Of Fire
Chapter 10
Detia sat cross-legged meditating beside her mother, concentrating on her breathing, on the fire that burned coldly within her. She was concentrating on the ebb and flow of her chi and the chi of every living thing around her within a twenty foot radius. The steady heartbeat of the Fire Nation Princess beat in time with her own. Both were in perfect harmony, at perfect peace with their surroundings. The voices of the many people in the palace on this day were distant and not bothering her like they usually did. All was good. For only one hour a day, Detia could enjoy this peace. A complete total peace she could only attained with Azula's calm, collected aura near her, and no one trying to call her. The five-year-old had gone through painstaking efforts to find the best, most secluded, out of the way, hard to find place just so that she would be left in peace with her mother for one hour. It had taken her days to find the place they were currently meditating in.
Azula didn't complain verbally as she was pulled through dense underbrush and tall grass to get to a clearing in the palace garden that she had never seen before. It was the fourth place her daughter had brought her to within the palace that she never even imagined was there. She was impressed really. The other three places her cousins had found her in and they had a bad habit of not leaving her alone, even if she needed it. The Fire Lord's two youngest children, twin girls roughly three years old, seemed to have a better understanding of what Detia needed when it came to meditating – having seen firsthand the side effects of when she didn't. That tree by the pond will never be seen ever again, whatever was left of its ashes have long since blown away. So, when Lu Ten's voice echoed into the sky and across the trees, scaring the birds into silence and shattering the peaceful aura like glass, Azula chuckled as Detia groaned. The princess creaked an eye open only slightly when she felt Detia stand. 'You could make him wait,' Azula suggested.
'And risk the chance of him finding my place? I don't think so. Besides, I warned him,' Detia answered, causing her mother to chuckle again.
"Are you going to challenge him to an Agni Kai?" Azula inquired as she stood, following her little monster, speaking only half in jest. "If I recall correctly, that's what you said you would do if he didn't show you proper respect as his cousin and fellow royal."
Detia nodded. 'It depends on the reason he called me. And if his sisters can calm me down before I do something rash.'
The Princess of the Fire Nation laughed, placing a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Then let's go see what that brat wants."
Detia smiled and nodded, leading her mother out of her secret place and in the direction where her Mommy, aunt, uncle, cousins, and all of their guests were congregating. Azula walked into their sight first, counting the number of people. The seven children around Lu Ten she didn't recognize. Nor did she recognize the two babies that sat with their respective parents. The adults she recognized as her brother's friends from the war. The Avatar and his peasant, Sokka (whose name she knew only because Zuko saw fit to always put them together when there was trouble with something or another and he was too busy to do it himself) and his wife (whose name she didn't bother to remember even though she was near best friends with her wife), Zuko and Mai, Iroh, the blind earth bender, and finally Ty Lee all sat in that order in chairs in a semi-circle talking and watching their children. Katara and her brother were each holding a sleeping child. Azula looked at her daughter and thought, 'There are twenty people here.' She didn't bother to add Ty Lee because Detia informed her that her Mommy's mind, like Azula's, was never a factor because she was so used to them. 'Don't make a repeat of yesterday.'
Detia nodded and took Azula's hand as they approached the others; she really hated meeting new people and still wasn't too fond of the Avatar. Ty Lee smiled and waved before anyone else noticed them, except maybe Toph but she didn't act as if she did. "Azula, Detia, glad you could join us," Iroh said happily when he saw them as he stood from his seated position, the only one who did.
"Uncle," Azula addressed curtly.
Detia looked up at her mother, carefully sifting through Azula's conflicted thoughts and feelings. The princess was unsure how she should feel about an uncle who, for all intense and purposes, chose her brother and left her with the tyrant that was her father. It seemed to be a recurring thing with her mother. Everyone seemed to choose her uncle Zuko over Azula and leave the princess all alone; even her Mommy had left once. Though, she did come back. And then they had the gall to wonder why she turned out the way she did. The little monster sighed to stop thinking about it. It was disappointing and often made the little girl wonder how everyone can be so blind. She watched as they entered the semi-circle.
