AN: Hope all of you that celebrated had a good end to your holidays, and here's hoping to something of a more positive year than the last; please stay safe out there, everyone, and as always, hope you enjoy!
Chapter 3: The Brother Arrives
Toph felt the approach coming a mile away but still let the nearing presence come running up behind them and leap at her, grabbing her shoulders and half-spinning her around. She knew the weight of the person's steps, the buoyancy of how they moved, and the voice that sounded then was as much a mystery as if the late Fire Lord Ozai was actually dead.
"Guess who?" the voice sounded behind her, happy and bouncy just as the speaker was. As the group came to a stop near the palace steps, Toph put on a mock thoughtful face.
"Let's see… warm approach, happy voice, bounce in your step and overall upbeat personality? How you doing, Azula?"
Ty Lee let out a loud groan and Toph smiled.
"Oh gosh, please don't compare me to that…"
She trailed off and Toph could practically feel her looking around nervously. "… that sourpuss."
Reaching out in front of her, Toph wrapped her arms tightly around her friend, loving how warm and completely Ty Lee returned her hug. Having her as a friend was something that Toph had only grown more and more grateful for as they had gotten older. Of course there were times when her over the top nature was something that made her roll her eyes and often sigh in exasperation, but in her years of growing older, of having questions about herself, her body, her emotions, her feelings, she had found there was no one she was readily willing to turn to. Jin was a close second, but there was something about Ty Lee that just made Toph so willing to open up and eager to discuss these difficult topics that brewed about in her insides, so much so that they often made her feel like she wanted to tear her own heart out. She never got to see Ty Lee often, so immediately she felt nothing short of a great warmth passing through her as they embraced.
"You keep getting taller," Ty Lee murmured, her voice somewhat muffled as her face was buried in the top of Toph's head.
"Maybe, but I'm still not quite caught up to you or Jin," Toph muttered grudgingly and Ty Lee giggled.
"Come on, every little threesome of friends should have the short one."
"Huh, maybe just remember that I would be all too happy to swallow you up to your neck in the dirt and then you can be the proud owner of that title," Toph said back, somewhat snarkily, but all that did was award her a kiss on the top of her head.
"Anything for the princess," Ty Lee said with an audible grin and Toph swung a fist at her that she dodged with exceptional ease; when trying to swat at her in jest, Toph was frequently annoyed at how quickly her friend was able to move about.
"How you doing, Aang?" Ty Lee said and moved to greet the rest of the small group; she was greeted warmly by all of them since Ty Lee's genuinely pleasant persona was something that was rather infectious. She hugged Katara, Suki, Sokka and Aang, as she had become quite physical with her affection too as the years had gone by. Toph knew that Azula or Zuko would never be caught dead exchanging hugs with all of them out of either disdain or sheer embarrassment, but Ty Lee was far and above the type to gladly take that opportunity.
"We weren't expecting you in so soon," Suki said as she and Ty Lee broke apart and Toph could feel a slide tread of unease in her step then.
"Yeah, well… you know how Azula is. If the manifest says that we're leaving at dawn sharp, we're leaving well before the sun actually comes up."
"Is that what happened here?" Sokka asked and Ty Lee made a stressed noise as she hopped between her left and right foot nervously.
"I wish. We showed up here on Azula's new airship though is what actually happened."
Toph didn't pay a great deal of attention to military developments, technical or otherwise, but she knew enough to know that the Fire Nation shipbuilders had been working on a fresh line of new craft, ones that boasted serious speed, firepower and most critical of all, silence. Knowing that they were actually free of the shipyards and in the air was enough to make her tense up and she could feel everyone around her do the same, some more violently than she had.
Unsurprisingly, Sokka was the one to speak up first with the greatest amount of volume to his tone that likely reflected his anger and disbelief, though it was still funneled into only a single word and Toph heard herself sigh in unison with Katara as he did.
"What?!"
More concise and useful with his query, Aang stepped forward, his voice quiet and serious.
"Are you serious, Ty? You guys came here on a Whisper?"
The aptly named Whispers had been a production rumor for years and only in the past several months had word of their manufacture been made public knowledge. That said, Toph had been drinking in Jin's shop only a couple weeks prior and had heard tell that the first line wasn't supposed to be primed and finished until months after the tenth anniversary of the war's ending.
Yet another surprise from the Fire Nation's princess.
"Yeah," Ty Lee was saying. "I think it's fully operational too, not just a show model that we got to fly over on."
Unsurprisingly, Sokka was immediately and deeply intrigued, coming out of his single syllable reverie.
"Can I see it?" he asked, and Toph heard Katara swat his arm. It was no secret that Sokka had developed quite an interest in military tech, something he very much shared with his wife and Toph was fairly sure that Suki was only being slightly more reserved about her interest in seeing the Whisper than Sokka was.
"We set down in the airfield just beside the palace grounds, on the east side," Ty Lee said. Toph could hear it in her voice that she was more perturbed about their arrival than anything, surely doing her best to decipher Azula's meaning behind it, but Toph was surprised when Katara spoke the exact words she was thinking.
"She's showing off."
Her voice was dark and no one tried to refute the possibility, and it was further corroborated when Ty Lee full out admitted herself, "Yeah I think she is."
"Why bother?" Aang asked. "She's sister to the most powerful man in the whole Fire Nation; I don't think anyone really doubts that she can get her hands on state of the art technology whenever she wants to."
"It's just because of that 'most powerful man in the whole Fire Nation' that I think she did it," Toph muttered. "She beats Zuko here and does so in a ship that I know he won't be flying in anything remotely as advanced as."
No one questioned this and Toph knew that it was because everyone had no trouble believing that it was true.
