I forgot to add this to the last chapter…WOO HOO! We are officially apart of the 50,000+ words group! With eighteen chapters I should hope so. Also, school is hitting us hard. I know we normally post twice a week (every five days technically) but it's going to change to once a week (7-10 days)…sorry, blame school.
Zuko was kind enough to allow everyone to travel with the royal procession. They had been slowly but surely making their way to Ba Sing Se for the upcoming meeting. They had just passed through the serpents pass a few hours ago and were now approaching the outer wall of Ba Sing Se. They decided it best to not deal with all of the political stuff and simply fly over the wall on Appa. The giant bison landed behind the Jasmine Dragon, shortly before sundown, where the Gaang went inside and joined Iroh.
"Hello Uncle, was your journey home well?" Zuko asked as he hugged his uncle.
"It was! We even stopped at this little harbor that had a beautiful tea shop. Hello Mai, how does it sound if I call you my niece?" Iroh asked shifting his hug to her.
"Well when you're talking to me I would prefer you just call me Mai, but when you're referring to me you can call me your niece." Mai said releasing the hug. Iroh moved his glance over to the rest of the Gaang and invited them to come and sit. They all sat down around one Iroh's new table that was large enough to serve at least twelve people. Aang decided to feed Appa and Momo after the flight. Upon his leave Katara took full advantage of this break.
"Ok you guys, you know how the big meeting is in about three days or so?" Katara asked as everyone nodded simultaneously. "I found out a while back that Aang's birthday is around this time. He doesn't know when exactly so we're just going to say it's on some day of our choosing."
"That is a generous offer but would he want it?" Iroh questioned her plan. "Don't get me wrong I would love the idea of a birthday for him but he's a monk, they are supposed to forget about earthly attachments."
"I know but if we all throw him one I can guarantee he will like it." Katara said reassuring herself more than her friends.
"Ok then, I guess we are all behind you. What did you have in mind?" Zuko asked.
"I have a few ideas that I'm going to have to talk to you all individually. Aang should be back soon so somebody start a new conversation."
"Well what about-" Sokka started.
"No shhh." Katara shushed her brother." "I have a topic but I need Aang to be here to see if he wants to talk about it now or at the meeting."
"Talk about what?" Aang asked as he reentered the room. Katara turned to face him.
"Well do you remember that idea we were talking about a few nights ago? The one about the new city."
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Well should we tell them," Katara gestured to everyone else there", or wait and tell everyone at the meeting?"
"I don't see a problem telling them now."
"Ok, tell us what? I'm sorry but all these secrets are really annoying!" toph said getting impatient.
"I'm about to tell you, but this is more focused towards Sokka and Suki." Katara said taking note to Sokka and Suki's sudden interest.
"What is it?" Suki asked.
"Well we thought about it: I'm teaching the Waterbenders, Toph's teaching the Earthbenders and Aang agreed to teach the Firebenders. In all of those mixed elements whose going to train them in martial arts? That's when we thought of you two."
"Really? You think were good enough to train a bunch of troops to become elite warriors? I know Suki is pretty good but me?" Sokka asked.
"Of course, why wouldn't we?" Aang said assuring them both.
"Hey I'm not arguing." Sokka said holding his hands up.
"I think this will be a rather interesting matter to bring up with the other leaders." Iroh said as he left to the kitchen to prepare dinner.
Over the next few days Katara discussed her plan for Aang's birthday secretly with each member. They all decided that the best day for Aang's birthday would be three days after the meeting so that all of the visiting leaders could attend it as well. After the days of anticipation and secret planning the meeting finally came. Every one of the respected leaders was there to represent their nation or part of nation. They all sat accordingly around a table to the world map: Zuko and Iroh on the west, Chief Arnook and Master Pakku to the northwest, King Kuei, Toph and The Council of Five up north, Hakoda and Sokka in the south and Aang and Katara sitting to the South West.
