Life of Air

Chapter 10

Tension

After what felt like all day, Aang got everyone's attention and pointed in front of us. "We'll land there." He announced and began to descend.

Once we landed my brother was the first to jump from the bison and gave a giant and over exaggerated sigh. I laughed at him and shook my head, following after him with a current of air softening my decent to his side. Everyone followed suit and went to the ground, pulling supplies from the saddle as well to set up a camp. Tanro helped Aang and Toph build shelters for everyone with his bending while I collected firewood with Zuko. Katara, Sokka, and Suki were unpacking food and any other essentials when we returned with the firewood. Zuko started us a fire and Katara started making dinner.

"Do you want some help, Katara?" I offered, smiling at the waterbender.

Katara glared at me for a moment before looking back down at her task. "I'm good, thanks."

Scrunching up my nose in discontent, I gave a huff and marched towards her with determination. I picked up a carrot and smiled at her the best I could. "Come on, extra hands never hurt."

The glare she sent me this time was much more harsh, actually making me flinch back slightly. She grabbed the carrot out of my hand and tossed it in the air, quickly bending a sharp blade of ice to cut the vegetable in mid air before it fell into the bowl of other veggies she had been preparing. All the while her eyes never left mine. At this point we had caught the attention of the others in the camp and I could feel the atmosphere growing increasingly more tense.

"She was just trying to help, Iyashi didn't do anything wrong." I heard Zuko say as he came up behind me.

Katara gave a joyless chuckle and rolled her eyes. "Sure, she didn't do anything."

"Hey!" Tanro yelled, joining Zuko behind me. "If you have a problem with my sister, you have a problem with me, waterbender."

"My name is Katara." She informed Tanro, her harsh gaze now in his direction. My brother's fury only grew at this and I could feel the earth shake slightly beneath us. Before he did anything stupid I turned to face him and Zuko, placing my hands on their chests.

"It's alright you two, no need to start something." I said, pleading for peace with my eyes.

"She started it!" Zuko and Tanro announced at the same time before looking at each other with confused expressions, suddenly realizing they were on the same side for something which was a first for them.

Aang and Sokka joined us now, both coming behind Katara and putting their hands on her shoulders. "Now now, I'm sure my sister is just a little cranky from the long flight. No hard feelings, right?" Sokka said, grinning at us nervously.

Katara pulled away from them roughly and crossed her arms over her chest, looking to the ground as though it was the source of all of her problems. "Yeah, no hard feelings."

Though I was sure this wasn't a true peace offering and only a ploy to get everyone to leave her alone, I smiled, looking back and forth at Aang and Sokka. "No hard feelings, truly." I giggled and rubbed my stomach, trying to appear completely over the situation. "I'm just hungry to be honest!"

"Me too!" Aang said, nudging Katara in the arm. "Is the food going to be ready soon?"

That seemed to be the end of that little tiff, though I knew there was more hostility where that came from. Tanro and Zuko had immediately moved away from each other as soon as it seemed I didn't need defending anymore. Everyone else had calmed down and as night fell we were all sitting around the fire enjoying the meal Katara had prepared on her own. The atmosphere was relaxed and I was grateful for that, considering what kind of day it had been. Not only that I was actually hungry, so the food did hit the spot.

"Camping, feels like old times." Aang said to the group, smiling in a nostalgic way as he looked at the faces of his friends all around him. All of the time the majority of this group had spent together was etched into his features and it made me feel as though I was watching their old memories play out in his eyes.

"If you really want it to feel like old times, I could... uh... chase you around and try to capture you." Zuko joked, actually appearing rather comfortable in the group.

Nearly everyone laughed then Sokka raised his cup in the air. "To Zuko, who knew after all those times you tried to snuff us out, today... you'd be our hero."

"Here, here!"

I raised my cup with the others and smiled at Zuko, overjoyed that he was truly being appreciated and accepted.

His expression became somewhat shy and nervous but he still had on that half crooked smile of his. "I'm touched. Really, I don't deserve this."

"Yeah, no kidding." Katara said with a glare to Zuko, catching everyone off guard.

I leaned forward, finally fed up with this, and balled my hands into fists. "That isn't fair, Katara."