It had become common knowledge that Zuko not only had a bit of a distaste for flying, but also didn't have a great love for vehicular upgrades. Toph could remember a state dinner some years ago where he had broken into an argument with Mai about the state of the new warships and how the older ships had much more 'class' and 'nobility' to them while she had lamented them as 'relics' and 'long overdue to be scrapped' which of course made for an awkward few minutes while they had their spat.
This memory pulled Toph's mind away from the Whisper however and onto something that she found more pressing just then.
"Where's Mai?"
There was the sound of feet scuffing the street as Ty Lee turned around and directed herself towards where Toph knew the palace sprawled out over the center of the city.
"Inside. I don't think she really likes the idea of being out here when… I think she'd just rather be inside."
This was without a doubt a very troubling and curious thing that had just been said and Toph scrunched her brow. She didn't know exactly what it was that had just made her friend suddenly tense up, her toes gently scrunching at the ground as a result of her nerves. Something was up with Mai, clearly, and it wasn't something that Ty Lee felt very much like she was at liberty to discuss.
"Come on then," she said, blowing past her near slip up and starting to walk ahead of them, her voice once again taking on its usual tone of upbeat fervor. "She'll be happy to see you guys."
Toph hadn't a doubt in her mind that Aang, Sokka, Suki and Katara were all exchanging confused looks of their own, as Ty Lee was notoriously bad at keeping secrets, and this was one that concerned a mutual friend of theirs, so of course, there was cause for concern. But whatever it was, they would find out about it in due time, Toph was sure, and they started to follow Ty Lee towards the palace steps.
The moment they saw her, Katara's mind went into full analysis mode, immediately trying to piece together exactly what it might be about Mai that Ty Lee had very nearly spilled to them. Her words hadn't been of any real note, but how nervous she had sounded after she had cut herself off had been very interesting indeed. So as they stepped inside the massive entrance hall and saw Mai tiredly waving away several servants who were trying to cater to her in a rather frenzied fashion, Katara hid behind a pleased smile and started looking.
It wasn't that she wasn't glad to see Mai; rather, she had grown quite close to the sullen woman as they had grown into adulthood, often finding her the only one she could really talk to about personal issues involving both romance and things only the female mind was that good at tackling. In a sense, they had become rather good friends, both with the commonality of rather developing a distaste for the antics of Sokka, Toph and some of the others, who all had relatively remained at least somewhat childlike as they had aged, and because they both were with young men who had their fair share of issues, something that was quite easy to bond over.
But there was always that challenge, that look in Mai's eyes that Katara had never been able to fully avoid when they had spent time alone together. Katara could never ignore it, because it was something that she had seen consistently over the years and each time she had seen it again, it had been like ripping the bandage from a wound that hadn't been given time to heal, and had thus spent blood spilling fresh. She couldn't remember every time since, but she knew very well that she could track it back to the first time she had seen it.
Just after Sasuke had left them and plunged headfirst into a war that wasn't his, Mai had given her that look.
Katara wasn't sure exactly why it was something that kept sticking out to her; it had been so many years now since he had left and not so much as given a single hint to the wind for them to find that he was still alive. It had taken some time, but Katara had both found herself in rather a bit of a hellish state, one where she had accepted the fact that Sasuke had found a way back to his own world and had left them behind as mere memories, yet there was another part of her that was twisted, aching at the thought that he had finally found something that was his match in this world. Perhaps some monster or bender of unknown prowess that had shattered him and left him choking and gasping his last moments on the floor of some cave, no one there to help him, rescue him. It was rare that Katara's mind took her on this torturous mental journey, but it happened enough to that she never forgot the feeling.
Stupid bastard… why did you leave?
Every time she thought of him, Katara wished that she had said more, that she had tried harder to keep him from taking off on his own, and while she knew deep down that nothing any of them could have said would have changed his mind, she also knew that she hadn't done nearly enough to plead the case for him not to leave.
Why? Why do I care?
She didn't, or so she told herself. Why she felt like having an anxiety attack whenever she thought of Sasuke dying alone, why she never was quite able to shake the thought of him period was something she never had truly tried to confront because it occupied so little of her mind anymore. But occupy a part of her mind he still did, and while it was small, it was torturously conspicuous when she let her mind drift that way.
Mai would always remind her of Sasuke as such and this was something that Katara very much believed she would always resent the other woman for. Not that it was particularly her fault or anything like that, but thoughts of him were torture enough to make resentment the least destructive feeling she could muster.
Katara pushed this all aside though, burying Sasuke deep within her mental scape as she always did, and focused on the now.
"Mai, I brought some friends!"
Ty Lee's rambunctious voice echoed through the entrance hall and she dashed ahead of the rest of them to perform a cartwheel and skip the rest of the way to Mai. It was humorous to see some of the royal servants eyeing Ty Lee with disapproving looks, but Katara knew they would never dare say anything to a guest of honor; everyone who had been with Aang on the day of Sozin's Comet had been all but granted the lands and titles that would be granted of those being pampered with such honor. Katara had never been formally acknowledged by any state power or authority in a legal sense, but she and everyone else were always given extra special treatment during events like this. They had after all been there at the time of Ozai's defeat, standing by Aang as the final blow to the Fire Nation was dealt.
As if we honestly did a fucking thing.
Cursing herself and again forcing thoughts of Sasuke aside, Katara looked instead to Mai who was now wearily trying to wave away her friend instead of the royal servants.
At face value, Mai looked incredible and Katara was yet again irked at how looking like a goddess came so naturally for her. Her formal wear dress was impeccable, colors clashing beautifully with her hair and eyes, not a single strand of hair was out of place, her makeup totally flawless. She would surely be a showstopper for any man attending the event within the next couple hours, taken or otherwise.
