Wait, weren't all the flying bison except Appa gone? How did he breed? Are the flying bison both genders? I don't understand. I'm confused. Seriously guys, the poor majestic beasts. Oh gosh I obviously haven't been sleeping well lately, getting emotional over flying bison. BREATHE C, BREATHE.
"Are you sure you want to do this, Zuko?" Katara asked, putting a hand on his shoulder lightly. He seemed determined; but the citizens needed their fire lord. If he were to be lost to the mission, he would be gone, and they still wouldn't have found Ursa.
He nodded, looking down to her and half smiling "I have to, I'm not going to send guards in to find her; I doubt she would trust them at this point." It was true; Ursa wouldn't have trusted the guards, not if those guards had been what brought her to the city. Perhaps it had been Ozai himself, but he wasn't one to get his hands dirty if he didn't need to.
Moving back to Aang, Katara wrapped her arm around him. He pulled her to his side and with a kick to the ground, the earth moved, tossing them onto Appa. The flying bison was their chosen form of transportation this time; he would provide space enough for them, and a quick route to their destination. Although he was rather stubborn, he never failed to get the job done.
Zuko awkwardly climbed up, followed by Sokka who stumbled slightly before falling onto his back. "You know, as much as I love Appa, when you're out of practice, getting on his back can be rather difficult" he grumbled as he got up, rubbing the back of his head and seating himself near the rear end of the bison. It probably was not the best idea considering his luck with Appa, but he didn't think of that.
"Yip yip Appa" Aang said and Appa quickly pushed off from the ground, soaring into the air at a quick pace. He didn't get much air time now that they weren't travelling the world; so he was shockingly excited when he did get to go out. "So, do you even have a plan for when we get there?" He asked, looking back to Zuko who was pouring over the map for what seemed like the hundredth time since they had arrived in the fire nation.
Zuko looked up, pushing his hair back from his eyes; it had really gotten out of control in the years, he tended to keep it pulled back out of his face with the usual ceremonial hair piece. When he wasn't on business though, he allowed it to be wild. He looked down once more, eyes scanning that same piece of paper that mapped out the route. "Don't get killed" he said sarcastically, eyes not leaving the map.
"This is serious Zuko; your mom could be there… If she is, do you know how great that is?" Katara asked, thinking about her own mother; wondering how she would be reacting if she had the chance to find her in this village.
Zuko sighed and looked up once more "don't you think I know that, Katara?" His voice was strained, pained almost "do you know what will happen if I get my hopes up? What if she's not there?"
Katara looked down nervously, biting her lip "I'm sorry; I didn't think of that."
"I'm excited, yeah. I just don't want the pain of knowing the lead was false. It's been years of searching and people telling me the wrong things. I've learned after these years to not trust it until I see it." They hadn't been on one of these 'missions' with him in ages although he had never stopped searching. There was too much to do in the city to focus on finding Ursa. They supported Zuko in any way they could, but there wasn't much they were able to do. For him to ask them to come with him; he must have gotten his hopes up.
There was a great chance that his mother would be in this place; otherwise he never would have requested their help. "Well, whether she's here or not; I know you'll find her eventually" Katara responded quietly, unsure of what to say. He smiled gratefully and looked back down in silence.
She turned around and moved to Appas head, sitting next to Aang and putting her head on his shoulder "are you okay Katara?" His voice was quiet, but she knew he had heard everything said back there "he doesn't mean to sound rude; he's just… He's been looking for a long time."
"I know that. I'm just scared one of these days it's going to be too much for him" Katara breathed deeply, keeping her lips as closed as possible. One too many times, she had had a bug fly into her mouth in flight. "Remember what happened the year after he became fire lord? He almost lost everything."
"Then we went looking; god he was a mess when we didn't find her" Aang shook his head and put his hand on Kataras knee, looking back at the two sitting in the oversized saddle. Zuko had finally folded the map up and was watching the clouds. Sokka was asleep, something not unusual for him. "He's better now though; he's strong; Zuko won't turn to a mess that easily."
There was silence for a while as they flew. Zuko would occasionally call out a command along the lines of "turn to the north east" or "can we fly a bit higher? Cloud cover could always help." Apart from that, there was only silence. They flew over two cities before anyone spoke more than a sentence, every so often someone would point up. Everyone knew that if you found the flying bison, the Avatar wasn't too far behind.