Iroh, who was still smiling, nodded to his niece and knelt down to Detia's eye level. He didn't touch her like he had the first time they had really met, the literal first time being the day of her baptism. Having learned his lesson from the low-key electric shock he received, barely more than a static charge but enough to get the point across. The only people allowed to touch her were her parents (though Azula rarely did) and her Uncle Zuko (Only because she was used to him – but he didn't do it very often either).
"Detia," Iroh said, so very tempted to place his hand on her head but he didn't; he knew restraint, "have you met all of your Uncle's guests?"
The child's golden eyes scanned the people sitting around her. She had seen all of them at one point or another and had met most of them as well. Right off the bat, she recognized Lady Suki, who had been passed her wide awake youngest son, and her husband Sokka. They were friends with her Mommy, and Detia had met them several times over the course of five years. Though she never stayed around long enough to really get to know them, seeing as it took too much effort to block the bad thoughts Lady Suki had about Azula. It appeared that Suki wasn't a big fan of Detia's mother, seeing as Azula had defeated her so easily during the war. Lady Suki and Katara only saw the cold, calculating, cruel person Azula was during the war. And while Azula still was that cold, calculating, cruel woman, there was so much more to her than that. Either they just refused to see it or Azula hid it well.
The Avatar she recognized as well, even though this was the first time she had seen him since their first meeting four years ago. His wife, Katara, who was sitting beside him holding their sleeping son, she remembered as well. The water bender was often the first person her Uncle and Aunt called when one of their children fell ill. But the thing she remembered most about Katara was the fact that she and Azula disliked each other intensely. And of course, she knew her Mommy and Aunt and Uncle. The only one she didn't readily recognize was the blind earth bender sitting lazily beside Ty Lee, slouched comfortably in the chair, her bare feet firmly on the ground with her long black bangs covering the majority of her face.
Detia studied the woman sitting there staring at her blindly, something she rarely ever did – studying people that is. Disregarding the sleeveless green shirt and pants, the large stone belt she wore around her waist, and the yellow loin cloth that hung from the belt, these were just clothes after all, and meant little to Detia's assessment of this person. For some reason, the woman looked and felt familiar to her. Not like the Avatar did, there were no negative emotions attached to this feeling. The color surrounding her was a deep, solid jade green, with no fluctuating colors, just plain, solid green. Detia had never seen such a solid color on another person before, only on herself. The little monster blinked once to switch her search to the Earth Bender's mind, which was surprisingly hard to get into. But once she did, Detia saw what the other woman saw, a 3D version of her surroundings. Every little thing was visible. But the only thing the Earth Bender was thinking about was how familiar Detia looked to her. "Detia, are you okay?" Ty Lee asked when her daughter continued to stare at Toph.
'She can see using Earth Bending. That is so awesome.' Azula smirked as her little monster smiled excitedly, a smile she only showed when something truly amazed her. Azula had only seen the smile twice before, once when Azula showed her how to lightning bend and the other the first time she got interact with her cousins and found that both Ezra and Ursa could hear her.
"That would be Toph Bei Fong," Azula introduced. "Toph, this is my daughter. I don't think you've meet."
"Nope," Toph confirmed as she sat up in her seat.
Detia let go of her mother's hand and walked towards the Earth Bender, unprompted, an action that had her family sitting in silence, watching. It was common knowledge that Detia did not like to meet new people and would avoid it at all cost. So for her to actually go up to someone she had never even seen before was unheard of. 'Detia.' the little girl replied, bowing slightly.
"Her name is Detia," Ty Lee offered.
"I know; I heard her," Toph remarked with a smirk.
"You…you heard her?" Zuko repeated.
Toph lifted a black eyebrow, confused as to why everyone was looking so shocked. "She said it pretty clearly."
"Toph. She's mute." Mai intoned.
"Mute! No way. But I heard her clear as day," Toph argued.
"Detia!" the unified voice of two three-year-old girls, one with noticeably less emotion than the other, called out.
Detia turned just in time to prevent herself from being tackled to the ground by her cousins, who both latched onto her waist. "We tried to tell him to leave you alone," the one with the brighter red silk clothes replied childishly.
"We really did, but he wouldn't listen," The other replied, her tone shy and near emotionless – a dark contrast to her sisters.
