Just some filler after TFBM… The Western Air Temple (This is my first go at not following an episode)
Mostly Zuko slowly interacting with The Duke, Teo, and Haru. And Top. And starting to take over some chores, because no one ever seems to do anything. Rated T for Toph.
The Western Air Temple...
The first couple of days after the Avatar and the prince returned from their fieldtrip were rather mundane. Zuko drilled the Avatar from dusk till dawn. There was much to catch up on, and there was just not enough time to cover everything. Two hours of meditation in the morning, breathing exercises, stretching, and basic forms all before lunch. There was a long way to go, but at least the Avatar no longer flinched every time that he opened a flame. After lunch, Toph would argue with Katara over who should take the Avatar next. It usually was the Earthbender, since the Avatar had a good handle on Waterbending. While the Avatar and his other Master Instructors were working with him, Zuko would retreat into his quarters.
Like most days, Zuko sat in silence in his room. Walking over to his cot, he stuck his left hand underneath the bedding. Feeling around, he passed over the blue mask so dear to his heart, and his hand grabbed on the hilt of his Dao. Curling his fingers around the hilt, he pulled it our from beneath the bedding. He tossed it on top of the modest bed and turned to his pack. All of his stuff was splayed across the floor. 'I don't recall leaving everything out. I must have been extra tired after coming back from the masters', he mused as he rifled through his stuff. 'Everything is still here', he mused to himself as he rifled through his bag of coin. On his hasty retreat from the palace, he managed to raid the treasury of a good couple of handfuls of coin. Eventually, he found what he was looking for: his whetstone. Plopping down on his bed, he separated the blades and began to sharpen each one. The menial work made for time to think, to reflect, to regret.
He though of his Uncle, imprisoned basically by his own hand. He thought of his sister, so caught in the grasp of the fatherlord that she never had a chance. 'If it wasn't for Uncle, I would probably be just as bad as she is. I was as bad as she was. I just had a chance. She never did', he thought to himself. He mused on the actions by his own hands. The burning of that Earth Kingdom island village. The destruction of the Southern Water Tribe Capitol's fortifications. For his part that he took in the siege of the north, the destruction of the Norther Water Tribe Capitol's city, of the death of the Moon Spirit. He mourned for the loss of life that day, all for Zhao's inane desire to destroy the moon.
He noticed that as he continued to think, his strikes with the stone on the blade were becoming sharper and angrier. Sighing with regret, he dropped the stone on the bedding. 'I will not allow myself to be driven by anger. I will not allow myself to be driver by anger', he thought to himself.
Deciding that he had sharpened his blade enough, he tucked it back safely away. He dropped the stone back near his upended pack with a silent promise to pack it all back up later tonight. Deciding that a little bit of fresh air would be good for him, Zuko decided to take a walk. He opened his door and wandered into the temple, with little regard for where he was going. He considered making for the fountain, but then he recalled it was Katara's day with the Avatar. No, the fountain would be a bad idea, for sure. Delving deeper and deeper into the temple, he realized that he was indeed lost.
"It's unlike anyone will miss me", he thought sourly to himself as he slumped along the wall. His thoughts drifted to his companions here at the Western Air Temple. Of the proud Water Tribe Siblings. Of the stubborn Earthbending prodigy. And of the boys that tagged along after the invasion.
The sound of heavy breathing shook Zuko back to the present. He looked up to see the mustachioed Earthbender running down the hallway. 'Haru, I think', he thought as the other boy skidded to a stop in front of the Prince. Zuko could see the boy was definitely, conflicted as he made eye contact. Zuko could see there were purpleish bruises on the boy in front of him.
Haru, having overcome his initial trepidations, spoke to the prince, "Umm, Look. I need to disappear. I can't seem to lose her. She is crazy. I can't take any more today."
Zuko, confused, just looked at the younger boy. The prince tilted his head to the side, as if to say, 'What are you talking about?'
"Toph", the other boy complained, "She is crazy. She just keeps beating the shit out of me. I'm just not good enough to go toe to toe with her. She has trained her whole life. I hid my bending for years."
