Fall Of The White Lotus
Chapter 38: History
Music: Heart, Two Steps From Hell
"There she goes."
Carefully, Katara pushed away a few leaves of the oleanders she and Zuko were hiding behind as her eyes followed the old lady shuffling down the garden path. Their crouched position had numbed her legs but for the nasty stinging in her calfs.
Taking advantage of the housekeeper's terribly slow gait they'd dashed into the beach house and slipped into yesterday's clothes to follow her down the path to this modest house hidden behind a wall of bougainvilleas.
The old woman had taken a long time checking the place where nobody seemed to live and then had lingered on the elegantly wrought iron bench in front of the white plastered house, enjoying the gentle climate of the florid tropical garden underneath the palm trees before commencing the long way home.
Katara couldn't blame her. She had never seen such an adorable place in her life. Situated on a cliff with the sound of the sea never fading, the white plastered house lay amidst a garden of flowers, surrounded by tropical palm trees standing guard. Trumpet flowers and jasmine wound themselves up the walls, framing the windows and disappearing underneath the red, elegantly curled rooftop. In front of the house lay a small pond surrounded by fire lilies and with a water lily majestically resting upon the quiet surface. A few turtle ducks were resting on the grass with their heads tucked behind their shell.
It was an idyllic place and her heart went out to it.
Next to her Zuko sat with a frown on his face as he wracked his brain to try and remember if his mother had ever taken him her grandmother's house. He looked at the front door, decorated with carvings of fire lilies and knew that his mother would have loved it here.
Katara caught his gaze.
"Do you recognize this place?"
Zuko shook his head as his eyes followed the retreating old woman.
"No, I'm trying to remember, but I can't recall having ever been here. And I don't think I would have forgotten if I had."
For some reason, the beauty of this place heavily reminded him of the quiet refinement of Katara's chambers at the Southern Water Tribe's Royal Palace.
Katara gave an understanding smile at his gruff words. "You're right, it's a magical place."
She slowly straightened up, relieved to be able to stretch her protesting legs. "So, what about the family the old woman was talking about?"
"She must have meant my mother by that," Zuko said as they appeared from behind the oleanders. "There are several distant cousins on this side of the family but my mother is the only living descendant from Ta Min and Avatar Roku."
"And you," Katara reminded him with an encouraging gaze.
He shot her a grateful smile.
"And Azula," he added quietly.
The front door to Ta Min's house quietly slid open and disturbed the peaceful half-light of the living room, with millions of dust particles sparkling in the bright ray of sunlight streaming inside as soft steps landed upon the polished wooden floor, leaving marks in the layer of dust.
Apparently, regular cleaning wasn't included in the arrangement Ta Min's family had struck with the old housekeeper.
Warily, the trespassers moved further into what appeared to be a modest living room. The room was comfortably furnished and breathed a quiet elegance. This was the house of a widowed noble woman, having retreated to this island after her husband had died, needing only the bright green forests behind her for protection and the subtropical sea in front of her.
One of the trespassers turned and a hand was placed on a mahogany chair.
"I can't believe my mother has never told me about this place," Zuko said as he looked around with a forlorn expression on his face. His firm belief in having always been confided in everything by his mother was shaken.
A sympathetic look passed over Katara's features and she lightly resting her hand on his. His signet ring felt smooth against her palm.
"Maybe she didn't want you to know to protect you, so you couldn't tell it on," she offered softly. "After all, you were very young."
Zuko nodded hesitantly but didn't seem completely convinced.
"I'm sure that must be it," he mumbled as he ran his other hand through his hair. "Shall we take a look upstairs?"
Zuko and Katara's footsteps left a trail in the dust as they quietly went up the narrow staircase and arrived in a small corridor with only three doors joining it. Katara's eyes went from one door to another, before choosing the one nearest to them.
Stepping inside a modest room they saw a large cherry-wood bed, made with silk sheets and a red canopy above it. Dragons curling around slender pillars - similar to Zuko's bed back at the beach house - held up the dusty, silk canopy above it. But the most beautiful was the head of the bed crowned by two dragons embracing to form the image of a heart.
