Katara's struck not just by the opulence but by the stark difference from the Painted Lady's village they'd seen only a week before as the group, sans Zuko, strolls around Ember Island's main town. Well fed, happy children accompanied by their governesses and maids are walking through the many parks. Teenagers with too much time on their hands show off new firebending moves. Adults, both young and old, are off on jaunts around town, shopping for trinkets or simply enjoying the island air. The waterbender watches a man pay for a tiny Agni idol so expensive the people a week ago would have eaten for a year with that same money. It's sickening.
"You know, it's a shame Sparky couldn't come with us."
"Yeah, best he keeps a low profile for now though," Sokka replies.
"Yeah, still doesn't mean it's not a shame though," Toph sticks out her tongue. "Besides, I'm sure Katara misses him already, don't you? Practically had to tear you two away from each other just to get you to walk around town with us. Seems like you're attached at the mouth or something most of the time."
"Ugh! Eww!" Sokka groans, slapping his hands over his ears while Aang, to his own surprise, snorts.
"You two do that often enough I'm surprised you're not stuck like that," the airbender laughs, relishing in the realization that it doesn't bother him in the slightest.
"Really you two? Do neither of you have anything better to do than tease me?" Katara huffs.
"Oh you mean like gathering information about the war?" Toph asks.
"Nope, Azmia's doing a pretty great job of that," Aang answers.
"Oh, maybe she means getting groceries!"
"Nope, Azmia does that too."
"Hmm, well that doesn't leave a whole lot else for us to do besides tease you, does it Sugar Queen?"
"You're impossible!" Katara retorts. "I'm going to go look around on my own, away from you two."
Toph laughs, "Okay, we'll just tease you more tonight, don't worry." Katara just rolls her eyes as she walks off.
"I'm going to look around too," Sokka adds, not mentioning the very stylish bag he saw earlier that he wants to get a better look at.
"Well Twinkle Toes, I guess it's just you and me now."
"Yeah, you want to go see if they have a zoo?"
Toph laughs, "Sure!"
There is, in fact, a rather sizeable zoo full of all kinds of exotic animals. The pair grabs a few snacks and wander between enclosures where all of the animals have more than enough room to roam around. Aang gives the blind earthbender detailed descriptions of all of the aquatic and flying animals. "Hold on," Aang says, looking furtively around to make sure no one is watching them. Subtle motions move the air in front of them, coaxing an iguana parrot with trimmed talons towards them. It perches on the bars around its enclosure and, with the help of many, many snacks, it stays still as Toph reaches out to stroke its feathers.
"Oh wow," she whispers. "It feels so different from what I expected." She stays there, stroking the bird until it decides it's had enough and flies away. Toph punches Aang in the arm, hiding an embarrassingly happy smile. She'd touched a bird when she was much younger, before the badgermoles had taught her how to see and it had bit her. She'd wanted to try again but her mother had stopped her and removed all of the birds from the house.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"Nothing Twinkle Toes."
"If you say so…" his words trail off. "It can't be," he mutters, his feet carrying him forward of their own accord.
"What? What is it?"
In the air in front of him, a small, furry animal with six legs and two tiny horns floats in front of him. "It's a flying bison. I thought they were all gone." Bars separate him from the animal but his fingers still manage to touch the fur, stroke the stripes along the baby bison's back. Behind it are six adults and eight other babies. Some float, some play, while others simply lay in the copious amounts of hay strewn about. Tears fall freely down the avatar's face. "I thought you were all gone."
. . . . .
Azmia has the sinking suspicion her prince is avoiding her. Everyone has been gone for hours and he hasn't come down to ask about lunch. She made a mistake, but for him to despise her so much that he won't even eat if it means risking being alone with her, that's absurd! She piles lunch onto a platter and sets off in search of him.
It doesn't take long to find him, sitting on his bed, bowed head, with the turtleduck doll in his hands. "My Prince?" She asks hesitantly.
"Oh," he hastily dries his eyes, "Yes?"
"I brought you lunch." She bows, setting the platter down on the bed beside him. She motions to the toy in his hands, a memento from a much happier time. "Your mother told me where you hid it and how much you loved it. I know you're not a child anymore, but I hope it was a welcome surprise."
"Yes, it was." He hates this woman, hates the things she said to Katara, the fact that she made her cry, but she may also be the only one who can answer some of his questions. He steels himself, forcing his voice to be steady. "Do you know why my mother left or where she went?"
