Hello everyone! Welcome to chapter 80 of Sparks Ignite! Sorry for the delay on this chapter, I just moved! Life has been very stressful lately but I should be getting back to uploading now that its starting to slow down. So I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! As always, I do not own avatar or its characters. Onto the story!
Fate and Destiny are a funny thing. They are so permanent, but yet can be changed by the smallest thing. It can cause the moon and the sun to collide. Or the most opposite Sparks to Ignite.
Chapter 80: The Factory
The mornings were family time.
Everyone spent it relaxing and enjoying each other's company. Hakoda would often disappear in the afternoons to take care of legal matters. If Sokka wasn't with Suki and the baby, he was watching over the reconstruction project.
Katara had been spending the afternoons showing Zuko the new city. He was just as surprised to see how different it was, as she was.
It was hard not to see the difference.
"And here is the new market… It's a lot… bigger since you were last here. A lot of the northerners began to set up their shops…" Katara began to explain to him, pointing different things out, "It does make it easier to find different foods!" she tried to be optimistic.
But Zuko could see the look on her face. She hated how different it was, and she missed her small little village. Even from the year he had been gone, it had changed so much.
"And over the hill is the factory…" she said, practically under her breath in distaste.
"Factory?" he asked her, "The oil deposit?"
Zuko had begun to talk with Hakoda about a trade system with the southern water tribe, and the oil was something that was a hot topic. It was a main selling point for the tribe.
But he knew Katara better than anyone, and by the look on her face, he could tell she didn't see the factory as a good thing.
Katara had tried her best to stay as far away from the factory as possible. But that hopefulness was quickly coming to an end, since Sokka begged her to take a tour with him.
It was the final tour before they start to do tests for production, and once they started producing oil, there was no going back.
Katara sat over the stove, mixing up a pot of whale tail stew. She heard footsteps behind her but didn't turn.
Zuko placed a kiss on her head, "Smells delicious…" he told her. She smiled back at him and kept stirring, "Eat up, we have a big day"
"We?" he asked her, slightly confused. Katara scoffed, while preparing a bowl, "If you thought you were getting out of doing this tour with me, you were sadly mistaken"
Zuko chuckled, and took the bowl from her, "Fine, but only for you…" he told her, causing a small blush to creep onto her cheeks. It made her feel butterflies at the fact that even after all this time, he could still do that to her.
The door quickly swung open and Sokka dragged himself in, plopping into a chair haphazardly.
Katara chuckled, handing him a bowl, "Rough night?"
"I don't think he slept a wink all night…" he took the bowl sleepily, his eyes looking like he got punched with how dark they were.
"Welcome to parenthood buddy…" Zuko told him, sipping his soup from the bowl. He didn't mind southern food as much as he had once thought. It didn't have the spice of fire nation food, but all of it felt fresh on his tongue, like a breath of fresh air or the salty wind from the sea.
Sokka shot him a glare at his comment, but looked down, almost ashamed, "I don't know if I can do this…"
Katara sighed and sat down next to him, "Sokka… I know this is hard… but it will get better, and it will get easier…" she told him, placing a hand on his shoulder. He huffed and looked into his bowl.
"We need to get moving… Malina and Maliq are waiting for us to show us around" Sokka said, slurping down his bowl of soup and setting the empty bowl back on the table.
Zuko and Katara exchanged a glance but stood and followed him.
The group quickly got ready and made their way across the village. It was different then the last time Katara had showed Zuko around. People were bustling around, gathering their goods and mingling amongst each other. Kids were running around, playing and their mothers were running after them. Sokka smiled at this, which was not something he would have done before.
It truly felt like a city when they saw this, not just a tiny village. It reminded them just how much the south was becoming like the villages of their travels.
The factory sat over the hill and as they climbed, it slowly came into view. It looked like it didn't belong there, like someone had taken a factory from the earth kingdom and plopping right in the middle of the southern water tribe.
"Sokka! Katara! And Fire Lord Zuko…" Maliq saw them coming over the hill and greeted them, but hesitated when he saw the Fire Lord in suit, "I was not expecting you to be here Fire Lord… uhhh… It's an honor sir…"
Zuko raised a hand, "No need, today I am just Zuko…" he smiled slightly. Katara smiled over at him and squeezed his hand.