'Ursa,' Detia said, placing a hand on the girl wearing the brighter colored clothing's pitch black shoulder length hair. 'Ezra.' She placed a hand on the darker child's hair, the same exact shade as her sister's but done up in pigtails whereas Ursa's was the traditional top knot with half her dark hair resting against her neck. 'What does he want?' Detia questioned, attempting to move towards the crowd of children, a difficult task with the two clinging to her.
"It's a box!" Ursa exclaimed.
"A puzzle box," Ezra elaborated.
Detia nodded, taking both of her cousins' hands – when dragging them became to tiring – and walked over to where the other kids were gathered.
"It's selective," Azula answered, after her daughter moved to the other children. She moved to a newly placed empty seat beside her wife and watched as Lu Ten introduced her little monster to his friends and the large metal puzzle box that came up to her waist in height and was twice as wide. "I can hear her, Ty Lee can too, and I'm pretty sure her younger cousins can as well."
Toph nodded as she looked at the white haired girl moving away – not that she could see the color of the child's shoulder length hair. "Regardless," Zuko said, with a smile directed towards his sister, "we're glad you and Detia could join us. I don't think she's met any of the other kids. You have her working so much."
Azula sighed, "Don't even start, Zuko. Remember what happened the last time you tried to tell me how to raise my daughter?"
"Is that the time she broke her leg?" Sokka asked bluntly, earning him a slap in the arm from his wife. "What? I just wanted to make sure."
Azula only lifted eyebrow, slightly wondering why she was wondering how he knew that. "Yes." Ty Lee answered, assuming that Katara had told her brother and everyone else about the incident.
Sokka nodded and turned to Zuko, "You messed up, man."
Zuko sighed but before he could reply Toph interject, "Okay, wait. What? What did you do that caused her to break her leg?"
Zuko sighed, rubbing his neck. He really didn't want to get into this, but it looked like there was no way out of it. "You mean you don't know." Azula inquired. "I figured the water peasant would have told everyone."
"Azula." Ty Lee chided lightly as Katara yelled an indignant "Hey."
Toph smirked at the reaction, knowing that the only reason Katara didn't attack Azula right then and there was because of the infant in her arms. "I just got back in touch with everyone." Toph explained.
Azula nodded. "Long story short, I was training Detia in the art of Firebending when she was one and Zuko ordered me to stop. Detia, being my daughter, decided to start training herself, thus resulting in her breaking her leg, which she reset herself."
Toph only nodded, silently impressed that Detia started training at such a young age. But she didn't question it after all she was very young when she started training herself in Earth bending. But that didn't stop her from turning toward Zuko, just so he knew she was addressing him. "What gives you the right to boss her around like that?" Toph asked and all sets of eyes were on her. "I mean, come on. She may be a complete bitch, and don't deny it. It's true," she said pointing a finger at Azula who was about to protest. "You are one crazy bitch. But, regardless, that's her kid, not yours. I'm sure she knew what she was doing."
"Thank you, Toph," Ty Lee thanked.
"No problem, Bubbles."
Azula looked at the acrobat when the nick-name was said and Ty Lee shrugged, not minding it in the least. The princess let it go. If Ty Lee didn't mind, then neither did she. "You're just going to let her call you a crazy bitch?" Sokka questioned Azula.
Azula's golden eyes turned to Sokka, who, despite everything, she kind of respected. He was a good strategist if nothing else. Still nothing compared to her, but who was comparing. "Why would I mind? It is the truth." She leaned back slightly in her chair. "Besides, I find it to be kind of a compliment."
Sokka laughed loudly, though he quickly silenced when his boy started to stir because of the noise. He would easily admit that Azula was a crazy bitch, that hadn't changed all that much after her 'recovery'. But she was good to argue with, strategy wise. "Despite the fact that she hasn't changed much, I still agree with Toph, Zuko," the water tribe warrior said in a moment of seriousness.
Zuko sighed heavily. He recognized a losing battle when he saw one. That didn't stop him from defending himself, "But she hated Detia. I didn't know if that had changed."
"It had changed," Ty Lee argued before anyone could comment on his defense. "It changed from 'I hate the very sight of you' to 'I'll accept you as my daughter but only because you're so exceptional', at least at that point in time."
"Wait, you knew?" Azula asked as her golden eyes locked with smoky grey. Obviously her wife was more perceptive than she gave her credit for.
