Disclaimer: refer to chapter 1
Chapter 9: Return to Ba Sing Se
Aang's firebending was coming along very well. Iroh had commented that he was making the progress of a month in only a matter of days, and had only seen such progress in his niece. His sparring sessions with Zuko were evenly matched, and neither held back. Though, the two worked through the beginning sets together, Iroh had taken to teaching Zuko the advanced sets separately. When Aang had asked him about it he had simply explained that his nephew had more experience and proved that he was ready to move on the advanced sets.
"But do not worry, Aang. At the rate that you are progressing, it won't be long until you join us for them. Just remember that your basics are the most important part of your training." Iroh had said to reassure him.
That night after the others had gone to sleep, Aang watched as Zuko slipped out of camp. Curious, he crept along after the other, keeping to the trees and bushes. Zuko had come to the opening of a box canyon, and began to go through his breathing exercises. Aang watched as he began to move his arms in front of him with his index and middle fingers extended. He brought his fingers together and then stretched his arms full out in front and behind him. Aang was almost shocked from his hiding spot as an explosion went off at the end of Zuko's fingertip and sent him hurtling back. Aang continued to watch as the older boy repeated this act several times. What was he trying to do?
After Zuko left to head back to camp, Aang jumped into the clearing and mimicked the movements he had seen. As his arm went forward there was a spark and then a bolt of lightning shot out. His eyes widened at what he had done, and a smile formed on his face.
The next morning Aang came up to Katara, practically bouncing, as they all finished breakfast. He exclaimed, "Katara you've got to see what I've figured out how to do! Watch, it's amazing!"
He had only moved his first arm when both Iroh and Zuko realized what he was doing. The boy had faced away from all the others, but there were a number of trees in the direction he had turned. Zuko was up on his feet before his uncle, and as Aang's arm went forward he grabbed the boy's fingers. He trailed his other hand across his torso, from his arm to his shoulder, down to his stomach and out his other arm. The others watched as lightning sped into the ground a few feet away, rock and dust being kicked up into the air.
When it subsided Zuko turned to Aang and shouted, "What do you think you were doing? Lightning is something you don't just go about playing with!"
Aang felt embarrassed at being yelled at like that, and angry with Zuko for doing it. He shouted right back, "You're just angry because you can't do it and I can! All you get is an explosion in your face! Is that how you got the scar?"
Zuko snarled and brought his fist up to punch the boy. They were both suddenly flung back by Iroh, each sliding across the ground.
"Stop it, both of you!" he reprimanded. "You are acting like a pair of squabbling children. Zuko, there is no need to be that harsh, and you need to learn to truly control your temper. Aang, he was correct about what he said about lightning. It is the purest form of firebending and must be treated with utmost caution. I haven't taught you that technique, so I'm curious as to how you learned it."
Aang mumbled his reply, "I saw Zuko try it."
Iroh sighed, "I must ask that you not attempt that again until I teach you the fundamentals of it. Do you understand?" Aang nodded, and Iroh turned to Zuko. "We will speak of your temper later."
That incident had left them all rather uneasy for the following days, but they had finally come within sight of the wall surrounding Ba Sing Se. They could only hope that the people would not hold a grudge about what they done. Bumi had assured them that he would do all he could to protect them once they reached the palace. He knew King Loki from before he had taken up the throne, and believed he could sway the man.
They landed on the same balcony that the execution had taken place on, and Katara couldn't help the shiver that ran up her spine at the thought of it. As they climbed down, they saw a contingent of guards come forward, the king at their lead. He had a look that could scare a platypus bear. He stopped five yards away from them, and his eyes widened slightly as he saw Bumi.
"Loki! How are you? Did you ever get that gift that I sent to you? You know, the saber toothed moose lion cub. He must be so big now!" Bumi greeted loudly, letting out his trademark laugh.
"Bumi will you just stop that? I have to deal with these firebenders and those four who freed them." Loki replied trying to calm the old man down.
