A/N: Sorry for the (relative) delay on this chapter. Life hit, blah blah. Won't bore you with the details. Keep the feedback coming, and thank you for all you've given me so far! ;3 To my faithful readers: I can't thank you enough! You make writing this fic that much more rewarding.
Summer Air
Chapter Five
For three hours she wasn't able to sleep. At first she laid awake, counting the stars, hoping her friends wouldn't be too upset upon finding her missing the next morning, wondering what she should say to Sokka that wouldn't have him immediately running after them. When she couldn't stand to do nothing but fret she began writing, wasting about five sheets of paper before opting to leave a note for Suki instead. Her sister-in-law would understand, and hopefully be able to soften the blow to her brother's warrior pride.
Finally it was time to set out. She could feel it in the waning of the moon's power. Sneaking out of the house was a task she anticipated to be simple, and with a smug smile of accomplishment at getting out unnoticed – not to mention leaving Suki's note by their bedside without being detected – she rounded the corner from the alley en route to the campfire…
…only to come face-to-face with Aang.
"Don't say anything. He already told me," the Avatar said while she sputtered for an explanation. When a hooded Zuko came into sight behind him, she knew who 'he' was. "I can't believe you're doing this. Again."
"Aang, five years ago was hardly the same—"
"I know. I want you to take Appa."
The rest of her protest died on her lips. "What?"
To his credit, he even managed a ghost of a smile. "If I can't help everyone, at least he can. Besides, he knows the way." She still must have looked confused, for he gathered her in one of his lanky hugs and added, "I know why you guys have to do this. I'm just glad it's you two. I know you'll do it for Toph. And don't worry; I'll talk to the others."
She barely had time to hug him back before he was stepping away, sending Zuko a look and disappearing through the shadows that lingered across the pathway toward the sleepy village. All she could do was stare after him in mild disbelief, finally shaking her head and turning back to the waiting firebender nearby. "Did you expect any of that?"
"No. When he was waiting out here I thought he was going to talk us out of it."
"What did he say to you?"
"The same thing he said to you, more or less. He understands why we're doing this. We're taking Appa. The first Immortal apparently lived here on Kyoshi Island. Well, it wasn't an island then, but his home is on one of the cliffs by the sea." The wind was picking up, promising a hot summer day even for the temperate clime of the isle. As it ruffled the cowl of his cloak she realized she saw dark hair now framing his face.
"You cut your hair," she said, with her surprise registering clearly in her tones.
He briefly smirked. "We don't know where this journey will take us, but the world holds plenty of animosity toward the Fire Nation even after five years. I can't afford to be recognized, much less as royalty."
As he said it, she realized the cloak he wore wasn't his own. It was barely tight across the shoulders, and a dull shade of green, obviously of Earth Kingdom make. She gave him the benefit of the doubt that the garment wasn't stolen. "Is that why you're wearing green?"
"If you don't remember, I have worn green before."
She did remember. The crystal caverns of Ba Sing Se. It was something she'd never forget.
"We've already wasted enough time. Let's go."
They found Appa on the outskirts of the village. It seemed Aang had already visited his friend, for the bison was waiting for them and lifted off as soon as Zuko gave Katara a hand into the saddle. Neither of them said a word on the ride, though she watched him as he sat pensive across from her. It wasn't anything like five years ago when he took her to search for the man who killed her mother, but just how different it would be remained a mystery. She'd have to lie to say it didn't frighten her.
Before she could give any credence to her fears Appa came to a halt, hovering near the cliff face several yards lower than the plateau with the potentially breathtaking view up above. It startled Katara from her reverie when she found herself staring at nothing but a sheet of rock.
"Appa, why did you stop?" she called as she leaned over the edge of the saddle, knuckles whitening around the rim of it as she realized just how high they were above the placid surface of the bay far, far below.
Zuko's hand on her shoulder steadied her, and his other pointed beyond her toward a pattern set of cracks and crevices facing them. "I think that's the door."
She gawked. "That? How on earth is someone supposed to get there without flying?"
His indicative finger traced the remnants of a ridge leading from the vista above to the peculiar doorway. "I think that was supposed to be a path."
Once upon a time perhaps. Now it was crumbling and barely looked sturdy enough to have even a single foothold on it. "You call that a path?"
"I'd assume it was built thousands and thousands of years ago. The wind and weather has eroded it over time," he said as he got to his feet, offering her a hand up.
"So now what?" It followed a gulp as she stood beside him, eyeing the microscopic – in her mind – ledge that stood in front of the door. "You don't expect me to walk on that thing, do you?"
"No, I expect you to jump. I'll go first to make sure it's safe enough to catch us, and then you make the leap when I give you the okay."
Needless to say she didn't like the plan. However, she wasn't given a choice. He was already hopping from the saddle onto the sliver of earth in front of them. Thankfully the worst that happened was a small cloud of dust from his feet meeting the ground.
