Hey you guys! I'm sorry for such the long wait...Explanation in bottom A/N.
Thank you to my reviewers: (The Prince's Choice) DifficultyWriting, demiXxfanXxsinceXx4EVERXX, guest, and Ayaika (The Warrior's Gambit) Guest, Following Guest, please update, Alias093001, PoeticMoonChild, Iris Quincy Rosewood, storyofanunkownfangirl, Chevalier Lecteur, lucel18, Kawaii25, sophiecambellbower, Madam Moonstone, Cherokee96, KnightOwl247, xXxJustLivingLifexXx, Artillathehun, Astra Across the Stars, Zutarawasrobbed, Ekun-Asha, and Blue Gypsy!
Guest: I most certainty could publish that! If only copyright laws didn't get in the way ;)
Guest: I know it can be hard to wait for favorite chapters. But I'm glad you're waiting semi-patiently :)
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please update: HOMIE I GOTCHU! Sorry it took so long
As Zuko paused to mark some of the parchment against the wall of the palace, Lu Ten slapped the brush from his fingers.
"You got ink everywhere," Zuko said, jumping back, watching as the brush skidded across the ground.
"I'm," Lu Ten said, reaching down and picking the brush up very purposefully, "Confiscating this from you."
"But I just-"
"The motion draft is fine, cousin," Lu Ten said, holding the brush high above his head as Zuko tried to reach for it. "Better than fine. As close to perfect as it can be. Dad wouldn't let you ask Uncle Ozai with anything less.
Zuko pulled a frown. It was only in moments like this that it was obvious how much taller Lu Ten was than him. Lu Ten was stringy and built like a tree. Zuko wasn't short, but when Lu Ten had the brush balancing on his fingertips, Zuko was still a foot away from grasping it.
"As close to perfect, exactly," Zuko argued. "Which means there's room for error." Nervously, his fingers picked at the edges of the parchment.
"Well, as dad would say-"
"Don't," Zuko groaned. The last thing he needed was a vague life affirmation.
"Nothing in life is perfect."
Zuko locked his jaw. It had been less philosophical than he was expecting, but it didn't irritate him any less.
"Look, just one more note, so I don't forget," Zuko begged, jumping to grab the brush. Lu Ten just stood on his tip-toes.
"No! Because after that, it will be another, and another, and another-"
"I'm the Heir Apparent!" Zuko didn't like pulling title often, but in times like this, he felt it was necessary. Lu Ten just laughed.
"No, you're little Cousin Zuzy to me, face smeared with jam and trying to eat dandelions," Lu Ten teased, rolling his eyes.
"Just-give-that-to-" Zuko began, hopping, waving his hands, and trying to get Lu Ten to yield. Lu Ten waved the paper around, and at this point, Zuko wasn't sure if he was doing it for the stated purpose, or just to mess with him a bit. It didn't matter. The door flew open, unnoticed to both, until Ozai's dark voice crept over their skin.
"I must be dreaming, for I can't possibly be seeing two members of the Royal Family hopping about like a pair of brainless Hog Monkeys, or worse, plebeian children."
Immediately, all joking ceased. Lu Ten dropped into a bow on the floor, and Zuko knelt, swallowing hard.
"Dad," he murmured, face blushing bright scarlet.
"Uncle Ozai," Lu Ten said respectfully, his voice quivering, just a bit. When Ozai only frowned at him, Lu Ten inhaled, saying even quieter, "My Grace."
Seemingly pleased with making his nephew grovel, he turned his attention to Zuko.
"If anyone had seen the pair of you," he began to bite out, his displeasure abundantly clear, "You, of all people, my son-"
"It was me, Uncle," Lu Ten said, standing. "I was the one that caused him to act in such an unrefined way. My fault."
Lu Ten, when push came to shove, would always have Zuko's back. He'd take the blame, without fail, even if was Zuko's blame to shoulder. He looked after Zuko like that, and the thought that Lu Ten would stand against Ozai for him every time, let the consequences pile on himself, caused Zuko's heart to hurt.
"You're both grown men, and I should hope that Zuko can tell right from wrong himself, Lu Ten," Ozai said swiftly, his icy-cold gaze still fixed on Zuko.
"Of course, sir," Lu Ten said, and Zuko could see him hold back a long sigh. It was exhausting to navigate what Ozai expected you to say. But, Zuko thought, part of his father's whole...thing might have been to never be pleased with anything ever.
"Father, as Iroh may have told you, I have a proposal for you," Zuko said, rapidly rolling the sheet up, "If you'll hear it?"
"We should have time at the end of the meeting," Ozai said, and Zuko may have imagined it, but his tone picked up a little. "Come, you're making all of us wait."
