ZW 2009 Day 5: Fireflies

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Flickers

1000 years after the Fire Lord destroys the Air Nomads with the Great Comet, a girl from the Southern Water Tribe finds the last airbender in an iceberg, just outside her village.

The fires are bright and the drums are loud at the beginning of the Winter Festival, but by the time all the village children had gathered around Gran Gran, it's mostly dim and quiet.

"1000 years ago," Gran Gran begins, "the Fire Nation won the war and destroyed the world." The children watch with rapt attention, Katara especially. This is the first time she's been old enough to hear the story. "Fire Lord Sozin waited fifty years, plotting, scheming, waiting for Avatar Roku to die, for the Avatar was an old man. When the Avatar died, he struck. The Fire Lord's forces killed the next Avatar, a boy from the Southern Air Temple, and wiped out all the other Air Nomads."

Katara pulls her knees up to her chin. Maybe she doesn't like this story so much after all.

"He could not have done this but for the power of the Great Comet, which gave firebenders incredible power. Once the Air Nomads, a peaceful people, had been killed, the Fire Lord turned his attention to the rest of the world. He began attacking the coast of the Earth Kingdom, colonizing nearly the entire western coast before he died."

One of the children begins to cry, and his mother shushes him.

"It is important for you children to understand our history," Gran Gran says. The children are quiet. "100 years passed, and the Avatar did not return. The Fire Lord died, and by the time of the next Great Comet, then known as Sozin's Comet, his grandson had come to power. The new Fire Lord finished conquering the Earth Kingdom with the help of the comet, and this Fire Lord's great-grandson use the next one to destroy the Water Tribes, and the world burned."

The children fidget, some cry. Katara wants to leave. "This destroyed the environment. Ash covered the sun and darkened the skies, and even the Fire Nation began to have black snow."

Everybody knows there's no snow in the Fire Nation.

"The Avatar never returned. People began to starve when their crops failed and their livestock died. Our world suffered for nearly 100 years after the destruction of the Water Tribes, and the Fire Nation became just as weak as the nations it destroyed. Benders were slowly eradicated as an anti-bending movement blamed them for the destruction. As time went on without the sun, even the earth grew cold, and the wells were ice."

Sokka elbows Katara. "See Katara, they had it coming." Hakoda shushes him. Gran Gran glares at them but does not stop her story.

"Then, the people left in the three nations combined their resources and technology to create environmental domes, so that we can live in peace even though the world was in ruins. It is because we worked together that all people did not perish. And so you must remember, children, that it is dangerous to go outside, where the winds are faster and colder than the arctic breeze here. The sun is blacked out, and it is not safe."

"How does the dome work?" Sokka is looking up at their father, scientific curiosity bright in his blue eyes.

Katara glares at him. "Quiet, Sokka!"

Sokka rolls his eyes. Gran Gran looks in their direction. "Now we live in the safety of the domes, in the ways of our ancestors. The Water Tribes continue to live in an environment of ice and snow, as we've always done. And finally, children," Gran Gran says, her voice deepening into a warning. "It is important that you never go too far from the village. The dome protects us from the outside world, and the destruction brought by the Fire Nation. Always remember that."

Katara is fourteen and Sokka fifteen when they see the outside world, though they don't realize it at the time. Sokka has gotten them lost on one of his stupid hunting trips when Katara spots some ice that seems to be glowing.

"Katara, stay away from there!" Sokka shouts.

"Sokka, look! There's a person inside! He's alive!"

"How could he be alive inside an iceberg?" Sokka squints, and sure enough, some idiot in a lotus pose is hanging out inside an iceberg. Whatever. Things get weirder every day.

"Maybe he's a bender!"

"Katara, benders died out centuries ago." Katara yanks his club off his shoulder and sprints to the base of the glowing iceberg. "Wait! You don't know what that thing is!"

"Sokka, we have to help!"

So they do. The boy in the iceberg turns out to be 1012 years old, and he doesn't understand why they can't leave the Southern Water Tribe. He was destined to be the Avatar, he confesses (the Avatar is a myth Gran Gran told them when they were children, Sokka interrupts), and says his name is Aang. The fluffy snot monster's name turns out to be Appa, and if you make a weird chirpy noise, he swims (super impressive). Despite Aang's insistence that he's an airbender, Sokka never does see him bend any air (though not for lack of Aang trying).

"At least I don't have to be the Avatar anymore," Aang muses after the thousandth time he tries to leave, only to be stopped by Gran Gran.

"Hey, Aang, ol' buddy." Sokka throws an arm around Aang's shoulders. "You know leaving the village is a stupid idea, right?"

Aang looks disturbed? "What do you mean?"

"Why do you think Gran doesn't want you going out there?"

Aang shrugs. "Polar bear dogs?"

Sokka rolls his eyes. "No. The world outside this fancy habitat dome thing-" Sokka gestures wildly "-was destroyed centuries ago. We have to stay in here to survive."

Aang shrugs again. "It can't be that bad. Besides, I have a flying bison. We'll find somewhere safe. I want to see the Air Temples again."