Her cold gaze shifted to me then, but I was already familiar with this. "You know what's not fair? Running for your life from some psycho all the time! But you wouldn't know that would you? No, you've been hiding all your life!"

Before I could retort, Tanro came to my rescue as always. "You don't know anything about my family or what we've dealt with!"

Katara huffed and stood up. "I've had enough of this." She turned away from the group and walked off in a storm of rage.

I leaped up to follow her but Zuko tugged on my wrist to stop me. He stood up and started in Katara's direction. "Let me handle this."

Frustrated, I followed at his heels quickly. "Not alone, you're not."

Even with me at his back, Zuko still faced Katara as though I had nothing to do with any of this. I stood a good distance away from them to give them space to handle things but I was close enough that I could leap into the conversation without hesitation if it became necessary. Katara was facing a cliff and staring out at the ocean, her hands balled into fists. When Zuko came up close enough to her for her to notice she sneered at him and moved away quickly as though she was going to walk away but Zuko started in before she could get too far.

"This isn't fair, Katara, everyone trusts me now except for you."

Katara whipped around fast, her hateful gaze strong. "Oh, everyone trusts you now? I trusted you back in Ba Sing Se before anyone else and you betrayed me! You betrayed us all and somehow I'm suppose to trust you again? Why? Because she does?" Katara pointed behind the firebender in my direction but Zuko never turned, knowing exactly who she was referring to.

Zuko remained silent for a moment, taking in her recounts of one of his darkest moments. "Whatever you need me to do so you'll trust me, I'll do it, just tell me."

"I don't even know!" Katara laughed darkly, throwing her head back slightly and looking up into the starry sky. "Maybe you could reclaim Ba Sing Se in the name of the Earth King!" Her gaze moved from the stars to Zuko as she marched towards him, furry and an unfamiliar pain behind her dark blue eyes. "Or, how about this, you could bring my mother back!"

I wasn't even given a glance as she passed by Zuko and then me, her stride taking her back to camp. Zuko stayed in that one spot, looking out at the ocean, though I knew his thoughts were somewhere far beyond the sea. Slowly I made my way to his side, shuffling nervously as I was unsure what I could offer him after the tongue lashing Katara had given him. Honestly, what comfort could I be?

"Something... about what she said there at the end... something was different with that." I said, looking at his face and trying to read his reaction as much as possible.

"You're right." He said and glanced down at me without moving his head, only to return his gaze to the ocean. "This isn't just about me or you, it's a lot deeper. And if I'm ever going to be able to regain her trust, if either of us are, I'm going to have to understand how deep this goes."

"Then we should ask Sokka." I suggested, taking a deep breath and letting it out as a sigh. "I'm not sure what good it will do to drag up such a painful memory... but it might lead somewhere we won't be able to reach any other way."

"I can take care of this on my own if you don't want to get involved." Zuko suggested. "I'm sure if I fix things with her she'll forgive you as well."

I shook my head and gave a gentle smile. "I know I may seem soft, but you might need that gentleness. I believe we're going into a dangerous territory asking about her mother's death... and it could be useful to have a softer soul."

Zuko and I had agreed to wait until nearly everyone had retired to their respective tents for the night to speak to Sokka, though we had almost interrupted a late night meeting between Suki and the Water Tribe warrior. I had seen Suki heading to Sokka's tent before Zuko did and pulled him back quickly, hiding us behind a large bolder so that Suki could make her way to her not-so-secret love in peace. We waited next to that bolder for a couple hours, knowing Suki would make her way back to the tent she shared with Katara so as to get some sleep and not let anyone in on their secret evenings together.

Once the coast was clear, Zuko pulled back the cloth door of Sokka's tent and stepped inside ahead of me, just in case Sokka wasn't completely ready for guests.

"Oh Zuko!" Sokka yelp softly then chuckled nervously. "What uh.. what brings you here? I was, you know, trying to get some shut eye."

Zuko gestured for me to join them. "We had some questions."

As I made my way into the tent, Sokka seemed to grow even more nervous to see he was now outnumbered. "You too Iyashi? Aren't you tired?"

I smiled, hoping to ease his nerves. "Tired? Yes. Yet my mind will not rest until we've settled some things."

Sokka raised an eyebrow. "And what things do you need to settle?"

"Your sister," Zuko started, "she hates me!"