As Haru spoke, Zuko recalled his times in Ba Sing Se. Of how hard it was to not bend. To suppress the very being of oneself. Shame for his nation again took over as he looked up at the younger boy, "Go. She sees through the ground. Try to get off it. Into water, or in a tree, or on a bed. No guarantees."
The younger boy didn't take any time at all before running down the hallway deeper into the temple. Within minutes, the lady of the hour arrived in a huff ranting and raving like a madwoman.
"Get back here you shitty excuse for an Earthbender. I am gonna whoop your ass to Ba Sing Se and back. Coward!", she hollered as she approached the prince.
Zuko looked up at her from his seated position, "What are you going on about?"
She stopped to look in his general direction, "I was training that wuss-ass Haru on how to bend earth properly. He just gave up and ran away. Fuckin' Coward."
"Hmm, I see", mused the prince, "Strong language for such a proper lady"
"Who are you callin' a lady, Ash-Maker. Fire-Fucker, Town-burner?", she retorted, dropping a hand to her hip.
"Not that I care", he replied, "Three year world tour on a Fire Nation cruiser will teach you some creative language." He paused for a moment, weighing his options. She was by far the most trusting of the group he was with, but he did worry that he would push her too far. Deciding that it was worth the risk, he pulled out a lesser slur from his time on the boat: "Mud-Muncher"
The girl in front of him stopped for a moment before breaking into chaotic laughter. It was so sudden and boisterous, he hopped to his feet in shock.
"Mud-Muncher, really? What is this, Earthbending academy basics? Come on, I am a repeat Earth Rumble Champion. If it's been said somewhere, I've probably been called it. And I've defiantly called people worse, Smoke-bringing-shitface", she composed herself enough to retort.
"And why is this the fist I am hearing you like this?", Zuko said, trying to keep the chaotic Earthbender from her original target.
Her blind eyes twinkled greatly as her face split into a massive grin, "Oh, come on, Fireface, as if Sugar Queen would put up with this. Even I, Toph Bei Fong, the Blind Bandit, don't want to deal with her bitching about my language. But that is beside the point, have you seen Haru. I'm not done teaching him yet. He needs to learn some basic earthbending before he can start to learn anything really cool, like metalbending."
Zuko coughed before trying to come up with the most convincing lie he could, "I saw him earlier. I, uh, don't know where he is now?"
Obviously displeased with his reply, the girl before him tapped her foot on the ground. A small rock fell from the roof of the tunnel to hit him on the head. "I can tell you are lying. My feet have healed enough for that. And they have healed enough to beat your sorry fiery ass to a pulp. So what will it be? An interrogation, or a spar?"
Zuko looked down with a strange sort of amazement at the small Earthbender in front of him. Who would have known that she would have fit right in on his ship all those days ago? "I suppose we could train. It would be good for you to get some exposure to firebending", Zuko replied as he began to walk in the direction of the stairs. Or at least where he thought the stairs were. He was stopped by a wall of dirt rising directly in front of him, such that he walked nose first into it. Turing to find the chuckling Earthbender behind him, he just tilted his head to the side, as if to say, 'What?'.
"Stairs are this way, moron", she offered as she wandered down a hallway. He followed her silently through the bowels of the temple until they were at the top of one of the towers. He looked out into the distance and could see the Avatar and the waterbender practicing in the distance. He stopped to watch them for a moment.
"Pathetic, isn't it?", Toph stated with a shrug.
"What?", he replied, feigning innocence.
"My feet are well enough to know that you know exactly what I mean. They just aren't good enough to actually see what's going on down there. And I know she is too easy on him. How is he ever going to learn?", Toph ranted with increasing gusto as she went on.
"I can't disagree with you", he replied.
"No, you can't", she stated as a fact before turning to face him. "Are you ready to be flattened into the spirit world?", she demanded.
Allowing himself a chuckle, Zuko replied, "Have you even met another firebender before?". His humor was short lived as a boulder the size of a melon flew past his head.
