A/N: Ah, I am so happy that this chapter is done. It took forever, I know, but yesterday I had to find a whole bunch of stuff for my history project and Skyrim practically ate up my weekend. That and I went to see OZ the Great and Powewrful (one of the best movies ever in my humble opinion so go see it!). So yes, my excuses are horrible and only display my lack of self-control. Sorry. But it is longer, at least in pages on my Word Doc, so hopefully that makes up for it. And none of the fanfictions I am currently reading have updated so I think there is a lack of creativity or something going around... along with the flu which I contracted last week and am finally over. Hurray! Anyway, onwards and upwards so bring your ladders. That made no sense. Review and make me a happy, happy person. I feel that the popularity of this fic has gone down some and I can't help but think it is because of my hectic update timeline. Again, so sorry. Review!
Disclaimer: I own my new Snow White and the Huntsman blue-ray, but other than that there is nothing in my possession that I am proud of, especially not A:LOK, so don't sue.
Previously on Events Unexpected…
"One day I will tell you Korra. I will unveil to you how I had knowledge, even if it was only hypothetical at the time, of Kaji's part to play in all of this. The path that has been given to the Fire Lord was chosen for her years before her birth and you deserve to know it all, but I cannot tell you now. There is so little time and I do not have the entire story to give you. At the present, we must prepare for our counterattack now that you are here once more."
Korra was slightly miffed at having the critical information withheld from her, her eyes burning with the intense need to understand the circumstances that had led to the unexpected events of Kaji's ascension to the throne of the Fire Nation and her plots for world domination. Wisely, she saw that Master Katara was not going to say any more on the subject, no matter how much she begged for it so Korra backed down for the time being. Instead, she went with a question in regard to the matter at hand, their retaliation strategy, "How are you proposing we do this?"
Master Katara beamed at her with a weary, grateful smile. Her hands brought Korra's up to clasp them in a sort of pyramid between the two women. "A group of refugees from the Northern Water Tribe capital have arrived in the city with vital information on the state of the fallen city. We are going to debrief them and then you and I are heading to Republic City; Tenzin will be awaiting us with anticipation. Oh, and there is one more thing. I believe it is time to revive another ancient sect from my youth. Kaji may have the Dai Li, but we have the Order of the White Lotus."
Republic City was finally beginning to feel the warm breath of spring glide over its snow-covered rooftops. Its situation on the coast made the summers and winters milder than the interior of the continent so it was not to be unexpected that it would be among the first to sense the change of seasons. The extensive rooms collectively referred to as the Assembly Hall were empty for the day as per request of the Council and, though only two of the councilors were present, no one spent too much time questioning the motives of the tall, bald man and the short, fur-clad woman sitting at a round table in one of the smaller rooms held within the building. The quarters were plain, holding no tapestries or glistening marble facades, made of wood and lit by a dozen or so lamps along the walls. The light mahogany panels deceptively withheld their hidden girth that blocked any wandering ears from being privy to any words that would have been uttered behind their protective barrier. Small was a relative term in the grandiose structure of the Republic City governing building and as such, the Spartan expanse was large enough to accommodate another ten people comfortably. The current inhabitants sat in silence, contemplating the arrival of the assembly of people who had been summoned from the distant corners of the world.
The door to the right corner nearest to the current inhabitants creaked open in a slow, steady swing. Behind it was a nervous, timid Korra; her back slightly arched so her head could peer into the room without the entirety of her body being revealed to anyone already present. Once she saw that it was only Tenzin and Katara, she visibly relaxed and fully entered the conference hall. She took the seat in between the two elemental masters, carefully inspecting the rest of the empty seats yet to be filled.
Korra had returned with Master Katara from the south only a few days prior. Tenzin had been so emotionally unhinged that Pema had had to pry the man off of the Avatar before she met a premature end through asphyxiation. Still, Korra was grateful that he was not upset at her- when she had even mentioned an apology after the airbender had calmed, he had swatted her head lightly and forbidden her from saying anything of the sort. According to him, it had been only through the express instructions of Lin that he had not sent the entire naval fleet under Iroh II to find her. Laughing, Korra made it her imperative to find the metalbender and thank her. Things had returned to a semblance of normalcy after that. There were, of course, a few links bent out of shape: what with the whole Kaji world conquering threat, Koh's looming ultimatum, and Bolin's awkwardness around her and his brother. Still, Korra tried to take all of her blessings and use them as a sort of shield against all of the upheaval that was fast approaching. Her friends would be there for her, even Bolin had said as much on the rare occasion that she had caught up with him on a sunny day whilst running errands, and there was really no use in worrying about the future when it was out of her hands for the moment. In a way, Korra had been dreading the coming of this day, counting the seconds leading up to it as though she could somehow will them to slow down even a fraction.
Time, unfortunately, held plans of its own, choosing to ignore the Avatar as a mountain would ignore the push of some meager insect. Master Katara had sent out word to all of the remaining members of the White Lotus; most were older generation who had survived the Hundred Year War and held close ties with the master waterbender but there were a few younger apprentices who took the places of those too fragile to make it. Korra had only stayed at the docks long enough to shake hands and hear names- forgetting more than half of them as soon as they were offered to her. In her mind, it would only serve to further muddy her chakras if she dwelt among them for too long. If her behavior had been seen as rude, no one had made any mention of it.
The door opened for a second time, letting in the assortment of men and women who were expected. Two of the older men were of the Fire Nation, holding themselves high and poised with their robes flowing in rich waves to the floor. One of the men had a long braid running down the length of his back and a matching goatee, both white as the wings of a crane. The other man had a cropped hairstyle, tied in a neat topknot so as to keep the strands from getting into his deep set grey eyes. A young woman and older man came in after them, obviously of Earth Kingdom nationality as both were garbed in sheets of green and brown. The girl's hair was jet black and straight, flowing like a piece of metal over her clothing. Her green eyes reminded Korra of a crisp mountain meadow in the throes of summertime. The man was older; his face coursed with wrinkles which only deepened as he gave everyone in the room a warm smile and took his seat. He held an air about him that immediately endeared him to the rest of those around. The leader of the Northern Water Tribe refugee rebel group came in next. His bulging build caused him to have to bend in order to enter the room; the door's width also forced him to turn sideways upon entry. His blue eyes searched the faces of the others like some hunted animal assessing its options. Others filed in but did not take the chairs. They were the younger, less experienced interns who waited to carry the news of what transpired here to their mentors. The final member came in on silent feet. His clothes were simple, reflective of a lower-class upbringing in the farm districts of the central Earth Kingdom. Korra's eyes widened slightly at the sight of the familiar smile and the dark abysmal depths of the ember eyes of Hatsuharu. She would have never imagined seeing him again after her departure from his small village in search of Kaji's captors all those months ago. He nodded toward her sagely, almost as if to say that he was not in the least bit surprised by their re-acquaintance.
