"Hope"
Katara recognized the place where she was when she awoke. It was the last place where she had seen Sokka: a cold, lonely cell in the dungeon of the castle.
When her eyes focused, she could make out the Blue Spirit's mask. "You said you'd never leave."
Katara pulled her blanket closer around herself. "I wasn't trying to leave," she said, almost whispering. "I just wanted to make you happy." She couldn't explain everything now.
Zuko turned his back to her. "You broke your word," he said with quiet fury. "And for that – you can rot in this dungeon forever." She heard him open and close a metal door, and then use firebending to lock it securely.
This was the treatment Katara had expected from him, when she first agreed to take Sokka's place. But Zuko had been kind to her and given her a room of her own; only now she had forsaken what little she had, and broken any friendship that they had built.
Tears flowed down her cheeks, almost freezing in the frigid room. "I should have known you'd never be anything more than a beast," she whispered.
Meng, Yue, and Aunt Wu had seen Zuko carry Katara inside, evaporate the water in her clothes to get her dry and warm, and lock her in the dungeon. It was almost midnight when Iroh, Arnook, Aang, and Ty Lee returned, having walked all the way from the Foggy Swamp.
"We failed," Aang said. He felt more responsible than anyone; he had convinced Katara to plan a Solstice party, and insisted on finding a Yule log, and then she had almost died trying to save him from a watery grave.
As if they needed further discouragement, a sad sight awaited them: the banquet hall was ruined. All of Meng's planning and their combined efforts had gone to waste. A blanket of despair was falling over them.
"We had so much fun decorating, and now it's ruined," Aang moaned.
"This is just what I was afraid of," Meng said. "We climbed up the mountain, and then fell."
"Don't say it," Yue said, closing her eyes. "Don't say I told you so." She turned away and followed after the adults. Ty Lee was standing by herself, looking ashamed and alone.
"Meng?" Aang looked up at the porcelain doll. "Why did you agree to help us, if you were so sure it would fail?"
Meng merely looked at him. "Did you think, at some point, that we would succeed?" Aang pressed.
"Maybe," Meng admitted. "But that's not why I agreed."
"Then why?"
She looked him in the eye, porcelain to porcelain. "I did it for you, Aang. Because you asked me to."
Aang looked at her in wonder. Meng bent down and awkwardly kissed Aang where his cheek should have been. "Happy New Year," she said.
Zuko trudged back to his rooms and collapsed into his armchair. He would have buried his face in his hands, if not for the mask he was still wearing.
Katara had almost gotten herself killed. Now Zuko wondered if she would have preferred death to being made a real prisoner.
"Zuko," Azula sighed sympathetically, "I told you not to feel for her. Things were so much simpler before she came along, before we dared to hope."
Zuko made a sound like a sigh. "I thought … she was the one."
The most agonizing part of the enchantment was not the inhabitants' transformation. It was the fluctuation of hope and despair, the uncertainty of whether or not the spell would be broken.
"Why depress yourself? Why not just make it final? It'll be easier if you just accept your fate." Azula jerked her ivory head toward the table with the enchanted fire lily. "There's the symbol of your curse. Destroy it, and seal your fate, sooner rather than later. You can end these adolescent notions of love and redemption. End your pain forever."
Zuko walked over to the table, as though drawn there by an invisible force. He lifted the glass jar up over the flower, leaving it exposed. Several fallen petals rested underneath it on the table. "Yes," Azula urged.
Zuko glared, not at the pipe organ, but at the flower. For a long time it had been the only beautiful thing in the castle. It seemed to mock him, boasting of its beauty, telling him it wasn't too late to regain what he had lost.
Zuko removed the glove on his right hand, and conjured a flame in it. "Crush it!" Azula told him. He raised his arm as though to strike, but when he brought it down, he swerve away from the table.
He couldn't bring himself to do it.
He closed his eyes behind the mask. You're a coward, Prince Zuko. You just can't accept your own failures or faults. You think you're brave, rescuing a girl, but you don't have the guts to forgive her, or ask to be forgiven.
He opened his eyes to see yet another petal fall from the flower; it fluttered down and landed on a wrapped package.
