A/N: Oh, the fluff. I absolutely love this episode…with the panda at the end…and the acorn…and Zuko….Mmmm….
Anyway, this is a long chapter. The tv episode itself was actually very inspirational to me the first time I saw it. It's one of my favorites. And also, Zuko's pretty freaking awesome in here as well. Enjoy—and I just want you to know that that review button down at the bottom is very lonely. Make it feel loved and click it. CLICK IT NOW.
No, I'm kidding. Actually read the chapter first, please. And THEN click it. That would be nice. Here, I'll stop babbling now.
xXx
"Miss, are you all right?" A woman in a worn dress crouched down beside Mari. "You look ill."
Mari shook her head and tried not to look as though she wanted to vomit—which, of course, she did. She had, ever since Aang had landed Appa on that black, ugly stretch of burnt land. It had made her remember.
Mari hated her memories.
The woman laid a hand on Mari's shoulder and squeezed it comfortingly. From behind her, a dirty little girl with wild hair and bright, warm, brown eyes peered at Mari while she clutched at her mother's skirts.
"She's very scared, mama," the little girl said. "Scareder than we are."
Mari managed a wan smile at the little girl and shook her head again.
Darn kids, she thought. Stop being so observant.
"This is my daughter, Kana," the woman patted the girl's head. "Go fetch this lady some water, will you hon?"
Kana stuck out her tongue at Mari and dashed off to the well around the back of the beat up town hall.
"You rest here," the woman smiled. "We're so happy you came."
Next to Mari, Sokka gave a snort in his sleep. Katara rolled over in her bed roll and Aang muttered something incoherent. Although it was midday and people bustled around them, the townspeople of Senlin Village had urged their group to sleep well before nightfall. They had arrived there shortly after visiting the blackness in the land, after Sokka had discovered a road. The village wasn't really much of a village any more—piles of rubble and dust stood where once houses were, stone cobbling was cracked and dug out of place, and the people who should have been smiling and happy were sad, cowering and hollow-cheeked with fear.
Once the people had learned that it was the Avatar that visited, and not some Fire Soldier in disguise, a village Elder had disclosed the reason for the sad state of habitation.
"Every night," he said, "since the Fire soldiers ravaged our lands east of here and burned our beautiful oaks, our pride and joy, to the ground, we are visited by a fearsome spirit—the Hei Bai. It is a great monster, with terrible fangs and a scream of death. During the hours of darkness, from the time the sun sets until it dawns, it destroys our livelihood, steals our food, takes our brave men…please, Avatar, Mediator of Spirit and Man...help us."
Aang hadn't given it a second thought. He'd given the old man that impish grin of his, and Mari had known then that all hope of convincing him to fly far away from this godforsaken place was dashed, then and there.
The village people had decided that Aang and his "lovely, wonderful companions" would need a full night's sleep if they were to battle the Hei Bai that night, and had created a sort of nest in the corner of the town hall where the gang was now situated. Momo was curled up beside Mari, every so often issuing a high-pitched tik-tik-tikking sound that Mari decided must have been sort of a purr. Appa was outside, probably being terrorized by the children or having large amounts of hay piled before his nose.
Mari hadn't been able to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she could see the black landscape east of Senlin, and then the landscape would begin to blur into a very different landscape, just as black, but still smoking and stinking of blood and death.
She was to have no escape from the past today.
Mari stared at the opposite wall and let her hand rest on Momo's warm, furry body. Sometime a few minutes later, Kana brought Mari a chipped wooden bowl filled to the brim with cool, clear water. Mari took it and, under the little girl's watchful eye, drank it dry. Kana ran back with the bowl and again brought it back brimming with water, but this time knelt in front of Mari and stared while Mari sipped politely at the liquid.
Finally, Mari set it down next to Momo, who smelled the fresh water and shifted his weight just enough to lap comfortably at the bowl without expending too much effort. Mari stared back at the little girl.
What, she thought, do you want?
Kana smiled and reached one small hand out to touch Mari's larger, rougher one.
"You don't talk, do you?" Kana asked suddenly. Surprised, Mari jerked her hand away. Kana frowned. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "Mama told me not to be rude, but I just want to know. Why don't you talk like me?"
Mari held Kana's gaze, and slowly shook her head.
Questions won't get you anywhere with me, girl. Go play with the Bison or learn to braid your mama's hair. Beneath the ribbon around Mari's neck, her scar throbbed—not painfully, but enough to remind Mari of what was there.
"Okay," Kana chirped. "I'll not ask that any more. Can I pet the lemur?" she pointed at Momo, who gave a horrified squeal. He didn't trust children.
xXx
"WHY," Zuko shouted, "ARE YOU NAKED?" he covered his eyes with one hand.
