A/N: I know Avatar Roku and his connection to Zuko and Azula is overused in series rewrites / AUs but he makes for such a good plot device and I've always been intrigued by the potential of the familial connection. Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you're enjoying the show.
Chapter Nine: Solstice
Katara wakes to golden sunlight with Mizu curled up on top of her. She lies on the palace floor—which she sleeps on while Azula takes the bed—and she rises to see Azula already doing her smooth, flowing stretches. Sunrise. At sunrise this girl wakes up and moves. Katara will never understand firebenders.
Suddenly, it strikes her. Insistent thoughts and images invade her mind as she remembers the vivid nightmare she had last night.
"I had this dream," Katara says to Azula, rubbing her eyes. "I dreamed about some guy with a beard telling me to go to some place called Crescent Island for the Winter Solstice. When's that?"
"Two days from now," softly says Azula, twisting herself and smoothly sitting down across from Katara.
"Yeah," Katara says, attempting to shrug off the strange man in her dream. "I doubt we're getting out of this awful place by then."
"It is not an awful place," Azula snarls. "It is the palace I deserve."
Katara frowns and turns to face Azula. "Why are you so certain I deserve it?"
"Because I have royal blood in my veins," says Azula. "I never cease to be surprised by your stupidity. Do you not think you have claim to the South Pole?"
Katara just rolls her eyes. Azula glowers. Katara does have claim to the Southern Tribe, which no longer exists thanks to the Civil War. Yet, she rarely thinks about that because the rebels who raised her and Sokka have been the only home she needs. Katara does not need to be a princess to have leadership skills, and she does not need allegedly divine blood to be strong.
The minute she has a chance, she is getting as far away from Azula as possible.
Katara coolly says, "Okay, the problem is how we can get to Crescent Island when we're held hostage. Since I'm apparently an idiot, do you have a suggestion?"
"We ask my cousin," Azula suggests, helping Kimiko onto her lap. She strokes the neck of her purring dragon. "We just have to make up a convincing story and you will say nothing as you are terrible at lying."
"How am I bad at lying?" Katara snaps, eyebrows shooting up. "I've never lied to you!"
"Exactly," Azula coldly says, smirking at what she perceives to be her own brilliance. Katara narrows her cobalt eyes, seething.
Katara collects herself, sighs and says, "Okay, fine. How do you plan to convince him?"
Azula need only think for a few moments. "I will tell him that the dragons must be taken to Crescent Island to gain their full strength. He intends to steal them at some point, and therefore wants them to be as powerful as possible."
"He does covet them." Katara pauses to kiss Mizuki on the head, while the baby dragon pays at her, starved for attention. "But we won't let him have them."
"Of course not. Now follow me, will you?" Azula perkily stands up and knocks on the door for the guard to let them out.
As she follows the Fire Princess, Katara disclaims, "Only because of my dream; not because you said so."
Azula rolls her eyes as they pass the two sleepy guards and make a beeline for the throne room. They arrive and walk through the grand black stone doors and stand before Lu Ten. They bow. Low. Azula despises it, but she knows she must play this cleverly. Katara hates it just as much, but she has no desire to irritate someone who could squash her in an instant.
"Cousin," purrs Azula, kneeling while Katara stays down, "the dragons need to do something to reach their full potential and we were passing through Caldera to make that happen when we were captured."
"They need to go to parties?" He shakes his head after the joke. "Yes?"
"They must go to the Fire Sages on Crescent Island on the Winter Solstice."
Lu Ten remains silent, making the girls tense. Finally, he clears his throat.
"I will have you escorted there with Kimiko and Mizu. I need my soldiers due to your father's boldness, therefore, I have contracted the Ruthless Sun."
Katara sits up on her knees, cobalt eyes wide. She exchanges a panicked glance with Azula, but the scheming princess has her mind on the golden egg she failed to rescue. It keeps her composed, a glint in her gleaming eyes.
"We accept your gracious offer," Azula prettily purrs. Katara has to admit how conniving her innocent and sweet act is. Her usually cold, wicked, superior eyes become doe eyes, rotund and sparkling in the firelight emanating from the throne.
Lu Ten smiles. He looks twisted for the first time and Katara's stomach does a backflip.
"The Ruthless Sun will be here as soon as I send a messenger hawk. You two and your dragons should enjoy breakfast before your journey begins."
"Thank you, cousin," purrs Azula.
She stands and Katara does the same.
They both smoothly exit the room, both still shaking slightly about the idea of the Ruthless Sun accompanying them.
[X]
Azula and Katara both cannot help but show signs of anxiety when they join the mercenaries who work for neither side and begin the journey to Crescent Island. Kimiko and Mizu perch on the shoulders of their respective mothers, Mizu chewing on Katara's hair.
"I've never seen one of those," comments a stocky man in painted armor. He wears a necklace of dried ears.
"One of what? A princess, a waterbender from the Southern Tribe or a dragon?"
"Dragon, dragons actually," the man bluntly says. He reaches forward to touch Kimiko and the blue dragon violent hisses, making him recoil several steps. Azula smirks, pleased by her dragon daughter's reaction.
