Rehearsals were going well, though Noren was yet to show up. I was busy instructing the avid new dancers who'd joined up when news spread that a professional dancer had come to teach. Plenty of volunteers opted for dancing lessons, and I thoroughly enjoyed being an instructor. I hadn't taught someone something since I was helping Aang train in fire bending. It was quite rewarding in its own way. "Noren! You're late, what kept you?" I heard someone call out as our director finally showed up.
"Sorry everyone, I had some unexpected guests after the show this morning. I brought them back to talk since they had questions about a few old members of the group. How is everything going?"
"We're on schedule for the big show at the weekend." I reported, giving a smile from where I was standing, observing our new dancers as they moved in unison, though some were still a little shaky and one struggled with the movements because they required flexibility she didn't possess yet. "If we put in the hours, your dancers will be ready and have all the dances learned to precision."
"You've done a great job, thank you Kayo."
"You're welcome. So who were your guests? Anyone interesting?"
"Just some young travellers, rather like yourself. They seemed like a rather odd bunch, but they were nice and asked their questions about the troupe before leaving. Apparently they have an interest in performance history."
"Oh? Maybe I should talk with them if they swing by again. They sound like the kind of people I like to swap stories with. How's Kiyi? Did she like them?" Noren chuckled, telling me that Kiyi was particularly fond of one of the boys though he didn't get a proper look at his face since he wore a hood up. I shrugged it off, thinking nothing of it and instead clapped my and called for a well earned break. I spent the entire day helping out with the performers until after dark, where it was just myself and Noren to tidy up the props and the storeroom. "Why don't you go on home Noren? Noriko and Kiyi must be waiting for you to start dinner. You go ahead and I'll catch up later, best not make Kiyi wait any longer."
"Would you mind? I feel awful leaving you with all this mess…"
"It's fine, just go and make sure to save some for me. I won't take too long." I laughed, ushering Noren out of the storehouse so that he could return home to his family. Poor Kiyi must be starving by now, but I know that Noriko always insists on waiting for Noren to be home so that they can always eat their meal together as a family. Smiling to myself peacefully, I hummed a few songs as I tidied up, making sure everything was put away ready for tomorrow before closing the door and heading back to Noren's home. It was a cool evening and the stars were pretty, so I leaned back head back on my hands in order to gaze at them until I saw someone lingering outside the house, making my jaw drop. "Sokka?!"
"Kayo?!" Both of us pointed at one another dumbly, astonished to see the other in such a remote place until Sokka recovered first. "What are you doing here?! I thought you went travelling!"
"I am! I travelled here, why are you here?"
"Oh, right. Well Aang, Katara and I followed Zuko and Azula here trying to find their mom because this was where she lived but then we met a giant tree lady spirit who told us that Zuko's mom changed her face and that happens to be Noriko the lady we met earlier and now Azula is trying to kill her. Zuko's inside right now." Jabbing a thumb over his shoulder as Sokka gave me the speedy version of the story, I stumbled a few times over what came out of his mouth, because quite honestly, it was a little too unbelievable, even for the whacky nonsense our group finds for ourselves.
"You what now? Azula and Zuko are here? Are you guys nuts?! I thought Azula was confined to the mental institute for having a few screws loose. You're telling me that you let her loose?" more to the point, there was something Sokka said about Azula trying to kill Noriko. "Wait, what did you say about Noriko?"
"She got a new face from the giant tree lady, but she's actually Zuko's and Azula's mom. Azula went crazy and now she's here trying to kill Noriko because…well. She's Azula and she's mean." Oh boy. Why did I have to come to this village? What the heck is going on? I could have walked to literally any other place in the entire world and I ended up here. "Have to say, it's a little weird you showing up here too. You left and made Zuko all sad and heartbroken then you show up in his mom's hometown. Crazy coincidence, am I right?"
"Let's put that aside for now. Where's Azula?"
