So, last chapter everyone! A huge thanks to everyone who reviewed, read, and supported the fic. Especially since the premise changed so much from the initial direction I had indented. This one has just been so therapeutic to type and it was really awesome to see that it was well received. I hope that this chapter makes for a satisfying end!
gemsofformenos: Lmao it was a wild ride. They didn't realize that I had no experience at all.
"He feels like he has lost so much time and he has no idea how to catch up and he doesn't feel ready to catch up anyway. He feels like he hasn't achieved anything to grow up and to move on and now everyone seems to be several steps ahead and he feels left behind." It is certianly overwhelming and emotionally taxing for him to acknowledge this too. But he does and so he can fight it. "He had to be mature and focused for so long. He was foced to be this way in prder to survive. It's kind of understandable that he wants to have back these carefree days." But yes, his own struggles have had the opposite effect on him that Azula's had on her. Azula's forced her to grow up and made her determined to move away from the past. Sokka's left him longing to be a kid for the days that he missed. So they have contirdictary responses and it gives them a bit of a divide. Espically since Sokka's coping mechanism just kind of stings for Azula. "But Sokka finally starts to realize that he has always moved on in his life and how wonderful it was to move on with Azula together." Sokka notices this though and he starts to realize that he might need to compormise if he doesn't want to lose her. After all they had fought so hard to be together. "She offers help. She'll be at his side to catch up and to get ahead. I love her quote so much cause it sums up her character and all the joy and relief she's feeling in this moment." And this is so important for him; that good and sturdy support system. And thank you, I felt like it would be an Azula thing to not only want him to catch up but to excel! "Awesome! I hope you're taking care of you. Have a wonderful day and keep on having fun with your stories" Thanks once more! And I hope that you are taking care as well!
SOKKLAFIL: Yeah and that's a hard place to be at; when everyone is ready to move on but you want to cling to something that you always loved. "He needs to let go of the past, otherwise he will remain a child and lose her." Which is certainly hard for him. And it is hard for Azula to come to terms with this feeling that she is emotionally older. She was always the more mature one, but this is a new level for her. "It's good that Sokka understands this and is ready to grow up, and it's good that Azula is ready to give him a chance." But yes, Sokka realizes that this is a problem and is will to work with Azula to fix it. Of course, Azula is more than willing to help him move forward too.
There are places where lives unfold and places where lives come to an end, more often than not these places are one and the same. Sometimes these places are quaint harbor towns where buildings are centuries older than any of the citizens currently hustling in and out of them. Sometimes these places are have cliffsides that are older than even the buildings, worked at and eroded by waves significantly more timeless than them.
Often these cliffsides see thunderous clouds and tempestuous waves, lit by forks of lightning and filled by curtains of rain. And more often than folks like to admit, these towns have their ghosts; sails on the horizon during a storm, ladies in billowing white dresses that stand at the edge of cliffs, and speters that travel through arches of limestone. It might be that the towns folk get bored and invent legends, or perhaps it is a tourist thrill, still it could be that some of the inhabitants need a good ghost to keep them secure in the realm of the living.
In such a town, the rain could be pouring and lightning could be bursting in the sky. People might be rushing to pack in their picnic food and snatch up their umbrellas. Some of them are too late, like a boy named Jet and a girl named Jin. Their umbrella has lifted out of the sand and is riding the gales out towards the sea. It wasn't his idea of what a date should look like, but at least it was a thrilling one.
Others have more luck on their side; more or less. A married couple could be safely tucked into their restaurant had they decided to take down their patio umbrellas and move their chairs inside sooner.
Inside of a restaurant called La-bsters there is a rather interesting cluster of people. Mostly there are tourists and people who have hustled into the building for shelter from the rain. But there are also two teens interviewing for their first jobs. A girl will venture out of the town for the first time to study marine biology and her friend, Toph will take her place waitressing for the restaurant. There is also a bald boy and his dog, the three are an inseparable duo and Aang swears that he will teach the dog to be a good employee too.
The restaurant is cozy. It is home. In a quaint harbor town that seems caught within a bygone era, anywhere is home really. It is no wonder that some people are hesitant to leave. When home is so warm and inviting, so safe and unchanging, why would a person ask to leave?