Azula regally boards the carriage, stretching herself in a way that makes Katara roll her eyes. So desperately this princess wants to be a real princess, but, Katara does not have the heart to crush her. It might be the only opportunity Azula has to live this pipe dream of hers.
Katara hoists herself inside and casually sits down, setting Mizu on her lap.
Dragons and dragon mothers sit across from each other as the ostrich-horses and huge escort of mercenaries begin the journey.
[X]
The Ruthless Sun has even more fighters standing outside. Azula analyzes everything about them. Three of the masked soldiers guarding the entrances to the temple strike her as oddly familiar in how they carry themselves, but she shrugs it off. If they were on that island, they were on the island; Azula and Katara now have Lu Ten's protection.
And both girls kick butt. That too.
They walk inside and go through the lengthy process of dealing with Fire Sages, then sit and drink tea while they wait for the sun to set.
Suddenly, when dusk strikes, Azula's head begins to hurt, and then the room starts to spin. Katara feels the exact same alarming thing.
Azula and Katara's dizziness fades and they glance around a suddenly smoke room. An emerging figure draws their attention. Azula recognizes him, but Katara does not.
"Avatar Roku," says Azula.
"The lasts of their kind stand before me, and I feel my reincarnation will never do the same. The Spirit World and my past lives have convened to decide what to do in the distinct absence of an Avatar. You two are the humans we decided upon, and we trust you can handle the weight of the world on your shoulders."
"While I do not doubt standing out above other humans, you are mistaken because I am not the last of any kind," Azula says.
His look shuts her up. Katara suppresses a laugh.
"I have seen the dragons you hatched. The entire Spirit World has, and they look on waiting for them to make a difference. Azula, your companion balances you; she is strength and has a heart full of passion. Remain with her if you wish to attain your dreams and survive the summer."
Azula shoots Katara a glare; no one, even a dead Avatar, can stop her from hating her.
"Fine," says Azula. "Why do you want me to stick with her?"
"You hatched dragons; you are therefore the Last Dragon Queen, and with the three surviving children of serpents must stop the cataclysm that will be Sozin's Comet."
Azula's eyes flash. She knows very well her father intends to use it to overtake Caldera and win the Civil War against Lu Ten. She does not doubt that her cousin plans to do the same, and that both armies of fire could destroy the world instead of find any victory.
Avatar Roku continues, "You two must restore balance. The stakes are the fate of the world and I volunteered one of you for sake of nothing but a half-poisoned bloodline. Do not disappoint the spirits… or the human lives that will end if you both fail."
The vision begins to fade. Azula and Katara have countless questions. It cannot end this soon.
"Wait!" shouts Katara, but it does her no good.
Before they can even blink away the vivid images of the vision, the leader of the Ruthless Sun squad turns to them.
"Have the dragons gained their full power?"
Azula lies, "Yes. Return us to Caldera."
"Take them," the leader orders, snarling in a way that distorts the grotesque scar crossing over his lip. "Leave the princess alive; I don't care what happens to the other."
They lunge forward and the two girls slide into fighting positions, back to back with their dragons clinging to their shoulders. The Ruthless Sun circles around them and threaten to come at them from all sides with fire and steel.
"Make my day," Azula snarls.
"Yeah!" Katara snaps, ignoring her gag reflex caused by agreeing with Azula. "Make our day!"
"How clever, Katara," Azula mocks.
"Shut up," Katara growls, grabbing the water from the wash basin across the room.
The Ruthless Sun comes at them full force. Azula spins, afraid for Kimiko, but her baby dragon flies from her perch and Azula takes down a man swinging a sword with a bolt of lightning. Kimiko latches onto and clings to the a firebender's neck with her claws. She bites at his face tears out his neck with her claws, blood splattering over her sapphire scales. Azula smirks, swelling with pride. She must peel her eyes from Kimiko's next victim and burn a woman with a spear. The woman screams and drops her weapon and Katara throws daggers of ice her way. She melts the water once the woman falls back and smacks back an archer with a water whip. Azula sends a wave of cerulean flame forward that kills three at once. Kimiko and Mizu take care of the last two Ruthless Sun mercenaries. Katara and Azula wait a beat before breathing sighs of relief.
"We have to run; we have to get to the Earth Kingdom," says Azula.
"Finally," Katara grumbles.
They recover their dragons and race to the door. As soon as they burst through it, they prepare to fight the Ruthless Sun mercenaries waiting outside. But Katara feels three thuds against her skin and the same strange sensation caused by those metal bands that stole her bending. She drops to the ground. Azula sees Katara fall and dodges, but takes four hits and falls on top of her comrade.
Katara looks up at the contract killer above her, but they are hazy. Her eyelids flutter as she strains to focus. She waits for her dragons to save her, but then she sees them in cages. It makes her heart thud and she wants to scream and fight, but she cannot move.
Azula knows these alleged mercenaries. She also knows this will go poorly.
Katara sees a face she recognizes. At least, she remembers the fashion in which it was marred. It is the same boy who helped Azula capture her before they became stranded on the island.