'All of us' was a little extreme, Zuko thought, since this was a Royal Family meeting, which only meant that his mother, his uncle, his father, his sister, and Aang were sitting inside. Ozai made it seem as though Zuko and Lu Ten had kept hundreds of eager Lords and Ladies waiting.
Zuko bit back a snarky reply, wiping a smudge of ink on the back of his hand as he followed his father inside. Once both men were sitting, Ozai firmly shut and locked the door, usual per meetings.
"Zuko, it's impolite to keep us waiting," Azula snipped.
"I'm pretty sure that the day runs on the Fire Lord's schedule. You're all just early," Lu Ten said with a grin. Aang laughed. Thank Spirits, he needed to laugh more.
"While that may be," Azula didn't miss a beat, "He's not the Fire Lord."
"Yet," Zuko growled out, for it didn't seem like that fact had gone without saying, but more that Azula had purposely left the thought out. "Not the Fire Lord yet."
"Children," Ozai said once, and Zuko sat up straight. "If we may?"
The first part of the meeting, as it had been of late, was unbearably boring. The family talked about money, costs, and account issues. Iroh and Ozai argued about what things were worth re-gilding in gold, and what things could perhaps just be painted a shiny gold color. Iroh was petitioning quite heavily for jade handles on the new doors, to which Ozai was less than enthusiastic, and was partial to a warmer-colored stone. The meeting, in all, discussed things Zuko really couldn't care less about, and he was pleased to see even his mother trying to hide a yawn behind her hand.
After the reparations and costs of reparations, the talk slid into the report that the highest butlers and handmaids had drawn up. How many Lords and Ladies were staying with them, who was set to leave and arrive, who was the most important out of the list, what the chefs were planning on making for meals in the next week, and so on. Details that Zuko realized were the very structure of the palace, and therefore important, but details nonetheless that Zuko found drier than the deserts in Earth Kingdom. Things that, like his father, he'd assign to others to deal with on a day to day basis, and sign off on the sum of the ideas at meetings like this.
Finally, the review drew to a close.
"Zuko, apparently, has written up a proposal for us to hear," Ozai said, as though Zuko was about to give a 'show-and-tell' presentation.
"Oh, this ought to be good," Azula said with an exaggerated eye roll.
Zuko's eyes flickered nervously to Iroh. He gave his nephew a warm smile, and that gave Zuko the courage to stand.
He'd been sitting on this idea for a while now.
No, that wasn't quite right. He'd been sitting on this frantic worry for a while now, ever since the palace attack, that the idea that his beloved home was not as safe as he thought it once was. But, it hadn't been until two days ago, on the boat with Katara and Sokka, and yesterday, with Aang, that all the pieces he needed to do something had fallen into place.
He'd left Aang, Aiga, and Shoji to their own devices last night, all but running to his uncle's room.
Once, as a very young child, he'd been under the illusion that there was no safer location anywhere in the world than the capitol. It seemed laughable to think otherwise.
And, if he was being honest, this belief held within him up until the attack on the palace. He was becoming more aware of the different cracks in the system as more responsibility was given to him, but still, he'd never imagine the death and destruction that his home could have ever weathered.
As much as his father may try to pretend like they had it handled, they didn't. Anyone that was so lucky to look at the reports would see that. It was all one big farce.
Most of Zuko's family could handle themselves. Lu Ten, Iroh, Aang, Azula, Ozai...they were all gifted benders and better fighters. It was only his mother that he worried for, but he knew his Uncle would never let harm come to her.
His key concern was the ladies here.
Even if some of them were gifted in battle, many were not. It was wildly irresponsible to keep the ladies huddled here, like turtle-ducks in a barrel, just waiting for another attack, which could happen when they were less secluded, or it was daytime, or they were the focus of the attack.
Keeping them all in one big group, in a palace that had already proven that it was not impenetrable, seemed like they were just asking for the Equalists to really make a statement by slaughtering the entire year's Choice competitors.
And, after everything, this had been a worry that he hadn't seen a logical end to, or one he liked, at least.
The most logical solution was to pick a lady, marry her, and send the rest away.
Zuko didn't want to do this, since Katara wasn't agreeing to marry.
Plus, it seemed rude to make a hasty choice - of the future Fire Lady - out of fear, and he was gripped with the terror that he'd pick wrong. Someone who wouldn't be a good mother of the people, someone he'd grow to hate, someone he didn't know enough about.
But then...then on the boat, Katara had stated that most of the ladies had only ever been to the Capital, apart from their own cities. He recalled it was common for the Prince to take the ladies on a trip to one location outside of the Palace.