"As you are all aware," Katara stood to address the meeting as soon as Hatsuharu had taken his seat, leaving one empty chair on the far side of the hardwood table, "we are gathered here to fulfill our purpose in this world; once more we are needed to maintain the precarious balance that exists between the Four Nations, now jeopardized by the Fire Lord."
A murmur of voices swept over the space like a solitary wave on a usually still lake; in such a way it moved as to break out and then quiet to a lull in only a few seconds as though it had never existed. Katara cleared her throat, noticing the balled fists of her young pupil and the rigidity of the two Fire Nationals. The tensions between those who remembered the war would never truly fade; the people would forever react through guilt and regret for what had been done or anger that they were still being blamed.
"I do not hold the Fire Nation alone responsible for the events that are transpiring now," she continued, her voice working to diffuse the hushed strain. "It is the fault of all the nations that Kaji was able to gain the popular support of her people and the people of the Earth Kingdom. We felt that charging the Fire Nation with reparations and trying to cover up the sores caused by the Hundred Year War was enough to fix the world, but we were wrong. Now is the time to make up for our past mistakes. This time, we must be sure to find a solution instead of a temporary crutch."
Murmurs of agreement rang out among the assembled members of the White Lotus. Heads were nodded and a few hands clapped before their owners recognized that it was not the time for such gestures. However, not all were taken by Katara's charismatic view of the future. One of the Earth Kingdom members rose from his chair, his hands sweeping to touch fingertips together in a spear, resting the apex of the nails on his pointer fingers against the table. His eyes flitted over his quiet audience, before turning to address the former speaker, "I think we should be more focused on getting to that point Master Katara. With all due respect, you have allowed the Fire Nation girl to take over one nation completely and anchor a stronghold in another already. If it is not your preference for the dramatic that has caused you to wait for such a long time, doing nothing to thwart her advances in any way, then you must enlighten me as to why we have twiddled our thumbs while the enemy has been carving out the world as she sees fit."
Glares and angry voices rose up in tandem, their crescendos and troughs rolling crashes of thunder and restless lapses of silence, until Tenzin's hands went up and the assembly was hushed once more. Katara's hand moved across Korra to tap her son on the forearm in thanks. The airbender nodded and returned to his seat, along with the rest of those with seats to return to. Everyone residing by the walls also regained order; pressing against the perimeter of the room they became like the shadows, cast by the faint electric lights, spilling over them.
"I agree that it was not the best course of action," Katara bobbed her head up and down in slow rhythm, "but the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation councilors within Republic City were in favor of Kaji's offensive on the Northern Water Tribe. With the intentions of the North in question, and their representative missing and an alleged conspirator and kidnapper, the Council was tied in a stalemate. We cannot simply discard the voices of two of the Four Nations without appearing hypocritical… and without the word of the Avatar…"
Katara trailed off. Everyone in the room knew that one word from Korra would have been enough to send the entire armada out in the defense of the fallen frozen capital; they also knew that that word had never come, nor had she sent any sort of aid in any form to the conquered and resource-starved citizens who had died to protect their ancestral lands. The Avatar could feel the weight of the accusing eyes that fell upon her as the occupants of the room all asked their unanimous, unspoken question: Why? It was the one question that she could not answer them, not for lack of an answer, but lack of a presentable one. The Avatar was not supposed to fall in love with the enemy, especially since that enemy happened to be of the same gender. Her blue irises dilated in the flash of the lights off of jewelry and fine silks, adorning those in the room like miniature stars waiting to explode in little supernovas and engulf her into the ensuing black holes.
"I-" she made to speak, to try and come up with some semblance of an acceptable excuse for her extended absence. Fortunately, it was in that moment that the door to the room swung open in the wake of a very tall, very imposing figure clothed in shadow from the frame.
"I apologize for my tardiness," a smooth voice said. Korra's skin felt like an electric shock had gone through it. The lilt in the pronunciation of the syllables was so familiar to her that it was almost physically painful. Had her firebender's voice been deep and pronounced in the fashion of men's, it would have been a perfect match. She did not know what she had expected of the man who now stood before them all, his dark hair cascading across his back with the exclusion of a few strands that were tucked in a topknot held together with a red lace rimmed in gold. His eyes sparkled with the molten precious metal, brilliant and warm as the sun with as much power behind it as the star itself. The pale complexion was a match to the current Fire Lord's milky skin. Even the face, despite its rougher edges and broader jaw, was so shockingly analogous to Kaji that Korra had to forcibly remind herself to keep her mouth shut and the gasp threatening to spill out curbed.
"Ah, Lord Kirei, your presence is most welcome," Katara beckoned to the empty chair at the opposite curve from Korra's seat. The man swept past the staring eyes and questioning glances as though they were nothing. His feet made no sound, moving like water, or perhaps even fire itself, across the velvet carpet until he stood facing the Avatar and her two teachers with his hands neatly resting on the back of the little wooden chair before him- the piece of furniture looked quite inadequate in the wake of his finery and it made Korra feel incredibly uncomfortable for some unknown reason.
"Master Katara," he nodded before placing himself leisurely into the spot allotted him. "I seem to have interrupted something important; please, do continue."
"No," Master Katara answered in a steady, pleasant voice. It was apparent that she held some form of esteem for the man, but Korra sensed something beneath the surface that caused a hint of strain in her mentor's usually calm demeanor. "This meeting is adjourned for the time being. We will reconvene to discuss the finer details of the topics discussed at a later date."
