Kisses aren't Promises
Chapter 12: Fall Into Place
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters (design and personality) recognizable from "Avatar the Last Airbender" series. I don't own the plot of "Avatar the Last Airbender" series, which I'm using as a base for this fanfiction. However, I feel that it is withing my rights to claim ownership over this fanfiction's plot & original characters that may appear along the way, and thus, so I do.
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Sokka suspiciously eyed the wooden urn that held Hama's comb. Her ashes had been taken to the Fire Sage's temple at the Crescent Island, and her comb was the first water tribe thing recovered. He received the urn sealed and tightly bound, the person taking care of it only wished him good luck and ran as fast as they could, leaving Sokka weary.
On the first night, the Tribal Prince understood why: as soon as the moon beams hit the urn, a quiet rattling started to come from it... And stopped once someone touched the box. He and Bato soon came to the conclusion that it would be better to keep this between themselves, and that the urn should remain hidden from any kind of light, but as the days passed, the noise picked up even hidden from moon light and grew in intensity. Only to suddenly stop now. Maybe Aang had finally calmed Hama? He hoped so.
Roughly a week after he had sent his father the letter, Bato showed up on the Capital's port, on one of their fastest ships, with a response: three healers and the South Water Tribe's official seal, just in case Sokka and Zuko had indeed made a trading agreement.
Even with the Fire Nation's financing, it was a Water Tribe quest. Sokka would need a Water Tribe boat and crew. He received the comb right before setting sail.
Their first stop had been Crescent Island, where they found Aang meditating on the patio with a tent built around him. Word was he had been like that for about a week.
After that they made for the colonies, keeping to the south coast. The benders had sought places near water and facing home. They found either a very old Water Tribe person surrounded by sons, daughters and grand children or a very old Fire Nation (though some of them looked decidedly Earth Kingdom) spouse or close friend holding onto an urn with ashes and some keepsakes.
The elderly original benders preferred to stay where they were. Their joints already ached in the sub-tropical climate, they didn't care for the polar cold, even after the healers took off the metal spheres blocking their bending and gave them a general treatment, but they wrote letters with greetings, tales and well wishes. Despite the suffering, they had managed to have pretty decent lives and to find a measure of happiness.
The younger decedents, especially those that could Water Bend, boarded the ship eager to see new places. They spent their time trading stories about each other's families and close calls on being found out.
The ashes and keepsakes were carefully stored and would be sunk in a symbolic burial.
They still had a long way to go, but their journey had a well defined end: Chameleon Bay. Junko, he learned, had been close to Bato, his father and his mother, the youngest of their band of friends. Kya had seen her being taken away; no wonder she was adamant about not letting Katara share the same end.
Despite Ozai refusing to tell Zuko where Ursa was, the Fire Lord acquired the information: his father's spies were too easily bought. Her last reported location was reported to be somewhere in the Bay. There was a very solid chance that that's where Junko was.
Sokka would also look out for Ursa, bring her back to the Fire Nation, as a personal favor.
Zuko helped break Hakoda out of prison.
Zuko helped Katara come to terms with their mother's murder.
Zuko couldn't leave the Capital to look for her, they didn't go through all that grief only for Ozai to pull off a coup while Zuko was gone. But Sokka could, and he was glad he could help.
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Li and Lo bowed before the Fire Lord inside his office, curious as what he wanted them to handle personally.
"As you know very well, we have many highly trained soldiers and a good number of them is are unemployed as of now. I want them kept busy. You are to organize a nationwide championship, to be held in a year, with a symbolic entrance fee of two bronze pieces. The treasury will donate the rest of the prize." Zuko gave his order without lifting his face from whatever he was drafting.
The old women smiled to each other; he had foreseen the problem before it showed its ugly head. If left alone and unattended, those soldiers would turn into thieves, rebels, vagrants, over-all criminals. This championship was temporary solution at best, but one very good idea.
"Should we organize it in categories-"
"According to weapon of choice?"
Zuko nodded and completed: "And separate benders from non-benders, with individual and equal prizes for each category. The last thing I need is sore losers claiming favoritism. I want it held in the new area cleared just south of the Capital," he replied still engrossed in his writing.
Their smiles widened. Zuko had been paying attention to the rising unrest between benders and non-benders.
"Any extra structure needed, such as inns, I want built there, not here. The Capital is already overflowing with people."
Were Zuko still a child, he would get extra desert after dinner. Lo and Li felt proud of Zuko, the same kind of pride they felt of Azula when she was younger. So far he was doing very well, especially under the circumstances.
Azulon had taken most of the powers away from the council, but since all his decisions made him look good to the general population – and since he kept said nobles wealthy enough – no one would ever speak against him.
Ozai almost ended the council altogether at one point, but then he delegated almost everything to like minded nobles and high ranking military personnel, who used and abused the power they were given. Zuko was left with a mess of corruption, ruffled feathers, hurt pride and general poverty to sort out.
"Anything else-"
"My lord?"
"Actually, yes." He dropped the brush and let out a weary sigh. "Can't you make them leave?" No need to say who them were. The hoard of perfect little possible wives he had acquired over the last two months.
