Chapter 39: Back to the Fire Nation

Author's Note: I'm glad to be back! I took some time off from updating this story to post some other stories: "Yes, Sifu Katara," "A Contentious Reunion," and "Weathering the Storm." I recommend them if you haven't had the chance to read them yet. They can be found on my author page. The last two are spinoffs from this story featuring Zuko and Mai. "Weathering the Storm" is explicit, so the complete story is only available on An Archive of Our Own. Later chapters of When It's All Over may reference the events of those Maiko stories.

I have updated this story's rating to Mature, which I probably should have done a while ago.

The Avatar and his friends flew east over the ocean on their way to the Fire Nation. Aang sat on Appa's head while the others lounged in the saddle. Most of them were excited to have one member of the team restored to her place. Even Toph had a sense of relief about the way Suki's reappearance had simplified their travel plans.

"I'm just glad we hooked back up with you in Ba Sing Se, instead of having to track you down, Suki," the earthbender told the older girl. "Katara said we might have to stop at Kyoshi Island on the way to Zuko's, and it would add an extra day and a half in the air, and I was not happy about that."

"I'm so happy it happened that way too. I can't wait to get to the palace!" The Kyoshi Warrior enthused. "Do you think Zuko will have a party for us? His coronation was so much fun! The food, the fireworks-"

"We went to a lot of amazing parties in the Earth Kingdom. Like Bumi's birthday party in Omashu, Aang's birthday party in Senlin Village, and the harvest celebration in Haru's village. But I guess you missed those, Suki." Katara had intended only a slight edge of rudeness toward her brother's girlfriend, but her dig came out a bit nastier than she meant it to.

"Nah, they weren't such great parties." Sokka dismissed them.

"You only say that because you were too drunk to remember them," Katara reminded him, rolling her eyes. "Those of us who had no need to drown our sorrows had a wonderful time."

"Not as good a time as at King Keui's ball, though. The gardens, the dancing….." Sokka squeezed Suki around the waist.

"I didn't think you two made it to the dance floor," Toph said with a smirk.

"We didn't. Suki served me a most delicious dessert in her room instead." Sokka grinned at his girlfriend, who laughed in scandalized delight, and gave him a playful smack on the arm.

Katara's face twisted in disgust. "Straight from breakup to bedroom. That'll end well."

"I could say some things about you and Twinkletoes," Toph began.

Katara started, kicking herself. Against her better judgement, she'd slept in Aang's bed one night when Toph was in the house instead of at her parents' place. She'd known the earthbender would sense it. She was preparing an argument about how it was different because they hadn't just come off a breakup, and all they'd done was sleep anyway, when Sokka interrupted.

"Please don't," her brother begged. "None of us want to hear about that."

"We don't want to hear about your special dessert either," Toph retorted.

"Got it." Sokka held up his hands, respecting his younger friend's protests in a way that he never did his sister's.

"And we also don't want to have to pick up the pieces later." Katara muttered, not quite just to herself, turning to the side of the sky bison's saddle and looking out over the ocean.

Appa landed in the central courtyard of the palace, and his passengers were immediately greeted by the Fire Lord and his girlfriend. After hugs all around, he invited his guests inside for a late dinner.

Zuko led the group from the courtyard to the dining room. Their path took them through the portrait gallery, where the new arrivals noticed a change that had been made since they were last in the Fire Nation several months ago. White tapestries with red embroidered characters hung over the murals of Sozin, Azulon, and Ozai. For each Fire Lord, the hanging cloth simply told their names, dates of birth, coronation, and death, names of family members, and a list of their deeds, bad and good, phrased in a matter-of-fact way that did not exalt them or sugarcoat their misdeeds.

"Uh, what happened here, Zuko?" Sokka wondered, stopping in front of one of the tapestries.

