Another chapter has arrived! Still do not own the characters or world they live in. Please enjoy!


"Good morning. How does your head feel?"

"Ugh… Don't talk so loud. Why are we in the front room?" On Ji fought to keep her eyes open against the light starting to filter in through the windows.

In scarcely more than a whisper, Aang told her "you kind of passed out here, and I didn't want to disturb you by moving you."

On Ji gave up her fight. Letting her eyes close again, she set her head back into Aang's shoulder, and placed a finger on his lips. "Sh."

Aang touched two fingers to On Ji's exposed temple and warmed them slightly with his firebending. "No more sleeping. I got a surprise for you."

"Is it a magic pill that makes the head-ache go away?"

Aang laughed lightly. "Let me get up, I'll get you some water."

"No, you don't get to move your hand."

"It works better with water, and when I can reach both sides of your head."

On Ji reluctantly stood up briefly to allow Aang to move to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. Zuko, ever the morning person, slunk his way into the living room to greet his guests. Both of his hands were placed against his own temples, rotating slowly. "Was that a messenger hawk I saw flying by my window this morning?"

Aang poured a second glass of water, handing one to each of his friends before taking a seat behind On Ji and placing his fingers against the sides of her head to massage a little bit of the hangover away. "Yeah. Some documents from the Palace were delivered."

Zuko covered his face with his palm. "For me, I suppose?"

"No, well, kinda? It is something you will be interested in, I'm sure. But it was a few documents that I asked for, and they're for On Ji. Actually, why don't you get some tea brewing while she looks through them."

Zuko found this agreeable and set about brewing a pot of his uncle's favorite hangover cure. He was rather shocked by the thick silence that filled the room, occasionally cut by a quiet gasp. After a few minutes a strange, uncontrolled squeal came from the Fire Nation girl.

Sokka, previously a lump in the corner where Katara had dropped him the night before, jumped to his feet briefly, only to fall back to the floor, still feeling the effects of the drinking game. "What's up? Where are they? I'll protect you Suki!"

"Aang, did you read this?" On Ji, suddenly without care for the pain in her head, turned around to face the Avatar.

"Wait, wh- what's going on? Why am I on the floor?"

"No, I didn't. I thought I should let you read through it first, since she was your mother."

"Aang, this is my mom's family tree as according to the Fire Nation." She handed Aang the first document, and started pointing. "My grandfather was named Narayan. I don't know what that means, but it sure isn't a Fire Nation name. His parents, my great-grandparents, were Bayarmaa and Sonam, and then –

"Wait… Sonam?"

"Yeah, look!" On Ji handed Aang another page as Zuko headed in from the kitchen.

"You said these papers came from the Palace?"

"Are you guys going to explain any of this to me?" Sokka protested.

"Go back to sleep. Everything's fine, Sokka. We'll explain it when you wake up for real." Suki appeared from the hallway.

"Alright." Snoring started up from the corner quickly.

"Kya's still asleep. Was going to just get something to drink, but now I want to know what's going on out here."

"Good morning, Suki. And to answer Zuko, and fill you in a bit I guess, these are straight from the Palace. On Ji told me a story about how her mother was taken away by Ozai. I requested documents hoping that maybe she was still alive, but I was not expecting this!"

"Expecting what?" Suki and Zuko chorused.

"Sonam was the name of the son of my friend Anil. Anil was older than me by about five years. He had already earned his arrows and had left the temple with his wife to become a nomad well before the Fire Nation started attacking the temples. I saw him only a few times after they left. The last time I saw them, maybe a month before the iceberg incident, Odval was pregnant. They told me they were going into hiding. Somebody had been looking for them, but Sonam was going to be the name of their baby if it was a boy." Aang showed Zuko the family tree that had been mapped by the Fire Nation, pointing to the names he was mentioning. "Sonam, son of Anil and Odval."

"And the second page I gave you there says Anil is from the Southern Air Temple, a student of Master Gyatso!"

"Whole generations that lived as nomads, entirely away from the temples. They were hunted constantly for a hundred years! These groups must have stopped bending, at least in public, immediately after the temples were invaded. They were traced using information from the temples, then from prisoners they captured."

"Then there's this last document. It's a report from the day mom was taken."

"Zuko, there might be others. Can we –"

"Can it wait until after the festival? I really can use this vacation, and so can you."

Heavy steps announced Toph coming around the corner. "Alright guys, I tried so hard to not care. Really, I did. But your heart beats, and moving around, and talking won't let me sleep, so what in the name of Koh is so exciting? And Zuko, is that your Uncle's hangover cure I smell?"

"Ye-"

"Give me some."


It didn't take long for everybody to start moving around. Aang had cooked up a breakfast for everybody shortly before Katara and Sokka managed to join. Kya had awoken and was now in the arms of Suki, and the tea was flowing all around. The adults were chattering away about the latest revelation.

"Wow, On Ji… It says here that your neighbors were all asked about the color of your eyes?"

"Yeah, that weirded me out too, Suki. The craziest part, though, is their responses are all lies. I have grey eyes, and every one of the neighbors they asked said I had brown eyes."