"Love amongst the dragons," Zuko whispered in surprise and Katara shot him a curious look.
"You mean the play? The one your mother took you to see every year?"
Zuko slowly drew around the bed and let his fingers trail across the intricate woodcarving, revealing gleaming wood underneath the layer of dust.
"It's my mother's favorite story," he responded softly, staring absently at the elegant dragon forms. "The story is about the haughty Dragon Emperor cursed by the Dark Water Spirit to live in mortal human form. During the humble experience he falls in love with a mortal. When he expresses his love for her the curse is broken and he's able to defeat the evil Dark Water Spirit -" he sent Katara an apologetic look, "- after which he embraces his mortal girlfriend and she is revealed to having been the Dragon Empress all along."
Obviously, Zuko felt awkward about the story making the water spirit out to be as malevolent as it did but Katara was merely amused by the Fire Nation's holy fear for her element.
She smiled. "It sounds like the Dark Water Spirit has actually done him a favor."
Hesitantly, he returned her smile. "I always thought so, too. Secretly, I never disliked the Dark Water Spirit although as a child I was less than thrilled that Azula always made me take this role when we would reenact the final dual. It was rather easy for me to relate to the Dragon Emperor's experience anyway, after I had lost everything during our encounter on the North Pole and my uncle and I ended up begging on the streets in the Earth Kingdom."
His smile turned wry and Katara sympathetically put her hand on his arm. However her glistening blue eyes had already expelled the memory of this low point in his life from Zuko's thoughts. Instead, he silently took in Katara's fine features understanding that he'd come to appreciate the Emperor's story on a whole different level as well. It didn't help that the Dragon Empress in the play was always dressed in blue.
"Anyway," he added a bit hoarsely, "That's when I decided to start wearing the Dark Water Spirit mask on stealth missions. On the wanted posters they called me the Blue Spirit."
Katara raised her eyebrows in surprise. So, the Blue Spirit in reality was the Dark Water Spirit? The color of the mask had not been a mere coincidence then, but yet another hint at Zuko's inclination towards her element.
The realization made something flutter in Katara's stomach and she bit her lip before asking tentatively, "Is that when you got the mask?"
To her surprise he shook his head.
"I already had it back then. It... it belonged to my mother."
Katara's eyes widened as her fingers automatically went to touch her necklace although she'd taken it off when she'd changed into Fire Nation attire.
"Your mother? But how - "
"I don't know." He lowered his gaze. "After she'd disappeared I went looking for clues to find out where she'd gone. I found nothing except for this collection of theatre masks she'd kept hidden behind a painting and I decided to take one with me."
It had been an easy choice for the eleven-year-old boy to take the mask of the character he'd always liked best and five years later the teenager had donned it on impulse instead of using a bit of black cloth to his face when he'd decided to free Aang from Admiral Zhao's grasp. True to the mask's origins he'd even made use of Katara's element to douse the fire shot at him by the soldiers standing guard before Aang's cell.
He'd been wondering for years why his mother had had all these masks in the first place.
Katara's gaze went back to the dragons decorating the bed.
"You've known about this place all along," she established softly. "Your mother has told you about it by making you a garden as beautiful as the one outside and dragging you with her to go see this play each and every year."
Zuko didn't respond but instead watched her with an odd look in his eyes and for a moment Katara thought that he was going to kiss her. She found herself leaning closer to him but then his face merely lit up in a grateful smile.
Blood rushed to her cheeks in embarrassment and hastily, she turned towards the window, opening one of the shutters.
She sharply took in her breath, her blush forgotten.
Her hushed voice called Zuko to the window and when he opened the other shutter he softly whistled through his teeth. The window looked out over the garden below. When they had been walking down the path bordered by fire lilies they hadn't noticed, but now they saw that the garden was shaped like a lotus flower with the house standing exactly in the middle. And on the surface of the pond below a real lotus flower rested, shielded by the leaves of the water lily.
