Sifu arizony: I have reached Epic? Thank you Master. Your observations are what has helped me develop the characters in the manner I have. I thank you for giving me the desire to delve deeper into their psyches.
melissita:I feel so much pressure but I thrive under it.
david: I try to be different. I hate reading the same plot over and over.
EdwardTwilightObsession:You are correct about La. He will be revealed.
Shinobi Bender: Would you like a tissue? Zuko has mommy issues and Katara is a total mom. I think that was alot of the attraction you know. I would never...well maybe.
oshnsoa shnedashn kiunepgli: Glad you enjoyed the Kataang. Thanks for the spelling shout out. Darn spellcheck. I swear I fix it and it goes back to that.
Magnumus: Mai hasn't run anywhere. It was like a reflex.
dhygn: thank you!
doctor anthony:Not too much of a wait.
Aryck1095:Yes. About five more chapters, maybe. I'm hoping to end a 25. Wow 4 in 24 hrs. I had not noticed. That is pretty fast. You guys are awesome that's why.
Avatar Wolf: I like him too, which is why...you'll see. I know the Kataang in me finally emerged.
....And Here We Go!!
'He's different. Something has changed.' Mai thought for about the tenth time that day.
All she wanted was to sleep and be done with this horrible day. Between Zuko and Aang's fight which was something she hoped she would never have to see ever again, and Zuko's…she couldn't even bring herself to say it.
Aang would be back soon and everything would be ok. He always made everything ok. Not too mention that there was still the matter of whatever it was they had.
She was so torn. The half of her that was angry with Zuko had very quickly reconsidered when she saw the lightning hit him. That said her other half, the one that had fallen in love with Aang had died when she saw him drop like a falling star.
"Are you okay?"
The gentleness of the tone pulled her from her tortured thoughts. "I just saw the two men I love try to kill each other and partially succeed. How should I be?"
Katara had stayed away from Mai after Aang had kissed her. The kiss had been very absentminded and its real connotations were uncertain but regardless of that, a tension had developed after his departure. "Torn, that's how I would feel."
"What did you feel when you saw Zuko hit?" Mai asked wondering just how deep the other girl felt.
"I was disturbed that it had come to that. Fear was mostly what went through me. Fear that they had killed each other." Katara tried to recall exactly what had raced through her mind in that split second. "I was desperate to reach them but I felt the most incredible rush of love for Aang. Weird huh?"
"Weird, yeah." Mai stared at Katara. "So what now? Do we all mend fences and live happily ever after?"
"Like its ever been that easy for us." Katara said plopping down next to her. "Are you gonna stay with Aang or with Zuko?"
"That depends." Mai said cryptically.
"On what?" Katara urged her.
"On whether Zuko really is sorry or if I'm just some play thing he wants because somebody else was enjoying it." Mai smiled ruefully. She shouldn't have said it that way, but it was a small consolation to see the tiny flicker of jealousy that her words inspired in Katara.
"Enjoying? Just exactly was going on between you and Aang? You don't have to tell me. Actually I don't know if I want to know." Katara muttered a little angry. "Yes, I do want to know."
Mai decided to be nice and not divulge anything too unpleasant. "We just puttered around the temple. Cleaning and repainting some of the murals."
"You paint? I didn't know that. You did do a very nice job." Katara commented, "so that herb room is yours I take it. It's very cheerful." She was babbling but it was awkward to talk to the older girl again.
"That's where I spent almost all my time when Aang was away." Mai told her. "He would poke fun at me. Telling me I was gonna grow roots if I didn't leave once in a while." Mai looked down at her lap, her fingers trailing over the intricate seam of her costume. "He was right. I do love him, Katara."
Katara slipped her hand into Mai's, "it's nearly impossible not to."
Breaking contact Mai got up to face her. "We better get Zuko's body here."
They left the comfort of Aang's quarters and headed to one of the unused prayer rooms. Zuko was laid out on a large block of stone courtesy of Toph. Sokka had kept Zuko's body covered with a sheet. The attitude of the four was pessimistic at best.
Katara folded back the sheet uncovering his face. She smoothed down his hair. The lightning had trailed a path down his alabaster body leaving it red and angry looking. She drew out her pouch removing as many of the burns as his body would allow.
"If I had been smarter you would not be here right now. I'm so sorry."
During this time Aang was racking his brains on how to contact La when he was nowhere near the Northern water tribe. He sat at the edge and attempted to locate Roku. The older Avatar did not appear but he did answer.
"Aang, use the elements around you. Remember everything is connected. There is more than one Avatar that can help. Tap into their abilities, you will find a way."
Aang catapulted off the cliff and straight into the ocean below them. He ignored the bite of the icy water and swam until he hit the ocean floor. It was relatively shallow because of the rock formations but it still had dangerous undertows.
His air encircling him, protecting but allowing him to commune with the spirits. His tattoos glowed brightly then settling into a gentle pulsing. He picture the two fish, one black and one white forever dancing in perfect harmony. He called out to Avatar Kuric.
