A/N: This took much longer than expected, since I was never really happy with it and just kept rewriting and tweaking the crap out of it. Lots of stuff happens here. A new character is introduced to, for comic relief in a way. I ended up listening to a Chinese cover of Iroh's Leaves From The Vine the entire time I wrote this... I'm still not 100% happy with parts of it.
In other news, I'll be posting a prequel right after I finish posting this chapter. it's about Zuko and Katara's time together during the winter Roku was conceived. I felt like I could have spent so much more time on it, so I'm making it into a prequel. It's titled "Somebody That I Used to Know", go look for it shortly after this! :D
"Drifting In The Foam"
Talking people into doing something was Kya's specialty. Roku had always scolded herself for falling for her cousin's ideas. Today was no different. Kya had easily convinced Luan and Yue that penguin sledding was a good way to celebrate Roku's fifteenth birthday, but that was because they were younger, only being twelve and ten. And now having arrived at the spot were all the otterpenguins gathered, Roku still wasn't excited.
The young firebender crossed her arms and huffed. She had been penguin sledding so many times when she lived here, that it was no longer that big a deal. Not to mention that she had become accustomed to the warmer weather of Ba Sing Se, and the once livable South Pole temperatures were far colder than she remembered. She could barely feel her nose anymore. She felt Luan shiver next to her. She looked down at the younger boy she had considered her best friend for the last six years. Despite the age difference, Roku was always able to count on the airbender when she needed someone. She also made sure Luan felt the same.
"Geez, it's so cold here." his teeth chattered. "How did you live like this?"
"I don't remember." Roku shrugged. "I guess it was because I didn't know anything else."
"You're a firebender, so at least you can heat yourself up, right?" Luan looked up at her.
"That's true, I guess." Roku nodded. She exhaled slowly, feeling heat spread through her body as a tongue of flame escaped her parted lips. It was only temporary, but it did help her feel a little better.
"Will you two stop standing around? Yue's already got one!" Kya shouted, surrounded by penguins hoping to snag her fish.
"Well, here goes." Luan smiled, heading towards the penguins, who immediately flocked toward him. Roku looked down at her own fish, and she let out a small sigh. She still didn't want to do this.
The group quickly made their way to the run, penguins in tow. Kya instructed Luan how to get on them and how to ride them, while Yue made sure her mittens were snug. Kya soon started counting down, and before Roku knew it, everyone else had already launched their penguins down the hill. Pushing forward, she followed quickly.
Balancing on a penguin was hard enough as it was. But Roku's pengiun seemed to have a mind of its own. She tugged on it to go right, it would go right for a moment only to then go left. She tugged on it to go left, it did the opposite. She growled. Of course she was the one to pick the faulty penguin. She felt a bump, then another. She looked down at the terrain only to see blue ice. The worst possible thing to ride a penguin on. She tried slowing her penguin by pulling back on it's feathers, but the stubborn thing only honked angrily. She put a hand out to try and grab something, to bring the stupid creature to a halt. It was a bad idea, but she was panicking. She felt a tug on her parka, then a sharp pain in her hand. She felt the penguin slip out from under her, and a loud crack followed by a terrible pain her her wrist told her she was no longer riding it. Somersaulting across run, she finally slowed to a stop, the back of her head crashing down onto the ice with a painful thunk.
Her shouting as she fell must have been enough for the others to hear, because she soon heard Luan's voice, followed by a gust of air besides her. She heard him say her name, but all she could do was moan.
"You're bleeding!" Luan said, kneeling beside her.
"What?" Roku asked grogily. She lifted her hand up, to find a torn mitten covered in blood. A good sized gash across her palm. "Oh great."
"Roku! Are you okay!" Kya shouted, sliding next to her cousin.
"No... My wrist hurts." Roku answered, not even trying to sit up. Someone, she wasn't sure who, picked up her arm, and a sharp throbbing pain in her wrist caused her to pull it away.
"I think you sprained it..." Yue mumbled. "We should go home so Aunt Katara can heal it."
"Yeah? And how do you suggest we get there?" Kya glared at her little sister.
"It's my wrist, guys, not my leg. I can still walk." Roku growled, finally sitting up, rubbing the back of her head with her uninjured hand.
"Oh, right." Kya smiled.
"If only Appa was here, he'd give us a lift." Luan mumbled, removing a bison whistle from his pocket. The one his dad had given him.
