As Katara continued her trek through the ruined city of Hira'a, a sense of foreboding settled over them all in a thick fog. The oppressive barely-morning silence weighed her down every step, filling the air with an almost tangible sense of dread.
The city loomed around them like giant monoliths, casting long shadows across the empty streets. The shattered remains of buildings lay pitifully, the acrid smell of smoke and ash lingering.
These were the rotten remains of a scrimmage.
Despite the growing sunlight emerging from dark clouds, the atmosphere remained shrouded in a deep unsettling gloom. Even the chirping of birds or the rustling of leaves in the wind withered before it could pierce the quiet.
As they continued on, the occasional creaking of a broken window or the distant groan of creaky structures sent some of their entourage cringing. Others, mostly those who had experience fighting in the Hundred Years War, hardened their shoulders. While this was not near the level of destruction Ozai brought to Omashu, or even Zuko during his time in his village-burning surly Avatar-chasing phase, it was the most damage Katara had seen during peacetime.
She walked cautiously, her eyes scanning the streets for any signs of danger or civilians. Even Toph's occasional quips were lackluster in dispelling the ominous feeling that propelled her forward. Two soldiers followed closely behind despite a curious zero following Toph and Aang.
"Please be careful," one said.
"I'm a Master bender," she replied testily. Anything powerful enough to damage her wouldn't be deterred by two random soldiers.
They entered what should have been a town square. Most of the buildings were still standing but three were the unfortunate collateral damage in what resembled a firefight.
Ty Lum took a sudden gulp of air. "Look," the warrior whispered furiously.
The soldiers clambered ahead of Katara with their hands outstretched.
Two, three, four shadowy figures emerged from still-standing shopstalls. They held different assortments of cleaning supplies and moved clumsily, sleep lingering on their faces. At their downtrodden appearance Katara straightened, hand still positioned on her water skin in case of an attack but her muscles quickly loosening.
"We're not here to cause trouble," she said, her voice steady. "We just want to help."
There was a moment of silence before one of the natives stepped forward, his expression wary. "What kind of help?" he asked.
"We want to find out what happened here," Zuko interjected, tone firm. Although his noisy armor should've warned her, Katara hadn't noticed him approach. "I want to make things right."
She saw the recognition bloom in the locals' faces. Rugged faces emerged from open windows, doors creaking open as the city startled to wake.
"Avatar Aang. Fire Lord Zuko." The one who had stepped forward swooped into a low bow. "There was a fight a few days ago. A man by the name of Lee Wang claimed he was here to liberate the foreign—migrants," he amended, "Many of our family members were taken when we tried to refuse joining his cause."
Zuko pinched his temples. "And Governor Ezuru?"
"Tried to stop him at first. But we haven't heard anything from her in days. This man riled up the southern district and some of the earthbending migrants barricaded it from entry." The man's face fell. "They took my niece."
Katara's heart plummeted. "I am so sorry. We'll find her. We'll find all of them."
The group's faces brightened though the weariness remained.
"Do you support the Fire Lord's policies?" interrupted Toph.
Zuko sucked in a sudden breath. The others looked at her warningly; the crowd had swelled and most looked like they hadn't eaten a square meal in days.
"Now's not the time—" said Aang in a display of social awareness that Toph usually had but tended to discard when convenient.
"Of course I support my Lord—" the man was saying until a shorter man behind him, who had watched in a silence so far, shook his broom in the air.
"He forced our city to open to thousands of foreigners!" This one cried. "They came and took our food and crowded our neighborhoods! And now they kidnap our neighbors after the accommodations we gave them!" He spat a dirty slur for an earthbender, and Katara first saw the way Toph's blank eyes twitched in the equivalent of a languorous eye-roll, Zuko's knuckles moving through shades of pale and white, and then horrible silence falling upon everyone, the clangs of opening and closing doors as more people emerged to see the commotion.
"How could you say such a thing?" snapped Katara. The man turned to glare at her. This was the type of nonsense that made the Northern Water Tribe abandon her home in their time of need. Or Ba Sing Se relegate their refugees to the dirtiest and most run-down areas of the city, cordoned off from everyone else. "No wonder they're upset if they're dealing with the likes of you."
"Katara," a low warning in Zuko's voice.
"What he said!" A straggler in the crowd said. A few heads around him nodded while others looked horrified. "They're not Fire Nation!"
Then another voice called out, "I'm an earthbender but my father is Fire Nation! We're not all like that—"
"But so many of you are! How do I know you didn't take my mother?"
"That is enough," said Zuko. "They are my people. Our focus right now is to find your family members and contain this man."
A grating chorus of voices rung out. "The Fire Lord doesn't care about us!" and "He would have us starve for them!"
Katara vibrated under the tension in the air. Her frustration grew. "Listen to yourselves! You're all fighting amongst each other while the real threat is still out there. This Lee Wang is targeting innocent people. We need to come together and find a way to stop him."
