How blue was the sky without clouds. But not as blue as her eyes…
I already knew it looked wonderful in navy blue and red. How about green? Or… in another shade of red with gold, the colors of a traditional wedding dress, like the one in my grandfather Roku's wedding photograph.
"Hello? Earth to Zuzu!" Ty Lee waved her hand in front of my eyes, she had caught me staring into space for too long. "There are still some matters to review."
"Huh?" I struggled to return to the present, to the new papers she left on my table.
"I need some signatures for the new company policies. Oh, and the signing of the bill from last week, which by the way you haven't told me yet what the hell you spent 7 million on at once," she said with some impatience. Then her gesture softened. "Just these signatures and you can go back to daydream about Katara."
It felt strange hearing the name that I thought so much about from someone else's lips.
I signed my name on the papers, a little distracted.
"Thanks Ty, I don't know what I'd do without you." I dropped the pen, which fell to my desk with a clatter.
"Lose the company, probably." She shrugged and took the papers away. "And impress no girl."
I blushed. She was absolutely right. Had she been there to advise me during my relationship with Jin, we might not have broken up.
"Without you and your excellent advice, of course."
She laughed.
"Agni, it was the most generic advice in the world. Not all girls like dahlias and black roses." She smiled the way she always did when he mentioned something related to his girlfriend Mai, who happened to be my ex as well. "You need to know a lot more about her if you want that to progress."
Nothing would make me happier: I wanted to know everything about Katara. Her favorite flowers. The colors she liked. If in the morning she preferred tea or coffee, if she added cream and sugar or not. What she liked to do in the afternoons, what was her favorite food, if she had a pet.
And to see a smile like the one she had while sleeping in my arms that morning, I would repeat dinner and flowers and fireworks every day.
The longing to see her was almost a physical pain.
"If I could just call her." I buried my face in my hands. I had given her my card, with the direct phone numbers of the offices where he spent the most time and even the mansion that was officially my home, where I barely spent a few nights a month. She, on the other hand, gave me no way to contact her.
"You did your best, Zuzu," Ty Lee knew and patted me on the back before sitting down next to me. "Give it a little more time, how long has it been? Less than two weeks?"
"Nine days," I answered between my fingers, still leaning on my hands.
"Don't lose hope, it's still early. Also, your aura was completely golden the day you returned. Fate will not deprive you of something like that."
A sudden noise in the entrance of my office caught the attention of both.
"What's up, Spice King?" Toph opened the door with his usual delicacy. Which means she almost knocked it down with a kick.
"Tranquility, until you arrived," I replied without trying to hide the smile in my voice when I saw her familiar headband and high hairstyle, next to the dog with a harness on her left side.
"I see I leave you in good hands. Until later, Miss Beifong." Ty Lee left the office with the same energy as ever.
"Bye," Toph answered without ceremony as she sat up and put her feet up on the couch. "Badgermole, up!"
Her guide dog obeyed instantly and climbed in with her, where she settled on her companion's legs.
"And? Won't you offer me something to drink?" I had already stood up and was opening the minibar, which I kept well stocked.
"I have the same fifteen soda flavors I always have." I got a mango one for myself and a moon peach one for Toph, the one she always drank.
"Nothing more exciting?" She pretended to despair. I knew she wasn't really trying to get alcohol of any kind, but she said the same thing every visit. "You're worse than my parents. Still those poor souls believe that you are a bad influence on their helpless blind daughter."
I handed her the soda and she gulped the soft drink.
"Difficult day?" I sat up and drank more slowly.
"You don't say. They insist on swimming lessons. I hate swimming. I was about to throw something at my father to silence his hideous condescension. I better came to visit."
"At least they let you go to Omashu with me," I commented. The alliance between the Fire Corp. and the Beifong Bank was beneficial to both sides.
"That doesn't count, they still think that you will suddenly decide to marry me. No thanks."
I laughed softly. Her absolute sincerity was refreshing and one of the reasons we got along so well. However, after that, I said nothing and the silence lasted for a few minutes.
"Something is worrying you and your tense silence does not let me enjoy my soda in peace. Talk at once, it will do you good to get it out."
I sighed. She had a way of knowing even the things I wanted to hide, and I knew it would be useless to try to distract her attention once she had caught a hint.
"It's... the girl from Omashu," I gave up and spoke.
"I should've known." She covered her eyes with one hand. "Let's see, drop it."
"Before she left I gave him my phone numbers." Nine days have passed and still nothing. "I know it's too early, but I don't know if I should expect something or not…"
She seemed to think for a moment, which was rare for her. It made me hopeful about what she was going to say.
"If she calls you, you might just stay as friends. Are you aware of that?"
