Chapter 5
Tenzin was twisting and turning in his sleep all night, making incomprehensible sounds, while Lin was lying next to him thinking about the future. He was a bit more reserved than usual since he returned from the Fire Nation and even though he didn't say anything she knew things he'd witnessed were weighing on him. Lin saw how many men left Republic City and how many returned. It must have been a slaughter out there.
Despite all that, she couldn't worry about Tenzin's bad dreams right now. She was having problems with her own, mainly that they didn't stop when she was awake. But worrying about hypothetical situations wasn't doing anyone any good so sometime after midnight she gave up on trying to sleep and decided this had to be settled right now.
"Get up!" Lin pulled the covers off Kya. The waterbender ignored her and buried her face in her pillow. Considering how worked up Lin was that wasn't such a good idea, since Kya found herself on the floor in seconds.
"I just need ten minutes, then you can go back to sleep." Lin shook her up once more just to be sure and then took her place one the bed, with her shirt pulled up. She also made a hand movement to lock the door.
"I told you I'm not good at this. I have no idea what I'm doing!" Kya rubbed her eyes trying to adjust to the light.
"Please, Kya, I… There's no one else I can go to with this. You can do it." Lin didn't like the fact that her level of panic was beginning to show. Kya ignored the sudden vulnerability and simply nodded. She got out her bending water, took a few deep breaths and lowered it to Lin's stomach.
"This is going to feel a little chilly. I think…" Kya remembered her mother always saying that while doing this. She spent the next minute being completely quiet and moving her hands around while Lin tried to lie perfectly still.
Then suddenly Kya put away her water and wiped the sweat off her forehead.
"So? Did you do it? Do you finally know?" Lin asked, not even trying to seem calm anymore.
"I think… If you're forcing me to give an answer… Knife to my throat, I'd say you're pregnant."
"How sure are you?" Lin sat up and pulled her shirt back down.
"I don't know. Eighty percent?"
"Eighty percent?! Than what use are you to me if you're just guessing?!" Lin unlocked the door and tried to storm out, but Kya stopped her.
"Hey, this is hard! As is keeping this a secret from the people that I love. But I did it. For you."
"This is a disaster! This wasn't how it was supposed to go!"
"This happens to be my niece or nephew! I get that you're worried, but I don't think anyone is going to make a big deal about it. Yes, you're both young, but you love each other and you have all of us to help you with everything. The stress is not really good for the baby."
Lin wanted nothing more than to explode at Kya after that, but she was right! No stress, no fighting from now on.
"And I think Tenzin could really use some happy news now," Kya continued, "He seemed really… I don't know, traumatized after the battle. I was a bit shocked too, by what these people were willing to do, but nothing like him. And you know this would make him so happy."
That's exactly what Lin was afraid of. Tenzin would love this, he would just see the positives of the situation, he would finally get his way. They'd have to get married if Katara had anything to say about it, move in together and do the same thing every day until they die…
"Easy for you to say! You're older than me, do you feel like being a mother? Giving up on everything you ever wanted to do? Being tethered to one place for the rest of your life?" Lin lashed out.
"Spirits no!"
They just stared at each other for a few seconds before Lin spoke up again.
"Is the baby OK?"
"What?"
"I did have a palace fall on me. Is it OK?" Lin was a little embarrassed she didn't ask about that sooner, but damn it, she was doing the best job she could. How was she already a bad mom and the baby wasn't even born yet?
"I think so. You want me to give it another look?"
Lin nodded and got onto the bed again. While Kya was working they were both distracted enough to not hear the footsteps approaching. Before either of them could react Izumi walked in.
"I heard arguing and-" the Princess started, "What are you doing? Is Lin hurt?"
"I'm fine." Lin got up swiftly.
"Lin's pregnant." Kya blurted out after a few seconds of awkward silence.
"Kya!" Lin gave her a deadly glare. She waited for Izumi's reaction, fearing this finally meant everyone would find out. The Princess did seem a bit surprised at first, but she regained her composure fairly quickly, walked to Lin and hugged her, not saying a word.
Lin not only welcomed it, but when she relaxed, returned the hug even tighter. She needed this so bad…
"I know it's scary." Izumi said, "I remember how absolutely terrified I was when I found out I was pregnant with Iroh."
"That's different, you were married."
"And you think that helped?" Izumi chuckled letting go of Lin, "I didn't love him. I barely knew him and now all of a sudden I was bound to him forever. It hit me hard. And I couldn't talk to anyone about it, since everyone expected me to love every second of it."