Others like the first man swung his head wildly and began arguing against his friend. A fistfight broke out and the Kyoshi Warriors tried to herd people into groups and shuffle them off. Finally, Aang sent a cutting breeze across the square and sent a wall of earth to forcibly separate those in fisticuffs.
The annoyance on Aang's face nearly rivaled the collective agitation during their time in the Great Divide. Sure enough, he mouthed a lie —"We know where this man is and if you all don't zip it we'll never find your missing families,"— and Zuko followed with a quick succession of orders for a curfew and instructions for one regiment to remain and protect surrounding neighborhoods and start repairs.
"Way to go Spitfire," Toph elbowed Katara.
She grumbled. "Why did you have to ask that?"
"There's your answer," Toph declared. "I think a couple of locals are joining in on this guy's movement. They have a motive to see the migrants gone too and this is the perfect excuse."
A smattering of law enforcement officers dressed in a similar style to that of Caldera's except with pink accents instead of red joined the square, their authoritative presence helping to quell the chaos. One officer helped a fallen man and Katara rushed over to check for injuries, her hands ready with water. But the officer shook her head and confirmed that he was unharmed, and the man darted away before she could say anything else.
As Katara straightened to face the officer, she found herself staring into a pair of stunning golden brown eyes. The woman's bangs were cut straight across her forehead, adding a sharpness to her otherwise round, unblemished face. For a moment, there was a strange sense of recognition between them, though Katara couldn't quite place where she might have seen this officer before.
It wasn't until the officer started walking that her confusion was replaced with a small smile of recognition. But the woman was already past her, eyes widened and gasping softly.
She turned to see what had caught the woman's attention. Aang ambled in their direction and met the woman in the middle, wearing an expression that was equal parts confusion and glee as if he couldn't quite believe what was happening.
"On Ji?" he said, his voice filled with amazement.
"Kuzon?" the officer said, taking a small step backwards as if to take in the whole of him. "Oh Agni, you're the Avatar!"
Never the one to forget a voice, Toph recognized her immediately. "The girl from the Fire Nation school with a jerky boyfriend?"
On Ji flushed and fidgeted with her sleeve sheepishly. "Actually, Hide and I are engaged." Hide, the jerk who tattled on Aang's dance party. Katara allowed a moment of sympathy for the woman; while On Ji was not familiar beyond being the short-lived target of her jealousy, no one decent deserved a fate with a horrible man. "But I can't believe we're meeting here! When you disappeared from school we were so worried, and Shoji kept telling us he saw you bend earth but we didn't believe it. Turns out you were the Avatar !" She giggled and reached a hand out to touch Aang's glider.
Katara cleared her throat. "Nice to meet you, I'm Katara. I don't know if you remember me but I was the one dancing with Aang."
"I think I do," chirped On Ji. Her voice was a sparrowkeet in slow flight. "I thought your eyes were beautiful. You're a waterbender?"
More introductions were exchanged until Zuko joined them again.
"If we're done with the chit-chat, let's get a move on." Zuko's voice was coarser than usual. "Time to pay Governor Ezuru a visit. Aang, can you go and Appa and see if you can find 'Noriko'?" Noriko was Princess Ursa's pseudonym. It was the name that the face-stealing spirit had given her after taking away her face and identity. When they found her, Aang had restored both her memory and looks.
After On Ji bowed deeply and introduced herself to Zuko, she said, "I used to work for Governor Ezuru. I can take you there. It's fastest riding dragon-moose and we have enough for everyone." She excused herself to where they were housed.
Zuko and Katara watched Toph and Aang follow On Ji who's complete shift in demeanor seemed permanent. As On Ji and Aang continued to talk, On Ji touching Aang's glider and clothes far more than an engaged woman should do, Katara turned her attention back to the ruined town square around her, determined to find the answers they were searching for.
"Yay for coincidences." Zuko deadpanned.
"Are you okay?"
Zuko let out a long breath through his teeth in a jarring whistle. It was similar to her dad when he was frustrated but clearly didn't want to talk about it.
But wanted to talk about it and make him comfortable doing so. She leaned closer and lowered her voice, gesturing for him to tilt his head in so only he could hear.
"It's about your mom, isn't it?"
Surprise fell over him. It shouldn't have because it was a conclusion anyone could have made.
"None of them have seen 'Noriko' or her family in days. One of the locals mentioned they saw police entering their neighborhood. Jeong Jeong confirmed in his letter that he found Ty Lee and the warriors and my family but…"
"You're worried it was a fake," she finished with a frown. It was all unsettling. It felt they were being played like a pipa with someone in the shadows controlling everything, and it was exactly the reason coming here rashly was a poor move. After witnessing the earlier rash of protests, anyone here could be after Zuko—a disenfranchised former colonial turned refugee in their homeland, a native who wrongly pinned the blame of their problems on the migrants and the Fire Lord, never mind Zuko was one of the few actually capable of fixing things—or another rogue metalbender on a ship. La and her waves help us.