Silently, the travellers looked at the beautiful garden, their hands nearly touching upon the windowsill. A gentle breeze made the fire lilies wave in the air like flames and caused the water to ripple. Two heads turned toward each other.
"The White Lotus," Zuko then sighed. "Of course, Ta Min was a member of the Order."
The other two rooms appeared to be guest rooms and a bit dejectedly they went downstairs. There was no visible use of the house and their newly found hope to find a clue for the next part of their journey extinguished from their eyes.
Back in the living room the travellers looked around and then Katara's came to rest on the two cabinets standing against the walls.
"Perhaps we'll find something in there."
The following half an hour they spent opening cabinet doors and drawers in search of any sign of Princess Ursa recently having been here.
Eventually, Katara stepped back from the low cabinet she had been searching and let her gaze rest on Zuko while straightening her back. He was searching a cabinet standing in a far corner of the room, his hands carefully rummaging through the drawers. Her thoughts went back to the moment he'd been holding the Flame of the Phoenix in his hands and Master Pakku had revealed that he'd only been able to do so because he was a descendant of Avatar Roku. Had that been merely weeks ago?
As she silently watched the firebender going through his great-grandmother's belongings - his belongings - she found that this place somehow suited him, as if part of him felt it belonged here and suddenly she wished for him he could have grown up here, away from the hostile environment his father had created for him in the grim and intimidating Royal Palace. But his mother's heritage had always been subservient to his father's lineage and his kind-heartedness had eventually been mutilated in a final effort to snuff it out - until it had saved them all.
"Zuko?" She found herself asking before she knew it.
He straightened up and turned around, holding in his hand what looked like a picture.
"When did you find out about Avatar Roku being your great-grandfather?"
She'd been wanting to ask him this for a while now.
Not having expected the question, he blinked but then he replied willingly, "When my uncle was in incarcerated in the Prison Tower -" a shadow momentarily passed over his face at the painful memory "- he asked one of the guards to give me this letter, which led me to the old archives where I read my great-grandfather's testament. It told me the story of Fire Lord Sozin, a story I already knew because every child in the Fire Nation had to learn it by heart back then. However, this time I read it from his own perspective, without the propaganda.
"I went to confront my uncle and he told me it was time to learn about the history of my other great-grandfather, Avatar Roku. He gave me the headpiece Avatar Roku had worn since Crown Prince Sozin had given it to him."
"Wait. You have that headpiece?" Katara's eyes widened in surprise and Zuko nodded.
"I even brought it with me when I came to the Western Air Temple. I had been wanting to tell you guys about this back then but I never got around to it. I was too busy teaching the Avatar firebending, helping Sokka with his battle plans and to be honest, simply surviving you."
Katara grimaced and his features softened.
"After the war had ended it didn't seem to matter anymore, so I guess that's why I never thought about bringing it up."
Their gazes met in silent regret and slight wistfulness as they both thought what Zuko had tactfully left out - during the few reunions Team Avatar had had since then there had barely been enough time to catch up on each other's lives.
Katara folded her arms.
"General Iroh hasn't told you much though," she established, slightly surprised. Somehow she'd expected Zuko to have learned more about
Zuko leaned against the cabinet and mirrored her movement.
"That's right, but what about you? It seems to me you know more about Avatar Roku's personal life, though you didn't know about his child and grandchild," he pointed out.
Katara sighed. "That's what I don't get either. When Roku decided to take Aang on this journey through his life to make him understand about the origins of the war he was supposed to end, he told him about his youth with Fire Lord Sozin, his later crush on Ta Min and he showed him his clumsiness whenever he was near her."
Zuko flushed and hastily averted his gaze to the paper he'd been holding but Katara didn't notice.
"He also told him about his marriage to Ta Min and about how they lived on his island, before it got destroyed by the eruption of the volcano -"
Her voice trailed away when she saw him staring at a picture he was holding. His eyes were wide in astonishment.
