Of Fire
Chapter 13
"How many?" Azula asked, switching to general mode as Suki and Ty Lee gathered the children into a tight circle.
'Not too many,' Detia answered, trying to pry herself out of Yue and Gyatso's grip. 'About thirty maybe.'
"We can take thirty, easy," Suki assured with a slight smile directed to Ty Lee and Azula.
"Hell, we can each take thirty easy," Every ounce of confidence in Toph's being showed through her tone as she smirked. "This will be like kicking a rabbit-puppy." Azula couldn't help but chuckle. Detia finally pulled away from Yue and her cousin and walked over to Toph, who instinctively handed her the gem without a word passing between them. "Be careful with that thing; it feels alive," Toph noted then yelled, "We know you're out there! You might as well come out."
"They might actually stand a chance that way," Ty Lee intoned lightly, so only their group could hear, watching carefully as her daughter pulled out a sack from her belt (how she hid it in her belt Ty Lee didn't know) and placed the gem in it before strapping it to her back.
"Yeah, a chance of not dying on sight," Toph finished loud enough that it echoed across the courtyard, again making Azula smirk.
"Wait!" a man called, putting up his hands in a peaceful gesture and coming out into view. "We mean no harm," he informed, moving towards the group of women and children slowly.
'He looks like a sun warrior,' Detia noted as she examined the only elaborate piece of clothing he wore – the large yellow and red headdress that looked somewhat like a dragon's mane.
Everything else he wore was simple, a loin-cloth and sandals with ancient armor that didn't stand a chance against Ursa's fire, better less Azula's. Not that it would matter because his upper chest was bare, one sloppily aimed shot to the heart with lightning would kill him. Of course, that probably wouldn't even be necessary, given that Ty Lee could just as easily flip over there and block all of his chi points. Azula and Detia made the same face of consideration as this thought entered their heads at the same time and totally not on purpose. The Sun Warrior was the only who noticed, everyone else was busy trying to protect the children.
"This is a dangerous place for children," the older man stated, still wisely keeping his distance.
"You saying we can't protect our children?" Suki asked taking offense easily to the words he didn't say. She got enough of that male chauvinistic bullshit from her husband, regardless of how much she loved him.
Though, the fierceness of her reply took Azula and Ty Lee by surprise, Ty Lee less than Azula. The acrobat was close friends with the Kyoshi Warrior, after all but had always known Suki to be patient and calm. Toph was used to it. She had spent countless nights with Sokka and Suki, sometimes separately but mostly together. She knew how Sokka could get, even if he did mean well. The Sun Warrior seemed to be smarter than his attire led people to believe because he quickly denied the claim, even though his thoughts told another story.
"I said no such thing. We only ask that you leave and tell no one that we are here," he stated.
Azula rolled her eyes, slackening her stance slightly. "You do realize we have small children with us?"
His face went blank for second, as he wondered what relevance that had with his request. Ty Lee stepped in before it dawned on him, brushing past Azula a little so that she was a step ahead of her wife. She made sure that she was close enough so that Azula could grab her and pull her back if necessary. The princess knew there was one reason Ty Lee did this. That reason being to stop Azula from killing this guy just because he was an idiot telling her what to do. It was a smart move on her part, but Azula still didn't like it. "Alright, look," Ty Lee started. "We'll leave and try to keep the children from saying anything about what they saw here."
"We can't leave yet," Lu Ten whined. "I haven't learned anything about the secret of Fire Bending."
Azula rolled her eyes again, wondering why everyone else's child was so annoying. 'What secret?' Detia asked. 'There's no secret to Fire Bending.'
"There has to be." Again with the whining tone that drove Azula up the wall. She was so glad her daughter did not do that. "Dad said he was a better Fire Bender after visiting these ruins."
"So you are here to gain knowledge from the Masters?" the Sun Warrior asked, surprised that a child as young as Lu Ten was interested in learning such a thing.
"Yeah!" The Crown Prince announced excitedly, even though he had no clue what was he was about to get into. "Where are they? I'd like to learn everything I can about the original Fire Bending forms."
"Why?" the Sun Warrior asked.
Lu Ten grunted, as if the answer was the most obvious one in the world. "So he can defeat his cousin in their mock Agni Kais," Koyumi answered deadpan, because the reason was stupid to her.
'You can learn all the bending techniques in the world and you still won't be better than me.' Detia boasted, making her mother proud.
"That's not the only reason," Lu Ten announced, choosing to ignore his cousin's remark. "Dad says that learning this way will bring me peace and balance or something. I want to know what he means."