Absent any option besides a friendly jostle at his choices, Katara lifted her fingers to his elbow. She looked up at him through her eyelashes and on the curious terrain of his face saw all the unanswered questions she craved answers for. The scar she felt had a deeper history than an Agni Kai. The shadows she was beginning to wonder allowed him to sleep at all. The exhausted lines of keeping his enemies close and loved ones far in a world of peace that was always brink of next battle.
His eyes met hers, and then dipped lower, and her toes curled, hand gripping him tighter, waiting, but for what—for what?
A hand holding reigns thrust between them. They sprung apart.
Katara noticed a staring Ty Lum standing a few paces behind Zuko, the warrior twitching in a valiant effort like she was fighting the urge to roll her eyes. Lieutenant Lee gave a small wave. She swiped her bottom lip with her tongue.
As though a punishment, a giant animal forked tongue licked her from head to toe. Grimacing, she bent the heavy spit away and stared down the mischievous dragon-moose in a challenge to lick her again. She had seen the animal before in Fire Fountain city where Combustion man tried to kill them but never actually rode on one. The one time she rode even an ostrich-horse during the Peace Summit that Could Not Be Named she had injured herself to a level her own waterbending struggled to heal.
Yes, many reasons why that first peace summit was collectively agreed by their group to not have taken place.
"Let's get a move on," Toph shook the reins wildly. "Zuko, you ride with Katara."
"What? Why?" said Aang.
"In case that metalbender attacks. General Shen look's like he's close to kidnapping Zuko and sending him home."
"Erm, I don't think that's..." she started. An image of sitting in front of Zuko, her back pressed flushed against his front, his arms cradling her, or alternatively her behind him, her nose burrowing into the spot his dragon tattoo breathed a flame across his back…
"We wouldn't fit," Zuko finished.
A beat.
"Are you calling me heavy?" It was a half-joke. She was also annoyed at the man, for reasons unexplained.
"What? No, my armor's—"
"Horribly noisy, for the record, it reminds me of a tincan—"
He rattled. "It's traditional!"
On Ji's small giggle put a pause on a burgeoning squabble. "Toph told me the news. Congratulations, Lord Zuko, Lady Katara. I would love to hear the story."
Toph stuck a finger into her ear and made a twisting motion. "It's really simple, actually—"
"Toph can go with Zuko," Katara said loudly. And promptly regretted everything when Toph curled a fist over her heart and flashed her an eerie smile. The girl was going to tell Zuko everything, wasn't she? "On second thought—"
"Lord Zuko, we finally received a response from Governor Ezuru. She is waiting in her home." Lieutenant Lee bowed. "Do you want to wait to or leave now?"
Zuko responded by leaping to hitch a leg over the dragon-moose. It was a dashing movement that his cursed armor ruined when his vambraces hit one of the dragon-moose's horns. The animal whinnied and stomped angrily. Katara helped Toph onto the animal and Aang promised to meet them soon, already spiraling high on Appa as she stabilized herself on another dragon-moose, hoping desperately she wouldn't fall.
Hira'a was a mountainous village-city midway between Roku's Island and Caldera City. It was a cultural center known for its rich theater culture and the good fortune of scenic variety: they had rocky beaches, mostly mountainous terrain, and a volcano in the distance that occasionally emitted puffs of black smoke into the air. Katara recalled her previous time here and circled through the same thought she did then; it would have been a nice place for a casual vacation were not for the unfortunate time-crunch that prevented a better appreciation of the landscape beyond ensuring there was enough sources of water around to bend.
She also held onto the animal for dear life. Twice a Kyoshi warrior asked if she wanted to ride with them and she denied them in favor of keeping in hearing distance of Toph and Zuko despite her jostling insides crying for mercy. Flying Appa was easy. Navigating a dragon-moose through a mountainous topography no one but a geology teacher should have had business with was another thing entirely. At the very least, those two soldiers from earlier stationed themselves at each side.
Katara couldn't remember Mai ever having this much supervision. On careful deliberation, she also remembered Mai seldom left the palace or her father's home. Maybe Fire Nation nobles were used to this type of lifestyle. She wouldn't call it suffocating per se. Yet it was excessive: almost every female noble she had met, insipid (see: Lady Hina) or not (see: Ty Lee), was no maiden in distress. The Water Tribes, perhaps with a touch of derision, spoke at length about the Fire Nation's gender egalitarianism. Which was a fair assessment to make when that was used to shape everyone into a participant for a genocidal project.
She shook her head. In the face of potential bodily damage and worse, chafing, she expelled her musings for another time and thanked the soldiers.