Past face value, Katara could see a very different person. Mai looked more than the tired she was using to wave away her friend, she looked very much like she was fighting back anger of all things. It wasn't uncommon for Mai to be annoyed that she was being forced to attend some social event, but there looked to be a real upset quality in her gaze, one that Katara had difficulty trying to guess its origin.
In the blink of an eye however, the corners of Mai's mouth turned up as she looked to everyone, clearly pleased to see them all.
"You all look great," she said and Suki blew out an annoyed sigh as she walked up for the first hug.
"Please. You're making me look like a dirt poor peasant," she said as the embraced and Mai smiled further over her shoulder.
"Well, you haven't had the chance to freshen up yet. Believe me, if you were on our vessel to get here, the mistress would have had you getting decked out in your finest attire hours ago."
Katara smirked at the nickname that Mai and Ty Lee occasionally used to refer to Azula and moved in for the next hug. Her smile became genuine as she wrapped her arms around Mai and she felt pity too at even how tired the embrace felt.
What's going on with you, Mai?
It would come out in time, but for now, Katara resigned herself to just be happy to see her friend.
"I'm waiting for the day she just straps leashes to both your necks and forces you and Ty Lee to walk around like dogs with her, how strict she is with you both whenever you're all together," she quipped and was happy to hear Mai give a laugh.
"If Soza didn't exist, I wouldn't be surprised if that wouldn't have happened already. Honestly gotta thank the kid for distracting mommy for us; if she doesn't have her attention, who knows what would happen to us," she replied darkly and exchanged smirks with Ty Lee. She greeted everyone else there and as they all stood about, Mai gave Aang a look with a raised eyebrow.
"What?" she asked him and Katara looked over to see her boyfriend wearing an adorably radiant smile.
"It's just so good to see everyone together again," he said, beaming. "Once Zuko gets here and we can get Jin into the castle, it'll be just like old times."
Katara slipped her fingers in with his, smiling back at his happiness. In truth, it was indeed a nostalgic sight to have the both of them as well as Mai, Ty Lee, Suki, Sokka and Toph all standing there, all smiling just as they had when they were kids. So much had changed since then, but nothing had done much to shake the bonds of their friendship.
Except occasionally each other, Katara thought as she looked over at Toph with a feeling of mild regret.
"Has Zuko made it yet?" she asked and as she saw just the barest twitch on Mai's face, Katara suddenly realized that she had a pretty good idea just what the problem with Mai was.
Not again.
It was no secret that Mai and Zuko had enjoyed a fairly up and down relationship rather than a consistent one. But they both had needs that neither could ever fully appreciate or manage, ones that were sadly enough, very interlocked. Zuko had his duties to his nation and people and was very often busy with that delicate task, and Mai was someone who very much needed both attention and care, something Zuko wasn't always able to provide her. They were both caught in an unfortunate back and forth of never being quite able to care for the other as they ought to, Zuko not being able to take all the time she wanted, and Mai never quite able to accept the fact that, as the most important person in his nation, Zuko was very limited on free time. They had both struggled through years of this unfortunate quarreling and Katara had found herself wanting a fair few times for them to just break it off so they could focus on themselves in their time, rather than spending the majority of their relationship worrying about the other and being resentful that the other couldn't understand.
Katara found herself rather guiltily hoping that it was over this time, that they had been able to finally look away from one another and to their own needs, but if it was Mai and Zuko, chances are it wasn't that simple.
"He should be landing any second," Ty Lee answered. "I know he only left just after we did, and even though we were faster, it's been long enough for him to have caught up."
The look that she gave Mai then was enough to all but confirm Katara's suspicions; something was wrong between her and Zuko, and Ty Lee knew about it.
"I thought he would have made it by now," Suki said with a frown. "Even if—"
She didn't make it further than that before the palace doors opened and the captain of the palace guard stepped inside, looking rather harried as a cluster of voices talking loudly over one another chased him inside. He held the door almost entirely shut as he looked at Aang quickly.
"I'm terribly sorry, Avatar Aang, but the reporters are getting rather restless. They know that I haven't the authority to banish them from the grounds this day, given the occasion and who's all expected to be here, but they seem very badly like they want their questions answered."
"Fuckin' vultures," Toph muttered in annoyance and Aang scratched the back of his head, looking rather nervous.
"I understand that well enough, but I'm not supposed to make any statements until Fire Lord Zuko has arrived. Or answer any questions for that matter."
"Tell them they're just going to have to wait," Mai said, sounding rather peeved herself. No one there had any particular love for reporters, who were just there to get words from big name people and rush their scribbles back to their associated presses; with it being such an important time of the year, many other publicists had arrived to capitalize on all the extravaganza. "The Avatar and the Fire Lord will answer questions together, not whenever the press dictates they want their scraps of front page headlines."
"But there's nothing against anyone else delivering statements, no?"
Katara heard the voice and felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She didn't need to turn and see who had spoken, though she did anyway, the voice still slithering about in her ears with all the invasiveness of a parasite.
Azula was walking smoothly down the steps of the grand staircase that moved up the center of the main hall. She of course looked absolutely stunning as she always did, a rather more feminine dress than she usually wore of deep maroon hugging her body tightly as she descended. Her hair was just as flawless as Mai's though her face was all the different in terms of emotion.
Her beautiful features were turned in an expression of deep satisfaction and an almost distant hunger. The corners of her lips turned up just enough to show an arrogant smile, her stunning eyes moving about like she was looking for prey. Her makeup too was spotless and clean, and she looked every bit the princess that the papers loved to eat up stories on, good or bad. She was the epitome of controversy and beauty, her deadly nature never to be forgotten even as she descended the steps looking just as much like she owned the very palace she currently was a guest in.
