Hey guys. Managed to get this one out, but this is the last update till probably monday or tuesday. i have to pack up the computer tomorrow, no way around it. I managed to finish updating this chapter to post it for you though, hopefully to tide you over till then. Some interesting things happen this chapter, one i am particularly fond off, so without any more delay, enjoy! XD
Disclaimer: Screw it...
Book 4: Air - Reconstruction
Chapter 8: Reunited and Separated
They flew along, almost back at Ba Sing Se. Aang still had to meet with the Earth King again for the meeting he skipped out on yesterday to go on his date. The rest of the group had to get the rest of the supplies they left at their home in Ba Sing Se, things that weren't the bare essentials. The items would be safe there, but that doesn't mean they didn't want them.
Sokka had fallen asleep, his headache coming back now that the fuss was over, and he was beginning to fully grasp how bad his hangover was after the third puke stop. His head was throbbing, and the ice pack, as much as he wished it did, didn't actually help all that much.
"I warned you not to drink so much," Suki playfully scolded, all jokingly, as she rubbed his back while he was doubled over.
He looked up, wiping some residue from the corner of his mouth, and replied, "You did? It's mostly a giant blur after Aang and Katara started dancing on the lake."
The sun was beginning to set and Katara was growing impatient as she yelled, "You know if you could control yourself, we wouldn't be in this position. At this rate, we won't reach Ba Sing Se before the sun sets!"
"You want to trade positions right now?" Sokka asked as he doubled over once more.
Katara just shook her head with pity and walked back to Appa. Aang was already there, securing their supplies. Toph stood by Appa, ready to go, but not really wanting to leave the ground quite just yet. She really hated flying, but she also wanted to go back to Ba Sing Se more than anything, it was taking much longer then she would have liked.
Sokka stood up once more and announced, "Okay, I think I'm good for now."
Suki helped him back to Appa as they set off to fly again for the fifth time today. But lucky for everyone, after a good half hour, they could see the walls of Ba Sing Se, right as the sun was starting to drop below the horizon. In another hour, they were over the city. Sokka pleaded, "Hurry Aang, I don't feel so good again."
"Please hurry buddy, I don't want to clean up the saddle again," Aang asked Appa, who, even though he was tired, urged himself to go a little faster and close the distance to the house.
As soon as they landed Sokka hopped down and rushed to the house, claiming the bathroom first. Everyone else shook their heads as they slowly hopped down. Aang stayed up and began to pass down the supplies they had.
He threw Suki her bag and Sokka's bag, which she took them and went inside to help her boyfriend again. He then passed down Katara's bag and his bag, and she set them in the corner until they were done. Toph brought Appa some hay and went to go accept her bag. Aang was bout to pass it down when he noticed something odd. Sticking out of Toph's bag was a long object wrapped in brown cloth.
He picked up and asked curiously, "Hey Toph, what's this brown thing?"
"It's nothing, just give me my bag, I got to go talk to my what will be former employer," She said a little too calmly and quickly, leaving Aang and Katara's suspicions aroused, but decided not to question her on the topic.
Just as she was about to leave, Sokka came out with Suki to help unpack. Toph turned to Sokka and dropped her bag to grab the brown object as she said, "Hey Snoozles, I got something here for you. Iroh wanted me to give it to you, and you seem to be well enough to stand, so here."
She handed Sokka the mysterious object who took it and began to unwrap it. As he unbound the top, he saw a hilt of something very familiar. No longer bothering with keeping the cloth in good condition, he ripped it off and found in his hands something he had never expected to see again.
"It's my…sword," He whispered quietly as he held reverently his black sword that he lost during the defeat of Fire Lord looked up at Toph, tears starting to brim in his eyes.
"Yea, and your boomerang is somewhere in that cloth over there that you threw down," Toph replied as she picked up her bag again, pointing to it.
Sokka stood there, dumbfounded, and could only manage to force out a simple and weak, "How…?"
Toph shrugged as she replied, "Iroh told me his white lotus buddies found it while they were helping to clear the area quickly of the wreckage of the downed ships."
Sokka dropped his sword as he ran over and gave Toph and exuberant hug. He pulled her close and whispered in her ear, "Thank you so much. This is the best gift I have ever received in my life, I can't ever repay you."
Toph, after a second of bliss, pulled away and replied, "Alright mister teary, let go. Besides, it's Iroh who got it for you, and I think that necklace Aang paid for is a much better gift. A sword is pretty weak, can't really compare to my bending."