At the time, it had just been...a flutter in the back of his mind. Transporting the group as one large sum to another place was as foolish as keeping them here. Plus, staying there for a long time as was common would create the same issues as the Palace.
It wasn't until he'd been with Aang, pouring over maps, and trying to discuss how to make this trail for the Airbenders, to get them from wherever they were to the Swamp or other strongholds.
That's what had sparked it, this idea. An idea that would kill two birds with one stone.
He'd gone to Uncle at once.
There were, of course, things he couldn't say to his father about the plan: Father, I want to do this to make sure the Ladies stay safe because I don't trust you, nor your men. Even beyond that, there was the undercut that he couldn't say directly to his Uncle; While on location, I want to try to build up this underground passageway, so I can knowingly aid Airbenders and procure safe passage for them.
Still, his uncle seemed to know, and together, they spent the entire night working to perfect this proposal. There was no time to waste.
"Most Honorable Fire Lord," he said, bowing to his father, per custom. "I wish to begin a tradition that is built upon a common Choice occurrence, but make it my own. As you know - both you and Uncle - it is expected that the Ladies visit with the Prince to a location to get a wider appreciation for the land, and stay there for a moon or two. I propose something different, but I feel, more applicable."
He paused, trying to gauge his father's face. His father's only reaction was a raised eyebrow, but this in itself was unexpected enough to give Zuko the courage to continue to speak.
"In a time of such unrest in all of our territories, it is imperative for the Royal Family to have a strong presence across the land to set the people right. To let them know that despite the minor inconvenience of the attack, we will not allow anyone to walk over us. I know you had been in discussion over who to send; yourself? Lu Ten? I would like to offer myself, along with Kuzon when his travels permit. Kuzon is a good diplomatic, you can't deny that. As I went out with Uncle so many years ago, I would like to do so again. But, since I realize I do have a competition to honor, I want to allow the ladies to come with me."
"What? Pick up the whole competition and just send them to spirit's knows where?" Azula snorted.
"No, not all of them," Zuko said, shaking his head. "Small groups. Each lady would submit applications to which locations they wish to travel with me to. There is no limit to how many they can choose. There's no limit how many I would take. I anticipate we'd maybe take three or four per location. We would make it clear that we'd expect work from them, nothing past what we'd ask mother herself to do. It will be good practice for the future Fire Lady, as well give me a chance to observe them in this role. We would pick who we feel would be the best fit, or who has the best reason, for each location, and we'd be accompanied by a convoy of guards wherever we went. Also, having Kuzon there would ensure that, well, no honor codes are broken."
It would be, he reasoned, easier to protect two or three ladies at any given time than nearly twenty.
"It would send a message to any location we visited, one that will be seen two different ways; for those that are thinking of a coup, to show that we will not allow that. For those that feel neglected, it will be an honor for the Crown Prince and a possible future Fire Lady to visit and help in small ways."
And, he thought, with Aang there, we can be slyly looking for merchants, people with transportation, those willing to help, as well as looking for Airbenders. It's perfect!
Silence.
Zuko coughed, looking over his notes, making sure he got everything.
"It's good of Zuko to take the initiative, brother." Uncle Iroh was the first to speak.
"Or is he just reading your fine writing?" Ozai accused.
"While it is true that I helped him refine it, the ideas, the language, the intricacies are all Zuko," Iroh said, a tinge of annoyance in his voice. "You should not think so low of your own son."
It was true...mostly. Iroh had this annoying habit of asking very leading questions and never giving a straight answer about much of anything. Of course, it led Zuko to coming to the realizations that were necessary himself, and thusly writing them, but the night may have gone a lot faster if Uncle had just told him what he was thinking. Still, it made him overly prepared for this morning.
"I think he should go," Azula said after a moment. "The girls are getting so tired, being kept in here like cat-mice in cages."
"I didn't know you cared, Azula," Aang said with an even face.
"About a few, sure," Azula shrugged. "But father, you must admit, it is not nearly the worst plan he's ever had."
Zuko tried not to send an incredulous look Azula's way. Why was she helping him?
"And what if there is another attack here?" Ozai asked.
Zuko tried to look as terrifying as Ozai did. "Do you expect there to be another one, father?"
"Oh, Ozai, it would also be different for the girls," Ursa urged. "It would be good for them to see territories beyond what they're used to. You recall that on my first year as Fire Lady, I didn't know the difference between Northern Earth Kingdom customs and the Southern, and a trip like this would save the capitol and the Royal Family embarrassment."
Zuko could have sworn his father nearly blushed. He tucked this away to ask Iroh later. He'd never heard of this, but from the frown on his father's face, apparently it had been a big faux pas on his mother's part.