The white-haired child only shook her head. If he only practiced harder and listened to what his father was telling him, Lu Ten might last longer than five seconds against her. "The Masters are particular about who they teach. You must follow me; I will show you the way. But only the Fire Benders can go," the Sun Warrior announced.
"Would you like to repeat that last part? I'm not sure I heard you correctly," Toph asked, purposefully hitting the ground with the heel of her foot, causing the Earth to shoot up just enough for the warrior to trip over it.
He cursed lighting in his head, but to his credit, he did not grab his foot. Though, the children all knew what had happened and laughed anyways. "No, it's alright," Suki informed. "I'll take the other children back to the Air Balloon."
"Ty Lee." Azula called noticing the confliction in the acrobat's stance (yeah, she knows her wife that well) and grabbed her wife's wrist, pulling her back so that they were almost touching. "You go with her."
"But," Ty Lee tried to argue, only to be cut off by a short tender kiss.
"Don't argue with me," Azula scolded playfully, though a normal person wouldn't be able to tell.
Ty Lee deflated. "All right," she agreed as she turned around and started to help Suki gather the children.
"Detia, Lu Ten, Ursa," Azula said, "you three are coming with me."
"But Detia isn't…" Ty Lee argued quickly, stopping mid-sentence with the look Azula was giving her.
"She might as well be," the princess answered simply, patting her daughter's shoulder, and then turned to Toph. "I'm assuming you're coming with us?"
"I wouldn't miss this for the world," Toph answered.
Once the others were long gone and far enough away from any booby-traps, according to Toph, the five remaining looked at the man in front of them expectantly. Well, Ursa and Lu Ten did. Detia couldn't have cared less. She was a Lightning Bender, not a Fire Bender. Azula was right there with her daughter. She couldn't care less about learning from the 'Masters'. In her book, - and everyone else's - she had already learned and perfected all Fire Bending techniques. Now she was learning Lightning bending unintentionally from her daughter. Toph, on the other hand, looked as though she was ready for a fight, just hoping one of the many people hidden within the walls of the Ancient city would try something, anything, that would give her a reason.
"Follow me," the Sun Warrior announced, motioning with his hand for the outsiders to follow.
They did, and as they followed, he told them about the Master and other members of his tribe gathered around. The man who they had met, the chief as everyone assumed him to be, told them what they had to do as they reached a long staircase: take a piece of the eternal fire and offer it to The Masters. Lu Ten and Ursa whimpered just looking at it. With a simple move of her hands, the Earth Bender had them to the top of the staircase in a flash, surprising the hell out of the Chief. "This," he said shakily, "is the eternal fire." He gestured to a large fire behind him, pulling a ball into his hands.
Detia and Azula glanced at each other, both thinking the same thing as they were handed their flames. Azula watched curiously as Detia's fire sparked and turned pure white, instantly turning to electricity, before she asked the obvious question. "Isn't the eternal fire within ourselves? This little flame will die the instant I let it go, it's not very eternal."
"It's symbolic," he said in a deadpan tone, making the two adults and Detia smirk.
"What do we do now?" Lu Ten asked eagerly, holding his small flame close to his body.
The Sun Warrior smiled down at him then pointed up a mountain. "The Masters are up that mountain. You must climb it and offer the flame. They will judge you," he stated, and Azula rolled her eyes. "Like you've never been judged before. They see all, the past, the future. If you are worthy they will show you the true meaning of Fire Bending."
"They're Dragons, aren't they?" Azula asked, just as deadpan as he had been before, and he only stared at her in silent shock.
'Old ones from the sound of it,' Detia intoned then winced. 'My head's starting to hurt.'
"We need to get this over with, can we hurry this along?" Toph questioned before Azula.
"The mountain..." the sun warrior started.
"To the mountain top!" Toph exclaimed with an over dramatic pointing pose, making the children laugh.
"I'll race you Ursa!" Lu Ten yelled as he started running.
"No fair!" his little sister called after him. "You're cheating," she called indignantly as she raced towards him.
Toph sidled up to Detia and Azula as they started to follow the two young Fire Benders, placing a hand on the little girl's white hair. "How ya feelin'?"
'My head still hurts,' Detia answered, dropping her hands to her side and losing her fire – something her mother had done the second they were away from the Sun Warriors. 'There are too many people.' Which translated to: my head's been aching for a while. But now, it's pounding like a jackhammer, and I can't concentrate.