"Grey eyes were really common around the temples," Aang was quick to point out. "Just like waterbenders tend to have blue eyes and earthbenders have green eyes." Aang thought for a second about the family tree he had been looking at. "You know, your mom was probably able to bend."

"No she wasn't," On Ji stated, not quite sure of herself.

"Well, she probably was. Hanging around Teo for a while, he taught me some crazy things about how bending and eye color and so many other things depend on your parents. The thing is, every child of an airbender is an airbender. It's uncommon, but in any of the other nations you can have two bender parents with a non-bender child, or to have two non-benders parent a bender-"

"Ahem, like the greatest earth bender in the world."

"No, I think Bumi's mom was a bender if I remember ri-"

"What did you say?"

Aang grinned broadly, then hopped on an air scooter out the door, heading quickly for the shoreline, disrobing down to his trunks on the way. If he could reach the water, she wouldn't be able to touch him.

On Ji got up and started walking back to her room. Katara quickly inquired as to where she was heading. "To see if there are any bathing suits around here. I could use a break, and what's the point of a beach house without using the beach?"

"Ooo! Kya! Let's get your bathing suit on you!" Suki obviously loved the idea.


On Ji came out to the beach wearing what appeared to be one of Azula's bathing suits. Aang, who refused to leave the water, approved of the look judging by his unconscious gawking at the sight of her. As she approached Toph, a small arm stretched out to stop her.

"So, you like Aang, right?"

"Umm, yeah."

"And you seem to be the nice kind, willing to share with those you care about."

"I suppose."

"So, you wouldn't mind sharing the punishment that I was intending to give that little airhead, right Light Weight?"

"What?"

On Ji found herself rocketing through the air, propelled by the sand that was previously under her feet. Aang used his waterbending to catch the girl and bring her down gently beside him. "Hey!" Toph shouted from the shore. "That sounded like way too much bending, and not enough uncomfortable splashing. I'll be waiting for you Twinkle Toes."

"Wait, Toph. Did you just call me Light Weight?"

"Yep, welcome to the family. Don't think your special or anything."

On Ji turned to Aang. "Thanks for catching me. I was hoping I could go play with that adorable little girl of Suki's, though, if you don't mind."

After a quick kiss on On Ji's cheek, Aang agreed. "I actually wanted to catch up with Toph to ask her about a couple things anyways. Guess I'll take the punishment she's waiting to give me. Sorry you had to be on the receiving end of that last one."

On Ji just shook her head, kissed Aang quickly then swam off towards Kya.

Aang, headed off to the shore to find Toph who was bending a sand castle large enough to live in.

"Hey, Toph!" The earth came up to envelope the Avatar's legs up to the knee. Aang sighed.

"You know, Aang, honestly, I'm sorry for the amount of arrogance I show about my bending." Aang's mouth dropped at the sound of Toph apologizing… for anything… ever. "You have to understand that when I meet people it's really just one of two titles I can have. It's between 'Greatest Earth Bender in the World' or 'Earth Bending Teacher of the Avatar.' Nothing against you, but I'm sure you understand that one of those is about people meeting me, and the other is about people meeting you vicariously. It's kind of insulting. I'd rather be known on my terms."

"So, does this mean you're not really going to hurt me for that joke inside?"

A perfectly crafted hand quickly rose from the sand and backhanded Aang in the face. "I'm sure you understand that it had to be done." The sand holding his feet in place dropped back into the beach. "Thank you for just accepting it and not trying to fight back."

"It'd really be futile anyways. I mean, you are the greatest earthbender in the world."

"Sweet, now that we have that settled, what's up airhead?"

"Last night, when you came in, what was up with the nick-name that Katara gave On Ji?"

"Mostly drunken nonsense."

"Mostly?"

Toph sighed. "Why aren't you asking Katara about this?"

"Because you won't sugar-coat anything. I want to know what's going on between Katara and On Ji."

"Alright, well you came to the right person, oddly enough. You want Katara's reasoning behind her dislike for your new girlfriend, or mine?"

"First off, she's not really my girlfriend. We barely know each other. And, both, Katara's first."

"First off, that's just semantics. You guys want each other in so many ways and you know it." Aang saw no reason to argue the point in front of a living lie detector. "Now, sit down, this might take a moment."

Aang lifted chairs out of the sand for both benders. Toph then set about explaining Katara's feelings about On Ji and the two reasons that were discussed the day before.

Aang sat pensive for a moment. "I don't really see Katara as the jealous type like that. I guess if anything is going to scare her into it, it would be marriage, though. I'll see if anything can be figured out through conversation, but that will probably fix itself once the wedding is over. As for her reasoning, that's just a matter of the two being around each other, right?"

"I don't know. Katara doesn't seem to trust the people of the Fire Nation very quickly. Hell, it took five years for this wedding to happen."

"That's probably not a good attribute to have when you're about to be crowned Fire Lady."

"Aang, face it, the vast majority of the people we've met from the Fire Nation were trying to kill us, and we weren't even ruling their country. Maybe it's a great attribute for her to have."


Please review if you've made it this far... even flames. I just like to hear from people.