"Perfectly fine. Now you jump," he instructed as he turned around to face her, an arm extended to further reassure her that she wouldn't fall.
She still didn't like the plan, but hesitating would steal away her nerve. Unwilling to let that happen she braced herself and finally made the jump, her heel lighting right on the very edge of the earthen lip. As it crumbled beneath her it was Zuko's hand around her wrist that pulled her to safety, and into the frame of the earthen door as well as into his own lean frame. Breathless – and scared witless – all she could do was stare up at him with flushed cheeks in silent gratitude.
"You're welcome," he said with just a tinge of a smile, before releasing her hand as he shouldered his way into the door to open it for both of them.
A huge cloud of dust swallowed them as the portal scraped open, and as she fanned it away from her face she coughed out a sarcastic, "Guess no one keeps these places neat and tidy like they do the Avatar temples."
"At least if no one's been here for centuries we know nothing's made it their den either," he pointed out, amid his own coughing fit.
That sent a chill down her spine. The last thing they needed was to stumble across the home of a saber-tooth moose-lion—or worse. "Let's just make this as quick as possible either way."
"No complaints here."
With a snap of his fingers a flicker of flame lit their way. There was only one way to go, straight into a tunnel that they couldn't see the end to. He insisted on going first, and when he drew one of his Dao swords she realized he had both strapped to his back. Apparently he was as wary of danger on this trip as she was.
Luckily the worst they faced as they stooped to walk through the passageway were some overgrown roots and weeds that had poked through over the years. In most cases they were easily avoidable; he cut away the ones that weren't. There were several times she thought she heard something scurrying in the darkness just out of reach of their circle of light but she told herself she was imagining things and forced herself to keep moving forward.
"We're heading up," was the first thing he said to break the silence, after what seemed like hours following the tunnel. She wasn't sure how he could tell until he pointed toward the ground overhead and the cracks in it that were beginning to filter in the slightest hints of daylight.
By the time they reached the end of the passage, her back was aching from having to slouch the whole way. Considering Zuko was a head or so taller than she was, she could only imagine how tough it had been on him. He didn't complain, however, simply extinguishing the firelight when the chamber the tunnel opened into proved to have nothing more than a latticed ceiling overgrown with weeds and vines to nearly block out the sunlight. It still poked through in enough places to light the room in an eerie, almost ethereal glow.
In the center of the room stood a statue, a young child holding a bamboo flower basket at her side. At least, Katara assumed it was a girl but truthfully she didn't know, and she wasn't about to make a fool out of herself asking. "That must be the Immortal," was all she said, peering down to try and read the plaque at the base of the statue, only to find the etching virtually illegible. All she could make out was "Cai."
"Now we find the map. It must be here somewhere." He still had his sword drawn, using it to cut away the vines concealing the walls, poking at the cracks of the floor—only to find a stone that gave a little. "Watch where you step. The floor's coming loose."
But she was already one step ahead. "Zuko, I think it's supposed to be loose. Look at all the writing on the floor. It must mean something."
Sure enough the stones scattered across the floor were etched with the same script as the plaque she'd been trying to read, although they'd survived the elements and the toll of time much better than the little bronze square tacked on the front of the statue. As they both took a step back to survey the whole scene, it grew evident that the cracks he'd been poking his sword into weren't really cracks at all.
"Grooves," he said, pointing to the six parallel lines running across the floor. "But what are they for? And there are tiles missing…" Several spots stood gaping open.
Another look around the room proved they weren't missing at all, but stacked against the walls in piles he'd originally deemed little more than rubble. "There are so many of them," she finally said, trying to make a quick tally, but ending with a disheartened, "Over fifty."
"Maybe if we arrange them a certain way, a hidden compartment will open or something." When she gave him a skeptical look, he threw up his hands, finally sheathing his sword. "Well, do you have any other bright ideas?"
Unfortunately she didn't.
"These things weigh much more than they should," he groaned as he shoved one from the pile, letting it fall with a thud upside-down, revealing a thin rivet of stone on the bottom. They both looked at each other with the same epiphany.
"So we know where they go. But there has to be an order or something. They're covered in writing. Does it say anything?"
"Doesn't writing always say something? Otherwise it wouldn't be writing," he quipped dryly, as he toiled to lift the six inch square tile.
"You know what I mean. The words. Do they have significance to you?" She was hovering over the ones already facing up in or near the grooves, though all of them seemed slightly askew. "'Fire from heaven,' 'warring nations crumble,' 'when generations cross…' I don't know; it doesn't make any sense to me."
He dropped the stone he'd carried over on the outside of the center square marked by the grooves, wiping his sleeve across his brow. "This was clearly meant to be done by an earthbender. I wonder if all the places we go will be like this."
"Zuko, we need to figure this out or it won't matter that we're not earthbenders," she finally snapped. It sounded a lot harsher than she'd wanted, but she couldn't take it back.