"I have compiled a list of locations that I feel most need our attention, father," Zuko continued. He wasn't going to let his father make a fool out him at any point in this, he'd told himself. He had mountains of research and late-night markings to prove how much he'd thought about this. Nearly seven straight hours of making sure this was unflappable. "As well as a hesitant plan of when we would go to them."
He flourished a secondary, smaller, parchment from in front of the one he was reading off of, handing it to his dad.
Ozai accepted it. His face was still thoughtful, which Zuko thought maybe he'd won him over.
"Do you have the full proposal too?"
"Yes, of course, here," Zuko tried not to stumble over himself to give it to him.
"I will read this over, although I cannot find much fault in it currently," Ozai said, which to Zuko meant that he was pleased. A weird feeling filled his chest. He should have been feeling relieved and happy; this was high praise from Ozai. Instead, the compliment felt twisted, dark, and unsatisfying.
Zuko shoved it down.
"If there is nothing else to discuss," Iroh began slowly, "I would very much like to go to lunch. This meeting has been long and dragging."
"Quite." Ozai waved a dismissive hand. "Zuko, I will read through this tonight and have a reply back to you soon."
"Oh, yes, thank you." Zuko was still feeling caught off-guard. For all his planning, for his father to have been...pleased or receptive to this was the one thing he wasn't expecting. He was expecting that he'd have to fight with Ozai for any sort of allowance on this front. To have near respect given to him was, frankly, the most startling thing he could imagine.
Azula was hanging behind. He didn't imagine she helped him out of the goodness of her own heart.
Aang must have seen his expression, for he came up close to Zuko.
"You know, with you out of the palace so often, it would be easier for her to drum up support to have you cast aside," Aang said, causing Zuko's stomach to clench.
"Damn," he hissed. "I wonder if I could convince Father to have her come with me on some of the longer missions, ones where I may be gone for a week at a time."
Aang gave a tired-looking shrug. "Worth asking. Maybe Uncle Iroh can help convince him again. Your dad's been tough on Azula lately, maybe he'd be just as glad to get her out of the palace."
"Yes, but that means we'd have to deal with her," Zuko groaned, wincing as they exited the meeting room to walk to the lunch location.
"Sure, but it's easier to keep an eye on one person in a group of like six than in a palace of thousands," Aang said wisely.
Zuko rubbed his chin, biting the inside of his cheek. "I hate how you're right," he muttered. "I will bring it up with Iroh if my father approves this. Keeping Azula here in the palace, practically alone, is no good either."
He nodded to Shoji as they passed him standing, and Shoji peeled off the wall to walk with them.
"Were you up late last night? Did you...find what you were looking for?"
"We began to, yes," Aang confirmed. "But there are no guarantees to any of our traces. Katara, she…"
Aang looked around, before furtively pulling the pair into a small closet.
"Cozy," Shoji said dryly, which was an understatement, considering the closet was maybe fit for some buckets and soap. Three grown men squished in the closet basically meant they were chest to chest. If anyone opened the door, it would be impossible for courtly gossip not to come of it. Oh, the whispers would be wild. Zuko, in a tryst with not only a distant cousin, but a guard too? Or, maybe just the guard. Maybe Shoji was with both of them?
It didn't matter, but Zuko still thought about the impossible scenario anyhow.
"Katara asked me a bit ago if I could open Yue's waterbending abilities, since it stands to reason that she has them, but they are blocked somehow. At the time, I thought it too risky, since I fear I'd have to go into my Avatar State. I still think it's risky, and I'm not planning to do that, but I don't want to go into the state for nothing, if I can't do it anyway, or if Katara is wrong and there are no abilities to be had."
"What are you thinking, then?"
"Well, there has to be a way for me to feel her powers, to know if they even exist. Katara's been showing me water-healing. I may be able to tap into it without going into the Avatar State, just to see. And I feel like I have to, because then, I could perfect it to know if someone's an airbender just by touching them, if I get good enough at reading the powers, if that's a thing that happens. It would make it easier to find them. Or, to know who might be next up for a...metamorphosis…" Aang's forehead was deeply creased.
"Are we telling Princess Yue about this?" Zuko asked.
Aang's wince said it all.
"Oh, great. So you're just going to touch her - not weird at all - or sneak into her room while she's asleep, even better. She wakes up to you above her and-"
"Shush!" Shoji slapped a hand over Zuko's lips. "You're getting loud!"
"Toph knows an herb that causes heavy drowsiness. If we put it in her tea at dinner, she'll fall asleep for the whole night, unable to wake even if there was a hurricane coming through," Aang said hurriedly. "Toph's room is right next door. I'm going to...hide in her room until night falls, and then just go right next door. Yue is trusting enough that she never locks her door, so." Aang seemed nervous. Rightly so. "And I'll just see. That's all I'll be doing."