Katara drew closer and her breath caught. In his hand he was holding an old picture of a young woman, dressed in wedding robes, with dark hair and round, gentle eyes set in a pale face.
She was a Fire Nation copy of Katara.
"Is this Ta Min?" Katara whispered hoarsely, "She looks-"
"Exactly like you," Zuko softly finished her sentence, struck by the resemblance himself. "Did Aang never tell you about this?"
Katara shook her head.
"No, Aang knew what she looked like… but, he always stayed vague about it."
Next to her Zuko closed his eyes for a moment.
"I see."
He was beginning to suspect why and it angered him. In Aang's youthful mind her superficial likeness to Ta Min and possibly other past loves of the Avatar had set her destiny in stone, reserving her for the Avatar. But knowing she would object to his reasoning he'd kept quiet about it.
Hiding his dismay from Katara he reached inside the drawer and pulled out a family portrait.
"Here's another one."
The picture showed an already aging Avatar Roku and his wife Ta Min who was looking at them with a serene look in her large, grey eyes. A little girl was sitting between them. She had the fierce features of Avatar Roku, combined with Ta Min's gentle look. Her long, black hair reached her shoulders, and half of it was pulled back in a Fire Nation topknot.
"Is she…?"
"She must be their daughter, my grandmother," Zuko answered quietly as he stared down on the picture. "Her name was Rina. I've never known her. But I've never known my other grandmother either."
He silently held the picture, trying to grasp the fact that he was looking at a picture of his grandmother at five years old.
Katara suddenly felt grateful that she still had her Gran Gran in her life. In the harsh environment of the Southern Water Tribe surviving on the brink of extinction deceased loved ones only lived on in the hearts and the stories of those who had known them.
Katara lowered her eyes and something red resting in the drawer drew her attention. She reached in and pulled what appeared to be an old book in painted komodo rhino leather from oblivion. Carefully, she opened it.
"Zuko, look!"
He tore his eyes from the family picture and watched as the first page fell open. The old parchment was empty but for a few elegant characters.
The Diary of Ta Min
Carefully, the old prime minister closed his files and looked at the Council of Ministers surrounding him.
"Well, gentlemen. I think we're through for today. I've only one message left and it's from the intelligence service announcing that the Fire Lord has returned to the Fire Nation. I expect he will be arriving in Capital City shortly."
A sigh of relief went through the group present and a few of the gazes glanced at the empty Dragon Throne, the flames dead with the Fire Lord gone.
The Fire Lord had only been gone five weeks and his presence in the war room was sorely missed. Although the young man left them a great deal of freedom in fulfilling their tasks, it was impossible to set a long term course without the Fire Lord's consent. Hardly three years after the ending of the Hundred Year War, there was still a staggering amount of problems that needed to be solved. And then there was this mysterious group of rebel nobles vehemently opposed to the new Fire Lord's choice for peace and balance. In the Fire Lord's absence they were strengthening their positions and rumors had it that they were expanding their activities towards the Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom.
"Prime minister, is there already more clarity on the extent of the damage the Senlin Harbor leadership has caused?" One of the younger ministers asked.
The prime minister stroked his long, thin beard before he answered. Everyone present knew about what had happened in Senlin Harbor and they had praised their Fire Lord for his courage and wit. However, they had been shocked to learn that the pirate town had been under the influence of the Dai Li all this time.
"Sadly, no. Admiral Jee has told us all he knew and the Earth Kingdom Governor has kindly provided us with as much information as he could obtain from the leader of Senlin Harbor. Which is not much."
He hesitated for a moment, then added, "Recently, it has been brought to my attention that a military fleet from the Southern Water Tribe has broken through their frozen harbor and is heading for the Fire Nation. At this moment it's unclear if this has any connection to the events in Senlin Harbor."
The wrinkles in the prime minister's old features seemed to deepen as the eyes of the assembled ministers widened in shock. Then they all started to talk through each other.
"The nerve of these people!" Someone called, while another scowled, "After all that the Fire Lord has done for them."