Both Toph and Azula knew this; Detia had a very high tolerance for pain and wouldn't complain until it became unbearable. Toph looked to Azula, whose expression was slightly worried, the blind Earth Bender noticed how Azula kept close to her daughter, ready to catch her if the need arose. Toph wasn't going to let the need arise and easily picked up the little girl and placed her on her shoulders. Detia protested mildly. "Shut up," Toph said sternly, the odd command making Detia go silent. She had never been told that before. Be quiet maybe, but never shut up. "The walk up this mountain will take at least twenty minutes. You said sleep always made you feel better, so take a nap."
"Don't tell my daughter to shut up," Azula interjected calmly.
"Forgive me," Toph said with a frown. "Stop complaining, is that better?" Azula nodded with a half-smile because of Detia's smug expression.
"I could do that, you know?" Azula replied after a minute and Detia was fast asleep on Toph's shoulders, her head cradled in her arms that rested on the Earth Bender's head – Toph's metal headband carried in Toph's hand.
"I know," Toph answered. "No offense, but I'm physically stronger than you. I'm an Earth Bender; it's what I'm made for. And your kid's as light as a feather. I can barely feel her." Azula chuckled lightly, knowing everything Toph said was true. "Are you nervous about meeting the dragons?"
"No, why should I be?" the Princess asked.
Toph shrugged slightly, stopping when Detia groaned in protest. "That sun guy said that they would judge you. What it they find you unworthy because of the things you did in the past and eat you or something?"
Azula scoffed lightly. "I admit that I'm surprised that there are Dragons left, and if I were younger, I would be here to hunt them like my father and grandfather before him. But times are different; I've learned a lot since then. For example, the true meaning of Fire Bending. And if worse comes to worse and they do find me unworthy, my daughter will protect me." Then as an afterthought, "You tell anyone I said that and I will hunt you down and kill you slowly."
Toph chuckled lightly. "Your secret's safe with me." A mutual silence fell between them for a good while. Azula watched her niece and nephew race each other up the mountain, their small flames still visible. "You wanna cheat and get up this mountain faster? At least to catch up to those two?"
Azula stopped and didn't even need to think about it before saying, "Yes."
The sudden answer made Toph laugh and hand her headband to Azula. "Hold this."
The princess took the headband and watched as Toph took a steady stance with Detia still balanced on her shoulders. With a few movements of her hands, the Earth below their feet rose and rushed up the mountain towards the two children. Within seconds, they were stopped beside the two royal children, Ursa with tears in her golden eyes as Lu Ten tried to comfort her. "What happened?" Azula asked, even though she didn't really care.
Ursa ran to Azula, wrapping her arms around her aunt's leg. "I tripped and my fire went out," she cried.
Azula produced a small fire in her hand, making sure it wasn't her customary blue before offering it to her niece. "Here you can have mine."
"Really?" Ursa asked, sniffing. "But don't you need it?"
"No," Azula answered, carefully handing the flame to her five year old niece, who had just started her fire bending training not two months ago. She held it like it was the most precious thing in the world.
"Thank you Aunt Azula! You're the greatest!" the little girl exclaimed, hugging her aunt before turning and sticking her tongue out to her brother.
Lu Ten only rolled his eyes and stepped up onto the makeshift platform. "Is Detia okay?" he asked, noticing his cousin on Toph's shoulders.
"She's fine, just sleeping," Toph answered. "Is everyone ready to get to the top of this mountain?"
"Yeah!" the siblings exclaimed in unison, Ursa sitting down to protect her fire from the wind produced by their ascent.
Detia woke, wincing at the amount of new minds she felt and quickly blocked as many as she could. 'What's going on?' she asked, grabbing her family's attention as she placed a hand to her temple.
"We're here," Ursa announced in wonder.
Detia straightened and looked at all the members of the Sun Warrior tribe. They sat or stood in a circle in front of a large staircase that led to a single bridge, which connected the two mountains on either side. Some of the Sun Warriors were using fire bending to create circles, a mediocre ability in both Detia and Azula's opinion. But the tone of the area was all very intimidating. "There are two Dragons," Toph announced quietly, setting Detia on the ground beside her mother. "Man, they are huge."
"If there are two Dragons, then only two of us should go at a time." Lu Ten announced, holding his fire steady.
"You two go first," Azula said, pushing her niece and nephew towards the staircase. The Sun Warrior chief came over to them, smiling at the young Fire Benders before turning to the others. In this time, Detia had created her own 'fire', like Azula had done. He opened his mouth to speak but Azula beat him to it. "The younger ones will go first."
He nodded; looking at the blue fire in her hands and the white fire in Detia's but didn't comment on it. He honestly didn't know what to think about the different colored flames. No one in his tribe was able to create any colors other than yellow, red, orange, and variations of those. Azula and Toph smirked when Detia let them in on his thoughts. Ursa and Lu Ten groaned as they approached the stairs and started to ascend. "Why are there so many stairs?" Ursa complained when they were halfway up.