The immediate answer, that with being her friend it would already be a great fortune, died on my lips. No, I wanted more and it was useless to fool myself.
"Yes I know."
"Is that what you want to happen?"
"No."
"Then what you want is for her to be with you."
"Yes." There was no other word for it.
"You said she's married. It's easy: you just have to show her that you are better than the one she has now." Toph said it nonchalantly, as if it were about a not very interesting round of wrestling. "Prepare your attack and when she calls… zap!"
"I'm not sure she'll call." That was the true cross of the dilemma. To keep hope or not?
"She will, Spice King, she will." She smiled enigmatically. "You are not a suitor that shows up every day."
Her answer did not reassure me at all. Something kept bothering me and I couldn't put it into words.
"And I hope it's soon, or you'll be more unbearable than usual." She set her empty soda on the table next to the chair. "Come on, I'm in the mood for some street dumplings and then I'm not saying no to a cup of tea from your uncle's shop."
I followed her and tried to take my mind to other trails. Anyway, somewhere in the back of my mind, Katara was still there. Ty Lee was my source of recommendations (practical, because my uncle rarely said things that could be applied immediately), but I was not going to throw Toph's advice on deaf ears.
Prepare my attack, indeed.
After more than a week of forced labor in which Mr. Tong continued to leave piles and piles of "delayed work", it was only that afternoon that I managed to leave the office in good time. I hurried to catch the bus that would take me to the North Real Estate building.
The secretary recognized me. Thanks to the late hour in the afternoon, there were no customers waiting their turn, and she immediately let me into Yue's small office.
"Hi Yue," I greeted, leaning on her door. She looked exhausted, but she smiled anyway and motioned for me to come in.
"We haven't seen each other in a long time," she said when I sat down at her table. I never returned your call, I'm so sorry. How have you been?
"As far as possible, fine." It was easier than explaining everything. "And you? How is the real estate market going?"
"A lot of work, you know. They started to build a new complex on the outskirts and gave us the presale. They don't even let us breathe…"
"It's good that work is going well." I kept moving my fingers and fiddled with my mother's necklace. I could not avoid it.
"Is everything good?" Yue immediately detected my unease. I sighed. I was not distinguished by my subtlety.
"Aang and I have a problem and I thought maybe you could help us. It has to do with the Air Temple." I squeezed my hands.
"You know that if it's in my power, of course." She smiled at me with a sincerity as bright as her hair.
I breathed deeply.
"We missed the mortgage payment and the bank sold the property." Yue covered her mouth with her hands. "They refused to tell us who bought it. It's a notorious enough property for you to… maybe be able to find out something."
Near the end of the sentence, my voice was practically a plea.
"It's…" She pursed her lips. "It's difficult for me, if North Real Estate did not help in the transaction I will not have information. If they did, it is a violation of the privacy of customers to give their data to a third party…"
"Please, it's a desperate situation," I implored. "It's the most important thing to Aang and me. All that remains of the air nomads."
She closed her eyes. I was about to convince her and I smiled inside, careful not to let it show in my gesture.
"Okay, I'll check the database, in gratitude." My husband and I received her in our house when she fled from Hahn, the fiancé her family got her for what they called "financial reasons." When Yue left, she stayed with us for almost a month, while she looked for a job and a place for herself.
"You're the best!" I almost knelt before her. "Aang and I have some money, but they had already bought the property when we wanted to pay our mortgage."
"Yeah, yeah. Better not tell me anything, so I won't be able to answer if my boss asks something. You are lucky that it is such a characteristic property, they cannot blame me for being curious."
"I'll buy you dinner." We hadn't taken a penny out of the nearly million yuan bank account, so my funds were a bit limited. "Tomorrow night."
"Same place as always?" She pretended to grumble. I nodded in response.
"Thank you. We owe you one."
"Don't mention it. A hug to Aang from me." She said goodbye, waving a hand.
On the way back home, there was a lightness inside me that I hadn't felt in the last two weeks.
Upon arrival, I tossed my purse on the couch before Appa leaped over me in an effusive welcome greeting. Judging from the closed door to Aang's study with the sign of Concentration Space with a little smiley face, Appa's would be the only greeting I'd be getting today. If I managed to get him out to the dining room for some dinner, I could give him the good news that Yue had agreed to try to find out who bought the Temple.
"Easy, easy. Why are you so nervous?" I murmured as I stroked Appa's warm head. He whimpered a little and seemed to point to Aang's door. "I'm worried too, boy."
Maybe it would be better to tell him until I had the buyer's name. If I raised his hopes and then something happened, it would be a lot worse than not telling him for another day.
