Puzzled Peace
At the worldwide celebration held yearly after the end of the war, Katara, Sokka, Aang, Zuko, Suki, Toph, and their families met at the Eastern Air Temple, which was now the middle ground where most formal international meetings were held. It was also Saki's eighth birthday, and the cousins and Tuyun were engaged in a very serious game of hide and seek. Yutula was wrapped snugly in a green blanket in her mothers arms. The dignitaries had brought gifts for their friends and their children, it was a yearly reunion on the temple that a century ago had been full of horror and despair, but was now full of life and joy and hope. The Kyoshi and South Pole delegates had brought their three daughters, all auburn haired, with shades of blue eyes, and clad in green. The Fire Lord and Lady had traveled with their two sons and daughter. There was a delegate from the North Pole and one from the Swamp. There were Delegates from Ba Sing Se, the Dessert, and the Northern Mountains and Western Plains, but the most noticeable Earth delegate was the one standing next to the Avatar, the mark of Bei Fong visible to everyone but herself, a four year old girl on her back.
"What's wrong Tuyun, don't you wanna play hide and seek?" Aang joked in a voice as joyful as ever, even if it was a few tones deeper than when he had been freed from that iceberg.
"I missed my momma… and daddy," Tuyun smiled. Her parents had secured their daughter in the Fire Nation after a rebel band of rouge fire benders had ambushed them and kidnapped her in attempt to extort the power of the Avatar, her father. The Gaang had been thrown together again to get her back, but not before Aang had lost control and slipped into the Avatar state in a burst of unmatched rage. Toph and Aang missed their daughter immensely when they went out to settle affairs and outbreaks, but they would not risk her safety again.
"We brought you a gift," Toph said softly, in the voice she only used when she was with Aang or Tuyun. Motherhood had unexpectedly softened Toph, but anyone outside of their tight family wouldn't be able to tell for the façade that the Heiress kept in public.
"oo! What?," the young girl exclaimed with characteristic excitement. Aang earth bended the shiny stone from Toph's pocket. It was hard and grey, but had purple swirls that sparkled in the light. It was almost as big as Tuyun's small hands, but she grasped it over her mother's shoulders, "Its so pretty! Its… its just like you isn't it? Like my momma and my daddy."
Toph and Aang smiled as Tuyun scrambled down to find the group of children she considered her cousins even if both of her parents were an only child- they had grown up with Lady Katara and Sokka. And likewise, Tuyun was growing up with their children.
--- --- ---
"Why are you always the leader, Saki?" Hoshu and Saki were having a face-off out near the pole field. Tuyun walked up between the cousins and sat on the ground among them, bending her new rock in a circle above her palm.
"Because I'm the oldest, Hoshu," Saki replied putting her hands on her hips.
"Two months!" Hoshu held up two fingers and waived them Saki's face. "Your not even a bender."
"Well you're a freak so who cares."
"That's it!" Hoshu turned to his siblings and cousins who were all watching them, "If you want Saki to be the leader, go over there, If you want me to be the leader go over here" he motioned with his hands. Hanna quickly ran over to her sister's side. Jiroh laughed and followed her, and after a few seconds of serious consideration, Azule walked towards Saki's side as well. Tuyun stayed where she was, oblivious to the democratic battle around her.
"Azule!" Hoshu groaned.
"What!?! I think Saki… makes a better leader… than you."
"… what? And why is that?"
"She's a girl."
Hanna and Saki nodded, and Hoshu's jaw dropped.
"and what? being a girl makes you a better leader? Dad is the leader of the Fire Nation!"
"Yeah… but he obeys mom… and she's a girl."
"Um… the Avatar is a boy!"
"Avatar Kyoshi was a girl!" Saki and Hanna shouted in unison.
"Aang is a boy," Azule said slowly, "there've been just as many girl Avatars as boy ones,"
"Well, why are you over there Jiroh?"
" 'long's you're not leader, Hoshu."
"Well, Tuyun's on my side," Hoshu pointed to Tuyun, still twirling her rock.
"Why're we picking sides?" Tuyun asked as she caught her rock and leaned back on her arms.
"To decide who is the leader"
"Why do we need a leader?"
"Um… to decide what we're going to play."
"Lets play tag," she earth bended the ground beneath her, so she quickly stood up. "And your it!" She tagged Hoshu as she rushed by and then jumped onto the nearest pole. Hoshu turned to look at the cousins, they stared at him for a split second and then scattered in four different directions.
Hoshu sighed. "Not again…"
--- --- ---
"Oh wow! This is great, Aunt Katara, Uncle Zuko!" Saki picked up the boomerang she had just unwrapped. "Its just like Dad's!"
"Actually it's not," Zuko stated calmly, everyone's attention turning to him in confusion. Sokka glared.
Katara sighed and shook her head. "What he means is that its extra special, and its not just a boomerang," now the confused looks were all on her. Zuko tried to hide his smile. Katara held Saki's "boomerang" in her hand like a fan in the base Kyoshi stance. When she flicked her wrist, the boomerang snapped open, revealing angled golden slats. Sokka gasped and stumbled over backward while Saki and Suki cried in joy. Zuko chuckled as he reached out to pull his wife back to his side. Katara smiled at her niece and handed back her new instrument after snapping it closed.
Azule and Hanna gave Saki some new ribbons for her hair. Iroh had some special tea for her, and after fellow tea connoisseur Saki had unwrapped it with joy, Zuko Jiroh and Azule stuck out their tongues in disgust. Katara and Hoshu rolled their eyes as Sokka and Suki went to retrieve their present for Saki. Suki was already starting to tear up, and Sokka put his arm her. "She's growing up so fast."