"You cannot end things here!" a chorus of men voiced similar disgruntled interjections, each stating and repeating the importance of the continuation of the discussion and- on a subtler note- who was going to take the fall for the obvious tardiness with which all of the counterstrike plans were taking place.
"As one of the oldest members of the Order and the standing Head of Assembly, I reserve my right to call an end to this!" Katara boomed over them all, old men and sprite youths alike. With wounded pride, the room was emptied of the men and women within the secret society until only Katara, Tenzin, Korra, and the latest arrival were remaining. Katara looked over to her son who had an expectant look on his face. "You too, Tenzin."
He was clearly surprised, as was Korra, at the curt dismissal. Knowing better than to argue though, Tenzin bowed his head and headed for the lone exit. His footsteps faded down the hidden passage, blocked out once more by the door so as to afford them some privacy.
Katara stood still for a few moments, her brows together in an expression that Korra had been seeing more and more of lately. The Avatar's eyes trailed back to the hands, neatly placed palms down on the soft wood of the assembly table, of the other person present. She still couldn't muster up the necessary courage to peer into his eyes for fear of the likeness they would hold within them. She had no idea how Katara had found this man, or who he was really, but her hunch was that- though his obvious relation to Kaji was apparent to anyone with eyes- he did not share the same beliefs as the late Fire Princess Azula or the Fire Lord. It was the only explanation of his presence that made sense; Katara would never be foolish enough to let him within sight of the building if he had not proven his trustworthiness completely.
"Korra, this is Kirei of Agni's blood. I promised you answers to the questions you confronted me with in the Southern Water Tribe. He is my answer, along with some of my own narrative. It will not be a complete story, but it is the closest I can give you without actually asking Kaji herself," Katara cupped Korra's hand in her own, pressing it between her flesh and the cool surface of the table. Korra wanted to pull back from the mahogany connecting her with the thin, delicate fingers of the man straight across from them but she refrained from moving. "He is Azula's only son… and Kaji's father."
Korra visibly recoiled. Her back slapped into the chair with more force than she had anticipated, tipping the thing slightly so that it balanced precariously on only two legs before clunking back down to a more secure standing. Kirei showed no signs of offense to her reaction; he stayed quietly on his side of the conference room, observing and waiting for his queue to speak. In the young Avatar's mind, she tried to come to terms with the information she had been presented. Kirei, this man sitting not even a few feet away, was Kaji's father. Random questions flitted through her cerebrum like little buzzing vulture-wasps: Why had Katara allowed him here? Why had Kaji never told her about her father? Why was he not with his daughter in the Fire Nation or wherever Kaji was now? Did he know about them?
Panic set in, quickly overcoming any other emotion in her system. If Master Katara had brought him here to tell her about Kaji, his daughter, then she might have revealed to him the nature of Korra's relationship to the firebender. The thought sent a bizarre numbness through her body, almost like a slow, paralyzing poison swallowing up her ability to run or even think of something to say. She had never really contemplated parental approval as she had not seen her own parents for quite some time and Kaji seemed to have simply materialized out of thin air. In retrospect, Korra wanted to smack herself for not even thinking that Kaji would have had family other than Azula or that, at some point, Korra might have come to meet a member of said family. The entire experience was mortifying at best.
"In order for me to tell the story of my daughter," his voice wafted to her through the vibrating invisible air particles, shaking its way into her auditory nerve with the subtlest of motions, "I must reveal a small part of my own childhood and my mother's peculiar interest in her progeny."
Katara pulled at Korra's arm to lower the girl so that she could quietly whisper a secretive, "I will add upon his words after he is finished, but I must tell you in privacy so be patient a little while longer," then added even more softly, "I have not told him of your affections toward Kaji as I believe it to be your decision."
Kirei, seeing the exchange end, took a centering breath and opened his mouth to convey his enlightening knowledge into the enigma that Kaji presented. Korra stood with baited anticipation, marveling at just how impacted the man seemed. For all of his demure calm only minutes before, he acted as one teetering on the edge of a precipice that had no foreseeable bottom.
"I never really knew my father…"
A young boy ran through the large palace courtyards, streaming behind him was a dragon's head with a body and tail made out of beautiful paper waves of red and orange and gold. The summer wind trickled through the gaping maw of the titanium based creature, creating the illusion of animate flight. The laughter ringing from the boy's equally wide mouth rang throughout the hallways that echoed better than the walls of any cave. Behind him ran a girl, smaller in size though her features betrayed the greater maturity she possessed, similarly excited. Her small voice called after the rambunctious child getting farther and farther away, his tiny legs pumping him on with a vitality that could not be matched.
"Kirei, wait for me. Father told us to play together but you keep on running away! It's not fair," the girl, exhausted and completely frustrated with her inability to catch up to her friend, tiredly whined as she collapsed in the soft grass that reflected the heat of the sun onto her crème flesh.
"Well, it isn't exactly my fault that you're so slow," the boy replied with gusto. He loved it when he was able to outdo his cousin in something. Privately, it held an innocence that only children retained; in sight of his mother, the victories he held over the older girl always marked the appearance of a rare and welcome half-smile of approval. Little Kirei lived for those moments. Lately, however, with the apparent lack of ability to firebend, Azula had been distancing herself further from her child. His little heart had no real idea as to why that was and, though she still told him that she loved him and that he would be a great man one day, the disparity was felt subconsciously.
"Am not," the girl replied, giving herself a quick boost with infant flames of orange and red which quickly turned into an uncontrolled tumble that brought her crashing into his prone form. Kirei hated it when Zuko's daughter used her gift around him as it showed the only advantage she naturally possessed that he had been exempted from.
"That was horrible. You should practice more so you don't end up looking like an idiot in front of anyone important," Kirei snidely remarked. He wanted to feel good when the tears came into her small golden eyes but his stomach clenched and he quickly apologized to the sniffling girl. He cringed at the thought of his mother seeing him asking for forgiveness. Still, they were alone in the glade and he did not have to pretend to be cold toward his best friend and only relative he actually liked being around.