Iroh turned his head to one side. "Oh," he pouted. "Don't be such a baby."
"I'M NOT BEING A BABY. YOU, however, ARE DRESSED LIKE ONE." Zuko blinked his eyes furiously. He was overcome by a fear that what he had just seen could never be unseen. All he'd wanted to do was bring Iroh back to the ship so that they could cast off in search of the Avatar once again.
Instead, he'd found the old man strutting around a steaming tidal pool wearing nothing but his birthday suit.
It was not a pleasant sight.
Iroh shrugged and lowered himself back into his self-heated steam bath. "I don't know about you, boy, but I rather enjoy the freedom that comes with—"
"SHUT UP!" Zuko shouted. No more, he begged the gods. I'm already scarred enough as it is!
Sadly, Zuko was too freaked out to appreciate the irony of that thought.
"I suppose you're not going to join me then?"
"Never, in a million years…" Zuko took a deep breath. "Just—just be back to the ship in half an hour. If you're not there, I swear we'll leave you." He stomped away, his top-knot swinging about furiously as he walked.
Iroh sank deeper into his bath and looked up at the sky. "Well," he said. "Thank goodness he made that quick. Now I can finally relax…"
xXx
It turned out that everything the Elder had told Aang about the Hei Bai was true. It was big. It was a monster. It had fangs, and it liked to destroy stuff.
The one thing the Elder hadn't mentioned?
The Hei Bai liked to destroy things with energy blasts. From its mouth.
Mari sighed from where she sat peeping through a gap in the walls of the village hall. Aang wasn't doing so well out there—he hadn't made a mark on the monster, and had so far spent the majority of his time using his Air Bending to bounce away from the energy blasts emitted by the beast. Occasionally, over all the ruckus, Mari could hear Aang trying to shout sense into the monster.
Silly boy, she sighed. Even if it had once been able to understand you, all that is gone now. The cries that came from the creature were loud, lunatic howls that somehow seemed lonely and pained.
Not so to Sokka, however.
Wielding his boomerang high, Sokka made for the door. "Don't worry Aang," he cried. "We'll help you!" He slid out the door before Katara or Mari could utter any sort of protest.
"Mari," Kana asked from where she'd been sitting beside them for hours, cuddling Momo, who had long since resigned himself to his fate, "Sokka's a crazy man."
Yes, Mari thought, grimacing as she watched the beast heft Sokka up in its hands. Yes he is.
xXx
It was definitely more than half an hour later when Iroh woke to a little woodland creature singing a song to him from the edge of his pool.
"Hm," Iroh smiled. "What beautiful noise you make, my rodent. I think my nephew would hate you very much."
The old man looked up at the setting sun and smiled. "He has probably left me by now. Ah, well. It was a very sweet nap. Perhaps now I will be able to find a decent tea-house to drink in without being pestered."
"I'm afraid that fantasy's not going to come true any time soon," said the Earth Kingdom soldier that had been leaning up against a tree while he watched Iroh nap for the better part of an hour. He snapped his fingers and his ten soldier companions emerged from the tree line. "You're going to have to come with us, General."
"You got some 'splainin' to do," one of the other soldiers tittered.
Iroh rolled his eyes.
Lovely.
xXx
Zuko glared at the mountainous hill which had formerly served as his Uncle's bathing place.
"Earth Benders," he muttered.
As if his uncle hadn't already screwed up his schedule enough.
xXx
The sun rose. With it, there came…
Nothing.
There was no sign of the beast, or Sokka, or Aang. There was a heck of a lot more damage to the village, but nothing more than that.
The moment the doors to the building had been opened, Katara had rushed for the gate in the hopes that Aang and her brother would return, triumphant in their battle against the Hei Bai.
Mari had followed behind her, knowing that there would be nothing but rubble and dust awaiting them. She sat with Katara and stared at the dark forest. Momo curled around her neck and tickled her nose with his tail. Katara was pale and worried, but hopeful.
"I'm sure they'll come back," she said. "I'm sure they're just resting." She'd looked at Mari.
"They have to come back, right?"
Mari frowned. It was going to be a long, terrible day.
xXx
A sandal. Zuko had searched all night for a sign that his uncle would be all right, and what did he get? A dirty, stinky, depressed-looking sandal that had been ground into the dirt hours before.
Ah well. At least it was something.
xXx
Mari stroked the ribbon around her throat. It was a nervous habit—just something she did to make sure it was still in place, or when she was worried or sad or excited or…
"It's all because of that scar," one of the older men muttered to his friends as he stirred a pot of stew. Mari's head perked up a bit. "If those Fire Soldiers had left our forest alone, they never would have awoken that beast. Instead, they burn down our trees, scar our forest land, and take the spoils for themselves…"
Mari stopped listening. She touched her ribbon again, thoughtfully. A scar—maybe that's what was wrong with the Hei Bai. Maybe it was in pain, frightened, scared… all the things that Mari had been for so long. She sat there and thought for a while, and probably would have thought some more, had Katara not tackled Mari in a ferocious bear hug.