"You need these nobles' support-"
"You can't just throw them out," they pointed out patiently.
He knew that. Throwing all of them out of the palace would put him at more odds with them. "But they're driving me insane!" he bit back in hopelessness.
A moment passed while they thought up an answer. Finally one of them had an idea.
"Invite Fei Yen for tea."
"Oh, good one," the other sister complimented and they nodded to each other.
Zuko grunted in confusion. "Which one is Fei Yen? And why would it help?"
"She is from the north of the main island and came here to be a contrast to Hachi, her sister." He was about to ask what a contrast was, but was cut off.
"Fei Yen has... pleasant features, but her sister is considered most beautiful of the two."
"But Hachi can only be called a true beauty in comparison to others, such as Fei Yen. By herself she is just merely pretty." As they explained it dawned on Zuko.
"So, by deliberately choosing the plainer sister I'll be..." He smiled in the same plotting way the members of his family did, but rather than the your doom is near vibe his Father and Sister perfected, Zuko's had the same hmm, amusing and interesting feel of his Uncle.
"Yes," they said in unison, bearing their most congenial smiles. The Fire Lord's expression reminded them of Prince Iroh, The Royal Flirty Rascal.
"Mean while, since Fei Yen has no aspirations such as becoming the Fire Lady-"
"You might have a relaxing evening with good tea and light conversation. She enjoys reading about folklore-"
"That's interesting enough."
"Riiiiight," he dragged the word, and his features changed into skepticism. "Tea and folklore..." then he added under his breath, "Sounds like Uncle's perfect date." He cleared his throat and composed himself. "Very well. That's all, thank you."
While the pair left, Zuko started to spell-check the draft of his mother's postmortem (and curiously retroactive) pardon.
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Aang examined himself in the huge mirror that hung above the pure white marble counter and artfully painted porcelain basing filled with water inthe bathroom of Avatar Hoku's, well, his quarters at the Temple. Freshly shaven and just out of the bath, not caring for the little polls of water left on the ceramic floor – he'd dry it later – he stared at his reflection...
His unhealthily thin frame...
His prominent ribcage bones...
His hollowed cheeks and sunken eyes...
The scar dividing his left eyebrow in two...
He touched the scar and noticed in the reflection how long his nails had grown.
I have to ask Shyu for a file, he concluded as he looked at his feet for confirmation that, yes, his toenails also needed trimming.
"For an Air Bender you know ssurprissingly little about the Sspirt World... And sspirituality itsself, I'm guessing." He jumped and looked behind him, but Hebi Hai's vicious hiss came from his memory.
"As if humans knew so~oh much about the Spirit World!" he growled snidely, his hands closing into fists, the muscles on his arms tensing. He turned his face to the side, inadvertently seeing his reflection once again, his face distorted by contempt. The thing... The being reflected couldn't possibly be him.
He dipped his hand in the water and used it wash off his previous facial expression. He put his hands on each side of the basin and leaned forward, looking at the image in the water's surface, then at the image inside the mirror.
"You see-" his reflection tuned into Koh's likeness- "I despise lazy Avatars."
"You know what? Right now, me too," Aang answered as if talking with the real Koh.
"... The legacy of your people... The Knowledge Foxes probably already scavenged all the scrolls they could." The fragment of memory taunted and Aang felt the burning of unshed tears on the back of his eyes, but he fought to keep his face from changing in front of mirror-Koh.
As the first tear rolled down his cheek, the image in the mirror reverted back to what it was supposed to be. That tear was soon followed by some others. He hastily dried them with the towel, then dried himself and as he dried the floor, an unnatural calm washed over him.
"I was a spiritual brother of your people, and a personal friend of Monk Gyatso." His eyes lit in happy wonderment.
Guru Pathik – Aang's lips moved but no sound came forth. A grin slowly crept to his lips as he reached for his familiar orange under-pants. The Guru could surely teach him more! Maybe a lot more than just more!
As the Avatar cheered up, the ideas started to come to him again: He could go to Ba Sing Se. Iroh would welcome him, would help him find Guru Pathik again. If there were no scrolls left, he could reach the Spirit of Knowledge through the Spirit World.
Aang grabbed the rest of his clothes, went to the bedroom using the walls for support and put them down on a chair by the bed. He climbed up on the bed, crawled to the middle, laid down and closed his eyes. In his dreams he and Gyatso laughed at clever puns told by one of his brothers at the South Temple.
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Special thanks: To MizJoely who beta-ed this chapter.
Author note: I'm dedicating this chapter to my Mother; she died September 18th, two and a half months ago. It's thanks to the values she somehow drilled through my thick, thick skull that I had chapters of this fic finished ahead of schedule (or else you guys would have gone without), but since she didn't drill deep enough I am behind schedule now. I haven't written anything new this past months because I just wasn't in any shape to do so, I didn't have the time (bank paper work, government paper work, insurance paper work plus college finals) and I was afraid my doom and gloom vibe would contaminate the fic. There may or may not be a new chapter in the end of December. I'm hoping that Christmas will be healing for me and my family and I wish all you guys the best Christmas ever.
