I just realized I haven't mentioned the island basically since they left it, so its events are coming back in to play in this chapter.. somewhat at the request of TheOnlyItachi. Plus, an added surprise at the end dealing with Alec and an explanation of Jet's suspicious behavior.. kinda. :D Enjoy!
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"Do you know what they're planning?"
"No I don't, young miss. I'm sorry."
"It's okay, thank you anyway."
Mai and Ty Lee walked out of the small shop with disappointing news. The Fire Nation was indeed stationed there, and luckily neither of them heard anything of Azula, so they took it upon themselves to go ahead and get the supplies they needed.. well, as much as they could carry anyway. The town wasn't all that far from where they'd split from the others, but it was still a good distance to walk, especially when you're buried under supplies for 9 people.
"I can't believe this. What's he doing?" Mai's bored voice asked.
"Maybe Firelord Ozai sent him out here to start building a stronger attack on the city since the drill was obviously a failure."
"I heard rumors about that while I was in the castle's dungeon. What happened?"
Ty Lee let out a sigh and a tired smile. "Oh, the Fire Nation built a giant drill to penetrate the outer wall and we destroyed it."
"You helped?"
"Well, kind of. I protected Katara from soldiers while she was bending the wall sludge back into the drill. Sokka and Zuko cut through some of the beams inside and Aang delivered a powerful blow to the top to bring it down. That was all right before Iroh.. um, went down," she finished sadly.
"I wish I could've been there. Maybe things would've happened differently."
They continued down the road in silence and, after a while, noticed the bend in the road ahead. As far as Ty Lee could remember, there was only one bend in the road, meaning they were almost back to the spot. She let out a relieved sigh and started walking faster. By then, the sky was showing faint hints of the orange sunset coming. When they started around the bend, Ty Lee was even more relieved to see Sokka sitting beside the road waiting for them. Even Mai showed a look of gratitude to the boy as he helped unload some of the supplies from their arms.
"Why did you get this stuff already?" he asked as he led them through the woods to their little clearing. "We could've gotten it when we went into the town."
"It's occupied by Fire Nation," Ty Lee explained. "We thought maybe it'd be safer if the Avatar didn't walk right into their arms."
Sokka gave her a look, but didn't argue. He just kept leading them until they got to the campsite, where Katara almost instantly grabbed some of the things from them and started dinner. Alec and Aang were playing a game with what little firebending Aang knew, Toph was still lying about chewing on a piece of grass, and Zuko was teaching Azula how to meditate properly. She figured since he wouldn't teach her to redirect lightening, he could find something to teach her and meditating was the only other thing he knew how to do that she didn't. She actually found it quite relaxing and decided she would've been banished long ago if she'd known how to do that.. then she laughed silently at her own thoughts.
"Dinner is served," Katara finally announced. They all eagerly stood up and rushed over to get the food that smelled so delicious. Before Sokka wolfed it down, Ty Lee laid a hand on his shoulder and her soft smile told him to eat it slower. Katara took her food to the edge of the cliff to eat and watch the sunset before her, Zuko joining her as soon as he got his share of the rather large meal.
"Something on your mind?" he asked, poking at his food.
"Just wondering what everything is going to be like when this is all over. I mean the war and all, it's just getting out of control."
Zuko looked into her ocean blue eyes and was mesmorized when the orange glow of the sunset shone in them. He smiled to himself and took a bite of the food on his plate. "Mmm, this is good."
"Yeah, I picked up some cooking tips from the chef at the palace and I figured I could use them every now and again."
"Other than that, it's nuts and that weird stew stuff, right?"
"Yep!"
"Great," Zuko said sarcastically, digging back into his food hugrily.
Katara giggled and looked down into the ravine that she'd sat only inches from. That's a long fall, she thought. At least there would be Zuko or the water to catch me if I ever fell for some reason.
You mean like eating too close to the edge like you are, stupid?
'Wow, haven't heard you since the island. And I'm not going to fall, the earth under me is stable.'
Anything can happen, Sugar Queen.
'I already know that, but I'm not going to fall.'
Well, when you do I'll be here to tell you 'I told you so'.
"Okay, whatever."
"What was that?"
Katara looked up at Zuko. "Oh, I must've.. I was just arguing with myself in my head."
"Hey, you haven't done that in a while."
"I know, since the island. Wow, I hardly ever think about that place anymore. Our paradise."
"Well, you didn't exactly have the most pleasant of memories there as I remember."