"Of course I knew," the acrobat admitted lightly, never breaking the gaze. "I always know. I even know when that changed and you began to love her."
"Speaking of change," Mai stated, completely changing the subject. "How did Detia's first day of school go yesterday? Are you enrolling her?"
"Well," Ty Lee sighed, tearing her gaze from the princess' reluctantly. "It went worse than we hoped but better than we expected."
"Meaning?" Zuko inquired.
"Meaning, we had hoped she would be okay being around so many new people but expected her only to last maybe ten minutes. She stayed in the classroom for two hour before she collapsed. So needless to say, she won't be enrolled this year."
"That's too bad. Lu Ten was looking forward to going to school with her," Zuko replied.
Ty Lee lifted an eyebrow. "You do know that we were enrolling her into the Fire Nation Academy for Girls, right?"
Mai shrugged. "We tried to convince him, but he seemed dead set on her going to school with him."
"He said that because her fire bending was so good, she would probably get promoted to his class. Then they could practice together," Iroh informed with a chuckle.
Azula chuckled, thinking that her little monster would surpass all of the little boys in Lu Ten's class and move right up to advanced courses. Her daughter's golden eyes caught hers as Detia silently agreed. "Of course it didn't help that whenever anyone touched her she would shock them. Not on purpose of course but still it didn't help." Ty Lee intoned with a deep sigh.
"Shocked?" Mai questioned, thinking back to the few times she had touched Detia. She had never been shocked and none of her children ever complained about it.
Katara jumped in, "I know what that feels like. It's low-key, like getting shocked by static electricity, but it was still unpleasant."
Iroh laughed, "She's shocked me like that, too. It is unpleasant but it doesn't hurt."
"That's true. It didn't hurt," Katara admitted.
"So, let me get this straight," Toph sat up in her seat as she spoke, "Your kid is as stubborn as, well, you, does not like to be touched, can create low-key electrical charges, started her fire bending training and had the insight to set her own broken leg at the tender age of one."
Ty Lee agreed with a nod. "Well," Azula correct, "Detia doesn't actually bend Fire, never has."
"What does she bend?" Aang asked, amusing Azula at the thought that of all the things her brother's friends didn't know this was it.
"Lightning." Azula answered.
Everyone was silent for a good five minutes. "I guess that explains how she knew to reset her leg." The Blind Earth Bender remarked offhandedly as she leaned back in her seat.
"What?" It was Katara who spoke the words everyone was thinking.
"Well, there is one person who knows more about that than me." She tilted her head towards the white-haired child who was sitting on her knees in front of the large puzzle box, examining it.
Aside from Ezra, who wasn't much of a people person and wasn't too active, all of the other children had decided to play while she worked on the. Toph vaguely heard Lu Ten tell everyone that if Detia couldn't open it, then no one could, and they should just leave her to it. Still, the earth bender thought it was mean to leave her there by herself, but she didn't know Detia and maybe the girl preferred things that way. So, she didn't say anything. The others followed Toph's direction and Ty Lee sighed. "So much for making friends," the acrobat said under her breath. The only ones able to hear her were Toph and Azula.
"She was really young when it happened, Toph." Mai interjected, her golden eyes never leaving her youngest daughter, who was watching with mock interest as Detia pushed on the box. "She probably doesn't remember."
"Where did all the kids go?" Sokka asked.
"Left to play," Toph answered. "Your kid sure seems attached, Zuko. She's the only one who stayed."
Surprisingly, it was Suki who replied, "She should. According to Mai, Detia saved Ezra's life when she was a baby."
"Isn't she like two or something?" Toph inquired.
"She's three." Mai answered simply. "And yes, Detia did save Ezra's life. Though, none of us can tell you how."
Everyone nodded except Azula, who figured Detia saved her cousin's life the same way the little monster saved hers, and Ty Lee, who believed the same thing as Azula. "That's some story," Sokka agreed. "If Katara wasn't the one who told me, I wouldn't have believed it."
Toph huffed. "Jeez, I didn't realize I'd miss out on so much action. I didn't even know Azula had a kid and she's amazing." She paused, "So, first things first, tell me how…" she turned to Azula and Ty Lee "What's your kid's name?"