She waved a hand loftily in front of her and Katara clenched her fingers into her arms where she had them crossed as she saw those long, bladelike nails dance before her.
"Captain, open the doors. This is an event for the people and there should be no discernment between royalty and the commoners. I will speak to the reporters while we wait for my dear brother to join us."
It was a testament to just how much control of a room Azula could possess that the captain took several seconds to blink in stunned silence at the princess before he complied.
"Yes, your highness, at once."
He reached back and pulled open the massive doors that blocked them off from the gaggle of reporters congregating on the steps of the palace and Katara could see past him to see the guards outside the palace holding a tight perimeter to keep the reporters from getting any closer.
Azula reached the bottom of the stairs and continued to walk at the same relatively slow and mesmerizing pace, the clicking of her heels the only sound echoing within the hall itself, only drowned out by the clustered questions of the men and women outside hoping to get an answer they could turn into a headline. She walked past them all and exchanged no pleasantries with a single one of them, though she did look to Aang and give him something of a polite incline of the head, though with her smirk, it was clear that it was about as polite a gesture as slapping him in the mouth. Moving past them, she stepped out into the light and as the reporters caught sight of her, the volume of their questions increased tenfold and Katara tried to keep from feeling a scowl pull itself onto her face.
Seeing Azula again was just as unnerving as it always had been from the first time Katara had laid eyes on her. Sure, they were no longer at one another's throats with her trying to kill the lot of them and steal away Aang for her father, but there was a part of Katara that found this genuinely worse. Azula had reached a point where the world seemed to have become her oyster, whether or not that had been her intended goal at the war's end or not; people paid just as much attention to her as they did to Zuko or Aang it seemed. She was the princess of the Fire Nation, with a child that was as much a mystery to them as it was to the people of any of the Nations, she had been employing rather controversial tactics in the assignments she took on, and most importantly for public opinion, she never had a problem fraternizing with reporters and giving them the words and remarks they likely wanted to hear.
Not that there was anything close to respect or decency she likely felt for them. As Katara watched her now, speaking cordially with the reporters she had gone to greet just at the top steps of the palace, she could see the look in Azula's eyes, all the emotion of a schoolteacher listening to a group of children pass about blame when she knew full well who was at fault. Her smile seemed both so natural and unnatural at the same time, like she was forcing it and yet it was all too much fun for her not to react that way.
They eat her up every single time. And she loves it, she loves the attention.
Katara hated how much power and influence Azula seemed to wield by never doing much of anything at all. When she wasn't out with Mai and Ty Lee on one of her little missions, she always seemed to stay at the capital of the Fire Nation, only ever coming out for events and festivities that required her presence. She never went on peacekeeping tours like the ones Aang was constantly forced to embark on, she never showed much of an interest in public aid or anything she could do on that front, and she rarely even so much as cared about national or international politics. All of her time beyond her missions and necessary ventures was spent within the walls of her royal palace with her daughter.
And yet for whatever reason, she had become such an icon to people everywhere.
Because she shows no fear or worry towards anything. That sort of confidence and power is something people are comforted by. For all the good Aang does, he can never quite seem to make ends meet when it comes to being a reassuring speaker and speech giver. Azula just exudes confidence and certainty.
She continued to stare at Azula's back, both deeply unsettled by her presence and angry at her purely for the consequence of her being. If she could have it her way, Azula and her demon of a daughter would have been as far out of the picture as possible. They did nothing but cause strife everywhere they went and it was enough to bring Katara's blood near a boil just knowing that they were stuck sharing the palace grounds with the both of them for something like a week.
So seething she was that she jumped just as badly as her brother when a voice she had not yet heard sounded just behind them.
"I'm glad to see everyone's already gotten together."
She had barely started to turn before Aang let out a surprised laugh and turned to embrace none other than Fire Lord Zuko who had come up behind them from a side hallway of the enormous room.
Katara would never say a word on it, for she both loved Aang very much and was more than happy with what she had with him, but it would have been a lie to suggest that Zuko hadn't grown into an incredibly handsome young man that any woman would have been lucky to wind up with. Akin to her brother, he had grown taller and broader at the soldiers, his form becoming lean and strong. He was likely the tallest of them there though it had never been officially measured and with his hairpiece, he definitely took that title anyway, the rest of his hair flowing down his back in a brilliant black cascade. In the years after the war, Katara had approached him by himself, and quietly asked again if he wouldn't like her to remove his scar permanently, just as she had in the cave. Zuko had spent a long while not saying anything, merely sitting next to her as he surely went through a massive range of emotions in his head before politely declining. Katara hadn't pressed the subject, knowing that it wasn't her place to tell him one way or another, but as they had grown older, she had found it to look quite respectable on him. For a leader to have been physically scarred as such and to such a degree, it made him look resolute and no one would question Zuko's backbone as Fire Lord. All one needed to do was look at him and remember what it had taken for him to be crowned as such.
In the early days of his rule, there had been a great deal of questioning and worry regarding Zuko's ability to lead, but he had taken no notice of those detracting him and had gone about surrounding himself with good people with the aid of his uncle, and doing all he could to smooth over what looked like something of an impossible task. The Earth and Water Nations were both absolutely adamant in their vocalization that the Fire Nation be responsible in paying back tremendous reparations for the war, a feat that seemed rather insurmountable. The cost of near a hundred years of war was something that the Fire Nation would never be able to pay off, especially with so much of their infrastructure being pushed towards their war machine anyway. Aang had spent a great deal of time in the Fire Nation capital himself during this very uncertain period as it started to become practically expected that the Water and Earth Nations would begin demanding the last and most valuable thing the Fire Nation possessed: land.