Sokka was hanging over the edge of the saddle, his chin rested on the edge as he looked down. Zuko was sat in the middle, legs crossed and eyes closed. He hadn't relaxed properly since they had set off on the journey; not that someone could blame him. Katara had moved closer to Appas horns and was having what could only be assumed was a conversation with him. She would speak, and he would occasionally grunt and moan in response. He was quite learned in understanding what they said after the years; but Katara couldn't understand a thing he groaned back.
She would occasionally reach down as far as her arm would go and stroke his face, making him close his eyes which could have potentially caused a disaster if they didn't have a skilled air bender on board. Aang managed to keep him on track even when he strayed a bit. Even he couldn't help but smile; Appa had taken a liking to the water bender, mainly because she didn't hesitate to feed him large melons as treats. She would come back with two or three nearly every time she went to town.
There was a crinkling of paper as Zuko took his map out again "in about a mile, you'll have to start lowering Appa. There'll be a canyon, and an abandoned town in the center." He got to his feet and walked towards the two at Appas head. "Guess this is going to be the moment of truth" he didn't sound too excited, which only confirmed that he didn't want to get his hopes up.
Katara looked back and smiled before looking back. She kept an eye out as best as she could, bending the water in the clouds to make them move out of her way "I see the canyon!" She exclaimed, pointing forward excitedly. It was still quite a ways away, but Appa would have them there fast.
Soon enough, they were descending although there was still some distance left; they wanted to be close to see the village. A view from above might be their best bet at determining what sort of beast was supposedly there.
What they saw though, wasn't what you expected to find in a village. There was a large tarp sort of item spread over an expanse of land; it seemed to be pretty high, but peaks of buildings broke through the top. They couldn't know what was in there, not without going through the main entrance.
Appa landed just outside the opening and his occupants jumped down, staring through. It seemed rather bright, but there was a second tarp inside, blocking their view still. "State your business!" A few guards shouted, running out as they heard Appa land. They seemed shocked to see something so large standing in front of them "this is private property, owned by Fire Lord Ozai."
Zuko stepped forward, glaring at the two; they gazed at his scar with hatred "the banished prince, what business do you have here?" They were obviously quite behind on what was going on; Aang doubted they had been home since sometime before the war ended.
With the calmness of a Fire Lord, Zuko looked towards them "Ozai is no longer ruler over these lands. The Avatar took his bending in a final battle. I am your Fire Lord, and I expect to be treated with the respect you would have shown my father. It seems quite apparent that no one has briefed you on the current state of our noble country. So I will tell you how this is going to work. You are going to tell me this second what lays beyond these walls, and if you refuse, I will not hesitate to overpower you and go in myself."
They hesitated for a moment, sharing a glance before taking up a bending stance "we are loyal only to Ozai; how do we know you don't speak lies for your benefit?"
Zuko looked dangerous, towering over the two guards with an angry look on his face that could have matched Azula's. "How dare you… Aang, could you possibly help me do this the easy way? I don't wish to hurt my citizens."
With an understanding nod, he created earth barriers around the two men. They were stuck, unable to move; but not hurt in any way. "I'll release you before we leave" he informed them, wondering if he would be taking them back. If so, there was no way they could be released; not their hands and feet at least. Perhaps not even their mouths if they were anything like Azula.
Zuko hurriedly rushed through the tarp, throwing aside the inner one. The others followed quickly; it was, for the most part, silent inside. "I don't see anything; it doesn't look like a beast has been here."
"Maybe there never was a beast; it wouldn't be the first time Ozai lied to you after all Zuko" Sokka said, he looked annoyingly relaxed with his arms behind his head. He most definitely wasn't one to be relaxed in a situation, but he didn't feel the need to act like a leader now that they were all grown up. The others were able to make decisions that didn't sound like they were made by twelve year olds.
"Sokka, shut up" Katara said, punching her brother in the arm. He cringed and rubbed the spot, glaring at her. So, some things never would change even though so much had.
From the other end of town, there was a loud noise that sounded suspiciously like a growl or a roar "or maybe he was telling the truth for once" Zuko whispered.