A teenage Kirei paced back and forth across the room. He had been spending most of his years at the Fire Nation Academy for Boys and this was his first week of vacation. Returning to the Fire Capital was both a blessing and a curse to him. He was happy to be afforded the opportunity to see his cousin again and see how she was progressing in the adjacent school; the bad part was suffering through another series of weeks where his mother tried to hide her disappointment of his nonbender status and the fact that she could not train another firebender of prowess who shared her blood. He loved the woman, but sometimes it seemed like his hatred for her irrational need for a blue firebender like herself was about to consume him. He hated not being good enough.
Still, the ship was leaving and he swung the sack of his belongings over his shoulder, preparing to board and face whatever lay in store for him.
"How was your year?" Azula's voice was low and almost laced with exhaustion if Kirei did not know her better. Or maybe it was his extensive knowledge of the Fire Princess that afforded him this little insight under the stoic shell she kept about her at all times.
"Same as any other year mother," he answered. He wanted sorely to ask her what was bothering her, but was conflicted with how she might respond to a perceived show of pity. His concern won out and he added in a hush, "How are you feeling?"
"Tired."
The confession stunned him into speechlessness. Never had the proud Royal admitted to feeling any form of anything that could be thought of as a sign of weakness. Kirei had heard the whispers in the halls and the gossip of the Fire Lady and her maids about the ghosts haunting that mind of his mother. He worried about her lapses into the past where Ozai still reigned over her actions and spurred her into fits of panic or self-deprecation.
"Mother," it was all he said. It was all he had to say. He moved to sit next to her on the small couch that adorned the common room they currently inhabited. Her arms moved to drape around him in a sort of half embrace. It was the most affectionate thing she had given him for quite a while so he made sure to cherish every little press of skin against clothing or slight pressure against his shoulder.
"You are a good son. You probably despise me for all I have put you through. One day… no, it is better for you to not understand and place the blame on me."
Kirei did not know what to make of the cryptic words. His immediate response, elicited by a lifetime of training, was to leave it alone and not question further. It was always simpler that way.
Kirei gazed down at the woman in the bed. He had married young, at least in his opinion, but had grown to love her despite it being a loveless marriage at the onset- arranged by his mother as a marital unification with a powerful new family rising in the southern portion of the island nation. Now, looking upon her, he could sense his heart begin to throb with a renewed vigor.
Her brow was sweaty and the fine strands of charcoal hair clung in little streams of unruly locks across the dampness. Her eyes were closed and her breathing came evenly If not a little haggard. The sheets rustled slightly with the rise and fall of her chest and slightly bulging belly. He placed a hand gently across her cheek, moving it to sweep the rebel little hairs into their proper places, fanning across the gossamer pillows in the pattern of an ornate curtain. In her arms, also fast asleep, was the most magnificent creature he had ever seen. Kirei sat down with an amount of finesse that he had not been aware he was capable of; he held no intentions of waking either his wife or newborn daughter and shattering the perfect nature of the moment. He felt a pang of sadness at the thought that he might never have this again. Quickly it was overcome by the hopefulness of an eager first-time father mulling over the prospects of the future. He had initially wanted a son, bragging about the little admiral he would raise and defeat imaginary armies with. His wife had laughed with her beautiful soprano, little tinkling bells in each exhaled pronunciation of happiness. She had joked with him, admonishing him for his boisterous declarations lest the Spirits choose to bestow a daughter on him instead. At first, he had been a little adverse to the notion, seeing how difficult society could be to those of the opposite sex, but now, looking at the lovely round cheeks so full of life and promise, he could not help but smile.
"She will have your eyes," his face turned to take in the content gaze of his beloved; dark chocolate so that her pupils were hardly discernible in the lack of contrast. "You children of Agni always have the dominant genes that I fear she will retain nothing of me."
"She will have your spirit and that is more than any outside appearance counts for," Kirei leaned over to press a gentle kiss on her forehead. She tasted slightly of salt.
"Our spirits. You give yourself too little credit Kirei."
"Yes, ours."
Kirei stood beside a memorial in the early morning light. The neat writing on the marble face of the stone sticking out of the ground behind the ornate little urn of ash was still hidden in the shade of the dawn. He glanced at the perfect, cloudless sky and it infuriated him. If it had rained, at least he would have felt some semblance of retribution in the form of the elements. He wanted some form of physical representation of his feelings. Grief and anger tore at him as the sky brightened into an array of blues and the birds flew along chirping away as though nothing had changed. And, as far as they knew, nothing had. For Kirei, it was as if the entire world had stopped and come crashing down over his head. The throbbing would not go away, the insomnia clung to his bones and drooped his eyelids in purple half-moons, even the unruliness of his usually pristine hair brought unrestrained irritation to him.
"Kirei," a voice called from somewhere in front of him. He pointedly ignored it and kept his eyes trained on the gravestone as if staring at it would cause it to split in two and erase all of the events that led to its necessity.
"Kirei, you're daughter is crying. She wants her father," the persistence of the person who was calling for him only served to boil his torrid blood. His teeth clenched, the gum of his cheek caught between the crushing molars until he could taste his own blood.
"Ki-"
"I want nothing to do with that thing!" he screamed, his hands moving up to clamp over his ears as his knees buckled and he fell to the ground. "It killed her!"
"Stop being overdramatic," the coolness and apathy were lost on the sniffling wreck that was the Fire Prince. He did not wish to hear the calls of the living; to return to them meant leaving her, the one that he had loved for the past fourteen years. And what had it all been for? It had been ended so swiftly and cruelly by the thing that he had once thought of as a miracle bestowed upon his unworthy life by the benevolent Spirits above.
"I want nothing to do with it. I would trade the life of that abomination if I could get her back. It's all the fault of that… that… monster!"
He knew that the word was a mistake as soon as it left his lips. His eyes lashed up in time to see the blind fury that crossed the metallic eyes of Princess Azula a moment before the blast of fire caught him full force in the chest. Kirei was blown clear across the little patch of grass until he hit the trunk of a nearby tree, leaving a trail of charred and uprooted greenery in his wake.