"He's back!" Katara shrieked, wringing Mari's neck, such was the extent of her joy. "Aang's back, and he knows what to do, and he's okay and everything's going to be wonderful now!"
Aang sat down next to Mari and patted her shoulder. "Don't worry, Mar," he said seriously. "She did the same thing to me when I walked around that corner in the road."
Mari smiled.
"Now," Aang said. "I have a plan."
xXx
Iroh was surrounded by idiots. First, the Earth Kingdom men practically gave Iroh the tools he needed to warn Zuko, then they put themselves in a position to be oh, say, burned with the iron manacles clasped about their FIRE BENDING PRISONER'S wrists, and then—wonder of wonders—they decide to crush his hands to prevent him from Fire Bending any more.
"You know," he said tiredly, "They called me the Dragon of the West. Do you know how dragons create fire?"
"Shut up," One of the soldiers carefully bent a boulder into place above Iroh's hands.
"They breathe fire. You know…with their mouths. Son, this isn't going to stop me from kicking your hind end."
"Be quiet, old man. Nobody's listening." The soldier raised his fists, and—
There was a quick blur of movement from Iroh's peripheral vision and the rock above Iroh's hands dropped to the ground three feet away.
"Hello, Prince Zuko," Iroh smiled with relief as Zuko smashed the chains that bound his uncle with one fell kick. "Beautiful form, my boy."
"Thank you, Uncle," Zuko growled. "Now…let's show these men just who they messed with."
"And afterwards, will you take me to a good tea house?"
"Uncle—"
"Please? I was abducted by ruffians and I was manhandled and I'm very thirsty."
Zuko groaned. "Fine. But not an expensive one." He turned to the Earth Kingdom soldiers. "Let's get this over with quickly, shall we?"
xXx
The Hei Bai looked at the acorns in Aang's hands.
"You see," the Avatar explained, "They'll grow back. They might even be growing back right now. All they need is a little time." He held one out to the Hei Bai. "It might look horrible right now, but it can't be this bad forever, Mr. Hei Bai, sir. My teacher, Monk Gyatso, once taught me that it is always darkest before the sun rises, but it is inevitable that the sun will come and light a path to better days. This forest will be happy again. The birds will sing, and the animals will come back and you won't be alone any more. These people here will help you grow your trees and become even better than you used to be. So please… stop destroying their home like the Fire Nation destroyed yours."
The Hei Bai reached forward and plucked the acorn from Aang's fingers with its own long, spidery ones. It cradled it in its palm like one would cradle a newborn baby and moaned its grief to the sky. At once, the monster seemed to shrink down and grow sideways. It became…fluffier. The black and white markings remained, but the thing's fangs became blunted and its eyes lost their wild gaze. It roared something that seemed to say "thank you and I'm sorry," at the same time.
And then the Hei Bai turned and lumbered away, still cradling its acorn but leaving behind Sokka and several other villagers that it had taken.
Aang brushed his hands together and sauntered back towards the town hall, with Sokka wandering confusedly behind him.
"All right, guys," Aang grinned as the villagers, Katara and Mari poured out of the town hall. "Next stop, the Fire Nation."
Sokka shook off his confusion. "Aang, you realize we're probably gonna die, right?"
"Nah," Aang grinned. "We'll be fine."
Katara leaned forward. "And if we need bait to distract the Fire Soldiers, we know exactly who to use."
Sokka frowned. "Who?"
Mari flicked his cheek. You, idiot.
"Oh. OH! Hey, that's not very nice, you guys. I was just kidnapped by a deranged spirit monster panda thing and all you have to say to me is "we'll use you as bait next time we're in trouble?""
"Basically…yeah."
Mari felt a tug on one of her sleeves. She turned around and saw Kana looking up at her with a dopey grin on her face.
"Here's your lemur," Kana held up Momo who leapt to Mari's shoulder and then to Aang's at once. "He's very nice. Are you leaving?" she asked Mari.
Mari nodded.
"Okay. I know you have to, because he's the Avatar and you guys have to save the world. But I like you. So you have to visit the next time you come, okay? I promise you guys won't get attacked by the Hei Bai any more, and next time we'll have a nice house for you to stay in, and maybe you'll be ready to talk, huh? Because I'd like that. I'd like to hear your voice." Kana lunged forward and gave Mari a hug. "I bet it's really pretty, because you're pretty. But not your hair. It's too short."
Is not, Mari thought. She patted Kana's head. But I'll visit, kid. I promise.