"No, I don't. I wish I did."
He closes his eyes, pinching his nose before the next question, not sure which answer will hurt more. "Do you know if she's alive?"
"My Prince, she's a resilient woman. I'm sure she's out there, just waiting for it to be safe for her to return."
"Safe? So she really did kill Grandfather then, didn't she?"
Azmia freezes. "I can't say for certain," she responds shakily. "But I know that leaving you would have ripped her heart out and she wouldn't have done it if there was another choice."
"Tell me about her, what was she like?"
The servant starts to sit down on the bed, then straightens up quickly, remembering that he's the future fire lord and she's just the maid. "Your mother loved you and your sister very much. She never fit in well with the court, she was gentle and kind at first and they took advantage of that. Afterall, she was from a small island. By the time she developed a thick skin, it was too late. She was a very lonely woman but I know that feeding the turtleducks with you was one of her absolute favorite things to do. You were the light of her life."
Zuko frowns, "What do you mean 'too late'?"
"She had no friends and no power at court. Being the wife of the second son afforded her little power, even after General Iroh's wife died. Everyone saw her as some backwater country bumpkin. She wasn't technically from a noble family so no one wanted her around."
She pauses, wishing she could make her point without destroying his father even more in his eyes. "Ozai's affairs didn't help either. If he had taken an actual mistress or a concubine it would have been fine, they could have had a title and there would have been nothing truly inappropriate. Instead, he humiliated her by dallying with common whores. That hurt her reputation and standing even more."
"And you would have me take Katara as a mistress?" He snaps.
"An actual mistress can be given a title, it's common enough, and no one will think twice about it, no matter her nationality!"
"Stop," he commands. "I've heard enough. Please leave."
"Of course, My Lord." Perhaps she can save him yet.
. . . . .
"Why didn't you tell me there were flying bison here?"
"Huh? There are?" Zuko looks up at the excited avatar, practically jumping off the walls.
"Yes! In the zoo! There are fifteen of them!"
"There's a zoo? Oh yeah, my mother took me there when I was really little. I don't remember any flying bison though. That's cool."
"No, Zuko. That's not 'cool'. That's amazing! I thought they were all dead with the airbenders!" Aang stops, looks at Toph, then at Appa grazing in the distance. "I've gotten pretty good and firebending and there's plenty of time before the comet."
Zuko's brow furrows. "Plenty of time for what?"
Aang doesn't answer, instead he asks Toph. "How quickly can you bend metal?"
She shrugs, "Almost as fast as regular rocks. Why," she grins, "are we busting those bison out?"
"No! Where would we put them!" Zuko yelps. "We're trying to make sure we aren't detected and you want to bring a herd of sky bison here? No, not happening."
"I'm not bringing them here. Appa and I are taking them to the Earth Kingdom. I know we can't go all the way to the Western Air Temple and back right now but I need to at least get them out of here."
"Aang, it's a bad idea. You need to practice firebending."
"No, Zuko!" Aang shouts. "Imagine if the dragons were there instead of the bison? Wouldn't you break them out? I thought they were all dead and now there's a whole herd on this island. I'm not going to just sit here and do nothing!"
Zuko almost disagrees, almost shouts him down but really, if it were dragons would he do any differently? He sighs. "There are rock pinnacles near the coast, those should only be a couple days flight from here."
Aang grins.
"But as soon as you're back we're training harder than before."
"Back from where?" Sokka calls as he and Katara waltz up.
"Aang and I are going to do a bison bust tonight!" Toph crows.
"Huh?"
"There are flying bison in the zoo here and we're releasing them!"
"Uh, are you sure that's a good idea?" Katara questions. "We are trying to not be noticed and I don't think there's enough food for them here."
"No, silly! I'm taking them to the Earth Kingdom. I'll only be gone for a few days. I'll be back before you know it. Now, once it's dark Toph and I will sneak over to the zoo. She'll break the bars and Katara, I want you to fly Appa over to the north side of the island one we've been gone for an hour or so. We'll meet you there with the bison and then Appa and I will take them to the Earth Kingdom."
"How are you going to make sure they follow you?"
"Oh, an airbender has his ways! Now, I've got some packing to do!" He'll make sure to include his trusty bison whistle. Thankfully it hasn't needed to see much action.
"Toph, can you make it look like someone etched something into the stone? Something like 'Lee was here' just so they think it's a prank gone wrong? Hopefully no one will look into it too closely then."
