You guys are amazing. I got up early to start writing this when I saw all the people who sent reviews. I'm sorry if it ends up a bit shorter but I wanted to get this up before work.
The Last Dragon
Chapter 3: Reunion
With the sun warriors promising to feed and house his eel hound, Zuko was left with nothing to do but follow Toph into the Temple. She really hadn't changed much in the last few years. There were more stories about what she'd done after the war than about anyone else., probably because where the others were out trying to quietly put the world back in order and move on with their lives, Toph was trying to make sure things were better than normal. Better for her at least. The underground fighting was the first thing she'd improved on, making it public and therefore accountable to the general earth kingdom population. No one was ever going to get cheated out of their prize again if Toph had anything to say about it.
She'd been instrumental in rebuilding the earth kingdom cities, though many of the officials were left scratching their heads when the reconstructed mail slides in Omashu tended to come with loop-the-loops. Toph had insisted they helped with aerodynamics and getting faster mail. It would have been easier to believe if her grin wasn't as large as a crocodile's.
But there was something comforting about knowing Toph was up to her old tricks. She was the perfect balance of her element, steady and trustworthy as the ground below her. With a few well placed cracks, of course.
Stepping into the cool shadow of the inner room, Zuko saw the egg was exactly where he'd first seen it, resting in the middle of the room like nothing more than a valuable stone. Shouldn't it have been in a nest or something? Where were Ran and Shao?
"You and Aang really should have taken me with you on your little field trip," Toph said, stepping up to the egg and laying a hand carefully on the surface. "I could tell this thing was alive from the moment I got here. For starters, I can't bend it. I don't care what kind of precious, rare whatever metal it's supposed to be. I've bent space earth before. Anything that supposedly came out of the ground is my territory. This baby is alive and kicking."
Zuko chuckled, recognizing the fact that Toph was, in her own way, trying to cheer him up. It must have been obvious for her that he was tense, though he knew himself well enough to know that he was less tense here than he had been lately at home. That thought in itself was slightly depressing.
"So how did they know it was hatching?" Zuko asked, following her around the egg. Then, "Oh." His question was staring him in the face. Around the backside of the egg was a long deep crack that started near the bottom and spider webbed out towards the top.
"Apparently Dragons can take a month or so to hatch," Toph shrugged. "So make yourself comfortable." She hadn't had much to do but talk to the warriors since they arrived and the egg was the only thing anyone could focus on enough to talk about. Zuko found out later from Ham Ghao that Toph was told she could not bend ruins back into shape and had been annoyed at the loss of something new to play with.
"Wait, we're going to be here for a month?" Zuko gave a start. "I thought it was just a quick ceremony, a couple days at the most! I can't leave my kingdom for that long!"
"Settle down, Lord Drama," Toph smirked at him. "We'll only be here for a few days while the ceremony sets up. But you're still going to want to make yourself comfortable because there isn't anything to do." The last part was said with a groan as she slumped down one of the walls, crossing her arms over her chest with a pout. "Thank god you're here at least. The others are still on their way."
Zuko nodded. "Who else is coming?" he asked.
"Well Katara of course for the water tribes. The Air nomads were a bit more tricky since Aang's the last one and him not showing up is the whole reason we need another representative." Zuko blinked. He hadn't thought about that. "Sooo," Toph continued, "Teo's on his way. Aang always did say he had the spirit of an airbender."
Zuko relaxed. At least it was someone he'd gotten to know before the war was over. Granted, he hadn't spent much time with Teo or the others outside of Aang's main group before they were separated again, but from what he could remember of Teo, the kid wasn't bad. He had a live-and-let live kind of personality that saw past the surface of a lot of things. If anyone could represent Aang's lost people, it would be Teo.
"But in the meantime, it's just you and mean dragon breath," Toph said from her spot on the ground. "So make yourself comfy."
"I think you might be getting too soft in your old age, Toph," Zuko said after a moment, raising an eyebrow as a smirk darted across his expression. "Content to just sit around and do nothing? What's next? Rescuing fluffy bunny-kittens from trees for old grannies?"
Toph looked interested, a sneering smile on her own face. "This from the spoiled prince who hasn't seen anything past a mountain of paperwork in months? You're so out of practice, you light candles with matches!" She rose to her feet, smirking at him in a ready stance. They were already moving out of the temple and away from the egg.
"You realize that there's only one answer to something like that," Zuko said, his expression the epitome of royal arrogance.
"Knock Zuko on his butt?" Toph suggested.
"Close," Zuko said, moving into fighting stance, "But no cigar."
Katara's breath was taken away when she first saw the ruins. Aang had described them but nothing could have prepared her for seeing them herself. Even as a shadow of what it once must have been it was incredible, huge buildings made of rock and granite expertly carved. And by hand as well. This place was too sacred to the fire nation for them to have allowed earth benders to fashion it.
Appa circled lower, moving down towards the front of the gate. An eel hound was lying in the shade near a large tub of clean water. Aang must have told them Katara would be on Appa because several sun warriors were busy making a large pile of apples. Appa saw this and almost landed on one of the men in an effort to get to the treat.