"We shall call this first official meeting of the nations to order." General How said. "Before we start are there any questions?" Aang raised his hand. "Avatar Aang I mean you no disrespect but you are in a meeting of the nations not school if you have something to say just say it."
"Very well, Master Pakku if you don't mind me asking: why are you representing the Northern Water Tribe and not the Southern?"
"I see it fit that I represented the side I lived in the longest, I know more about the Northern Water Tribes politics than the Southern."
"Thank you, that is all."
"Very well, so do we have anything else to discuss before we start?" General How waited. "Alright, let us begin, King Kuei you have the floor." General how said as Kuei stood up and cleared his throat.
"As you all know this meeting is to discuss this new city that shall be built at the area where Avatar Aang and the previously known as Fire Lord Ozai fought: The Wulong Forest. For now all of us have gathered here to discuss the name of this city. Each nation shall state the name they have thought of and at the end we shall all vote on which name is the favored. Let us begin; Chief Arnook and Chief Hakoda have the people of the Water Tribes come up with a name?" Kuei finished.
"Yes they have," Hakoda responded ", they have decided on naming the city New Beginning."
"Very well, now we shall move to the Earth Kingdom, we have all agreed on naming it The Four Nations City. Next shall be The Fire Nation. Fire Lord Zuko, have the people come up with a name?"
"Unfortunately we have not, we have decided to only vote on a name." Zuko quickly responded.
"I see very well, last but not least is Avatar Aang of the Air Nomads. You have already stated that you would like this city to be named Republic City. Would you like to keep that name or change it?"
"I would like to keep it." Aang said
"Alright then, we have all heard the names. Everyone in here counts as one vote so please write the name you want on the paper and we shall count them up at the end." Kuei said as two women carrying several sheets of paper, ink and feathers walked around the group and handed each one of them a single piece of paper, a small cup of ink and a feather. After everyone finished writing Kuei spoke up again.
"The winner shall be revealed at the end of this meeting. Now to move on to this city: our first form of business is for the masters. Master Katara, have you decided whether or not you will be teaching the Waterbenders there?"
"Yes, I will teach them although I may need some help running the city." Katara admitted.
"That shall not be a problem at all, seeing how you are friends with every major city and nation ruler. Fire Lord Zuko Avatar Aang, have you two found a replacement Firebender?" Aang and Zuko looked at each other and Aang decided he would talk.
"No, we couldn't find one, so I shall be the one to train the Firebenders."
"Splendid, on to the next matter." The meeting went on for another two hours until the time to unveil the new cities name finally came.
"Now, is everyone ready to hear the winner?" Kuei asked as everyone listened closely for the name of the city to be revealed. "With a total of eleven out of fifteen votes the winner is the Air Nomads Republic City. Now is there anything else any of you would like to talk about?" Katara motioned for Aang to start the conversation about Sokka and Suki training the soldiers.
"Oh…ugh…yes I have one request about Republic City."
"Of course young Avatar what is it?" General How spoke up.
"Well Katara and I thought about this a few nights ago. Since Toph's training the Earthbenders, Katara's training the Waterbenders and I'm training the Firebenders we wanted to know if it would be ok if Sokka and Suki taught all the benders martial arts."
"Hmm, a very interesting proposition. I would see no harm in it, but this must be a united decision. Do the other nations agree with this?" General How asked almost everyone said yes or nodded their head at the same time…all but one general.
"I have something to say: I know that all of you are very skilled in your respected bending but you all are also mere children and we're putting you in charge of a new and experimental city?" General Jin, another member of the Council of Five said.
"These 'mere children' as you call them General are the ones who ended a century long war and brought peace to our world. They are all powerful and smart." Iroh said standing up for his young friends.
"I mean no disrespect general Iroh I'm simply saying that this city needs a more mature ruler."
"Who could be more mature?" Countered Hakoda. "Almost every ruler I met during the war was corrupt, this room of people was amongst the few that weren't. Besides these teens are the first to bring all four nations together in harmony in over a hundred years."