"Can we just go home?" Roku said, standing on wobbly legs. "I knew pengiun sledding was a bad idea..."
"Yeah yeah, let's go." Kya rolled her eyes, looping her arm under Roku's to help balance her. "I told my dad we'd be gone for the day... Hope this won't ruin anything."
"I already know about the surprise party." Roku said, staggering forward.
"You do?" Luan looked at her in disappointment.
"Of course I do. Lin isn't very good at keeping secrets." Roku said.
"Lin's an idiot." Luan frowned. He loved his little sister, but sometimes she really had no idea what was going on. Roku let out a soft laugh.
"Are you sure she's not coming back soon?" Katara asked, poking her head out of Suki and Sokka's igloo.
"Kya took her and Luan out for the day. I think penguin sledding was on the agenda." Sokka said, as he continued to unsuccessfully braid Niu's hair.
"I still don't think this surprise dinner for her birthday is going to be much of a surprise." Toph grumbled from her spot on one of the furs that lined the floor of Sokka and Suki's home.
"What? Why?" Katara went wide eyed. "Did someone say something to her?"
"Calm down, Katara. Geez." Toph rolled her eyes. "I think she's expecting it, that's all."
"Don't worry, I'm sure she'll be happy about it either way." Suki placed a hand on Katara's shoulder. "She hasn't been home in years. I bet just being here was more than she could have hoped for."
"Niu, sit still!" Sokka grumbled besides Toph. "You want this ribbon in your hair for the party, don't you?" he looked down at the blue eyed seven year old. Her toothy grin looking back up at him.
"Yes, daddy." she nodded, causing Sokka to lose his grip on the braid again.
"You better grow up to be really manly, Atka, because I don't know how much more hair braiding I can take." Sokka looked at his son, who sat between him and Toph. He was too busy crashing his wooden polar bear dog into his wooden badger mole to take notice.
"Do you want me to do it?" Suki asked.
"No, this just became personal." Sokka grumbled, putting the ribbon between his teeth as he gathered Niu's auburn hair into his hands again.
Suki smiled, giving a quick shrug. She picked up her knife on the table and began cutting the vegetables Toph had managed to bring from Ba Sing Se.
"Does Roku still hate sea prunes?" Suki asked.
"Like Appa hates caves." Katara mumbled, sitting next to her sister-in-law at the table. She rested her head in her hands. "She loves Earth Kingdom food, especially anything spicy... Sometimes I wonder if we are even related..."
"Wow, she really is like Zuko!" Toph grinned. Katara whirled around to face her blind friend, glaring at the blind earthbender; knowing full well that she couldn't see her.
"Stop saying his name!" Katara growled. "Whether she's here or not, we have to get out of the habit!"
"So what, do we call him 'you know who'." Toph frowned, clearly unhappy with the way she was being spoken to.
"No, I came up with a solution!" Sokka said loudly, finally tying his daughter's braid with a silky blue ribbon.
"Here it comes..." Suki sighed.
"We use an anagram! Instead of Fire Lord Zuko, we call him I Dork Zero Flu!" he said, clearly very proud of his idea.
"Sokka..." Katara grumbled.
"Or what about Red If Lurk Zoo?"
"Yeah, that wouldn't be weird at all!" Katara smiled sarcastically. "It would sound like a totally normal conversation!"
"You don't have to be mean about it, Katara." Sokka's shoulders dropped.
"I thought it was very cute." Suki said, giving her husband a sweet smile.
"Stop encouraging him. He hasn't gotten any better than he was seventeen years ago." Toph laughed.
"I don't see you coming up with any ideas!" Sokka grimaced.
"He doesn't need an anagram, Sokka." Katara said sternly. "Just please refer to him as her father. Nothing fancy, got it?"
"But I spent hours coming up with some." Sokka said softly.
"It's okay, daddy. I liked it!" Niu stood, giving her father another grin.
"Thanks sweetie." Sokka smiled. "Now go find your sisters."
"Thanks for doing my hair!" she said, hugging him, then rushing out of the igloo.
When Sokka turned back to face the igloo full of women, he found two of them staring at him, and a smile on the blind one's face.
"What now?" Sokka grumbled.
"Now I get why you married him." Katara said slyly. Suki laughed.
"Oh!" Toph shouted, a hand flying to her belly.
"You okay!" Sokka jumped up, ready to do anything necessary.
"I'm fine, Sokka," Toph grumbled. "The baby just kicked, that's all."