Ahead, Toph chatted garrulously about her childhood. Like their previous attempt at a life-changing field trip, Zuko answered in one or two word phrases, occasionally looking to the skies and then behind.
"Don't worry, we're all here," she heaved. Her dragon-moose made a whining noise as it tried to maneuver around a thorny bush until Toph sent it skidding to the side. The scent of rosemary curdled the air.
"Just checking to make sure you're in one piece," he resumed looking to the skies. "Remember the summit?" His tone held the teasing smile he probably wore.
She scowled. "We agreed never to talk about that."
From where she sat behind Zuko, Toph dug her heels into the dragon-moose and spoke loudly. "If we could stop the flirting, we're almost there."
The soldiers at Katara's sides said nothing but some of the warriors fanned (aha! Sokka, you are no longer the pun master) around them bit their lips. On Ji giggled again. Zuko rebuked Toph and the girl simply guffawed.
True to Toph's announcement, the towers of a modest mansion surfaced above the trees. It was modest according to Caldera City upper-class standards yet the richest home in the Southern Water Tribe would be inadequate in comparison. Roofs made of dark tiles to withstand the harsh mountain climate sloped in arches on each side. Its entrance was a reflection of the palace's grandeur though designed for practicality and comfort rather than a plain display of power.
Familiar with the grounds, On Ji disembarked her dragon-moose and offered to take the rest to the barn in the back. At the entrance, two guards with sour expressions bowed and greeted the regiments.
One held up a hand and intoned, "Only the Fire Lord and his friends."
General Shen bristled. "Absolutely not. Governor Ezuru has disrespected us thoroughly by ignoring our missives, she is in no place to make demands!"
"Obey the condition or no entry." The guard snarled. A column of earth rose to block the palace gate. It was one Toph could break in her sleep, but more importantly the guard, from his features shining through the headgear, looked to be Fire Nation. Another mixed citizen.
That put Katara on edge. Was the governor siding with the colonials?
"We shouldn't," she wove through the soldiers and General Shen. They parted to grant her access to Zuko's side albeit the little circle of protection around them grew tighter. "It could be a trap. You shouldn't have to grovel just to meet one of your governors. Let's focus on finding 'Noriko' and Lee Wang."
General Shen's expression suggested he thought she was Agni reincarnated.
Zuko's expression hardened. "I'm going in. Follow if you want." He nodded to the guard. "Avatar Aang might arrive soon. Let him in if he does."
Who did Zuko think she was—obviously she needed to be there. And it occurred to her that she also wanted to be there, in case he dug himself further into this mess, but also because there were so many things unanswered. Need and want were akin to the dance of the ocean and the moon: the tide must ebb and flow with the lunar pull, yet it wouldn't be compelled to do so if the La never yearned to become the sea in the first place.
Toph pointed to her own chest and mouthed, "heartbeat."
Katara took a deep breath and followed Zuko inside.
Governor Ezuru was a middle-aged woman that hinted of envious beauty in her youth. Now she was a matronly type of vision. Most remarkable were the colors of her hat, a perfect shade of purple that equal parts of red and blue would create; and the bluish jewel that hung from her left ear. During Katara's previous visit to Hira'a she had noticed many women wore jewelry from their ears instead of around their shoulders and arms in a show that was previously only known to be characteristic of Ba Sing Se. Water Tribe women certainly did not pierce their ears. Voluntarily putting holes through skin seemed barbaric.
"Fire Lord Zuko and company." Governor Ezuru said neutrally from her place on a raised chair in the receiving room. "I am…surprised you have come all this way."
Zuko stood perfectly erect. "Governor Ezuru. Why have you ignored our messages?"
"Is Avatar Aang with you? I was…hopeful that he would come."
"Answer my question."
Toph and Katara readied their elements. Face unreadable, Governor Ezuru watched their movements.
"You better get talking." Toph raised her hands.
Governor Ezuru's eyes went to the guards standing at the double doors they had entered through. A small bead of sweat rolled down the side of her face but her body remained stone-still. "I feel as though I have been made a criminal."
"You might as well be." Katara thought of the sincerely fearful faces at the square. "Some of your citizens say you abandoned them. People are being kidnapped, migrants abused, your city's under siege and you're doing nothing."
The Governor chuckled. "I have done nothing? Me? Our very own puppet Lord stands before us, days too late to help us with the crisis he started."
Katara knew it. She absolutely knew it, the governor was in cahoots with the colonials, perhaps a bigot herself—
She prepared herself along with Zuko on the verge of materializing their respective element when Toph stomped twice hands. The girl's hands shot not ahead but behind.
The guards collapsed. They were knocked unconscious from pieces of projectile rock. Toph spun in place as her joints bent at sharp angles and made a swiping motion until every window was covered with ragged rocks. Darkness fell upon them and Zuko snapped a flame to life in time to see Governor Ezuru gasp and tumble towards Zuko, falling to her knees in front of them.
