Don't own Avatar. Don't claim to.

A bit less action, but some fluff, some humor and a whole lot of wonderful character development. READ IT! 3

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The sun was just rising over the South Pole as Appa flew in over the outer wall. Leitha chattered gleefully as she moved back and forth from Appa's saddle to Jung's shoulder. Even Jung was beaming brightly as she peered down upon the greatly expanded city. She had not been by to see her old friends there in the whole three years of the war. As they drew near the large palace in the center of the city, Jung leaned down towards Appa's ear.

"Alright, big guy, you know where the stables are. I'll be by there to see you after I talk to a few people." She hopped back into the saddle and grabbed her father's glider. "Let's go Lei-lei!"

She landed gently on the tough packed snow stairs leading to the doors of Chief Hakoda's residence. Pushing on the doors didn't seem to do anything, however. When did they get locks installed? Jung thought to herself. However, before she could reach up and knock the doors melted away, replaced by two groggy, unhappy waterbenders.

"Hi! Anybody awake yet!?"

One of the two figures shrugged and reached to rub the sleep out of his eye before realizing who was looking at. He quickly shot his hand down to his side in hopes that he didn't draw attention to her… predicament. "I'll go get Katara up for you."

Jung's stomach grumbled at her loudly. "Wait, wait. No, it's fine. Can you just tell her I'm in town when she wakes up? I'm going to try and find some food."

The second figure mumbled something about her request being satisfied, and she turned to fly away.

"Ohh, wait! Umm, it's been a while. Which way is it to that Fire Nation restaurant downtown? The Spice of Life, I think it was called?"

The second figure just pointed a finger into the distance. A quick, cheerful "thank you" followed, before a gust of wind blew the waterbenders' hair back, and the door was set back into place.

--

It didn't take long to recognize the building Jung was looking for. A brick building surrounded by nothing but ice tends to stick out like a sky bison in a koi pond. Apparently it was Sokka's idea. Suki claimed it was so he couldn't get lost looking for it, which Sokka never did deny.

Landing before the ice frosted doors of the restaurant, Jung pushed, being denied by an unexpectedly locked door for the second time in fifteen minutes. A slow sigh fell from her lips. "Can you believe this, Leitha? A Fire Nation business that doesn't open at sunrise." Leitha chattered away on her shoulder, which her owner and friend seemed to decipher. "Yeah, this is definitely coming out of the tip."

The gray-eyed teen turned around and leaned against the nearest window, and questioned her companion about how they should go about killing time until they could eat. Within a couple minutes, however, before either could come up with a feasible answer, a rattle at the door signaled that the restaurant was open. Jung jumped up and walked inside. She was seated by a nearly opaque window and handed a menu. About ten minutes in to eating her food she began to think too much about all that's happened since she last left this city. Her smile slowly faded as the plate in front of her slowly emptied. She needed to talk to Katara. She was like a second mother to her. If anybody knew what to do about the grief that weighed on her heart, she would.

The bell on the front door rang and the airbender's head jerked up in expectation. A tall, dark skinned woman walked in and looked around at the seats. Jung immediately perked back up at the sight of her old friend.

"Katara! Turn around!"

Katara turned to see a wildly waving hand and a huge smile plastered to the round, porcelain face that she recognized as Jung's. The teen speedily ran to meet the Water Tribe Princess in a hug. Both of them were shocked by the discovery that the airbender now stood half a head taller than the master waterbender.

"Come, sit down, we have a lot of catching up to do, I'm sure! I would offer you breakfast, but I can barely afford my own meal here." Jung took a break in her fast speech to giggle a little at herself. "Kinda tough to earn money wandering around the world, you know."

"No, please. I'll pay for us both. It's so good to see you, you have no idea." Katara's voice betrayed a little sorrow, despite the words that came out of her mouth. "If it weren't immensely ironic to do so, to you of all people, I'd complain about how lonely it's been here." A small smile graced her full lips.

"Tell me about it. I think it's driving me a little mad. I mean, I'm holding conversations with Appa and Leitha like they were real people. Can you believe that?"

The waterbender laughed at the memory of Aang doing the same after multiple sleepless nights years ago. "Yeah, actually, I can." She paused, not wanting to change the topic to something so serious so soon. She didn't really know if she should wait, either, though. "So, any prog –"

"Wait. After breakfast please? We can talk about all that important stuff back up at the palace later."

"Hmm, yeah, that sounds good. So, what is that?" Katara pointed to the remnants of what must've been a delicious meal on her companion's plate. "Don't think I've ever tried it."