For some it is a need for change, a yearning for something new. A desire to see the world with a knowing that they can come back to their harbor town and see it nearly as it was when they had left.
Nearly, but not quite. For everything evolves. Everything changes. And if you know a place well, then the most subtle of changes are extraordinarily profound.
The rain pummels the roof of La-bsters as Toph high fives Aang, "Congrats on your first summer job, Twinkle Toes!"
"Yeah, you too." He smiles meekly.
"When do we start?" She asks.
"How about on the first day that we have some sunny weather?" Hakoda offers.
A table away sits a group of four, they split a platter of fries, onion rings, and hot wings. Azula douses the wings in an extremely generous amount of spicy dipping sauce. "Seriously, I can't eat this!" Sokka exclaims, eyes watering. "My mouth is burning!"
Azula smirks. "Yes, that's the point. Either you're going to build up your spice tolerance or I am going to have all of the wings to myself."
"Not if I can help it." Zuko plucks one of the wings. He takes his first bite. After swallowing he clears his throat. "I've been meaning to ask you something, Katara."
"Go ahead."
"We're still having a hard time building the lighthouse back up after how far behind we've fallen. I was planning on opening up a restaurant of my own. It's going to be more like a bakery and I'll run it from the lighthouse."
"My idea." Azula cuts in.
"I thought that it would be smart to…" He backtracks. "Azula thought that it would be smart to partner up with La-bsters. It's going to be folklore and ghost story themed and stuff. Do you think that your parents would want that."
"Ask them, Zuko." Katara laughs. "They've never said no before!"
"Speaking of parents, how has your dad been?" Sokka asks, nostrils still flared from his second attempt to eat one of the wings. He fans his face.
"He's a year sober now." Azula replies.
"He and uncle are planning some kind of road trip to relive the glory days."
"Why are you cringing?" Katara laughs.
"Do you know what their glory days looked like?" Zuko asks.
"Father just wants to make up for wasting so much of his time on drinks and grief." Azula shrugs. Silently, she thinks that he just wants to enjoy one more summer before life moves on. Or maybe she is just projecting; for as much as she had fought Sokka on it, it would be nice to have one last summer where everything is as it was, simple and thrilling. Now that she has eliminated his hesitancy, she will indulge him in one more summer of old habits and nostalgia.
She will begin it with one final surf competition and end it with the annual beachview music festival. That will be nice, considering that they'd missed last year's. She peers at her surfboard, which she has propped up against the corner. She is going to miss it, how could she not when she had spent so much time riding waves on it? But it is time to put it aside, the sea calls her in a different direction and she has already made the necessary arrangements to answer it.
And besides, she thinks it would be kind to allow Chan and Ruon their time to shine. They have more passion for the sport than she. They have worked their whole lives for that competition.
They will be performing Port TuiLa's first partner routine. 'Brave and risky! Daring and fun!' So the townspeople declare. She will do her own routine, but it will be more lax and mundane. Her father and uncle will be there with bouquets of hibiscus, lais, and smoothies, weather she wins it or not. There will be a party in their backyard, a BBQ that doubles as her birthday party and her victory celebration.
She will slip an invite to Jet; if he makes an appearance it will be just like old times. If he steers clear...she supposes that, that is just the nature of things. People get hurt and people grow apart.
"Go and ask them, Zuzu." She nudges as Hakoda enters the building completely drenched.
Zuko takes a deep breath, stands, and rolls his shoulders. Azula rolls her eyes. "So dramatic. How long have we known them?"
Katara laughs and gently pushes him forward.
"Have you decided what you are going to do yet?" Azula asks.
Sokka bites down gently on his cheek. "Khozen has been teaching me to sail again. I know that you wanted me to leave Port TuiLa but I don't think I'm ready for a change that big and I don't really like the idea of college anyways." He rubs the back of his head. "I was thinking of learning to fish, that way I can help bring in some seafood for La-bsters and be around for mom and dad after Katara leaves."
Azula blinks. "That actually sounds like a good plan."