With that Toph turned around and began to walk down to her private apartment near Iroh's teashop, still pretending to be tough. Sokka just smiled as he turned around to pick up his sword and find his boomerang in the pile of cloth. Suki smiled exuberantly, almost as large as when she received her betrothal necklace, and fingered that necklace quietly extremely happy and grateful, and not only because Sokka got his sword back…
Sokka ran in to grab the cases for his sword and boomerang, and swung them happily over his shoulder and on to his back. They finished unpacking very happy, all in a very good mood, which was a much needed change, no matter how short it may last for the rest of them besides Sokka, from the old depressed mood of the Boiling Rock.
When they were done, everyone sat down at the table as Katara and Suki prepared dinner, but Aang ran through, grabbed some fruit, and headed for the door as he kissed Katara on the cheek.
Katara turned around and pouted a little as she called, "Where are you going, aren't you going to eat?"
Aang turned around from the front door and called to her, "Sorry, I can't I have to go met the Earth King, I've put this off for too long as it is."
Katara sulked a little as she turned around and began chopping the vegetables and muttered under her breath, "But I wanted to make him a special dinner…"
Suki put her hand on Katara's forearm as she whispered, "It's okay, he'll try to be back quick for you, you know Aang, he loves it when you cook anything for him."
Katara smiled gently in return and continued on their work, Sokka blissfully unaware of this entire conversation, was content drawing his sword and putting it back in it's sheath. But he did ask one thing, "Hey, you guys think it's odd that Aang kind of wanted to go that meeting. Yesterday he couldn't stand them."
Katara shrugged and replied, "I don't know, maybe he came to some sort of realization. All I can say that if he stops stressing over them now, then I'm not complaining."
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Aang flew on his glider quickly into the palace to the throne room, where the Earth King was sitting and talking to one of the generals. As soon as they saw Aang, the general bowed and excused himself. Aang walked up to the throne and bowed to the Earth King, who bowed back and announced jubilantly, "Aang, my good friend, it is good to see you again. I hope your trip has gone well."
Aang looked away and replied, "Not exactly. Azula escaped and brutally murdered many people, the death toll is around fifteen at the moment. Zuko wanted me to pass on to you the need for you to send all the intelligence operatives you have to the coast near the fire nation, which we believe she would be heading. He is checking his own nation and sent a few of his own men to check it out, and the Water Tribe fleet will be patrolling the waters looking for anything unusual, any sign of her."
"Oh dear, this is bad news. I'm not sure this is such a good idea, sending my black ops agents into Fire Nation colonies," the king mused with an uneasy expression.
"We don't really have a choice, do we? We don't have any people left to search with besides yours," Aang replied hurriedly, the thought of being turned down not crossing his mind.
"What about those White Lotus people who saved my city?" He rebutted desperately desperately.
"Sir, neither of us have any control over them, and even so, I don't know what matters they do or concern themselves with, or even don't concern themselves with. We need your people," Aang answered determinedly, not seeing any other options.
The Earth King sighed in defeat and muttered, "Yes, I guess you're right, I'll have my generals get on that. Anyway, you should know of some good news. After a couple hours of arguing, the generals decided to put off the decision. We need to rebuild some of the towns we have before we go to taking back territory. It should take a while, and give Zuko some time to prepare things for them, and give us time to discuss privately what we could do," The Earth King responded happily, and Aang brightened at this good news, glad something good had happened.
"I also received while you were gone a letter from the Northern Water Tribe saying that the chieftain needs to speak with you, some very odd happenings are going on. That was all he said, no details, but it sounded pretty urgent," The Earth King continued as Aang tilted his head to the side quizzically, wondering what it could be.
"Any other meetings I need to know about?" Aang asked quickly, trying to set his basis before he left, making sure he wasn't missing anything too important.
"Not unless you won't be back in a month for my meeting with Bumi and the other governors. There are a couple, but they're trivial, not international problems, I can handle them, but if you would like, we could go sit down for some tea," He offered politely.
Aang looked at the sun, which had nearly set. Katara wouldn't be done making dinner for another half an hour, so if he hurried, they could probably make it. "I would love to have tea, and I know a great shop on the upper ring, if you want to go there."
"I haven't left the palace in so long, that would be superb," he replied as he left to go fetch a carriage for both of them. Aang could get there much faster by flying, but figured he should spend some time with the King, see how things were going on the his home front. They stepped into the carriage and chatted about how the reconstruction was going, and how they were trying to get the refugees back to rebuild their homes, but some didn't want to go. Either way, the city was in desperate need of expansion, and he was sure to use this opportunity to do so. They also chatted about how trading was going, and how much they were now trading with the fire nation. Everyone is upgrading their homes and life styles with some of their technology, and the king was more then happy to accelerate this trading, knowing how much need Zuko was in of money to stimulate the economy, trying to build some demand, but it's hard to match the amount of demand a war had built, especially towards the end with the fleets of giant war balloons.