"I had no idea, Izumi," Kya started, "I came to see you countless times, why didn't you say anything?"
"Because it makes you sound like a horrible person." Lin looked at Izumi with understanding. She also felt guilty she wasn't thrilled about what was happening.
"Exactly. It sounds horrid to say that you might not want to have this child now. Or ever. Or that you don't know what you're doing with the one you already have." Izumi took Lin by her shoulders, "Listen to me, you take your time and think about all of this. Don't think about what anyone else expects. You can tell them later when you're ready."
"Yeah, right… I have to tell them now or they'll pull me off to war." Lin sat on the bed and put her head in her hands.
"You don't have to do anything." Izumi sat next to her and took one of her hands into her own, "I'll tell them I need you to stay and watch Iroh for me. Because my life didn't end the day he was born."
"And have you seen Iroh? He is about the cutest baby I've ever seen," Kya sat on the other side and took Lin's other hand, "Can you imagine how cute this baby is going to be?"
"Kya! Lin, don't listen to her. You think about what you want first and then…"
Lin kind of zoned out while the two of them had a debate around her. She could breathe a little easier now. Now at least she knew there was someone she could go to. Someone that went through it. Of course, she could always talk to her mom about it, but she figured that would cause her more stress than comfort.
For a few second she wished she had some real close friends outside this freaky family-like bunch currently occupying Air Temple Island. Everyone was too involved here. But sometimes that wasn't so bad. If their parents didn't know each other, she would have never become friends with either of these women, but now she was more thankful for them than they'd ever know.
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"Come on!" Izumi yelled and soon a ball of blue fire came flying at her. Mimicking Azula's technique, Izumi absorbed it and a few seconds later fired it back at Zari.
"Very good!" she praised him after he took in the power from her blast.
"We're getting decent at this." he sat down on the ground to rest.
"Are you feeling anything unusual? Like your normal bending is off?" she sat by him.
"No, I'm fine. Swear." he did find it a little difficult to calm down after a heatbending session with his cousin, but that felt more like the effects of caffeine than something sinister.
"Then you're ready for the next stage." Izumi stood up to retrieve something, "I saw Azula crack it two days ago. It was frightening and beautiful all at the same time."
The Princess returned from behind a corner with a cat in her arms.
"I'm not killing it." Zari said calmly.
"I succeeded this morning. It's not as bad as it seems. If you do it right, it doesn't have to feel a thing." Izumi placed the furry animal in his lap. If she was being honest with herself, she was enjoying pioneering this new technique next to her aunt and father. Whether they knew it or not.
Wrong or right, it was the only way for them to win now. And it felt kind of good, holding all that power inside you, if just for a few seconds.
"I still don't want to do it." Zari stroked the animal's fur.
"Think about this, then. Your mother did so much for you. Don't you want to be able to help her when she faces those monsters out there?"
Zari couldn't argue with that logic. Azula didn't want to be the kind of mother who asks something like this of her child, but maybe she'd need it anyway. He closed his eyes and gently stopped his palm at the animal's head.
"Now feel the heat pulsing through its body." Izumi started, "Feel it radiate out into your hand, as well as out your hand onto it. Now pull it in, all of it at once!"
And Zari did. Or at least he tried. The animal in his hands did start kicking and trying to escape his grip, but it was still undeniably alive. He realized he needed a stronger pull than that put couldn't preform it.
"I can't! I just can't. It's not that I don't want to, it's just…" he released the cat into Izumi's hands.
"Listen, it's not easy and it's not for everyone." she sighed and swiftly, almost without preparation placed her hand on the animal and sucked out its energy.
"I brought lychee juice!" Suyin came into their view carrying a platter with glasses, "Nothing's quenchier!"
When she was closer she hit the ground with her foot, creating a pillar out of earth to serve as a table and a few small pillars as chairs. She also just then realized she interrupted something tense.
"Thank you, Su." Izumi took one of the glasses from the improvised table, "Not only for the refreshments, but for keeping our secret."
"No problem." Su sat down, "Our parents need to get used to the fact that we have things to offer too."
Zari walked closer and took a glass of juice without a word. He wasn't even making eye contact with her.
"He's just a little disappointed he's not getting it as fast as he'd like." Izumi explained, seeing Su's concerned expression.
"Hey, you probably won't even need to use those moves anyway. If my dad's plan goes well." Su smiled at the Fire Prince who couldn't help, but smile back.
"You're not going?" he asked.
"Spirits, no! My mom made that very clear. She says my metalbending is too shabby for the battlefield. Home base for you, kid."