"Oh. I wanted to take down the murals of my father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. I was afraid these paintings might make…..some foreign guests I might have uncomfortable. But then the court painter convinced me they have 'artistic merit,' and the court historian told me they're part of the historical record. He said that if nothing else they provide evidence for how the previous Fire Lords' deeds were viewed in their time. So I finally agreed they shouldn't be destroyed, but I still didn't want them displayed. I couldn't store them away in an attic because they're painted directly on the wall. But it's not right to glorify men who committed such atrocities. So this was the compromise. Covering them up and explaining their legacy."

"It's nice that you thought of our comfort, Zuko, but seeing these pictures didn't bother me," Aang assured him.

"Or me," Katara chimed in.

"Or me," Toph added, making the others groan.

"I thought of them as family pictures." Aang clarified. "It's not your fault your family was…."

"A bunch of genocidal maniacs?" Sokka put in.

Katara slapped his arm, and Aang put his hand behind his head in embarrassment. Zuko shrugged. It seemed like a fair description to him.

"It was pretty controversial," the Fire Lord admitted. "I had to argue with council members about it for days. They said I was making it personal, that I only wanted to do this just because my grandfather ordered my death, and my father burned me. Extremists like the New Ozai Society protested, saying I was 'erasing history.' Even after we decided on this compromise, it took weeks for the committee to fight out every word on those tapestries."

He led them a little bit further down the hall, where they could see that the beginning of a mural had already been started for the newest monarch. So far it had only Zuko's face, the dates of his birth and coronation, and the names of his father, mother, and sister. There was a lot of empty space that would be filled with symbols and characters depicting the things he would accomplish in future years.

He gestured to the opposite wall. "Those are the Avatars from the Fire Nation. You see Roku, and, farther down, Szeto. There are spaces between for the years of the Avatars from other nations. I've been talking to the committee about changing that tradition. After all, the Avatar belongs to all nations, not that of just his or her origin, right? I'd like to put your portrait here, Aang, right across from mine."

Aang looked at Roku, across from the white tapestry with Sozin's name. They'd been like brothers, but the Avatar had been betrayed. The airbender saw here a chance to fix that betrayal, to make the Avatar and the Fire Lord brothers again. "That would be an honor, Zuko. But I understand if the council doesn't want to do it. It would be a break with tradition. No need to rush or push it. We'll be helping the world together for years."

During dinner, the group discussed the places they wanted to visit and revisit during their time in the country, with the palace serving as their base between trips. Zuko told the others about some educational and environmental projects he was hoping they would help him with, in addition to the diplomatic meetings already scheduled. He'd even made some special arrangements for the healer.

"And Katara, the heads of the medical school and the local hospital are eager to meet you. I know you enjoyed your medical training in Ba Sing Se, so I wanted to make sure you'd be able to continue your education while you're here."

"Thank you, Zuko! That was really thoughtful of you." She nodded appreciatively.

"Suki and I are going to be spending some time at Piandao's estate," Sokka told his host. "When we're not traveling or meeting with world leaders, that is."

"What will you do there?" Zuko wondered.

"Oh, just make a new space sword, level up my skills, teach him the boomerang-"

"And the battle fan," Suki put in, making her boyfriend beam at her.

"Train with the best sparring partner ever, join an ancient secret society, nothing too big or important." Sokka finished modestly.

After a long day in the air, they were all ready to retire and rest. Aang was shown to the newly renovated Avatar's Suite, and Katara was given a room across the hall from it, one usually reserved for foreign diplomats. Apparently, that entire wing of the palace had been unused for decades. War did not make dignitaries from overseas particularly eager to visit. But when the Earth King and his retinue arrived for the next round of colony negotiations, they would stay here as well, since their embassy was still under construction.

Sokka, Suki, and Toph were given rooms on a second-floor hall that a servant said was designated for members of the royal family who were not in the line of succession. Lady Mai had a room on this hall as well, she said, although they never saw her there.

Katara was in the palace library, hoping to find some books on Fire Nation medical techniques to prepare for her interviews, when Sokka came in.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, surprised to see him.