It was still too early to start making dinner, and the last thing I wanted was to sweep the rooms, the other pending chore. Maybe I could take the time to call Gran Gran… or Suki, but since I still hadn't revealed Omashu's events to her or to my brother, I preferred not to have to watch my words.
All week I debated the possibility of telling everything to Gran Gran. But each call ended with the usual innocuous topics, as Aang was always close, he may listen. And I wanted to keep the promise never to mention him again between us. On the other hand, if I didn't talk to Gran Gran about the events, what else could I tell her?
I feel alone. Nothing is going well.
Still, I felt like I could confide in her. She would listen, which was what I needed the most right now.
I called her often enough that my fingers found the pattern of numbers without having to look. I looked out the window while the connection waiting tone sounded in my ear. One, two, three. Four beeps. She must have gone out.
With a sigh, I hung up and was surprised when I saw Aang at the entrance of the room.
"Who did you call?" Were his first words, his eyes narrowed and his voice almost accusing, cold.
"Gran Gran," I replied, taken aback by his tone. "I didn't want to bother you, you had the sign on the door."
"Thank you." Somehow, it felt like sarcasm. He stared at me. "And what does Gran Gran has to say?
"Nothing, I couldn't reach her. I will call again later."
"You were late today," he observed with a sharp look.
"I mentioned that Mr. Tong gave me extra work." I made an effort to control my growing irritation. Was he jealous? Or what was the matter with him?
My husband groaned, apparently noticing without my help how irrational his attitude was.
"Sorry. These days have been... sorry. My head aches a little, I'm going to lie down for a while." He turned to go back to the corridor that led to his study and our room.
"Get some rest. I'll let you know when the food is ready," I said to his back as Appa followed him.
I stood up and with a heavy sigh, began with the familiar movements in the kitchen: take out the pot, the ingredients, chop the vegetables...
The brief encounter with my husband left me exhausted. Staying around Aang drained my energy in a matter of minutes. There were only two options: either he was tiptoeing around me, his voice soft as if I was going to break with a loud noise, or he was looking at me with that almost rancorous coldness of the previous moment. And in any case, he was always ignoring whatever I was trying to tell him. I felt a chill remembering the third night at home, when he insisted on checking that she wasn't hurt. I appreciated his concern, he loved me. It was simply that I needed a little more space to feel comfortable in intimacy with him again… I needed some space to sort out my residual emotions from that night.
Once everything was ready, I called him for dinner and he left the room with weary steps. He sat down in front of his plate without another word.
"I won't be coming to dinner tomorrow," I announced with feigned calm and saw him tense immediately. "I'm going with Yue to the Jasmine Dragon."
"Very well." And he continued eating the soup, a vegetarian version of the fish soup my grandmother made. I had to make it in two different pots, because I found Aang's version insufferably bland without the fish. "Say hi to her for me."
Those were the last words he spoke to me until "good morning" the next day. I felt guilty about the relief I felt when I left for work.
After my light lunch in the employee lounge, I spent the entirety of my afternoon hours in a state of constant agitation and unable to concentrate. If Yue wasn't able to obtain information, I would have very few resources left to find out.
Almost the second the clock ticked out, I darted out the door to head to my and Yue's favorite place: the only branch of the "Jasmine Dragon" tea shop in Chin City. Unlike other franchises, this one had a reputation for maintaining the quality of the parent company in Ba Sing Se. That good reputation was one of the reasons why I wanted to visit the great walled city one day; another was more of a dream: for the prestige of their university.
"A table for two, please," I smiled at the waiter and took a seat in a cabinet, then dedicated myself to watching the window for Yue's trademark platinum hair.
Ten minutes it took her to appear and seemed eternal to me. When I saw her walk past the glass and she came in, I motioned for her to sit opposite me.
"They must be about to bring our drinks, I ordered the usual teas," I greeted with a smile.
"Thank you." She settled into her seat and carefully folded the scarf that revealed her neck, which she had never adorned with necklaces since she began living alone.
I let her breathe for a moment, wondering how to approach my request again. She saved me the trouble by taking a couple of sheets of paper with pencil notes out of her purse.
"I was lucky, you can't imagine. One of my colleagues has a client who recommended him to someone important and was the one who worked that sale. He was publicly congratulated at this week's meeting. No one thought my questions were weird and everyone was so happy they didn't notice I took out these copies of the documents." She smiled proudly.
Before I could thank her again, she put the sheets in front of me and pointed to some underlined lines.
"Look, it was someone called Mr. Fong who bought it. He seems like someone influential in the Earth Kingdom, with relationships within Beifong bank. North Real Estate came in when Mr. Fong resold it later last week. That second buyer was someone named Zuko Ta-Min."