Katara shut her mouth instantly when she knew what he was talking about. "Um, yeah. I remember.."
Zuko sighed and set his empty plate down behind him. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought that back up. I thought you'd gotten over it by now because you haven't mentioned it in so long."
"You don't just get over something like that."
"It helps to talk about it, like your dreams."
"That wasn't a dream, Zuko. That was real and it won't help to talk about it. If anything, it'll make it worse. It'll reopen a wound that I thought had disappeared and I don't want to do that."
"I think we already have."
Katara stood up and huffed, "I don't want to talk about it!"
She stormed off down the cliff and turned sharply to go into the woods, but apparently too sharp for she lost her balance and disappeared over the edge.
'Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!'
See? I told you you'd do something stupid like that!
'Shut up and help me think!'
The water below was closing in rapidly and she smiled as she got an idea. She'd just been thinking about the island anyway, why not? She brought her hands over her head and let herself fall faster. Then suddenly, her arms shot back to her sides, the water following her commands. She kept spinning her arms around herself and the water wrapped itself around her into a ball. Her fall slowed greatly as she fell into a deep concentration. Soon, she merely floated above the water at the bottom of the ravine. She smiled to herself, then concentrated harder as she started back up.
When her eyes opened, she was staring into the shocked faces of all her comrades. Zuko's face was the only one not shocked, but it looked as if he was on the verge of tears. Had she scared him that badly? She hovered over the ground for a moment longer before releasing the water and letting it fall freely back into the ravine.
"What.. was that?!" Aang exclaimed.
Zuko cleared his throat and sealed off his expression. "I almost thought you forgot that trick. I almost thought you forgot everything that happened on the island."
There were too many looks going around at once and no one was getting their questions answered. Toph was trying to ask what happened, Sokka was screaming frantically at Zuko for information on what exactly happened that he needs to know about, Aang was still in shock about her new waterbending trick, but the other three girls sat aside and watched amusedly. Alec was already passed out on Appa's tail.
"Guys, what's going on?" Toph yelled, finally grabbing someone's attention.
Aang looked at her and realized she had no idea what he'd just seen. "Katara just did this amazing waterbending trick. How did you do that?" he asked, turning his attention back to Katara.
"It was something I taught myself before you guys rescued me from that island. I controlled it better, Zuko! And I didn't pass out this time!"
"Well, you didn't blast anyone with it this time either."
"Oh, is this more of that stuff that you won't talk about?" Sokka asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "That 'Zuko knows because he was there' stuff?"
"Now why would I keep that a secret? It's an awesome trick! I guess after you guys came, I forgot about it because I was so happy to see you. I made it as a shield as first and I was trying to do something else with it and ended up blasting Zuko and Iroh across the beach."
Aang laughed through the uneasy silence that settle over them at the mention of Iroh's name. "Do you think you could try to teach me that?"
"If I can," she replied. "I've never seen it done myself by any waterbenders. As far as I know, I'm the only one who can do it, but I'll try to teach you." She secretly didn't want to teach him because he got everything so easily and she would, once again, feel inferior. It was her trick and it deserved to stay that way. Part of her hoped he couldn't get it. Then again, she was a master and he wasn't.. yet.
Darkness was over them soon and it was unusually cold for being summer, so Azula's blue flames graced the fire pit and heated up the campsite tremendously. Katara unpacked the extra blankets from Appa's pack and handed them to Mai and Ty Lee. Azula refused hers because she wasn't cold. She simply said she raised her body temperature and was fine.
"Oh, we found out who it was we saw earlier," Ty Lee remembered. That got everyone's attention immediately. "It was Mai's father. The shop owner either didn't know or didn't tell us why he was out here, but he's heading to a town near Ba Sing Sei."
"We think he may be out here setting up another attack on the city," Mai told them all shyly.
Aang sighed. "And to think, we were going to change course in the morning."
"Why are we changing course?"
"We're nearing the Eastern Air Temple. If the map is right, going up the ravine would lead us to the Serpant's Pass, so following the river down would take us out to the ocean and if we stay along the water, it'll take us to the Kungi Mountain range and the Eastern Air Temple."
"Oh, that's so neat!" Ty Lee squealed.
"Yeah, but we're going to have to stop whatever they're planning over there."
Sokka's eyes finally shook off the hypnotized trance he had on the fire in front of him to join the conversation. "Maybe we could split up. I'm sure none of them want to be caught with you at the risk of all of them being named traitors. We can go and the girls can go ahead to the temple and we can meet them there."