"In his last letter, the Mechanist recommended a couple texts on engineering, and I wondered if there might be some copies here." Her brother responded. "But, uh, since we're alone, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about. Suki's kind of hurt by the way you've been acting."

The incident during the flight hadn't been the first time Katara had been cold or dismissive of Suki since her brother had reunited with his ex-girlfriend. She hadn't expected to feel such hostility upon seeing Suki again after such a long separation, but she had just found herself completely incapable of greeting her warmly or even speaking civilly. She had been rooting for the couple to get back together, but she'd had no idea she would feel like this once they did. That was why she'd mostly avoided the older girl, and gave her the cold shoulder when they were together in a group. Worse, sometimes she had even lashed out with sarcastic comments, as she had on Appa. The waterbender knew her behavior was unfair, but she just couldn't help it. She was still mad at Suki for the way Sokka had suffered during the last few months.

"She broke your heart." Katara halfheartedly justified herself.

"And I broke hers, and now we're both over it and really happy." Sokka replied mildly. "It would be nice if you could get on board."

"It's like every time I see her, I remember you moping around like no one in history has ever been so wretched." His sister explained. "I know she didn't do anything wrong; the breakup was mutual and you're a stronger couple for it now. Just….know that I was only acting standoffish out of loyalty to you."

"I know. That and your tendency to hold a grudge. I was starting to wonder if she was going to have to take you on a murder vacation like Zuko did, to make you get over it, but I couldn't figure out who the target would be."

Katara reddened and looked down in shame at the memory.

Sokka went on. "Suki thinks of you as a sister, you know. And she left all her other sisters behind to come here with me. If Toph can be nice to her, when she's…..Toph-"

"Are you talking about her personality or her massive crush on you?"

"Both. But she's taking it really well. Maybe she's over it."

"Good for her." Katara nodded. "Does that mean you're going to do the protective older brother thing when she gets a boyfriend?"

"Maybe. If I don't like the guy, I'm sure I will be all too happy to scare him off."

She scoffed. "As if you'd be able to frighten anyone brave enough to date Toph."

He snickered. "That's true. She can look out for herself."

"And I can't?" Katara raised an eyebrow at him pointedly.

"I mean, you could easily freeze a guy to death if he got fresh with you. But I'm not worried about that with Aang."

"Good. He's a complete gentleman."

"Of course he is. I always knew he would be. And, you know, fair warning, if you two ever broke up, I'm not sure I would pick your side automatically."

"What? That's not fair!"

"He's family too. And knowing you, there's a good chance you'd be the one in the wrong."

"What would I do?" Katara put her hands on her hips indignantly.

"Your temper, for one. Your grudges."

"Well, I'm not planning on-"

"It's not necessarily something you plan." Sokka reminded her of his bitter experience. "It can come out of the blue."

"Still, I don't know why you'd think I would ever-"

"I had a conversation with him about….some problems I could see in your future, and I was very impressed with his answers." He informed her. "So I conclude from that, if you two ever break up, it'll be your fault, not his."

"What kind of problems?" She asked warily. She thought she knew what he'd say.

"I know you remember that conversation at the Air Temple just as well as I do."

"Yeah…." She looked down at her hands.

"I'll admit, the whole thing about how Air Nomads don't get married, they just sleep around—it worried me a little for your sake, for a while." Sokka confided. "And I also just thought it was kind of…..squicky. Like, if nobody knows who their dad is, and everybody's sleeping around, how do you make sure you don't end up in bed with your half sister?"

Katara's eyes widened. "I guess I never thought of that. But Aang didn't say nobody knew, just that he didn't, and he wasn't the only one. There are plenty of people who don't know their fathers in other countries too. Maybe they kept records?"

"I hope they did. The way he described it, it just sounded like a whole nation of fuckbuddies."