"Damn it. My senses aren't perfect yet. And yes, I have. Nice guy. Much calmer than you. Spoke in annoying riddles that are hard to understand. Made a killer cup of tea, though.", she replied, all while lobbing varying chunks of earth at Zuko.
Her words caught him more off guard than the rocks, and he stopped his evasion for a moment to ask, "Wait, you met my Uncle?" Before the words had fully left his lips, a pebble the size of a copper mark plunked him between the eyes, knocking him flat over.
"Come on, pushover, that was too easy. And yes. Sweetness and I were having a little, how would you fire-flingers put it, disagreement about that", she jerked her thumb toward the edge of the ledge toward where Katara and the Avatar were.
"About Katara and the Avatar?", Zuko asked from the ground, rubbing where the rock had struck him.
"Yeah. And chores. Oh and self-cleaning", she said with a smile, "I ran off. Met this strange old man. He offered me wisdom. Spoke at length of his son. How his son was misguided but had so much potential. Made a killer cup of Jasmine tea. Guess you fire people are good for something after all".
Zuko sat in stunned silence for a moment as the young girl's words processed in his head. 'What could he have meant 'Son'. Lu Ten had been gone for years now. Unless, oh, Agni above. He meant me…', he thought to himself. As he came to his final realization about the extent of his Uncle's words, a truth made itself known. Uncle had been the father he had always wanted. Needed. And he, Zuko, had betrayed, abandoned, and scorned him. Turned on the man who viewed him as his son for all those years. Choking back a tear, he stood and excused himself from the room, beating a hasty retreat to his own quarters.
It was there he spent most of the rest of the afternoon, unabashedly crying into his pillow. The portrait of his Uncle on the side table. It was only when there was a knock on the door hours later that he got back out of his bed. He cracked the door open and it was the earthbending boy from earlier.
"Umm, Zuko, prince sir? Katara told me to tell you that the dinner is going to be done soon", the boy fumbled out his words.
"Just Zuko is fine", the prince replied.
"Um, okay, Zuko. And thanks again for distracting her earlier. I just couldn't take another rock to the face", Haru said as Zuko opened the door further. "I see she got you too", he added.
Zuko just snorted and stepped out through the threshold. "Something you said earlier stuck with me. Not being able to bend. Believe it or not, I know what that is like. I spent a long time in the Earth Kingdom as a refugee. No bending on fear of being caught. Exposed. Turned in."
Zuko could see the mix of fear, distrust, and intrigue on the younger boy's face as he replied, "Yeah. My little village was not far from the front lines. My dad was taken for his bending. I had to hide it. I would practice in the cover of darkness. To be a bender was to be exiled to a prison in the middle of the ocean."
Zuko reached out what he hoped was a comforting hand on the younger boy's shoulder. "That is what we are doing here. Making sure that no one ever has to hide their bending. To restore balance to the world. To restore honour to the Fire Nation."
The rest of the walk was in silence as they approached the campfire where Katara had prepared dinner. She stood by the cookpot while her brother and Aang were sitting off to the side. The younger boys were not far off, chasing Momo about.
"Well, look who decided to show up? Ready for a rematch, Fire…", Toph began, but cut off the slur when she noticed Katara looking over her way.
"Rematch? Rematch!", the waterbender demanded as she stormed towards Zuko. Haru fled towards the other earth kingdom boys as she approached.
"Yeah, I uhh", Zuko began before Toph cut him off, "Got his royal rear end handed to him by the Greatest Earth Bender Ever!"
Momentarily distracted from Zuko, Katara rounded on Toph, "Wait, was this your idea? You know that no-one should be sparring with him", the vitriol and hatred dripping off of her voice, "Especially you. After what he did to your feet."
"Oh, come on Sugar Queen, Sparky's not so bad once you get to know him. And he still hasn't paid off his debt to me yet", Toph retorted.
