VI. Reunion
Zuko woke feeling refreshed, happy and optimistic.
He was immediately suspicious.
He could count on one hand the number of times he had woken up feeling this good without the universe laying in wait to drop kick him in the face when he was least expecting it.
Carefully, Zuko went over the list of issues that had cropped up the day before, trying to recall whether or not everything had been handled; then all the long term problems and what steps were being taken to fix them and tried to pick out the general anxiety that came from being ruler of a massive, disgraced military power and what was his own ingrained tendency towards paranoia.
Katara would have laughed at him, but in some ways she understood. She too had lived her whole life with the specter of catastrophe looming over her.
Rising, Zuko stretched, schooling his breathing as he began to move in the forms of the simplest firebending katas; not putting any heat behind the strikes, simply feeling the motion wake his muscles as the stiffness of slumber eased away.
Things were being dealt with, he reminded himself with each deep breath. Those tasks he could not complete personally had been carefully delegated away. Mai and the Golden Shield were not about to let anything happen to his family and the girl of his dreams had, for some reason, consented to marry him.
Life was good and there was no reason to be paranoid.
The words had become his mantra over the last six months.
More relaxed he rang for water and his valets, of which there were three. Zuko had attempted on his appointment to Fire Lord to reduce the number of attendants that tended to shadow the royal family's every step. It hadn't really worked, but he'd at least minimized the amount of people who had the authority to wander into his bedchambers down to a single digit number.
His mood improved further under the familiarity of routine and by the time he was appropriately attired and heading for breakfast, Zuko was feeling positively sanguine.
Katara was standing at the entrance to the dining room, dressed in the waterbending master's robes she always wore when she was nervous and felt the need to remind herself of her own strength, a dark look on her face.
The small voice that sounded like Aang in his head fell silent as Zuko inwardly throttled it.
Optimism: a mistake; especially before midmorning.
Katara brushed her long hair back behind her ears and looked so deliberately innocent that Zuko almost laughed. "They were left for me."
He raised an eyebrow. "I didn't realize you had intelligence contacts in the city yet."
"I am going to be Fire Lady, you know." She replied demurely, then her voice turned more earnest. "Zuko, the rest of them are criminal, there's no mistaking that, but the one that mentions your sister..."
"Makes this a national problem." He leaned back and resisted the urge to tug at his hair in fear of dislodging his topknot. "Petitioner's day though; other than catching everyone nursing a hangover, why specifically that day?"
"You can't close the palace," Katara had clearly been thinking this through longer than he had. "You absolutely must hold open court. On petitioner's day anyone from anywhere is allowed in to see the Fire Lord which means any number of people could easily infiltrate the walls."
"I can't stop Petitioner's day," He replied emphatically. "Not even my father did that."
Katara rolled her eyes. "No he just tended to burn the supplicants to ash."
"I'll have to call in Mai," Without prompting Katara began to scratch out a list in shorthand. "We'll need to increase security at all points where someone coming into or out of the audience chamber could access the rest of the palace. Maybe if applicants could be screened? Only let the ones with a real grievance into the throne room." He grimaced. "No that's almost worse than not having it at all. There needs to be witnesses to the Fire Lord's justice."
"Not at the cost of your life Zuko," Katara said quietly, the intensity in her voice reminding him rather unpleasantly that there had been more than one close call when it came to him and assassinations.
He knew better than to placate Katara with empty reassurances. She had firsthand evidence of exactly how much danger his position placed him in.
Zuko wrapped his hand around her cool fingers. "I've got the best waterbender in the world watching my back."
Katara raised an eyebrow at him. "Is that your uncle's line?"
Zuko pursed his lips, leaning back from her with a blank expression, but he could feel his face heating and her giggling made it obvious he wasn't fooling anyone.
Katara covered her mouth delicately, trying to stifle the laughter that was bubbling up in her throat. But today her sweetness just made Zuko feel worse. "Katara," He sighed. "I can't stop this. I have to prove to people that I'm not my father. I need to show everyone I'm a better man than he was."
Sobering at his words Katara rose smoothly, stepping behind his gilded chair and resting her hands on his shoulders, the cool ice blue of her sleeves brushing his neck as she kissed the top of his head.
"I know. Spirits Zuko, I understand. But don't you think Azula knows that too?"