"Shh!" Lu Ten scolded. "I don't know, there just are."
"I hate stairs," Ursa groaned again, making a couple of the Sun Warriors chuckle. "We don't have this many stairs at home."
"Would you be quiet?" her brother complained.
'The general consensus is that The Master will find them worthy because they are young and cute.' Detia informed. 'Our consensus isn't so good.'
"I didn't expect it to be." Azula admitted, crossing her arms but keeping the flame in her hand away from her body and clothing.
The two children finally made it to the top of the stairs. "Now what?" Ursa's voice echoed across the opening.
"I don't know," Lu Ten answered back. "Maybe we face the caves and the Masters will come out." A few more Sun Warriors chuckled.
A low rumbling shook the earth and two monstrous dragons, one blue and one orange but otherwise looking exactly alike, emerged from the caves. Their flapping wings sending gusts of wind towards the people below. For a second, the dragons looked almost confused as they looked down at the children. Who, for their credit, looked nothing but amazed. 'They're saying that these are just small children,' Detia informed her mother and Toph. 'But their ancestors did horrible things to dragon kind,' Detia paused when The Masters started to circle each other. 'They've decided that the two are worthy. Funny, they both look male.'
"Are these two Dragons male?" Azula asked the Chief after Detia finished speaking.
"Yes, why do you ask?" the Chief questioned and Azula shrugged.
"No reason."
In an impressive show of Fire Bending, the two Dragons shot fire into the air, creating a small tornado of fire around the children. The Sun Warrior Chief motioned for Azula and Detia to step forward as the show died down. The Masters stopped and looked at the two who stood at the base of the stairs. It almost frightened Azula, almost. "Did you see that!" Lu Ten's voice carried as he rushed down the stairs, closely followed by Ursa. "That was amazing! Hey what are you staring at?"
"Go to Toph," Azula ordered, wiping the smile from his face.
He took his sister's hand and pulled her to where Toph stood about ten feet away. 'They can't judge us.' Detia said, dropping her hands to her side and eliminating the small lighting in her hands.
"Why?" Azula questioned, knowing her voice carried.
'They don't have the power,' the girl informed. 'Or something. I didn't really understand what that last part was.'
The Masters lifted their heads and let loose a fearsome roar. "What are they doing?" Azula asked, her hands over her ears.
'Calling someone who can judge us,' Detia answered, covering her ears just like her mother.
The sound stopped suddenly, and the Dragons rushed back into their caves, confusing all but two (Azula and Detia) of the people who were there to witness it. In the distance, thick black smoke billowed from a long since dormant volcano. Again, the Earth shook, but this time more violently. 'Run,' was Detia's only warning as she turned and took off towards Toph. 'Protect them,' she ordered the Earth Bender as her mother easily caught up with her. Not that Toph needed to be told, for she had already set up a barrier.
An explosion echoed through the valley as molten rock spewed from the volcano, shooting hundreds of feet into the air in an arc towards them. Two clawed bird feet swooped down and grabbed the princess by the shoulders, lifting her off the ground. Without even thinking about what could have possibly grabbed her, Azula grabbed her daughter's hand. The impact from the molten rock sent a shockwave in all directions, causing the creature who grabbed Azula to lose its grip and drop its passengers. Azula hit the ground hard, the impact knocking the air from her lungs, but that didn't stop her from quickly rolling over to block her daughter, who was safely cradled to her chest, from the super-heated air that flowed over them. She could feel the metal of her armor start to melt against her tunic, glad that she decided to wear it. Luckily Toph came to her rescue, creating a barrier to block the heat and pulling the earth they were laying on towards her.
"Are you alright?" Toph asked the instant Azula and Detia were safe behind the barrier.
"Fine," Azula lied as she quickly tossed her armor off her body, knowing that a few of her ribs were bruised and her back probably had minor burns. Toph nodded in understanding. "Detia are you okay?" Azula asked. Detia looked up at her mother, her golden eyes glossed over with unshed tears. "Detia?" the princess asked worriedly.
'Where's Thunder?' the little girl asked as a single tear escaped its prison.
'Here,' the still young masculine voice answered as a small wind blew behind them.
Thunder in all his ten foot glory nestled behind the barrier, adding strength to it with his power. He opened one slightly charred yellow wing as Detia rushed to him, hugging him tight. 'That was stupid,' she chided lightly, still hugging him.