--

"So, I have to ask. What's with the hair?" They walked up the last few stairs towards the palace, and Katara deftly melted the front door to allow their entrance.

"You don't like it?"

"No, you look beautiful. It's just… very avante gaurde. And judging by the paintings and statues at the temples, it's not exactly the standard female airbender style."

"Ehh, those styles are so last century." Jung reached up and brushed a stray bang back across her nose and into its rightful place. "Plus, not many people have any idea what female airbender hair is supposed to look like. It's not hard to pass it off as the norm."

"I guess you're right."

The teenager grew curious as she became aware of where her companion was leading her. "So, any reason we're going towards the war room? Who else are we expecting?"

"Well, not that I wouldn't love to continue talking about the latest in airbender fashion, but I think my father will be rather interested in any news you've brought with you."

Jung let out a disheartened "ohh" as they walked through a door-less archway and found themselves in a large room with a circular table in the center. Hakoda sat at the table prepared for the arrival of his daughter and the girl he thought of as his grandchild.

"Well, I guess we should get right into it," the airbender started as everybody sat down. Her voice had been drained of all the cheer it contained moments ago, but she knew that what she had to say was important. If she picked up anything from her parents it was that there are some things you just can't avoid. It's best to face these issues with assertiveness and a serious face. "Over the last three years I've been meeting with many of the ruling class in the Earth Kingdom. Anything from King Kuei of Ba Sing Se to the ruling councils of the western cities. I did visit Omashu, but it was more of a vacation, considering news of my fathers death already reached Bumi's ears, and the recruitment process was started long before I arrived.

"To make a long story short, however, I've done little in changing anybody's mind. The people, for the most part, have turned a def ear to my pleas. Nobody in the Earth Kingdom wants to hop right back into a war at all, let alone a war to rescue the Fire Nation. The memories of the last war are too fresh in their minds. Even King Kuei is reluctant to push for an increase in recruitment posters."

"Hmm, that's a bad sign," Katara interrupted. "I figured he'd be willing to back Iroh after what the Hahn did. Any chance you know who's pulling the Earth King's strings now?"

"He did mention a 'trusted advisor,' but I never had the opportunity to meet with him. There was something about him being busy in meetings with the Council of Five."

"That would make sense." Hakoda spoke up this time. "After what happened with Long Feng last time, he wouldn't allow such influence to come from the same place. Not to mention the generals were particularly affected by the war. All five of them had lost at least one child to the Fire Nation. That's a tough thing to forgive."

"Speaking of lost children, where are Sokka and Suki? Shouldn't Sokka be waking up about now?"

"They actually left for the Fire Nation the day after you disappeared on us." Jung was shocked that there was no sad emotion behind Katara's statement.

"You don't mean, they…"

"Ohh, no, no. They're safe. The Fire Lord asked for Sokka specifically to assist him as an advisor," Hakoda mentioned, picking up on the worry in the girl's voice.

"Zuko mentioned to Iroh that he was the one to draw up the plans for our invasion that ended the Great War. Iroh was quite impressed, and sent a messenger hawk for the over-grown oaf immediately upon hearing the news of your father's passing"

"Katara, that oaf is your brother. Please, try to be respectful. At least when he's not here to laugh at." Having said this, Hakoda proceeded to chuckle at his absent son's expense.

"Speaking of Zuko, you hear anything from him lately, Sugar Queen?"

"Why must you use your mother's nick-names when you taunt people?" Katara sighed. "Anyways, I'll tell you all about that later, it's not as important."

"Alright, well, that does bring us to my question for you. Any word at all on where my mother could be?" Jung fought hard to keep herself from crying. Her voice didn't crack at least, so she was convinced she could at least make it back to the guest room they'd have prepared for her before breaking down. She hated thinking about her mother lately.

"Nothing, I'm sorry to say." Hakoda sounded saddened by the inability to help on this front. "Hahn broke off communication with us shortly after the attack, knowing that we'd support the Fire Nation in this fight, even against our sister tribe. And, although we've seen an influx of Northern Tribesmen coming to our shores in search of asylum, none have been able to offer any insight as to where she could be kept. The whole North Pole is nothing but ice. She could be held captive anywhere without being able to see, let alone bend."

Jung couldn't hold on much longer. "Would you mind if we took a break? It's been a long day already, and I'd like to get some rest before we go any further."

"Of course. Katara, dear, would you be so kind as to show our honored guest to her room?"

Katara simply nodded, and led Jung down the hall to her room. "You want me to stay with you for a bit?"

"Please?" Jung's voice finally cracked as the first tears started to flow down her cheek.