"I'm not sure about that," Zuko spoke up. "We're still not sure we can trust them, remember?"
"You can trust me because I still owe you a life-debt," Mai said. "I'm not allowed to do anything to harm you in any way until that debt is repaid."
"Would you feel better if you went with them and Ty Lee came with us instead?" Sokka smirked, sitting back and crossing his arms. Mai lowered her head and smiled, hoping they'd agree to that.
Katara thought about that for a second and before Zuko could answer, she did. "I like that better." Zuko's head snapped to look at her with an unbelieving and almost hurt look in his eyes. "That way, you can keep an eye on them and we'll have Ty Lee just in case something happens."
Ty Lee smiled. She knew what Katara was getting at. "I'll do that," she called cheerfully.
"And you can take Alec with you so he's not in any danger with us," Aang said.
"Fine, I guess that's what we'll do," Azula grumbled. She looked over the fire at Sokka, who was standing up.
"Well, I'm going to sleep and I suggest you all do the same. We've got a way to travel in the morning, both groups." He slid into his sleeping bag beside the trees and was asleep almost instantly.
Mai, Azula, and Ty Lee followed his example and soon after, Toph's earth tent popped up. Aang took one last look at the fire before he slipped into his own sleeping bag next to Appa leaving Zuko and Katara alone.
"You really think this is a good idea?" he asked quietly. "Do you want to get away from me that badly?"
She giggled and scooted closer, allowing his arm to rest across her shoulders. "It's not that I want to get away from you, it's that you're probably the most qualified to handle Azula if she tries anything. And we would've taken Mai instead of Ty Lee, but it's her dad and I know I wouldn't want my father to see me betraying my nation so we saved her from that. Plus, if it gets me out of talking about the island, I'm for it."
"You really should talk about it. If not to me, then your brother at least. He deserves that much."
"I know, I know," she sighed, leaning forward to cradle her head in her hands. "I just wish it was easier to tell your own brother something like that. It's.. well, it's uncomfortable for the most part, and it brings back painful memories."
"You think it was easy for me to talk about how I got my scar? I was ashamed and embarassed and humiliated in front of my nation. It hurt, physically and emotionally."
"Does it still hurt?"
"Not anymore. It's still a bit uncomfortable to talk about, but apparently everyone already knows anyway so at least I don't have to explain it over and over. Not that I would anyway."
"Well, that's just it. No one knows exactly what happened that lead to me.. killing those guys and I'd rather keep it that way because it's too uncomfortable to talk about."
"Even to your brother?"
"Especially to my brother!"
"Suit yourself," he sighed. "But when you're about to burst from not talking about it, I'll be here and if I'm not, Sokka is." He pulled her close and kissed her on the forehead. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight."
He started to stand up, but Katara held on to his hand and pulled him back down. She lifted her eyes to meet his, her blue eyes making the tears rimming them seem silver in the light of the nearly full moon. She gently traced the edge of his scar with her thumb before pulling his face down to meet hers in a rough but passionate kiss. He cupped her face in his hand and used the other one to pull her into his lap. As she got more and more into the kiss, she didn't want to stop. She needed him, craved him, longed for him to take the last of her innocence, but she also knew that now was neither the time nor place.. or company for that matter.
Their tongues danced over one another, filling their mouths with the sweet taste that was their love. Zuko pulled her closer until there wasn't the slightest hint of space in between them. They continued that way for another minute until they broke the kiss, both gasping for breath but happy because of it. Katara rested her head against his and smiled.
"I love you so much, Zuko," she breathed. "You better take care of yourself while I'm gone."
"I promise," he whispered back. "I love you too. Make sure your brother knows that I'll kill him if anything happens to you."
"I promise nothing's going to happen. I will return to you. Take care of Alec for me, okay? Now, we should get some sleep."
He gave her one last quick kiss goodnight before sitting himself against a tree and falling asleep. Katara giggled at him before letting her own exhaustion catch up to her.
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Jet was sitting in the study of the home he'd taken over for the night. He was bent over a desk, writing what looked to be a letter when Smellerbee walked in. She watched him from the doorway for a second as he wrote as neatly as he could, his brow furrowed in concentration and that damnable piece of grass hanging from his lips. Finally, she cleared her throat and walked in the rest of the way.
"Who are you banishing now?" she asked casually, moving up behind him.