"Oh gee Sokka, I'd love to help out but you know, I'm blind. I can't read." She waves her hand in front of her face,
"Oh, yeah." Sokka winces, kicking himself for forgetting, "I forgot about that. I'll come with you and Aang then so I can write something."
"I'll go with Katara on Appa, just in case," Zuko adds.
Toph grins and leans over to Sokka. "I'm telling you, attached," she whispers.
"Ugh," Sokka gags. "Why do you do this to me?"
Zuko raises and eyebrow. Katara just shakes her head. "Don't ask."
Azmia watches the group through the window, her golden eyes watching the way Zuko laughs. He hardly ever laughed at the palace. He's so grown up, already a man. His hair is long enough it should be in a proper topknot but she admits it looks good down, he looks relaxed with it down, without the mantle of crown prince weighing heavily on his shoulders. He's a good man, all of the honorable qualities of his father – perseverance, intelligence, and an eye for strategy – without the vanity, obsession, and greed. If only things had been different for him, for the whole royal family really.
After dinner, as the sun sets, Aang, Toph, and Sokka head out, leaving on Katara, Zuko, and Azmia in the beach house. Of course, Zuko and Katara make their way to the bedroom and Azmia is left alone, unable to escape the sounds coming from up the stairs. She picks up the glass bottle with clear liquid sloshing about that she'd gotten from the apothecary this morning. Zuko wants her to leave the waterbender alone then fine, but she's sure some extra pampering won't go amiss. From tomorrow that girl will get a very special tea in the morning. Who knows how long this has been going on and there will be no bastards created under this roof. What the waterbender doesn't know won't hurt her.
. . . . .
"Shh! Can't you do this any quieter?" Sokka shushes Toph.
She quickly snaps, "Why don't you try bending metal and I'll just stand around doing nothing. How about that?"
"I'm writing, not just 'doing nothing' thank you!"
"Guys, can we not argue right now? We need to do this as fast as possible," Aang interjects.
"Yeah, almost done." One more bar groans loudly as Toph pushes it aside. "There, that should be big enough." The twisted bars part to form a twenty foot wide whole in the enclosure.
Aang grins, blowing short little bursts on his bison whistle, just enough to get the animals, already curious from the metal bending, to come forward. The airbender reaches out, rubbing the thick fur of the babies as the parents watch hesitantly. Ever so slowly, the adult bison step forward. Aang can't help but hug them as they move closer, happier than he's ever been. The tie between flying bison and airbenders is strong and as Aang leaps into the sky, they follow behind him.
"Well, that went better than expected!" Sokka states and the herd fades into the inky night sky.
"Oh no! We're not free and clear yet."
"You two, what do you think you're doing out here so late!" A zookeeper, obviously curious about the sounds stands nearby with one hand on her hip, the other holding a lantern.
"Uh, nothing," Sokka lies, "Just out for an evening stroll."
"In the zoo, after hours? I don't think so…" her words trail off she sees the damage behind them. Her lantern swings up only to illuminate the empty field. "What, what happened to my bison!" She wails. "What did you do to them? There were babies here, they need to be taken care of! We're trying to bring them back from extinction!" She grabs Sokka by the collar. "What did you do?"
"Whoa, lady, we didn't do anything!"
"Of course you didn't," she spits. These damn rich kids. They come here and terrorize her animals, make a mess of her zoo and now, now this! How did they even make that hole? Where are her babies! Her shoulders droop, she doesn't even try to hide the tears. It doesn't matter. The guards will give them a slap on the wrist at most. "Just leave, please." Hopefully the bison will be returned unharmed and she can forget this whole thing ever happened.
The pair slink off, feeling entirely more guilty than they expected. "Maybe when this is all over Aang can take her to the bison. Maybe she can help raise them at one of the temples."
"Yeah, I'm sure Aang will be fine with that," Sokka reassures her, not entirely convinced himself.
At the north side of the island Katara and Zuko do a quick handoff. Appa and Aang are on their way, Momo chattering happily to the monk while the herd of flying bison follow the avatar out to sea. "That's amazing," Katara mutters, looking at the group. It wasn't too long ago that she'd never even heard of flying bison, then she'd thought they were extinct. Now, seeing a whole herd fly away to safety, it's more than she'd ever thought possible. "I'm really surprised, well glad there were flying bison here in the Fire Nation."