"Has the Southern Fleet not tried to stop them?"
The young minister who'd asked before looked at the prime minister and the council grew quiet, following his gaze.
The old man had been sitting still as he'd let the bitter words of the council silently wash over him and now he sighed, seeming weary all of a sudden.
"Intelligence doesn't tell if the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe means any harm." He chose his words carefully.
"His daughter is travelling with our Fire Lord and one can only guess about his intentions. All we know is that among the warriors are the Crown Prince, the Chief's mother and stepfather and that the fleet made a detour to Kyoshi Island to pick up the Crown Prince's fiancée, the Kyoshi Warrior Suki."
A few ministers opened their mouth to say something, but War Minister Jeong Jeong, who had stayed silent all this time, suddenly cut them off.
"Look, we're keeping an eye on the Chief's movements. Normally, you wouldn't take your old mother with you when you're going to war. We'll try to overtake the reason behind his sudden mission. In the mean time we wait for the Fire Lord's return."
With a deep sigh the prime minister closed the door to his office. If it hadn't been for War Minister Jeong Jeong's weighty intervention the other ministers would surely have suggested to prepare a fleet to meet the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe at open sea.
The prime minister suspected that the events of Senlin Harbor somehow had something to do with the Chief's decision to have his waterbenders force their way out of the Tribe's frozen harbor, which was quite unheard of. For the Tribe to resort to such drastic measures meant that things were serious. That was what was worried the prime minister the most. It was commonly known how much the Chief loved his daughter, the Water Princess who was now on some sort of mission with their Fire Lord.
A soft knock on the door started the prime minister and his old voice sounded a bit higher when he called, "Come in."
The door opened and a middle-aged man with an intelligent look in his amber eyes appeared in the doorway. His robes were completely black, indicating him as a member of the Fire Nation's secret intelligence service.
"Your Excellency, can I come in please?" He spoke, his voice soft.
The prime minister silently nodded with a sinking feeling in his stomach. What could it mean that the head of the intelligence service had decided to personally deliver a message to him, instead of just sending him a memo?
"I will keep it short, Your Excellency. Last night we received intelligence from Ember Island. Two young men have tried to break into the Fire Lord's beach house. They are believed to be of noble descent."
As the sun quickly approached the western horizon, Zuko and Katara had sat down on the embroidered cushions around the clean and empty fireplace, heads bowed toward each other as they leafed through the pages of Ta Min's diary.
The diary told them about the young Ta Min, descendant of a very important noble family, raised to be wed to someone in the royal family, until one day the shy and clumsy friend of Crown Prince Sozin tripped into her life. She was immediately taken with him and accepted that she had to wait many years for him to conclude his training and to come back to finally ask her hand in marriage. During that time she had witnessed Sozin changing from a charming boy into a fanatic with a mission. And when Roku finally had come back, she had known, even before him, that his best friend wasn't the person he knew and loved anymore. However, knowing the important place his childhood friend held in her husband's life, Ta Min didn't speak of her suspicions to Roku.
It was the darkest day in Roku's life when it became clear to him his and Sozin's paths had forever parted.
On the small island Roku had chosen for them to live on they had had the most happy years of their lives, especially when after many years their child, a daughter, was born. She would stay an only child, but she was the light of her parents.
While in the rest of the Fire Nation children were being taught to believe in the superiority of the Fire Nation and its mission to enlarge the Empire at the loss of the other nations on Roku's Island the young daughter of the Avatar grew up in an environment well disposed towards the Avatar and the balance between the nations. From all over the world people came to visit the Avatar on his island and his little girl spent evening after evening sitting quietly by the fire, listening to their stories, their thoughts and their growing worries on the state of the world. They had spoken of harmony and balance and preferred the bright white of the Order to the burdens of their national colors. Among those who had returned many times were the benders who had instructed the Avatar in wielding their elements a long time ago.
As the Avatar's daughter grew up it became clear that she was more interested in the medicinal quality of plants and herbs than in firebending, however she had one very special talent. She could create a blinding white light which would wipe out all of her surroundings. Even her father was stunned.