A pronounced twitch occurred in the Waterbender's left eye as she turned back to the pot. She filled seven bowls with her bending. She tossed the eighth at Zuko, who barely managed to catch it. He looked down into the empty bowl just in time to see a stream of stew fly from the pot directly onto his face, before being bent into the bowl.
He took a few calming breaths before sitting down by himself. In silence he ate, away from the fire and the friendship. He finished first and went to the fountain. The firewood stack had dwindled so small he nearly tripped over it for lack of seeing it. A quick rinse of the bowl in the fountain and a flash of flame later and it was dry. He set it down next to the cookpot and retreated to his room.
The following morning…
Zuko rose with the sun, as usual. Unlike usual, he did not wake the Avatar at daybreak. Instead, he grabbed his clothes and headed to the designated laundry cleaning fountain. When he arrived, he was shocked by the amount of everyone's clothing that was there. Putting a hand into the water, he let the heat escape through his fingers, heating the water. First, he cleaned his own clothing, then set about the others. He didn't have an express reason to do so, other than a lack of desire to wake the Avatar. The prince was appreciating the silence for once, not having to listen to the Avatar whine is way through a meditation session. After sorting, heat drying, and folding the other's clothing, he returned to the Avatar's door.
Training commenced as usual. Zuko was still amazed that for an Airbender with meditation experience, the Avatar had a habit of talking the entire time.
Soon enough, lunch came and Zuko was free from Avatar duty. Toph had argued to have training all afternoon, so Zuko was staying well enough away from anywhere a bored Katara could be. This meant he again found himself deep in the heart of the temple. Following a strange smacking sound, he eventually found the young earth kingdom kid with the over large helmet. He was swinging wildly with a rather large stick. Zuko sat down and just watched the kid, assuming that the kid was attempting to learn to sword fight. The Duke flailed about with his pretend sword, swinging and shouting. At one point, he thrust too far and overbalanced himself, falling flat on his face, helmet bouncing into the hall where Zuko was.
The young boy looked up to see his helmet had rolled in front of the prince, and the prince could see fear in the young boy's eyes. Zuko picked up the helmet and rolled in back to its owner. He also offered a suggestion, "Make sure not to overextend when you thrust forward like that. It will overbalance you and leave you open to a counterattack."
After looking at the prince, the young boy gathered up his helmet walked deeper into the temple.
Later that evening just outside the boy's wing of the temple…
Zuko finished gathering the last of his clothing. It was long overdue for a cleaning, but he would never in a million moons let the waterbender near his clothing. He wasn't sure he would ever see his trousers ever again if she got a hold of them. So thusly, he found himself taking his dirty laundry to the designated laundry fountain late at night. He was just approaching the laundry fountain when he felt something soft beneath his foot that caused him to loose his balance and drop his clothes.
Stopping to pick up his stuff, he noticed the offending object beneath his foot was one of Sokka's infamous socks. It was then that he noticed the whole area seemed to be full of discarded clothing from the group.
'Trust is like a hot cup of tea. If you try to drink it all at once after it has poured, it will scald the drinker. But if the drinker is patient and wary, then he may find that the tea is best enjoyed over a long period of time little by little until it is cool enough to drink', his Uncle's voice rang in his head as he washed his stuff. Replying in his own internal voice, 'You never were understandable when you were here in person, Uncle. Yet even as a figment of my own conscience, I can't understand you.'
Having completed his laundry and folding it with Fire Navy precision, he decided to do the other laundry laying around, hoping he could decipher his own wisdom. Haru, Sokka, Toph, Teo, The Duke, and lastly the Avatar. Each persons' clothing folded in crisp form sorted into piles along the wall. He saw a final pile of blue in the corner but decided that he wasn't going near that with a ten foot pole. She hated him enough, no need to make any wrong steps.
He took his small pile of clothing back to his room.
The following morning, the other inhabitants of the Western Air Temple were pleased to see that their laundry was done. None of the boys noticed the difference in the folding of the clothing. Toph recognized the sharpness, but couldn't care less. And Katara was confused to see that only her clothing was unwashed.