But somehow, the raging sea of furious politics and demands began to slowly boil down as the weeks following the war become months and then the months into years. Zuko put in place a very fragile yet feasible plan that put the majority of the Fire Nation economy working towards the restarting of their economy in order to begin servicing reparations by way of cost and supplies, and the opposing Earth and Water Nation governments began to relent in their extreme demands when they saw that the entire Fire Nation economic infrastructure was about to become just as much a machine for reparations as it was for giving the people of the Fire Nation hope in their livelihoods. Kinks came up frequently but were dealt with swiftly, and in a matter of just a few years, the Fire Nation was well on track to earning back the trust of its neighbors, and the people had their new Fire Lord to thank.
People see that scar… and they think of everything he went through at the hands of his father and at the hands of a corrupt and power-hungry Fire Nation. And they see just how much he's done and is doing trying to fix things and I can't imagine they can be entirely full of hate anymore.
It was so strange to see the boy who had stormed into her village, screaming about honor and pride, now a responsible and calm leader in the face of what was once a seemingly impossible set of odds to overcome.
Mai… with everything he's done, how can you be so selfish?
"How the hell did you manage to sneak in?!" Sokka said loudly even as he pulled the Fire Lord into a tight bear hug. "Wasn't your little royal procession supposed to roll around the front of the palace?"
Zuko broke away from him and winced as Toph pulled him into what was likely a much tighter hug than the one he had just received. He looked slightly uncomfortable at the question and Katara couldn't help but find it deeply amusing just how, of all things, public appearances were on the top of Zuko's greatest fears. Just like Aang, he could face down some of the most worrisome and dangerous conflicts the world had ever known but when it came to being paraded through the streets among vast crowds of people, the thought was almost too much to bear.
"I preferred to just come around on my own, so that I could step out with Aang at the same time. Uncle was willing to take the hit for me, he'll be coming around in the procession with the rest of my advisors."
This was just as much a surprise as him sneaking up behind them, more so when considering what they had been told.
"Wait, Iroh's here?! He came with you?!" Ty Lee practically squealed and Katara felt herself stepping forward, taking Zuko in a one armed hug of her own as she too felt words of surprise slip from her mouth.
"I thought he wasn't due for a couple days yet!" she said as he embraced her back. Zuko smiled at her and they broke apart; Katara did her best to ignore that feeling that poked her insides as she backed into Aang, grateful to feel his touch.
"My sister can pull surprises and so can I," Zuko muttered as he stared out towards where Azula stood under the midday sun, her smooth drawling tone working at the men and women practically scrabbling before her. "There was going to be a vote in the Fire Nation council that we were expecting to last a couple days and with uncle as a chief member, he was planning on taking the few days necessary to try and make sure everyone on the council voted and the matter was resolved, but the vote went through in an afternoon, so he was able to make the trip with me."
Suki, who had been the next in line to wrap her arms around Zuko, pulled away and looked up at him with her eyes widening.
"Wait… the Transnational Citizenship Act vote?"
Zuko nodded and Katara felt her insides tighten at hearing that. Every other person there also exposed similar feelings of shock; Ty Lee and Aang with wide eyes, Suki with a hand slowly moving towards her mouth and Toph's fists clenching tightly. Even Mai, who Katara noticed had been doing her best to almost seem to be pretending that Zuko wasn't there, turned her head quickly, her brow furrowed.
"A few days? Shit, Zuko, we would have expected this to have taken weeks," Sokka said quietly, his eyes too round and surprised.
"I was too," Zuko said grimly, crossing his arms, his eyes still on his sister standing just beyond the palace threshold. There was a long moment of silence before Toph blurted out the words that everyone was surely thinking just then, all of them put so suddenly on edge.
"Well?!"
Zuko blinked as though he had forgotten they were there, before turning his gaze away from Azula and back to them all.
"It passed."
Immediately, there was an outpouring of relieved sighs; Suki and Sokka threw their arms around one another and Toph leaned weakly into Ty Lee who put an arm around her, looking just as stunned. Aang took Katara's hand and gave it a very tight squeeze and she returned the motion, feeling suddenly somewhat lightheaded.
The Transnational Citizenship Act had been a motion that had been suggested and been put through the earliest planning stages around then. It had been drafted and redrafted hundreds of times, but when it was finally sent to the Councils of all three nations, the gist of it was the allowance of citizens of each nation to freely be able to apply for citizenship in other nations as well, essentially allowing freedom of travel and settlement for all those within the Earth, Fire and Water Nations. It had been seen as radical then, and was still seen as radical by many now, but it had finally reached a point where it could be sent and either signed into law or rejected; it had been the purpose of Aang's touring through the Earth Nation, trying to drum up support for the act and quell the fears of those who didn't find it that appealing an idea. The process of having all three nations sign it into law was expected to be a long and arduous process, but just like that, the Fire Nation had gone and completed one third of the word in just one day of the legislation reaching the council floor.
It was enough to make everyone's head spin right then and Katara felt herself wrap her arms numbly around Aang in a tight hug as laughs from Ty Lee, Suki and Sokka echoed around the hall.
"Does Azula know?" Sokka asked and Zuko shook his head, causing Sokka to let out a shout of glee.
"Ha! That'll take some wind out of her sails! She's out there flaunting to all those reporters, but she's going to be drowned up in this news, for sure!"
"We aren't to announce it to the press until the celebration begins," Zuko said, somewhat sternly. "I trust you all with this information and I can't have it leaking before then."