He chuckled. 'As long as you are not hurt, I'm okay with that.'
"Good boy," Azula replied, forcing back a wince as she stood and patted his beak. "What the hell is going on out there?" the princess yelled.
"I don't know," Toph answered trying to feel out what was going on.
But there was so much going on that she couldn't feel anything. "Where did everyone go?" Azula inquired, not that she really cared.
"Got smart and ran away," Toph answered, grunting as she kept the barrier up. "They took Lu Ten and Ursa with them," she paused. "Don't worry. They're making it back to the Air Balloon as we speak."
'Shouldn't we do the same?' Detia asked.
"We can't." Toph said simply. "The Earth is too hot to walk on. The only reason why we aren't burned to a crisp now is because of the barrier and my awesome earth bending abilities."
"Shit," Azula cursed. "And Thunder can't carry all of us."
"Yep, looks like we'll just have to wait it out," Toph announced.
"Will you last that long?" the Princess inquired, sitting back down.
Before Toph could answer Detia's light cry of 'Oh no!' drew their attention.
"What? Is everything okay?" was Azula's hurried, almost panicked, reaction.
'The gem,' the little girl said, rummaging through her bag. 'I lost it.'
"You dropped it," Toph replied. "I can feel it out there. It seems to be okay. And to answer your question Azula: Yes, yes I can."
She dropped the barrier at that moment and nothing happened. Where the staircase once stood, a large crater of lava took its place, the bridge connecting the two caves shattered to nothing. Detia spotted the gem lying halfway buried in steaming rock not five feet away from her, but before she could rush out there to retrieve it, Toph bent her hands and pulled it towards them. The girl smiled as she pulled the gem from its temporary case, holding it like it was fragile. Azula only watched with a half-smile at her child's smiling face, oh so glad that her little monster was okay. Ty Lee would have killed her had something happened.
The princess turned back to the small lake of lava and gasped before she could stop herself at the humanoid form that stood in the middle, completely covered in molten rock. Instantly, the rock on the form hardened to the deep black of cooled lava and started to flake off. The first of the flakes revealed deep red eyes, the pupils slitting into a thin diamonds not unlike the dragons' eyes. "What in the…" was Azula's only remark as the black continued to flake off, revealing a toned male torso the color of mocha. The dark, cold volcanic rock left the old symbol for Fire on his right bicep.
A fire ignited in long, flowing, multicolored hues, though it was mostly the brighter colors of red, orange, and yellow, from the person…creature's head. The fire seemed to freeze and shift to hair, taking on a silky texture but keeping its multitude of colors and length and even the way it seemed to flow. The creature took one step, shattering the rock around his feet, revealing the ends of the long pants he wore. In the end, he appeared to be a tanner, buffer Zuko without the scar and with thick flaming red hair and long thin red whiskers and goatee, which made him look even more like a dragon. He took another step and the rest of the rock fell from him, burning instantly in the lava lake.
Azula sighed when she saw that he was semi-decent. True he wasn't wearing a shirt but Detia had seen men without shirts on before. She just wasn't ready to have 'the talk' with her seven-year-old daughter. In fact if she could have her way, Ty Lee would be the one explaining all of…that to their child, and she wouldn't even have to be present. Her thoughts were drawn to the Earth Bender when Toph said one name, "Agni."
The creature, Agni it seemed, said something in a language Azula did not understand, from his tone (and the smirk) it seemed to be some kind of sarcastic remark. Toph grit her teeth and yelled back in the same language that Azula didn't know. Detia however, understood every word that was being spoken, from the insult Agni had thrown Toph about her appearance, which Toph ignored, to Toph yelling at him for his over dramatic entrance, saying that he could have hurt someone. "They're only humans," was his smartass remark, knowing full well that it would grate Toph's nerves even if he didn't believe the words himself.
Toph clamped her eyes shut and bit down on her tongue to try to calm herself. "Not all of us are human," Toph intoned, anger in every ounce of her voice.
He smirked and patted his chin slightly. "I suppose you are a little more than human, Terren. But only a little. You always were a pathetic excuse for a…"
A rock slammed into his bare chest, sending him a few feet back and effectively shutting him up. He chuckled, as if that was his intention all along as he threw the rock to the ground. Small trails of smoke billowed from his nose as he blew fire at the Earth Bender, which she blocked easily as she gained on him, side stepping whenever he would do it again. And though he missed, he still smiled. The clash of the two caused the earth to rumble in way Azula had never felt before, as if the very core of the planet was shuddering. Instinctively, the princess grabbed her daughter and pulled her close to her, to protect her offspring. Thunder did his part as protector by wrapping his large wings around the pair partially blocking their view of the fight. Not that they could see a lot of it considering the hot, blinding light Agni would produce whenever he attacked.
