FANART!
From Neato123, 'Heartbroken'. As a matter of fact, this picture truly breaks my heart. There's so much sadness in Toph's face, and the running make up makes me want to kick the monk all over the place.
http : / / neato123 dot deviantart dot com / art / AMoH-27-Heartbroken-101555682 or just go to my profile and click on the link.
Also, I couldn't help myself. I drew 'El Tuerto'. Let it be known that I'm not an artist, I'm mostly a bystander, so I apologize for any lack of grace. However, El Tuerto is supposed to be ugly and smelly.
http : / / adridere dot deviantart dot com / art / El-Tuerto-101643192 or just go to my profile and click on the link.
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After this chapter, there is one more chapter and an Epilogue.
I actually wrote the Epilogue half way through the story but decided to changed it a couple of days ago after an inner battle ...
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XXX. Messages from a Tree
(Katara)
Katara was one flick of the wrist away from defying all notions of duty and respect and waterbending a waterwhip onto Gran-Gran's fanny. The lady had been next to impossible, and the negotiations with the Gods were rapidly approaching the point of no return. Wars had been declared, and lost, for less than this.
"I'm not saying anything about payment, but The Ebi must a least do Community Service. It ate too many maidens and made the Water Tribes' life really difficult," Gran-Gran was saying.
Katara hid her face in her hands. So far, they had been lucky that La was very happy with the dual hand-holding and that Yue used to be Water Tribe. If it would have been her on the other side of the negotiation table from Gran-Gran, she would have gone apocalyptic on her grandmother a long time ago.
"I just want some peace for our mortals form at the Oasis, Water Tribe," La answered with his watery voice. "Your price is getting too high."
Chin, cowering in a corner and taking notes, felt forced to intervene and whispered in Katara's ear, making sure the Gods didn't notice him.
"The idea, Master, is for the negotiation to be a win-win. Right now, your grandmother is in a winner-takes-all mentality. We are never finishing this. Immortals, basically, have all the time in the world."
"Honorable La," Katara intervened, kicking Gran-Gran, "please understand that we only want peace, too. Gran-Gran is being a bit emotional because of all the recent events."
Gran-Gran kicked her back, Katara stifled an 'ouch!'.
"I'm not emotional! And unlike other people around here, I don't need secret outlets for my emotions." The older lady addressed the young Moon Goddess sweetly, "Honorable Yue, dear, you are like me, originally from the North. Do you think is too much to ask to add some tiny provisions to the Covenant declaring some religious dogmas? They won't cost you divinities anything, and they would make everyone very happy."
Yue was all for it.
"Of course, Sokka's grandmother. What are the dogmas?"
"That Abstinence Only policies are stupid; that only females (elders or otherwise) have a saying on the destiny of young water females; and that unsavory Northern Water Tribe Customs are officially outlawed. That includes arranged marriages and prohibition from females to learn combative waterbending."
Yue nodded.
"Who decides which customs are unsavory?" The Moon asked.
"I do."
The Moon did not hesitate.
"If that's all, my answer is yes."
"Good." Gran-Gran rubbed her hands. "Now, going back to what we understand from protection from the Gods …"
Aang had been right. Years, decades, no, sorry, a lifetime of ideas had been brewing inside Gran-Gran's head, and now that the box was officially open, her enthusiasm knew no boundaries. Poor La was getting a smacking worse than anything his own cigar-smoking Mommy Dearest could have come up with. Agni, sitting in for moral support, looked kind of bored, impatient about finishing the business of the covenant. Katara was also kind of anxious to finish the negotiations. Zuko had been hiding somewhere - the Spirits knew where - since Aang flew away holding Toph like she would disappear at any moment, and Sokka refused to go outside of the igloo-bunker he had forced her to waterbend for him while the Gods were still around, bargaining. Master Pakku was hiding with Sokka, knocking down some Tundra Vodka, not wanting to highlight the fact that he was married to the Negotiator, as people had begun to call Gran-Gran on hush-hush tones all over the South Pole.
"… so it's simple," Gran-Gran was saying, "if the Gods grants us the favor that the ratio of waterbenders born is twice that of non-waterbenders, that means, please write it down, that for each non bender we get at least two benders, and that ratio is also gender blind, we the Tribes can do a good effort at protecting ourselves, too, and will make sure that nothing ever again threatens the mortal forms of Yue and La."
La (Sokka's actually) expression was inscrutable.
"And with that we finish this?" The god asked.
"Yes. Totally." The god turned to his Moon.
"Are you happy with this?"
"Yes, La. These are my people, my mortal relatives."
"Agni?"
"Sign the thing so we can finally go," Agni said with a casual wave of the hand.
"Well, Water Tribe, we grant you your dogmas, your benders and the banning of the Contest of the Frosts, but I cannot put my brother on Community Service. It's bad for the image of the Family. You never go against the Family. Today a Demigod, tomorrow a God. Unacceptable."
Gran-Gran shrugged.
"Okay, three out of four ain't bad at all." She spit her hand and offered it to the Ocean God who seemed amused before shaking it. Agni, next to them, looked horrified. Katara had no choice but to shake the spit-covered hand of the God, too.
Chin, hiding behind Katara, managed to slip the neatly written parchment on the table without being noticed. La signed his kanji in water, Yue with a ray of moonlight and Gran-Gran and Katara signed in ink. The parchment split on its own, half dissolving in silvery strands while the other half rolled on its own in Gran-Gran's hands. The Gods stood, looking tall, splendid and commanding and dissolved in the snow like shiny flurries.
