I'm very surprised that nobody said anything to an ostrich horse festival and eating it, that's like us having a horse festival and eating it, you just don't do it! Sorry for the slight delay of this chapter we've both been buried in homework this past week. Also we forgot the disclaimer for the last chapter so I guess it's still Derek's turn.
Disclaimer: We do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender if we did then Derek would have never added that excuse of an episode The Great Divide.
The new group's flight was rather interesting for everyone. Aang had left Appa to fly by himself as he joined Katara, Kuei, Ursa and Bosco who was playing with Momo.
"So King Kuei, last time we…well…Katara saw you anyways, you wanted to explore the world. Why do you want to go back to Ba Sing Se? You were only gone for a few months." Aang asked sitting next to Katara entangling their hands.
"Well I'll still be exploring the world, just now I can actually watch over my kingdom instead of being blind. I also found out that a world without money is very hard to live in, but with a little help from a friend, anything is possible." Kuei explained as he smiled to Ursa.
"We know what you mean. When our journey first began, money was scarce, but like you said a little help from a friend is always helpful." Katara said remembering all the kind hearted people that helped them during their travels.
"If you two don't mind me asking, how long have you been together?" Ursa asked the young couple. Surprised at the sudden personal question, Katara quickly looked to Ursa.
"Well we've been together for the past year or so, but we only started being a couple a few months ago."
"I can tell that there is something you're not telling us, but I shall respect your privacy." Aang looked to Katara with the same look she had sent him: surprised, confused and nervous.
"Well of course we haven't told you everything, what we do in our time together is of our own business." Katara snapped. "However I thank you for recognizing our privacy and would appreciate it if you didn't ask any more questions that personal." She calmly said. Ursa began giggling to herself confusing Katara and Aang both.
"I only said that you were hiding something, I never asked what or when you did it." She said revealing the reason to her giggling. As Kuei started laughing at the young couple's sudden embarrassment they started climbing over the saddle to hide themselves on Appa's head. The team had made unbelievable progress as they reached the outer wall of Ba Sing Se around midday. Aang flew them to the royal palace and everyone climbed off of Appa. As Kuei faced his palace he was baffled at the fact that nothing had changed.
"It looks the exact same, even after the Fire Nation controlled it. I was expecting reconstruction or the demolition of factories."
"The only real damage came to the outer ring when General Iroh and the Order of the White Lotus retook the city. Everything else was rebuilt in a matter of days." Aang informed the king.
"I would like to meet this General Iroh and thank him in person. You said he was here, but do you know where?" Kuei asked him.
"Of course your majesty, he's actually very close to the palace. We can walk there." Kuei nodded in approval and Aang led them down to the Jasmine Dragon. They stood at the far end of the courtyard across from the tea shop.
"Well here we are, The Jasmine Drag-AHH!" Aang yelped as he was launched into the sky by a pillar that had appeared underneath him. Before anyone could make a noise to respond to Aang's sudden flight, they heard an all too familiar voice.
"That's for forgetting about me twinkle toes, Hi Katara it looks like you found King Kuei. Who's she?" Toph asked pointing at Ursa.
"I guess your hellos are the same as your wake up calls. We found Kuei in the eastern mountains with the most interesting friend we've ever met." Katara said walking over to Toph giving her a hug and surprisingly receiving one from her.
"Even more interesting than me? Alright I'm the most powerful Earthbender in the world and I'm blind, who are you?" As Toph finished Aang returned to the ground not surprised at all by who launched him into the air.
"Thanks for the hello Toph; it's nice to see you to." Aang said as he turned to Ursa then back to Toph. "Oh this is-Ahh!" Aang yelped again as Toph sent him back up into the sky.
"Don't interrupt twinkle toes the ladies about to tell me how interesting she is."
"I am Fire Lady Ursa; you may know me better as Fire Lord Zuko's mother." Toph's looked at her wide eyed for a moment then returned to normal.
"Well I don't know if that beats me but it's definitely close." Toph stated as Aang returned to join the group a third time.
"Will you please stop that? I don't even know what I did the second time!" Aang screamed at Toph causing her to shoot a look at him that made him calm down instantly.