"I honestly didn't think my cousin would trust people who value gold over loyalty," says Azula's brother. "But he did."
"Azula!" snaps Katara.
"It was your dream! None of this is my fault!"
Katara sees a boot over her face before she feels a burst of pain and blacks out.
[X]
When Katara opens her eyes, she sees Azula sitting against a metal wall. Nausea hits her when she feels the sea rocking beneath her. Her face hurts worse than it ever has in her life, even when she was a little kid and Sokka nailed her in the nose with that rough snowball. It broke, blood staining the snow red.
She glances around and sees that she is most certainly in a cell. It looks exactly like the one she was in before the shipwreck that thrust her and Azula together.
"Are you awake yet?" demands Princess Azula as soon as she sees the glint of Katara's eyes.
"Unfortunately," Katara replies. "What happened?"
"You were knocked out. For a long time too; that is very bad for you."
"I know!" Katara snaps. She then composes herself. "Are we with the Ruthless Sun?"
"No. Much worse," Azula says, crossing her arms. These soldiers belong to her father, and they are led by three people she is not happy to see.
Katara suddenly remembers Zuko standing over her. "Your brother then."
Azula considers giving Katara an entire briefing on Mai and Ty Lee, but she decides she might need to use that information to her advantage. If Katara can be sacrificed for Azula's freedom, she gladly will do so.
"And two others," she vaguely purrs, and Katara crawls forward. The light from the dim lamp shows the full extent of her disgusting injuries. Azula manages to avoid recoiling. She takes a breath and continues, "They will be taking us to my father, I am certain. I was surprised about Zuko due to his exile until I realized he would do anything to fall back into my father's favor. And I imagine they have Mizu and Kimiko somewhere on this ship."
"Do they have the golden egg?" Katara asks, suddenly interested in the artifact. Azula assumes it must have something to do with Avatar Roku speaking of three children, not just two.
Azula says, "Maybe. They could've taken it from the Ruthless Sun but I don't know whether or not they even know it existed."
She has thought constantly of rescuing that unborn dragon since she left the island, but right now she cares far more about saving Kimiko and Mizu. They take precedence.
Katara touches her tender, bruised, bloody face and inquires, "I don't know who's worse. Lu Ten or your dad."
"The latter." Pause. Azula recalls every second of his cruelty, which she admired most of the time, but despised when it involved training her to be his weapon in the war. If he knew she were a Dragon Queen, he would be able to use that to garner more forces. Azula would, again, be born solely to help her father win a war he started. To tell the truth, even after running away to take control of her own destiny, she never hated him and often thought she would do the same to her child in that situation. But after seeing Caldera and briefly living in that palace, she realizes she had options other than growing up in the rubble of Ba Sing Se. And she hates him. For the first time, she hates him.
"Why is your dad worse?" Katara asks, and Azula absolutely will not tell her all of that.
She does give another honest opinion. "He is not a very forgiving man, and Lu Ten was kind because he wanted us to join him. My father will give us no choice. I love him, but he does not like to sacrifice a weapon. The war and the throne have always been the only things he cares about."
Katara scowls at Azula's assumption that she could give in to a Fire Lord's imposition. "There's a choice, okay? I'd never joined either side."
Azula changes the subject, tired already of discussing Ozai. "What do you think the vision meant? About restoring balance? Perhaps I am meant to rule."
"I disagree but that's an argument for a less dungeon-y day. He—he did say you were the Last Dragon Queen. What's that?" Katara crawls even closer. Azula averts her eyes from that messed up face.
Azula smoothly explains, "The Dragon Queens died out before the dragons did. They were equals to the Fire Lord and raised the dragons. I don't know; most of it is merely legend."
Katara sighs when she remembers another part of Avatar Roku's remarks. "And we're apparently supposed to stick together. How fun."
"Well, yet again we are in a situation where we do not have much volition."
Katara mirthlessly laughs. "Do you think we'll be lucky enough for another shipwreck?"
"No, but Ba Sing Se is far enough from the sea that we might be able to escape. The weakest link could be… exploited."
"Who's that? Your brother?"
"No. He is too obsessed with regaining our father's love. Ty Lee. Loyal people are so easy to manipulate and I assure you she always was in love with me. Unrequited, the poor thing."
"You know," says Katara, "sometimes you can be very cold."
"That is how I intend to be. All the best people are."
"Not me."
"I know. I said all the best people are."
"I might not listen to Avatar Roku."
"You will. You always hoped for some excuse to save the world… or at least, for someone to do the job for you. You are that type. Trust me; I am a people person."
"I don't need anyone to do anything for me. Do I want to restore balance? Of course! Why would I not? I can do it on my own."
"That is not what Avatar Roku said."
"He said stuff about a bloodline. Maybe it is mine."
Azula laughs. Katara glowers.
"I cannot possibly imagine that to be true. It is cute that you can, however."
"Shut up." Katara groans. "My face hurts. Does it look bad?"
"No worse than usual."
Katara sighs and leans against the metal cell wall. She does not know how anyone has ever tolerated this girl, but she has little time to contemplate it.
Both girls have only the vision and their uncertain fate on their minds.