"You will hold your tongue if such garbage is all that will come from it. It was not the child's intentions for the birth to have had such unforeseeable consequences. Now you will come here and take her in your arms and protect her so that it is not both that you lose," Azula held out the whimpering bundle of cloth and wriggling digits.
Kirei felt a sick feeling in his stomach, nausea rising in his throat until it threatened to spill forth in a torrent of what was left of the meager breakfast he had eaten. Just looking at the parasite that had gained life by taking the one most precious to him, especially with the gravestone sitting just before it, was too much.
"I want nothing to do with it," he reiterated. "Do what you will with it, but do not come near me for I cannot promise its survival in close proximity to me."
With that he stalked away, down the slope covered in miniature rectangle patches reserved for the dead. Behind him he could almost see the disapproval etched on his mother's face, but he could not bring himself to care. His wife had been killed, murdered, and it was all his fault. True, the child had been the cause, but it was made from his seed. It had come from him. He had spawned the vial creature that had stolen his happiness.
Kirei's words faded into stillness. His eyes had drifted shut at some point in the exchange, but Korra could not remember the action taking place. Her own eyes were wider than saucers; a milky glaze had set over them as tears threatened to spill out. Katara's hand was holding her so hard that she was sure imprints would be left in the skin for a while after that afternoon.
"My wife had died only a few days after the birth. Her body had been weakened by the pregnancy and the immune response failed to extinguish the viral infection that took her. I… I knew that it was irrational to place her death on my daughter, but I was still inexperienced in the world even at that age. Everything had gone so right for so long that I had forgotten what despair was and-"
Korra wanted to console the distraught man, her compassionate side craving to alleviate some of the tremendous weight he must have been carrying for all of those years; her physical response, however, was something closer to an animalistic lunge at his throat. Her hands nearly connected too, only stopped by the wall of ice erected spontaneously in between her and Kirei's astounded face. Dark fingertips pressed against the steamy barrier, already melting on the surface in the warm room. She could not have explained where the urge had come from; something dark within her curled up and snarled in frustration and unbridled contempt, seeking to find the face of the man again so she could dig the fingernails now embedded into the sheet of ice into pliable flesh and sinew. Instead, she dug her knees into the table, propelling her fingers further into the ice with the balls of her feet pressed against the sleek wood for support.
"Korra, calm yourself," Katara's voice rang out, violently shaking the Avatar out of her revelry with a violent snap. Her nails left the surface of the latticed water molecules, returning with the rest of her hands to her sides. She stepped back a few feet, ensuring that she had enough room to breathe and regain her control before she rushed the Fire National once the wall was expelled. Katara, apparently not trusting her yet, kept it up as a precaution.
"I- I am so sorry," she forced out. The swirling vortex inside of the shadow growled at the words, telling her in urgent whispers that the man- distorted by the optical illusions caused by the concave and convex rivulets of his shield- deserved everything she gave him. The rational part, gradually reasserting itself in her head, gained her speech cortex and added, "I don't know what came over me."
"It is not your fault. I too realize that it was the first in a series of grievous mistakes I have committed against Kaji," there was a short pause where Kirei's dry sobs were muffled by his ornate sleeve. Then he said the name again as one would say the name of the most fragile flower or the last remaining wonder on the planet. "We did not even name her. My wife was too far gone by that time; she wasn't even coherent enough to hold her, and I… well, by now it is not necessary to mention my reasons."
"Azula," Korra murmured. Kirei's visage nodded, extending his doppelganger's forehead to alien proportions and then bringing it back to its original size.
"She named her after the unbridled flame; the flame of destruction and glory and beauty; the flame that cannot be quelled by anything."
Korra couldn't keep from pulling up the corners of her mouth in a secretive smile at how fitting the name was. Azula had indeed been a visionary as pertaining to the child's future. Thinking of the constant fire raging behind the golden irises and nearly reptilian pupils sent chills down the Avatar's spine; her mental visualization ending as the ice clattered back to the ground with the light tinkling of shattering glass before it liquefied and returned to the hip pouch Katara always carried around with her.
"It was almost eight years since I saw her again," Kirei continued.
Kirei's eyes remained closed and his meditation pose never shifted at the approach of the strangers at the door to the small villa that he had taken up residence in. His status had afforded him quite the small fortune from his mother so he had been able to afford it easily; tucked away in the deep mountains where he could be left in peace, but not too isolated as to make any goods he found necessary unattainable. The small village a mile or so down the hunting trail afforded the perfect marketplace and he had stopped requiring anything past food, water, and the occasional tool to fix some part of the estate a few years ago. The townspeople called him the Wandering Spirit of the Mountain. In a way, they were right; he no longer felt any sort of connection with the living and liked to think of himself as a sort of ghost trapped within a bundle of flesh and bone. The fact that someone had come here was very strange in itself as the rumors usually kept most curious travelers far away.
A sharp rap on the door indicated that whoever his mystery guest was, they were at least polite enough to not simply barge in uninvited. A resounding crash proved his observation wrong and he was forced out of his soothing exercises as the back door was also blown off its hinges and sent skidding over the edge of the cliff that the house was built on. Kirei collected himself, tugging at the plain beige robes tied around his body with a sturdy rope to futilely remove any creases, and turned to look upon the intruder. Smoke was billowing from the opening in the wall where most of his doorway had also been eradicated. The plaster chips flew away on the breeze rushing through the mountain pass just as the ashes did until there was nothing left but the rough wooden skeleton.
"Very good my dear. You are improving at quite the impressive rate; at this rate you will be giving me a run for my money," Kirei cringed at the familiar speaker. He briefly considered making a run for the tree line just a couple of yards away but forgot the notion just as quickly. The last thing he wanted was a forest fire raging beyond containment because he decided not to face his mother and whatever it was she wanted from him.
Instead of the stringent, pale face and peppered hair of the Fire Princess, however, the first person to greet Kirei by stepping out of the smoky veil was a young girl. She was a practical clone of the few pictures Kirei had ever seen of Azula as a young girl, complete with dark locks pulled back in a topknot with her bangs cupping her face and the mischievous dark smirk adorning her smug face. The petite hands were tucked behind the child's back as though she were a general surveying the damage her men had wrought upon a conquered land and she completed the picture with a confident strut that matched that of a trained soldier.