"The first was for forgetting about me, the second was for interrupting Ursa and the third is going to be for yelling at me if you do it again. Now let's go inside shall we." Toph said as she turned from the group and began walking towards Iroh's tea shop. Kuei, Ursa, Katara and Aang soon followed suit. Upon entry they were welcomed by two greeters and instantly noticed the large staff wandering around fulfilling any of the customer's needs. Aang and Katara were so happy to see in that in two short months The Jasmine Dragon could go from understaffed to having a full and functional staff. The five friends sat at a table and requested to see Iroh. Upon Iroh's exit of the kitchen he dropped the tray of tea he was carrying and stood baffled.
"Lady Ursa, is that you?" Iroh managed to say. Ursa walked over to Iroh and gave him a long hug.
"It is Iroh; it's nice to see you after all these years." Ursa released Iroh and noticed a tear of happiness in his eye. He looked over to Aang and bowed deeply.
"Thank you Aang, not only have you brought back the Earth King but you also brought back Fire Lady Ursa to return to Zuko. Speaking of which I have some outstanding news about him, Zuko and Mai are getting married!" Iroh said as Ursa became speechless yet Aang and Katara grew huge smiles on their faces.
"We left him about four days ago so he must have done after that." Katara had said to Aang.
"This is great and now we have the perfect wedding gift for him, his mother." Aang said as he looked up to Ursa's tearful eyes.
"I'm so happy for him; I always thought those two would end up together." Ursa said brushing her tears away.
"I'm sorry to ruin this touching moment but I have some thanks to extend." Kuei said standing up and walking over to Iroh.
"General Iroh of the Fire Nation on behalf of all of the Earth Kingdom capital of Ba Sing Se I humbly thank you for liberating my city during the war." Kuei said as he bowed to Iroh.
"It was my pleasure to help this city. I cannot take all credit however The Order of the White Lotus helped me take back the city, Toph with the help of Sokka and Suki stopped Ozai's airships from burning down the Earth Kingdom, Katara helped Zuko stopped Azula from becoming Fire Lord and let's not forget about The Avatar accomplishing the most important event of all in over a hundred years: ending the war. So as you can see this great accomplishment is not to be held for one man but a group of friends that have gone through so much just to silence this war." Iroh finished and glanced at Ursa, she was shocked at the part of Azula almost becoming Fire Lord.
"What happened to Ozai if Azula was to become Fire Lord?" She asked Iroh who looked over to Katara.
"You were they're maybe this story is for you to tell." Katara nodded and began the story.
"The day Sozin's comet returned Ozai had a plan to destroy the Earth kingdom with a fleet of airships. Before he put his plan into action he proclaimed himself the Phoenix King and declared Azula Fire Lord. Our group had to split up to take down each and every one of his pieces. As Iroh said, Aang fought Ozai, Toph, Suki and Sokka stopped the airships and Zuko and I went to the royal place to stop Azula." Katara let what she had said so far sink into both Ursa and Kuei, who was hearing this story for the first time as well.
"What happened to Azula?" Ursa calmly asked the waterbender.
"She challenged Zuko to an Agni Kai and he accepted. Zuko held his own and was starting to win, but then she started to shoot lightning. Zuko thought she was going to shoot it at him but instead she shot it at me. Zuko jumped in the way and took the shot to save me. When I ran over to heal him, she started attacking me. Eventually I froze her in place and chained her to the ground. I quickly healed Zuko and then Azula was placed in a mental health facility where she's been to this day." Katara finished her story to see a very surprised look on Ursa's face, not sorrow or disappointment, but surprised.
"I didn't know Zuko saved you." Aang said bringing Katara's attention to him.
"Yeah he did, and then I saved him so I guess were even now." Katara said smiling at Aang.
"Ok you two might be even but now I have to do something for him for saving you as well."
"You don't have to do that young man, if I know Zuko like I remember him he was just happy to help." Ursa said remembering all the fun times she had with her son.
"Of course I do, he saved my girlfriend, my best friend and my world. So in my eyes I owe him big time." Aang said grabbing Katara's hand.