"The light," Katara whispered in astonishment. "The Spirit Princess..."
Zuko didn't respond immediately. He just stared at the page where in neat characters, Ta Min described the talents of her only daughter.
"You know, that's one thing why I initially couldn't believe my mother was the Spirit Princess," he then said softly. "I had always thought of her as a nonbender and…"
"You blamed her," Katara completed his sentence when he remained silent, knowing he couldn't say it. Zuko sighed and closed his eyes.
"I guess I did. I sort of followed my father in this. He was always complaining about how his son and heir looked too much like his mother."
Katara stilled at the harsh words and then shook her head dismissively.
"She was only hiding her talent from him," she established and Zuko nodded dejectedly.
"It seems so."
Ashamed, he bowed his head but then he picked up the diary and turned it around thoughtfully, his thumb between the pages.
"It makes me wonder though, if my mother was able to hide her bending talents from him would my father have known she was the granddaughter of the previous Avatar? Or did Fire Lord Azulon know for that matter?"
He stared into the empty fireplace. "Fire Lord Azulon had to give them permission to marry. If he didn't know about her parentage then I'm starting to wonder if my mother kept her background a secret for a marriage out of love-," he shuddered at the idea, "or that maybe there were other powers outside my parents at work wanting them together for some reason."
"The Order of the White Lotus," Katara whispered and Zuko hummed in agreement before adding, "It's either that or Fire Lord Azulon did actually know about my mother's lineage and he wanted to make sure no descendant of the Avatar could become a threat to the monarchy."
"If that's the case," Katara said thoughtfully, "then he has seriously overplayed his hand. Avatar Roku's heritage was too strong to destroy."
A small smile broke through Zuko's dark features. "I guess you're right. There are one or two things I recognize of him in my mother and myself."
Shyly, he averted his gaze to the diary and Katara had to suppress the urge to reach out and gently put the black strands falling across his eye behind his ear.
"Shall we continue?" A husky voice softly pulled her from her thoughts and when she looked up her gaze met with a worried expression in his amber eyes. Hastily, she put up a reassuring smile and nodded.
The diary continued to tell about Ta Min's life with Avatar Roku. It told of his bitterness when he'd found out that his best friend was starting to become a threat to the balance in the world and his fruitless attempts to reason with him.
He'd found a distraction in his love for his wife Ta Min and the love for their daughter Rina who'd grown up to become a talented herbalist and a beautiful young lady.
From Ta Min she had inherited her patient and kind nature so when she started travelling around to help her father with his task, she was able to report to her father about the growing unrest among the other nations. Having her parents serving as an example, she married late, to a man from a prominent noble family with secret ties to the Order of the White Lotus. He had become the magistrate in a small farming village and Rina had followed him. It was a simple village, tucked away in a remote area of the Fire Nation of which Ta Min had cryptically remarked that they would be safe there.
Then the day of the volcano eruption had arrived. It had clearly cost Ta Min a lot of courage to write about this event, judging from the shaky handwriting and many crossed out characters. That day she had lost the love of her life.
Fearing that the Avatar's widow would stir sentiments of loyalty towards the Avatar among the Fire Nation people Fire Lord Sozin had barred her from returning to Capital City to live with her family. But Ta Min had not been wanting to return anyway and instead had retreated on Ember Island, where she could still see the sea she had been surrounded by for more than forty-five years on Roku's Island.
With help from the Order of the White Lotus she'd built herself a house at a small distance from the village where she could spend the remainder of her life in relative peace coming to terms with her husband's sudden death. Here she continued to receive many of their old friends from all over the world, her house becoming the last peaceful place in the Fire Nation for those who still cherished the White Lotus.
The last entry in the diary was written in another handwriting than Ta Min's. It spoke of the birth of Avatar Roku's granddaughter, Ursa to his daughter Rina and her husband Jinzuk.