"Detia," Ty Lee answered, smiling at her daughter when the little girl turned at the sound of her name then went back to the box when she realized she wasn't being called.
"Right, the kid," Toph announced, "Tell me how she saved that little one's life."
Mai sighed, this was not a memory she liked to dredge up. "Ezra was unexpected, the weaker of the two twins."
"Our doctor gave her a week," Zuko continued, placing his hand on his wife's in comfort. "So naturally, we called Katara for a second opinion."
"And Katara used her crazy water bending skills to heal her. How does that have anything to do with Detia?" Toph inquired impatiently.
Katara sighed this time and shook her head, "No, I didn't. I didn't get to her in time. Her heart had already stopped by the time I arrived. She died, and I can't bring people back to life."
"So what happened?" the Earth Bender asked, when everyone seemed to refused to talk.
"Lu Ten wanted to see his sister, Ursa," Azula continued, seeing as she knew better than anyone aside from Detia and possibly Ty Lee the events that lead to Detia being in that room. And she loved to tell stories of her daughter's greatness. "At the time, he was convinced that he only had one sister, and since Mai and Zuko wouldn't allow him to see them, for the safety of the children of course, he went to Detia, who has a talent for finding secret passageways and hidden places. She didn't need much convincing, considering she wanted to meet her new cousins as well. So, they took to the servant's hallway and made their way to the twin's room."
"They went to Ursa first," Ty Lee interrupted, "because she was the one making noises. After that, Lu Ten kind of took control of his sister. Detia said she felt something was odd about the room and started to wander around. She found Ezra all wrapped up, silent, and not breathing in the other crib. We asked her why she felt the need to unwrap the baby and take her outside, but she only said that it seemed like the right thing to do."
"When we noticed that Lu Ten was in the room," Katara said, "we immediately came in. After Mai took Ursa from him and set her back in the crib, we heard another sound, like a baby laughing. We couldn't figure out what it was because Detia can't speak, Ezra was gone, and Ursa and Lu Ten were there being quite. So, Mai and Ty Lee followed the sound and found Detia sitting on the balcony with Ezra in her arms, wide awake and cooing."
"And you guys don't know how she did it?" Katara, Mai, and Zuko shook their heads no. "I didn't see a 'no' from you two." Toph noted and pointed to Azula and Ty Lee. "Do you know?" All eyes were on the couple. Azula pretended not to notice, Ty Lee didn't fare so well but still remained silent for a second. "That's okay," Toph interjected before Ty Lee broke down. "I'll just ask the source." She turned towards the two children sitting in front of the box. "Hey, Detia!" Detia looked at the Earth bender but remained on the ground. "Come over here, I have a few questions for you." Toph motioned with her hands for the five year old to come to her.
With a lifted eyebrow and a confused expression, the white-haired child stood, Ezra followed her lead but walked to her mother when Detia moved towards Toph. 'What?' Detia asked when she stood in front of the bender, her golden eyes peering into hazy, pale green.
"Alright," Toph said with a smirk. "I've been told that you broke your leg when you were one and reset it yourself. How did you know how to do that? And stick to the truth, I'll be able to tell if you're lying" Toph informed
'Are you sure? I'm a pretty good liar,' the five-year-old admitted. 'I am a 400-foot-tall, purple platypus-bear with pink horns and silver wings,' she said just to prove her point as her pulse remained steady.
Rather than be impressed by the girl's ability, a surprised expression crossed Toph's face before she and Azula burst out laughing. "What's so funny?" Sokka asked with a smile. "What did she say?"
"She said that she was a 400-foot-tall, purple platypus-bear with pink horns and silver wings," Ty Lee said just as confused as everyone else.
"Isn't that what Azula said to you during the Day of Black Sun?" Aang asked after a couple of minutes of thinking about it.
Toph, who was still chuckling – holding her sides, replied. "Word for word. That was good kid," she praised then made the mistake of patting Detia's shoulder. "Ow!" Toph exclaimed – causing Azula to stop laughing and everyone to look at her as a small white line of electricity connected her hand to Detia's shoulder – pulling her hand back quickly, shaking it to stop it from hurting. "Damn, I thought you said it didn't hurt."
"It didn't." Katara and Iroh chorused.