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"And you're sure you want to stay?" Toph asked, shoving things in a bag.
"Yeah, Mom. You said it was up to me." Lin said.
"I know what I said. I just didn't think you'd chicken out of this one too…"
"Mom…"
"It better not be because Tenzin's hurt. You know, that boy can handle a few days away from you."
"It's not because of Tenzin." Well, technically it wasn't a lie. It was the pregnancy, not Tenzin. No matter how much Toph expected it, Lin's heartbeat didn't change.
"So it's about the baby?" Toph asked next, sending Lin's heartbeat through the roof, "Izumi's kid?"
"Yeah! Izumi asked me to keep an eye on him while she's gone. You know… Serve and protect." Lin breathed a sigh of relief after the mini heart attack she almost had.
"Who would have known you'd wanna stay and your sister would be begging me to go…"
"You didn't say yes, did you?"
"Of course not! Give me some credit there, kiddo. I know I'm bad at this, but that one was obvious. She'll stay behind with Mai and you." Toph leaned towards her daughter and Lin immediately moved forward into the hug.
"I was going for the jacket behind you, but fine." Toph said, causing Lin to blush and let go of her immediately. Of course, they never did goodbye hugs. Stupid.
Toph put on the jacket and then stood calmly for a second or two before surprising her daughter by hugging her again.
"Whatever it is, can it wait until I come back?" Toph asked.
"Yeah, absolutely, I'm sorry I-"
"See you later, kiddo." Toph punched her daughter's shoulder and swiftly left the room. In a few minutes she left Air Temple Island together with Aang and Katara to try and talk the Earth King into giving them even more help with his troops.
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After some more practicing with Izumi, Zari got called to meet his mom before leaving for the North Pole. He was instructed to go look for her in the storage room of one of the United Forces ships going with them.
When he finally found her, it looked like she was having a spirited debate with Chief Sokka, who was checking the cargo.
"You wanted to see me, Mom." he looked at them in confusion.
"Yes, we're ready to leave. As soon as our trusted Chief gets over his paranoia." Azula rolled her eyes.
"It's not paranoia. My instincts are telling me-" Sokka was interrupted.
"I don't even want to hear it. Zari and I will be departing in twenty minutes." she turned around to leave, but then stopped to stare at her son's hand, "And you? You're shaking. What's going on?"
"Nothing. I'm not shaking." he hid his hands behind his back. That might not have been a good call.
"Your pupils are dilated." Azula continued voicing her observations while Zari begged something would distract her, "How much tea did you drink? This is caffeine."
"Let the boy live, Azula. He's a ship captain, let him drink what he wants." Sokka meddled, while knocking on various places along an air duct.
"You have zero credibility on the matter. Look at what you're doing…"
"I will have you know-" Sokka stopped after peeking his head in the air duct, "Busted. Out, young lady."
After he said that he moved away to allow Suyin to crawl out of her hiding place.
"Did Lin rat me out?" she asked.
"No. Did Lin know?"
"No."
"Then how could she… I figured it out! You're forgetting I'm your father. Everything you think of I've already thought of, everything you try to pull off, I already tried." Sokka turned to Azula, "I told you. My instincts were right."
"Let's give them some space, Zari." Azula sensed the situation was about to get personal and decided to stay out of it.
"How could you do this, Su?" Sokka started once they were alone, "Your mother told you no. Then you went to get a second opinion with me, which we told you never to do, and the answer was still no. And then you go ahead and do it anyway… This is so unlike you."
"Like you'd know…" Su mumbled under her breath.
"What was that?"
"Like you'd know! I only see you when there's someone threatening Team Avatar. I don't even feel like I'm your daughter!"
"Su, we've talked about this. You know very well why we can't tell people about who you are. You'd have to move away with me, become Chief someday..."
"Well, I don't feel like I'm part of the Water Tribe! You never took me there. And now that our people are in trouble and desperately need our help, you won't let me come!"
"Of course they're your people too, Su." he put his hand on her shoulder, "But you're too young to go to war."
Every word he said made him realize how he was trying to leave her behind, just like his father did to him the day he left to fight in the Hundred Year War. Su wouldn't be as alone as he was, but he could see the same look in her eyes that he had.
"You said that if your plan goes well, there wouldn't even be a fight. I can help evacuate people. Please. I don't want to stay behind again." she looked at him with those half-teary eyes and he just couldn't say no again.
"Your mother is going to bury me alive."