"We seemed to have beaten her here for the moment, but I expect she'll turn up any second-!" A sudden burst of blue fire swarmed at us and without even thinking I grabbed Sokka and dove out of the way. "Found her." Yeah, no kidding. Azula yelled as she leaped down from above, kicking her foot with a stream of fire so I pulled water up from the grass and earth in order to block her foot, dousing the flames as I lcoked ankles with her.
"Sokka!"
"On it!" He dove in to try and take out Azula, sweeping with his Water Tribe machete but she arched backwards and disconnected from me, opening a gap between us as I held the water between my hands, body turned at an angle in preparation.
"Well, well, look what we have here. Two little snow peasants…or at least, one snow peasant and one traitor."
"Looks like they let you go free too soon from the nuthouse, Azula." I said to her, seeing the crazed look in her eye. She bellowed and rushed forwards with another blast of fire before she launched herself up onto the roof, intending to get into the house from above. Noriko! Kiyi! "Hold on Sokka!"
"To what?!" Grabbing him by the foot with water I whirled him up onto the roof in order to follow Azula as I found another water source, running around to gather up as much water as possible as Azula forced her way through the roof with a lightning strike, Sokka tumbling in after her. I sprung up, water propelling myself onto the roof as well as I heard the screaming of fear from Kiyi inside and Azula's voice as she stood over Noriko.
"You! Finally, I can't tell you how long I've dreamed of this moment." Crouching low over the roof opening, I looked inside discreetly to see where everyone was. Noren had Kiyi in his arms but he was too close, all of them were too close. I couldn't make a move otherwise I risked Azula lashing out and hurting everyone in the process. Where was Zuko? Didn't Sokka say he was here? Why don't I see him? Azula looked at Kiyi with disgust, glaring sharply at a terrified Noriko. "Tell me mother, did you have to have a new daughter because your last one turned out to be such a monster?!"
"Stay back Azula!" I heard Sokka yell, drawing Azula's attention to him.
"Back for more, snow peasant? Where's your little toy?" Toy? What the heck was she on about now? Oh…the boomerang. Pointing behind her, Azula didn't turn quick enough before the boomerang smacked Azula on the back of her head.
"Everybody scatter!" Ushering Noren and Kiyi away, Sokka stopped him from trying to get to Noriko, telling him to take care of his daughter first as Azula picked herself up with a yell.
"No more distractions! You're not going anywhere!" She launched herself at Noriko with explosive power, so I took this opportunity to strike first. Dropping down through the opening I brought all the water I'd been holding above my head down with me, giving a furious yell as I launched it forwards and slammed it against Azula with a turn, hitting her off target and she crashed against the wall of the house as Noriko cried out in alarm.
"Kayo!" My head turned sharply, staring at Zuko who was starting to get up off the floor, holding his stomach like he'd been kicked there. "You're here…how are you…?"
"Now's not the time. Focus on your nutso sister!" I berated, turning my face away from him as I jumped off the table and stood in front of Noriko, facing Azula with a scowl as I pulled the water off her her and brought it up like a protective barrier as the crazy princess kicked and struggled against the debris of a cabinet she'd crashed into. "Stop wrecking the home of my hosts, Azula. You're not going to hurt them."
"I'll finish you, I'll finish you all!" Azula yelled, pointing primarily at Noriko, who was apparently her mother.
"I don't know what you're talking about…" She trembled behind me, her hand having gripped onto the back of my clothes for safety as I continued to hold the water between us and Azula, ready to strike her down if necessary.
"Oh really mother?" Azula scoffed as she stood upright, though she was all gangly and unsteady on her feet, eyes wide with heavy shadows, bloodshot and intense. "So I've imagined all this? You haven't been trying to take me down from the moment I was born?" Noriko flinched behind me, gasping softly before I felt her tense all the more and with a quick glance behind me, I saw her pressing her eyes shut as she began to cry.