"Really?" Katara's eye lit up, scooting closer to Toph. "Can I feel?"
"Sure, I guess. Give me your hand." Toph shrugged. She guided Katara's hand towards the movement. The waterbender looked on in wonder. It had been so long since she had been pregnant with Roku, and kind of missed having a baby around.
"Do you think you're ever going to have another one?" Toph asked. She could sense Katara's excitement from the sound of her voice, and fast heartbeat.
"Another what?" Katara played dumb.
"Another baby."
"Oh, I don't know." Katara removed her hand from Toph's abdomen. "I'm getting older now... not to mention the age difference for Roku..."
"Plus it's not like she can politely go up to Zuko and ask him to oh so kindly knock her up again." Sokka said. Toph punched him in the arm with everything she had, making the man almost fall over where he was sitting.
"You sometimes say the stupidest things." the earthbender glared.
"No, he's right." Katara mumbled. "Even if I wanted another baby, who would want me? I'm thirty-one, and almost every well off man my age is already married... And single mothers are usually the last on the list anyways."
"You still love him, don't you?" Suki asked, putting a hand on Katara's arm.
"I will never get used to the fact that you loved or still love Zuko... It's just too weird..." Sokka said.
"It's stupid, I know." Katara tried to smile, ignoring her brother. "I haven't seen him in six years, and even though he promised to propose to me again when everything in the Fire Nation was settled, I have this feeling like it's not going to happen anytime soon..."
"He promised to propose to you again?" Sokka asked, his right eyebrow shooting up towards his forehead.
"Oh, yeah." Katara nodded, a faint blush on her cheeks. "The day he met Roku... I sort of asked him to."
"You're still the hopeless romantic you've always been." Sokka sighed, shaking his head. "Why don't you just tell Roku, if you're trying to end up together anyway?"
"Because you don't know her as well as I do." Katara's mood changed abruptly, she was now in protective mode. "She'll go off looking for him just because she's angry at me. She has Zuko's temper and his tendency to never think things through. She will force her way to the palace and confront him even if it puts her life in danger! I can't let her do that!"
"What are you talking about?" a voice came from the entrance. Everyone looked over and felt their hearts drop into their stomach.
"Roku..." Katara mumbled. The now fifteen year old stood near the entrance of the igloo, Kya and Luan beside her. She looked horrified, her amber eyes wide, piercing her mothers blue ones.
"Mom, I don't understand..." Roku whispered, she sounded angry and lost, like she didn't know how she should be feeling. Everyone remained silent, waiting for Katara's answer, but she sat there, suddenly unable to speak.
Compared to what it used to be, the Royal Palace was practically abandoned. There were no servants skittering about, all the guards had been posted either at the palace walls, or Zuko's location. The food served wasn't bad, but it certainly wasn't as good as it once was. All of these things, Aang could understand. They weren't getting any imports from the other nations right now, and a lot of their food was going to the army, or being stolen by the Loyalist factions. Zuko, unlike his father, could deal without all the luxuries usually custom to the Royal Family, so he knew how to cut back on less essential things.
Aang hadn't even been in the Fire Nation for two days, and an attempt had already been made on Zuko's life. If Aang hadn't noticed the awkwardly short guard wearing a uniform about two sizes to big, who knows how far that young teenage boy would've gotten with that poison dagger? If he hadn't of gotten up for some water in the middle of the night, no one might have stopped him. When he told Zuko about it the next morning, the Fire Lord assured him that he no longer sleeps well anyways, so he would've heard the boy coming.
"What do you mean you're not sleeping?" Aang asked. By now, he was as tall as his friend, and no longer had to look up to meet his gaze.
"I can't. It's just impossible." Zuko stated.
"Have you tried meditating?"
"When you find me a moment when there isn't an emergency or someone trying to kill me, you let me know." Zuko snapped.
"Okay, so that won't work..." Aang frowned. "Zuko, I'm just trying to help."
The tired man looked at him and sighed. "I know."
"Today is Roku's birthday." Aang said. Zuko's expression changed, looking happy for a moment. "She's fifteen."
"She's fifteen already? I guess that's right... I just haven't seen her in years..."
"She's a pretty good firebender too." Aang added. "I even taught her how to redirect lightening."
"I wish this wasn't such a mess." Zuko frowned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Things would be different. Katara might have... stayed. I just don't know how much more of this I can take alone."