Maliq cleared his throat and continued, "Thank you all for agreeing to take a tour of this place"
"It's all in a day's work for the Chief in Training, am I right?" he nudged the northerner's arm, jokingly, "I've gotta take a look around before I start telling people what to do!"
Malina giggled, covering her mouth with her hand, "Oh Sokka, you've got your father's sense of humor!"
Sokka looked at her a little confused, as she started to walk away, "I wasn't trying to be funny"
"Let me start by setting the stage!" Maliq started, ignoring Sokka's antics, "Ever since I was a young exchange student at Ba Sing See University…"
Sokka listened intently, but Zuko looked over and saw Katara spacing out and looking around her. He gently nudged her, and she looked over at him.
"You okay?" he whispered over to her. She shrugged and whispered behind her hand, "I still can't get the image of Malina kissing my father out of my head… I think about it every time I look at her…"
Zuko nodded slightly, looking over at the woman, then back at Katara. She had explained what her and her brother saw when he arrived. And even when he didn't admit it, he knew exactly what she was feeling.
When he saw his mother with Ikem, it gave him weird feelings. Of course, he wanted his mother to be happy, especially after everything Ozai had put them through. But this man kept his mother from him, just like in some ways, Malina was pulling Hakoda away from his children and their culture, even if Sokka didn't see it that way.
Zuko sighed, "Unfortunately… he's a grownup, he can…" he cut himself off, his next thought sending a shudder through his body. This was his future father in law, it was just as weird for him.
"Why'd it have to be her… Of all people her… I just know she's not right for my Dad…" Katara reasoned with herself, she shook her head and tried to focus back on why they were there. The sooner she did, the sooner they could get this over with.
"And there you have it! That's our vision!" Maliq spoke with excitement, "That's why Malina and I came down here, any questions?" he asked.
Zuko cleared his throat, "Yes just one question…" he thought for a moment, trying to act like he was paying attention, "So this oil…" he trailed off, trying to continue without sounding like he wasn't listening.
"Oil like we use for lamps?" Katara asked them. But Sokka shook his head, "No that oil comes from whale walrus blubber" he reasoned.
Maliq shook his head, letting out a breath, "No oil that is used for engine fuel! Among other things… Like they do in the fire nation…"
Zuko nodded slightly, silently thanking Katara for the save. Malina continued, "Oil is the key to lifting up the south!"
Katara crossed her arms, turning cold, "I didn't realize the south needed any lifting up…"
Malina bit her lip, clearly nervous, "Katara, that came out wrong, what I meant was", but her brother cut her off, speaking over her, "This deposit isn't just big! It's the biggest in all of the world! Don't you understand the implications?"
He continued, "Our most powerful machines run on oil based fuel… The more oil we have, the more machines we can have! With this oil, machines can finally be everywhere in every part of our lives!"
"And that's a good thing because..?" Katara asked him, still being standoffish to the whole ordeal. Malina cleared her throat and spoke up, "It also gives us opportunities for trade. Other nations will want what we have… It will give us an advantage in the market!"
But Katara wasn't budging, "I still don't see the point of these machines and why they're so important. We've done just fine so far"
Maliq narrowed his eyes and turned just as cold as she was being, "Katara this is hard for you to understand because you're a bender… The kind of power you possess just hasn't been available to us non-benders…"
But he perked up after this, "Until now! Machines can make us as powerful as benders! With machines, we can finally be equal!"
Katara looked down and away, "I guess I never thought of non-benders as not equal…"
Sokka shook us, "No I get what Maliq is saying… It's like when I started to get down about being the only non-bender in the group…"
"Sokka… we've talked about that…" Katara spoke, trying to make her brother feel better. But Sokka shook his head, "I know that now, its okay… But machines would make us be completely equal… Just like my sword did for me!"
Maliq nodded, proud, "Exactly Sokka…" he told him. Malina placed a hand on her brother's shoulder, "We will be hosting a festival tonight to celebrate the grand opening of the factory!" she told him. Maliq nodded, contributing, "Everyone in the city is coming, but you all have to be there as our guests of honor!"
Sokka raised a hand to his chin, thinking in his standard position, "It would be the perfect opportunity to introduce the little one to the village" he thought for another moment. Then Malina chimed in, "We'll have music and games and all the food you could want!"
"Count me in!" he perked up.
Zuko and Katara exchanged a look, but smiled and shrugged. What could possibly go wrong?
Ta-Daa! I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter! A pretty long one! Until next time!
