Chapter 52:
Toph was the only one to have a tent, snoring with her face in the dirt as it was made of earth, while everyone else was asleep on Appa, Freya, Zuko and Katara on his legs and Suki and Sokka, the boy snoring away, on his tail.
Toph's snoring cut off and she pat the ground before her earth tent lowered down into the ground around her. Freya's eyes opened and she jumped as fire suddenly shot out and ran around the bison and earth bender. Appa was woken up by the occurrence and everyone was pushed off as he did.
They all stared at the fire as Freya and Zuko shared a look, ready to disperse it before there were two people standing on top of all the rocks by the gap in the wall. Both of them wore the same outfit, deep blue robes with large white collars, a faded design amongst them.
Freya looked at the two men surprised, one was Jeong Jeong and the other was Piandao, Sokka's sword master. Beside them rose two more old and familiar men, one was Bumi and the other was Pakku. Freya grinned at them.
"Well, look who's here." Bumi laughed, he was only one not wearing a robe, but a cape, his bare chest and green shorts underneath.
"Bumi!" Freya beamed before she slammed her hands down to shoot her upwards and the old man and he gladly caught her and accepted her hug. Katara and Sokka turned to grin at one another, Suki and Zuko not knowing any of the men and Toph only knowing Piandao. "What on earth are you doing here?"
He started snickering his snorting laugh at her use of words around an earth bender and Freya rolled her eyes. "Oh ha ha." she said before the earth bender grabbed the girl and jumped her back down to her friends, the other three men following. They stood in a line beside one another, grinning at the children.
"What's going on? We're surrounded by old people." Toph said confused, raising her arms into the air.
"Not just any old people. These are great masters and friends of ours." Katara explained as she walked over to Pakku. "Pakku." she bowed to him, her hands before her.
"It is respectful to bow to an old master," Pack said bowing back as Freya bowed to him as well. "But how about a hug for your new grandfather?" he grinned and Katara and Freya shared a smile as Sokka looked surprised.
"That's so exciting." Katara said throwing her arms out as Sokka screamed, his hands on his head. "You and GranGran must be so happy to have found each other again." she said hugging the man.
"I made her a new betrothal necklace and everything." Pack boasted.
"Aww," Freya said and Zuko rose an eyebrow.
"Does that mean I have to make you one?" he said and she looked at him surprised.
"What, you proposing?" she asked shocked, only earning a grin.
"Welcome to the family Gramp Gramp." Sokka grinned, hugging the man and clinging to Pakku.
"You can still just call me Pakku." Pakku said, pushing Sokka off.
"How about Grand Pakku?" Sokka offered grinning
"No." Pakku shot down.
"And this was Aang's first firebending teacher." Katara introduced for Zuko.
"Jeong Jeong." he introduced himself as the two bowed to one another.
"Master Piandao." Sokka greeted as Bumi grinned
"Hello, Sokka." Piandao smiled, bowing back as he held a sword in his hand.
"So wait, how do you all know each other?" Suki wondered
"All old people know each other don't you know that?" Bumi said as Piandao glanced at him smiling.
"We're all part of the same ancient secret society. A group that transcends the divisions of the 4 nations." Piandao said
"The Order of the White Lotus." Zuko said surprised and Piandao looked surprised. Freya looked at him confused
"That's the one." Bumi grinned popping in front of his fellow members before sliding away again.
"Lotus?" she gapped "The Lotus tile!" she turned to Sokka who's mouth dropped open as he looked at Piandao. "Wait, how do you know about this?" she asked Zuko.
"My Uncle, he used the help from the Order of the White Lotus to get us passage from the desert in the Earth Kingdom to Ba Sing Se." he explained and Freya looked surprised.
"Wow."
"The White Lotus has always been about philosophy, and beauty and truth." Jeong Jeong admitted. "About a month ago, a call went out that we were needed for something important."
"It came from a Grand Lotus, your Uncle, Iroh of the Fire Nation." Pakku admitted and Katara looked surprised as Zuko smiled.
"Well that's who we're looking for." Toph grinned
"Then we'll take you to him." Piandao promised before Bumi pushed him and Jeong Jeong apart looking suspicious.
"Wait, someone's missing from your group." he noticed "Someone very important." he paused dramatically. "Where's Momo?" Freya chuckled as Bumi was nose to nose with Sokka who blinked at him unsurely. Bumi caused the boy to bend backwards to try and avoid the close proximity.
"He's gone." he said before glancing to the side. "And so is Aang." he added
"Oh well, so long as they have each other I'm sure we have nothing to worry about." Bumi said as Sokka wove his arms around before stumbling backwards.
"You know this old man?" Zuko whispered to Freya.
"He's an old friend of Aang and mine from before we went under the ice." Freya confessed smiling "He's a hundred and thirteen years old, I think he's allowed to be a—"
"Mad old geazer?" Zuko offered
"Bumi's a mad genius thanks." she said crossing her arms stubbornly as the man in question cackled.
"Let's go." he decided before he stomped his foot and a pillar of earth shot up, shooting him into the air and over the rocks blocking the bottom of the gap in the wall. He laughed as he went soaring through the sky and Freya chuckled as the other's rose an eyebrow and the men sighed.
They all climbed over the rocks as Bumi landed a little ways on the other side as they all climbed down again.
Piandao lead the way through the path and through the outer fields of Ba Sing Se, Bumi behind him as they walked in single file, Appa bring up the rear.