A couple of nights later beneath the open stars…
The prince lay on the cold stone, watching the stars cross the sky. It reminded him of a time not so long ago, when everything was so simple. How many nights had he spend beneath the stars on the open waves? And for what? He closed his eyes in pursuit of the sleep that evaded him.
He was startled out of his thoughts by the sound of wood scratching against stone. He opened his good eye to see if it was that kid from the other day, still practicing with the stick. Instead, he was greeted by the kid that Toph had taken to calling Wheels. The prince could not recall what the kid's name was. Seemingly just as startled, the young boy let out a small yelp, "I'm sorry. I didn't think anyone came up here".
The prince just grunted in reply, "I don't mind. Go. Stay. Do what you will".
A tense silence befell the air, broken only by the sounds of nature. Eventually the boy spoke in reply, "I don't know what to think of you. The Duke is terrified of you. But Toph really seems to trust you. So I suppose you can't be all that bad. I just wanted to look at the stars. They are brilliant tonight."
Zuko grunted in response, closing his eye. He tucked both his hands beneath his head.
The boy continued to talk, "I used to look at the stars from my old home. They look different here. I wonder if you can make a map of them?"
Giving up any pretense of finding rest, the prince sat up and looked over the edge of the temple. He could see the boy was not wrong. The stars were very bright. He could even recall some of the constellations that Uncle had taught him all those moon ago. "You can", the sleep deprived prince mumbled. On instinct from all those years of sailing, he pointed to the Draconus Constellation, "Sailors follow the path of starts to guide them through the ocean. Take the Polarbear-Dog constellation. By using angles to the horizon, you can determine where you are in the world based on where the stars are and what day it is."
The exhausted prince again laid down and closed his eyes. After a long period of awkward silence, he heard the other boy mutter to himself, "Well, this got awkward". The sounds of his wheeled chair departing was the last thing Zuko heard before sleep finally found him.
The Western Air Temple… A hour or so before sunrise…
The fire prince awoke, soreness across his back from sleeping on the hard ground. Mumbling incoherently to himself, he quickly recalled that he had fallen asleep in one of the upper towers. Feeling hungry, he made his way back into the labyrinthine halls of the Temple. After a couple of wrong turns, he finally located the kitchen area. A quick inspection revealed both a lack of any real food left, and hardly any firewood.
'Isn't someone supposed to gather this stuff? I can't believe that I tracked these people across the ends of the earth. How can a group so skilled also be so lacking in discipline?', he mused as he made for the rope that leads out of the temple. No one would be awake for a couple of hours, Agni willing, and he was going to get some firewood and be back before anyone knew he was gone. The climb out was easy, as was finding the forest. Finding suitable wood for carrying and burning proved to take a little longer than he was hoping.
Back at the rope, he dropped the logs down into the temple and slid down. As soon as he had landed, he gathered them up and dropped them off by the fountain in the courtyard where the waterbender does her cooking. He decided to give the Avatar the morning to rest, mostly since the sun had already risen. He returned to the same tower that he and Toph had fought on the other day to do a meditation.
The Western Air Temple, upper tower balcony… a little later that morning
She was happily asleep, dreaming of beating the shit out of firebenders with giant piles of rocks. And occasionally tripping Meat Head with the occasional rock to the foot. It was simple, chaotic, and fun. But as with all good things, Miss Mother Dearest had to ruin her sleep by yelling. Loudly. Toph hated being up early in the morning, and she could tell it was early based on how cold the stone around her was. It hadn't received any warmth from the sun yet.
She dragged her hands across her face as she stood up. 'This had better be worth it', she angerly mused as she shuffled towards the door. She swung it open with such vigor that it nearly flew off its hinges.
"What in the name of sweet earth are you hollering about at this unspiritly hour!", the earthbender demanded.
The words continued to tumble out of Mother Dearest's mouth, "Zuko's gone missing. I went to start a fire for this morning's breakfast. I had just finished noting that we had more than I had thought when I realized it was too quiet. No sounds at all. No firebending training. He has captured Aang under the guise of training. He has finally shown his true side. I'm certain he has contacted the fire nation. He turned on us. On you! I knew we couldn't trust him. And now, we have to find him before he can bring Aang all the way back to daddy fire lord".