"Yeah…." She wouldn't have put it like that, but that was basically the idea that had disturbed her most after their talk at the Air Temple, the idea of Aang seeing her that way, using her so casually. It had also been confusing because it didn't seem to fit the way he treated her at all. But that particular worry had basically disappeared since they had agreed to date exclusively.

"But anyway, he and I talked about it, and he said I had the wrong idea." Sokka went on. "Apparently his people didn't take sex lightly after all. I have to admit I don't really understand what that means without marriage, or at least monogamy, but I guess I kind of have to take his word for it, because he's the only one alive who would know. Either way, he said he's serious about you, so." He shrugged, as if to say, that's that.

"He is?"

Sokka made a face at her that said, 'are you crazy?' "Of course! Do I have to get Toph in here so she can say you're more blind than she is?"

"No, I…..believe you."

"Good. I'm glad you don't need as much convincing as he did."

Her face fell in dismay. "He didn't know I'm serious about him?"

Sokka looked away, fidgeting nervously. "I think it did a number on him, the way you strung him along before the comet."

She hung her head. "That's fair. I've been working to fix it. To show him….."

"But not tell him? Are you saying you two still haven't talked about what happens after this tour?"

"Not really… I guess one time we both said we'd like to keep traveling together, but nothing concrete." Maybe that was her fault. There might even have been a couple times when he'd tried to get that kind of discussion started, but she had shut him down. She had a very good reason for that, one she did not want to discuss with her brother.

"How does that happen?" Sokka asked the ceiling, exasperated. "Does no one pay attention to anything I say? I told him you guys needed to talk. You two do nothing but talk."

"Um, we do other things…." She blushed.

"Ugh, no, you don't! Please just pretend for a minute that all you do is talk."

"Fine. We are expert conversationalists."

"Why did you have to make that sound dirty?"

"Because we are not nearly as good at talking as you and Suki."

"Ok, that's true. We are really good at talking. And not talking."

"Ugh." She made a face.

"See, you get the oogies too." He nudged her shoulder. "And I mean, you did have somewhat of a good point earlier."

"When was that?"

"When you said it wasn't smart for Suki and me to get right back in the saddle before we talked it all out." Sokka said sheepishly, uncharacteristically reflective. "And maybe that was part of the problem before, too. I assumed she knew how much I loved her because we were sleeping together, but that wasn't enough. In retrospect, I was almost treating sex like a toy. I guess that's understandable: we're young, it was new and exciting. I didn't appreciate it, or her, until she was gone. But now, being with her is like…..a religious event."

"Wow." She was taken aback. "I….uh…..didn't think you were a very spiritual guy."

"I am now." He assured her. "You'll make things right with Suki, then?

Katara sighed. "Yeah, I will." She bumped his shoulder with hers. "It's good to see you happy again."

"And she's the one you have to thank for that."

"I know. She's great. I've always liked Suki. I was just being stupid."

"I get it." Sokka shrugged. "The Water Tribe is loyal to their own. And I'm sorry I was such a wreck for so long. Thanks for sticking with me."

Katara squeezed her brother's arm affectionately. "Always."

The following morning, Katara asked around for Suki's location, and was unsurprised to hear that she was in the practice room. The palace had a well-appointed facility with state-of-the-art weapons and equipment, and it made sense that the warrior would want to make the most of it. The waterbender walked down to the large, airy room, carrying a bag with a peace offering. She watched Suki hitting a punching bag for a few minutes. She had always admired how tough and strong Suki was. It made her wonder if she should learn some nonbending self-defense herself. She could always take water from the environment, but if she were ever stuck in the desert again, or severely dehydrated…but then, that level of water deprivation would weaken her so that she couldn't do much to defend herself anyway. Hydration on her mind, she filled a cup with water from a jug to offer Suki before clearing her throat to announce her presence.

"Oh. Hi." Suki said awkwardly, approaching and accepting the cup from Katara's hand. They sat on a bench, quiet and subdued. Katara knew it was her job to break the silence.