"Look buddy, we're almost there.
Aang leaned down to encourage Appa to put on just a little more speed. The coast of the Fire Nation rose from the blue-grey ocean like a bright jewel, and he realized just how much he missed the colour green after so long in the white-grey world of the northern tundra.
The four day journey had taken its toll on the both of them. There was almost no land at all between the western edges of the north continent and the islands of the Fire Nation except a mountain range on the very rim of the Earth Kingdom, where Aang had no interest in treading further.
Seven years there had been quiet enough.
No matter that the tower hidden away in those peaks was supposed to be a private sanctuary for the Avatar alone, Aang wasn't going back there until he didn't have anywhere else to run.
They hit land just as the sun was reaching its zenith, and he steered Appa to touch down in a wide open swath of grass beside a stream swollen with the runoff from snow covered mountains. It was still early spring in the Fire Nation and cooler than the sweltering heights it would reach in the summer months, but to Aang it felt like heaven, finally chasing away the last of the polar chill.
He stretched out next to Appa as his furry friend drank deeply from the rushing brook, digging in the pack he had pulled off the saddle to find the last of their food supplies. If they stopped just long enough for the bison to eat and get his breath back, they would reach the capital by sundown, which just might give them enough cover to sneak into the palace unseen.
Since his return to the world six months ago, his every move had been accompanied by pomp and circumstance. Just the sight of Appa in the sky seemed to be enough for most palaces to arrange a parade. It had been making Aang incredibly uncomfortable. There was a certain draw to the attention – not as much as there had been when he was a boy, still some small part of him never ceased to be excited when he was distinguished beyond what he'd been taught to expect as one of a hundred young monks at the Southern Temple - but too much scrutiny or adoration made him feel awkward.
As though he ought to break into dance as a distraction. Which he wouldn't, thanks to Zuko and his Fire Nation hatred of dancing.
Zuko had laughed until he actually cried the first time he had seen Aang's favourite dance.
Sokka had accused Zuko of being brainwashed by the Dai Li.
Which had attracted the attention of the rest of the room.
And Aang was never, ever going to do that dance again.
He ran one hand over his face; the embarrassment of seven years ago once again freshly humiliating and distracted himself by turning to feed the last of their hardtack like trip bread to Appa.
"Feeling better buddy?"
The great beast groaned in agreement as Aang continued talking, his attention obviously focused more on the food than the conversation. "Maybe when this Avatar stuff is sorted out we could go see Toph again. Put her students to work on giving you a nice rubdown."
Every time he left a city or a nation behind Aang tried to come up with a reason good enough to visit Toph. A reason other than wanting to wrap his arms around her waist, bury his face in her neck and never let go, because that would get him bludgeoned with large rocks. She had told him, right from the start that she had responsibilities and her own life and he wanted to respect that. A trapped Toph was no Toph at all really; not to mention irritable as a badgermole with its fur on fire.
But that didn't stop him from missing her terribly.
It was tempting, oh so tempting, to swing east and follow the coast of the Earth Kingdom to her school outside of Omashu instead. Toph would certainly stop him from getting trapped in the spirit world if she had to go in after him and drag Aang back to consciousness herself. But her understanding and experience with that plane was small to non-existent and Aang knew if he showed up at her school she would just punch him in the arm, give him a kiss and send him back to Zuko and Katara who might actually be able to help.
Still, for the kiss it might have been worth it.
Appa' disgruntled rumbling let Aang know that they'd better get a move on if he didn't want his furry friend falling asleep. Repacking, he tossed the bag up into the bison's saddle and leapt aboard. "Just a little further. Yip yip!"
The capital of the Fire Nation gleamed under the moonlight as Appa landed neatly in front of a gaping stable boy just outside the pens where the royal komodo rhinos were housed.
The young man nearly genuflected when Aang dropped to the ground in front of him. "My Lord Avatar, a thousand apologies, we were not expecting your arrival!"
Aang caught him by the elbow before he could kneel. "I'm a surprise," He grinned. "Is the Fire Lord at home?"
The man's eyes bulged. "I…I think so …"
"Great. Appa just wants somewhere to sleep," He snapped his glider open. "And maybe a few apples," His furry friend rumbled in approval. "Yeah apples would be good."
He took off on a warm updraft, not even trying to hold in his laughter.