Bumi brushed off the remark, "Oh they're fine. In fact how would you like to know that one of those firebenders you're so eager to get your hands on got me out of Omashu? Anyway, I've given them all my protection. If you want any of them you have to go through me."
"Now see here Bumi!" Loki shouted.
Bumi gave a toothy grin and said, "Oh relax you fuddy-duddy. It's almost suppertime now. How about we discuss all this while we fill our stomachs."
"You're trying to avoid the issue!"
"No, I'm just hungry." The crazy old king said as he walked toward the doors leading inside.
King Loki looked like he was about to continue, but his shoulders slumped and he sighed. He gestured toward the doors and said, "Well, come along. I don't like leaving him alone too long around here."
They were seated around a large dining table, guards stationed near the two firebenders. Even with the men that were ready to attack at a moments notice Iroh was pleasantly eating his meal as though nothing was wrong. Zuko was doing his best to ignore their presence, but would have to fight his instinct to turn every time they moved. The others were doing a much better job at ignoring the guards, like Toph and Sokka, who were tearing into their food.
"So what is it that you all want?" King Loki asked pushing his plate away. "Why would you return after committing such a crime?"
Aang answered, "Please, we're very sorry about what we had to do, but we couldn't let you kill them for just being from the Fire Nation. Iroh is now my firebending teacher, and Zuko has been assisting him. With their help we believe that we can truly defeat the Fire Lord."
Bumi added with his rare serious voice, "Remember Loki, I have granted them my protection."
"Please your majesty, they mean no harm to you or your people. Besides if you kill them you'll be just like the people you're fighting against." Katara said.
Iroh stood and bowed to the king. He said, "Your majesty, I cannot undo what I did all those years ago. All I can offer you is my regrets, apologies, and a promise to do everything in my power to help end this war to preserve the balance of the world."
After a nudge from his uncle, Zuko stood and bowed. He said, "I too, swear to aide in ending this war. My fire and blade belongs to the Avatar."
Loki leaned back and thought for a few moments. He finally announced, "Very well, I accept your words, and hereby pardon you, all of you. I henceforth leave the firebenders, Iroh and Zuko, in the responsibility of King Bumi of Omashu. Bumi, make sure they stay out of trouble. Now with that cleared up, we can continue our work of devising a strategy to strike back at the Fire Nation. You all mentioned that you had important news before all this trouble began? As you know our chief concern is the fact that Sozin's Comet returns in only a matter of months."
Sokka smiled, "Maybe so, but before that there's a solar eclipse."
All but the other three who had been with him in the desert gaped at Sokka. He had just told them of something that could change the course of the war if the opportunity was seized. A smile slowly found its way to Loki's face, and he began to laugh.
"This is wonderful! Do you know the date that it's suppose to happen?" He asked eagerly.
"Sure do!" Aang replied.
Katara glanced over to see Zuko and Iroh seem to shiver at the thought of something. She asked, "Are you two okay?"
Zuko softly replied, "The eclipse is not something that is taken too fondly in our nation."
Iroh explained, "The eclipse cuts us off from the sun, the source of our power, but there's more to it than that. Think of it as having a fire within each of us, a part of our soul, and the sun helps to feed it. At night we still feed on the little bit of sunlight that reflects off of the moon. That's not to say that even during a full moon we our as powerful as we are when the sun is at its zenith, but like waterbenders we too need the moon. The eclipse though, cuts us off from the sun entirely, and those inner fires dim. The texts tell that the people felt the darkness eat away at them. Needless to say there aren't really any pleasant things recorded about that time."
"What texts, the entire Fire Nation section of the library was destroyed." Sokka asked.
The old man answered, "That would have been Zhao, I'm sure. He mentioned something about an underground library. In our capital city of Huo Long Cheng there is the Imperial Archives, where all the texts produced in our nation are stored. The texts that tell of the darkest day are kept within the restricted section open to only members of the royal family and high sages. Perhaps someday we'll be able to show the magnificent structure to you all."
"Perhaps you will after we end this war." Loki commented.