"Well how about this, for saving her, I will be your gift to him and a wedding present. I know he will appreciate it more than anything." Ursa said assuring Aang. He agreed to this proposal and enjoyed the rest of the nights reminiscing and catching up. After all the excitement everyone went to sleep. Toph returned to her parent's new house, Ursa was invited to stay in the palace but refused politely and stayed in one of Iroh's spare rooms along with Aang and Katara. The next day Aang and Iroh went to the meeting with King Kuei and the Council of five.
"Greetings your majesty, Council of Five." Aang and Iroh said and bowed to them in unison.
"On behalf of Ba Sing Se we thank you for the return of our king, Avatar." General How said.
"It was my pleasure to help, now if you don't mind can we start this meeting." Aang said anxiously since he would rather spend the day with Katara instead of talking about the Earth Kingdoms current status.
"Very well, we are receiving reports all around the Earth Kingdom that the rebellions are almost completely quelled. It seems as though everyone is tired from a century of fighting. That's the good news; luckily the bad news isn't all that bad. The people of the fire nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom remain neutral, not knowing who to pledge loyalty to. The Fire Nation for being their former rulers and founders or the Earth Kingdom now that we have regained the land they have withdrawn from." General How finished.
"Well you're right, that really isn't bad news at all more like a complicated choice. If that's all why did you summon us here?" Aang questioned.
"You are here for the discussion of what we should do with the remains of the Wulong Forest. We have decided to make it a city where all three nations can live in peace." General Sung said and quickly regretted.
"Three? Excuse me for this general but three? I am an Airbender, I keep my people's culture alive and as long as I live my people shall remain alive!" Aang began shouting to General Sung as he felt Iroh's calming hand on his shoulder. Aang took a deep breath to calm himself and motioned for Iroh to take over.
"I believe what Avatar Aang is saying is that we must not give up hope on the air nomads. I have a strong feeling that within the next few years that their population shall increase." Iroh said looking to Aang who started to blush.
"I beg your forgiveness Avatar Aang, I meant no disrespect." General Sung said bowing his head to Aang.
"Let's just continue with the meeting General." Aang said trying to keep a level head.
"As General Sung was saying, we plan on building a city where the Wulong is as a peacekeeping symbol. It shall be the place where the war ended and peace returned." General How said returning to the discussion.
"I feel that this city, in time, will bring in all people to live peacefully, but we must take note that it will take some time for the entire city to live together peacefully." Iroh put in.
"We have taken this into account and would like to train special guards from each nation to defend it. We have requested the aid of your friend Toph Be Fong to teach the Earthbenders. Her unique Metalbending is a rather amazing form of Earthbending and we would appreciate her help. We would also like Master Pakku to teach the Waterbenders." Aang held up a hand to stop the General.
"With all due respect to him, Master Pakku is getting old and would like to settle down with his wife. I'm afraid you'll have to find a new master."
"What about your friend, Master Katara, she learned from Master Pakku and taught you."
"That's not my choice to make, it's hers. I will speak with her about it tonight, but for now who did you have in mind for teaching the Firebenders?"
"That is still unknown; we cannot ask Fire Lord Zuko because he has his own duties and country to attend to. We only know of two other people to teach them and they're both right in front of us." Iroh and Aang looked at each other then back to the General.
"I appreciate your offer General How but I am just a tired old man who wants to run his tea shop and play Pai Sho." Iroh said to the general.
"Very well, what about you Avatar?"
"I would like to speak with Fire Lord Zuko about this; he might know a Firebending teacher that could help. I'll be leaving in a few weeks for his wedding and I'll talk with him about it there."
"I see, then we shall adjourn this meeting for today but I request we all meet back here tomorrow." Aang and Iroh left the meeting and returned to the Jasmine Dragon. Upon entering they both sat down at a table to discuss the meeting with Katara and Ursa.
"So how did it go?" Katara asked Aang, whom still wasn't entirely over General Sung's comment.
"It was fine." Aang said in an irritated tone.