"Avatar Kuric, I need your guidance."
Kuric appeared opposite of him. He plunged one hand into the water and his spirit animal, a penguin swam around their bubble. "She will lead you to La. Good luck Avatar Aang." Kuric dissipated and the penguin took its place. Aang bent his head forward and the penguins flipper slid over his arrow.
He gasped as the bubble broke and he floundered and sputtered his way out of the water. His streaming eyes took a moment to recognize his surroundings. "The Spirit Oasis." Aang breathed. He stood up just as he felt the silky fins of the two spirit fish swimming around him.
He bowed to the fish. Heeding Roku's advice he spoke directly to La. The black fish continued to swim in a circular pattern uncaring of Aang's pleas. The white fish balanced on its fins. Its white fin beckoned him lower. Aang was unsurprised to be sitting on top of the water.
The fin was cold, it pressed against Aang's heart. It then placed its other fin in the pond. The surface of the pond changed and Aang's memories came flooding out. All of them of Katara which warmed the water around him. From the iceberg to the last time they'd made love in his volcanic home.
"Be mine, Katara."Aang breathed, his nose brushing her collarbone and descending between the valley of her breasts. Her back arched in delight as he continued to feather kisses down her body, briefly stopping at her belly.
He stared at it in wonder, one day it would be swollen with his child. Her hands raked his scalp attempting to bring him back to her mouth. "I already am. All of me is," she had spread her arms and he had tenderly covered her body with his.
Thankfully the memories faded and new ones appeared. Aang was not ashamed of his time with Katara but it was private and he really didn't want to share it with anybody. Not even the spirits. The next memories were more turbulent, this time they were of Zuko.
The water froze then boiled until nothing but the oasis itself could be seen as everything else was bathed in steam. His first fight with him in the southern tribe to when Zuko had presented him with a new staff.
The embarrassed Firelord struggling out of the exuberant display of affection Aang had forced on him. It was the one he currently owned to the fight in the clearing.
He watched astonished as Zuko attempted to bring him out of his spiral of destruction.
"Aang, I'm so sorry." the watery Zuko uttered before shooting the lightning. In slow motion the lighting missed Aang completely and he realized Zuko had not meant to hit him only break him out of his pain.
The lighting brushed the edge of the air ball but his avatar self had absorbed and redirected it. Zuko did not move only stuck his hand into the earth as the deadly spark traveled through his body. Zuko's spirit was flung through the light and into Aang.
The memories left as Mai's flowed out. Hers were hot but they were relaxing like natural hot springs. Hers were intermingled as some were his and some where Zuko's. He saw the first time he fought her. His face in the memory curled in distaste as her knife plunged into his staff.
It then switched to her and Zuko laying on a couch kissing passionately and then arguing on some beach. And back to him and her remaking their new home.
He was swirling the paint around as she cleaned up the walls and applied a new coat. "You're really good, Mai." he told her admiring her skill.
"Thank you."
"Umm...you have a little bit of---" Aang reached over and wiped the blue paint from her chin.
She flushed and looked away from him. He handed her another pot of color and she dipped her finger in it and ran it across his cheek. "You have a little bit of---"
Each had grabbed a pot and procedded to coat the other with it. Laughing at the mess they had made and become they lay on the stone floor painting it in a mash of colors. "We should clean it up before it dries." she said.
"I like it like this. It's very colorful." Their heads were close together and he turned to face her, "I like you like this." He teased her.
"I'm not colorful. I'm black and withdrawn and serious. Nothing like this room." Mai said facing his gray eyes defiantly.
"You are all colors, except you mixed them all and that is why you're now black. We just need to separate them and you'll be even brighter than this room." Aang's eyes widened as she burrowed into his side.
The last memory was of him attempting to break her hold on his wrists.
"Please Aang, don't fight him. Don't leave me." she had whispered as he threw the door open and pushed her out of their room so he could face Zuko.
"It's because I don't want to leave you that I must do this," he said.
"You have a decision to make, young Avatar." Tui spoke into his mind, "if you bring forth the firebender you will lose one of your loves."
"Which one will I lose?" Aang asked.
"That is your choice to make. Both have good and bad memories within them. Can you accept the good and bad?" Tui asked.
"Yes, I will accept whatever happens."
"Very well. Avatar Aang we owe you much and will grant your desire to restore life as you restored mine." This time it was La that spoke.
The black fish was also balanced on its fins. "You restored Tui, I will bring back Zuko. He is the darkness to your light. Brothers separated by time and reunited. If he is returned that part of you will return also but you will forever be tied to each other. His joys will be yours and your sorrows will be his."
Aang nodded. He grimaced as La's fins pushed deep inside him until Zuko's blue spirit form fell out of Aang.
"Hey Zuko." Aang greeted as the currents swirled around the airbender swallowing him in darkness.