The Earth cracked and shifted under their feet as its structure changed dramatically. Detia could only catch snippets of the conversation between the two fighters. The novelty of the fight seemed to have worn off as Agni's tone was cold and serious when he said, "You're on my turf, Terren."
Why everyone kept calling Toph 'Terren' Detia didn't know, but it suited the Earth Bender in her opinion. What Toph said to counter his remark was muffled but furious. All Detia caught was, "…gave you" and "… take it back."
Agni said two words after Toph's remark that made Detia truly worry. "Prove it."
And the Earth shook violently, large rocks crumbing to ash as the island started to sink. Detia pulled away from her mother's death grip, pushed the gem into Azula's arms, and ran past Thunder's wing towards the mess. "Detia!" Azula called, attempting to catch her daughter's arm, but the girl was too fast and was out of her reach in seconds.
'Protect her!' Detia's voice commanded silently, and Thunder's wings closed around Azula.
The princess held the gem protectively, hoping and praying that her daughter knew what she was doing, that she wasn't hurt or worse. With Thunder's thick, heavy wings wrapped around her, she couldn't even see what was going on, what was happening. For the first time in a very long time, Azula was afraid and not even for herself. She honestly didn't know what would happen to her if Detia were to get seriously injured or die. And Ty Lee, what would happen to Ty Lee? The affectionate acrobat wouldn't survive such a brutal attack against her soul. The gem in her hands started to pulse lightly, but she didn't notice seeing as she was far too busy worrying about her daughter.
Detia blocked her eyes, fighting to stay standing, as she watched the two fighting, coming to physical blows. Both looked worse for wear. Toph was burned on several parts of her exposed body, her clothes ripped and torn till they barely covered her form. Agni was no better off, his long pants now nothing more than torn shorts with large gashes across his arms, legs, and chest. They were still yelling at each other, but Detia didn't bother to hear what they were saying as the island sank deeper into the ocean. The sky above, she noticed, was dark with volcanic ash, blocking out the sun – though it didn't affect Agni's bending at all.
A small shard of rock was lifted into the air with many other larger rocks, but before Toph could finish her attack, a ball of fire was thrown her way, exploding when it hit a wall Toph created and sending the rocks in the air flying. That small shard caught Detia's cheek, creating a shallow cut that probably wouldn't even need stitches, but it hurt and bled, and made her angry. In retrospect, she realized that such a small cut did not warrant the anger she felt. But at the moment that didn't matter. Her mind was tired from all the people she was subjected to, the island was sinking, and now she was injured. Yeah, that was not working for her.
'Enough!' she yelled mentally, though it echoed across the opening as if she had spoken aloud, as a large burst of lighting shot through the dense volcanic ash, hitting the ground between the two fighting so hard that it sent them fly in opposite directions.
Both hit the base of the Dragons' lairs, sliding to the ground harmlessly. In that instant, the sky cleared and the Earth stopped sinking. "Shit, I forgot how much that hurt," Agni said, rubbing his head and looking up into the angry golden eyes of the small lighting bender.
When Thunder opened his wings the sight Azula saw was almost comical. There, sitting in the ash and broken earth on their knees with their heads bowed in embarrassment were two beaten, battered, burned, bleeding and all around tore up adults, who couldn't have looked more ashamed if they tried, being scolded by a seven-year-old girl – who looked unharmed aside from the cut on her face. Azula even chuckled but only because she was so relieved, and the situation was so bizarre. "I think I need to go home and relax for a week, forget this ever happened," she told the thunderbird, who nodded eagerly. "Are you alright?" she asked him and he nodded again, showing her where his wings had been burned and cut but were quickly healing. "Good," she sighed, hearing a crunch as she tried to stand. Under her hands lay the broken pieces of the golden gem. "Shit," she cursed for the second time and hung her head.
She couldn't be too angry with herself though, not after what she had just gone through. It was just some old artifact anyways, what did it matter? A feeling as if something was crawling up her back made her jump and reach behind her to try and grab whatever had the audacity to crawl on her. Thunder looked at her like she was crazy. His eyes lit up as he leaned down, taking the snake like creature into his beak and pulling it off of his mistress' mother. "Thanks," she said as she turned, coming face to face with small, innocent red eyes.