Katara slowly closed the diary and her eyes raised to meet Zuko's. A feeling of hopelessness took control of her. Although the diary had told them much about Ta Min's life with Roku there was still no trace of Princess Ursa.
She cast a sideways glance at Zuko pinching his nose and she knew that he'd realized this as well.
"We could go see this place where your mother grew up -" She tried hesitantly.
"Hira'a," he said by way of an answer. "The village is called Hira'a." The diary had failed to mention the name of the village.
He shook his head. "I don't believe she would go there. She once told me there was nothing left for her there after her parents had passed away."
With a forceful movement he then rose to his feet and briskly walked out of the house.
Katara found him in the garden leaning against the wall facing the ocean, arms crossed before his chest and one foot resting against the white plasterwork. His troubled gaze reflected her own dejectedness.
She shot him a hesitant look and followed his example. For a moment, they said nothing as they watched the wide view on the sea in front of them. It was late in the afternoon and the setting sun would soon be reaching the horizon.
"I think we should go to Jang Hui, to see the Painted Lady," Zuko then unexpectedly spoke up, his voice huskier than normal, indicating that he was upset. "She has helped us before. Perhaps she will again."
Katara heaved a silent sigh. "But Jang Hui is so far east."
Going there felt like taking a step back, which they couldn't afford anymore.
The firebender next to her turned his head to look at her. His gaze was grim.
"I know, but it's the best I can come up with."
A soft orange glow in the clear blue sky heralded the coming of nightfall and with regretful expressions on their faces, Aang and Toph decided it time to go back to Iroh's house. The playground surrounding them had been changed into a strange, fairy-like scenery, where snowmen stood like tin soldiers in a rocky wasteland of boulders covered with an ultra thin layer of powdery snow.
Aang grabbed a hold on his glider and his gaze softened when Toph wrapped her strong arms around him. A warm feeling spread through his body and he tenderly let his chin rest upon her gleaming, ebony hair before lifting off gently. Flying back with her clinging to his body, rosy from an afternoon of beating the one she loved at a game of airball and rocks he'd never felt happier.
The sun had almost disappeared behind the horizon when Aang made a gentle turn to position himself in front of Iroh's study. Carefully, stretching out her hands, Toph climbed onto the windowsill when she suddenly froze. Kneeling on the windowsill she focused on something inside which Aang couldn't see from his floating position.
"Toph?" he asked worriedly as he reached out to touch her shoulder.
"I can see you," Toph then whispered.
Aang sucked in his breath and soundlessly jumped next to her on the windowsill.
There, on Iroh's desk sat a bored looking monkey, his silver beard glowing in the half-light of the scarcely lit room.
"Of course you can see me, silly girl. I'm not from your world."
The monkey sighed.
"I can't believe they made me pick up this ignorant human," he then muttered. "Well, it took you long enough, didn't it? Because you decided to go out and play," his eyes got a reproachful edge to them, "we're in a hurry now."
He lightly jumped from the desk, revealing the grinning statue behind him. The rubies had lit up in a frightful glow.
The monkey leaned on his stick and raised his leathery hand towards the petite earthbender. Before Aang could understand what happened a gush of wind, stronger than any wind on earth but without the devastating effect, sucked Toph from the windowsill.
In a reflex he grabbed the window frame, his nails digging painfully into the wood as he tried to remain upright. His clothing was almost ripped off his lean body by the wind. Squeezing his eyes shut he contemplated whether to go into the Avatar State or not but then as suddenly as the wind started raging around him, it grew quiet.
Carefully, Aang opened one eye, then the other one and discovered that Toph was gone. A surge of panic rose inside of him.
"Toph!" He yelled.
He jumped into the room, frantically looking for the earthbender who'd still been sitting next to him on the windowsill only a moment ago. He failed to see the unconscious body lying behind Iroh's desk.
"Toph? Toph, say something! Where are you?"
"She's not in this world anymore, you dumbhead. Do you call yourself the Avatar?"
Aang stilled when the unworldly voice echoed through the room, followed by a disdainful chuckle. The airbender spun around. The statue of the grinning monkey was still sitting on Iroh's desk, but now the monkey's grin seemed to have widened into a more triumphant one.