"Enough!" Aang bellowed sensing this meeting would turn for the worse sooner or later.
"I think we will be able to rule this city rather well general, there is no need for concern." Katara said.
"I shall trust your judgment; forgive me if I have offended." General Jin said. Aang simply nodded in response.
"If there are no more matters to attend to I shall call this meeting of the four nations to a close." Kuei said as he and The Council of Five stood up and left. Soon after everyone else followed suit.
Two days had passed since the meeting of the four nations occurred. During this time Katara had gone and explained to each of the leaders, her father included, about Aang's birthday. Kuei had offered to throw a huge party for Aang, which Katara denied, saying it wasn't what he would want. All of the other leaders had given several ideas that just didn't seem right either until Katara spoke to her father about it.
"Well you two have been together for quite some time now, why don't you take him around the city. You know like a day that's just for you two. We'll have the party whenever you two get back."
"That's actually a really great idea. It would be small, quiet and peaceful just like he would like it. Thanks dad." Katara said as she threw her arms around her dad and left the room.
Ok so that was the meeting, next chapter Aang's birthday and someone special gets a visit from an unexpected person.
Review Responses: We got 17 reviews this chapter! New Record!
The Dark Knight's Revenge: Yeah, he will be a good dad. OH NOOOO! I totally forgot that…oops, my bad in the spelling error.
act15615: I thought that would be funny. I'm just glad I knew what number that was. I couldn't agree more about waterwriter144. A great start a terrible middle and a great ending. That sounds about right to us.
kataang-is-my-passion: We can't wait to read the anniversary story…maybe it will give us some ideas for whenever our next wedding is. As long as you write a review you'll be in the responses every time. Yeah I think PURE BEASTLY AWESOMENESS makes perfect sense.
TheFanatics: We had a great time at homecoming! They didn't do well in decorations but the music was awesome and for a dance that's all that matters. Why feel bad for Zuko? I love it when people come to me for advice, makes me feel like I helped somebody. I'm not Zuko however…I see what you're getting at.
dcp 1992: Oh boy a newbie! Thank you for the compliment.
Mithendel: Yeah, he is really cutting it close when it comes to spilling the beans to Sokka. I'm impatient for the next chapter of her story.
Kataang4ever1: Well I can't say I've never stayed up late before something important happened the next day. I was up at three in the morning and I had an AP World History exam at eight.
buddygirl1004: No problem, thanks for letting us use it. Wow, sounds like you've got a team of artists. Haha, Suki throws up…that's true but really funny. Ursa/Hakoda pairing…that sounds really weird to me, what about you sis? (I think they should use it in their story so we can see how it falls into play) well that was a lot more of a response than I expected. That's truly sad to me about the dead laptop. I baby mine, like one time, Becka scratched it and I freaked out! I was really mad at her! She told me how I was overreacting and told me to find the scratch again. I tried and couldn't. So, like always, Becka won again. We know what you meant, but FYI not Prom, homecoming.
Private LL Church: Well at least you did something; I had a few friends that didn't go up to the lake I stayed at simply because they "didn't want to." Seriously? That's their excuse? Whatever, moving on. We know what you mean, this story was originally supposed to be PRO Kataang and nothing else, but it's loosing that sense if you ask us. We hope the Kataang fluff was acceptable in this chapter.
Kimjuni2: Yeah! You're back! Last chapter we got an anonymous review from a person whose name was spelt exactly like yours. We didn't know if it was you and you forgot your password or what.
PandaLily22: Yeah, we can only take credit for the twin's part, but it is a fun twist. I think Aang just likes teasing Sokka about his relationship with Katara.
PGREEKAVATAR: Oh boy, two newbies! Well you're new for a review anyways. Thank you and that's a very interesting name, we like it a lot.
JasmineDragon22: What idea? The Suki with twins one? Or some other idea that we can't think of off the top of our heads.
xxICanSeeYouxx: its ok we love the caps they make the review more dramatic.