"I remember when Katara mentioned breaking up to me. I didn't want to, but it was what she needed. I could see that. Lucky for me, Toph was there. Now I've got a wife, two great kids and one on the way." Aang smiled. "Still, it's a little weird to be talking about Katara with you..."
"Is it still that weird?" Zuko looked at the airbender. "I know you were a little uncomfortable with it when you stopped by the winter she was here, you weren't even with Toph yet... But does it still bother you?"
"No, not that bad anymore. Seeing Katara with Roku, how much she loves her, it made me realize that maybe it's not as weird as I made it. The only thing that still bothers me is that she still isn't happy. Not as happy as she could be."
"Neither of us are." Zuko mumbled. "My people are beginning to doubt me... I can't find a way to stop the Loyalist numbers from growing, I haven't produced an heir yet, and now the Earth King wants me to move the colonials into the Fire Nation..."
"Even if Roku became public knowledge, would she be considered a legitimate heir?" Aang asked. He wasn't really sure how things like that worked out in the Fire Nation.
"Only if I officially adopted her or married Katara." Zuko answered. "As long as she is my blood..." Aang nodded slowly.
"We should probably head to that tactical meeting now..." Aang said.
"Yeah, probably." Zuko sighed. "Aang?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you for being here." Zuko smiled.
A million things were going through Roku's head. Her mother was staring at her, unable to mumble a word. Roku stared back as Suki managed to get everyone out of the igloo, knowing it was not their place to witness the confrontation.
"Mom!" Roku shouted, causing her mother to jump.
"Roku... I..." Katara stood, but didn't move closer to her daughter. "Your father... he..."
"You said he wanted nothing to do with me." Roku's eyes narrowed. "That's not true, is it?"
"He didn't even know you existed until you were eight!" Katara said nervously, realizing it might not have been the best thing to say.
"What?"
"Sweetheart, I was only trying to do what was best for you." Katara took a step towards her, but Roku took one step backwards.
"What did you mean I'd go marching into the palace," Roku almost whispered. "Looking for Zuko?"
"Fire Lord Zuko is..."
"The Fire Lord!" Roku's eyes widened. "No no no..."
"Roku, listen to me." Katara managed to grab her daughter's wrist, holding her in place.
"Is Zuko my father?" she asked harshly. Katara looked away for a moment.
"Yes." she said softly. Roku tugged her wrist out of her mother's hand.
"I thought he was one of your friends! He gave me this..." Roku's hand flew up to her necklace, when a sharp pain in her other wrist made her wince. Suddenly it all made sense.
"Are you alright?" Katara asked.
"It's fine, I sprained it while penguin sledding." Roku glared. "Don't change the topic. Why didn't you tell me? Don't you trust me?"
"Of course I do..." Katara frowned. "But I also know you."
"What does that mean?"
"You're impulsive. And you will go stomping into the palace just because you're mad at me! I was just trying to protect you!"
"I can't believe you!" Roku shouted, storming out of the igloo, not giving her mother a chance to say another word.
"Roku, wait!" Katara chased her.
"Get away from me!" Roku turned, flame flying from her palm. It wasn't strong enough to reach Katara, just to stop her from coming any closer. She heard her mother yelp, jumping back from the disappearing fire. Roku needed to get out of the village. People were now staring at her, especially after firebending at her own mother. She felt like her whole body was on fire and she couldn't breathe. She picked up her pace to a run, lifting her parka over her head and tossing it into the snow. She didn't know where she was going, she just had to go somewhere that people couldn't see her.
For the past two hours, Kei had been following Sun around the marketplace in the ocean side village of Huohai. For once, they were actually spending their money on things they actually needed, like food and medical supplies. Not stupid little trinkets they didn't really have use, or room, for. Sun waved for him to come over to a small cart an old woman ran, an apothecary by the looks of her. The shop behind her seemed to belong to her as well. She must have been doing very good for herself.
"Unwrap your arm." Sun demanded. Kei looked down at his heavily bandaged arm, specks of dried blood visible through the fabric. Sun looked back at the old woman. "My poor son got his arm cut in a training accident, he's so clumsy. Then he decided to go ahead and sear it shut with firebending!"
"How awful..." the woman looked at him. He hated it when Sun and Jinto referred to him as their son. Kei rolled his eyes and continued to unwrap the bandages. As they fell to his feet, he couldn't help but wince as the wind blew against the raw skin. The woman examined it for a moment, before her eyes went wide. "You poor boy! Please, come inside and allow me to properly treat it!" The old woman almost dragged Kei into the shop.