"Like hell it doesn't. My whole hand is numb." Toph groaned, still shaking her hand to get the feeling back in it. "Shit."
Before Detia could apologize, Azula interjected, "Don't apologize. She knew better."
"You're mom's right. I'm sorry for touching you unexpectedly," Toph apologized. "I'm guessing it's an automatic thing?"
'Yes.' Detia answered simply.
"Do you know why?"
'It's a long, tiresome theory that I'd rather not get into. And it is only a theory,' Detia informed.
Toph nodded in understanding, the feeling finally returning to her hand, though she still rubbed it. "Can you tell me at least why it hurt me more than them?"
'I was younger with them. I didn't have the abilities I have now,' The girl answered.
"That makes sense." Toph conceded, "Well, now that all the fun is over back to the question."
'Mommy gave me a book on human anatomy.' Detia answered. 'It wasn't a far stretch of the imagination to figure out that my bone wasn't supposed to be extended through my skin. I saw where it was supposed to go and how it fit in so I just shoved it back.' Detia shrugged.
"What did she say?" Sokka asked again.
Detia looked at him and frowned. 'I said that I saw the way it fit together in my leg and shoved it back to that position,' her voice rang lightly in the minds of everyone there, excluding the Avatar, because she still didn't like him.
"Please, tell me I'm not the only one who heard that voice," Sokka questioned.
"Y…you're not," Katara answered. "Detia was that you?"
The girl nodded. "Since when have you been able to talk to everyone like this?" Zuko inquired.
"I would like to know that, too," Ty Lee almost demanded.
Detia blushed slightly, kicking the ground in embarrassment. 'It was going to be a surprise. I learned it just the other day.'
"Didn't setting your leg hurt?" Toph interrupted, bringing the conversation back on track, her words stopping Ty Lee from jumping up, grabbing her daughter, throwing her in the air, and hugging her tightly.
Detia looked back at the Earth bender and answered, 'Irrelevant.'
"Irrelevant!" Katara exclaimed, causing the child in her arms to cry out in surprise but go right back to sleep when she started to rock gently. "How can you say it's irrelevant?"
The little girl sighed and rolled her eyes as she turned to Katara, 'Yes, it hurt. But it was either sit there and bleed to death while everyone looked for me or put it back in place and start the healing process.'
"Alright, I can understand that," Katara conceded. "But why didn't you let me heal you?"
For a second Detia hesitated in answering before crossing her arms and informing, 'Your water bending was interfering with my bending, slowing down my healing process. And it hurt.'
"What?" Suki questioned before Katara could say anything.
"So you're saying you're a better healer than a water bender?" Toph stated more than questioned and Detia thought only a second before nodding. "Prove it."
'I brought Ezra back to life, didn't I?'
Toph placed a hand on her chin. "Good point. How did you do that?"
Detia shrugged. 'She has a weak heart, and it had stopped. So, I sent a current of lightning to it, shocking it back into action and bringing her back to life. It wasn't hard.'
"I see. So Azula, would you be able to do the same thing as Detia and bring Ezra back to life?" Toph inquired.
The Fire Nation Princess thought for a moment before answering, "More than likely."
"Then what she did wasn't an amazing feat of healing, just a slight use of lightning," Toph concluded smugly, causing Detia to frown angrily.
'Fine!' she said. Not one to lose a battle, she propped her leg up on her mommy's chair, took off the boot covering her right leg, and rolled up her pants' leg to reveal flawless skin. 'See, there's no scar.'
Toph shook her head and crossed her arms, "Sorry, can't see a thing," she said then waved her hand over her eyes for emphasis.
"Oh my," Katara whispered as she leaned over to get a good look at the once injury.
Detia ignored her and grabbed Toph's hand and put it over her leg where the wound had been, surprising her parents and aunt and uncle by her brash action and willingness to not only allow someone to touch her but to initiate it. "I don't feel anything," Toph announced, after getting over her surprise, and ran her hand up the girl's leg to her knee then down along her tibia. "Are you sure this is the right leg?" she teased, knowing full well it was just by its position.
'You know it is,' Detia replied with a half-smile as Toph's hand stopped half way down her tibia.