"So Bumi, how did you end up escaping your imprisonment in Omashu?" Sokka wondered
"Yeah, last we saw you you were hanging from a statue in a metal coffin." Freya smirked.
"Escape? I didn't escape, everybody else escaped." he said raising his hands. "There I was, back in Omashu, waiting for just the right moment. I didn't know what or when but I knew I'd know it when I knew it. An eclipse. That would do it."
"And you could still earthbound despite the cage so getting out of the cage wasn't hard." Freya smiled
"Piece of cake." Bumi grinned. "The fire benders had no bending and I took back my city, getting rid of all those hideous machine buildings. The fire benders escaped."
"What about Ozai's statue?" Freya wondered
"That was the tip of the iceberg." he said before snorting and laughing.
"Wow, you took back your whole city all by yourself." Suki gushed.
"So what about you guys? Did you do anything interesting on the day of the eclipse?" Sokka, Freya and Zuko all shared a look.
"Nah." Zuko said
"No, not really." Sokka agreed.
"Beside invade the Fire Nation but," Freya shrugged and Bumi chuckled at her.
"Good on you Freya!"
"You can't be the only one to do something interesting." Freya smiled as they neared the inner wall of Ba Sing Se and below them appeared a heap of little tents in a camp, a few fires flickering here and there. The tents were barred off with a wall of earth but a path on the other side lead towards the wall. They stopped at the earth wall before Bumi pulled it down to let them through.
"Well, here we are. Welcome to old people camp." Bumi exclaimed as they all walked in. Zuko looked around at the tents.
"Where... where is he?" he asked, Piandao looking down at him.
"Your Uncle's in there, Prince Zuko." the sword master pointed to a large tent in the middle of the camp. Zuko looked at it before he lowered his head and the others all walked past him. He walked to the tent door and then stopped. He lowered his gaze and sat himself at the floor.
Freya and Katara shared a look before they moved up behind him.
"Are you okay?" Katara asked
"No, I'm not okay. My Uncle hates me, I know it." Zuko said looking at the door.
The two girls shared a look before crouching on either side of him.
"There's no way Iroh can hate you Zuko." Freya said to him, taking his hand in her's. "You're like a son to him remember."
"He loved me and supported me in every way he could and I still turned against him. How can I even face him?" Zuko questioned
"Well…" Freya began "You did the same to me." she reminded him as he turned to her. She placed a hand on his cheek. "And you were able to face me," she smirked "That's gotta be scarier than facing Iroh." Zuko smiled slightly before returning his gaze to the floor.
"Zuko, you're sorry for what you did, right?" Katara asked
"More sorry than I've been about anything in my entire life." Zuko admitted
"Then he'll forgive you. He will." She assured shrugging.
"Come on." Freya whispered getting to her feet, his hand still in her's and giving him a reassuring look. Zuko smiled up at her, tightening his hand on her's as she helped him to his feet before letting him take the step to the tent. He paused at the entrance, took a deep breath and moved the fabric aside to step in, pulling Freya with him as he did.
"Uncle." he looked down, unable to meet the man's eyes before a snore emanated from before them. Freya chuckled as Zuko looked up and they saw Iroh, laying in his bed with his back to them and snoring as he slept. Zuko smiled softly before he sat himself down in the middle of the tent on a rug. He turned to Freya and she smiled before sitting beside him and hooking her arm through his, leaning her head on his shoulder.
"Thanks for coming with me Freya." he said
"Any time." she whispered.
It was a few hours before the sun began to rise outside the tent Freya had dozed off beside Zuko as he'd waited for Iroh to awaken. She awoke too when his snores stopped and Zuko looked up, raising his head from the top of her's, the change waking her. Iroh stretched before them as Freya opened her eyes and rubbed them, the movement drawing the old general's attention. He glanced at them before turning his gaze away, keeping his back to them. Zuko looked at him and the single action caused him to look down guiltily and disappointed with himself. Freya waited for him to find his words, not saying anything herself.
"Uncle, I know you must have mixed feelings about seeing me. But I want you to know, I'm so so sorry, Uncle." Zuko's voice cracked and his eyes brimmed with tears. "I'm so sorry and ashamed of what I did." the tears flowed down his cheeks now and Freya looked at him distraught, she'd never seen him cry before. "I don't know how I can ever make it up to you but I'll…" Freya leaned back as Iroh turned and suddenly yanked Zuko into a hug, away from Freya and holding him close. Zuko was cut off and surprised by the occurrence, blinking as Freya smiled. Iroh was crying as well and he smiled ever so slightly at having his nephew back.
"How can you forgive me so easily? I thought you would be furious with me." Zuko confessed
"I was never angry with you. I was sad because I was afraid you lost your way."
"I did lose my way." Zuko said as they parted and Iroh placed his hands on Zuko's shoulders.
"But you found it again. And you did it by yourself."
Zuko smiled and glanced to Freya. "Maybe not all by myself."
"No, you found your way to me too remember, no one helped you leave the Fire Nation." she said
"But you helped me see I had to, long before I did." he said before he reached to pull her forward toward them. Iroh smiled at her before pulling her into a hug.
"Thank you for looking after my nephew." he whispered
"Someone had to." she smiled. He pulled back and placed a hand on her cheek before looking at the two.
"I am so happy you found your way here." he said before Zuko hugged them both.
"It wasn't that hard, Uncle. You have a pretty strong scent."