Katara laughed at the bumpy landing and slid down from Appa's back. She patted his side in good-bye. He'd eat before he went, but was no doubt anxious to get back to Aang. He would finish eating and fly back to wherever the airbender was. She was surprised Aang could bare to be away from him this long after the last time. She turned, gazing up at the temple. The peaceful stillness was serene as the landscape, a place that only seemed gently touched by time despite the crumbling walls. There was a spirit here that could not be broken. It was so still…
Well, almost. A sudden spurt of fire raced into the air over the temple accompanied by a distant yell and retort. Alarmed, Katara raced up through the gate and up the steps towards the fire, nearly falling over when a moment later an answering rock flew through the air and burst into shrapnel that all seemed to fly towards one particular spot.
Knowing who would be here, it wasn't too hard to figure out what was going on.
"Take that, Dragon Breath!" Toph's voice rang out through the ruins. There was a crash and Katara could see a large column of dust suddenly shoot up into the air.
There was an answering shout from (who else?) Zuko and smoke rose up to mingle with the dust. Toph had always been better at showmanship in fighting than any of the rest of them. She'd made it to the top of the underground fighting rings after all, and to do that you had to be able to impress an audience.
Coming around the last bend and hopping over a trip wire she'd almost been too distracted to spot, Katara was finally in a position to watch the fight. She didn't announce her presence just yet, enjoying the moment before the reunion.
Zuko's hair had come undone sometime during the fight, dark tendrils emphasizing each movement he made, each duck and dodge. Contrary to Toph's taunting, Zuko certainly hadn't let himself go to seed. He'd removed his shirt for the fight, giving them a view even Katara could appreciate. Sinewy muscles and paler skin attested to years of work and practice. She couldn't help comparing him just a moment to the only other guys she'd seen without shirts. Sokka of course, but while her brother had definitely caught more than one girl's attention, her brother's never seemed like his skin was all that was keeping his muscles intact. Zuko's body screamed that only his self control and disinterest was keeping your head on your shoulders. And Aang… well while Aang was undeniably fit, he still had much of a child's body. It was slender and lean, but like everything about him it reflected peace, not aggression.
Toph had… Well Toph actually looked about the same as she had two years ago. A couple inches might have been added to her frame and under her loose clothing it looked like she was starting to come into her womanly curves but aside from that, she was exactly the same. Her hair was done up in the earth kingdom's favorite fashion of two puffballs near her ears, bangs covering eyes that held laughter but not sight.
Katara and Toph and gotten off to a rocky start but things had worked themselves out. It had been even worse with Zuko, Katara willing to trust the fire bender about as far as she could kick him. But that had settled itself as well, first when he'd taken her on one of the most important journeys of her life and then when he'd saved that life, almost losing his own. Sometimes it felt like that lightning bolt had seared itself into her mind, that all she had to do was close her eyes and she'd be able to see that moment again when Zuko had embraced the lightning bolt and pulled it to his own heart.
"Katara!" Toph shouted, of course the first to notice a foreign intrusion on their bending battle. The boulder she'd been about to send Zuko's way hit the ground hard enough to crack the earth below it as Toph threw herself at Katara with a grin. The waterbender eagerly returned the embrace, gripping Toph tightly until she pulled back far enough to lightly punch Katara in the arm. "It's been two months since I've gotten a letter Katara. There better be a good excuse."
"It's also been two months since we've had a messenger hawk to send out any letters," Katara pointed out. "The last one I sent your way I never got back."
"Oh. Right." Toph rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "That's kind of a long story." She made a few evasive movements and then moved around behind Katara. "We can talk about that later. Uh… go say hi to Zuko!"
Katara laughed and allowed herself to be pushed forward into a decidedly male embrace, strong arms wrapping around her and pulling her into tight hug. Her arms went around Zuko's back with a smile and then pulled back to look at him.
"Good to see you, Katara," he said with a slow smile. The slightest bit of hesitation still lingered as though he was afraid she wouldn't return the sentiments.
"Good to see you too, Zuko," she answered in kind. She really was glad to see him, glad to see him wear a smile rather than the smirk or look of frustration he seemed to carry for most of the war. Even when he'd first joined the ground, after the first few days of surprised happiness that he'd been more or less forgiven by most of them, it hadn't taken long for Zuko to fall back into an almost constant brooding silence. Having finally heart the entire story, she now understood why he'd been unable to allow himself to be too happy for long and was glad to see he'd begun to move past the guilt of his past.
"How's Mai?" she asked, remembering the fire nation girl that Zuko had begun to court towards the end of the war.
"Good," Zuko answered quickly, his smile turning slightly stiff. "Same as ever."
"Ah… Um, glad to hear it?" She winced, hearing the uncertainty in her own voice. Mai had saved them, but it had been only for Zuko's sake, not for the rest of the world or because she really believed the war had to be stopped. Katara was never sure where Mai really stood between the sides of the Avatar and Lord Ozai.
But Zuko laughed, her hesitation breaking the uneasy introductions. "Don't worry, I know what you mean. She can be a little hard to understand, but she'd a good person, Katara. She's even running the kingdom for me while I'm gone."
"And she'll keep running the kingdom if you go up against Toph too often while you're here," Katara teased lightly. "I'd bet on her over you any day of the week," she added smugly. Toph, who had been watching the exchange with interest, looked very pleased.
"Hey, I wasn't losing just now," Zuko protested with a frown.
"Suuure you weren't," Katara said soothingly. "I'm sure you were just letting her win."
"I wasn't losing!"
Off to work. Review if you enjoy the story please.