"And if she does? WIll you switch it?"
"Yes. No. I don't know. Not tonight, for sure. Maybe later. But maybe she has the choice, or she should." Aang picked at his nails. "I just thought I should tell you."
"Damn right," Zuko said. "Spirits...okay, yes, I get why. Fine. Just be smart about it."
He carefully unlocked the door, peeking out. No one was around. Three teenagers stumbled from a very small closet.
Aang wiped the wrinkles from his shirt, Shoji fixed his helmet, and Zuko just ran his fingers through his hair.
"If Toph is wrong and this goes south, even I don't think I could save you, if Yue wakes up to 'Kuzon' creepily standing over her," Zuko warned him a low hiss.
"I get that," Aang snapped back. He inhaled. "I know," he said quieter, "It's not a perfect plan-"
"An awful one, actually."
"But it's what we got."
Zuko winced, thinking of all the half-baked ideas he'd taken on in just the last half a year or so. "Yeah. There are a lot of those going around."
XXxxXX
Sometime in the middle of dinner-time, when a third of the girls were with the Royal Family and the rest were most likely to be seeking their own food elsewhere, Toph let Aang, Shoji, and Sokka into her room. At first, Aang had just expected it to be himself, however Sokka and Shoji were adamant about being 'in' on this.
It seemed like the only one who wouldn't be participating was Zuko, but he couldn't very well vanish for most of the night, hiding out in a contestant's room. Zuko wasn't supposed to be in any of their rooms.
Aang was sure Zuko had been to Katara's room for multiple reasons on multiple nights, but that was neither here nor there, and too much for Aang to judge anyway.
As it was, the trio was banished to Toph's closet, where they leaned against the walls, trying not to disturb the dresses she never wore and waited for night. Sokka had the foresight to bring a small chip game, made out of painted slices of shell. He taught the boys a couple variations and they just waited, and waited, and waited.
It was cramped and uncomfortable, and soon Shoji and Sokka were deep into a strategy game, something Aang had never been good at. He was good at speaking of peace and finding the best in people. Strategy and subterfuge just frustrated him, as well as frustrated his lack of understanding of it. Why couldn't people just be…good?
For as many places we find light, it cannot exist without dark too, Yangchen spoke quietly, and Aang batted the air as though dismissing the spirit of her.
He'd turned away temptation his whole life. Sure, he was the Avatar, but was he a good person because he was the Avatar, or was he the Avatar because he was a good person? People had the ability to do great things, he mused, if they let goodness guide their hand. And, not just goodness, but traits like honor, trust, love, restraint-
Restraint and temptation, huh? Kyoshi said, her tone almost teasing as an image of Ty Lee flooded his brain.
Aang ground his teeth, pressing his palms to his eye socket and blowing air through his nose hard in frustration. That was hardly fair of them. He was, despite his mental wisdom, in the body of a sixteen-year-old boy.
"You okay?" Sokka looked up.
"Fine," Aang snapped, probably doing a poor job of convincing them, dragging his hand to his chin but keeping his eyes screwed shut.
"Uhm," Shoji snorted.
Aang flopped backwards, the skirts of the dresses softening his fall, groaning. "You remember when your parents gave you the talk?" Aang asked.
Shoji made a noise in the back of his throat. Sokka seemed to give a full body shiver.
"My dad showed me. Ew, not like that! He showed me seal-elk mating season. So much flub, so much moaning. It for sure made the idea of any sex at all very unappealing, let me tell you!" Sokka explained. "But don't monks…"
"I knew the vague details, but it was Zuko. It wasn't comfortable." Aang rolled on his side to face his companions. "But point being, even with meditation, I'm a guy and these Avatars…"
"Oh." Shoji was looking at Aang with horror.
Sokka tugged on his wolf-tail.
"Well, maybe we can turn it into a positive. They must have mad skills, you'd think. Like thousands of years of practice. Maybe they can give you some pointers." Sokka shrugged.
"I do not want to know that stuff. It's like finding out about your parent's sex lives," Aang said firmly.
"But they're you?" Sokka pointed out. "I bet you five golds, Shoji, that Aang's like some sex god."
"Forget I said anything!" Aang said loudly, realizing that this was bound to go downhill with Sokka here.
"Do'ya think they'll give him the room when he finally gets a moment? Or will they just be giving him pointers in his-"
"Stop it, seriously! And no one up here answer," Aang said. Spirits. It was much easier when he was 12 and he liked girls but he didn't like the idea of doing anything past kissing with them.
"I-"
"You boneheads are so loud," Toph said, throwing open the closet door. "You all ready?"