"Kirei, how good it is to see you after all of these years. It seems that you have been able to find a way of bringing shame to my name in a manner beyond even my imagination. You should be proud of yourself as I am not easily left astounded," Azula finally came out of the wreckage of his quaint little house. The crackle of wood was now audible from inside as the flames began to devour everything in their path. Kirei did not really possess anything of importance to him, so his eyes only briefly skirted to the dying building before returning to the elder woman.
"Mother," Kirei nodded in acknowledgement. "I am also surprised at you. I always thought that child arsonists were not really your thing after your personal experiences."
Azula's hard jaw clenched slightly. In her old age, she had begun to let more and more of her emotions show- much to Kirei's advantage. His small moment of victory was short-lived when a blue fireball of considerable size was hurled at his feet, bursting into small torpedoes of flame in every direction. A portion of his attire caught ablaze causing him to hop around like a complete fool, trying to put it out with minimal damage to his bare legs. In the end, he was able to smother it, only to find a gaping hole running up the side of his outer right thigh and a slipper missing- possibly thrown over the ledge along with his door and wall.
"You shouldn't speak to a princess like that. Peasants should know their place," the pipsqueak threatened, her deep voice a bit abnormal for her age and gender. Still, its impact was greatly enhanced by the conjuring of another ball of blue fire above her outstretched palm.
"Kaji, behave yourself. That temper is why you are still having difficulty with your lightening," Azula chastised lightly. The little girl put out the flames and looked down at her feet, a blush of shame spreading across her tiny face. "And besides, this man is far from a regular commoner."
"Yeah kid," Kirei joked. "Learn to lighten up a bit; she is my mother after all."
The child's head snapped up, giving him an appraising look before her large eyes shrank into a half-lidded look of utter disdain and a hint of disappointment. Her head turned to look at her companion and mentor. Sticking a thumb in Kirei's direction she questioned, "Are you sure we came to the right place? He can't be of Agni's blood," then whispered, "He doesn't even look like he has bathed in a decade."
"Hey!" the nonbender cried out. He did not like being insulted by some snobbish brat that his mother had decided to take under her wing, no matter how impressive said brat's firebending was. "I am of royal blood and deserve some respect. And I have bathed within this decade thank you very much."
"Oh, stop your antics Kirei. And as for you Kaji, be respectful to the man. He is your father after all."
The words were like a ton of bricks pushed right into his diaphragm. Father? It was strange to even think of the word. He had nearly forgotten all about the child he had left behind and the life he had forsaken in the wake of the tragedy that had befallen him. Now, looking at the eight-year-old glaring at him, he felt a wave of something bitter push itself up his trachea until it settled into the groove of his larynx. His knees seemed to have lost all semblance of support, succumbing to gravity until the grassy ground broke his descent. His hands were shaking violently as he stretched them out toward the girl who was looking upon him with great confusion. Her thin, perfect eyebrows were high on her light little forehead, crinkling the usually soft brow.
"M-my," he choked on the syllables as though he was being drowned. "Daughter."
The tears came unbidden. His vision of the child blurred until there were only shades of color to represent her body. Control of his arms returned and he quickly brushed away the waterfalls of salt water so that he could reassure himself that she was not a mirage or some specter come for revenge upon him. He cried out in delight at her continued presence, but it was suddenly not enough to simply look upon her anymore. He shuffled on his knees until he was close enough to pull her into a tight embrace. Her back stiffened at the unexpected proximity to him, her mouth drawing into a tight line at the stench of the man enveloping her in his arms. Her tiny arms strained against his chest, warm underneath the thinning fabric of his peasant's clothing. Kaji's childish brain could not really compute why she hated the feeling of the man's crushing embrace, but she knew that if she stayed there, she would not be able to quell the tears and crying was something she had no intention of doing under the scrutiny of this stranger.
"Please get off of me," she said, straining to keep her voice level and calm. She had decided to resort to words once it had become apparent that her strength was not enough to dislodge him and she did not think it prudent to char him with Azula's explicit orders against it.
Kirei's eyes- having been shut tight and streaming his own unhindered tears- snapped open at the muffled protest to his display of affection. His hands slackened from their perch around his biceps. It marveled him how big his daughter was and yet how she could still be cradled in his arms with the same ease as when she had been a babe. Not that he had coddled her. The pang of guilt hit his heart; there was no worse feeling in the entire spectrum of human emotion. Kirei pulled away, defeated, gazing longingly at the child he had discarded so long ago. His mistake was barren and bleeding with each heartbeat, but he could not take back the decisions of his youth any more than he could fill the empty years away from the fragile, beautiful girl in front of him with the fatherly love she had deserved and never gotten.
"I-" he could barely speak. "I am so sorry."
Kaji had seen many people bow to the floor before the presence of Princess Azula in the past- and herself by default since she rarely had left the older woman's side. Therefore, it was peculiar that, when this man fell to the floor groveling before her feet, she felt that there was something inherently wrong about it. Her hand instinctively reached out to touch his shaking shoulder, stopping short when she realized what it was that she was doing. Azula would have expected absolute control of one's emotions and consoling the wretch below her was going against all she had been taught. Still, Kaji had never been faced with a member of her immediate family before- except for the Fire Princess who had never shown any sort of sadness except for when she thought Kaji wasn't looking. The unprecedented situation caused Kaji to freeze, hand still outstretched into the void between her body and the body of the man who had created her.
"Please, please, please," it was a mantra that Kirei's lips kept formulating and his breath kept carrying outward to her ears. Kirei did not know whether the others heard, his own mind too loud to take in anything exterior, hoping only that Kaji's answer would be anything but a 'no.'
"Get off of the ground, Kirei," Azula's usual disapproving tone filtered in among the haze. For a moment, the nonbender felt the petulance of a small child, felt the urge to throw a tantrum, felt the need to blame her for all of his follies. He wanted to scream at her, to tell her that she should have been a better mother so that he would have been a good father- hell, a father at all would have been more than he had become. But he did not; he stayed with his face buried in the tufts of grass and earthen dust until a small voice called to him.