"My Lord! I have committed unspeakable crimes."
Incredulous, Katara leapt to peel Governor Ezuru away.
"She was lying," Toph stopped her and blew into her fists. "But it's not us she wanted to lie to. It's everyone else."
"Oh," Katara said dumbly, slow to fit everything together. "Vibrations?"
"Vibrations," confirmed Toph.
"Your family was safe," choked Governor Ezuru. Her earring jingled with every word tumbling out of her in a rush. "They—they're watching. They took my son. Some of my officers joined the cause and started arresting those helping the migrants. They arrested your family, and—" the governor placed her palms on the floor and lowered her head. Zuko kneeled to grasp her arms. "I followed orders and pretended to ally with them until those warriors told me—I thought it would be safer to keep them in prison where I could watch them until I found a way to get word to the Avatar and you—"
"Slow down." Zuko pulled Governor Ezuru to stand.
Katara felt an oncoming headache and lightly touched her forehead prior to clasping the woman's hands in hers, intently following her story between hiccups and half-sobs. Toph placed her hands on the floor so all four limbs were guaranteeing Governor Ezuru's tellings were true.
As they had all already knew, Hira'a was already in an unstable state. Many of their leaders had been prosecuted as war criminals after the Hundred Year War and those who came into leadership positions to replace them were young and inexperienced. The sudden influx of migrants exacerbated existing economic problems and as people were prone to do, they started pointing fingers at one another. A metalbender named Lee Wang arrived a few days ago and began stringing stories of land stolen from the former colonials. Natives and migrants alike joined his cause. They were meant to force Zuko's hand: to re-establish the disbanded colonies or face an annexation of Hira'a by taking hostages.
Under the impression Governor Ezuru was truly siding with the rebellion, Jeong Jeong had indeed broken the Kyoshi Warriors and Princess Ursa's family out. But now no one knew where they were, neither the bad guys nor good.
"Okay, small rebel group is big now." Toph kneaded her wrist. "Can we finally name them?"
"Please don't," Katara groused as she rubbed circles into the Governor's back. I misjudged her.
"The Anti-Disbandits."
Zuko made a strangled noise. He had started to pace, as much as one could in ten stones of armor. "No."
"The Metal Militia."
Katara appreciated the alliteration but still, "No."
"You guys are going to be the most boring parents ever."
She stopped her massage and his armor stopped rattling. Soon it started up again in defiant ignorance while Governor Ezuru wiped the tears drying on her cheeks.
"My Lord?" the question went unspoken.
"The official announcement hasn't been made yet," Zuko started absently, the flame in his hands turning the look in his eyes ominous. He stopped pacing near the unconscious guards. They would be awake soon, or reinforcements would be called after seeing the locked state of the Governor's mansion, so they needed to figure out a plan. "But yes, this is Lady Katara, my fiance."
Under normal, certainly non-scammy circumstances, hearing a man declare her his would send her blushing. And blush she did, but she did not expect the thrumming blood in her veins and her pulse skipping.
Skipping. Irregular, not speedy.
She snuck a glance at Toph. The girl was busy yanking earwax out of her ears and thankfully missed the luxurious teasing opportunity.
Governor Ezuru straightened and leveled a warm look at Katara. Her golden eyes went to her neck. "Congratulations to both of you. I was under the impression that the Avatar…" a neutral mask slid into place, the woman backtracking. "Ah, look at me, involving myself in the chatter of young ones. Forgive me." Katara beamed, happy to meet someone as self-aware of nosy habits as she. The Governor's hands went briefly to her frosty earring. "Did Lord Zuko carve that necklace himself?"
"You know of Water Tribe traditions?" asked Katara.
"Quite. I was intrigued by the culture long before the war ended."
"They're waking," Zuko cut in, pointing to the guards. "We need a plan. Governor Ezuru, you should come with us."
A wrinkle creased her forehead. Having the governor join them was the expected course of action, but for some reason Governor Ezuru's earlier words about puppet lords came to mind. The—fine, the Metal Militia it was—hadn't replaced Hira'a's leadership with their own because they thought Governor Ezuru was on their side. It was similar to Long Fen running Ba Sing Se despite King Kuei sitting on the throne.
"I have an idea. Governor Ezuru is a great actress," she smiled at the woman to address her directly. "And I know you're worried about your son. But if you leave, it'll make a coup easier and they'll install someone else who actually does believe in their cause. I think you should pretend to be on their side and figure out where Lee Wang is hiding, or any other information that could help us."
Governor Ezuru gnawed at her lip. "My son—if they find out—"
"You don't have to if you don't want to," Katara assured. "But we will do everything in our power to find him."
Toph gave her a long whistle. Meanwhile, Zuko cocked his head and scratched his chin.
General Ezuru let out a quivering sigh. "I must pay for my crimes. I will do it."