"Are you sure it worked, Toph?" Aang hurried up, glad for a distraction. "I mean...that you put the right dosage in, because you're…"
"Aiga did it, ye of little faith," Toph said, offended. "She's in there now. Yue is out like a light. And I seriously mean O-U-T."
"Well, that's good, isn't it?" Shoji asked.
"Where's Ty Lee?" Aang was glad that Sokka asked, so he didn't have to.
"On the way out, Mai cornered her. Asked her for...well, girl talk is probably a stretch. Ty Lee couldn't very well say no," Toph said.
"Ugg. Good luck with that," Sokka winced. No one really liked Mai. Aang wasn't even sure Ty Lee, who was the nicest person around, actually did.
"What time is it?" Shoji asked. Toph's room was usually dark, obviously, as things like candles were just useless to her.
"Maybe two or three hours to moon high," Aang observed. "So, likely, not many will be awake."
"Are we going?" A new voice whispered from near the door. Katara. "Or are we just going to sit around and gossip about the time like old ladies?"
Right. This whole mission was better to be done quickly and efficiently.
Aiga was standing with Katara. She was slipping a small key back into her bun, hiding it effectively, in the case that the door had been locked.
"Oh, wow, it is open," Shoji murmured as Yue's door swung in. Katara and Aiga herded everyone inside, before closing the door. Aang threw a look across the hall to Ty Lee's room, wishing she was here too. Sokka took a chair and placed it under the handle, after manually locking it.
"Don't want to leave anything to chance," he hissed when Katara rolled her eyes at him.
"We sure she's asleep? Like, really asleep?" Aang asked nervously. Toph stomped over, waved her hand over her face a couple times.
"Yeah, I think she's out."
"You're blind," Shoji snorted.
"But I can hear her heartbeat. Totally calm, even. No changes. Asleep," Toph shot back.
"Okay," Aang whispered, motioning for them to stand down. "So, uhm." He fidgeted at Yue's bedside.
"Agni, you don't know what you're doing, do you?" Sokka whispered, dragging fingers down his face.
"Sorta! I mean, vaguely. I mean…" Aang winced. "It's a mixture, I figure, of water-healing and chi-bending," he said, looking to Katara. The spirits in his head were offering no help, as no one had ever had the need to find this out before, or even attempt it.
"Ty Lee had showed me something a while ago, thank Agni, since she's not here," Aang spoke again, recalling how she'd pressed two dainty fingers to the hollow of his neck, and how at the time - back when they were on the cusp of children to adults - he hadn't had a reaction. Now, even just thinking back of the memory made his blood warm.
"I can, well, feel her soul. Ty Lee called it my aura. In the neck hollow."
"There?" Katara asked. She took a tendril of water from the bedside water cup, placing it over the area that Aang was gesturing to. It began to glow. "Take over, Aang."
Aang stood beside her, coating his fingers with water and pressing into the warmth of the healing. He took two fingers, just as he'd watched Ty Lee doing, pressing lightly to her neck, just the lightest amount. At first, he felt stupid just sitting there, just pressing her neck. He almost pulled back, he almost called it quits, thinking that maybe this wasn't going to work and they had to just call it a day. Then, it's like Yue's soul- awake, even if her body was not- was pulling him through here. He could feel his physical body still above her, pressing down, but his spiritual self was dragged to where her soul resided.
It was like he was in the backseat of Yue's body, such as when he let another Avatar take over. He didn't have any access to her arms to move them, and he couldn't read her mind, but he was sitting in front of every other part of her. It was like he was in a great white expanse, and echoing around him he could hear her heart thumping. In front of him was a slightly glowing blue ball. He walked toward that, reaching out.
He felt many things. He could feel her blood under her skin, like how one would go about healing. He could feel her heart beating. He could feel her inhale, the exhale.
And, beyond that, he could feel something else. It was so faint, that at this point, he couldn't quite reach it.
He pressed a little harder with his physical fingers. Inside Yue's soul, his fingers brushed over the glowing ball.
Yes, it was power. It was hard to catch, for he didn't want to choke her, but he dismissed all his other thoughts and went into a quasi-meditative mode. The sensation became sharper, now. Not complexity clear and readable, but sharper.
Aang tasted fresh snow. He tasted summer rain, pattering on a tin roof. He tasted a babbling stream, chirping as it glided over mossy stones. He tasted the water in all things. He tasted coolness that lingered over his whole body.
What he felt, too, was a thread, tied to it. If he pulled hard enough, he wondered, maybe he could…
Like someone clapping their hands loudly over his head, he was shut out without warning.
Aang stumbled back.
"Well?" Katara asked nervously.
