A/N:
So, uh, I ended up doing three POV's for this chapter, none of which we've seen before. So yeah.
It's a lovely morning!
Then again, Avatar Aang not finding a morning lovely is a very rare occasion indeed.
He wakes up, meditates, eats delicious fruit grown by local farmers, and then hums to himself as he works through waterbending and firebending forms.
He picks these particular elements in honor of today.
Just as he's finishing up he spots Sang, Prince Zuko's wolf, trotting ahead of his master.
Avatar Aang smiles because Prince Zuko looks like he's going into shock.
Oh how the Avatar loves weddings and the peculiar mental state they make people go into!
"Prince Zuko!" he calls out, waving a hand to his former apprentice. "You look as if you're in need of counseling, so won't you come and join me?"
Zuko freezes, as if he wasn't expecting to be spotted out and about this early. "Okay," he says, voice higher than normal.
Avatar Aang sits down in the cool grass and gestures for Zuko to sit across from him.
After the Prince settles himself, Avatar Aang places his hands on his knees and gives Zuko a calm smile. "And how are you feeling this morning?"
Prince Zuko is already sweaty. "I'm…I'm fine."
"Is that so?"
Zuko nods, clearly lying.
"Zuko, it is perfectly normal to be nervous on your wedding day."
Zuko's eyes widen, but then he clears his throat and averts his gaze. "Last night I was ecstatic," he grumbles.
Avatar Aang shakes his head slightly. Young people were always funny like this on their wedding days. They were always fretting over things that in the long run didn't matter.
"Doubt, Prince Zuko, is something we only feel before the times where we must be one hundred percent confident with ourselves. The true test is whether or not we have enough confidence to overcome doubt."
After a beat Zuko's head tilts back in the Avatar's direction.
"But Avatar Aang, I don't doubt my desire to get married, and I definitely don't doubt my feelings for Katara. I just doubt my abilities to stay conscious for the entirety of the ceremony."
The Avatar tugs on his wispy chin beard in thought. "Prince Zuko, there is a special kind of sap that we airbenders will sometimes take before stressful events—"
"Uh, no thank you."
Avatar Aang can't help a mischievous smile. "Are you certain?"
"Uh huh. I think I just need to throw up." Zuko is starting to look a little green.
Avatar Aang nods. "You do what you must do. And Prince Zuko, if you faint in the middle of your wedding ceremony to young Katara, you need not worry! I'll make sure to catch you."
xxx
Sometimes Avatar Aang forgets that the rest of the world sees him as an old man.
After all, he himself still feels quite young. He's in wonderful physical condition and his mind is sharper than most.
However, young Sokka manages to occasionally make him feel old. It's probably because Avatar Aang finds himself giving out more wisdom to young Sokka then he has to anyone else.
Although Prince Zuko could give Sokka a run for his money.
The Avatar spies Sokka leaning against a tree, yawning and grumbling.
"Good morning, young Sokka! Are you as excited for the day's festivities as I am?"
Sokka sighs and gives him a bleary look. "No."
Avatar Aang doesn't let this deter his smile. "It's your sister's wedding."
"I still hate weddings."
Avatar Aang almost laughs. Young people always hate weddings. He supposes that it's because it isn't until they're older that they really appreciate the peacefulness that solitude can provide.
But the Avatar doesn't laugh. Instead, he says, "Perhaps one day you'll learn to appreciate them."
Sokka shrugs one shoulder and glowers at the ground. "What's to appreciate?" he snaps.
The Avatar moves forward so that he his standing next to his apprentice. "Well, weddings are, in essence, a celebration of love. I can't speak for you, young Sokka, but I find love a wondrous thing to behold. After all, it is love that reminds us that this world is not such a terrible place to live it."
He pats Sokka on the back and walks away. He is answered in silence.
This makes Avatar Aang grin and he has to force himself not to do a jig in Sokka's eyesight.
To hush up young Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe is a tremendous feat indeed!
Ke Ke cannot stop wiggling.
She's just so excited.
She's been waiting for this day for months. She can't wait to see her Uncle Zukey and her new Auntie Kat-Kat get married and live happily ever after like in all of her fairytale scrolls. And Ke Ke bets that her new Auntie Kat-Kat is going to look so pretty in her dress and her Uncle Zukey will look so handsome and Ke Ke wonders what kind of kiss he'll give Auntie Kat-Kat at the end of the ceremony.
Ke Ke feels that kisses look nice, overall. Sometimes they're icky, but that's only when she catches Daddy kissing Mommy.