Rather than brave the guards and the inevitable pomp and circumstance that he'd be forced into on his arrival, Aang opted instead to sail over the inner walls of the palace complex, right to the red tiled roof that overlooked the small courtyard attached to Zuko's private study. Years ago, when the palace had first been seized, the garden had been lushly overgrown, clearly unvisited and rarely tended. Since then the thick foliage had been replaced with smooth stonework and raked sand. It was oddly reminiscent of the western air temple's architecture in the narrow columns that ringed the space, and the slight scorch marks on the rock told him that it was now a private place for Zuko to work off his frustrations.
Aang landed lightly and inched forward to see if he could catch a glimpse of the Fire Lord.
A shadow detached itself from the lee of the wall and put a long, razor sharp knife to his throat.
"Welcome to the imperial palace," A smooth, cold voice said. "Care to tell me why you couldn't use the front entrance?"
"Uh," The knife pressed harder. "It's okay, it's okay. I'm just here to surprise Zuko. I promise."
"People aren't supposed to surprise the Fire Lord. It tends to make him irate when we let them."
"I'm not trying to do anything bad," He raised his free hand slowly. "We're friends. I'm Aang."
There was no response from the shadowy figure.
"Nice to meet you?" Aang tried with a tentative smile. "Listen I hate doing this but… I'm the Avatar."
"The Avatar?" The voice scoffed. "Yeah sure and I'm the Earth King. Put down your weapon, I'm taking you to Lady Mai."
"No really, I am the Avatar. Here I'll prove it." Aang reached out, stepping back from the blade against his neck and punching his right arm up. A massive pillar of earth rose from the stone courtyard below. In his left palm he conjured a fireball, blasting it forward to burn at the top of the pillar for a moment like a giant candle flame.
"Bright Agni Above!" Came the roar from the open window below. "What in the name of the Yellow Dragon is going on out there?"
Zuko stormed into the courtyard, his hair wild and flames licking at his fingertips.
"Hi Zuko!" Aang yelled. "I'll fix it in a second."
"Aang? Enma's balls, what are you doing up there?"
"Trying to convince your guards I'm not here to murder you."
"What?"
The shadowed figure buried his face in his hands with a groan for a moment before he was able to answer. "He was sneaking in over the roof, your Highness."
Zuko sighed audibly. "Its fine, just ….get down here."
"Sorry," Aang whispered to his erstwhile captor, dropping neatly down from the roof to land in front of the infuriated Zuko.
"Fix it." The Fire Lord said shortly, pointing at the enormous stone monolith in his garden.
He sunk the spire back into the earth with a shift of his stance.
Fire Lord and Avatar stared at one another for a long moment.
Zuko shook his head in exasperation, but Aang could see the faint shadow of a grin on his face. "It's good to see you."
Aang looped an arm around his friend's shoulders. "So how's the nation, Sifu Hotman?"
"About as well as can be expected. Which is to say we've got big problems," Zuko said sardonically. "I'm glad you got my letter. I didn't expect you to get here so fast."
Letter?
"Yes I did," Aang bluffed, badly. "I came as fast as I could so we could talk about all the important stuff in your letter."
"Cursed Agni, do any of you ever get my letters at all?" Zuko swore. "I'm starting to think the messenger hawks are eating them."
He steered them forward, inside to his study.
It had always amazed Aang that Zuko, who had lived for three and a half years on a ship, where space was always at a premium, could be so incredibly messy. The space was small, smaller than he had expected, even for a private study, and dominated by a low desk and two overstuffed chairs next to the wide, deep fireplace.
Every free surface was covered in scrolls, rolled and unrolled, and stacks of marked documents. A pool of sealing wax spread across one edge of the desk, frozen in an endless drip down the carved edges and Aang counted at least six empty teacups scattered around the room.
Zuko lifted the rumpled scarlet and gold pile that had once been his neatly pressed robes of office off one of the armchairs and shifted it to the desk, dropping the golden Fire Lord symbol from his topknot onto the pile; gesturing vaguely for him to sit. "Hungry?"
As if roused by the idea of food Aang's growling stomach answered for him and Zuko nodded, disappearing for a moment into the immaculate space of his official study to ring for something.
"Katara will be happy to see you," He closed the door carefully behind him as her re-entered and took the opposite chair, sending a lazy blast of fire into the hearth. "Toph as well."