"I...I think..I need to…" he said, struggling to form words. His eyes snapped to Katara. He re-wetted his fingers, going to try to feel Katara's throat too. She, understandably confused, stumbled back a bit, knocking into a piece of furniture.
"Sorry, I just, I need to feel someone else's to-"
"Oh, yeah, I was just startled," Katara blinked.
"Let's move this party back to my room, eh?" Toph suggested. "We don't want noise in here. But bumping and groaning coming from a blind girl's room? Per the norm."
Sokka gave a strange cough, but Aang hardly thought about it. Aiga looked curiously at Sokka, a small grin widening across her face. Sokka shot her a dark look. He looked to Katara, and then shook his head. Katara didn't see the exchange.
The group hustled back into Toph's room. When there, Katara emptied a water skein into a bowl, holding it out to Aang.
He gratefully dipped his hand in.
When he did the same experiment to Katara, he had the same exact emotions overwhelm him. The same thread, though he dare not pull on it.
He pulled away, flicking one hand, watching the water fall onto the carpet.
"I'll need to try this to all of you," he murmured. The Avatars were rushing in his mind to make sense of the information, though no faster than Aang himself was.
"Aang, what's going on?" Shoji looked concerned.
"I just need to...let me try it on at least Toph and Aiga right off, and I'll explain," Aang said.
As soon as Aang pressed his fingers to Toph's neck, applying pressure, she giggled. "Kinky."
"Ack, Toph!"
"Sorry, sorry. I'll be good, Twinkle-Toes," Toph promised.
When he delved in, at Toph's core, he tasted upturned earth warmed by the sun. He tasted red clay, malleable in someone's palm. He tasted slick mud, underneath the foliage in a forest. He tasted cool stones, laying under the shade of a mountain cliff. He felt the string.
He spent less time at Toph, fearing another comment.
Aiga was waiting patiently.
When he delved into Aiga, he felt...nothing. Not a complete absence, not a desolate wasteland, but no strings and no tastes. Just her body, human, average.
Not average in the sense that she wasn't entirely instrumental to helping them, to helping him. For that, he was eternally grateful. He knew Aiga was not one to be underestimated. But when it came to powers, she was indeed average.
"Aang?" Katara prompted.
More used to the feeling, and the process, Aang slicked his fingers for Shoji.
"When I went into Yue's soul, I guess, I could feel waterbending," he explained.
Shoji tasted like burning embers. Like a warm fire. Like lava smoldering as it crept along. He wondered if he felt Zuko's soul, for instance, it would be more overpowering. Shoji was a good firebender, but he wasn't a great one. Katara and Toph's souls were strong. Toph was a master bender. Katara had the potential. He considered that for as much as Shoji may practice, perhaps his soul wasn't built to be more than a slightly above-average bender? "And I felt a...well, like a piece of string, tied to it." He stepped back, wiping his hands on his pants. "When I started tugging, I was more or less shoved out. I didn't have enough power."
"So you do have to go into the Avatar State to access her waterbending," Katara finished, frowning and nodding to herself.
"Well, yes. No, because…" Aang chewed on his lip. "I think it's already...been accessed."
There was silence.
What?" Katara finally sputtered, "But she told me-"
"I think it's new. It felt new. I can't describe it, other than 'new'. Your soul and hers felt the same, at least with bending, Katara. Yours felt like a familiar song, whereas her felt more unsure. I think she doesn't even know it's there. It probably happened during the attack," Aang rushed to clarify.
"And feelin' us all up?" Toph prompted.
"I wanted to make sure there was a difference between the elements. There is. With Aiga? I mean, nothing. Just...no bending anywhere."
"None of my family, at least in five or six generations, were benders," Aiga confirmed.
"What would you feel with Sokka, then? Because my parents weren't benders, but they gave birth to me."
"It would probably be faint, or just not there. Not at his soul," Aang said, "Because, well, he's not a bender."
Aang looked at Sokka, who shrugged, pulling down his shirt. "I like not being a bender. No magic for me, you know," Sokka said cheerfully.
Aang pressed in.
"Yeah," He said, about to withdraw, "Like Aiga. Noth-"
But it wasn't nothing. He could taste water too. At first, he thought maybe Katara was right, and it was just buried for the next generation, but then he realized he also felt a thread.
It was at this moment he realized everyone else's threads had been on his right. Sokka's was on his left. As he began to tug at Sokka's, the water became a clearer feeling, like he was tugging back a curtain and letting light shine in. The sense of the spirits started swimming through him, in Sokka.
He felt the tension and pulled himself out before he was shoved away, as in Yue.
"Oh." That was really all he could say.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sokka demanded frantically.
"You're a waterbender."
"What? No, I swear, I'm not." Sokka looked so taken off-guard that it sort of terrified Aang.