That night Aang, Sokka Katara and Toph were shown to the house that they had used before their little escapade. As only about three weeks had passed, the house hadn't been taken by anyone since they left. The other three who had arrived with them had been given quarters in the palace until other arrangements could be made. It was also the safest place for them being surrounded by people that head tried to have them killed. As they walked in there was a layer of dust on everything. They each went to their rooms, to lie down for the night. They'd clean in the morning.
There was a knock on the door early the next morning, just after sunrise to be exact. Katara drowsily made her way to the source of the annoying sound, dragging her feet as she let out a loud yawn. She mumbled as she got to the door and slid it open to reveal a pleasantly smiling Iroh and his impassive looking nephew.
"Good morning, Katara. My apologies for disturbing you at this early hour, but we came to fetch my other pupil for training." Iroh said with bow of his head.
Blinking the sleep away she replied, "Yeah, okay, he's in the second door on the left."
"Zuko, if you would?" the old man asked.
The younger man proceeded past the other two and headed straight for Aang's room. Katara invited Iroh in for a cup of tea while they waited for the boy to get ready. She quickly cleaned and filled a kettle, and let Iroh heat the water with his bending. As she poured the tea, there was a loud shout followed by another surprised one and then a groan. Zuko came out and sat at the table with them, taking a cup for himself.
"Nephew, I believe there was something you wished to speak with Katara of." Iroh commented, without looking up from his tea.
Zuko bowed slightly to the young waterbender, his cheeks tinting red. He asked, with as much nervousness in his voice as she had ever heard, "Katara, I was wondering if you would p-permit me to escort you to the ball in two days?"
Katara's eyes went wide in surprise at what she had just heard. Was ZUKO asking her out on a date? She couldn't have heard him correctly. Why would he ask her? All those months they had thrown jibes and insults back and forth. They had fought against each other with all their might at the North Pole. They were from different Nations, different social standings, which had been one of his prominent jabs at her. Then again he had said it himself. He was no longer a prince.
Before she had the chance to answer, Aang came into the room. He looked disheveled and still half asleep. He mumbled, "You know, there are easier ways to wake a person."
Katara asked, "What did you do?"
Zuko sat up and shrugged, "He wouldn't get up."
At her confused look Aang explained, "He pulled my blanket off of me, shouting, sending me to the floor."
Iroh stood and said, "Well, I believe it is time we get going. There is still much that you both need to learn."
They all walked toward the door and as Iroh and Aang continued on Zuko stopped, turning to Katara.
"You never answered my question." He said.
She averted her eyes as she said, "I just need a little time to think about it, okay?"
He nodded, "Right, I'll, uh, talk with you later." He then went to catch up with the other two.
Aang and Zuko had just finished with their warm ups and the basic sets, and Iroh was allowing them a few minutes break. They'd been granted permission to use one of the army's training arenas. The three sat near a small drinking fountain along the wall.
Iroh commented after a sip from a dipper, "I noticed you stayed a little longer then us. Did you get an answer to you question?"
"Who'd you ask what?" Aang asked curiously.
Zuko simply replied, "I asked Katara to go to the ball with me."
Aang's eyes widened and his breath caught in his throat. He'd heard a little about the upcoming ball, and had figured that it was a given that he would go with Katara. Now though the young banished prince on the other side of his uncle had asked her, and he felt anger that he even thought that he had the right to do so. It was true that Aang hadn't showed his feelings for Katara for the entire world to see, but he would have thought that the older boy would have noticed them by now.
"She said that she needed some time to think about it."
Aang felt a burst of relief at hearing that statement. That meant that he still had a chance to convince her to go with him. All he had to do was get to her before she could tell Zuko yes. Perhaps this would even be the perfect chance to tell her how he felt.
Iroh placed a hand on Zuko's shoulder and said reassuringly, "You need not fret. I'm sure she will say yes. Now lets get back to practice."
Meanwhile that morning during breakfast at the house, Toph was noticing some weird behavior from the older girl in their group. Katara had been abnormally quiet, only exchanging pleasantries. She hadn't seemed to be paying attention to Sokka or she, and it had taken two or three times before she would reply to either of them. Something was definitely going through her head.