Daddy has made her promise to stay seated while he goes off and talks to Grandpappy Iroh. Ke Ke doesn't necessarily mind sitting, it's just that she can't sit still.
Someone sits down next to her. "Quit moving around."
Ke Ke nearly falls out of her chair with joy. "AUNTIE AZULA!"
Azula rolls her eyes and looks down at her, shaking her head. "Ke Ke, what did I say? I'm not your aunt. I'm your cousin, your second cousin, actually.
But Ke Ke just grins and grabs a hold of Azula's hand. "You're so silly, Auntie Azula."
Azula gives her a withering look, but Ke Ke is unfazed. "Uncle Zukey told you about my special job, right?"
Azula looks unimpressed. "You're handling the flowers." At Ke Ke's extremely wide grin she narrows her eyes. "They're just flowers."
Ke Ke only squeals and holds her hands against her chest. "I love flowers. And these are wedding flowers!"
"Mmhmm."
Azula pulls her hand out of Ke Ke's grip before straightening her position and facing forward. She looks stern, which Ke Ke thinks is silly because Auntie Azula is super pretty and should smile and let her hair down all the time.
Azula crosses her arms over her chest and frowns, eyeing the front of the crowd, where the ceremony would take place, with distaste.
Ke Ke decides that this won't do. She latches onto Azula's arm and cuddles into her side, and when Azula tries to shake her off Ke Ke is relentless and holds on tight.
Finally her Auntie Azula stills, and though she doesn't smile, Ke Ke happily notes that she has stopped frowning.
xxx
Ke Ke is appalled to discover that her new Auntie Kat-Kat is not wearing a poufy princess dress!
And it's not red, it's blue.
This is an abomination, which Ke Ke quietly lets her two dolls know all about, right in the middle of the ceremony.
Daddy gently grips her elbow. "Do I need to take you away from here?" There's sternness in Prince Lu Ten's voice, but Ke Ke only smiles up at him and shakes her head.
She would have to finish ranting about Auntie Kat-Kat's questionable wedding dress choice to her dolls later.
She forces herself to focus on the ceremony, even though this part is super boring.
It's just a bunch of talking. No kissing as of yet, and Ke Ke's turn with the flowers isn't for a little while.
She puts her head in her palms and leans forward, staring down at the grass. It's warm out, but not too warm, and the sun is shining, but not too brightly. Daddy says that its lovely weather for a wedding, although Mommy points out that rainy weather on a wedding day is good luck, that it hints at a fruitful marriage.
Ke Ke doesn't understand why rain on a wedding day would mean that the marrying couple would be eating more fruit, but decides not to say anything.
And then Daddy is nudging her and Ke Ke knows what that means! She's out of her seat in a flash, grabbing the fire lilies from Mommy and practically running up to where Uncle Zukey and her new Auntie Kat-Kat are standing.
As she reaches them she slows down and quietly hands Uncle Zukey the flowers, suddenly feeling shy, knowing that all the people sitting behind her are watching.
"Thank you, Ke Ke," Uncle Zukey says. Ke Ke nods, smiles at them both, and then rushes back to her seat.
By the time she reaches it, Uncle Zukey has already placed the fire lilies throughout Auntie Kat-Kat's hair.
Ke Ke grins and decides that it's okay that her new Auntie Kat-Kat isn't wearing a princess dress. The fire lilies make her glow regardless.
Toph likes sunsets.
People tell her that they're pretty, but of course she wouldn't know, nor does she care.
Toph likes sunsets because she can literally feel the earth cooling underneath her bare feet.
She's standing right on the outer line of the after party, happily eavesdropping on people's conversations and enjoying the sunset. They're at the Western Air Temple, since Zuko and Katara both agreed not to have the wedding at either the South Pole or the Fire Nation Capitol as to not show preference. The downside to this is the complete lack of decent, hearty Earth Kingdom food, in Toph's opinion.
Suddenly there's clapping, a bunch of people start cheering, and the music starts to pick up, so Toph assumes that guests have started dancing.
Then someone shuffles over to her. Toph can tell it's a male by the heavier footsteps, and at first she thinks it's some poor bastard who thinks he can finagle her into dancing with him.
She nearly pops her knuckles with delight. This would be fun.
Except the man doesn't approach her. He stands off to her left and doesn't speak.
Toph shifts her weight so that she's leaning towards him and listens with all of her senses. His heartbeat is sturdy, but his breathing isn't. She's quite sure that she's never actually met this person face to face.
And then she hears it: sniffling.
She nearly shakes her head before breaking the silence. "What's got you bummed? Weddings are joyous events." She turns her head in his direction.