Sokka waved a hand dismissively. "Yeah, of course, of course, you can count on us."
Katara noticed it then but she couldn't come up with the words to address the oddity that had just struck her before Mai did.
"You don't seem altogether pleased with this, Zuko."
Mai's voice was level and calm, and Katara could tell by her gaze that she had been watching Zuko intently since the news was broken. She had noticed what Katara had surely before, that Zuko indeed was not looking remotely as pleased as such news ought to have made him; rather, his expression was tight, his mouth a thin line and his eyes were flickering orbs, shadowed in deep thought.
Toph spoke up as she took a step his direction and gave him a gentle punch in the side. "I can feel that too, Fire Lord. What's the deal, you're so stiff; this is good news, right?"
Zuko once again turned his eyes towards the door, as they narrowed ever so slightly. His voice was low and reserved as though he were worried of being overheard.
"Of course it's good news, don't think for a moment I'm not pleased about the result. It's just… it came too easy. Far too easily. You all know how split the Fire Nation Council is on so many issues; even when we try, it's always so difficult for uncle and I to make anything of a worthwhile ripple effect within those walls. So many of those people are so violently against the policies of each other."
Ty Lee gave a shrug. "Maybe they've decided to come together for the good of the people then. After all, there's got to be some things they can agree on."
Closing his eyes a moment and sighing through his nose, Zuko replied in a hardly reassured tone. "Ty, this topic has been one of discussion in that room for years now. Arguments and insults, there has never once been the idea put out there that this would be something the twenty one members could agree on. And yet… the day of the vote comes, and it passes. In one day. No arguments, no weeks of discussion and compromising, the motion just… passes."
Slowly pulling away from Katara, Aang took a few steps forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with Zuko; they had done so much work together for the peacekeeping effort and become such good friends in doing so, that she couldn't help but feel a wave of affection for both of them, even despite the delicate and worried nature of their discussion.
"You think that there might have been some foul play involved to sway the vote?" Aang asked quietly and Zuko put a hand to his chin, rubbing his fingers thoughtfully over his mouth.
"I don't know. But something very serious happened to make the vote pass, I have no doubt about that."
Suki took a step towards him. "But who could have had that kind of influence? No one on that council is more powerful influentially and politically than the other, except for a few cases, but none of even those could do a thing to make such a difference."
"No, no one on that council," Zuko said and silence fell for a moment as everyone realized what he was implying, merely by where he was directing his gaze.
"Get out of here," Sokka said firmly. "Azula would never have gone and done something like that."
"You're so sure she wouldn't," Zuko asked softly and Katara spoke up then, feeling too the impossibility that this could have been Azula's work.
"Zuko, your sister would never have tried to pass a motion that would allow Fire Nation citizens to travel and settle in other nations, and that would allow citizens from the Earth and Water Nations to move to her own sacred doorstep. You know how much she hates commoners, she can barely even stand the idea of the lower class of her own nation, much less the people from Earth and Water. No matter what she claims to the press, she's going to stay in the palace the whole time to keep from having to mingle with anyone she finds as lower than her. And you really think she, Princess Azula, would work to sign a motion that would allow something like this?"
Letting out a large sigh, Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose and jammed his eyes shut.
"I don't know. Maybe I'm overthinking this."
Aang shook his head, "No, I think you're right to think something is fishy here. But Katara's right… Azula?"
There was a pause as Zuko sighed, but he gave his head a gentle shake then, smiling and putting an arm around Aang's shoulder.
"I'm sorry. This isn't something I should be worrying about right now. This is good news, you're right, Toph. I shouldn't be getting ahead of myself in being concerned about anything just yet."
He straightened his back and let out yet another sigh, though this one was much less perturbed and more final in its sound.
"I'm sure there will be time to be paranoid later."
Aang laughed at this response before throwing an arm around Zuko's shoulder as well. "Well put. If that isn't just a state on how we have to be these days."
His smile widening, Zuko jerked his chin in the direction of his sister.
"What do you say we go any snatch the attention away from my attention-hungry sister?"
There came a pause and Katara felt herself smile as she saw Aang visibly tense and Zuko looked over his way.
"C'mon, you know I hate this part of the job just as much as you do. But we have to go out and talk to them and then we don't have to worry about any press until the open gala later this week."
Tilting his head back and looking towards the ceiling, Aang groaned.
"Fine. Let's get this over with."
Pulling their arms away from each other, but remaining just as much shoulder to shoulder, they walked towards the giant set of double doors; Toph marched past Katara, a smile on her face.
"I gotta hear this."
Katara smiled herself at this sentiment, and for all the love she had for Aang, watching him fret prior to actually answering any questions was always somewhat humorous to her. For there really was no reason to worry, just as there wasn't with Zuko; once they were both in front of the questions and people, they handled themselves fine. Just as curious as to the rest of them what the questions would be, either more of the same that the Avatar and Fire Lord were usually hammered with, or perhaps something new that they would use to try and get a spicy new quote for their publisher, Katara paced a distance behind the two of them, Toph just ahead of her and Sokka, Suki, Ty Lee and Mai just behind her. She considered falling back to talk with Mai in something of a private setting, but knew there would be another time.
The glowing light of the sun bathed Zuko and Aang as they stepped outside and the reporters caught sight of the two powerful individuals immediately, leaping into a fresh frenzy of questions. Azula half turned to see them both approaching and had absolutely no difficulty stepping gracefully to the side and bowing to them both, her smile never leaving her face. Katara rolled bile around in her throat at the sight; not before the war ended did she think she had seen Azula once get flustered by anything.