"If what you say is true…if I really am your mother…then I'm sorry I didn't love you enough." Azula started, taken aback by Noriko's words and she stared with an open mouth, seemingly unsure on how to respond.
"Azula stop! Stay away from them!" Zuko ordered, throwing out his hand but his interference only triggered Azula again, making her strike at him with fire. I covered her fist in water, dousing any flames before doing the same to the other, trying to hold her back but Azula merely released an even more powerful fire blast which made the water explode and turn to steam so I dived to cover Noriko, ducking her head down in order to keep her safe. "No!" Zuko lunged forwards and started to fight with Azula, exchanging fire for fire until she started to create lightning.
"Hold still will you?!"
"Don't do it. I already told you, I know how to deal with your lightning. I can redirect it anywhere." Zuko warned but Azula ignored him. Seeing that things were getting too dangerous, I pulled Noriko over to a corner and made her hunker down for the moment, pulling up the water and forming an ice wall to hide behind before I hugged her head in order to cover her completely, whispering that it was going to be alright.
From behind the wall of ice I could see the two figures of Zuko and Azula, the latter releasing her lightning directly at her brother who merely absorbed it, and this time, he sent it back at her. She cried out in pain but I only dropped the ice wall when I heard the crash, getting up carefully as Azula yelled at her brother from where she'd been struck down.
"Don't you get it, Zuzu? You and I will finally be free! You of a throne you never really wanted, and me from this incessant nagging in my head!" Azula practically sobbed, Noriko holding onto my arm as she stood up behind me, watching the two siblings as I just stayed quiet.
"No, you're wrong."
"Oh stop kidding yourself! The other morning when you had me over that cliff, why didn't you just let me go? You could have gotten rid of me and this letter!" Holding up the letter she was talking about, I had to wonder exactly what happened between Zuko and Azula, and what was the contents of that letter? "It would have been so easy. Admit it, you need me to be free!" Turning aside slightly, Zuko reched into his robe in order to bring out his hair clasp and the Fire Lord crown, looking at them both with reverie.
"In my heart, I've known…I've always known…that the throne is my destiny." He announced aloud, much to my surprise as he fixed both pieces into his hair. Zuko never liked being Fire Lord, since the day of his coronation it had weighed down on him, yet here he was saying that he knew he had always been destined for it? I could hardly believe what I was hearing. That guy was just so…infuriating. "That morning on the cliff…Azula, our relationship is so messed up. It's been like that as long as I can remember, and maybe it'll be like that for the rest of our lives, but one fact never changes. No matter what, you are still my sister."
Presing her eyes shut, Azula choked back on a sob before lashing out at Zuko, yelling for him to shut up. She dropped the letter and used her attack as cover for her to make a run for it, firing another at me on her way out so that I had to protect Noriko with a quick lift of my hands to raise the water from the floor, the fire bursting against it but otherwise leaving us unharmed. Zuko yelled for Azula to come back, chasing after her and Noriko followed. "Wait! It's dangerous!" I dove after her, running to catch up.
"Come back! Please! I can help you. I want to help you!" Zuko yelled after Azula who ducked her head and ran, continuing to ignore him before she turned around to reveal she was crying.
"Same as always Zuzu. Even when you're strong…you're weak." The she turned and fled into the valley that Noren had warned me never to enter. I stopped running, watching along Zuko and Noriko as Azula disappeared until Noriko gasped, pointing and drawing our attention to something else. When I saw the spirit rise up over the forest, I realised Sokka hadn't been kidding. It was literally a giant tree lady, but with several faces lined next to one another but none of them had eyes, the twisted branches of the tree rising over her eyes and above her head like a crown.
Thinking maybe this was more trouble, I lowered my stance and prepared a water whip but Zuko's hand came to touch my shoulder, telling me not to attack. Feeling his hand touching me so unexpectedly caused me to panic and shake him off quickly, using the water to whip his hand so that he was forced to yank it back with a grunt of pain. "Don't touch me!" I glared at him, wanting to be angry at him but then the tree spirit lady spoke, looking down at Noriko.