I rolled my eyes at Zuko's exagerated statement and leaned in. "Not just Zuko, she's not my biggest fan either, so I know it's not just the firebender thing."

Sokka gave a sigh and scratched his head a little, seeming to be having trouble looking at the two of us. "It's no lie that Katara hates firebenders though. Wait, not all firebenders!" He shook his hands out in front of himself, looking at us nervously. "Bad firebenders who are always going to be bad, not used to be bad but is now good!"

"Sokka!" I said harshly, getting the man's attention. "This isn't just about firebenders, it's about us specifically."

Looking at me as I spoke then to Sokka, Zuko nodded. "She's right. Katara said something to me earlier and it's making me wonder if she's projecting the anger she has about her mother's death... on me and then on Iyashi for defending me."

"What can I do to help with that?" Sokka asked.

Zuko's expression became much more serious and his voice softened. "Your mother... can you tell me how she died?"

I reached out and placed my hand on Sokka's. "If you're comfortable sharing the story that is."

He nodded to me in what looked like gratitude and gave Zuko a serious look. "It's not exactly a story I like to remember."

The story of Sokka and Katara losing their mother was painful to hear. The fear and heartache from that day still residing in Sokka and it came out in his voice as he recalled the tale for us. Though my people had been destroyed by the Fire Nation and this seemingly endless war, I had had no direct contact with the war until Aang and his friends arrived. The pain Sokka felt, I could feel it as well and my eyes started to water. I wondered how long it took for Sokka to remain tearless when recalling the events of that horrible day.

"I was so relieved when it ended, that's because I didn't know yet what had happened. I didn't know we had lost our mother."

I wiped a tear away. "Thank you for sharing, Sokka." He nodded to me.

Allowing a few seconds to pass while Sokka and I traded looks, Zuko spoke. "Can you remember any details about the soldiers who raided your village? Like... what the lead ship looked like?"

"Yeah," Sokka said. "sea ravens. The main ship had flags with sea ravens on them."

Zuko look down in thought. "The symbol of the southern raiders." He them looked at Sokka again. "Thanks Sokka, that helped."

Sokka raised a hand. "No problem guys, now if you're done playing story time I think it's time to get some shut eye."

I nodded. "Of course, sorry for keeping you up." After that Zuko and I left the tent and made our way to the rock covering my bother made me in place of a cloth tent.

"I have an idea of how to handle this Iyashi, but I'll do this part alone." Zuko told me once we reach my makeshift sleeping area. "You don't need to be a part of this."

I put my hands on my hips, looking at the prince with a frustrated gaze. "I'm already a part of this, Zuko, get over it. Whatever you're planning, you're not doing it alone this time, so tell me whatever it is."

Zuko looked away from me. "It's not a good idea for you-"

I cut him off by grabbing on the front of his shirt and getting in his face. "I'm not some flower that needs protecting, stop treating me like my brothers do and treat me like an equal. Now get into the tent and talk to me about your plan."

The prince's eye were huge and glanced between me and the stone structure. "Iyashi, you are my equal but-"

"But what?" I interrupted again, getting beyond frustrated at this point.

Zuko shook his head. "Nothing, forget it. Just... be ready to depart tomorrow. I can take Katara... to the man who killed her mother, if you're up for it then come with us."

I released Zuko's shirt and gave him a confused look. "Zuko, taking her to him will only..." Sudden realization hit me. "No! You can't do that! Katara will regret that decision for the rest of her life."

"It's not for us to tell her what to decide, Iyashi, she needs to face him if she's ever going to move passed this." He explained.

I sighed. "You're right, but I am coming with you. Katara needs a voice of reason and I honestly doubt it will be you."

Zuko chuckled then and it caught me off guard. "Is that an insult?"

I shoved his shoulder. "Yeah, as a matter of fact is it."

Zuko and I both chuckled softly and looked away from each other. That feeling between us returned and I found myself enjoying the closeness and friendship we had formed. Who would have guessed that I would have found someone like Zuko to get along with? Destiny is a funny thing.

A/N - I deeply apologize for not updating the last couple weeks! I've had some issues in life that have kept me away. But here you are, another chapter to enjoy. I'm writing now so there may be another chapter soon as well. Let me know what you think!