Before they knew it, they had arrived at Iroh's teashop, and Aang lead the Earth King in. The guests in there were shocked to see the Earth King himself in the shop, and Iroh courteously met them at the entrance and bowed deeply, muttering, "The Earth King himself, what an honor to have you come to my humble tea shop. Please, tell me whatever you need."
The Earth King smiled and replied, "Please, do not trouble yourself too much for me. The Avatar just brought me here telling me the excellence of your tea. Please everyone, go about what you were doing," he added at the end to the entire shop.
"Thank you very much for the compliment. Please, right this way," Iroh said as he led Aang and the King to sit down in the corner near the back, and ordered some jasmine tea, and talked politics some more. Soon, Iroh came out with the tea personally and poured it for them. Aang smiled and replied, "Thank you a lot Iroh."
The Earth King stopped and said, "Wait, Iroh? As in the Iroh? Dragon of the West Iroh?"
Aang looked down quickly, realizing what he let slip, and Iroh's smile faded a little as he replied, "Yes, it is me."
The Earth King stood up and shook his hand saying, "The Iroh who retook my city for me. How could I ever thank you enough, please, sit and have tea with us."
Aang beamed and Iroh's smiled widened and he replied jubilantly, "I would love to, it has been a long day of work."
"Please regale me with the tale of how you saved my city, I never got all of the details," The King asked as they all sat and listened to Iroh tell the tale of how he gathered the White Lotus, and how he attacked and took the city back in the middle of the comet, when the defenders were at their strongest. The King listened fascinated while they drank tea, trying to visualize what Iroh was saying in his mind.
"How could I ever repay you? You should be living in luxury, in a house almost as large as my palace for what you have done!" He exclaimed while he drained his cup.
Iroh shook his head and replied, "No thank you, I am very happy and content where I am right now. Consider me retaking the city atoning for my previous wrong doings."
Aang, who had finished drinking, announced, "As much as I would like to stay, Katara is making dinner, and I am going to be late, so please excuse me."
The King stood and bowed as he said, "Please do, and thank you so much for bringing me here. I have much to discuss with Mr. Iroh, so I think I will stay a little longer. By the way, this tea is exquisite!"
Aang stood and literally flew out the door back to his house, where dinner was just being served. Toph was there, sitting at the head of the table, leaning back on two of her chair legs. Sokka and Suki sat on one side, Sokka sitting near Toph, ready for the dinner. Katara's plate was on the other side as she began serving. "Room for one more?" Aang asked as he walked in the door.
Katara beamed as she set down the food, strolled over and hugged Aang as she whispered, "I'm really glad you could make it, I made a special dinner."
"What, and miss your cooking? Not for the world!" Aang exclaimed with a sweet grin that made Katara's heart melt from the sweetness of his words, especially coming from someone who held the fate of the world in his hands. Aang walked over to sit down as Katara grabbed another plate. She was not kidding when she said it was a special dinner. There was a very large fruit salad for everyone, and tomato soup with bread. On the table was a large heaping pile of spaghetti and a plate of chicken for those who wanted it.
Aang stared at the meal with awe as Katara put a plate for him next to her on the table and served him the food. "Wow, this is amazing Katara," Aang muttered as he sat next to her and kissed her on the cheek. She blushed a little as they all dug in. Sokka normally would have given Aang a warning glare, but was to enthralled by his newly reacquired sword to care much about anything.
Suki gave him a sideways glance and smiled a little as she sarcastically asked, "Who are you going to marry, me or that sword?"
"At the moment, I'm not really sure," He replied, sarcasm dripping in his voice as he leaned over and put his arm around her shoulder. Everyone laughed as they continued to eat. Aang told them of the mysterious letter he got from the chieftain of the Northern Water Tribe and how he would have to leave in the morning.
"Sorry Twinkletoes, count me out on this one. I need to go visit my parents again, something about missing me more or something stupid like that," She told him, trying to hide the sadness in her voice, but at this point, everyone was seeing through her act, but didn't bring that up.
"Okay, I really didn't expect anyone to go, but I have to go, and I thought you guys should know," He replied as he shrugged his shoulders.
Katara looked mocked hurt as she asked, "You didn't think I would come with you?"
Aang snaked his arm around her shoulder and replied, "No, I just knew I wouldn't have to ask."
She smiled brightly as Sokka vaguely announced, still watching his sword, "Guess I better come with you two to keep you under control."