Gran-Gran tapped her chin with the covenant, thoughtful, and then turned towards her granddaughter.
"Well, Katara of the Water Tribe, I would say that today was a good day." Gran-Gran was smiling. Katara was bracing herself, waiting for the interrogation and the lecture. Nothing came. "It did not look that way this morning, but you always need to be open to surprises. Now, where's my husband?"
Kanna walked to the igloo-bunker, and called on the hole that served as an entrance.
"Pakku, Sokka, the hand-holding Gods are gone, you can come out now!"
Before Katara had time to bend the igloo open, Pakku did it for her. Her grandfather did not look worse for wear taking into account the amount of Tundra vodka he had been drinking.
"Finally," the stern looking gentleman was saying. "I'm telling you, seeing my grandson like that, that ain't right."
"It wasn't me, Grampakku," Sokka grumbled next to him, "those were other guys!"
Pakku was still talking.
"Well, it looked like you," he said with conviction, "and I'm telling you, I don't want to know what's on that side. All I know is that every time a warrior crosses that door, he ain't coming back." Pakku stopped and then added in some inner shock/epiphany moment. "Whatever is over there, it must be mighty good." He shuddered. "I'm not risking it, and I don't want anyone in my family to risk it."
"I think you need to talk to Arnook, Pakku," Gran-Gran said, "before he blows a vein. Or call Yugoda, so she's at hand when he finally digests that he has two divine sons-in-law now."
Pakku assented and held firm to the Tundra Vodka.
"Life as a bachelor did not prepare me for this," he grumbled on his way to offer moral support to Arnook. "Our kids are going to be the bane of our existence."
"It WASN'T ME!" Sokka yelled before his grandfather was out of earshot, but it did not make much difference to the White Lotus Master.
"You would think that he would be more open," Katara muttered, "since he's such great friends with Bumi."
"Yeah," Gran-Gran dismissed, "he's really tolerant if is not a Water Tribe warrior. Deep down, he thinks that all the other nations are suspect, so he expects anything from them. Your grandpa is a closet xenophobic."
Sokka turned to Katara.
"Where's Suki?"
"Still in shock, probably. She may be with Zuko, let's go find them." Katara started walking, Sokka fell into step next to her. He was still recovering from the impromptu quality time with Grampakku.
"Can you believe what he asked me?" Sokka fumed. Katara shook her head, tiredly. "He asked me if my problem was that I just didn't want to waste all this," Sokka signaled his own body with a hand gesture, "on a chick." Katara covered her mouth with her hand; she actually found that one funny. "You know what he suggested? That I needed to take a bath on boiling water! I swear, sis, Gran-Gran was a minute away from becoming a widow."
"At least you didn't have to deal with the Negotiator. Grampakku was a waterwhip away from becoming a widower himself."
They reached the building.
"Let's go to the Lady Ursa's chambers," Katara said knowingly, "I think they are probably in there."
"Yeah, about that. What were you doing kissing Zuko in front of everybody? I mean, poor Aang was like right there."
"Aang was busy kissing someone else, Sokka, in case you didn't notice."
"I did notice. The way he was groping Toph, poor innocent child that she is, was a disgrace. You know sis, it's time that you and I had a conversation. The way you've been keeping Aang in an iceberg all this time ain't right. He's a monk, but he's a man. No wonder he went crazy after Toph today. Poor girl was probably terrified. Anyway, I think the honorable thing to do here is for you to break up with him."
Katara sighed. Suki was a saint.
"We did break up, Sokka, last night." She said.
"You did? Good. I mean, is not like I want you to act otherwise, but you have been dating the guy for years and if you guys kept so much distance that even I noticed it, that's not good." He pinched his nose. "I thought it was his fault, you know, being a monk and all, but the way he was holding little Toph, he looked like a Fire Nation burner, about to explode." Sokka stopped. "Do you think Toph needs our help? Where are they, by the way?"
Katara stopped in front of Ursa's door.
"I think Toph is capable of controlling Aang," Karata said while knocking on the door.
Someone opened it; a lady-in-waiting. The siblings stepped in. Suki was sitting on comfortable low cushions, covered with furs, flanked by Lady Ursa, Zuko and Chief Hakoda. They were all drinking something hot.
"You think so?" Sokka continued the conversation. "I don't know, those tattoos came across pretty menacing to me. Thank goodness Toph is blind, because those arrows were looking back. I would have been scared stiff if I was her."
He sat next to Suki, embracing her. His girlfriend offered him her drink. The lady Ursa, all grace and elegance, poured two more cups of what turned out to be mulled fire wine with spices.
"Are you talking about Toph and Aang?" Suki asked, still recovering from the news. Sokka nodded. "I agree. I was so in shock when I saw them. Since when? And Aang? I don't know. Has that kid been eating meat? He looks like he has been eating lots of meat."
Katara sat primly between her father and Lady Ursa. Zuko was sitting on the other side of his mother. Katara did not openly look at him and Zuko didn't look at her either. In a weird way, it felt even worse than before. At least there has been an excuse for him to ignore her. Now, there were no excuses, everything was basically in the open and they were still playing the detached 'I'm not doing you' game.
"I think they looked adorable," the Lady Ursa said instead, sipping her wine. "The way he was gazing at her, and the way she was cheering for him? Delightful."