The clamor of the few dozen individuals held back by the guards was somewhat quieted as Zuko put his hands up in a request for silence; some attempted awkward bows and Katara heard some words of gratitude and praise being flung their way. It was no secret that both Aang and Zuko were well liked by the majority of all the Nations' citizens.
"Thank you all very much for taking the time to be here," he said, words rehearsed, but voice coming out warm and natural. "We of course will be having the open gala here at the palace during our week of celebration of the anniversary of the war's end. But during this time, we would be more than happy to answer some of your questions."
Their noise and volume picked up again until Aang pointed at one reporter who was desperately waving about a pen, eager to start scribbling, and he spoke his question, clear and loud.
"This anniversary has been celebrated since the first year following the end of the Hundred Year's War, but will be the first time it will be celebrated jointly by all nations, with the city of Ba Sing Se serving as the location for the anniversary. With so much political upheaval still in the mix, do you anticipate disagreements and squabbles coming about as a result of so many powerful and notable people being grouped tougher, all with varying agendas and desires?"
Of course the vultures would lead with a question like that, Katara thought in annoyance. Aang was quick on the draw as he answered nearly immediately.
"We are of the hope that during this very special time, all will be able to put aside their differences and celebrate the end of a truly devastating conflict, and rejoice that we are moving into a new age. If ever there was a time to be truly united, it would be during this period."
Katara smiled. He was much better at this than he gave himself credit for.
Zuko pointed to another reporter who asked his question just as pointedly and efficiently. "Members from the United Nations Council will all be in attendance, or so we've been told; will either Chief of War Dreyer, or Governor Bradley be among them?"
"You would be best off calling on their offices," Zuko said and pointed to another.
"Following the dispute between Governor Bradley's office and the security division of Omashu, can we expect a public acknowledgement of this quarrel by both parties?"
"You would be best calling on the governor's office and the head security district of Omashu," Aang somewhat repeated and gestured to another.
Katara found herself smiling sadly as the questions kept coming. They were the Fire Lord and Avatar respectively, but they were being treated like press secretaries. She knew of course why these particular questions were being asked, as if anyone would know much of the inner political dealings of the pertinent nations, and would also be the most likely to accidentally slip up and let something loose, it would be these two. It made her rather angry, she realized, that these rabid people were trying to take advantage of these two, these two who were doing so much to try and help the state of the world as they knew it.
But they were resolute and calm in the face of these questions, both tall and imposing men in their own right, not at all flustered by all nature of question that they really couldn't give much of an answer on themselves.
After about fifteen minutes and as she started to anticipate this drawing to a close, Katara's ears perked up as she heard an actually relevant question that she knew Aang could answer.
"Avatar Aang, are you pleased with the state of things are far as the peacekeeping front is concerned? Do you believe this week's celebration will be productive time for assuring the people that things are indeed improving in the decade or so since the war ended?"
Katara could see him smiling at getting such a question and he almost seemed too eager in answering.
"Absolutely. So much has come of recovering from the war in that time, and we hope this will be an event where people can reflect and see how much we are advancing forward and persevering through what might be the most difficult moment in our history as a united people."
He nodded to another reporter who turned their attention to Zuko.
"Fire Lord Zuko, do you share the same sentiment?"
Smiling as well, Zuko nodded. "I do. I understand there are a great many people still displeased by how the war's end was being handled, but I hope that through events like this, all will be able to see that much good is being done for all people, not just a select few."
Katara looked around at the rest; Azula still stood to the side, silent but impossible to miss, as she feigned that sickly sweet smile towards her brother and Aang, pretending to be so inspired and agreeable to what they were saying. It took Katara some effort to tear her eyes away and look to her brother who was looking a little bored with the proceedings and was playing with a strand of cloth on Suki's sleeve, who seemed to be allowing him to do so as she listened intently to the questions and answers. Toph was whispering quietly with Ty Lee about something or some other and Mai remained standing a distance back with her arms crossed, looking both angrily and longingly into the day at Zuko's back. Katara felt another urge to go speak with her but as Zuko spoke again, she knew that she needed to be patient a little longer.
"Just a couple more questions, please," he said, and pointed to another reporter. Katara smiled at the thought that he and Aang would be granted a reprieve finally and wondered how long it would be until dinner as she really was quite hungry. Maybe Aang would take her on a walk around the palace grounds first, just to relax and unwind some more just the two of them, though she thought smirkingly that she hadn't exactly helped him relax earlier in bed.
Katara's heart stopped when the next question sounded out her drifting thoughts disappearing, replaced with something that might have been panic.
"Avatar Aang, it's been ten years since the disappearance of the outlaw known as Sasuke Uchiha, who many believe to be responsible for the murder of Fire Lord Ozai and the excess of violence during the last day of the war. Do you believe that he might return for this occasion?"
It was a stupid question. It was an invasive question. And it was a question that Katara knew had just shaken Aang to his core. He stood there, poker straight as all eyes went to him; Katara saw wide eyed looks from every single one of her friends and brother. Through it all, Azula's eyes did nothing more than slowly drift to look at Aang, quietly waiting for a response along with everyone else there.
"I… I don't believe I can answer that," Aang managed and Katara felt a desperate urge to step out into the sun as well and pull him inside and away; this had just gotten very serious.
"You spent time with him during the war, correct?" another reporter asked without prompting. "Do you believe it in his nature to perhaps return as a result of such a momentous occasion?"
"I… I don't…" Aang stammered and Zuko looked quickly between him and the reporters, before clearing his throat. But before he could cut them off, another question sounded out.
"Urban myth suggests he destroyed Sozin's Comet which was the tipping point in the war; is this true?"
Another question sounded.