Zuko's expression becoming scrutinizing. "I'll send Aang under the pretense of negotiating with you tomorrow. Toph and Katara, look for the hostages. I'll find my family."
Katara shook her head. "The public thinks you're only here to solve the Hira'a crisis. I know you want to find Princess Ursa but it's too risky." Wherever Zuko went there was a high chance of someone following him.
"What do you suggest?"
She pondered. One of Toph's earth curtains rumbled ominously. "My dad hosted open forums whenever there were community grievances."
"This isn't a democracy Sweetness. Someone's trying to kill him," Toph sent up another sheet of rock for reinforcement.
She looked at Governor Ezuru again. "The Hira'a officials were going to submit an official complaint to Zuko, right? Most of them are against the Harmony Restoration Movement or at least Hira'a having to host so many migrants." The Governor nodded. "Some of them might have links to the Metal Militia," —Toph whooped in the background— "so Zuko can start with them."
Zuko deliberated the suggestion. After a collective agreement to a tweaked plan to summon the other leaders to interrogate them for potential ties to the, dang it, now named Metal Militia for the foreseeable future, his eyes sparkled in thanks, like it was an honor to hear her opinions than something to humor for appearance's sake and disregard.
One of the guards stirred and after Governor Ezuru assured them she was willing to do a bit of espionage Toph encased the woman in a loose hold that with any luck would make it seem like they had interrogated her.
Toph barreled them out of the mansion via dirtwalking. Outside, Zuko's soldiers and black-clothed men and women were at a standstill, hands up in constrained bending forms.
"You can't do this," one shouted. General Shen sent a wall of fire dividing Zuko from them. Katara spotted Appa's descent and Aang jumping over to descend with his glider.
"I can," Zuko sent up his own fire. "Where are the hostages?"
"Send us back to Laoshen!" Another stabbed his hand downwards and a slab of earth ripped through the Kyoshi warriors. They jumped into the trees, balancing precariously on the branches. Their fans became circular shields.
"Laoshen is no more!" Zuko threw a cannonball to scorch another moving wall. Katara and Toph's elements met in a long stream of muddy water to drench a militia member attempting to cut down On Ji.
Laoshen used to be Hua, an Earth Kingdom villagd until Ozai seized the land to be used as a manufacturing colony. Katara had met some of the displaced Earth Kingdom citizens two years ago and the stories they carried were indescribable. The Southern Tribe had lost too much but even they hadn't lost their land.
So these people, as much as she sympathized with the struggles of the descendants of colonials here in Hira'a, they had benefited from stolen land. It was not their home.
Aang touched down on the balls of his feet, poised to strike like a coiled spring. Outstretched his arms readied to spin into a tornado. The surrounding militia cried out in alarm and retreated deeper into the trees. Aang advanced.
"Look at his clothes!"
"Avatar Aang!"
"It's the Avatar!"
"Tell your leader," Aang heaved, and it would have been humorous to vocalize the irony in an airbender being out of breath were it not for the situation, "that if he truly wants peace to not be a coward out to murder and kidnap people and to come face me."
Appa descended from the sky with a deafening roar. His massive body created a shockwave web that send the militia scrambling, some even disappearing into the earth itself. Toph let out a string of curses and stomped. A hole opened up and she burrowed into the ground, disappearing within seconds. Zuko unleashed a barrage of flames. His eyes fixed on the fleeing rebels as he prepared to give chase. The Kyoshi warriors followed close behind him, their weapons at the ready. In less than a minute, it was as if the militia had never been there to begin with, all vanished into the dense forests or deep beneath the earth. Only a trace of smoke and burning Earth remained.
General Shen stared longingly at the ground. "Maybe it is not an inglorious notion to have earthbenders in our military."
Lucky for him, Toph constituted half of the Fire Nation's military power anyway when she wanted.
Aang prepared to take flight with Appa to do another round of searching.
"Aang, wait." Katara started to haul herself onto the bison's saddle. Her trusty soldiers tried to follow and she glared at them with the force of a hurricane. Imagine thinking she was left unprotected with Aang.
"Shouldn't you be with Zuko until Toph returns?" He said carefully when she tucked her legs under her. She peered below at the snorting dragon-moose On Ji was releasing to the ground.
"We learned a few things from Governor Ezuru." She shared with him everything they had learned and at the end Aang crumpled onto his haunches.
"Why is peace so difficult? I thought some of the Avatars had it easy, living without war. But this is so complicated."
"Who do you think's behind all this?"
"I don't know. Remember the Spirit journey I went on?" He asked. She nodded; it was the one where the Avatars warned him to not force peace overnight or it would imperil war. "I'm going to try talking to Avatar Roku again. The Fire Nation isn't what it used to be even before the was and it's not necessarily a bad thing."
She braced herself for airbender wisdom. "What do you mean?"