"This is where it broke." She said more to herself than anyone else. "I can feel the bump the bone made to mend the crack. But there's no evidence it broke skin." She pulled her hand away. "Wow, guess you are a better healer. What's your secret?"
'Lightning' Detia answered as she pulled her boot back on after unrolling her pants' leg.
"So, what does that mean? That you're the first lightning bender?" Suki inquired.
"No," the Avatar corrected, looking at the ground as he spoke. "She is the last."
Detia stiffened visibly as Aang spoke, but did not turn to face him. "I suppose that means you learned more about why she hates you?" Azula contended and he nodded. "Took you long enough."
"I know," Aang agreed before Zuko could chide his sister. "It took a lot to get to my second life."
Ty Lee's eyebrow lifted "Second?"
The Avatar nodded. "Yeah, apparently my first life…wasn't a good person and he was sealed away. So, I had to go to my second life."
"What did you learn?" Zuko inquired.
Aang sighed heavily, "My second life was awakened during the War of the Gods. He said that after the disappearance of the Balance, the gods started to argue amongst themselves, ending in a war so devastating it changed the very face of the world. My first life, who was capable of bending all four elements, let the battle rage on, sitting back and doing nothing. The war started because of him."
"What did he do?" Ty Lee inquired and again Aang sighed.
"Once, a very, very long time ago, there was a floating island known as Hishou Raikou and on this floating island lived the people of lightning. They were a rich people, both financially and culturally. But, they were peaceful and diplomatic and there was only a little more than eight thousand in their population. Their ruler was the Goddess of Lightning. The people around the time of my second life did not speak her name or mention her at all unless they were one of the few survivors."
"Survivors?" Zuko repeated.
"There was a society," Aang hesitated, "which my first life lead. There were many people from different nations in this society and their mission in life was to create a world without the gods, because back then the Gods ruled over their respective nations. My second life didn't tell me their name."
"Iuguolo Superum," Toph answered, surprising everyone.
The severe expression on her face, one that she rarely showed, stopped them from asking how she knew. 'Roughly translated to: Killer of the Gods.' Detia finished. 'Their leader mounted an army of great numbers and attacked Hishou Raikou.'
Aang nodded, still unable to look at the child who had turned an accusing tone toward him. "He slaughtered everyone, women, children, the elderly, no one was spared. I can still see the image of him standing on the bodies of the people he had killed and laughing in triumph. He even managed to strike down the Goddess."
"If they were such a powerful people, why didn't they fight back?"
"They did," Aang defended. "They fought hard, but they weren't violent people. My first life knew this and exploited it."
"That's not true," Toph interrupted. "The People of Lightning would have won that battle had the enemy not destroyed the generators that kept the island floating. And the goddess didn't die," was her surprisingly knowledgeable comment.
"She had a spear shot through her body!" Aang yelled. "And how would you even know?"
"First, she's a goddess Aang. Having a spear shoved through her body only made her angry. And trust me, that is one goddess you do not want to make angry. She killed like sixty men in one shot. Second, it was carved in the stone of some ruins I found in the Earth Kingdom. The same place I found that puzzle box. Aside from the box and the carvings, there wasn't much else."
'You're lying.' Detia stated as she looked over her shoulder to the earth bender with a lifted eyebrow. 'Not about the first part but the second,' Toph crossed her arms over her chest and was about to refute the accusation when Detia said. 'Only you heard me.'
'They don't need to know how I know these things,' Toph thought, knowing that Detia could hear her. 'And there are carvings on the wall in the room where I found that box. And they are lightning bender carvings. But I can't read, so I have no idea what they say.'
Detia nodded very slightly and restrained herself from chuckling. "Oh," Aang said. "That may be true, but it doesn't change the fact that my past life was responsible for the genocide of a great people, the lightning benders."
"You said something about survivors? How many?" Suki asked.
Aang shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe a few."
"There were twenty," Toph answered. "Twenty people survived the attack. Two were children. And most fled to the Fire Nation. At least, that's what the carvings said."
"Hm. Why would such a great people come here?" Iroh asked.
Toph shrugged, she really didn't know that answer. Then all eyes turned to Detia. 'I don't know either.'
"There was probably some logical reason, though," Azula defended. "Agni probably offered them protection."
"Probably." Aang agreed.