"Please get up."
Kirei's head arched into his back, his spine struggling with the strain of supporting his head until his arms moved in a position that better allowed for more support of his upper body. Kaji's eyes relayed her surprise in the fact that she had spoken. The reddening of her cheeks again showed her utter embarrassment and she turned away from both adults to compose herself. Kirei couldn't hold in the horrible, wonderful desire to take her into his arms again, to show her that he was here now and, though it would not- could not- make up for everything, it was a start. He started forward, clumsy and rushed, to attain the proximity he so wished for. She was so close… and then she wasn't. Kaji had seen Kirei's advance from the corner of her golden eye, and so, had chosen to move away from him with as much haste as she could afford without seeming frightened. By the hammering of her heart against her ribcage, she was inclined to believe that fear was a very possible description to her present state of mind.
"D-don't," she hated the shakiness in her voice as she said it.
Kirei ceased all movement. He did not even breathe, overreacting to Kaji's command by stopping in all that he was doing. His mind worked against him, pulling into itself as the oxygen supply shortened and small black fuzz appeared in the periphery of his vision. "Don't." It was the smallest little thing and it was the death of him.
"I hate having to break up this… joyous reunion," Azula cut in, much to Kaji's relief and Kirei's dismay, "but we came here with a purpose in mind. Did you forget already, my child?"
Kaji shook her head vigorously, feeling as though she had been slapped across the face. She never forgot the objectives Azula gave her. They were her treasures, each one that had been completed stashed away in the recesses of her heart, providing the warm glow of success, and those she had yet to complete burning tiny holes in the pit of her stomach in anticipation for their eventual fulfillment.
"Good. Well then, tell your father what you wish to say."
Kirei glared at the woman standing and watching his deterioration, despising how her lips held the slight upturn of her signature smirk. Whatever she wanted, he was loath to give it to her and she knew it. That was why he had ignored all of the letters, burning them in their sealed envelopes, and run as far as his legs and money had taken him. But she held the trump card, his daughter, and he could not deny the child anything now that she was finally back within reach. She had taken so much of her phenotype from his dominant blood, but he still felt her mother's essence somewhere deep inside. It might have just been fanciful thinking, but it was a bind stronger than steel.
"Will you come back with us?" Kaji's voice squeaked a bit as she tried to hide her shyness with feigned strength and surety.
Kirei was backed into a corner. He did not want to go and become another pawn for Azula to play with as only she knew how, but now that he had seen his child with his own two eyes, he knew that he could not leave her.
"Yes," his head hung in defeat. "I will come."
As they walked down the decrepit trail leading away from Kirei's home for more years than he wanted to count, he tried to forget the feelings of loss and grief that rained down on him. Kaji had run on ahead as children her age were wont to do, giddily chasing after the bugs and lizards that had the unfortunate fate to cross her path. Kirei took the opportunity to grab a hold of his mother's forearm and pull her back from her leisurely stride. Azula looked back at him with a raised eyebrow.
"What are you playing at?" Kirei growled. "What are you going to do with me? With her?"
"Calm yourself Kirei," Azula brushed off his hand as though it were nothing, moving against his thumb with a jolting pull so that her wrist easily broke out of his hold. "The girl needs to know her father. It is only healthy… and I was done waiting for you to come crawling out of the hole you dug for yourself."
"You still haven't answered my questions."
"I plan on making her the strongest firebender the world has ever seen. And you were the only hindrance she had in that respect. She needed to know you existed and what kind of a man you were… are."
"I don't believe you."
She chuckled and turned away from him, continuing to make her way down to slope. Her voice called behind her, reaching his ears but not having the volume to reach Kaji's, saying, "You don't have to. You just have to stay close to her."
Kirei stopped talking again. Korra and Katara waited with baited breath, both aware of the other's increased heartbeat through their entwined hands. Korra wanted to urge the man on, to have him reveal more of his story so that the shadows surrounding Kaji's childhood were lifted, but she held her tongue and waited for him to find his next train of thought. It did not take long; Kirei sank further into his chair, his weight seemingly more than his back could support any longer.
"It was not until a while after that meeting that I began to realize that my good intentions would not be enough to save my daughter from the destiny her grandmother had set before her. Kaji… she always held the potential to do great things, but her definition was always polar to mine and we drifted against each other. I finally began to understand Azula's purpose in having my presence there. I was to be Kaji's final test; if she chose me over Azula, then she would have failed in her objective, but if she chose my mother… then Azula had the perfect, loyal soldier who would stop at nothing to complete the task set forth by her master."
His fist hit the table with a bang that caused Korra, already tensed, to jump slightly out of the chair under her. Kirei's voice was laced with anger and something akin to guilt, though it was more of a guilt displayed by a bystander than an actual participant in the unwinding of Kaji's gradual descent into her family's power ploy.
"She created the monster inside of Kaji. She instilled the need to be powerful and flawless, but it was I who let it happen. I was too late and by the time that I became a part of Kaji's life, she had already begun to think of Azula as her God. What was I in the wake of her savior and caregiver for all of the years that I had been gone? Nothing. I created Kaji's inner monster. It was me."
Despite Kirei's best efforts to reign in his daughter's destructive temperaments and her relative lack of sympathy for anything, he was resigned to watch Kaji ignore his lessons and become the incarnation of Azula. The fourteen-year-old had finished most of her schooling, set on graduating top of her class from the Academy for Girls three years ahead of those in her age group. He was overwhelmingly proud of her, but Kirei couldn't hide the pang of sadness he felt when he saw that Kaji had made no friends and treated the girls who followed her around as nothing but servants. She espoused no interest in morals and spent most of her afternoons with her grandmother training, or pointedly ignoring anything he said.
On the particular afternoon, he had expertly executed an ambush tactic upon his mother, determined to confront her on Kaji's lack of discipline in her pyrotechnic tendencies. He had received a letter from the school a few days prior- just before the start of the holidays- that his daughter was being held in questioning over the burning of a 'social rival's' clothing and luggage. The poor girl had had nothing left of her possessions, to the point of being forced into borrowing undergarments from the charity reserve.