The creature yelped like a bird, flapping its golden wings as its twenty claws (five on each foot) clawed at Thunder's impenetrable beak. Thunder let the creature down by simply letting it slide out of his beak. The thunderbird made a sound like he was laughing when the dragon landed with a thud. The creature, which was about the length of Azula's leg, turned it's scaly head towards the bird and stuck its long, snake-like tongue out at Thunder and then looked back at Azula – who was dumbstruck. "Uh…" was the only thing she managed to say before it wrapped around her torso, laying its head on her shoulder and purring softly. "Well, okay…?" she looked to Thunder. "This is a baby Dragon, isn't it?" He nodded. "Okay, just making sure."
'Her name is Sunstone.' Detia's voice said, surprising Azula enough to make her jump.
Azula ignored her daughter's voice, looking up to see the girl beside her, with Toph limping up behind. Within seconds, Detia was in Azula's arms being forced to sit on the ground. "Don't you ever, ever do something like that again! Do you hear me?" the Princess scolded harshly, though the fact that she was still gripping onto her daughter like she would disappear if she let go dulled the effect a little – well, a lot.
'I'm sorry,' Detia said. 'But the island was sinking. I had to do something.'
Azula patted her daughter's hair, pushing some of the ash out of it. "I don't care if the world's about to explode. You do not do that."
'Okay,' Detia chuckled, 'I won't. I'm sorry I scared you.'
"I wasn't scared." Azula denied quickly, releasing her daughter to stand unsteadily and taking a minute to steady herself. "I was terrified. Truly terrified. Never do that again," she reiterated, the dragon on her shoulder squawking in agreement. "See, the Dragon agrees."
'Can we just go home?' Detia asked, knowing that her mother had been through a lot in the past couple of hours and that's why she was acting so out of character.
"That's the best idea I've heard all day," Azula agreed, eagerly starting her descent down the mountain, ignoring the pain her bruised ribs caused her.
Everyone else followed, including Thunder. Detia caught up to her mother and grabbed her hand, causing Azula to look down and squeeze that small hand in hers. Toph caught up after Thunder, and Azula looked at them as well. After about twenty minutes of walking, Azula finally asked, "Why aren't you using your bending to go down faster? You look like you're having a hard time walking."
"Shut up," was Toph's snappy remark.
'She's being punished,' Detia answered. 'She's not allowed to use her bending for the rest of the day.'
"You can do that?" Azula asked, truly surprised and amazed at her daughter's hidden ability.
"Yes, she can," Toph answered with a sigh. "It's her job to keep us in line. I'm lucky I only have to deal without my ability for the rest of the day. And let's face it; once we get back to the ship, I'm getting looked at and going to sleep. I'm just glad I didn't get what Agni got."
"Who is this 'us'? And what exactly happened?" Azula questioned.
Toph remained silent. 'The Dragons called Agni to judge us, well you. He saw Toph, recognized her for what she was, and started a fight.'
"Which was why his punishment is worse than mine. He still gets to keep his bending but his wounds will heal at the rate of a normal human. And I fucked that bastard up!" Toph boasted, her language course because of her exhaustion.
"Looks like he did a number on you too," Azula remarked, purposefully knocking Toph's almost good mood. She turned to Thunder when he spread his wings lightly and made a chuckling noise. "Why aren't you flying?"
'His wings were damaged too severely to fly,' Detia informed. 'Well, he thinks he still can, but I told him not to try it.' He squawked, his voice still song-bird like, and hit Detia on the top of her head with his beak. 'Ow!' she complained, grabbing her head. 'It's for the best and you know it. Stop being so stubborn!'
He turned his head away from her. "So this dragon," Azula decided to change the subject, petting the dragon on the head. "It has an odd name. Most of the Dragons I've heard about don't have names like Sunstone."
"That's not true," Toph answered, holding her ribs as she limped. "Back in the day, Dragons had names like Sunstone and Moonshine depending on the color of their shell or whatever. It wasn't until the Sun Warriors died out that the Dragons took on more human names."
"I see." Azula said, looking at Sunstone's sleeping reptilian face. "How did I manage to make it hatch?"
'Her,' Detia corrected.
"Because you are female," Toph interjected. Azula's dark eyebrow lifted. "Look, I don't know how that whole thing works; I'm not a Fire Bender. Agni said something about you being female then I stopped listening to him."
Detia rolled her eyes as Azula chuckled. 'The reason you were able to hatch the egg is partially because you are a woman. One of the other reasons is the same reason why the Dragons couldn't judge you: as a Fire Bender you are as powerful as they are.' Azula's lips turned up in a smug smirk, already imagining the things she could boast about to her pathetic older brother. 'The third is that you showed it the capacity for great love. You can leave that part out when you're boasting to Uncle Zuko though."