"Toph's here?" Aang's heart gave an excited leap.
"Her Bandits apparently kicked her out on an enforced vacation," Zuko nodded. "Toph says it was because they can't handle her training regimen, but …well would you want to live with Toph for six months hemmed in by winter with nothing to do?"
Yes, actually.
Aang laughed awkwardly. "So, what was the letter supposed to have asked me here for? "
"Wait," Zuko held up a hand. "If you left the Northern Water Tribe before it reached you there must have been a reason. Why come here?"
"Ah, well I wanted your opinion, yours and Katara's…and your help. There's something in the spirit world," He offered. "Something wants my help."
The Fire Lord furrowed his brow, leaning back in his chair. "Spirits." He said vehemently. "It seems we have a common problem."
Aang, who had been working himself up to a difficult, involved discussion, stopped short. "Here?" He could understand their attempts to contact him through the Northern Temple, but rogue powers in the Fire Nation were something he had not expected.
Could this have been what they were trying to warn him about?
"There have been sightings," Zuko explained "Of a spirit in the capital, taking vengeance on a particular Tong faction. I'm not sure exactly how many of the stories are true but I didn't want to leave something to chance at this time of year."
"What does it look like?"
"Witnesses described it as dressed in black and wearing a female Noh mask -"
"With grey ovals around the eyes." Aang finished in unison with the Fire Lord, feeling a slithering sense of dread coiling in the pit of his stomach.
Zuko looked at him sceptically. "So I was right to call you back. What are we dealing with and exactly how worried do I need to be?"
"Koh," Aang said, his voice a disbelieving half-whisper. "The face stealer." He blinked and refocused on Zuko. "Don't let anyone else get near it. Koh is not to be trifled with. I'll handle it."
"Koh!"
Twinkletoes landed in front of her and for half a moment Toph didn't know what to do.
It was almost three months since they'd last seen each other, parting under a hail of pebbles launched by her troublemaking students with barely the chance for a kiss on the cheek and a promise to return as soon as possible. She fought the urge to leap into his arms in favour of making a smart aleck quip but the sound of him stopped her short.
His heartbeat was skittish but determined; the sound and fury of the Avatar undercutting his typical lighter rhythm.
Aang was scared. He was scared of her.
When he spoke his voice was softer, more polite and measured than she'd ever heard before. He sounded almost emotionless.
"You do not belong here Koh. What game are you playing?"
Then in a rush she remembered the mask and wondered, for the first time exactly how horrifying something that felt like an ordinary face could possibly be. Who in the name of earth was Koh and why would Aang be scared of him?
And why did she feel as though that name should have meant something to her. Was it just the trace of whomever Aang was remembering interfering in her own thoughts, or was it something more important? The almost-memory pricked at her, like the feeling of being unable to remember a word on the tip of her tongue.
Toph pushed it out of her mind and was about to pull off the mask and tease him within an inch of his life, when she remembered Katara and the Fire Nation's precarious acceptance of her position in court. They were both doing this to help the people ultimately, but that didn't exactly make their little spree more legal. And this was Twinkletoes; Avatar or not he was still best friends with the ruler of the country and totally incapable of keeping his mouth shut.
He stepped forward confrontationally. Toph knew if she used her earthbending Aang would fall back on the vibration sight she had taught him and know her instantly. Blast him for being such a quick study.
Run.
It was a terrible, terrible idea… and yet. She was alone, Katara and her broken mask had stayed in for the evening to better establish her own alibi; there would be no help forthcoming.
Toph reached out with her bending to upset a cart around the corner into a brace of ostrich horses. The animals set off in a chorus of raucous squawking catching the Avatar's attention for a moment.
She took off at a dead sprint.
The walls and alleys of the city spread out in her head like a maze and Toph zigzagged through them as fast as she could, the sound of her bare feet slapping against the cobblestones impossibly loud on the silent streets. If she could get to the red flame district she could lose him in the hidden alleys that always seemed to be behind seedy bars or brothels.
Toph was three blocks away from safety when Aang dropped out of the sky and tackled her to the ground.
She landed with jarring impact, tearing her shirt and scraping her bared shoulder raw as her forward momentum sent them both skidding. She winced and waited for the slice of porcelain shards into her face, but remarkably the mask remained intact.