Suki looked down and muttered, "Well, I need to go back to the Fire Nation. I've been away from my team too long as it is, and I need to get back to them."
For the first time since he got his sword back, Sokka took his eyes off it and stared at Suki, looking like she just told him she had a fatal illness, and replied, "But…you…and me…and I just…I…I don't want you to go."
She hugged him and kissed him lightly on the lips as she whispered back, "I know, it hurts me too, but I need to get back to them, and now that you guys have gotten safely back to Ba Sing Se, I have to worry about Azula and my duties. With Azula on the lose, they need me now more then ever. I'm sorry Sokka, but we won't be gone long."
"Well, after we visit the North Pole, Zuko told me about some meeting and stuff," Aang said, not looking anyone in the eye. It was an obvious boldfaced lie, but Sokka appreciated the sentiment, knowing that Aang could get called away at a moments notice to go anywhere in the world.
Sokka looked down with a pained expression and whispered, "Well, I guess I could go with you."
Suki lifted his head and smiled as she cupped her hand around his cheek and muttered, "As much as my heart would love to do that, we both know you can't. You're the smart guy; you need to be informed to come up with strategies. You're more intelligent then anyone I've ever meet in my life, and we both know that in this dark time, the Avatar will need your brilliance."
As wonderfully nice as that comment was, it did nothing to brighten Sokka's demeanor. He looked away and stood up as he muttered, "I'm not hungry."
Everyone's jaw dropped at this statement, knowing that he had only had one plate of food. Aang thought it was joke for a minute until he started to walk up the stairs and Aang whispered quietly to everyone, "Holy crap, he's serious."
"Sokka, wait!" Suki called as she got up and went after him.
The other three sat there, playing with their food and not actually eating it. Toph was the first to break the silence as she muttered, "Well that was a bummer."
Aang and Katara grunted in agreement as Toph went up to the guest room that was reserved for her, considering she sold her lease on her current apartment and quit her temporary job, getting ready to go back to her parents. That left Aang and Katara alone, sitting in an awkward silence while they stared at their food. Aang muttered to her, "Dinner was delicious."
"Yea," she replied quietly, still starring down.
"Come on," Aang muttered quietly as he lead her outside to the courtyard.
"What is it AaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNG!" Katara started and ended up yelling as Aang picked her up bridal style and air bended them up to the roof.
They landed smoothly and Aang set Katara down as he said, "Sorry for that,"
She caught her breath and tried to calm her heart rate as she muttered, "It's okay just…next time, give me a little warning."
Aang smiled and sat on the roof and Katara sat next to him. They stared up at the stars and the full moon, watching the stars in wonder. Aang glanced over and saw Katara, and just how beautiful she looked as the stars radiated of her skin, making her glow like a goddess. It just hit him how lucky he was to have found her as he whispered, "I love you."
She turned to face him with her knees to the side as she smiled warmly as she whispered back, "I love you too."
Aang leaned in and took her lips once more, and lived in the bliss of being near her and holding her. They lay on the roof for quite some time, in each other's arm, switching back and forth from watching the stars and kissing until Katara started to get tired and they went to bed, both very happy and content.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Azula finally reached the doctors house, where she lay perfectly calm and motionless, playing the part of and exhausted passed out girl. The doctor started to talk with the man about the condition he had found her in, and at this point, Azula thought she should wake up, tired of pretending to sleep.
She pretended to stir and opened her eyes, making a soft and quite moan laced with fictional pain. She got her first view of the house, and saw she was on a cot in the corner of a green room, staring at the ceiling. She looked to her left to get a full view of the room, and saw a handful of cots that lined the wall opposite the door, and a little girl sitting next to her bed staring at her, whom she assumed was Seya. She could only be ten, no older, and had long chestnut brown hair that went down to her waist, strait and simple. She had dazzling green eyes, and watched her with concern.
Behind her, an old doctor rushed over in a simple white robe. He was very aged, with a bald dome and gray hair lining the sides of his head, which were laced with wrinkles. He wore small glasses, oddly reminiscent of the Earth King, which covered bright gold eyes signature of the fire nation. The man next to him was the one she assumed brought her here. He was tall and stood very strait, like a former military soldier. He had crows' feet at the corners of his eyes, and a little bit of dark grey developing at his side burns. He was very muscular, with a large burn scar going along the right side of his face. He wore a straw hat covering his very short dark brown hair, his eyes also a bright green. He wore blue overalls and an undershirt like that of a farmer, which would explain why he was leaving town at that time of day, probably selling food to the local market.