"That came out wrong. You could be. Bending is like a switch, I think. Tug it off or on. Yours is just...off. Katara's is on. It could be turned on."
"Holy shit," Katara whispered beneath her fingers. She was shaking.
"So." Toph clapped her hands. "What we've learned today is that Yue already is a waterbender and Sokka could be one. Did this actually do anything except show us none of us know anything?"
"Yes," Aang nodded, "Because now I can feel who is an Airbender. I can refine it, so I don't have to do it through the throat. And, I can see who might become one next."
"What do you mean 'next'? Children?"
"No, them. I think every time I go into the Avatar State, strings are tugged over. I mean, it makes sense. I'm connecting to the Spirit World, bending is spirit gifts in human bodies...so…" Aang gave a shrug.
"Makes sense, I think." Shoji scratched his head. "Are we...uh, flipping his switch?"
Sokka's eyes swung to Shoji, wide as the moon.
"I don't think we can risk going into the Avatar State again." Katara luckily spoke up as Aang fumbled for some explanation. "It was too dangerous the last time, as it was!" She seemed just as spooked and unsettled about Sokka becoming a bender. She was looking at him with guarded eyes. Aang knew a large part of her identity had been the fact she was the only bender in the South. If that was taken away...
Aang just have a nod.
"Yeah, she's right," Toph said. "We don't want to draw attention to Twinkie's true self. Er, sorry, Sokka."
"Fine, yeah, nope, that's, nope."
Aang had never heard Sokka quite so inarticulate.
"What now?" Toph asked.
"Well, I guess we go about our day," Shoji said. Toph flipped him off, which Aang though was an extreme reaction. Then again, she was an extreme person.
"No, literally, I mean what right now. Aiga and Sugar Queen here go back to their rooms, but you three?" She spun to Aang, Shoji, and Sokka.
"Damn, we didn't think about that," Shoji winced.
"Back into my closet you go until morning, I suppose," Toph said, and Aang groaned. That sounded awful.
"I'll bring over some extra pillows from my bed," Katara said, casting the trio a sympathetic look.
"It will be fun," Toph said, sniggering, "Like a slumber party."
"Or, you'll all just go to sleep," Katara corrected with a narrowed look.
"That sounds fine to me," Aang admitted.
As Aiga collected Katara's bedding and Shoji started arranging it, Katara gave Sokka a deep hug. He hugged back, a tender moment that Aang looked away from. He wanted to say something to the Southerner, but frankly, didn't even know where he'd begin.
How are THOSE revelations? Wasn't expecting either of those, huh?
So, now onto the notes!
*The reason this took so long to update, is because I thought I'd be done with it before my vacation and I could get it uploaded the day I left. Then, while writing this, I realized I made a HUGE mistake that to keep things in canon, would ruin a HUGE part of the story later. I had to re-write that, and that took time. When things are reveled later in the story, I'll tell you what the mistake was.
*A reviewer of mine asked if maybe I'd be open to making a Zutara playlist. I LOVE making playlists, so yes! But, I'm curious, what songs do you guys have that when you hear, you immediately think of Zutara?
*Started writing the drabbles again! The one for Jacpin2002 is posted. If you guys like Bonnie/Kai from The Vampire Diaries, check that out :)
*I know this was a lot of plot. By the next chapter is ALL zutara and their relationship!
*Who is also excited that we'll be getting out of the palace? I already have my list, but I'd like to hear your guesses to where you think we'll go/what might happen during these trips!
*I really hope Aang looking into the souls made sense. It's hard to put onto paper, but I see it in my mind so clearly. #writerprobs
*On that above note, what I model Avatar genetics is after this post:
Mendelian Genetics in Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra.
Copy and past that on the web and you should find the post. It's pretty long but worth a read if you're interested in this sort of thing. Basically, the idea is that with punnet squares, to be a bender, you not only have to have the bending genetic, but the spirit genetic 'flipped' on. So, in my world, bending can be flipped as we saw in Korra. I even went back and re-watched Wan's Beginning. In that, turtle-lions gave bending. My idea is that since they're great spirits, every time they gave bending, they were literally changing someone's DNA with the 'gift', making them 'x' bender or 'y' bender and flipping the spirit genetic. Once the lion-turtles left, people reproduced and it stays as genetics usually do. Aang can flip the spirit genetic as the Avatar, but he can't physically change the make-up of some...ie, give Katara firebending or something. Hopefully this makes sense! If you have any genetic questions to me about how I do it/my headcannon for this world's purposes, feel free to ask it in a review!
*Lastly, Sophiecambellbower, you have reached a drabble!
Thanks for your patience! Hope you enjoy this :)