"I'm not too surprised. From what I've heard about Great-Grandfather it makes sense he would want some captured and brought here as a souvenir." Zuko watches the animals until they disappear from view. Maybe the world can be healed more than he thought.
"I wonder if any airbenders were brought back, too," Katara muses. "If the bison were then maybe?"
Zuko shakes his head. "I doubt it."
Katara frowns, hoping that he's wrong. They walk down the beach, hand in hand, listening to the waves lap against the shore until Katara nudges him. "Hey, it's nighttime. You don't have to worry about anyone recognizing you so why don't you show me your favorite places on the island!"
"I was a kid when I came here last. I didn't go many places outside of the beach house compound."
"Really, there must be something."
"Hmm, well there's the theater. My mom always took us to see Love Amongst the Dragons every year. The Ember Island Players butchered it every time, without fail."
Katara laughs, "They must have really been awful for you to remember it now."
Zuko shudders. "They were. My mother's version of the story was much better."
"I bet." Katara squeezes his hand. "You love her very much, don't you?"
"Yeah, being back here with all of these memories feels so strange without her here. I just wish I knew where she was, if she's even alive."
"I'm sure she is. She's probably just waiting for Ozai to be off the throne before she comes back."
"I hope so." The lights of the town begin to come into view, cheery little lanterns lighting up the night. "Ah, I've got it! I know where to take you." Without further ado, he takes a sharp turn and leads her away from the beach and the town, deeper into the heart of the island. There's no real jungle on Ember Island but the trail they take is as close to it as possible.
"Where are we going?" Katara asks as they wind through the woods.
"Just wait, you'll love it!"
Ten minutes later and they're at the top of a hill overlooking the town. Zuko's right, she does love it. She can see the whole island from here! The warm glow of the town illuminates not only the pristine streets but the many parks and fountains spread throughout it. From here she can see people walking around getting late night snacks or meandering around with their friends. To the right of the town the zoo can be seen, a seemingly endless expanse of grassy knolls and water features broken up only by the few enclosures belonging to animals from rocky terrain. Mansions sit nestled in the forests, their twinkling lights only barely visible through the trees. Out beyond that is the beach and finally the ocean. It's so dark she can't even see the water, just the slightly wavering reflection of the stars. The smell of oranges and things she can't even name hangs in the air. Between that, the ocean which can be heard even here, and the large moon so close she should be able to reach out and touch it, the whole experience has a rather dreamlike quality to it.
"Zuko, its beautiful," she whispers. "We saw the fire lilies, we've seen so much, but I didn't know the Fire Nation could be like this. It's amazing."
Zuko beams. This beautiful woman thinks his homeland is amazing. The beautiful woman who loves him, can love the Fire Nation. He'll show her every beach, every waterfall, every meadow of flowers in the country to keep her loving it. He can't wait until she sees the royal garden.
"Zuko!" Katara whispers sharply, pulling him out of his reverie and putting him on the lookout for danger.
"What, what is it!"
"Look!" On her arm a firefly rests, its rear end glowing intermittently.
Zuko looks at her in confusion before realizing. "You haven't seen these up close before, have you?"
"I saw the bugs and the glowing but never this close! It's so cool!" The firefly, obviously disgruntled by the attention, chooses that moment to fly off. "Oh, it's gone."
"Here, let me show you something Azula and I used to do when we were little." He looks around, sees a firefly not too far away and stalks it, following the flickering lights until he swoops in, cupping his hands around the bug which he then brings to Katara. "See, look!" She peers in between his fingers to see the glowing bug annoyed, but perfectly safe in his hands.
She picks up the technique quickly and soon both have a handful of fireflies though plenty escape while the pair try to capture more. Eventually they both collapse on the hilltop, out of breath and laughing. The lightning bugs fly off, their glow still lighting up the knoll. Katara rolls over, propping herself up on one elbow. "I'm really happy we came here."
Zuko smiles at her, brushes a few strands of hair from her face. "Me too," he mutters before pulling her down for a kiss.
. . . . .
Morning finds the pair in bed at the beach house though Azmia isn't sure when they got back considering she gave up waiting up for them well after midnight. She brings out a platter of beautifully cut fruits and meat, arranging it on a stone table Toph erects just for that purpose. "This is the Fire Nation delicacy that I'm sure you will all enjoy. It pairs nicely with white tea. Give me a moment and I'll fetch that for you." Azmia bows out only to return a minute later with teacups already full of the aromatic liquid. When they don't immediately dig in, Azmia waves them on. "Go ahead, enjoy."