It dawns on Sokka that probably no one bothered to tell Aang that the Air Temples were the first things to go. Oops. Someone should do that before he escapes. Not that he will. Nobody escapes Gran. But still.

Unfortunately, it doesn't take long for Katara to get in on Aang's escapades, and then Gran Gran really has her hands full.

Katara thinks they might really do it this time. Aang thinks maybe there would be a hole in the wall where his iceberg used to be, and he's right (Katara wonders why neither of them thought of it before).

"Katara! There are people out here, and they're not Water Tribe."

She pulls herself up into the iceberg. The ocean stretches out in front of her, but she can see a little patch of green in the distance. She's never seen green grass, and she's at once excited and terrified. The people look like ants. "How do you know they're not Water Tribe?"

Aang grins. "Look at them reeeeeeeeeeally closely. See? They're wearing red. Nobody in your village wears red."

Katara gasps. "Fire Nation?"

"Probably," Aang chirps. He scampers up on to Appa's head, pulling Katara behind him. "Appa, yip yip!"

For the first time, Appa flies. "Aang, this is amazing!"

Aang sends her a cheesy grin. Katara breathes in deeply. The air has an odd crispness to it, and the sun is a bright white disk in the sky, defined, radiant, completely unlike the fuzzy, soft glow of home. The wind whips her hair in a way she's never felt, and the green earth that's growing larger is almost unreal. Katara has never been outside the dome before, and suddenly, she's not sure she wants to go back. Gran Gran said the world was dead and dangerous, but Gran Gran is wrong. Katara has never seen anything so alive.

They land on the green shores, just east of the docks, and the island people flock to them.

"Prince Zuko," a soldier shouts, bursting through the door and bowling hastily. An airbender and a Water Tribe girl have landed near the docks-on a sky bison!"

"What?!" Zuko spins around and storms out. This is bad. This is very bad. And just his luck that this would happen six months after his father made him governor of Kyoshi. "How is an airbender alive? And how did a Water Tribe girl get out of a dome?"

The soldier has followed him outside and begins jogging to keep up. "Nobody knows, sir. There have been no reports of structural damage. And this is the first airbender we've seen snice the Great Comet."

Zuko marches down to the docks where the strangers have been detained. The airbender looks no older than thirteen and the girl doesn't even look like she's marrying age. Too bad, his inner-Uncle Iroh whispers. Zuko dismisses the thought. He is the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation and Governor of Kyoshi Island, and he will not be distracted by a pretty girl. So there, Uncle.

Zuko knows his ponytail is swaying in the wind, but he hopes the rest of his hair hasn't been messed up. It's been hard keeping it tied back ever since Mai…cut it for him. "How did you get here?" He demands.

"My flying bison," chirps the boy.

Zuko rolls his eyes and glares at the girl.

"I won't tell you anything," she spits. "Not unless you let us go."

He silently fumes for a moment. "Take them to the interrogation chamber," he growls.

"Sir?" The soldier that had followed him looks at him oddly. "That hasn't been used in centuries."

"Just do it!"

The man does not have to be told twice. Thank the Spirits for small miracles. Zuko stomps back to the governor's mansion, trying not to think too much about what he's going to tell his father. None of the domes he monitors had registered a breach. Zhao's territories in the North Pole have dome breaches every week, but those are always reported long before any of the inhabitants find a way out. Although, Zuko muses, they wouldn't have tried to leave anyway. The domes keep people well-fed and healthy. Everyone is happy.

So why does he have two foreigners on his doorstep?

Several hours later, Zuko has given up on the airbender. They boy, apparently thrilled to be able to bend again, seems to have airbended his brain somewhere else. Instead, Zuko focuses his attention on the girl (though the only thing he's learned so far is that the airbender's name is Aang, which the boy told him anyway. So on the whole, this exercise is entirely pointless.

"Why did you leave your dome?"

"Aren't you going to ask me what my name is?"

Zuko is silent for a moment. On the one hand, it would be polite to ask. On the other, he's irritated, and when Zuko is irritated he prefers to do away with niceties, so that all the people around him are aware that he's irritated. And now is one of those times. "No. Answer the question."

"I'll answer yours if you answer mine."

Zuko stews just long enough to make both of them uncomfortable. "Fine."

"I wanted to see if the world was still destroyed, like my grandmother told me. Why don't you live in a dome?"

"No Fire Nation citizen lives in a dome. We knew everything had returned to normal 400 years ago. Fire Lord Zurui predicted it when he burned the world. Where did you find the airbender?"

"Fire Lord who?"

"Sozin's great-great-great-great grandson," Zuko snaps. "Answer the question."

"Aang's not an airbender. Bending doesn't exist anymore."

Zuko lights a flame in his palm and the girl's eyes widen. "No, it didn't. You just can't bend in the domes. It would be dangerous to structural integrity. Now where did you find him?"

The girl doesn't speak at first, but when she does, all of Zuko's questions are answered. "I found him trapped in an iceberg. He didn't know about the war, the Comet, or the domes or anything."

Everything falls into place. Well, not everything, but the important things. "The Southern Water Tribe dome must have been built into that iceberg…that's why the alert never showed up!"

The girl looks at him quizzically. "Why do you get alerts?"