Saki shouted with glee when her parents came back into the room: holding a suit of Kyoshi armor and helmet.
"That's regulation size?!?!" Suki nodded. "Oh My Gosh! Oh My Gosh, Oh My Gosh!!!" The guests all laughed as Saki quickly suited up, the helmet almost covering her eyes, as she jumped around the room. "I'm gonna be a Kyoshi Warrior!"
"Aang and I are taking you to Kyoshi Island to start your official training after the Ceremonies are done here," Toph explained, and the Avatar nodded.
"I could teach you the moves," Suki explained when her daughter turned to her, "but being a Kyoshi Warrior is just as much about teamwork as knowing how to work a fan." Saki nodded, her eyes still shining.
"Do I get to go?" Hanna cried. Sokka looked toward his wife: it would be the first time in Hanna's life without her big sister.
"No Hanna," Suki explained softly, "you'll get to go when you're eight, but this is something Saki gets to do by herself, you'll see her often, don't worry."
"Can I go practice with my new boomerang-fan mom?"
"bet I can still whoop you!" Jiroh taunted, a small fireball forming in his hand.
SPLASH "No fire bending inside the temple Jiroh, how many times do we have to tell you?" Katara scolded.
"Race ya outside!" he shouted as the cousins all ran down to the yards where they liked to play while the adults were discussing "important matters" that they could care less about.
Tuyun stopped to grab her rock, knowing that earth bending here was considered slightly rude, even by someone who could airbend. She tried to catch up to her friends by air bending, but only succeeded in tripping on her own feet. "Tuyun just run," Toph consoled, having felt her daughter's fall and subsequent embarrassment. Tuyun nodded silently and continued down the stairs.
---
"There you are, I was getting worried" Hoshu had started walking back towards the bridge to the middle tower when he had finally spotted Tuyun. "Nobody would know you're an air bender, huh?"
"Hey! Nobody'd know you're a water bender, mister 'I melt ice, not make it.'"
"Hey! Its not like that!"
"Prove it!" She said more jokingly, lighting the situation before they could actually hurt each other's feelings.
"I would, but there's no water here…" she laughed and blew a cloud towards him, soaking his clothes.
He shivered and flicked the water off of him, spraying her with warm mist.
As they laughed out of eyesight from their friends and family, suddenly the ground beneath them shook. Hoshu looked quickly to Tuyun's face, only to find her laughter replaced with shock. She quickly stilled the earth, stopping it from rising out of its natural form, but suddenly two pair of solid earth hands flew toward the pair. "Dai Li!" Hoshu shouted, trying to block one of the hands headed for Tuyun with a fire blast, but soon they were both cuffed, and being bended toward the cliffs. Tuyun used her feet to bend the ground around them, slowing them. Hoshu tripped and fell to the ground, but Tuyun was able to bend off his cuffs once they touched the ground. He tried to pull up some water in hopes that it would block the Dai Li's attacks better than his fire, but up on the snowless mountain, water was far out of reach. Tuyun stomped hard on the ground, revealing their attacker's positions. Suddenly the four Dai Li rushed them, Hoshu was defenseless, still trying to raise up water from far below the ground and Tuyun hadn't managed to shake her rock cuffs. The attackers came closer and Tuyun joined Hoshu. One of them grabbed her small body, and Hoshu's water finally freed itself, slamming into the green figure holding his small struggling friend. He dropped her and she fell on her back, the cuffs finally coming loose. Hoshu pulled the wave over his head, Tuyun ran towards him. As he flung the wave at two of the other Dai Li, Tuyun intended on throwing a forceful air gust behind it, instead the water turned into shards of ice. Unthinking, Hoshu shifted his stance and forced the air surrounding the shards he could not control toward their marks. When those two Dai Li were pinned to trees, their hands and feet were free, but they appeared to be non-benders, the two young children turned to the soaked attacker and one gathering massive amounts of rock. The wet Dai Li slanted the earth beneath their feet, causing the remaining liquid water to rush toward the edge of the cliff. Tuyun created a lip at the edge, sending the rushing water up into an arc, continuing the motion she had used to raise the earth lip, she turned her arms and sent the freezing wave crashing down on the pre-rinsed Dai Li. Hoshu's water being pre-occupied, he continued the movements that would have caused a river to turn into a fierce whirlpool, and sent it hurtling towards the boulder-laden Dai Li.
---
Toph ran across the bridge, she knew her friends were nearby, but the feeling that her daughter was under attack was greater. Suddenly all was still.
Katara slammed to a stop beside Toph, "Did you make that tornado Aang?"
"Did you make all that Ice, Katara?"
Zuko was silent as his eldest son blew a boulder-bending Dai-Li agent off the side of the cliff as Tuyun held three others frozen to trees in a style that was not unfamiliar to him. Suddenly a white and blue boomerang flew across the path, striking one of the frozen Dai-Li in the head as Saki, Jiroh, Azule, and Hanna came running towards their friends. "And the surprises never end."
When the adults reached their children, Tuyun and Hoshu were sitting back-to-back, strange looks on their faces. Tuyun scrambled into Toph's arms and started to cry, exhausted. The parents' distress was clearly visible.
With Hanna hiding behind her, Saki stated simply, "Told ya you were a freak."
A/N: Are my conversations confusing? Are my action scenes passable at least?
Anyway, this is the first chapter of Peace, Love, Posterity. Any suggestions?
2-5-07: minor edits and scene breaks