"Did you hear what she did?" he asked, his temper flaring at the questioning look he was given in return. "She burned EVERYTHING! That girl's parents are calling for her expulsion."
"As I recall, son," the word was said with such sarcasm that Kirei was taken aback. "She was only suspected of the arson. And I am sure that Kaji is more than qualified to get herself out of trouble."
"That is not the point!" Kirei tried again. "She is guilty and it is because you do not teach her any sort of ethics and she denounces the ones I try to instill in her… because of YOU."
"I am teaching her how the world works: that she can get away with anything as long as she has a reliable scapegoat and a clever, quick-witted mind."
"That is not the sort of thing I want Kaji reflecting," Kirei retorted. "I want her to become a person who will create a better world."
"She will create a better world," Azula's eyes had darkened dangerously. A hidden spark stirred in their darkened golden depths, almost amber, hiding the wells of whatever emotion was lurking just beneath the surface. "I have ensured it."
"She has to be taught to be a good person, not a good soldier, mother."
"What if I don't want to be a good person?" the new voice broke Kirei out of his tirade. He turned to see Kaji leaning against one of the columns that adorned the particular passageway within the Royal Palace. "What if I want to be something more."
Kirei gave a heavy sigh before turning to face the subject of his previous discussion, "You can be whatever it is you want to be, Kaji. But you have to be kind and think of others as well as yourself."
"Why?" she moved off of the stone to come and stand before him, the defiance in her eyes shown brilliantly in the afternoon glaze. "They don't care about me so why should I care about them. In the pursuit of my own goals and happiness, what do the dreams of anyone else matter at all?"
Kirei hesitated in replying. The paradox of being considerate and keeping true to your own desires was a complicated subject and he wanted to answer Kaji honestly. "You have to do what is right for you… but you cannot do anything that will cause harm to another. It is wrong to take away another's right to his or her own future."
"Oh, like you haven't done that before," Kaji snapped. "You decided to just up and leave without a thought as to what it would do to me because you were selfish. And I didn't blame you for it because I knew that it was human nature to run away from any form of pain and danger, but if you're going to be all high and mighty and tell me that I'm wrong, then I have an issue with that."
"Kaji-"
"No, you don't get to tell me what to do. You called me a monster when I wasn't even a month old. Well, soon you will see just how much of a monster I can be," her feet carried her away from Kirei's stupefied form, leaving him to stare at her retreating for, followed by the triumphant form of his mother, with his mouth hanging open.
"Azula died a few months after that. It was sudden and unexpected and I think that, over anything else, it broke Kaji to such a degree that she became irreparable. Without her grandmother's influence, I thought I would be able to finally get through to her, but I was wrong. She left the Fire Nation in search of a way to complete her last task, set upon her by Azula, and I lost track of her. She was like a ghost… even rumor did not follow her," Kirei finished. "I returned to my isolation, more lost than I was the first time. It was only after your letter reached me, Master Katara, that I heard of her. I can't believe I repeated the same mistake twice."
Kirei quieted. His eyes bore into the desk before him. His lips moved and Korra could only read the unspoken words on them, "My fault."
She wanted to say that it was not, but he did bear much of the responsibility. Nearly as much as Azula did. She hated his words; calling Kaji a monster when that was only a convenient mirage he had erected to hide the fact that she was a person who had been ruined by him. It was unfair to call her anything worse than human in her actions; she was only striving to fulfill the debt she felt she owed Azula for caring for her when no one else would.
"I know it is a lot to take in Korra," Master Katara whispered in her ear. "But there is still my tale to tell and I believe it will not be prudent to keep it from you any longer."
Louder she said to Kirei, "Your chambers have been set up in the upper floors of the building. You can ask my son for instructions to them. I apologize for dismissing you after all you have shared with us, but my pupil and I have one more topic to discuss and I require privacy."
"Of course," Kirei stood and made his way to the door as would a specter. His hand on the already twisted knob, he turned toward them once more, eyes imploringly searching to meet with the Avatar's. "I know it is unfair of me to ask this of you, but please stop her. I know that she is my daughter and it is I, as much as Azula, who made her into the… person… that she is, but I have never had the power to nullify her destruction. I am completely loyal to you and the White Lotus and will aid you in all ways I can to take her down, even if it means the loss of her life or my own."
The words sank into Korra's brain with the slowness of honey, though not nearly as sweet. She gasped softly at how easily Kirei spoke of Kaji's death, as though her fate was already sealed with no alternative. Korra could not remember the last time she had felt the same amount of pity and hatred toward someone; her eyes bore into the back of the disappearing Fire National as if she could instill the guilt he should have felt in making such a statement. Had it not been for Katara's hand holding her back, Korra might have bolted from her seat and gone after him, ready to slam him into the nearest wall and demand to know how he could speak of his child's demise with such cool complacency.
"Korra," Katara's voice reached her in the depths of her turbulent inner fires- Korra had never felt more like a firebender than at that moment. "It is time that I unveil my own part in this fiasco. I must ask you to listen and refrain from any judgment until the end. I know it will come as a shock, and most certainly it will hurt you, but please remember that I am as much a flawed human being as the rest of them."
Korra pushed away her previous bitterness to clear her head in anticipation for her master's words. Whatever it was that she was about to be told, it had been a well-guarded secret for more years than she had been alive; and if it had such a profound effect on the strongest person she knew, then it must have been of a very heavy impact. So she steeled her nerves and braced for the blow.
P.S: Longer right. Well, I will not keep you lovely people any longer. Except for a small advertisement: See that little button below that says "Review"? Click it and write me something. It can be anything: long, short, nonsense, complete sense, flames, clouds, unicorns, whatever! Just write something and I will respond with gratitude and maybe a new chapter soon. Reviews do divert my mind from AP classes to fanfiction, despite my trend... I PROMISE! So click that button and let me know what you think. Sorry for any spelling/grammar mistakes, daylight saving is kicking my ass.