"My lady, how do you feel? You are in terrible condition, please, how did this happen?" The old doctor asked quizzically, obviously trying to make a diagnosis of some sort.
Azula sat up a little and fake winced and grabbed her side as she fell back down to the pillow. She turned her head towards them and muttered in a very weak voice, "I had escaped…some pirate slavers. I was afloat for three days, and ended on this shore. After drifting through the woods, I made it here."
"You escaped?" The father asked curiously with a very deep voice.
"Barely. I was running and made it to the top where I was cornered. I only had two options, jump or stay captured. I decided to jump. They treated me terribly, beating me and taking advantage of my weakened state," She whispered as she forced some fake tears. It wasn't all that hard, she prided herself on being able to lie well.
"You poor girl, please, stay here as long as you need, on my pay," The father said as he lead his daughter out.
The doctor walked over and removed her shirt so he could see her undergarments and her injuries. "Oh dear," He whispered, "These are terribly bad. And I do believe this bruise is from a broken rib, and some internal injury. You must be in terrible pain."
Azula took the chance while he examined her wounds to reply, "But that's the odd thing doctor, it doesn't. Watch, pass me that knife."
He did so curiously, wondering if what she said was true, and saw her take the knife and make a small cut in her hand, her face not changing at all, showing no bit of pain. "Curious, curious…" he muttered to himself as he got up and went to the icebox, crabbing two ice cubes.
"Tell me, my dear girl, do these feel cold to you?" He asked as he handed those to her.
To Azula's surprise, it didn't. She felt the ice, but it didn't feel cold at all. "No," She whispered softly, her eyes filled with wonder.
"What about this?" he asked as he brought a candle close to her. She put a finger right in the flame, not bothering to fire bended, and she didn't feel a thing, but saw her skin begin to redden and pull away.
"What's wrong with me?" She asked quietly and for the first time in quite some time, truthfully.
"It's curious, I have not actually seen this case, but merely heard of it. After someone is deeply hurt and traumatized, like you have been, their head tries to shut down the pain and hurt, and they literally turn off their pain receptors. As a side effect, it can also sometimes affect temperature, which you seemed to have developed. I have never actually seen someone with it, merely read it in texts. It normally comes from someone who suffers incredible mental and emotional damage. The only physical damage that could have come close to causing this is someone near death, when they go into shock. This is more or less a more permanent state of shock, a modern medical mystery. You my young lady are a marvel, the secrets your mind may hold. I have no idea what those pirates could have done to you, but it must have been terrible. Please rest here as long as you need to," He said as he applied some herbs to her wounds to help them heal faster, which normally had people screaming in pain, but she was already lost in her thoughts, about the betrayal she suffered from everyone, and the gifts she received for it. Now she had the tools to exact her revenge.
"Well, this is much easier to treat when I don't have to use the restraints. May I ask young girl what your name is?" The doctor asked with a small smile as he treated her wounds.
Azula stumbled at this, because that was the one thing she forgot, the simplest of things. Thinking quickly on her feet, metaphorically of course, she muttered, "Mai, my name is Mai."
The doctor gave her a quick piercing gaze for a half second with a small smile on his face while he responded, "Well Mai, I hope you get better soon. Excuse me while I go get some medicine for you."
With that the doctor left and went to the back room and locked the door behind him. He opened a secret door behind a shelf and went into a back room. He grabbed a scroll and some ink and wrote a quick note.
Dear Iroh,
She's here, why don't you send some of your flowers and we can have a party. She seems to be in an odd mood, like she doesn't feel anything, not a pain in the world.
With the coded message done, he rolled it up, slipped it into the compartment on the back of a messenger hawk bearing a white lotus, and let it fly out a secret tunnel that opened up outside of town. Azula had been found out.
METEOR SWORD RETURNS!! yea, i never liked when Sokka lost that, was the one thing that made him unique and awesome besides his plans, so i was determined when i originally set out to make this story that he would get it back somehow, and he has! Also like Azula's little illness, which is only the tip of the ice berg really, but people needed some knowledge of what was going on, i stressed it so much. The symptoms of it are loosely based on a disease called Congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis (CIPA), and before anyone asks, yes i got it from watching House, one of my favorite shows ever. But the cause has absolutely nothing to do with the real disease at all, so don't try to piece anything together from it. If you do have any ideas about Azula, or comments on Sokka's sword, feel free to tell me, and i'll probably laugh at how off they are, but at least you'll know you're going on the wrong track and to keep trying. You keep trying, i'll keep answering. Who knows, you might get it right, just like wings might spread out of my arse and fly me to space. Until next time, much love to all my dedicated readers, and i'll talk to you again soon ;).
