Windows

"No- just… Shut up. Shut. Up. I need to think… Just. Hang on. What."

She finally took the seat that was offered to her at the beginning of the conversation.

The woman across from her waited patiently.

"I-I mean… Okay, wait. Wait. Tell me… again."

"Alright ladies, gentleman," she began, speaking through her surgeon's mask and looking intently at the others standing around the table, "You've done this before. The stakes… are exactly the same as before."

To her right, the youngest person at the table at thirty-five years old, and also the only male, swallowed visibly. His blue eyes were trained on his leader, desperately wishing, wanting to believe her.

"You are my best students. That makes you the best medical professionals in the world. Our patient is going to walk in through that door… and then we're going to do this operation flawlessly."

Zuko was working through a series of building permits for Caldera when his secretary got the phone call.

"Yes, sir, your appointment is confirmed for tomorrow afternoon- I beg your pardon, please wait a moment, I have another incoming call- Hello, you have reached the Office of the Fire Lord, may I ask who-... Ah. Yes, madam. I'll put you through."

She called through the door, "Miss Katara on Line 2!"

The older man paused, before reaching for the machine on his desk and pressing the blinking red button. He lifted the handset to his ear, a smile coming across his face.

"It's good to hear from you, friend. It's been too long. What occasion-?... Oh, you have news, do you? What-?..."

Whatever he heard caused his eyes to shock open, and his lips parted.

And for a while he was silent, listening.

"... I… That's… Of course. Of course. I'll be there. Yes. Yes. Goodbye."

And he hung up. For a moment, he kept his hand on the handset, as if not quite able to believe that he had just had that conversation, Then he slowly let his hand slide down so that it rested in front of him on the desk, arm resting lightly on the table's surface.

"Ming?" he called through the open door.

"Yes, my Lord?"

"I need you to cancel my appointments for the next two weeks. Please tell them they have my sincerest regrets- in fact, make sure that they get individual letters…"

"Alright, Tian, pass the topical anesthesia. Thank you. Ren, move the scope into position…"

The three other doctors in the room were quickly, quietly, and orderly doing as they were told with machine-like precision, bringing everything to bear with maximum efficiency.

"Right. Good… We'll be starting with the left one, okay?"

The earthbender who was quite completely out of her element timidly answered, "Okay, whatever you say, Sugar Queen. You're the boss."

They had to physically come to his home on Kyoshi island to deliver the message. There were no telephones yet.

"-long way to Ba Sing Se, and the girls, they look so~ prettay~"

"Gramp-Gramp, you're funny when you sing!"

Teasing, "Funny how?"

"Funny funny!"

"How funny?"

"The funniest!"

Sokka laughed, reaching down to pick up his (so far) only grandchild and putting her on his lap, "You are such a twerp."

Poke, "You're a twerp!"

Scoff, "Pfff. I am the original twerp. All your twerpiness came from me!"

"... what does original mean?"

"Eh… That means first. Sorry. It's just that you're such a smart cookie, I keep thinking you know all these words!"

The little girl gave him the biggest hug she could, wrapping her little arms as far as possible around her grandfather's frame, "I love you, Gramp! You play with me all the time!"

His eyes softened, and he wrapped his arms around her, "I love you too, Aga."

A treacherous voice whispered in the back of his mind: Even though it'll all be over in the blink of an eye, and I'll never see you again, and I'll probably forget about you…

No, he thought firmly, eyes hardening into steel unseen as his granddaughter pushed her face into his chest, None of that. I will not walk into that insanity.

Instead, he sent a prayer. Not to any spirits, or gods. But to people who never existed. People who were known only by five very special people in the world. Who were subsequently forgotten. People who, Sokka knew, he had loved.

And then let them go.

He was able to forestall the tears, and he pulled back from the hug, "Hey, munchkin. You want to get something to eat?"

"No seaweed stew! Yuck!"

"Yuck, indeed! That's Northern food! We're gonna have arctic hen!"

The little girl threw up her hands in celebration, cheering, "Yay! Meat!"