Toph feels him jump, and she smiles because she obviously startled him. It always amuses her when people think she doesn't know that they're there.
"That they are," he says. Toph notices that his voice is pleasant and deep. She frowns, it sounds like another voice that she knows, although they aren't the same. Perhaps the two are related?
"Crying out of happiness?" she counters, somewhat frustrated that she has yet to figure out who this is.
"Mostly," the man admits. "But it's a bittersweet day for me." There's a smile in his voice, and after a beat Toph realizes that he's probably watching someone.
The man softly says something to himself, probably thinking that Toph wouldn't catch it. Of course she does. Wish you were here.
His identity clicks into place, but for once Toph does not feel smug with herself. She sends a small smile in the man's direction instead.
"Your daughter will be happy. She is happy." Toph clears her throat, having said what she needed to say, and crosses her arms over her chest.
"Thank you." There's a long stretch of silence, and Toph thinks that they're finished talking.
"I just wish her mother could see her like this," Hakoda says, voice barely above a whisper.
Toph shrugs one shoulder. "I'm sure she knows. Take it from me, you don't have to see something to know."
xxx
Toph awakes with a jerk. It's near sunrise; she can tell by the way the floor is starting to warm up beneath her.
She briefly flirts with the idea of rolling over and going back to sleep. But no, she has to pee way too badly.
There's a steady snoring to her right, which would be Sokka. She can feel the steady heartbeats of two people lying to her left, in the corner of the room. One is Mai, Toph can tell by the fact that she never moves in her sleep, and the other is some bubbly circus chick who's name Toph never managed to catch.
The Avatar had introduced the two ladies to Sokka last night, in hopes of what Toph wasn't so sure.
All they ended up getting buzzed, playing a riveting game of Truth or Dare, making inappropriate jokes about what "position" the newly married couple were currently in (except for Sokka, who covered his ears whenever a joke was made), and then crashing out in one of the multiple spare rooms the Western Air Temple has at its disposal.
Toph gets to her feet and is out of the room with ease. She walks down the hall, resisting a yawn, when she nears the bedroom that the freshly married couple is staying in. She's prepared to hurry past, since she has a pretty good idea of what's going on in there and doesn't particularly want to hear it.
Toph is surprised to hear a conversation instead.
"—love you so much," she hears Katara say.
Zuko answers with something disgustingly sappy, but then his voice lowers in suggestion and Katara giggles in a scandalized way.
Toph doesn't need sight to be able to picture what they're doing. They're lying in bed, assuredly in the nude, and cuddling and acting all lovey-dovey in their marital bliss.
It's nauseating.
Toph pauses and instantly recognizes the footsteps that are attempting to sneak up behind her. She turns around and faces Sokka.
He balks. "Why are you listening in on my baby sister and her new husband?" he whisper shouts.
She shrugs. "Well, I had to pee, so I naturally had to walk past them. And instead of overhearing them doing it, they were talking. And I couldn't just not stop and listen in on their conversation."
Sokka moves forward and puts a hand on the small of her back, gently nudging her away from the door. Toph blinks, surprised by the gesture. "Yeah, yeah, alright. I'm going."
When they're finally outside and heading toward the outhouses, Toph looks in Sokka's direction and goes, "It's official, I'm never getting married."
"Really?" he sounds somewhat surprised. "You too?"
"Why aren't you ever getting married, Snozzles?" she asks, smiling.
"Too much hassle," he says, and Toph detects a slight hint of bitterness in his voice. "Also, girls suck. No offence."
"It's okay. Guys are assholes. But you can take offence to that."
Sokka snorts. "Hey, do you want to be my We're Never Getting Married Friend?"
Toph shrugs. "Didn't realize that there was a club, but sure."
Sokka shifts a little bit so that he's walking closer to her. Toph smiles.
xxx
After Toph finishes up with her business and starts walking back to the room, the earth is warm underneath her feet.
Toph likes sunrises too.
A/N:
Hope none of you are too upset with me for skirting around a typical wedding chapter. I wanted to mix it up a bit and I hope I achieved that. Had a lot of fun with these POV's, not going to lie. The next chapter we will definitely be back to our regularly scheduled Zuko POV, promise.
Also, I've decided that I'm going to post up the Sokka/Azula one-shot as its own piece, so unfortunately there's only going to be one chapter left. Hope this doesn't bum you guys out too much. I've had the ending planned forever, though, and can't wait for you guys to read it. :D
I want to wish everyone a Happy Hanukkah and a Merry Christmas! Hope it's lovely! And thank you again, readers, lurkers, everyone, for supporting this story and loving it despite my crazy. I truly appreciate it.