For the first time in a while, The greatest earthbender in the world noticed that her feet no longer felt funny. 'I wonder if this means I am back to normal?', she mused to herself. Stomping her left foot on the stone floor, she could see again. The entire temple. Including Twinkle Toes asleep on his bed and Prince Sparky up on a tower, just sitting.
"Calm down, Master Worrybender, Twinkles is safely asleep in his room. Did you even think to check before waking us all up?", Toph huffed as she turned toward the tower she felt Sparky in.
Sugar Queen stopped her blabbering for a second before turning in the direction of the boy's rooms.
With little time at all, Toph had made her way to where Sparky was meditating. She could tell that he was making a flame bigger and smaller by the cyclic rise and fall of heat in the hallway. Judging from his breathing, he had not noticed her.
'Time for a little more payback', she mused as she pulled a tiny pebble out of the ground. The prince never saw it coming as the tiny speck of dirt hurtled across the room into his forehead.
"Ugh", he exclaimed as she felt the heat spike. "Toph, really, don't you think you learned from the first time not to surprise me?", he demanded.
"Look, Sparky, I know you aren't the brightest candle in the candelabra, but did you or did you not burn me just now?", she paused for affect before continuing, "See, you are learning. And just so you know, Ice Queen seems to think that you have captured Twinkles and retreated to, and I quote, Firelord daddy dearest."
"I am so dead for something I didn't do. Will this ever end?", he sulked as he stood.
"You better hurry. She is really riled up", Toph called to his retreating form.
Down by the Fountain a few moments later…
He was nearly out of breath by the time he made it to the courtyard, which is impressive for a Dragon taught firebender. Never the less, the Waterbender was already there, arms crossed.
"Been contacting the fire nation, huh? Trying to give away our location, huh? Where have you been? How did you do it? Give me one good reason I shouldn't make good and end you right now? Huh?", she demanded in increasing volume as she went on.
"I don't know how many times I need to tell you", he paused before raising his own voice, "I am not working for the fire nation any more. What part of traitor do you not get?!" He stopped to take a quick breath and compose himself. More calmly and quietly, he continued, "And as for one good reason, how about I restocked your firewood. Since no one seems to do anything around here. I just did it. Did I ask for any recognition? No. But you are welcome anyways. Fine, I get it. You've made my life a living hell, and I have done nothing but do my best for all of you." He noticed that the Avatar had wandered into the area, no doubt attracted by all the screaming. Zuko finished his reply by again dropping to his knees and raising his head high, exposing his neck. He spoke flatly and seriously, "If you are so certain that I have betrayed you, then do it. Right here. Right now. On my honour, I won't stop you."
He saw her raise a hand, drawing the water from the fountain. His gamble hinged on the waterbender seeing the Avatar first. Fortunately, at the sight of the water, the Avatar let out a small gasp.
The waterbender turned to face the Avatar, all the water sloshing to the ground. "Oh, uh, Hi, Aang. Didn't see you there."
The Avatar's face was contorted in a mixture of disappointment and disbelief, "You weren't about to do what I think you were, were you?"
"No, I was just making sure that you firebending teacher was keeping true to his word. I still don't trust him", she replied to the Avatar before turning to face Zuko again, "And I will be watching you even closer. I know you are up to something and I will find out what. Just because you fooled everyone else, you can't fool me. I know who you are."
"Well, I'm going to go back to that tower over there and work on some calming meditation. I would invite you, but it seems that you don't know the meaning of the word calm", Zuko replied coldly, standing at the same time. He turned on his heel and made for the tower. On his way out, he would have sworn he heard Sokka say, "If that isn't true, I don't know what is". He also thought he heard Toph reply, "Do you really want her mad at you instead?"
As he departed, he was certain he heard the Waterbender calling out her brother. He knew it was going to be a long summer indeed.