"Yes, I agree," Suki insisted, "they looked charming. But since when? Last I knew, she didn't want to know about anyone and he was engaged to Katara." The last phrase fell like a chunk of ice in the middle of the room. Silence reverberated from the walls, and Chief Hakoda answered nicely.
"Well, obviously, as the Avatar just publicly claimed Master Bei Fong as his, and he seemed very happy about it, I'd say that we can safely assume that there's no engagement, isn't Katara?"
Katara nodded.
"We broke up last night," she said calmly.
Silence permeated the room again.
"Oh, for Moonsakes!" Sokka said exasperated after a minute. "It's not like we didn't see you guys or anything! After we had to call extra healers to get Zuko breathing again, we sort of got the point!"
"Extra healers?" Katara was offended. "There were no other healers, you are exaggerating!"
"Am I? Like Zuko was not turning blue in the face? Oh, yes, sorry, my mistake: you were resuscitating him! From what, Zuko? My waterbender sister-turned-barnacle?"
"Barnacle? Are you calling me a barnacle?"
"You were stuck to the guy's face! If it wasn't because of the Gods showing up, he dies right there!"
Hakoda intervened, placing a hand against the chest of each of his kids.
"Not here," he said in a commanding tone. "Later. When we are alone."
"Bah!" Sokka dismissed the command with a hand gesture. "Suki and Zuko totally know us dad. For years now. And if Katara is going to be kissing Zuko in front of the four nations, I would say is time for Lady Ursa here to get up to speed with the family dynamics." A waterwhip slap hit him squarely on the back of the head. "Ouch! Did you see that, dad? Katara hit me!"
"I did not!"
"You want me to show you my latest boomerang technique?"
"Stop it right now, both of you!" Hakoda turned to Ursa and bowed, a faint pink color under the tan skin. "My Lady, I apologize in my name and the name of my children." He threw a murdering look at his children, who lowered their heads at the same time and mumbled apologies.
"It's okay, Chief Hakoda. I'm also a mother," Lady Ursa said, bemused. "I know about siblings' spats."
"That's a way to call it." Zuko muttered, opening his mouth for the first time since Katara and Sokka arrived to the room.
Lady Ursa drank her mulled wine without answering. Sokka added for her,
"Sounds better than attempted murder. Ouch! Katara, cut it with the waterwhips!"
Suki put a hand on his arm to restrain him.
"Sokka, before you and Katara showed up, we were talking about that."
"About what? Azula?" Sokka was rubbing the back of his head.
"No. About Katara and Zuko." Katara raised her head in surprise.
"About us? What about us?"
Zuko leaned from his sitting position to look at her head-on.
"My mother and I were asking your father permission to court you."
Suki was beaming, Sokka was still sour.
"Both of you?" he asked. Zuko nodded.
"Our relationship will have political consequences. It's proper for my mother to negotiate any proposal."
Katara shifted on her cushion, looking at Zuko.
"Weren't you supposed to ask me first?" She asked him in a whisper. He nodded.
"I already did, remember? Several times?" She nodded and smiled.
"Ah, yes, true! You did!"
Sokka crossed his arms.
"And when did he ask you if you only broke up with Aang last night?"
Another chunk of silence fell in the room.
"This morning." Katara said.
"Don't even try it, sis. I may be dense, but even I am not that stupid. And don't even try that waterwhip thing again! You know what? I'm happy Aang won himself a chick. A great one, by the way. No one here thought for a moment of the consequences for the world of a depressed Avatar, but I'm an strategist, I think about these things. Anyway, if we are negotiating courtships let's start with the basic fact that I don't chaperone. And besides, I think you two are beyond chaperoning the way you were exploring Zuko's dental health today. Ouch, Suki! No elbows! I mean, we were all there! It's not like I'm breaking an exclusive, here!"
Hakoda crossed his arms with an imposing gesture.
"We may have all been there, Sokka, but there's no need to highlight any unpleasantness. The Fire Prince and your sister seem happy. The Avatar and Master Bei Fong seemed happy too. That should be enough for all of us."
Lady Ursa added with a smile.
"There's a Fire Nation poet that always says: 'All's Well that Ends Well'. And don't worry, we were not planning on doing a formal courtship with chaperones. We were talking about timing, Fire Nation protocols, you know, that kind of thing." Ursa sipped her wine. "As a matter of fact, timing is a great issue here. Zuko is going to be crowned Fire Lord in the summer and then the Fire Council may want to have a saying on personal matters regarding the Fire Lord. Regarding the Fire Prince, though, only the family has a saying. So timing is important, we have three seasons to plan a proper coronation and any other ancillary celebration."
"Ancillary?" Sokka asked. "Is that Fire Nation's for 'marry me'?"
"After Agni and La today, I wouldn't be saying things like that aloud with Zuko in the room," Katara mumbled, knowing very well how to throw a spear at her brother's heart and nail it. Sokka opened his mouth, at loss for words in front of so much filial malevolence. Suki pushed his chin gently, closing his mouth.
"That's charming, Katara," Suki said, still smiling. "Your brother is voicing out Zuko's proposal. How romantic."
Zuko took the cue. He sat on his ankles, his palms open on his knees and his head low.
"Katara, in front of your father, your brother, his intended, and my mother, would you do me the honor of marrying me?" He said, his raspy voice with the right level of emotion to make her quiver like an anemone.
She kept her composure, her head low, her hands on her knees too.
"Yes, Fire Prince, I'll be honored," she answered, with enough emotion to convey her glee.
Hakoda raised his cup, together with Ursa, Sokka and Suki.
"To your health and happiness!" The Chief exclaimed.