"Read them to me again," was all he said, and she could tell he was keeping his temper in check.
"There's 'fire from heaven,' and 'warring nations crumble,' 'when generations cross,' and over here there's 'old wisdom lost' and 'the wind fades…' Do you want me to read more?"
"It's a song."
She stared at him incredulously. "It doesn't sound like it would make a very good song…"
"That's because it all came true. I learned it as a Fire Nation prophecy, but it was only adopted as one under Sozin's reign. That's what my uncle told me, anyway."
"Do you remember how it goes?"
"I think so. It starts 'When generations cross, fire from heaven scars the earth…' Just help me get all the pieces over here and I can start putting them together."
But it was easier said than done. What shouldn't have weighed more than twenty pounds weighed at least double that. It was clear there was something supernatural afoot, and an earthbender would have been a blessing—if not a must-have to accomplish the task. Hours later they'd only succeeded in finishing one row of the lyrics, and it was starting to get dark.
"It can't be sundown already," Zuko growled in frustration, conjuring another flame as the light in the room steadily dimmed.
"It's not," she said, rubbing the small of her back as she stepped under one of the holes in the lattice overhead. "It's going to rain."
"Great. Because this wasn't hard enough without the stones being wet."
"Just hurry up. We have a little time left before the monsoon will hit."
"Monsoon?!"
"Just hurry."
In another hour they finished the second row, but they were still only half done, and Zuko was wiping raindrops from his brow instead of sweat. It was harder to get a grip on the tiles, and soon the grooves were flooded like mini rivers. Katara even briefly panicked that the whole room could get flooded, but at worst it would drain into the tunnel and give them a very, very muddy trek back to wherever Appa was waiting.
"Maybe we should wait out the storm. The water—"
But as soon as he said it, she cut in, "—is the best thing that could have happened for us. Don't you get it? We kept saying we needed an earthbender, but what do we have? A waterbender! I can bend the water underneath the tiles. It's even in the grooves already."
"Are you sure?"
She was too tired to even get indignant over the fact that he doubted her skill. "Just tell me how the rest of the song goes. And find a dry place to stand so you can give me some light if I need it."
It took longer than she wanted – even the monsoon had long since abated – but eventually with the push and pull of the puddles the tiles were settled into place. The last one fell into the groove with a slight splash, setting off a chain reaction of clinks as they floated on the rising water level.
Moments passed. Nothing happened.
"Is that it?" she finally asked, suddenly feeling as if she wanted to cry. She refused to let herself.
"I know I got the lyrics right." He took a step closer, lifting his flame higher to illuminate the etched words across the square. As the stones clinked together again, he tentatively stepped on one corner, pushing it into the groove. "The water is keeping them from locking together. Are you able to bend it out of the way?"
Without a word she began the task, and as she drew the last drop from beneath the tiles, the entire floor began to rumble. No sooner had she flung the excess moisture out of the latticed grate overhead than it started to quake, throwing her against one wall while Zuko collided with the other. The stones in the center were shifting, some sinking in a complex pattern until the shaking stopped and only a handful remained above the rest.
She rubbed her battered side as she moaned an exasperated, "What does it all mean? Please don't tell me we have to move those again."
"We don't," he said simply, beckoning her over to where he already stood at the edge of the mismatched stones. "Look, Katara. It's a map."
"A map? How can you even tell?" It looked like nothing more than a few crooked stepping stones to her.
"Because it's the Fire Nation. The archipelago, see? The capital, there," he pointed as he spoke, "and the Boiling Rock there, and that's Crescent Island, and that…" He trailed off, staring at the only stone elevated far above the rest.
Fire Nation geography had never been her strong suit. "It's where we're going next, right? Well, what is it?"
"Ember Island."
It was like a flood of relief washed over her whole body. At least they wouldn't be climbing cliff faces or mucking through dingy tunnels this time around. A look over her shoulder confirmed that the journey back to Appa would indeed be a filthy one. Yet she also noticed something amiss: the statue had moved.
It held that basket aloft, as if expecting them to take it with them. Hesitant for only a moment, she moved over and found she could easily lift what otherwise seemed a solid stone rendering of the flower holder. She'd seen enough of the place to take it in stride.
"I guess we're supposed to take this to Ember Island with us. Do you still have that family house and everything? We'll be able to eat and sleep well and rest after this exhausting ordeal…"
But her words came short when she noticed the grim look on his face. Maybe he knew something she didn't, as a trip to the island seemed an issue of extreme unpleasantness to him.
"Or… did something happen I should know about? There isn't a volcano on that island that erupted or something, is there?"
His jaw clenched for a moment and she was almost sure he'd merely turn around and begin the trek through the tunnel again. At the last moment, however, he sent her a slight smirk. "Of course not. I still have the house. Let's go."
Whatever his reasons for disliking their next destination, Katara had a sinking feeling Ember Island would not be the vacation hideaway everyone always thought it to be.