Zuko had completely forgotten about it. "Katara," he remembered.
"What are you doing? What is it?" Azula demanded. She could hear him replace the glass cover and tear the paper off of something. Then Zuko turned, and both were slightly surprised to see that he was holding a book in his hands.
"Oh, a storybook!" Azula pretended to be delighted. "Does this one have pretty pictures you can color?" She laughed derisively.
"No; this one's different," Zuko said, with an edge to his voice. Then, turning it over in his hands, he murmured, "It's from Katara."
"Well, that would account for the creative wrapping," Azula said dryly.
"Quiet!" Zuko snapped. He sat down in the armchair before the fire. "I want to read."
It was clear that Katara had put much work into making this present. The tome was handmade, and its pages were covered with beautiful calligraphy. Soon Zuko was absorbed in the story, which he immediately realized was his own.
Once upon a time, there was an enchanted castle. Its master seemed as cold as winter, deep inside his heart. His cries of anger echoed through the stone walls of his home. Though surrounded by servants, he was all alone.
Until one day, when a stranger came to stay in the castle. It was a young woman, a girl who had always wanted to be brave, and was finally getting her chance. She did not want to be there, but she came of her own free will, and agreed to stay.
The girl didn't know what to make of the prince. She detested him for taking away her freedom. She was intrigued by his strange existence in what she deduced was an enchanted castle. She feared him, for he and his home were full of the unknown, and what he did reveal was anger. This fear drove her out of the castle with the intention of leaving forever.
The girl lost her way in the woods outside the castle. She would have fallen prey to the wild animals who lived there, if the prince had not followed her and rescued her. He was injured while fighting to protect her; so the girl took him back to the castle, where she cleaned and dressed his wounds. And thus she decided to stay, in keeping the promise she had made.
A strange bond is formed when one person saves another. To have this be reciprocated is both simple and complex.
The girl found herself continually indebted to the stranger. At first she tried to cling to her hatred, even as it dulled to mere resentment. But it was in her nature to be kind; and when she showed him grudging kindness, he returned it, and thus a friendship was born.
The girl was lonely. She came to realize that the stranger was lonely, too. And she knew it was silly for two people to be lonely when they were together. She hoped that they could become closer as time went on.
She realized that they were good for each other. He helped her to be realistic. She helped him to be cheerful. And in her simple acts of kindness, he knew someone cared.
The Winter Solstice that year was spent exchanging humble gifts. But the greatest gift that anyone received was the gift of hope.
Zuko stared at the last page for a long while. Then he looked up in wonderment. "Hope," he said aloud, tasting the word on his tongue. Then, he decisively closed the book and stood from his chair. He put the book in a place of honor on the mantle, and then walked toward the door.
Azula was alarmed by this behavior. "No! Zuko, come back! She'll only prolong your torment!" Azula was shouting now, but the only response was the door being firmly closed as Zuko left the room.
In the door of the cell, there was a little panel that could be flipped up to slide food in. Sometime after midnight, the panel was pushed upward, and another ray of light streamed in.
"There she is."
"Poor dear."
The objects climbed over one or two at a time. Iroh's candlelight brightened up the cell a little. There was enough light to make out the forms of Aang, Yue, Arnook, Meng, Aunt Wu, Momo, and Ty Lee.
"Happy New Year, Katara," Aang said softly.
"Oh, Aang," she said woefully. "I ruined everything."
"Don't say that," Yue scolded.
"It's true," Katara insisted. "All I did was make things worse."
"I told you it was hopeless," Meng said, wringing her porcelain hands. "I told you it would be a waste. But … I was wrong."
Katara looked at her, surprised and wary.
Meng plunged on, "When we were decorating today … it was more fun than I've had in years. I felt a sense of purpose, you know? I got to be with people I hadn't seen in over a year." Her eyes traveled over Aunt Wu and Aang as she said this. "You made me – well, all of us – feel hopeful, again. And that counts for something."
Arnook nodded in agreement. "Well said," Iroh concurred.
Katara smiled for the first time that evening. "Thanks, Meng. That … means a lot to me." For the first time, she felt a sense of friendship with the doll.