"Hear, hear!" The others chorused, drinking.
Zuko raised his face and looked at his intended's eyes, smiling. She was smiling too.
Lady Ursa and Chief Hakoda left the four young people by themselves, to fetch uncle Iroh, Gran-Gran and Granpakku and have a family toast. They were actually quite insistent on getting the rest of the family themselves instead of sending the younger generation. They left the Lady Ursa chambers engaged in a lively conversation about ceremonies, etiquette and cultural differences that needed to be addressed to make the event a success.
Suki was still under the effects of the events of the day.
"Did you see Kuei's face? I mean, I can't bring myself to hate the guy, he looks so harmless, and his face certainly broke my heart today."
"I felt no pity whatsoever." Sokka drank his wine and made a gesture to the lady-in-waiting for more. He was a natural for the 'prince-giving-orders' role. "Neither of you guys seem to remember, ever, that Kuei was the one who babbled our invasion plans the day of Black Sun to Azula. And you know what really, really, jars me about the guy? Is not that he told Azula, he didn't know then who she was under the Kyoshi make-up, but that he didn't told us after the fall of Ba Sing Se, when he already knew who Azula was, that Azula knew. I mean, no wonder he wanted to run away so fast with his smelly bear! He didn't own for a second about screwing up. That little bit of information may have come handy before engaging all the efforts we did, and would have save our father, friends and allies some time on Fire Nation prisons." He drank his wine. "Kuei is the worst kind of harmless: the kind that looks like it, but isn't."
"I agree." Katara drank her wine in one fluid motion. She didn't bothered gesturing the lady-in-waiting, she bended the fire wine directly from the simmering pot into her cup. She was sitting next to Zuko, reclining on him, his arm loosely around her waist. It felt weird to be sitting openly and affectionately with him in front of her family. It was something that she had wanted to do for so long, and now that it was happening, it didn't feel real or even right. It just felt weird. Particularly because Sokka's reaction was not what she had expected. Katara wondered if Sokka was finally maturing or if he had always been like this and she just hadn't given him the chance. "This is the same guy who was building a wooden cell for a blind girl who can only see through her bending. Sorry, who lives through her bending. He's lucky that Aang is a pacifist, I would have killed that bear myself." The rancor on her voice reverberated in the room. Zuko kissed her temple affectionately.
"Good thing you're not the Avatar, 'Tara. The fate of the world would be a different one," he said, but he sounded proud of her.
Sokka made a gesture with his hand.
"I agree. You need to watch out, Zuko, for the sneaky slaps in the head she'll be giving your council when she doesn't agree with them. I mean, I know that your country is used to strong female figures and stuff, but still. At least my sister won't try to assassinate you; that's better than your current girlfriend. By the way, are you breaking up in person?"
"I am." Zuko shifted uncomfortably. Suki raised an eyebrow.
"You look guilty. Why do you look guilty?"
"I may have misled Mai …" he started, but Katara cut him off.
"He got engaged by accident. Toph says that that single act automatically disqualifies him from the Fire Lord position, but I say that if Kuei is allowed to keep his throne, so is Zuko."
Sokka finished his wine.
"This is just frosting on the custard. The nations are going to be talking about Team Avatar for ages after all of this, and probably not on the best terms. Whatever. Suki, you and I now officially hold the higher moral ground in this group." Sokka stopped. Even he couldn't keep it straight. "I meant you, Suki. Only you hold the high moral ground in the entire South Pole. Let's go, woman. I need to change and you do too, so we look good for the family toast. And Katara probably wants to finish her assessment of Zuko's cavities."
Zuko stopped her before she bended another waterwhip at Sokka's head. She watched her brother and long time girlfriend leave the room. The lady-in-waiting, quick on her feet, apologized too, quoting some pressing matters regarding Lady Ursa's dresses, and left the room with silent feet.
Katara turned to Zuko.
"He's going to be your brother now. You need to know how to treat him. He will be making those comments in front of your Council if you don't rein him in."
Zuko shrugged, more entertained with her hair.
"They can't challenge him to Agni Kais because he's not a bender. At worst, they will whisper behind his back about what the world is coming to, but it's okay. They'll be whispering behind both our backs, too, and looking at us all the time, trying to find fault. Good thing uncle has been cleaning house for the last four years. Our lives will be easier since he's shouldered most of the brunt of the hard work with the court. Doesn't meant that it will be easy, just easier."
Zuko seemed relaxed and happy, which was not a common expression for him. Katara felt the weird impulse of kicking him to make him angry and go back to known, comfortable waters with him. He read her expression like an open scroll.
"What's going on?" He asked, a bit suspicious.
"Our relationship thrived under conflict. It seems like since we met, we have either been fighting each other, or next to each other. There has always been some drama attached to anything that sounds like us. Do you think, honestly think, that we can make it? I mean, that we can have a normal relationship? Normalcy has never been our strong suit. After five years, maybe we are too set on our ways."
He shrugged again, twirling and un-twirling a lock of hair.
"It's going to be strange not having to look for closets anymore," he said nodding, "or having to cover your mouth so no one else hears you."
"Zuko, I'm serious. All the intensity had a lot to do with eating forbidden fruit. What if we cannot keep the intensity once we are legal?"
"Aang seemed pretty intense when he made it clear to the world that he and Toph were legal. If they can do it, we can do it." He kissed a lock of hair. "Do you want to go to my chambers now and test the intensity theory? We are engaged, so your brother won't kill me, and who knows how long is going to take our parents to find the rest of the family."