"I know I've been rude and mean to you since you rejoined us, and I wanted to apologize."

"Oh. Um, it's ok." Suki looked down into her now-empty cup.

"It's just…..Sokka was pretty broken up about you for a while, and it wasn't easy for me to see him like that." Katara explained, shifting her weight uncomfortably. "I blamed you for it, even though he said from the beginning it was mutual. I figured that was just his way to save face."

"I understand." Suki nodded and sighed. "I figured this was how you felt. I know how close you and Sokka are. You two sometimes hide how much you care about each other, but you've certainly been through a lot more together than my sister and I have. Maybe when we broke up you felt like I'd betrayed you, as well as your brother. I saw how you treated Zuko, and compared to that, I got off pretty light. You said I was part of the team, but I always understood that your primary loyalty was to Sokka. That's as it should be."

"No, it's not." Katara shook her head, amazed at how stoic and forgiving Suki was being. "I should have some…..female solidarity, and I should have remembered that you're part of the family too. In your own right, not just as Sokka's partner. Anyway, I apologize. And to show how much I approve, and to help you both…..keep safe and healthy, I wanted to give you this." She handed Suki the bag. "I got this stuff from the midwife clinic where I was working in Ba Sing Se. There are written instructions inside about how it works, but you can ask me if you have any questions." Suki poked around inside it for a minute, understood what it was, and blushed. Katara went on, "I just don't want either of you-but let's be real, it would be you-to have your plans disrupted, or miss any opportunities, just because….you're so in love."

"I really appreciate this, Katara."

"I kind of wish I could ask you about it, but it's my brother so….." Katara confided her curiosity shyly.

"I understand. Sokka is the only guy I've known so I guess you don't want to hear any details from me." The warrior shrugged. "I can say that communication is important. You were right that hopping right back into bed after a break up is a bad idea. The second we got up in the morning after getting back together at the ball, we started fighting. But it was more a misunderstanding than anything. We cleared it up pretty quickly."

"That's good. I do want you two to be happy. And it's clear that without you, Sokka is miserable. You're still the best girl he could ever find. I can't believe how lucky he is to have you."

"I love him, you know. And I'm never going to let him get away again." Suki vowed.

Tears came to Katara's eyes. "I'll hold you to that."

"Please do. I'm glad Sokka has you, and that you helped him through our breakup. You're a good sister."

"So are you." Katara ventured. She hoped she hadn't messed up her relationship with her adopted older sister too badly.

"A girl can never have too many sisters." Suki pulled her in for a hug.

Author's Note: Yes, Zuko's choice to cover up the murals of Sozin, Azulon, and Ozai has a pretty clear parallel in current US. debate about Confederate monuments. In case it's not clear, I believe they should be taken down, removed from public spaces, not destroyed, but put in museums and given proper context. When Aang and Katara say that they are not bothered by the paintings, I do not intend to put those words in the mouths of anyone in the current debate; the fact that these are portraits of their friend's immediate family members that are displayed in his home is what is relevant there. (And of course when Toph says she's not bothered, it's just a blind joke).

I'm REALLY not interested in debating that issue in reviews or PMs or comments. And if I lose some readers over this stance, I don't care.

This portrait gallery is explained (and destroyed) in the novel The Shadow of Kyoshi (you should read it if you haven't yet!). I'm assuming that the murals got restored at some point between Kyoshi's day and the present.

In case it wasn't obvious, what Katara gives Suki in the bag is basically some method of birth control (not sex toys or lingerie or anything like that, it's much more practical). I would have had her explain it, but I don't really care about how birth control works in this universe (Is it a tea? Are there barrier methods? Does it matter as long as it's effective?) so I didn't want to go into details. Especially at the risk of spreading misinformation by creating some birth control method that doesn't exist in reality and confusing young readers.

Next chapter: Zuko discovers a family secret.