"Okay, Sugar Queen lets have it." Toph said exasperatedly.
Katara shook her head, startled. She asked, "Huh, what?"
Toph said, "You haven't completely been here since before we got up. So what's got you so wound up?"
Her cheeks tinted pink as she replied, "Zuko asked me to go to the ball with him."
Sokka spit out his food as he heard that. He turned to look incredulously at his sister. He exclaimed, "He did WHAT? You said no, didn't you?"
A little offended Katara replied, "Actually, I told him that I needed to think about it."
He let out a sigh of relief, "You had me worried there for a minute. I was beginning to think you were going to say yes to him."
Toph asked, "Why shouldn't she?"
"Because he's a firebender." Sokka said. "It doesn't matter anyway. You heard what she said. Everybody knows that when a girl says that she needs to think about it, it means that she's just being polite in saying no."
Now Katara was mad. She shouted, "Well for your information, Mr. I-know-all-about-how-girls-think-and-act, when I said that I needed to think about it, I MEANT I needed to think about it. Though now that I've talked to you, I don't need to think about it anymore! I'm going with Zuko!"
Sokka stood and shouted back, "No YOU'RE NOT! I forbid you from seeing him, and when we're at meetings that he's at you're to keep as far away from him as possible!"
"You can't tell me who I am, and who I'm not allowed to even be near! You're not dad!"
"While he's away, and we're not with Gran-Gran, I get the authority to do this! Listen he's a Fire Nation boy, he's just after one thing."
"Oh, and what would that be?" She asked, rolling her eyes.
Sokka began to sputter not actually wanting to say it straight out. Darn it, he didn't even want to be thinking it. He said, "Y-y-you know! The s-s-stuff that bad guys do to women."
Both girls' eyes widened in shock. Katara then glared and yelled, "How dare you? You know that Zuko would never do something like that! I don't want to talk to you until you've come to your senses and you're ready to apologise!" With that she stormed into her room and slammed the door shut.
Toph smiled sarcastically, "Nice job, what do you do for an encore, moon a saber toothed moose lion?"
She then walked away, following the older girl into her room. Sokka just stood there with his mouth hanging open. What did he do wrong? All he had done was try to protect his little sister from an older boy that was from their enemy. Why should he get yelled at for that? As it was he would just have to go and make sure that Zuko didn't try anything. He was going to need someone to go with him. He thought for a moment, and snapped his fingers with a smile on his face as an idea came to mind. He rushed out the front door to see if he could find the warrior girl from Kyoshi.
Toph found the irritated waterbender pacing in her room, muttering a number of things her brother could go do. None of them sounded at all pleasant. The young earthbender sat on the bed listening to Katara rant as she walked. This lasted a few minutes until she got bored.
"You're starting to repeat yourself." Toph said, stopping the older girl. "I don't usually interfere, and I don't mean to now. I just want to make sure you're doing this for the right reasons."
Katara sat on the bed beside her, and replied, "I shouted at him because I couldn't believe some of the stuff he said. I mean, ever since our dad left to fight in the war Sokka's always thought of himself as having all sorts of authority, so I'm used to that. He went over the line though when he was trying to keep me from seeing Zuko, and Sokka knows that he's not like that."
"Listen, you guys are the first real friends I've ever had, so I'm just trying to help you out. Did you say you were going to go with Scarface because you want to, or to just tick your brother off?"
Katara smiled, "To tell the truth, I think I did want to accept his offer, but my hesitation got the better of me. We've been through a lot as enemies, but I can't deny this kind of…bond we've formed since he and Iroh joined us. To answer your question, yes, I going to go with Zuko because I want to go with him."
Toph smirked, "In that case, forget about Sokka, and have fun."
A/N: Hou Long Cheng translates as Fiery Dragon City or City of the Fire Dragon. I'm also sorry for not updating more often but my schedule has been kind of tight. But I'm rectifying this problem with a three-chapter update.