Zuko runs out of the room. "Take her back to the Water Tribe! Have her show you where the breach is and fix it!" Suddenly, he feels water turning to ice around his body."

He turns his head and glares at the girl. Her face is white. "I'm sorry," she whispers. "I just wanted you to stop."

It takes about an hour to free him, as Katara has no idea how she moved the water, where it came from, or how to move it again. Zuko blows smoke out of his nose. He'll be glad when she's gone.

Taking her home proves more difficult than Prince Zuko expected, Katara muses. From what she and Aang can gather from passing guards, Fire Lord Ozai wants to see them himself. Katara is not afraid, and neither is Aang, but the guards seem to be. They're even more on edge around Zuko, who seems to want nothing more than to send her back where she came from and close up Aang's iceberg. She won't let them do that, though. Her village could be so much happier, seeing the real sun and feeling the real wind. Katara wants to see Sokka's face when she bends, too.

"Katara, do you think we should try to escape?" Aang has been more attuned to the gossip than she. "Your grandmother must be worried."

"Not yet. We need to figure out what they're planning in case we have to warn the village. We don't know what the Fire Lord wants with us."

Aang sighs. This cell probably isn't his idea of fun. Sometimes he spins marbles to pass the time, but Katara can tell he misses Appa, and freedom. Mostly Appa.

Zuko comes to visit them after dinner, an old, rather rotund man trailing behind him. He introduces himself with a smile and an offer of a cup of tea.

"I'm Katara," she says, glaring at Zuko. "This is Aang, and we'd love some tea."

The old man beams and produces a teapot (hard to say from where). "It's so nice to meet my nephew's friends."

"They're not my friends, Uncle!"

Iroh laughs heartily. "Very well, Prince Zuko." He smiles slowly. "Why don't we take our tea and walk around Kyoshi? Even prisoners need exercise."

"All right!" Aang jumps up and sprints out the door (why Iroh left it open behind him, Katara will never know). The old man waddles behind Aang, chuckling.

Zuko eyes Katara warily, but steps aside. "After you, peasant."

Katara stomps on his foot on the way out.

Aang is bouncing around the island as Iroh begs him to slow down, just for a moment, because he's not as young as he used to be. The sun starts to fade into the horizon and their shadows grow longer. To Zuko's clear dismay, he and Katara are walking far behind them, together. "So, Zuko-"

"Prince Zuko."

Katara rolls her eyes. "So, Prince Zuko. You owe me a question."

"Fine." A firefly lands on Zuko's nose, and she giggles. "Shut up."

"I want to know how the Fire Nation knew the world was habitable again. And I want to know why nobody bothered to tell the rest of us."

Zuko scoffs. "It was all in the old Fire Lords' plans. They had scientists working for generations to figure out how long it would take for the world to recover after being destroyed."

Katara puts her hands on her hips and stops walking. "That's horrible! You can't just destroy the world because you calculated that everything would be all right!" She throws her arms up. "And what about keeping the rest of us locked in the domes?"

Zuko makes a face. "The only reason the Fire Nation had to destroy the world in the first place was to restore balance. The Water Tribes were overfishing and the Earth Kingdom was cutting down all their trees. Someone had to do something."

"That's not true!" Except that Katara doesn't actually know. Maybe she should have spent more time listening to Gran Gran and less time shushing Sokka. The flickering light from the fireflies becomes more noticeable as the sky grows darker. They're little blinking lights buzzing around Zuko's face, and they cast strange shadows around his scar, and she wonders how he got it but doesn't ask. Zuko doesn't bother responding, but he watches her quietly. "And even if it is true, that's no reason not to tell us things were better." A firefly lands on her forehead, and he brushes it off. "Aren't you going to say anything?"

"What, let you all out so you can mess it up again?"

Katara fumes. "Didn't you just get a report on an oil spill two days ago?"

"Shut up!" The fireflies scatter at the outburst. Katara notices that he says that every time she's right, and she decides they're going to have a long, long discussion about this. Something isn't right.

And she's a waterbender. Bending is real.

The fireflies have gone back to fluttering around Zuko's face. "I want access to all of your history scrolls."

"Kind of demanding for a peasant."

"And I want to learn how to bend."

"No."

"Then I'll teach myself!"

"Fine."

"Fine."

"I hate you."

A firefly flutters into her eye. Zuko laughs, a short, sharp bark. Katara hates him.

A/N: I'm going to have to continue this later, aren't I? In retrospect, I think I tried to do too much with just a oneshot, so expect the continuation in the future. I don't think I'm invested in the concept enough to create a full-fledged multichapter story, but there should be one or two more parts. By all means ask questions if anything is unclear, and I'll see if I can clear it up. I go back and forth on this subject, but I also think Katara doesn't have any particular hatred for the Fire Nation in this universe, so I feel like it makes sense that she'd have a conversation with Zuko. Not opposed to differing opinions though. And I admit to making Kyoshi a lot closer to the South Pole than it is in the show, but I'm going to keep it…for plot?

Thanks to Boogum and jacpin2002, for reading pretty much everything and leaving a whole bunch of reviews. You rock. Thanks also to everybody else who reviewed. Making my day over here.