"Yes!" she jumped and hugged him, "Thank you! I'll be super careful and extra helpful. You'll see."
oooooooooo
"Be good for Lin and Tenzin, alright?" Izumi whispered to baby Iroh before kissing his forehead and handing him over to Tenzin.
"Ask my mom if you need any help." Izumi told her new babysitters, "She's supposed to be on bedrest, but she'll help you."
"We're going to have so much fun." Tenzin talked to the baby, "Now wave goodbye to mommy."
Tenzin waved slowly and Iroh mimicked him, however sloppily.
"Bye-bye." the infant said.
Izumi felt something tighten in her throat as she waved back. These last few weeks she bonded with Iroh more than in the entire year before. They were finally getting used to each other and now she was just leaving him. Bumi noticed she was struggling and took her hand into his.
"I'll miss you both so much!" Kya jumped and hugged Tenzin first, then Lin, "But this will at least give you two a chance to spend some alone time. Talk about things."
Kya gave Lin a meaningful look. Like she wasn't stressed enough as it is… Thinking about the future was hard enough without Tenzin goofing around with a toddler every chance he got. When Lin looked to her boyfriend, he was teasing Iroh by blowing air into his hair, making him giggle.
"I still can't believe Su's going with you." Lin sighed.
"She's our cousin. They'll look after her, won't you guys?" Tenzin tried to reassure her.
"Don't worry. The world is in the best possible hands. We'll all be back in a jiffy." Bumi smirked.
"Yeah, the best… And what are you going to do, Bumi? Talk them to death?" Tenzin joked.
"Lin, control your woman!"
After Bumi said that, Izumi sensed this goodbye was about to turn into a fight and pulled him away.
"Bye, Iroh! Look after those two for me!" Kya yelled back as she followed Izumi.
oooooooooo
As planned, the people of the west North Pole were already prepared to take a journey when the army arrived, led by the Fire Lord, Chief Sokka and Princess Azula. The Northern Chief told his people to grab whatever they could carry and be ready to march to their eastern villages at a moment's notice.
The welcome was short and the large group of people was soon on the move. Their young chief Nirak led the cavalcade, surrounded by his soldiers. Behind them, it was a mess of common civilians carrying as much as they could fit on their backs, same with their artic camels or buffalo yaks. The smallest children were carried, but most of them ran freely through the crowd, skating on the ice or just throwing snowballs at each other. Since they couldn't leave behind the animals most of the waterbenders helped keep them heading in the right direction. They had a long way to go and were moving pretty slowly, but the general atmosphere was one of hope, not fear. Most of the sounds coming from the crowd were children's laughter and a few traditional Northern songs.
The United Forces soldiers walked near the back of the crowd and so did Sokka and Azula.
"Cold, are we, Princess?" he teased, seeing her clothing was at least twice as thick as his was.
"Don't you worry about me."
Since they were there just in case the plan failed, they had nothing much to do while it was working. The two of them walked together, while Zuko volunteered to help an old woman pull her cart and Kya was catching up with some old friends. Bumi and Izumi walked alone holding hands, while bit further than them, Su and Zari were engaged in an intense snowball fight with some kids.
"It's easy to forget sometimes, isn't it?" Sokka asked, nudging Azula.
"What is?"
"That they're still just kids. Yours is a captain, mine begged to go to war, but they're just children."
"So were we."
"That doesn't make it right. I'm a fool for bringing my little girl to a possible battlefield…"
"No, you're not. Think about it like this… They're our children, they're always going to be targets, their whole lives. If someone wants to hurt them, at least this way they have to go through us first."
At the exact moment she finished, about five kids tackled Sokka into the snow.
"We got you, Chief Silly!" one of children screamed while trying to mess up Sokka's hair.
"No, you don't! Waterbend!" he stood up, throwing snow around, pretending to attack. The children giggled and ran away.
"Kids… You gotta love them…" Sokka moved his head to try and shake down the snow. Azula had just cracked a small smile when someone took her hand. She turned around to see it was a little girl, with adorable brown curls.
"You're pretty!" the girl said, since Azula didn't look like she knew how to react to the situation.
"I'm sorry," a boy ran out of the crowd, "I told my little sister you came here to protect us and now she wants to walk with you."
"It's alright…" Azula tried to smile, but all of this was really unusual to her. She was used to admiration from the masses. She just wasn't used to it this up close.
"Can we see it?" two more young girls came seemingly from nowhere, "Please…"
"See what?" Azula was feeling more and more surrounded.
"The fire." the boy explained.
Oh. She took the glove off her free hand and made a small, blue fireball. The children just stared in admiration.
"That's so cool!" the boy exclaimed.