"Human, do you wish to return to who you once were? Do you wish to remember?" As Noriko accepted the offer, Aang and Katara landed beside me as Zuko rushed forwards to stop her.
"No, you don't have to. You have such a beautiful life here!" The spirit reached her branched hand down to Noriko and engulfed her face, making me move with alarm but Aang assured me everything was alright and to just watch. I did as he said, watching as the golden light engulfed Noriko until Aang suddenly did a double take.
"Wait! How are you here Kayo?"
"I've been here for days. It's you guys who just suddenly showed up. I just came through here because I kept on having this dream about being here so I thought I might as well check it out." I scowled at him before folding my arms unhappily. I did everything I could to get away with Zuko and he just turns up in front of me like this. I'm pissed. When the giant spirit pulled away and straightened up, I was amazed that it really was the same Ursa I'd seen portraits of in the palace. She turned to Zuko and smiled sadly, crying before she went to her son and embraced him.
"I have shown great benevolence this day. Ensure that it is not forgotten, young Avatar." She said to Aang in a mysterious, airy voice before she went back to her forest and disappeared, leaving me in a daze before all at once, I gripped my head.
"You guys have the craziest adventures, and I didn't even mean to tag along on this one!"
"I know, destiny is a strange thing." Aang agreed as Katara frowned, looking at the forest where she must have seen Azula run in from the air, Sokka running towards us from where he'd finally caught up, panting for breath and gripping his knees as he came to a halt. He showed us the letter that Azula had dropped back in the house and I read it, finding out that Ursa had written to a guy called Ikem telling him that Zuko was his son.
"Okay, back up. You guys need to start from the beginning and tell me everything that's going on, I'm totally confused." Sokka opened his mouth to explain so I quickly held out my hand to block his face. "Anybody but Sokka." Katara volunteered herself, starting from when they'd received a message for help from Zuko and how they'd joined up with him, who'd released Azula on the promise that she would help him locate their mother. See how well that turned out. You see, Zuko doe the most stupidest things when I'm not around to point out just how idiotic he's being.
Anyway, Katara then continued to tell me everything about how they'd found out about Hira'a and they'd travelled here, meeting a giant wolf spirit, meeting Noren, how he told them that Ikem had gone into the Unforgotten Valley some year ago and never returned so they went looking for him only to discover siblings from the Northern Water Tribe, where the brother had had his face stolen by Koh the Face Stealer who I vaguely remembered Aang mentioning once. They then learned about the Mother of Faces, the big tree lady I just met, then how she'd told them that Ursa had come to her seeking a new face and to forget all her painful memories in order to start a new life safe from Ozai. There were a few more details in between, but that was the gist of it as Sokka then added on his part of the story, and I told them that Azula had run into the valley just now, making Katara look back warily. "We'll need to keep our guard up. Sooner or later, Azula is going to show up again."
"I know, I get goose bumps just thinking about it." Sokka shuddered comically as I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. All I wanted was to find somewhere peaceful to live in quiet for a while. Why did I have to end up here?
"But it doesn't have to be like that. People change! I mean, he gave that letter back to Zuko, right?" Aang reasoned, defending Azula only because he was so nice. I doubt Azula had any inclination to change at all.
"No, she didn't give it back to him, she dropped it by accident." Sokka corrected, but Aang hung onto the hope that Azula had known what she was doing.
"There's no way to now for sure, but I think she meant to do it."
"That's why I love you sweetie. You always try to look on the bright side of things." Katara said, all mushy like and sickly sweet as she kissed Aang on the cheek, making him smile.
"How can I not? Look at everything that's happened, we helped to bring together a sister and a brother, and a mother and her son." I guess that's one way of looking at it, and for a moment I felt a slight sense of satisfaction and gladness on behalf of the people who had their relationships restored, but then I remembered that Zuko was one of those people and I got mad again. He and Ursa started to come towards us, making me glare at him before I turned to walk away.