The world spun around me and it took me a moment to focus on the letters again. Him? Why would he have bought Aang's land? He couldn't know, could he? We didn't mention anything at the hotel, and I didn't mention it that night on his yacht either.
I squeezed the sheet between my hands, crumpling it. Yes, Zuko's name was clear as day, printed on the copy of the transaction. Mr. Fong bought it from the bank for 5 million, Zuko paid 7. And I, with the meager less than a million that he himself had given us.
"It's not possible that he knew the land was Aang's, right?" I licked my lips. My mouth was dry.
"No, the bank wouldn't say it." Yue frowned. "Why do you ask that? Do you know one of them?"
At that, our teacups arrived and I had a moment to organize my thoughts.
"Yes, it could be said that we know Mr. Ta-Min." Wouldn't Zuko know from Gyatso's lawsuit against his father? The one that gave Gyatso the land in the first place. He could have found out Aang's last name from the hotel register.
We lingered for a few minutes to order our dishes, but Yue looked at me with open concern.
"Did something happen that you're not telling me?" I bit my lip and his expression immediately became even more concerned. "Of course it happened, can I help with something? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
I gave up. I needed to tell someone.
At first I had a hard time finding the words. My tongue tangled, I had to go back to explain the details. The expiring mortgage, the desperate trip to Omashu, Cab's proposal, the contract, and the night on the yacht.
Yue understood and took my hand with a sad smile. After all, she had been willing to marry Hahn to save her family from ruin. The problem was that it was a lie: they weren't bankrupt, they just wanted more money. So Yue escaped.
My house specialty roast duck sandwich and Yue's bowl of noodles arrived. Focusing on food allowed me to regain control of myself.
"What you did was very generous." She took a sip of tea. An innate elegance that I sometimes envied seeped into everything she did. "And brave."
A tremor ran through me.
"I wasn't generous." She looked at me curiously. "Not generous at all. I liked spending the night with him."
"You had no way of knowing that you'd like it before agreeing. That was generous."
I didn't have an argument against what she was saying and closed my mouth.
"And… is he handsome?" A spark of mischief crept into Yue's face.
"Yes, a lot." I evoked her angular features, soft hair, and strong muscles that I could appreciate once he had removed her shirt. I hadn't allowed myself to think about it and it was a balm for my nerves.
"I see. What about the rest?" The insinuation that accompanied Yue's smile made me blush even more.
"It was…" With Zuko, there was no perpetual gentleness from Aang, who treated me like glass when we were together. Zuko wasn't rough, but he didn't seem to fear that I would break in his arms and I allowed myself to use a little more force by holding onto him as he moved inside me "… different."
Distracted by the feeling in my gut, I barely noticed the last look Yue gave me. I couldn't read it before he changed it for the usual sweet and calm gesture.
"From what you say, there won't be so much trouble getting the Temple back."
That brought me back to reality. It was true… I still had his card in my wallet. The card with phone numbers to contact him, and explain him. Everything looked easier now that I knew it was Zuko.
Everything seemed easier, except telling my husband.
I said goodbye to Yue at the tea shop door and took another bus back home. The excuse of not knowing the buyer's name was over. But I could talk to my husband until I had agreed on something with Zuko, I argued to myself as the night city passed by the window.
Yes, I would tell him once I knew what was going to happen... for Aang's reassurance.
A / N: Happy Halloween and Día de Muertos!
I couldn't resist the temptation to put Yue on ... and she will keep popping up :D Another thing, I've read Toph calling Zuko "Spice King" so many times that I no longer know if it comes from canon or is only in the fanfics. As I like it, it's integrated in here too. Thank you very much for your comments, follows and favorites :'3
Also, a QUESTION. Now, I have an important question to ask you (and I should have put it last week, I think. Oops): this NaNoWriMo I will write my 50,000 words for another fanfic. Zutara, you can imagine. But I have two projects, a similar level of enthusiasm for both, and I don't know which one to start first.
Another modern AU, with a wary and millionaire Zuko under the false identity of Lee and maybe a yacht, but a different story (quite different) from this one. Also with a lot more Ember Island.
An AU more similar to the series (kind of; Ozai is semi-equivalent to Napoleon) with bending, but without Avatar (Aang is still around, don't worry) and where I rearmed families with the canon characters (many changes, truly).
Both would belong to the Romance / Drama genres (like the present story). The winning option will be written (at least a large part) during November and it would begin to be published in mid-December ^_^ Leave me a comment with your preferred option and what you think! Suggestions for this story are still accepted, because I'm afraid there is still a good stretch left...
And huge thanks to rahidas04 for her work! She rocks!