Aang took a step forward.
"Toph! Where have you taken her?"
The statue made a discontented sound. "Oh, for the love of… Just go into the Avatar State, will you and you will meet your precious girl again."
Aang's face darkened.
With a thoughtful expression on his features Iroh carefully took the kettle from the stove and poured the boiling water onto the black tealeaves resting in the delicate, porcelain teacup.
He had just finished reading the letter which had arrived this morning. It was another letter from the Fortuneteller of Makapu Village.
Aang had noticed the letter scroll with the seal of the White Lotus in Iroh's hand this morning and Iroh hadn't missed the young Avatar's sharp look, suspicious of everything the Grandmaster of the Order of the White Lotus did or didn't do in order to save his Order.
Putting back the kettle on the stove Iroh vaguely wondered how Aang would react if he had been able to read the letter - probably rebellious. However, this time Iroh couldn't blame him.
If there was one message clear in this letter, then it was how much still needed to be done, how many hurdles still had to be taken before the Order's future was secured.
Like before this letter had provided the Grandmaster with an insight into the future like. This time however the insight had painted a picture of the future which could only be if the twin flames of fire would allow themselves to follow the call of their hearts.
The fortuneteller had seen Zuko and Katara dressed in formal robes indicating their stations as the Fire Lord and the Fire Lady while they'd been receiving loud cheers from a mixed crowd of Water Tribe, Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation people in a strangely modern city which had seemed to be located somewhere in the Earth Kingdom. But General Iroh's old heart had really leapt up at reading her description of the handsome Grandmaster sitting on a beach surrounded by palm trees, playing with two children, a boy with blue eyes and a girl with amber ones, who'd called him Gran Iroh.
A rumbling sound coming from upstairs started Iroh from his thoughts. He had left Toph and Aang behind with the monkey statue, hoping they would find a way of getting the spirit bound to this portal to come and get Toph. Now he warily picked up his tea and hurried up the stairs, approaching his study with a sudden feeling of dread.
When he'd reached the door of to his study Iroh hesitated for a split second before opening the door with a determined movement.
A blue light streamed into the hallway and his teacup shattered on the ground. With a small grunt Iroh lifted his arms to shield his eyes and raised his inner fire to meet the intense light and saw the figure of a young man sitting next to the statue of the monkey king on his desk, the arrows on his arms, legs and forehead setting his study in a bright light.
Then the Avatar opened his glowing eyes.
"Aang? Aang, where are you?"
"I'm here, Toph. I'm here."
"Oh, finally, I was starting to think you couldn't find the way anymore."
"You know where we are then?"
"Of course I do, Twinkle Toes. We're in the Spirit World."
Night had fallen over Ember Island when stealthy footsteps broke the silence around the Fire Lord's beach house. Two cloaked silhouettes looked around warily and then disappeared inside the house.
The lukewarm sea breeze had risen to a high wind as Zuko and Katara returned to the beach house, disappointed that they had found no clues of Princess Ursa's whereabouts in the Fire Nation but also relieved that they had decided on a heading. They were mostly silent as the wind whipped Katara's hair and silk summer dress around her and Zuko had to run his hand through his hair more often, in a fruitless attempt to keep it out of his eyes.
"We will leave for Jang Hui tomorrow at dawn," Zuko said upon their arrival, opening the door for Katara and she shot him a small smile, her hand briefly touching his holding the door in acknowledgment.
"Appa will be pleased."
Quietly, they proceeded towards the kitchen to grab a bite to eat before they would go to bed when Zuko suddenly froze. The silence was being disturbed by a shuffling sound and two voices arguing with each other on hushed tones.
"Are you sure it's safe to come back?"
"Don't be such a baby. The old hag isn't going to come back for another week. The organization is expecting results."
Zuko's mouth fell open. He had recognized the voices.
Ruon-Jian and Chan.
A/N: Thanks so much for reading!