"Kayo wait! Please don't go, I want to talk to you!" He quickly moved to reach out for me, moving to catch up but I turned and slashed my hand with a little too much force as the water I pulled from the air slammed against him, making him stumble and fall backwards.
"Leave me alone! I don't want to talk to you, Zuko. I don't even want to look at you!"
"I know you're mad, and you have every right to be. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. Sorry I hurt you, that I didn't listen, that I made you miserable and put so much pressure on you to deal with my problems…" He started to list off and I grit my teeth, feeling everything shaking inside as the stinging pain made it almost impossible not to cry. "There's so much I want to say. I've spent a lot of time thinking, getting my head straight, now I know just how I wrong I was. Please, at least give me a chance…"
"Why should I?" Cutting my hand across my body again, I hit Zuko in the head with another water strike, keeping him away from me as he tried to walk forwards. "You never listened to me back then, so why should I listen to you now? You're still not listening! I DON'T WANT TO TALK TO YOU! I don't want to see your face, hear your voice, I don't even want to be within a hundred miles of you, Zuko! You hurt me that much, I felt so choked and suffocated in that damn palace trying to keep you from breaking apart, I was destroying my own spirit in the process. You think you can just apologise and then everything's going to be okay? That I'll just smile and come back to your side to be nothing more than some kind of pet? My forgiveness isn't so easily won!"
"Kayo…is that what you think you were to me?" Zuko looked genuinely shocked so I turned away, not wanting him to see the kind of expression I had on my face. I didn't want him to see me in pain, for him to know that he affected me that much. He didn't deserve to know anything.
"Well, I sure wasn't your girlfriend, and that position as advisor was just an excuse to keep me from leaving, to tie me to your side. Don't you get it Zuko? I'm done running around after you. Since you've got your head straight again, there's no need for me to hang around waiting for you to be ready to accept the possibility of a relationship." Lifting my hand I pointed at him, looking at him with such fury that he stepped back fearfully. "I am not some simple minded girl who sits around waiting for her prince to finally notice her! I have my own mind and I'm going to do what I want from now on, and right now that means being as far away from you as possible."
"Kayo…"
"Unless you want me to really hurt you right now, and trust me I'm thinking about it…I suggest you shut up." Everything about my threat forced Zuko to clamp his mouth shut, but that didn't stop him from looking at me desperately. I couldn't stay there with him looking at me like that, I'm getting out of here. I stormed off on my own, going back to the house in order to pack up my things then apologised to Noren and Kiyi, telling them that I had to go and because of certain circumstances, I wouldn't be coming back.
"This sounds serious, are you alright? Is Noriko…?"
"She's fine, she'll be back soon, but she had her old face returned to her." I forewarned him before looking down at Kiyi in order to soften, rooting around in my bag before I pulled out a new doll I'd made for her in secret, planning to give it to her as a gift but now, it was a farewell present. I'd hand embroidered every detail, from the face to the designs of the dress, and painstakingly arranged her hair so that it looked like a picture she'd drawn and tried to make Doll Kiyi's hair into. "Here, she's all yours Kiyi. I made your little Kiyi a sister to play with. Do you like her?"
"She's beautiful! Thank you Kayo!" She flung her arms around me after gasping in awe, hugging me tightly so I gave her a light squeeze, holding her small frame against me. I guess this must mean Kiyi is Zuko's sister. I still can't exactly wrap my head around all this. "I'm going to call her Kayo, just like you!"
"Isn't that nice? Now you'll always remember me. Kiyi and Kayo, best friends forever. I hope we see each other again one day." I said to her before ruffling her hair until she giggled, holding both her dolls close against her chest as I then stood up and bowed to Noren, thanking him for his generous hospitality and kindness before I shouldered my bag and left, not once looking back.