"I'm trying to think of the names of those girls that traveled with the princess," he mumbled, not looking up from the piece of parchment in front of him. "One of them is the daughter of the governor of Omashu that I just had relocated, but the other one, I'm pretty sure, was from the circus and I'm not sure what noble family she's from or I'd send them something too. Oh, how I love having this little guy," he smirked as he pointed over his shoulder to the caged messenger hawk in the corner of the room. "He's very useful. And it helps that I'm an excellent whittler as well." He nodded to the stamp in front of him beside the two sticks of red wax.
"I really don't think we should be doing this, Jet. It doesn't feel right. I know the princess was basically evil, but she hadn't done anything to us."
"She's Fire Nation, that's all that matters," Jet growled, making Smellerbee back up a step. "I thought you understood that. We have to go to drastic measures to keep them from winning this war."
"Stopping the war isn't our job, it's the Avatar's. We shouldn't be messing with this." She looked up to the doorway and noticed Longshot standing there with a concerned look on his face. "Even Longshot agrees. We're supposed to be trying to start over, Jet."
Jet finally looked up as Longshot nodded. "Are you two against me now?"
"We're not against you, we just don't support what you're doing. It's wrong and you're the only one who doesn't see it. I mean, even going after Katara is wrong. I know you're all in love with her or whatever, but she doesn't want you. You saw her with that guy and you know what he'd do to keep her from you. She's not worth it."
"Yes she is!" he yelled as he stood up from his chair. Smellerbee backed up into Longshot, who placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Katara is mine and I'm not going to let some Fire Nation punk come in and steal her from me!"
Smellerbee looked up at Longshot and he shook his head. She closed her eyes and nodded, lowering her head. "If that's how you feel then do what you think is right, but do it without us."
"What? You're leaving me?"
"You still have Pipsqueak if you need someone, but we won't continue like this. Tomorrow morning, we're gone."
"Fine! Leave! I don't need you anyway!" he shouted. He settled back into his chair and began scribbling furiously on the parchment. The two teens looked pitifully at the boy in front of them before they finally walked away and left him to his work.
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Everything was packed up way before noon the next morning. Aang had decided that Zuko's little group needed Appa more to get up to the temple, but they had to refrain from using him until they needed him to get up there. About 4 hours before noon, they all split up after an intentionally long hug between Zuko and Katara. Of course, that had been expected because they hadn't been apart from each other since he captured her.
So Zuko, Azula, and Mai traveled together with Alec still half-asleep on Appa's saddle. Despite getting as much sleep as he did, he was still quite tired for some reason. His dreams kept his body busy, though apparently no one noticed him tossing and turning on Appa's tail last night.
"Please, you can't go! You have to be here to see your child's birth! I can't do this alone!"
"I have to go, sweetie. It's the firelord, you can't tell him 'no' unless you wish to pay a visit to your relatives."
"Don't tell him 'no', just tell him 'not yet'. Please, he'll be here any day now and I want you to see him before you leave for this stupid war."
"I can't. I have to go, I'm sorry. I love you and I promise I'll be back as soon as they'll let me. Take care of our son.. or daughter."
"Jee.."
A silent tear slid down Alec's cheek. It had been the same dream every night for months now. Never any pictures, just voices, but he knew exactly who they belonged to: his parents. His father, he had no idea if the man was even still alive. For all he knew, he could've been killed his first day in battle. His mother, Agni bless her spirit, didn't like to talk about him much because it hurt. She'd at least sent him a letter telling him where they were leaving to, but he never wrote back and he never came to see them.
"Jee.." he whispered dreamily. All three of the walking teens stopped and looked up at him. He noticed they stopped and saw them watching him. "What?"
"What'd you just say?" Zuko asked.
"J-Jee. That's my dad's name. I was remembering my dream and I guess I remembered his name."
"Was he a lieutenant, by any chance?"
Alec cocked his head. "I-I'm not sure, I barely know anything about him. My mom never talked about him after we moved here. All I know is that he's fighting in the war and he's a powerful bender."
"I don't know why I didn't notice it before. You look just like Lieutenant Jee!"
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EEP! OMG, I fell in love with my own story all over again when I left Zuko and Katara alone. I almost cried because it was so beautiful! (sniffle sniffle) And don't worry, Azula's OOCness will be gone soon, I think in the next chapter. She does something.. very much like herself. I told you it was all a plot! I'm not giving away more than that, I'm just letting you know it's coming. As for Alec.. eep! I knew who his father was as soon as he entered the story and I figured this was the perfect time to mention him. Betcha didn't see that coming! You know the routine, R&R! And I mean all of you..
Jenn