Katara smiled.
"I'd rather wait until tonight, when it's less likely that someone will barge on us. At least in the Fire Nation, people knock on doors. You've no idea what it felt coming back to live with Gran-Gran after spending so much time on my own in the world. We may have buildings now, but everyone keeps acting as if we are still sharing huts and igloos. No privacy."
Zuko's train of thought was wandering. She knew his expression and was sure that, right now, he wasn't really up for a tumble in the furs anyway.
"I'm not as concerned at us not surviving the lack of problems, as I am at us not surviving the abundance of them."
"You mean, ruling your nation?"
"Yes. You need to understand that my father and forefathers intermingled war with nationalism. The sense of pride of my nation was bred from military conquests and propaganda about our superiority over other nations. Right now there are no more military victories and we are force-feeding the concept of diversity on people that grew under the belief that they were better than the rest. If we don't want a civil war, or to feed extremist thinking and behavior, we cannot impose a sense of penance. Aang has been reading a lot of history scrolls, and he keeps sending them to me after he's done. History, the kind that was suppressed by my family at Fire Nation schools, is full of stories like this one. Nations forced on their knees, breeding radical movements as a result, because you cannot force humiliation and expect people to be happy about it. You need to understand, Katara, that preserving a sense of pride on our country is pivotal, and that you cannot expect our nation to apologize to you or anyone else at all times."
Katara nodded in silence, looking at Zuko intently. He was talking in plural terms (our nation) and he was addressing her as an equal, but he was also not sugar coating the warning. Her being an orphan of war wouldn't get her any sympathy, and neither would her heritage. She would have to come to terms with her own resentment and hate before having to fight that of others.
"And Aang sends you these scrolls because …?"
"Because he's an intelligent man who believes in prevention, not retaliation, and who says that knowledge should be used as a force for good, not for destruction. He's educating me in classic military history beyond that of the Fire Nation, and on the Airbending philosophy of social justice. I think he sees me as an instrument for change more than he sees himself."
"We met a bird once who had strong views about using knowledge for destructive purposes," Katara assented, caressing Zuko's face. Now, this conversation felt real. Not awkward, or weird, or uncomfortable. It had that tint of old friends and lovers exchanging honest opinions, unafraid of the other's reaction. He was not concerned with her being able to handle the difficult path ahead, and she was not concerned with him trying to protect her or hide things from her. Zuko may have been many things in his life, but he was not the kind to be untrue to his beliefs. Also, he was not the coddling type. He had a lot of experience about not coddling the women in his life. "I understand about not try to correct the past by making the people of the Fire Nation ashamed, but they cannot be kept ignorant, either."
"They won't be." Zuko moved, laying on the cushions, his head on her lap. He caressed her face while she did the same to his. "Destroying an entire nation carries its own shame with it. Just teaching the real facts at school would do more than trying to impose notions of injustice. One day, it would be for every Fire Nation child like it is for me. I cannot look at Aang, talk to him, let's not talk about hugging him, without feeling the weight of everything that was lost." Zuko's gaze shifted from her face to the ceiling, his voice becoming raspier. "One day, when we were still at the Western Air Temple, I was walking along the silent corridors, looking at the statues of the nuns and wondering about righting so much wrong. How do you recover your nation's honor after such pointless destruction? Every painting on the wall, every piece of art, every fountain, talked of a culture obliterated by ambush. The story of the Airbenders is the story of gentle traditions that succumbed because of one person's greed." A tear streamed from Zuko's good eye. She caught it with the tip of her fingers. "I made up my mind about joining your group before really knowing any of you, but I confirm my decision every time I talk to Aang or learn from him. He's my friend now, and it took me a while to reconcile him with the stories I learned as a child about the mysterious airbenders and their armies." Zuko sighed and turned his head in her lap, to one side, offering her his profile, the scarred one. "All lies. Crafty lies to justify murder." Katara felt embarrassment overflowing his features and spilling on her skirts, like water. "He is not a breathing museum, you know? Sometimes, when I hear the Elders talk about him and his traditions, I feel like they see him as an island in the sea of our nations. Like the lion-turtle he told us about. The last Lion-Turtle, who was the last bending teacher of the Last Airbender. How do I atone for that, 'Tara?" Another tear made its way to her fingers. "Someone once told me that me being miserable wouldn't bring a single airbender back to life. I know that to be true, but I can't stand the idea of happiness unjustly won. My great-grandfather is out of reach, as is every firebender that helped him annihilate Aang's race, but that shouldn't give me or my nation a reprieve."
"Life goes on, Kuku." Katara passed her fingers through his hair. "My father told me yesterday that after my mother died he couldn't conceive ever feeling happy again, but it happened. He has managed to feel happy again without feeling like betraying her. Even my mom, that day in the Spirit World, made us promise her that we will try to be happy." She pushed his face gently so he faced her again. "You won't get an easy reprieve from your great-grandfather's actions, but you shouldn't focus only on him, or Azulon, or Ozai. You need to focus on Roku, and your mother, and uncle Iroh. You carry within a history of good and evil. You will learn, eventually, to forgive the evil in you the same way you learned to let the good flourish." She let her fingers linger on his scar. "Something good always comes out from something bad, Kuku. Aang seemed happy today, happier than he had been with me for a while. So you see, we were wrong, but who is to say that us acting differently would have brought a better result? If we did something wrong, we also did something right."
Zuko was looking at her face again, locking his eyes with hers.