"I'll be over there if you need me." Sun laughed.
The shop smelled familiar. Like the herbs that his mother used to use on his scrapes as a child. As a boy, he hated the smell of them, but now he found it comforting. The old woman sat him on a bench behind the counter, and disappeared behind a bead curtain into a back room. He heard mumbling, then the old woman reappeared, carrying a small bowl and two jars filled with dried herbs.
"What did you say your name was, boy?" the old woman asked crankily. Pinching herbs into the bowl.
"It's uh... It's Dong." Kei mumbled, sticking with the alias Joh had assigned him years ago. He couldn't just go around telling people he was Kei Liao, son of Admiral Zhan Liao of the Fire Nation Navy. He certainly didn't look like the son of a decorated Admiral... Nor did he feel like one anymore.
"That's one you don't hear everyday." the woman snorted. Kei felt his cheeks get hot.
"It's a family name." Kei said.
"Help yourself to some tea." the woman offered, nodding her head towards a pot on the counter. Kei nodded, taking one of the already poured cups with his good arm. "My name is Lan Liao."
Kei almost choked on the tea, his stomach doing cartwheels. The Liao family name was not common... How could he have been so stupid. His father grew up in Huohai... He had lived a modest life before meeting Kei's mother. And Kei had never actually met his grandmother. Could this woman be her?
"You look so familiar..." the woman squinted, sitting in front of him, a bowl of paste made from the herbs in her hand. "But I guess after all these years of living alone, everyone starts to look the same."
"You said your name was Liao?" Kei asked, his voice cracking.
"Yes..."
"Was your son an Admiral in the Navy?" Kei asked, as calmly as possible.
"He was. How did you know?"
"My father used to serve under him." Kei lied.
"I see. Small world, isn't it." Lan looked at him through her old squinted eyes. She took his arm gently, beginning to rub the paste over the burn. Kei winced.
"I guess so." he said through his teeth. The paste cooled the burn but stung at the same time.
"Zhan was a wonderful man... His wife was as well. They had two beautiful daughters. Luli and Suyin..."
"What about me?" Kei mumbled softly, not realizing he said it out loud.
"Excuse me?" the woman looked up at him.
"Oh, uh, nothing."
"How long do you think you can keep this up?" Lan sighed.
"Huh?"
"I'm old, Kei, not stupid."
Kei pulled back his arm in surprise. He looked at the old woman, his grandmother, like she had just been lit on fire.
"Give me back your arm!" she snapped, grabbing it and pulling it back onto her lap.
"How do you know who I am?"
"So you are him." she grinned. "Fell right into that one, didn't you!"
"What?" Kei's mouth dropped open. How could this insane woman be related to him?
"I knew you weren't dead." she said. "Your father's spirit would have told me. He's the one who told me who you were!"
"You can't talk to the dead." Kei grumbled. That proved it, she had lost her mind.
"You can if you try hard enough!" This woman was crazy. "You just gotta keep your mind open!"
"Are you going to tell my family?" Kei asked softly.
"I'm afraid I'm the only family you have left..." Lan looked down at his arm.
"What are you talking about?"
"Your mother and sisters went looking for you... They were killed by Loyalists in between the Capital and another town."
He was silent. They were dead? All of them? Everything he had pictured for his family suddenly shattered around him. They weren't living quietly without him after all. They were dead because of him. He looked down at his arm. It wasn't the first person to die because of him...
"My mother went looking for me?" Kei finally muttered. "She hated me..."
"No mother could hate their child, she just didn't understand you."
"More like didn't want me."
"No..." Lan shook her head. "Although I never heard from her after Zhan died, I remember all the times she stayed up with you as a baby, making sure you survived the night..."
"Survived the night?"
"You were a very ill child. Many healers blamed it on how old your mother was when she gave birth to you. As you can imagine, forty-six is not the ideal age to have a baby. Others said you were born under bad stars. But whatever the reason, your mother spent all night sitting by you crib. You grew out of it, eventually, but because of it, MeiLin always viewed you as fragile."
"No one ever told me that..." Kei said.
"No one would have."
"Forgive me if I'm being forward... All of this is a bit of shock." Kei mumbled.
"There's nothing to be sorry for." Lan smiled. "It's not every day you meet your grandmother. So where have you been all this time?"
"I found a place with the wrong sort of people..."