"You know what, Katara?" Aang said. "I don't need a Yule Log to celebrate the Solstice."
"And I suppose I can get along without tentacle soup," Arnook said with a smile and a shrug.
"That's the spirit," Iroh said, clapping the telescope on the back. Then he turned to the piccolo. "How about some music?"
Ty Lee looked surprised, and then delighted. "I thought you'd never ask!" she said, and the others chuckled. Yue hummed a song, an old winter carol. Ty Lee imitated the tune, the others sang, and those who had hands clapped to the rhythm. Iroh and Aunt Wu even danced together, much to the others' entertainment. Katara and Yue both wished that Sokka was there.
Suddenly in the midst of the cheerful music, the dungeon door creaked open. The Blue Spirit stood silhouetted in the moonlight.
"Uh-oh," someone murmured. Katara stood up slowly to look at him.
"Um …" Zuko stood hesitantly on the threshold. "I found your present," he began.
Katara's eyes lit up in recognition. "Oh! Er. Did … did you like it?"
"Very much." He thought she understood what he wasn't saying, that he had recognized her reasons for giving him that story. She had meant it as an offering, an invitation to a friendship.
They stood in silence for a moment. The objects waited and watched.
"I'm sorry," Zuko blurted finally.
Katara opened her mouth, and then closed it again. She couldn't say "It's all right," because it really wasn't. Still, it was very big of him to apologize.
"Can you forgive me?" Zuko murmured.
Katara smiled gently and took his gloved hand in both of hers. "Of course. Happy Solstice."
The servants cheered. Momo chittered happily. Zuko grinned behind his mask, and then addressed the others. "I owe you an apology, too – especially you, Meng." The doll blinked, surprised that he remembered her name. "It couldn't have been easy, trying to make this place look festive. I'm sorry for ruining it."
"That's all right," Meng said grudgingly.
"Come on," Aang said. "Let's give Katara the Winter Solstice she's always wanted."
Azula couldn't believe her rotten luck. "So, Zuzu gets the girl, and it's a happy ending for everyone," she seethed. "Enchantment lifted, and Azula fades into the background. No longer important. No longer needed.
"I THINK NOT!"
She leapt into the middle of a song, playing music so loud and forceful that it shook the walls of the castle.
In all her years of studying music, Ty Lee had never heard anything like it.
"What's happening?" Katara exclaimed. The floor trembled beneath them like an earthquake. Chunks of wood and stone fell from the dungeon ceiling.
Suddenly Zuko had his arms around her, holding her against his chest, keeping her steady and shielding her from debris. Katara buried her face in the black fabric, and felt him cover her head with his hand.
"Azula," Ty Lee murmured, looking more worried than afraid. She hopped out of the room and headed for the stairs.
"Everybody out, quickly!" Aunt Wu ushered everyone out the door, which Zuko had left open upon entering.
"Do you hear that?" Katara asked, pressing her hands over her ears as they ran out of the dungeon.
"AZULA!" Zuko screamed. He ran up the stairs ahead of them.
Ty Lee reached the prince's suite before him. "Princess, STOP!" She hopped over in front of the organ. "What do you think you're doing?" she asked.
"Don't you see, Ty Lee?" Azula boomed. "They can't fall in love if they're dead!"
"I'll tell you what I see!" she said, brave and indignant. "A manipulative tyrant!" Azula chortled, and, out of habit, Ty Lee laughed along nervously.
"You could have joined me, Ty Lee," Azula said in a sickly sweet voice. "But I see my triumph is a solo act!"
Solo. Ty Lee froze, suddenly realizing something. "You never had a solo for me," she said, her voice simultaneously incredulous and accusing.
"Of course not. So naïve. You're second fife, Ty Lee, and that's all you'll ever be." So saying, she resumed playing the monstrous tune, causing Ty Lee to cry out in sheer fright. The glass in the windows broke, either from the high-pitched notes or from the quaking walls.
"We can remain as we are, forever and ever!" Azula cried triumphantly. Her laughter and song were cut off when a person appeared in the doorway to the room.
"Azula!" Zuko thundered. "Enough!"