"Following his excessively violent behavior and prompt disappearance after the end of the war, it has been widely assumed that his criminal actions led him to flee for fear of execution. Were he captured and brought to trial today, do you believe his sentence would be death?"
Katara saw a flash of anger in Aang's eyes as Zuko called out.
"That will be quite enough! We cannot speak to there whereabouts, motivations, or otherwise—"
He was cut off as yet another question sounded loudly over him.
"Is Sasuke Uchiha deserving of the death penalty?"
And another.
"Have you been contacted privately by Sasuke Uchiha since his disappearance?"
And another.
"Do you know the specific reason why he fled Ba Sing Se?"
Katara felt her legs start to move automatically as she began to walk swiftly forward and she saw Suki and Sokka out of the corner of her eye start to move in the same, but all three stopped dead in their tracks as Aang's voice snapped out in a terrifically angry fashion.
"None of you know what you're talking about!"
Feeling her heart catch in her throat, Katara somehow felt herself paralyzed from moving as the reporters all fell mercifully silent, though only in wake of Aang's words as he shouted.
"It's been ten years since he disappeared, and all anyone ever does it talk about him like he's this war criminal, when the fact is, none of you have any idea the person he is or what he had to go through or even what he did! He was my friend; he saved us, and he was my friend!"
With that, he turned on his heel and marched into the palace, not giving a single one of them a look as he did. Katara could see by his face just how upset he was; there was anger on his face, but his eyes were wide with grief and hurt, his fists clenched at his side as he stomped back towards his room. She could hear Zuko behind her giving some sort of final statement in an attempt to wrap things up civilly, but she was having trouble making out his words. Her own mind was feeling pressured and blank, her body somewhat paralyzed.
Oh no… Aang, what have you done?
The door came to close behind them with an immense bang and Zuko and Azula both moved to stand beside them.
"What just happened?" Sokka asked blankly and Suki replied in a low tone.
"Aang just put himself in a world of trouble is what happened. You remember what we were told. What we were forbidden from saying."
Heels clicking oppressively as she walked forward, Azula strode past them then, her voice lofty, but thoughtful.
"I wonder if he meant that, just now," she said, and left them all standing there as she moved back towards the stairs that would take her back to her room and her daughter. Not even able to muster the emotion to be angry with Azula for her lack of concern, Katara looked around at the rest of them.
Zuko's eyes were sad and perplexed as he knew fully well the gravity of what had just happened. Sokka was leaning against a pillar, eyes downcast and expression blank while Suki massaged his shoulder, her own face tight and grim. Ty Lee had put her arm around Toph's shoulder and was biting her lower lip, her expression worried and frightened while Toph leaned into her, the earthbender's face emotionless, save for the tears in her eyes. Mai was looking back towards the door outside which the reporters were no doubt fussing wildly about, trying to make sure they had Aang's words verbatim; she rather looked like she wouldn't have minded stepping out and strangling every single one of them, and Katara felt herself feeling some similar violent thoughts of her own.
She closed her eyes, trying to rationalize just how wrong things had gotten in a matter of moments and repeated the same thought in her head before forcing movement back into her joints to go and try to find him.
Oh, Aang… what have you done?
The gentle pale glow of the bright moon above gave way to the soft orange light of the crackling standing torches that dotted the harbor town as the traveler stepped up to the edge of the jungle. It was quite late, but even at such a time, this oceanside port was a bustle of activity, people striding about through the sand between huts, carrying loads from their ships, preparing to cast off, or just turning in for the evening, perhaps also grabbing a mug of beer as they did. To the traveler's eyes, it was rather a sight to see people again; it had been so long since he had even seen other people, let alone having stepped foot in a place like this.
He paused, letting his resentment and anger hold themselves in his heart for a moment. They had become such powerful emotions in his heart in recent years, and they had only been violently exacerbated after what had happened just a few weeks prior. A wicked and vengeful side of him considered just blowing away the entire port town for the thrill of it.
"So… are we going?"
The voice of his companion brought him out of his irrational and spiteful thoughts and he glanced over at her, feeling a similar resentment towards her that he had done his best to stifle during their travels. Not because of who she was, but because of what she meant, standing there beside him.
Because of what she reminded him that he had to do.
There was another emotion that wracked him violently in recent days too, not an emotion quite like the resentment and anger that had been boiling deep within the furnace of his heart for years.
She reminded him of hate, of real, searing hate, the hate that he now held within, tightly clenched and hidden away. The traveler wondered if his companion could sense the violent and negative emotions she was able to coax out of him and wondered too if she felt any of those feelings herself. She too had been wronged quite badly, and it would only be natural for her to feel some resentment of her own; but her expression was nothing short of passive and focused, and he didn't need to prod at all in order to know that she was simply keeping any such emotions well in check. He wouldn't admit it, but she quite impressed him.
"Yes," he replied plainly and she turned her gaze to look out of the jungle towards the town and beyond towards the masts sprouting up beyond the tops of the huts and houses that were sprinkled along the coast.
"You are certain this is the best way to go about this, then," she stated, and while it wasn't phrased as a question, he could tell she was doubting this course of action not for the first time since they had spoken of it. He understood why, considering what they were about to have to do, but they had no other option. This was what needed to be done, else what the traveler had been told weeks ago would come to fruition and there would be nothing he could do to stop it, so far from where he needed to be.
"Stay close to me," he said by way of reply.
"I can handle myself," she retorted, sounding somewhat annoyed and he glanced her way.
"I know," he said. "And I don't need you starting trouble before we even have what we came here for."
With that, he stepped free from the jungle and began to walk into the port, his companion at his side, smirking softly as she followed.