"I have to carry on the Air Nomad heritage." Aang fell onto his back. Below, the clattering and clamors stalled; everyone had gotten on a dragon-moose securely. She knew she would need to leave soon, especially when Zuko had just been attacked the day before, but her heart fell at Aang's words.
During their time together they had scoured the world for vestiges of Air Nomad culture: ancient scrolls, old artifacts, any oral histories gleaned from elders passed down from their elders when Air Nomads were still extant as a fourth nation. A tiny part in both of them also hoped, however infinitesimal the chance, that they would find Air Nomads living in secrecy waiting to reveal themselves after the war ended.
No such luck. The Air Nomads were gone and only Aang survived because of the Avatar state and a serendipitous ice cage.
Carrying on airbending lineage meant marrying and having children but that alone could not be enough. Aang said as much. "One day when things are calmer, I'm going to look for people who want to help my mission. They could be anyone: earthbenders. Waterbenders. Even nonbenders. I'm thinking to pull a Sokka and call them Air Acolytes," he grinned toothily in an attempt to lighten the air and Katara humored him with a soft snort. "But I'll teach them to carry on my people's cultures, traditions, and teachings. Physically they won't be Air Nomads but their hearts will. And…I think that's how a lot of the world might become." He stretched his arms out and squinted at his tattoos. His voice took on a strange intimation. "Earthbending Fire Nation citizens. The future Chief of the Southern Water Tribe is marrying a girl from Kyoshi Island. And—a lot of people during Ozai's era would've rioted at the thought of the Fire Lord marrying a Master waterbender but look at them worrying about you."
Katara didn't know when. All she knew is after Aang finished his last word tears had pooled in her eyes.
Once again she was struck at Aang—his saccharine childlike playfulness that was calming and painfully ideal that made you feel ridiculous for not seeing the world the way he did. He said it with the force of a man who truly knew himself. The entire team had opposed him for not wanting to fight Ozai and yet he carved a third way out of it through sheer belief.
"I wouldn't be too sure about that last part," she laughed, rubbing her nose. Most of Hira'a didn't know about her and Zuko...yet. "Do you think the Fire Nation is ready for a new world like that? Look at what we saw in the town square. I know I suggested not splitting up colonial families by bringing entire families back, but…" she trailed off, perplexed to find no way to end the sentence that fully encapsulated her thoughts.
"I'm not sure I can tell you exactly what I'm thinking because you'll yell at me about it again. All I'm saying is I thought about what you mentioned when you said finding another way."
It was easy enough to ignore the first half's reference to their tense conversation in the barn before she and Zuko had borrowed Appa. "Thank you, Aang. After this morning, I agree that trying to make things the way they used to be might not be right. Some of these people aren't ready for that. And I'm not saying the militia is right, obviously," she said quickly, "but I'm sure a lot of the migrants feel like this isn't home."
"Lady Katara?" On Ji called from below. "Toph hasn't returned and we need to leave before we're ambushed again. Oh, hi again Kuzon. Aang. Avatar Aang."
Aang nervously scratched the back of his neck. Katara tried not to ponder over the motion as she slid down Appa's tail and pummeled straight into a fidgety traditionally-dressed canister of a firebender. His arms were outstretched as though he knew she would fumble the landing despite having done it a thousand times.
"You tripped the night of the—secret nighttime activity," Zuko explained. On Ji waited with their dragon-moose and a blush darkened her face.
Zuko, Zuko. His ability to be completely misinterpreted was unparalleled. The choice of wording was her doing, she admitted. She equally fumbled her mount onto the dragon-moose. Embarrassment at her graceless movements dwindled into ash when a heavy weight settled behind her.
"I did not."
"Did too." His breath skated across her neck. The options of keeping her braid in its place down her back or pulling it forward were equally terrifying. For different reasons.
"Did not."
He handed her the reins. "Do you want to navigate?"
"Why am I in front? Toph sat behind you."
There was no answer for a long moment, only the sound of hooves stomping and General Shen shouting at poor soldiers reaching her ears.
"Toph's fifteen," he said finally.
She failed to see what that meant in relation to dragon-moose riding. It took On Ji, while adjusting the stirrup, murmuring "your boobs " into her ear for her to rival a fire flake in how hot she felt and took it as a lesson to be absolutely less of a menace. Was she so—so easy that prolonged periods of time with the nearest handsome man made her feel like a right idiot?
Clearly, if his skittish hands holding her hips sending her pulse dashing signaled any type of idiocy on her part. She felt wanton. She also felt criminal, certain someone would look at her and see in horror the depth of desire bubbling in her.
It was also too late to ask On Ji about her backside; Gran-Gran and the women in her tribe had remarked at length about her child-bearing hips more than her modest bosom, but she needn't have anyway. All she could feel as they descended down the mountain through progressively smaller homes was the indignity of sitting this close to him whilst touching little. He was the genial gentlemen, reaching forward solely to help her yank hard on the reins when the dragon-moose tried to divert into an area full of balsam trees and at one point firmly nudging the animal with his legs—not unlike he'd accidentally done to her on the airship—to slow it down. A vexing gap remained between them on the saddle.