Resisting the urge to bend Twinkletoes into the depths of the earth, Toph opted instead to for bucking and struggling. Why couldn't he still be twelve years old and skinny? For all her musculature, she was a diminutive woman and Aang had equal strength as well as a height advantage. Without her bending to make up the deficit he managed to pin her arms to the ground quickly and straddle her thighs, stopping her increasingly wild kicks.
Spirits, how embarrassing.
Toph continued to fight fruitlessly until she could press her soles flat against the stone street. Her sight resolved itself and she relaxed, feeling safe as long as she was connected to her element. No one got the better of Toph Bei Fong unless she allowed it.
"You're not Koh," Aang said unnecessarily and with infuriating calm. Toph stopped her wriggling attempts at freedom and stared in his direction, willing every irritated, sarcastic thought in her head to be communicated through the painted face that covered her features.
"He would never have run from me," Clearly it was not working as well as she had hoped. "But you are wearing his face. Exactly his." Keeping both her arms immobilized with one of his large hands Aang reached for the edge of her mask. Toph jerked her head away as far as she could, tensing and ready to shift the earth if need be. She absolutely refused to be caught in this position. Pinned by Twinkletoes; the humiliation would be unending.
"I won't hurt you," Aang said, as though he was gentling a reluctant ostrich-horse.
Toph remained stubbornly silent, but she stopped trying to escape when he abandoned the task of baring her face.
"That mask belongs to a spirit," He explained. "A very old and dangerous spirit called the face stealer."
She nearly snorted. The Face Stealer wasn't real. He was just an archetype like Kitsune the trickster or the image of the Sage, a symbolic name given to the personification of malevolence and punishment in theatre or scary stories like the ones Katara and Ursa had told the other night. Every nation had legends of a creature who stole souls away, but they weren't true.
It's been a long time since I added a child's face to my collection.
The words were a rasping whisper in her mind and Toph couldn't help but start violently, her body reacting unconsciously to distance her mind from the terrifying half memory.
Aang wasn't talking; having fallen silent in what she assumed was contemplation of her disguise. Toph bucked lightly again, trying to bring back his focus without speaking. The movement brought the whole length of their bodies into contact and she felt her skin erupt in sensation and longing.
Instinctively she went pliant beneath him, her movements changing from frenetic to languorous, revelling in the feeling as he thoughtlessly pressed lower and closer against her in response.
His heartbeat leapt like a frightened bird and he jerked away as though she was on fire. "No! – I mean, uh… you seem nice enough for a woman –person posing as a deadly spirit but, it's just, I'm uh… no thank you." The whole garbled sentence came out in a rush and Aang disappeared from the range of her sight almost before he'd finished it.
Toph lay abandoned on the cold dirty street, caught halfway between furious frustrated desire and hysterical giggling.
She dragged her tired body up through the reopened passageway in the floor of her bedroom and froze for a split second at the sound of another heartbeat, yanking the mask off her face and behind her back as fast as she could before she recognized the familiar sound.
The normally racing rhythm was soft and indolent in slumber. Wrapped in the cocoon of blankets she had pulled free of the elaborate bed and piled on the floor, Aang had clearly made himself a little too comfortable waiting for her.
Careful to step lightly Toph stripped off her tight black clothing, shoving it far into the clutter at the back of her wardrobe where it wouldn't be found, and slid with an irrepressible groan of happiness into the soft cotton of her pyjamas, before burrowing next to him without a second thought.
Aang shifted easily at her light shove, letting her get settled before wrapping her up in his arms. Toph sighed with pleasure as the warmth of his inner fire relaxed her tense muscles; her troubles and fears floated away like dust on the breeze and her eyelids instantly grew heavy.
"'lo Toph." He murmured, snuffling against her hair.
Closing her eyes she smiled but didn't reply. He was already asleep.
A/N: Because all pairings deserve masked UST, not just Zutara.
For anyone wondering, Enma - who's gentlemen's region Zuko was cursing - is the name of that meditating monkey Aang ticks off on his journey to the spirit world in 'Siege of the North'. It is also the Japanese name for Yama, the Hindu and Buddhist lord of the dead. Gotta love how well researched this show was!
"Where did you say these came from?" Zuko repeated, flipping through the stack of incriminating documents again.