They all pile the lychees, oranges, and mangos onto their plates, divvying up the grapes as well. After a bite Katara takes a sip of her tea before coughing.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, Sokka. It's just bracing." Her eyes water but it's the only drink at the table so she continues to gulp it down.
"Hmm," Toph responds after taking a sip of hers, "I think you're just a wuss. Mine's fine."
"Yeah, mine too," Sokka adds.
"Maybe I just don't like white tea, I guess it's not my thing."
"I can go get you another one," Zuko supplies.
"No, don't worry about it."
Later that day, when Zuko is reading messages from Uncle, Sokka is training with his sword, and Toph is building a zoo full of very confused beetles, Katara walks up to the scarred woman dusting an empty room and closes the rice screen behind her.
Azmia looks up and looks quickly down, her nostrils flaring. The prince asked her not to speak to the waterbender and yet here the waterbender is, cornering her!
"Azmia?"
Well, the choices are between stay silent and risk upsetting the waterbender which would upset Zuko or say something to the waterbender who might tell Zuko. There needs to be a third option.
"I won't tell Zuko we spoke, it's okay. I just had a question."
"Yes?" Azmia still doesn't look up. She doesn't want to look that bitch in the face more often than necessary.
"My tea was different from everyone else's this morning wasn't it?"
Azmia doesn't respond.
"Is it safe to assume that was to help prevent any accidents that could happen because of the time Zuko and I spend together?"
"Yes," Azmia responds quietly.
Katara breathes a sigh of relief. "Thank you, really. Is there any way I could come to you for that privately or could you tell me what to take? I know being a waterbender I can control my time a little but…" Katara raises her hands helplessly. She doesn't like the woman but there really aren't many options right now. "I'm not sure what all to do." There'd been no reason for her to learn at the South Pole. No men and even if there were, potentially producing the next Southern Waterbender would have been her duty.
Azmia smiles warmly. "Of course! You can come to me anytime during the day and I'll make you some tea. It's best to drink it at close to the same time every day so try to sneak away from the prince in the mornings, okay?"
"Yes, I can do that."
"Good. Now, how long have you two been doing that? I need to know so I can check to make sure you don't already have an accident in the making."
"Oh," this is the absolute last person in the world she wants to talk to about this stuff. No, Pakku would be worse. Katara frowns, Ming would have been the perfect person to ask. She remembers all too clearly watching Ming fall, cut down and disappearing in the crashing waves. She shakes her head, pulling herself away from that thought. "Um, only since we got to Ember Island."
Thank Agni it hasn't been going on as long as Azmia was afraid it had. Maybe Prince Zuko just needs to get this out of his system. Then, he'll settle down with a good Fire Nation girl. "Well, that's not too long. And where are you in your cycle?"
"I finished right before we got here." It'd started the day Hama reached inside of her.
"Ah, then you should be just fine. Come see me tomorrow morning and I'll make you some tea."
"Thank you so much!" Katara smiles at the older woman. Maybe it was an honest mistake earlier. No, she can see a cold in the woman's eyes that no fire can warm. Azmia can be trusted to prevent a pregnancy, but that's only because it benefits Zuko. Katara steps out into the hallway only to be stopped by said prince.
"Oh, there you are! I need to talk to you."
"What's up, Zuko?"
He looks at her, stares at her blue eyes, his heart pounding. Does she really need to know? Does she even want to know? Is it fair of him to spring this on her? If the roles were reversed, wouldn't he want to know?" "I got news from Uncle. He found the leader of the Southern Raiders when your mom was killed. His name's Yon Rha and he's in a village just a two day sail from here."
Katara doesn't respond. She doesn't say anything at all, just blinks, trying to remember how to breathe.
"Katara?"
She doesn't respond, just goes upstairs, dazed and sits on the bed staring at nothing. Zuko follows.
"Katara?"
"I just need a minute." Her mother's killer. She can finally face her mother's killer. The anger is there, threatening to boil over but she's oddly detached as if looking at herself from a distance. Her mother's killer is in her reach. Will he look like Chang? The thought rushes into her head unbidden. He may or may not look like Chang, but he has to be equally monstrous to kill a defenseless woman, to kill her mother! Katara turns to Zuko, cold fury dancing behind her eyes. "Where is he?" She hisses.