"They did this to you, right?"
"Yeah..." Kei studied her as she began wrapping his arm. "How did you know?"
"Your father keeps a close eye on you."
"Right..." Kei said. He was still skeptic on the whole talking to spirits thing, but he was in too much shock to argue. How could he be the last of his family left?
"There, your arm should heal nicely. It will leave a scar though, since you seared the damned thing shut." she stood, placing her hands on her hips. "All firebenders are idiots, I tell ya. You take after your grandfather that way. Spirits rest his soul. You two are the only firebenders in the Liao family for the past 90 years."
"Thank you." Kei stood, standing over Lan quite a bit. She was a very short woman. "I never thought I'd see family again."
"Nor did I." Lan smiled. "And don't worry, the spirits have something planned for you."
Kei smiled a little, for the first time in a long while. He wrapped his arms around her quickly, embracing her.
"Look how boney you are, aren't you eating!" she poked his rib cage as she came out of their hug. "Would you like me to make you something?"
"Sorry, lady, but we have to get back to the family." Sun said, entering the shop. "Ugh it smells in here. Dong, darling, say good bye to the old lady. We're leaving."
"Thank you for you help. How much do I owe you?" Kei asked, bowing.
"Your company for a lonely old woman was payment enough. It was nice to talk to someone." Lan winked at him.
"You hear that, free medical care! Let's go!" Sun grabbed Kei's sleeve, pulling him out from behind the counter. Kei looked back at Lan. Her happy smile had fallen. She had understood his silent plea to just let him go, that there was nothing she could do for him. And for that he was thankful. While the news she had shared with him had been heartbreaking to say the least, he had been able to give his last family member hope. He still had so many questions unanswered... When was his family killed? What happened to their estate, their accounts? Why had his mother treated him so horribly if she loved him? Just as she would have questions for him. But all that would have to wait.
"Your arm feeling better, kid?" Sun asked.
"Uh, yeah." Kei nodded.
"Good, then you can hold these." Sun turned, dropping bags of food and other worthless items like jewelry into his arms unceremoniously. He inhaled. He had to pretend everything was the same as before, for Lan's safety. Who knows what Jinto would do to her if he found out who she was.
Hours had passed since Roku had left the village, and she had managed to find her way to the ocean, and had been sitting on the edge of the small icy cliff for the better part of the afternoon. She remembered sitting here during sunsets with her mom when shew as little, listening to stories of her adventures, or even old folk tales she had heard in the other nations. When she was ignorant of who she was.
She heard crunching of snow behind her, as well as soft mumbling. The two voices were familiar, and distinct enough to identify. She turned around, to find Kya and Luan standing there. Her parka was in Luan's hands.
"Hey, you okay?" Kya asked, taking a step towards her.
"Did you know?" Roku asked, standing up.
"Know wh-" Kya began. "Oh, uh. No. I didn't know your father was the Fire Lord. Well, I mean, I do now, but that's because I heard the same thing you did..."
"Luan?" Roku looked at her younger friend. He shook his head.
"No, I didn't know before now."
"Are you going to come with me, if I go to the Fire Nation?" Roku asked.
"To the Fire Nation?" Kya's jaw dropped. "Are you sure that's the best idea?"
"I really don't care." Roku glared at the ground. "Would you go with me or not?"
"Roku, you're my best friend. But I don't think this is the best way to..." Luan began.
"I don't need airbender wisdom right now. I just need to know if my friends would be willing to do this with me." Roku mumbled.
"I couldn't let you go alone, I mean, what kind of cousin would I be?" Kya smiled. "If it's something you feel that strongly about, then I wouldn't try to stop you."
"I couldn't let you go alone either." Luan said reluctantly. "But how would we get there?"
Just as if on cue, a load roar was heard overhead. The three teenagers looked into the sky to see Appa, being ridden by Aang, flying towards the village.
"Dad's back early..." Luan said. "Something must have happened..."
"We just found our way into the Fire Nation." Roku said, a smirk forming on her face.
A/N: We will be seeing more of Kei's crazy grandma. I like her, personally. This was the family chapter, so I had to have both of them encounter familial situations. Do you believe that Kei's father is watching him from the spirit world? I thought it was a nice twist. Now go see the prequel! Oh, and by the way, I redesigned Kei's character and he and Roku are now in a picture I drew on my deviantart. Profile name is Crzy4Avatar Don't forget to review! :D