"You truly are a girl after my own heart," Sokka said with some wonder, thinking that perhaps it wouldn't be quite so easy to forget this one, after all.

Knocknocknock.

Raising an eyebrow, he called towards the front door from his rocking-chair, "Who's there?"

"Telegram for Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe."

"Okay, it's finished. It's looking a little peaky, give it some hydration before sealing the wound."

The young man, Ren, answered, "Yes, Ma'am."

The master waterbender turned to Lan, the second-oldest woman in the room, "Did you clean the eyelid speculum?"

Holding up the object in question, the surgeon's smile could be seen through her mask, "You know it."

Katara's face betrayed nothing, taking the proffered tool, "You… are just so on it, aren't you? Be ready. We're doing the right one in five."

He wasn't far. He lived in the same city, after all. They just sent a courier to Zhongyang Mountain a few miles away, where they knew he'd be.

It was spring. And if there was one thing that Aang could not find any fault in whatsoever with regards to the Fire Nation colonizing the Earth Kingdom… it was the importation of cherry blossom trees. They were too beautiful to find fault in.

Beauty. Beautiful. Heavy words. Should be used sparingly. Completely justified in this case.

A light breeze blew through the branches above him, and a snowstorm burst into existence as the flowers detached to fall in a swirling dance. Glancing down, the airbender wasn't surprised to find his picnic blanket almost completely covered in petals.

He sat in seiza on the top of a hill, overlooking Shangfang Pond, a body of water surrounded by sakura and nestled between the peak of the foothill Aang sat on and the rest of Zhongyang. Behind him, he knew, was the not unimpressive view of the United Republic, with Republic City taking up a prominent pose at center stage. That was beautiful too… but that treat was year-round. Cherry blossom blooming season came once a year, and only for two weeks, before it was over.

However, he took a break from drinking with his eyes.

Aang raised his cup of tea to his face, heating it a little with his bending, and breathed in.

Darjeeling. Is. The best.

Ginseng was a close second, but for this life… the Avatar decided that darjeeling was it. And he suspected that it would remain his number one choice for quite a few lifetimes. His record was three lives and sixteen years, for oolong. Maybe this time he'd break it.

Now, now, this isn't a competition, he chided himself. The brought the cup to his lips to sip the hot liquid, tea is meant to be enjoyed at the pace of falling sakura petals.

Lowering the cup, he sighed, wrinkled eyes closing.

Bliss.

I don't think I've felt this relaxed in a long, long… long… time.

"Avatar Aang!"

The knife was dipped into alcohol. Then dried. Then handed to the operator who stood at the microscope aimed directly at the earthbender's eyes.

"Alright, Toph, no talking for this part, please. You're being held steady, I know, but I need you to be as still as you can."

The sarcasm welled up instantly.

"I'm an earthbender, Sugarcake. If I put my mind to it, I can be as motionless as a rock."

Katara calmly rejoined, "Great. That makes this really easy. Please act as a rock to the best of your ability; bonus points for accurate volume imitation."

Toph, with the skin surrounding her right lids freshly swabbed with disinfectant, went still.

The waterbender looked straight down, through the magnifier, at the milky surface of the cataract with considering, dark blue eyes, lifting her knife and holding it in a steady grip.

She was glad to see that the growth looked just as easy to work with as the other eye.

A corneoscleral incision… just like the other, then, she mused.

Carefully, she aimed.

When they were sitting in that office, Katara explained the procedure. Then she explained the three-day exercise-period afterwards that the earthbender would have to go through. Toph sat quietly through it all, not saying a word more until she was finished with her explanation.

They sat quietly for some time.

Then:

"Okay," Toph calmly spoke into the air, flat, "That's… great."

A tiny crack appeared in the window overlooking the bay.

Katara looked at the woman in front of her with soft eyes, "Toph-"

"No. No. It's okay. I get it. I get it. Shut up."

The crack expanded into a fracture, catching Katara's attention, who eyed it warily and spoke a little more urgently.

"You don't have to do this right now if you don't-"

"Shut up."

The fracture became a spiderweb covering the entire pane of glass.