"What do you think those visions on the swamp meant?" He asked, finally. "We read what we wanted to read on the visions because we felt guilty, but now that we are not feeling guilty anymore, what do you think the tree meant?"
"I don't know. We can interpret everything so many possible ways. The Agni Kai in a room with earth kingdom colors? Well, there was an Agni Kai, on the snow, but brought about by the Earth King, so it makes sense somehow. Me, dressed in blue, in a wedding ceremony without a groom? Well, yes, because Aang and I canceled our Ceremony, so now it makes sense. Our joint vision of Aang fading and with him all the airbenders? Maybe it means that he is not our responsibility and that we need to learn to let him go. Maybe that you need to learn that you cannot change the outcome of a genocide, but need to deal with it in present terms. We cannot change the past." Zuko nodded in agreement, still looking into her eyes.
"Never again. Let's never guide our lives by prophecies and predictions of the future, okay?" He asked nicely, but it was a command, too. She agreed with her head.
"That means we are not inviting Aunt Wu to the ancillary ceremony?" Katara asked, some doubt on her voice. Zuko shrugged; he knew everything about Aunt Wu.
"We can, if she doesn't read my future - or yours. I honestly don't want to know. I want the future to be a surprise. She can read the guests' futures, if they want to." Zuko tapped her nose with his finger. "But we are not doing the tree anymore. Nothing against the tree, but it likes math, and throws inconsistent images of the future, or as Fate would call them, permutations. I have enough trouble trying to figure out my destiny, our relationship, your brother-soon-to-be-my-in-law, your grandmother, our friends. I'm not dealing with mystery trees anymore. That tree is too smart, too advanced for the likes of us lowly mortals."
Katara smiled and leaned to kiss him, with a long, deep, soft kiss. He kissed her back, his fingers in her hair.
"You are not an erotic dream, anymore, 'Tara. That feels so good," he said.
She caressed his face, but then someone opened the door to the room. Their families were back, ready to toast to their happiness. Zuko did not jump from her lap until he saw that besides uncle, the grandparents and their parents, Aang and Toph came into the room too.
Zuko leaped to hug Aang first, and then Toph, looking authentically happy. Katara felt a pang in her heart seeing her grave boyfriend/lover/five-minute-fiancé acting on such a carefree way.
"Sparky!" the earthbender pushed him back a little, trying to breathe, "tell me the truth! Twinkles here is not confessing: Did you take a dive? Did you lose that Agni Kai on purpose?"
"Of course not!" He sounded honestly offended. Toph turned her head to Katara, not seeing the faint smirk on the firebender's face.
"I won, Sugar Cakes!"
"You won what?" Sokka's voice filled the room before running to embrace Toph, twirling her around, "A glowing monk?" he lowered his voice, "Are you okay, Toph? If that kid gets frisky you need to slap him very hard, you hear me?"
"Oh yes. I'm an expert at slapping the monk, Sokka, don't worry."
"That's my girl! I knew you wouldn't let religion take the better of you!"
Katara saw Aang coming over and hugging Toph from behind, crossing his arms in front of her waist, putting his cheek against her hair, smiling at Sokka but effectively holding the earthbender a little tighter. Her brother didn't notice.
"You need to be careful with her, Aang," Sokka was lecturing like Toph wasn't even in the room, "Toph doesn't have relationship experience like us …" Toph, however, untangled herself from the embrace, her face suddenly serious. Aang tried to stop her, but she turned, a finger raised against his nose.
"I just remembered last night," Toph warned, "and I'm truly unhappy right now."
Aang lowered his head against her finger.
"I deserve your anger. Please forgive me," he said. Katara could see that Toph was fighting something. Finally, the girl removed her finger, still frowning.
"I don't know," she said. Aang got closer and muttered.
"Grovel, grovel."
"Very hard?"
"Very hard."
"I'll deal with you later." Toph turned and walk away, still frowning. Sokka was speechless.
"Why are you smiling Aang?" He asked before the airbender made a shushing sound. "She seems very upset."
"She is and I deserve it, but I'm just so happy that I can't help smiling. Anyway, it will be years before she lets this one go. She just recently stopped bringing up the day I yelled at her when Appa got kidnapped. I'll say this one will be eight years instead of almost five."
Suki had grabbed Toph by the arm, dragging her away.
"I want details," the warrior insisted, "you kept very quiet. I want to know what did you keep quiet about and why. You have a glowy boyfriend now, that's really funky. I'm impressed."
"Katara had the same boyfriend until some hours ago, I don't see what makes it impressive now. We're recycling the same guys, if you haven't noticed."
"Well, the boyfriend didn't really glow when he was with Katara. Don't ask me why, okay? It's one of those things. He just looks better with you than he did when he was dating her."
Katara couldn't believe it.
"Suki, I'm right here. You're becoming worse than your boyfriend. Anyway, are you going to get Sokka to lay off with the barnacle comments? Those are offensive, you know?"
"I'm dating your brother, not educating him." Suki answered with a shrug. "Maybe you shouldn't get too enthusiastic in public. Not that I blame you, look at your angsty guy. Again, don't ask me why, but it just looks more interesting to see you with hot-prince and you with glowy monk than the way it was before."
Toph obviously decided that it was a good moment to quit that conversation because she stepped away towards Zuko and took him aside to talk in private.
Suki looked at them, considering something.
"Hum! Maybe Toph with hot-dao-swords is also an interesting possibility …" she started.