"It's so pretty!" his sister added.
"Do it again!"
"Yeah, I wanna see!"
Kids kept coming, forming a circle around Azula and at some point she couldn't take it anymore. She said something about the Fire Lord needing assistance and then started walking in the direction opposite of where Zuko was.
"Azula, is everything… You know…" Sokka followed her and stopped her by catching her shoulder, "Are you having one of your episodes? Should I call Zari? Or Zuko?"
"No! I'm fine. Can't I be upset without you all thinking I'm having hallucinations?"
"Why are you upset?"
Azula sighed. Well, she did kind of walk right into that one…
"You wouldn't get it." she tried to walk away from him again.
"Try me." he said and she stopped.
"The people of the Fire Nation used to love me. Worship me and my family. But they were never happy to see me. It was never Yippee, Azula's here. Not when I was home, not when I was conquering in the war and certainly not when I was raiding ships as a pirate. I'm not used to Yippee, Azula's here, she'll save us… It's too much." she finished her explanation in one breath and then just looked straight into his eyes, waiting for a response.
"But you are here to save them."
"Yes, now. But if I'd come here during the war," she lowered her voice, "I would have burned their houses, their livestock, killed their leaders and taken their benders."
"Listen, these are my people. And all that matters to us is that this is who you chose to be right now." he paused, "These kids weren't born during the war. They don't know they're supposed to be holding some ancient grudge. And I don't think we should teach them."
At that moment Azula felt a tug at her sleeve. It was the little girl from before, now holding her favorite toy.
"Fire Lady!" the girl pointed at the Princess. Azula thought about what Sokka said for a moment and then took the girl's hand and continued forward. Sokka started telling both of them about the time he met the Avatar, when they were interrupted by the girl yelling.
"Friends!"
"You want to go with your friends?" Azula asked.
"No. Your friends."
"My friends?"
The girl then stopped and pointed towards the end of the crowd. Azula looked over and saw tall pillars of orange flames in the distance behind them.
"Those are not friends." she turned to Sokka.
"Go find your mommy, please." he instructed the girl and she sprinted away.
"How did they catch up to us?" Sokka couldn't believe his eyes.
"I don't know." Azula stood frozen as she watched a small group of firebenders appear in the distance amongst the dancing flames.
oooooooooo
OK, I've just realized how my dude Tenzin is being overlooked in this story… He deserves better. I think I have to write another story after this one to make it up to him.
Anyway, yes, we are at the war part now… I've never been to one so expect the battles to be very simplified. Three sentences about the battle BOOM dialogue again.
Review if you can and come back soon for more! :)
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JHLZ. NTL
Firstly, thank you for all the compliments, I am not used to this :) you are making me blush…
Iroh's father: Yeah, he died back in Chapter 1 fighting the juiced-up firebenders… He wasn't a bad guy or anything, there just wasn't a connection between him and Izumi.
Ozai: Thank you, I was actually thinking about cutting the Zari and him scene, but I loved how it turned out… And I imagine Ozai didn't sugarcoat anything with Azula and Zuko either when they were alone.
Izumi: I had a whole thing with her and anxiety in the last fic, so I thought I had to show that she's grown from that.
Azula: I am of a strong opinion that Azula wasn't a lost cause and I believe with all my heart that she could have been given a redemption arc. I'm 19 right now and I can confidently say that I did a lot of "character development" since I was 14.
I also had the opportunity to personally experience how being moved from an abusive environment to a normal supportive one, can work wonders (don't worry, it wasn't anything close to what Azula had to grow up with). And how having just a few kind, supportive people who give a shit about you can completely change how you act and how you view the world.
And now the private part (I probably should have put in a PM, but it's 3am and every click counts)
I called myself a future engineer, because that sounded better than an exhausted student reporting from under a huge pile of work…
It is tough, but so am I. I'm just about to start my 3rd semester (So one year down :)). Software engineering is the ultimate goal, but I just started so I have zero useful skills.
As to how I find time… I spend three hours every day on public transport (I know…) and if I didn't come up with elaborate stories and character arcs I would die. I also sometimes let my brother help with the plotting so it doubles as family time.
I only start writing it if I know I can finish, because unfinished things bother me like an open wound. Now I'm on vacation so I had time to write all of this. I'm painfully slow…
I only begun writing fanfiction when I became a freshmen, since suddenly all my classes were sciency. And don't get me wrong, I love a good differential equation as much as the next girl, but I needed something creative to add some diversity. I hope you get what I mean.
Thank you again and good luck with your studies…