"I know it's a bit of a shock-"

The window shattered.

Followed by Katara's eardrums shortly afterwards.

"NO SH-!"

"Okay, yeah. We're doing this. In a fluffy room. Where I can't see."

Ren's hands stilled from fiddling with the wrappings, "You ready?"

"I said-"

The blindfold was taken off.

"..."

"..."

"... Okay… first impressions on this whole… 'seeing' thing… it kinda sucks."

"... Um…"

"It's just a giant, blurry mess. Can I have dirt now?"

"... No?" the doctor said timidly, "We're here for you to practice your eyes. Mistress Katara was very specific: No rocks."

"Monkeyfeathers."

"Right. I've got one request… before I go in."

"What is it?"

"That therapy thing? I'm gonna practice using my working peepers with one of your goons, or something."

"... I've still gotta do the waterbending healing sessions."

"I'll do those blindfolded. I want… When it's all fixed… And I see for real for the first time…"

"... Okay. Not a problem."

"Three."

"Next."

"Four."

"Next."

"... Eight?"

"Very good," the young doctor said warmly, lowering his two hands, "You're getting the hang of this fast. You might actually be done by the third day."

"Sweetness. Next thingy?"

Ren nodded, and Toph noticed that.

"Alright, we're gonna work on colors, now…"

Zuko sat in the waiting room, eyes closed and sleeves folded, the very picture of calm and tranquility.

However, to anyone who really knew him, like Aang, it was beyond obvious that the Fire Lord was internally wringing his hands in excitement.

Shaking his head and chuckling, the Avatar moved from the doorway to stand next to the airbender.

He opened with a drawl, "So…"

Eyelids opened to reveal a single, burning gold eye, meeting the bright grey gaze.

A small smile appeared on Zuko's face, "So."

Momo, by now an ancient creature, grawped and smoothly leapt from Aang's shoulder to land on the seat to the right of Zuko, curling up to take one of his very frequent naps.

Aang's smile widened, "Isn't this the greatest thing?"

The Fire Lord leaned back in his seat, breathing in and letting out a huge sigh, "Yes. It's wonderful."

But Aang could see that Zuko was already starting to think beyond the present moment as the small smile began to vanish. Already thinking about… about a day when this would be… boring.

Intervention, the Avatar thought hastily, Intervention!

"Hey," he rushed out, sitting next to the unoccupied seat next to the firebender and putting a hand on his shoulder, "Don't. Don't… do what you're doing right now, alright?"

He didn't dare to say it out loud, lest he trick himself into the same downward spiral of thought.

Reiterating firmly, "This is a great moment that we're all going to share together and then remember fondly forever. And that is it."

Zuko turned his head, meeting the determined face of his friend, and rolled his eyes.

"Melodramatic, much?"

Aang thought back over the moment and his face reddened a bit, "Uh… yeah, that was… I overreacted right there, huh?"

Someone spoke up from the doorway, "How to be a Drama Queen in Thirty Seconds or Less: A Novel by Aang."

The Avatar and the Fire Lord looked up to the imposingly tall figure of the Scholar, laughing blue eyes greeting them.

Aang grinned, "Hey Sokka."

"Okay… Hokay… okay... "

Katara looked at Toph in amusement as they walked to the waiting room where the others had gathered.

The earthbender could feel the gaze; she was not happy.

"Shut up," she snapped.

The waterbender giggled, "I didn't say anything."

"Your mom didn't say anything, Sugar Queen!"

The insult just washed over the Doctor, who blithely replied, "Calm down. You're going to love this. You're not going to see us wrong; your eyesight has been verified 20/20 by three of my top optometrists."

They pushed through a set of doors. The waiting room was within sight.

The earthbending mistress had thin lips, "... I know. It's just…"

They reached the door, and Katara glanced sympathetically at the other woman, "... crazy?"

The blindfolded, formerly-blind earthbender's nerves were pulled taut.

"Yeah."

The wanderbender put a reassuring hand on the shorter woman's shoulder.

"Well, this is gonna be crazy awesome."

And she opened the door.