"Suki, let it go. Now," Katara warned. However, unable to control her busybody nature Katara moved closer to hear what Toph was saying to Zuko.
"I hate to tell you this, Sparky," she was saying, her voice low, "but you need to enroll your intended in some classes, like, asap."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know if anyone else knows this, so keep it hush, but Sugar Cakes cannot read that well. She is half illiterate."
"How do you know?"
"Believe me, I know all. At least, teach her the basic kanjis for numbers. You don't want her giving your future babies twelve units of the medicine, when they were supposed to get twenty-four. That would be unbecoming to a Fire-Lady."
"TOPH!" Katara yelled, making both benders jump so high that Aang looked like an earthbender in comparison. "What do you mean that I can't read?"
"Come on, Sugarcakes, you couldn't tell the difference between a twenty-four year old single barrel fire whiskey bottle and a twelve year one!"
Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose. Aang smiled widely before crossing the room to embrace, again, his big mouthed woman.
10 months earlier, somewhere in the Foggy Swamp ...
Katara had been playing hide and seek with Zuko. She had not intended for things to go this far, or to lose control so completely. She blamed the river, the full moon, the stress of saving all those people from the tsunami and dealing with the loss and pain of the survivors. The entire effort had been charged with feelings, leaving her and Zuko raw, with their emotions exposed and only skin deep. Then they had the episode in the river. She kept referring at the river encounter as the episode because it was easier than to call it for what it really was. At least, what she thought it was. She thought it was an outlet, a way from both of them to decompress and to address some quiet frustrations. They were both unattached at the time, so no harm, no foul. But then, because they were still in the ravaged island, they kept running into the no harm, no foul argument and things kept happening that were not harmless and definitively not faultless. For five minutes (tops) she thought that she could manage the emotional consequences. Afterwards, Katara accepted that she couldn't deal with the consequences, but she didn't care anyway, because life would put her eventually in a rocking chair, an old lady with only memories. So, she kept blaming everything besides herself because the idea of the lonely rocking chair was enough to get her into stocking some good dammed memories.
Honestly, Katara got into the hide and seek game with Zuko never expecting, not even remotely, that this would evolve into anything serious. She was not born - or raised - for court life, for dealing with Fire Nation aristocratic crap, or even for dealing with a - mostly - somber guy so far away from her light, charming, fun-seeking ex-sweetheart. That the miserable, good-looking (albeit the scar - no, wait, maybe because of the scar) guy could get her boiling beyond reason was a secondary issue altogether. Maybe. Well, yes, maybe not that secondary. She blamed the raspy voice. It was totally the fault of the raspy voice, full of angst, and dark promises. Until Yue and the stupid river took common sense away and got her into inviting him for a swim at midnight and the dark promises of the raspy voice became the realization of her hoarse moans, she didn't know that the stupid firebender didn't only look the part, he was the part.
So, she was now playing hide and seek with Zuko all over the Foggy Swamp knowing perfectly well that, one, he would find her, that two, she was not hiding that hard anyway, and three, that the entire purpose of the hide and seek game was to hide everything that kept happening between them. What was becoming harder to hide were the feelings of rightness that were flourishing between them. The feeling that it was so right to be together that neither wanted to be anywhere else in the world except where they were at that moment. The word that Zuko used in whispers was fulfillment. The word that Katara murmured back on his ear was blessed. Getting to know each other so deeply was the most excruciating and exhilarating emotional experience either had had in their entire lives, and sometime in the swamp Zuko had asked her to let it be, to join him in what she could only describe a mutual immolation. And she did.
So running around a swamp, dressed in some unbelievably embarrassing banana outfit was completely justified because they were on Foreign lands (there is an unwritten rule somewhere that people are allowed to do stupid things when they are on Foreign Lands: like wearing awkward sombreros, winning beads by unspeakable behavior and eating weird food with mayonnaise); because they were consumed by their emotions and because they were hanging out with un-judging people. Somewhere in Katara's and Zuko's minds, the idea had nested that the Foggy Swampers didn't know who they were. The fact that the swampers kept calling them by name and title eluded them altogether. So they kept playing the fantasy that they were anonymous in the Foggy Swamp, sheltered from the world and therefore justified to behave, maybe, in less than dignified ways.
"Gatorabbits," one of the brothers said, not bothering about disguising his voice so the two benders making out, sweaty and dirty, wouldn't hear him. "Just like gatorabbits. Better lookin', though."
"Lot of energy for being Foreigners," another brother said, "usually by now they're passed out 'cause of the heat."
A third brother, reclining against the banyan tree, felt forced to add:
"They is good sports though, they likes our customs."
The first brother raised an eyebrow in disbelief.
"They is doin' all of our customs, Lil' W, even you can't justify that."
Zuko, who had been brought up in a household full of rules and manners, unlike Katara who really, really couldn't care less about the swampers at that moment, felt obliged to stop, right the banana leaves on Katara's physique and his, and engage in conversation with the peeping locals.
"And you are …?" Zuko asked, authority permeating his voice.
"Dude," the first brother said, a sallow-looking type still half-naked, as was the swamp custom, but carrying two rustic swords on his back, "cut it with them higher moral grounds. Your banana bottoms are on your knees."
Zuko kinda rushed about dressing, while the other brother, the nice one who sported a whip made of vines, added:
"Don' pay attention to my brother. He thinks manners are for them sissies. But please rush with your pants, I'm kinda embarrassed here."
Katara, after making sure that all of her was inside the banana leaves, decided to go to the aid of her - lover? Fan? Aficionado? Better than nothing?? … Zuko?