"Oh," Azula was silent for a moment, as though surprised. "Zuko."
He entered the room, glaring at her even though his mask.
"'You're not singing!''" Azula mocked, almost screaming. Zuko stumbled backwards to avoid the onslaught of blue fire that spewed from the pipes.
A few of the animated objects had followed Zuko to the source of the destructive song. They watched from the next room as the Blue Spirit exchanged fiery blows with his sister. The castle still trembled, shaking the semi-destroyed decorations off the wall.
It was Yue who noticed the furniture moving, including the table which held the enchanted fire lily. She gasped. "The bell jar!"
The others turned and rushed toward the table. "DON'T LET IT FALL!" Arnook roared.
The glass dome slid off the table, taking the flower hovering inside it, and landed in the arms of Meng, who was now standing on Iroh's bronze shoulders.
"Meng, you're breakable too!" Aang protested.
"Don't remind me!" she retorted.
The Blue Spirit was too preoccupied to notice them.
"Zuko!" Startled, he turned to see who had shouted his name. Katara was standing in the threshold of his room, just out of the line of fire.
"Katara, you shouldn't be here!" Zuko pressed his palms together and held his arms out in front, slicing Azula's flames from the middle.
Katara ignored him. "What is going on?" she asked Ty Lee.
"Azula's gone crazy!" was the immediate answer.
"Katara, get out of here!" Zuko shouted.
"I'm not leaving you!" she insisted.
Azula turned her malicious gaze on the girl. "So glad you could join us!" she sneered, sending a volley of flame toward her. Zuko leapt in front of Katara, shielding her with a wall of his own red and yellow fire. When the flames died down for a moment, they hid behind the door that stood open against the wall.
"Can you believe I never took a lesson?" Azula laughed manically, a sound almost as frightening as her macabre crescendo.
"She's too powerful," Zuko panted. He couldn't hold off all her fire, and the vibrations from her music were breaking the castle.
Katara put her hand on his arm. "I have an idea. If you extinguish the flames, even for just a few seconds, I can freeze the pipes and keyboard." She had only a vague idea of what to do after that, but she didn't mention it now.
Zuko nodded, his mask bobbing up and down once, before emerging to face his sister again. He deflected her fire, working his way gradually closer to her.
Most of the windowpanes in this room were already broken, thanks to Azula's destruction. Katara summoned the snow from the rooftops below.
Zuko now stood almost at Azula's feet. He fought her fire as best as he could, trying to stifle it before it left the pipes. "Stop it!" Azula shouted.
"That's what I'm doing, stopping it!" he replied.
Katara moved quickly, willing the snow onto the top of the pipes and freezing it solid. Then she slid the ice down to the bottom, freezing the source of the fire. Azula made a noise like someone wheezing.
With the music muted, Iroh and Meng took the opportunity to put the fire lily safely where it belonged.
Meng managed to place the jar back on the table, just as Iroh fell underneath her. She hung onto the edge of the table, a good three feet off the floor.
"Don't let go!" Aang cried, afraid the porcelain doll would break on the floor.
Momo rushed to the table. With a soft shout, Meng's hand slipped from the edge, and she fell, only to land on the soft cushion of the footstool. "Oh! Thanks, guys!" Meng said gratefully.
With one hand, Katara willed the ice to stay frozen over the pipes. With the other hand, she guided more snow up behind Azula, between her and the wall. As it froze, the ice expanded in size, pushing Azula away from the wall she was bolted to.
The wall cracked as the chains broke away, and the pipe organ started to slowly tilt forward. "Look out!" Ty Lee shouted, diving to get out of the way. Zuko reacted instinctively, grabbing Katara's arm and pulling her as he ran to avoid the impact. They leapt forward together and fell onto the floor, just beyond where the top of the pipe organ crashed. Shards of ice broke off, and a metallic dust filled the air.
Katara and Zuko lay on the floor, breathing heavily. After a moment they pushed themselves up and looked around, and then at each other. Suddenly Katara threw her arms around him. Zuko hugged her tightly, relieved that she was safe, grateful that she forgave him.
In the next room, the enchanted fire lily continued to glow with a soft, steady light.