He chuckles, albeit, a little nervously. "Yeah. I figured that, that way I could start something new but also stick to the place that makes me happy." He pauses. "It's just gonna be weird not having you guys around." He gestures to she and Katara.
"You'll have Zuko." Katara points out.
"We're trying to make him feel better, Katara."
"I can still hear you guys!" Zuko calls.
Sokka gives a snorting laugh. The kind that works its way around the table and reaches the door. From its frame a sopping wet Mai remarks, "well that's my one laugh for today."
"What are we talking about?" TyLee asks.
"Plans for the future." Azula pulls up a chair.
"Suki and I are going to beauty school! She wants to learn to do special effects makeup. I'm going to make everyone in Port TuiLa beautiful!"
"Good luck with Long Feng." Mai mumbles and helps herself to a french fry. "I'm going to study mortuary science. It'll give me something to talk about at dinner."
"What about you, Azula?" TyLee asks. "You still going to pro-surf?"
It hadn't really taken much thought to decide, not when the path had made itself so clear. She shakes her head, "no, I have something different in mind."
"Does father know?" Zuko asks, taking his seat.
"He will." Azula replies. That is her only hang up, the prospect of disappointing him. But she thinks that her desired career is admirable enough. Surely it is indisputably well suited to her. "I'm going to be a coast guard. I already have experience, more than I should."
The sea has taken a lot from her but she has taken a lot back. And she will take more back, more and more until it doesn't hurt. More and more until she knows that she can see her mother again with the ability to inform her that her death didn't amount to nothing. The waves may have stolen her life but they haven't stolen the energy she put forth.
The sea will take more lives, likely it will take them right out of Azula's hands. But it will take less than it would have if she gets her way.
"Thanks to you," she looks at Sokka, "and all the attention that your story got, I think that my chances are very good."
"Hey, can we stop talking about the future now and start living in the moment!?" Toph calls. "I've got five dollars for the jukebox and twenty for the arcade."
"How about we spend twenty on the jukebox and five on the arcade?" Sokka asks.
Azula elbows him. "Do you even know twenty dollars worth of good songs?"
"I know plenty of amazing tracks!"
She slings her arm around him. "Your music taste is still stuck on hits from ten years ago."
And so they listen to twenty dollars worth of songs that she hasn't heard since they were kids. Their summer starts with the past and plays out as it always has, right until when the leaves would start to change. And just as they always have, they close the summer with an all night music festival on the beach. Sparklers, smoke bombs, and melting ice cream cones. Fireworks and kisses and the same gaggle of friends. The same group plus one, not that Jin hadn't been an amusing addition.
.oOo.
It only makes sense that she departs on a stormy night. Her car is loaded and the remaining tents and banners of her goodbye party flap in the wind. Sokka presses his head to her forehead and gives her a rather lengthy kiss. Long enough to have her father retreating back into the house to fetch her a parting gift. She won't open it until she reaches boot camp. It is a simple photo album that her mother had made.
She pulls out of the kiss and Ozai hands her the giftbox. "Your mother would be proud."
"And you?"
Ozai sighs. "I think that you already know the answer to that." He ruffles her hair. He hasn't done that in ages. "I best see you in a uniform when you visit for the holidays."
"You will, father." She smiles.
"Take care of father?" Azula requests quietly to Zuko. "Keep him on track, okay?"
"I'll keep him busy." Zuko promise with a gesture to the lighthouse and his brand new business. "Trust me, I will."
She doesn't doubt it in the slightest. "Alright, well I'm getting soaked so…"
"I'll see you later, Azula."
She nods and gives a little wave.
Sokka puts his arm around her and leads her to her car. She buckles herself in and turns her head for one final kiss. "Call me when you get there." It isn't a question. "Of course I will, Sokka." She answers anyhow. He waves again and she rolls up her window. Windshield wipers throw drops off of the window as she steers her way down the winding lighthouse driveway.
The Sea Candle rests on the cliff shining her way as it always has. And it will be there to guide her home when the day comes. She casts one final look at the town in her rearview mirror. She can swear that, in the beam of the lighthouse she can see faint sails, bobbing haphazardly in the waves.