"Oh, hello. We're tourists here. And you are …?"
The third brother, the nice one, bowed.
"We're the three brothers."
"But there're four of you," Katara added, after counting to be sure.
"Yep, but G here combines our three personalities," the brother with the swords explained, pointing to a brother sitting on a felled tree, who smiled politely and waved a scary looking curve blade that Katara had never seen in the South Pole, "so he don't count."
Zuko, now banana-dressed and all dignity-recovered tried to step in front of Katara to make sure she was not exposed to any unpleasantness from the natives.
"So, three brothers that are really four, can we help you?"' he asked. Katara liked his protectiveness. She didn't really need it, but she liked it nonetheless.
"Not really," the other brother answered. This one was sporting something that resembled a crossbow, but it was hard to tell because the manufacture was somewhat primitive. "We're in the middle of doin' science, and you're being really helpful. So keep with the bangin' and all that, we're just takin' notes."
Zuko seemed scandalized.
"Sorry brothers, but … we're not here for your entertainment," he said, haughtily, covering Katara and starting their retreat. Katara, less versant in the arts of distrust, but equally effective in the arts of survival, stopped him.
"So, brothers, tell us about you. Are you relatives of Huu?"
"We're his children," the brother with the whip said.
"Sorta," the one with the crossbow clarified, "Mama wasn't the haughty type. She kinda liked to explore, so at least one or two of us is his children."
"I'm a firebender," the one with the swords interjected, "I'm mama-goin'-freelance. No traumas, though. Couldn't be happier. Unlike Lil' W here, always trying to be decent. He's a waterguy, and likes whips because he's a wimp."
"I'm not a wimp! Unlike Big W, who think he can do air stuff with his crossbow, but is waterbender too! No airbenders left in the world for mama goin' air-freelance."
Zuko and Katara were lost. Once thing was engaging in passion against an exotic tree and another dealing with family dramas of swampy guys against an exotic tree.
"Yeah, right. 'Tara, I think we're needed somewhere else." Zuko bowed elegantly, as was his style. "Good afternoon to you, brothers. We'll see you."
The brother with the swords didn't stop them directly.
"See your visions on the tree, you mean," the swamp dweller said, casually.
"I beg you pardon?" Zuko asked, turning, his hand on Katara's waist.
"The visions from the tree. You is seeing a handful. Careful. The tree don' like haughty-toity people ignoring it." Zuko and Katara stopped. They had been blaming their heightened senses and the heat for the several visions they had been having, not wanting to give them any more due than necessary.
"Are the visions real?" Katara asked, feeling a bump on her throat. The brother with the swords shrugged.
"Maybe."
The brother with the crossbow intervened.
"There's as much chance at them being real than not. We ain't no future-predictors, we only check that the tree is doin' okay. You know, that the logical permambulation is good and all."
"You does that," the brother with the swords said, "G and me, we just check if them visions is hot."
"B, you is such an ass," the brother with the whip, Lil' W, apologized, "we guard the Banyan-Grove tree. We feed it and makes sure it's happy. When the tree is unhappy, well, the visions is not good."
"Do any of you have real names?" Zuko asked, not really wanting to know.
"Mama was great about exploring them foreign cultures," Lil' W said, "but no big on the name department. I'm Lil' W, I'm a swamp bender. My brother with the crossbow is the thinker, he's also a swampbender but likes to act like an airbender. He's Big W and likes Logic. That one over there with them swords, that's B the firebender, and then we have G who's like a miss of all of us, sorry, a mix of all of us. He earthbends." G with the scary blade waved again.
Zuko wanted to leave, soon. He grabbed Katara's hand.
"Nice meeting you, brothers, but 'Tara and I here have pressing matters to attend to. Thank you for your patience." He bowed and was about to leave the place when one of the brothers, the one with the swords stopped him.
"Dude, give the tree a chance," he said, nonchalant. Zuko hesitated, and so did Katara. "You never know what the tree'd like to tell you."
Big W added.
"Don't ignore the tree, not healthy. Bad for first-rate futures."
Zuko and Katara bowed and started walking away.
"'Tara, I'm telling you, next time we lose common sense, let's wait until we are inside a hut," he told her, annoyed. The female bender seemed concerned.
"What if the visions are real, Kuku? What do we do?"
The brothers watched them leave.
"Hey B, is you still emptying the bad batches of fermented banana juice on the tree roots?" Big W asked, making notations on what looked like a piece of bark.
"Sure dude. Since we changed bad fermented passion fruit juice for banana, that tree is doin' really good stuff. The end of the world and all."
"You know guys, if papa finds out what you're doing he's going to be soooo pissed." Lil' W said, shaking his head.
"Don' be party pooping them experiments, Lil' W," G finally said, "we're the tree guardians, we knows what's best. And that tree its surely having fun!"
"Yeah, dude, who cares if them visions ain't perfect?" B asked, sharpening his sword, "Mama would tell ya that a little imagination takes ya a long way."
"But those foreigners, they may change the course of their lives! They doesn't know that the tree don't do good math while drunk!"
"That's the idea of the experiment, Lil' W," Big W explained tiredly, "to find out how stupid people is. It's for Science, ya know? The Greater Good. People in general would participate in science more often if them understood about the greater good."
"I'm sure B and G ain't doing this for the greater good," Lil' W said sourly.
"No, we isn't. We just like to screw up with them people's lives."
.
TV2000, this one is for you.