"That wasn't to convincing, come on what happened?" Aang didn't budge so Katara looked to Iroh for answers.
"The meeting was fine, a few problems about the Fire Nation colonies but nothing to serious. The reason they called us there was because they wanted to talk about a new city that will be built at the Wulong forest, where Aang defeated my brother. They explained the city to us and one of the generals said it would be a place where all three nations could live peacefully." Katara looked to over to Aang who was tensing up trying not to lose it. She put her arms around him and hugged him knowing it would help. He let out a deep sigh and smiled at Katara. The hug helped but it didn't replace those words.
"So what happened next?" Katara asked to both Aang and Iroh, wondering if Aang would talk now.
"I almost lost it, Iroh calmed me down, but in the process he made me feel a little awkward in front of the generals and the Earth King."
"What did you say?" Katara asked the old man as he smiled.
"I simply said in a few years the population would return, nothing more or to feel awkward about." Aang and Katara blushed and looked at each other.
"Um...ok…and then?" Katara asked trying to get off the subject. Aang looked up to her.
"That's what we need to talk with you about. They want to train an elite team of guards from all nations. They wanted Toph to train the Earthbenders and you to train the Waterbenders. I told them it was your choice and they accepted that. They also wanted either Iroh or me to train the Firebenders. Iroh refused and I said I would ask Zuko if he knows any teachers that could help." He finished and waited for Katara's answer.
"Wow they really want me to teach the Waterbenders? Do you know when the city will be completed?"
"Yes they do and we don't know, but if you come with us tomorrow you can ask them all the questions you want."
"It's a deal." On that note Aang and Katara relaxed in the tea shop for the rest of the day and went to bed shortly after dinner.
Review Responses:
allikittenkat1: Not a problem at all, it's always fun for the readers to actually talk with the author(s).
PandaLily22: Glad to be of service, we plan to keep this story going for a while and have decently continuous updates. The only problem is that if one of us isn't here then we can't post the story until they get back. Happy that we could make you're reading even more pleasurable. Not a worry in the world, we got nine reviews on the first day! That's pretty good.
All anonymous users from here on: We will not respond to any anonymous reviews, so if you have any questions just sign in, it makes everything easier, trust us.
Mithendel: I'm happy to see that everyone approves of us adding Ursa and Kuei to the story. I always wondered what would happen if Aang accidentally ate meat…well now we know.
Misses Prongs: Since it said she was alive and obviously not at any of the air temples, poles and everywhere from South to North West of the Earth Kingdom. (That was a mouthful) It was clear, to us, that she was on the eastern side of the Earth Kingdom. Aang tends to go that way to get to Ba Sing Se in our story so why not have him run into her?
TheFanatics: Don't worry about it and Ursa was 'missing' and is now found. I wonder how Zuko will react to seeing her…now that's intense.
Private LL Church: We figured that much, but sometimes people can overreact and think that saying nothing is a bad thing. We're also glad that you've thought that the chapters were great so far, thank you.
xxICanSeeYouxx: Ha ha he carried more people than that: remember in The Crossroads of Destiny when he was carrying Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Kuei, and Bosco? Also in the Western Air Temple Aang had said that Appa gets tired from carrying all these people, referring to all of Team Avatar, Teo, The Duke and Haru. Let's not forget the time in the Great Divide when Appa carried all of the Zhangs and Gan Jins elderly and sick across, that was like twelve people! As you can see we do our research on not only proper spelling but on the history before we put anything into our story.
The Dark Knight's Revenge: Happy to see you're still a fan! I hope this update was soon enough for you.
kataang-is-my-passion: I see you read the review responses as well taking note to the fact that silence can be taken in a good or bad way. Thanks though but we always take speechless as a good thing, other versions of it are a little bit harder to decipher.
PGREEKAVATAR: Ha ha thank you for the compliment and it's nice to hear somebody say I CAN wait instead of update now. Don't worry about the wait we tend to update relatively quickly.
JasmineDragon22: You may have not written a review but I do have something to ask of you. Why did you not tell me about your story! We're reading it, loving it, and couldn't stop asking why you never suggested it to me!