That last part made Azula chuckle and pull her child against her side, even if it hurt. "So, am I this thing's mother?"
'No,' Detia answered. 'You are her companion, much like her master. She'll listen and obey every word you say, unless it's against her better judgment. Then she'll tell you what she thinks, and you can argue about it.'
"Like you and Thunder."
'Exactly like me and Thunder.'
"And to think, fifteen or so years ago I would have killed this little thing for glory." It purred like a kitten as she rubbed its mane.
The walk back to the balloon was slow, but they managed to get there before the sun went down. The instant they walked through the doors, Ty Lee was on her wife like white on rice. "What happened! There was all this stuff going on, the earth was shaking and sinking into the water and fire and smoke filled the air and the volcano, we could see and feel it all the way back here, and you and Detia and Toph were trapped up on that mountain where everything was happening." The acrobat rambled worriedly, the hug she had her wife in was unbearable against her bruised ribs and burned back. Ty Lee completely ignored the golden creature that jumped to Thunder once she saw Ty Lee running to her mate.
"My ribs," Azula managed to choke out. She was used to burns and could handle that pain. "Baby, they're bruised."
Ty Lee's grip slacked instantly, both at the pet name Azula only called her when they were in the privacy of their own room and the fact that her ribs were bruised. Though, it was the pet name that made her stand there in stunned silence. 'Mommy,' Detia called lightly, bringing her mommy back into reality.
"Sweetheart what happened to your face?" Ty Lee asked the instant she noticed the dried blood on her daughter's cheek. "Where is that doctor?"
'I'm fine,' Detia answered as she hugged her mommy. 'It's almost healed now.'
The acrobat easily picked her child up, hugging her close and gently embraced her wife. "I'm so glad you came back. Thank the gods."
"Don't thank them. It's their fault this happened," Azula said pointedly, glaring at the Earth Bender, who stiffened lightly under the glare she couldn't see.
"What?" was Ty Lee's confused response, and then noticed Toph limp her way into the aircraft and directly to the doctor who had just entered the room. "What happened to her?" she asked worriedly.
"It's a long story. I'll tell you later." Azula answered, brushing her lips against her wife's lightly, the need clearly visible in her smoldering golden eyes and flaring aura. "I thought I'd never see you again."
'Could you not do this in front of me?' Detia asked, still in her mommy's arms.
Ty Lee chuckled as her cheeks flushed, and she set her child on the ground. "Sorry, sweetheart."
'It's all right; I understand. I do. But it's still gross,' Detia replied sticking her tongue out and scrunching up her face in disgust. 'Kissing, yuck.'
Azula chuckled, pulling Ty Lee flush against her. 'This from a girl who beat two gods in three seconds,' she thought only to her daughter.
'I have skills, yes. But I'm still only seven, and for some reason, kissing does not seem appealing to me. Just eww,' Detia answered back shaking her head a little.
Both her parents chuckled as all of the children with them rushed their daughter, Ezra and Yue getting to her first and tackling her almost to the ground before asking her a million questions. If it hadn't been for Thunder, who was standing behind her, she would have fallen. Ty Lee chuckled again, oh so happy that her family was relatively okay. Her grey eyes caught red, and she gasped loudly, pointing a finger to Sunstone. "What the hell is that?"
Azula laughed at her uncharacteristic use of a cuss word, and she lifted her hand to the dragon. It obediently crawled onto her shoulder. "You remember that gem we found in the ruins?" Ty Lee nodded. "Apparently, it was a dragon egg, and this was the dragon in it. Her name is Sunstone. She's my companion, apparently. Sunstone, this is my mate, Ty Lee." The dragon sniffed at Ty Lee's outstretched hand before licking it in approval.
The acrobat giggled. "Do you think they'll notice that their egg is missing?"
"Who cares?" Azula answered. "We are not coming back here. Now, I need to see that doctor before one of my ribs break. Where did he go?"
Ty Lee only chuckled.
TBC!
A/N: I am so glad I finished this before the holidays ended. :p You guys just have no idea, and I'm fairly pleased with it. So that's a bonus. All types of reviews are welcomed! Tell me what you think. I actually get ideas from flames (as weird as that sounds). It was 7am Christmas Eve when I finished this – so don't mind any grammatical errors that I might have missed (but tell me if there are any major ones).
Oh, by the way, I have no idea if there are rabbit-puppies in the ATLA universe I totally made it up because it sounded cute and weak and a sin to kick, regardless of how easy it would be. :P
So anyway….
Have a great holiday! I know I did! Got my Azula costume and it totally fits like a glove! I'm so wearing it to AWA!