Without Toph, the uneven terrain required more care to steer the animal and despite going down the slope, double the time passed before they reached the three-quarters mark. The sun was already at its zenith. Hira'a's cloudier atmosphere tamed sunlight enough that she felt no sweat-induced change of outfit today would be necessary.
Then, having caught sight of a hopping bug, the dragon-moose galloped over a river and skid down a particularly steep slope towards a jagged-edged promontory. Zuko's front hit her back as she lurched forward. She wrenched the ropes in time to stop the animal from knocking its antlers into a thick branch and sending them sailing into the waters below.
One of his hands was squeezing her side. The other arm snapped in a tight hold around her abdomen.
Zuko coughed. His mouth had caught on her hair and she gasped, pulling the braid over her right shoulder. Attuned to the water in and around her, she heard the blood move through his heart in delayed thuds. Ba-dum. Ba-da-dum.
"Sorry," he rasped. He was still snug against her and it was not comfortable at all. His armor dented her skin in odd places.
"Thank you." She kept her eyes trained ahead. It was a nice view. Rolling mountains and hills, her element stretching for eons, and to their right sporadically spaced subsections of Hira'a at different altitudes converging at the port. "And…thank you for keeping the rocks from crushing me that one time." She wondered if he remembered.
He did. "...You're welcome. I shouldn't have been that sassy."
"So a little sass is fine?" She clenched her midsection.
"What's the point of saving the world if I can't sass?" Running his knuckles down her side, he rested his right hand on the saddle next to her thigh. The left arm around her front loosened and his hand unfurled to splay across her belly. His pinky finger reached where her lower sarashi wraps began.
As the dragon-moose stopped swaying and stomped to hike back to the path he released her.
Ty Lum greeted them on her own dragon-moose. "Shall I let the others know you wish for a break to sight-see?"
She buried her head in her hands. When Toph said sell it this was not what she envisioned—getting caught as if they were doing something scandalous, which they weren't, truly—and she would need to talk to Zuko about this. The temptation to internally combust reached spirit-world heights at the inanely long mental list of things to do.
They continued on, the air grew warmer and the landscape transformed from rugged terrain to lush, smoother soil.
Several minutes passed and, emboldened, Katara let out a deep breath. She had seen it in Zuko's fingers just now, heard it in his heartbeat. Toph's blasé reaction last night to what she thought was a world-changing revelation made her realize: it was not a crime to want. To go where she wanted and to want and want and want as much as she gave.
She wanted. "You don't have to be careful in maintaining a gap. It's probably uncomfortable for you."
"It's the armor. It's uncomfortable."
"Huh, it's traditional."
"Uncomfortable for you," Zuko clarified.
"It's not. It's more uncomfortable worrying about you teetering onto me or straight off the dragon-moose."
He snorted. "I've ridden a dragon." Reportedly Aang and Zuko had returned to the Sun Warriors winter in the second year of peace to give them offerings. Whatever happened was an open secret, one because Aang couldn't resist boasting rights about meeting the dragons again and two Zuko couldn't resist yelling at Aang for trying to steal his fire, also again.
They were a few minutes from the bottom. From there it would be another ten minutes to the town square, but it could be shorter if they decided return to the airship for reconnaissance.
She held the reins in one hand to reach briefly behind her and met leather straps and ceramic breastplate, a type of armor resistant to metalbending. He caught her elbow before it managed to bury itself into his side.
"We're almost there," he said but her ears heard no true protest.
"It's uncomfortable," she reiterated. "Besides, Toph says we need to sell it." She hoped the girl was alright. Almost an hour had passed since Toph dived to follow the militia.
"Is that it?" A touch of darkness crept into his voice. "That explains the comments."
"You should've heard her on the airship. If you hear unsavory rumors among your soldiers you know who to blame."
He returned her arm and with it he slid into place. He was right; his armor was a disaster and the arm bracers occasionally ribbed her back. If given the opportunity she could easily be enticed into proposing modern military wear when she resumed her duties as ambassador. The clothes of the Water Tribes would suit him, if not in color then in style: thick furs, structured puffy parkas, something soft to lean against.
Even so, Katara felt not a single urge to complain the remainder of the journey. Hot and heavy, Zuko's breaths left her neck rising into gooseflesh. His heart beat in tandem with hers, and his nose met the top of her braid six times. His hands were coals waiting for the kindling of her asks so they could warm her. If he wanted to press his mouth to her pulse she would have let him. If he wished to tap burning fingers on her neck instead of mahogany tables she would have shifted so they cupped her breasts instead. They fit on the dragon-moose. They fit together perfectly. She wrangled the dragon-moose flawlessly to the end.