"Hey, Detia!" Lu Ten's voice called over to his cousin from the puzzle box, the other children with him. "I thought you'd have the box opened by now," he smirked slightly and continued. "I guess you're not as good as I thought you were." Detia closed her eyes as she ground her teeth together and balled her hands into fist. "Seriously, you should have had it opened by now. It is my birthday you know. You should do what I say."
"Lu," The oldest of the children chided lightly – Sokka's daughter – hitting his arm, "that's uncalled for."
But the damage was already done and before he knew what was going on a stream of white hot lightning raced towards him, promising a painful death. His scream echoed out across the garden as he fell on his bottom, electricity racing along the metal surface of the box Detia hit like small dragons, all racing towards the slightly concaved center of each side. 'I'm your cousin Lu Ten, not your servant. You can't say things like that me.'
"You almost hit me!" he exclaimed as he stood from his position.
"No offense kid," Toph interjected, "but you would have deserved it."
Detia nodded in agreement, crossing her arms. Lu Ten was quiet with a stubborn expression on his young face. "Yeah, well," he said kicking the dirt as his feet. "Sorry Detia, I didn't mean it."
"You're just saying that 'cause you don't want her to challenge you to an Agni Kai," Ursa pointed out, giggling happily.
"Well, duh," Lu Ten answered honestly. "She'd beat me in like three seconds."
Detia smiled smugly at the last comment her cousin spoke. Just as she was about to agree, a bright light filled the air, originating from the box, and forced everyone to close their eyes and move away from it. Most of the younger children fled to their parents. When the light cleared, everyone uncovered their eyes and looked in the direction where the light had come from. They saw in place of the box was a large white egg, nearly as big as the box it was in, with yellow lightning strips racing along it. "What is that?" one of the children who had ran to the Avatar asked.
Once the question was uttered, another weaker flash of light appeared but shot upward towards the sky for only a second before solidify into the form of a transparent woman. The woman's cold golden eyes stared blankly at the people surrounding the box, not seeing them. Her long, stark white hair hung free till it bunched into a thick metal band at the middle of her back, matching perfectly to her pure white tunic. The pants that matched the tunic flared out at her ankles, showing an inch or two of her flawlessly snow white skin, her feet covered with simple white cloth shoes. A yellow loin cloth hung freely to her knees, held in place with a light blue obi. A long piece of transparent blue cloth wrapped once around her breast and torso, most of it flowing behind her like wings, glistening in the sun as if something shiny was sewn into the lining. A golden crown circled her forehead, three lightning bolts extending from the front, one going down towards her nose the other two reaching to the heavens on either side of the one.
Thin metal bands wrapped the lower part of her upper arm, just above her elbow with two smaller ones around her ankles. Strips of metal covered the fabric along her shoulders and the tops of her shoes. The sleeves of her shirt, which flared at the ends like her pants and ended half way up her forearm, also had strips of metal along the cuffs. But, those seemed to be more for decoration than anything else. Finally, the cold golden eyes seemed to lock onto Detia as the fabric wrapped around her torso, only staying on her shoulders due to the metal bands that seemed to be attached to the metal on her shoulders, flapped wildly behind her, like a cat's tail. "I am Linka," the image announced; her tone stern and cold but still her voice was beautiful and mysterious. "Crown princess of the Hishou Raikou and the People of Lightning."
TBC
A/N: Haha! Just so everyone knows I'm introducing the Gaang's kids. They are as follows: Aang and Katara have: Tenzen (6-Boy), Kya (4-Girl), Hanna (4-Girl), Gyatso (3-boy), and Kuai (1- boy – the baby Katara was holding).Sokka and Suki have four children: Koyumi (9-Girl – the oldest of all the children), Atreyu (7-Boy), Yue (5-girl – who I will introduce later in the story), and Dakota (2-Boy – the child Suki was holding). Zuko and Mai have three (I've introduced all of them but just for the hell of it here we go: Lu Ten (Who turned 7 in this story – Boy), Erza (3-Girl), and Ursa (3-girl). And of course there's Detia, who's 5 now. So, there you have it, that's everybody. Oh, by the way all of the characters are in their 20s – Zuko (who is 16 at the end of the series) is 27 now. You can figure out everyone else's ages from that if you really want to know.