Epilogue

Today was a special day in both the Fire Nation and the Water Tribes. Today was the tenth birthday of crowned prince Kazumi, son of Fire Lord Zuko and Lady Katara. He sat on a comfortable throne to the right of his fathers, in the grand throne room, whist a group of circus performers showed their famous act. Apparently, this very group use to chase his parents when his father was banished. Then they bowed to the large audience and left to the applause. The next act on, he didn't recognise, and nether, apparently, did either of her parents. On the performance floor was a woman, around her mid-twenties. Her entire body was hidden behind loose robes and her face was covered by a silk mask. Only by the black bun and golden eyes could he tell that she was fire nation blood. Several large vases of both boiling and freezing water was carried in by the servants and placed along the edges of the floor. Another, younger lady in grass coloured armour stood on the sides as well, her face too was covered by a mask, but one made of wood instead. They both waited in silence for the cheering to stop and the music to start.

After a moment of quiet, the older lady bowed to the royalty, and the music began. It started slowly and softly, which her movements mirrored, like a gentle breeze. Suddenly she snapped to face the first two vases, and the music turned aggressive. She pulled two snakes of water out of the vases, one of scalding heat the other of deathly cold, and danced angrily with them, like the Kyoshi warriors. The girl on the sidelines suddenly threw a glass ball into the air and the dancer caught it with the whips, casing light to beam out everywhere from the fires in the room. It looked quite spectacular. Then the music went quiet, and she handed the orb back to her helper. Then she bended the water back into the vases. When the music was louder again, it had a calming tone with a beat to it. The lady in silk called scalding water from another pot and bended it over her, transforming it into a giant creature with an elegant form. Gold orbs in the dome head played as eyes. It danced to the calm music like a leaf in the wind, and as the music transformed to violence again, so did she. She pounced into the air, still entombed in the monster like costume and landed on the ground on one fist. With a kick towards the royals she bended the costume back into the vase and started to just bend the steam as the music became elegant again. It became a bird that Katara sworn she had seen somewhere before. Somewhere a long time ago. With all of the attention on her silk-donned comrade, no one noticed the armoured girl preparing some rocks. The steam birds suddenly became water and the armoured girls sharp rocks joined them, turning them from elegant looking to sinister. They quickly dove at Katara making her jump and hide slightly behind her husbands arm. Zuko couldn't help but smirk just a little. As suddenly as they came, the stone and water birds returned to the vases and the two benders stood in the middle of the floor.

Katara couldn't bear to pull her sky blue eyes away from the unknown pair before them. Who were they? Somewhere deep down inside of the Fire Lords wife, she felt a twang of reconsideration. Those friendly gold eyes and the others olive ones. It was also those movements, her forms that Katara recognised.

"Who are you?" Asked Zuko, voicing out Katara's own question.

"I think, great Fire Lord, that both of you truly know who we are. For whom else looking like me can bend?" asked the elder of the two. After a moment of thought, Katara tried to answer her own question.

"…Condor?" She questioned, just above a whisper.

"Correct!" Suzu Eika cried out, ripping off the silk that covered the lover half of her face with a laugh. "Fantastic to see you in person, K. After all of these years! I see you've got rid of the slaves!" Katara just laughed

"Mom, Who are they?" Asked Kazumi nervously. Looking at the old friends of her mother.

"Ah! You must be Kazumi. I haven't seen you since you were a baby." Smiled the waterbender brightly. "I would love the opportunity to get to know you properly." Condor then bowed to the young prince again.

"Now Condor, there is no need for such formalities with us." Scorned Katara, playfully. The other lady giggled behind her wooden mask. "And it can be considered rude of you not to reveal yourself, young one."

"Yes, ma'am." Smiled the other. She then pulled off the mask, which resembled the Blue Spirits, and smiled at her. It was Rocci! Katara swept from her seat and hugged the earth bender girl.

"You've grown so much. You look so pretty!" Cooed Katara "Where did you get that armour?" The armour she wore resembled the one that Condor had left in twenty years ago, but in oranges and greens instead of reds and blues.

"Condor had an old friend in the Fire Nation who makes women's armours. He, I believe, made Azula's and Condor's as well." Explained Rocci with a nod. "With our job finished now and slave labour over, I and Condor has time to spare. Can we stay with you for a while? Because I've missed you." Beside her, Condor smiled proudly. Once Rocci was too frightened of people to ask for anything, but now she was asking the wife of the Fire Lord if they could stay in the palace? Even Condor wasn't that bold!

"I would love you to stay. Both of you! I've missed you two as well."

The palace was grand and beautiful. But still nothing on sleeping under the stars on a beautiful, clear night. Condor was exploring it by herself. She wore a pair of trousers normally worn in an Agni Kai and a short robe. Men's clothes were far more comfortable and better than the decorative gowns women wore. She always thought that all girls should be free to wear trousers in place of dresses. Her hair was messy as it always was. Just like her brothers. Even though Gouki Kuroihaato was evil, she still missed him, in all of his generosity and playfulness. He was so much nicer prior to the death of Mata. Both times before hand that she entered there before hand, someone died. Lazily, she pushed on the large door of a random room in the palace. It was bright in there from the light of a large window facing east. The room was relatively small, on comparison to the rest of the rooms in the palace, and decorated with sections of all four elements. Nothing much was in the simple room apart from the piano in the centre of the room. It took a moment for her to recognise it as hers. Condor ran her elegant fingers along the top of the piano and then, ever so gently, along the smooth keys. It had faded the slightest bit, showing that it was frequently used and old. Little did she realise that this room was a memorial to the late Fire Lord Iroh, who died in that very room, with a cup of tea in his hand. Old but sweet music began to pour from the piano as she played music that her fingers and her heart knew only too well. Some, who heard the music, thought it was the cheerful ghost of the loved Fire Lord.

For the remainder of there lives, the two girls travelled between the South Pole and the fire nation. Happy and free as the birds.

Finis

A/N: Thanks for reading, I hope that you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

I'd like to thank aniek90 and Xannijn for all of the encoragement along the way.

A sequal is here : A Slave and a Wave 2: Time Will Tell All. Go check it out when it comes up.