling, but I always figured the story of the elemental relics were just a child's bedtime story. I didn't know people actually thought they existed," he said in defense, feeling that Zuko would be angry for not informing him on this important information. Aang saw the looks of confusion everyone else in the room had so he plunged into the story he knew so well.

Once everyone was more properly informed about the seriousness of the situation, Zuko took the stand again: "So what are we going to do about it?" he asked in general to anyone who had any idea of what they could do.

"It looks like we have a new mission," Toph said acting unconcerned but relishing the idea of leaving the palace and having something to do.

"Alright!" Sokka yelled jumping into the air, "Team avatar is back! Again!"

"Wait a minute," Aang said, realizing the major fault in the plan that everyone else seemed to have conveniently overlooked, "we're in the middle of rebuilding this nation. I can't walk out on them to chase Ozai around for a while."

"Actually, Aang, I think you need to. Once the word gets out that he escaped, the world might panic, and it would help calm their nerves to know the avatar is out to stop him again." Zuko said calmly. "I'll have to stay here but you five need to go and keep the peace."

The five exchanged looks of uncertainty and excitement. Sokka missed the old days and Katara had to admit that she was getting really bored around the palace. Toph was thrilled but she wouldn't let anyone in on that piece of information and Aang just savored the idea of no more paper work. It seemed a new adventure was on their hands. Team Avatar was coming out of its short lived retirement.


Ok so I need your opinions on this now. I really want Zuko to come along for the adventure but if you all think it's too unrealistic, I'll keep him at the fire nation. In his place I was going to have Iroh take over for a while, he seems more than capable of discussing how to maintain peace and balance. So let me know what you guys think.

Wow! Thank you so much to all my reviewers! It's so great to get reviews and it's extremely motivating as well!

Aangsgirl, Jade Elephants, alexapuppyeyesjohn, melissita, ilovekataang, Jeni27: thank you all so much! I hope you all liked this chapter as much as the first one.

SJthesupergirl: thank you, yea it's never really clear in the show if Toph has a full blown crush for Sokka or not, but I've just decided that she's shown enough signs of at least a little crush. I'm figuring out who would be a good pair for her because she's such an independent character because I don't want her to be all alone! Let me know what you think and if you have any ideas on a possible match for her. I'd love to hear your ideas.

Lady K2: thank you, I've been reading a lot of stories that don't incorporate how devastated the fire nation would be after the war so I figured I'd stick that in there to make it a little more realistic and less like a happy fairy tale ending.

Ranger of the Valley: thank you. When a character becomes OOC, it's the most annoying thing to have to read so I try hard to keep them in character. I don't know exactly how many more chapters there will be but I'm pretty sure there will be somewhere around a lot. haha

Oh, and by the way, REVIEW!