XXI: Of Cats and Rats
After a happy reunion between father and daughter, the team just settled down around a campfire and they managed to find enough food to fix up a fish stew. Sokka and Zuko explained why they were dining with an escaped convict, Chit Sang, and no one really bothered to ask why he was in prison to begin with.
"So, what's everyone's plan for after the war?" Teo asked.
"How about you first?" Katara replied.
"Well, I hope to get back with my dad and continue on with his tinkering. The Fire Nation colonies show some promise for a trade like that." Teo replied.
"Yeah, I hear that the oldest colonies are among the richest cities in the world." Zuko added.
"I just hope to go back home with my father. My mother must be living in constant worry right now, fearing that we might not come back home. My father's a respected man, so we should easily be able to go home and improve our city. I may even start looking for a girlfriend." Haru spoke.
"I don't know where I'm going to go… maybe one of these days I'll find Jet and the rest of the Freedom Fighters." The Duke said. Team Avatar exchanged glances, and with a deep sigh, Zuko told him: "The Duke, Jet got into a fight with a Firebender, and he didn't make it. I'm sorry Duke, but he's gone… At least until the end, he was fighting for what he believed in."
The Duke's eyes welled up with tears until he asked: "Then, where am I to go?"
"Hey, if you have no one to take you in, then perhaps my family will." Haru told him.
"Really?" The Duke asked.
"Perhaps, we're not going to just abandon you until we know that you're going to be in a good place." Haru replied.
"Toph, what do you think you'll do after the war?" Teo asked.
"Hmm, well, if Aang doesn't need me as his Earthbending teacher anymore, then I think I might start up my own Metalbending academy. Perhaps I should reconcile with my parents too, but so long as they can accept me for who I am."
"I'll have to return to the South Pole. I hear that the Northern Water Tribe's been helping to restore our home, or something like that. I should be there overseeing how things are going." Hakoda stated.
"I just want a clean slate." Chit Sang replied.
"As for me, I'm just going to have to find out where I'll be needed next." Aang stated.
"We'll be right by your side the whole way, Aang." Katara told him.
"I'm sure to need some support when we discuss the Fire Nation Colonies with the Earth Kingdom." Zuko stated.
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Azula was on her knees before her father's throne, Fire Lord Ozai glared down upon her.
"First, I receive word that your traitorous brother had gotten himself locked up in the Boiling Rock; second, I send you and your friends off to fetch him for me; third, you not only let Zuko escape, but you've also lost your zeppelin to him, and your team ended up in the prison themselves! Finally, you come back here empty-handed! This is my greatest disappointment in you, Azula, but since you were the one who took Ba Sing Se for the Fire Nation, I am willing to hear you out."
"I failed because Mai was blinded by her love for Zuko and betrayed me to help him escape! She prevented the prison guards from cutting the line so his gondola would fall. Not only that, but his cohorts put up a fight themselves. I couldn't capture them in time. Before I had to leave the gondola, because the guards were trying to cut the line, Zuko and I locked eyes for just a second, but there's now something about Zuko that I believe could be a threat… During that second, I saw his eyes glowing, just like the Avatar's in the Avatar State, only his glowed gold!"
"Azula, really? Zuko, an Avatar? This is not the time for jokes!"
"Father, I assure you that I'm telling you the truth! I know what I saw was impossible, especially since we're talking about Zuko, but there's definitely something different about him. Something that makes him both powerful and dangerous."
"Azula, if what you say is true, you must find Zuko and you must get him out of our way, kill him, capture him, get him on the run, just so that he doesn't interfere!" Ozai snarled. He sent her off and left to check on the preparations for Sozin's comet.
As Azula passed through a hallway, she heard a voice: "Azula, I beg you, don't do this. This isn't the right path for you."
Azula turned to face a mirror, looking back at her, behind her reflection, she saw her mother for a brief moment before the figure vanished away.
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The cliffs shook as Fire Nation visitors fired upon the Western Air Temple!
"What are you doing here, Azula?" Zuko called out.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm about to celebrate becoming an only child!" She declared. She and Zuko engaged in a fight, and as they turned the tables on each other, it gave time for the group to run off. Team Avatar stayed together, but Hakoda, Chit Sang, Teo, The Duke, and Haru had split off together, at least Katara and Sokka had a moment to say goodbye.
Team Avatar mounted up on Appa, and Toph formed a helmet around the bison's head and they took flight, they passed the Firebenders and after an explosion, they found Zuko falling and caught him. They looked back to see that Azula had, apparently, no way to catch herself.
"She's not going to make it." Zuko spoke, but Azula rocketed herself over to the cliff and caught herself safely.
"Of course." Zuko muttered and they flew off towards a safe haven.
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"Ah, camping, it really feels like old times." Aang stated.
"If you really want it to feel like old times, I could chase you around and try to capture you." Zuko stated. The circle around the campfire had a round of laughter, but Katara was abnormally quiet. Sokka looked over to her and saw that she was clutching at her necklace.
"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked her.
"It's just that it's the anniversary of the attack." She replied.
"Oh, when mom…" Sokka started, and Katara nodded in confirmation.
"Not the best time for villain jokes, is it?" Zuko questioned.
"It's been six years now since that attack." Katara spoke.
Zuko sat back and thought for a moment and then told her: "If you'd care to share anything about the ships or uniforms of the men that raided your village, I might be able to find the man who took her away from you."
Katara and Sokka looked up.
"Wait, wait a minute, if you know how to find the man who killed their mother, what would you do then? If you go down this path would it be in the pursuit of revenge?" Aang asked.
"Aang, this is something that Katara needs: closure, maybe even justice. It will help her to move on with her life." Zuko stated. He looked to Sokka and Katara and awaited their answers, and Sokka spoke: "The lead ship had sea ravens on their flags, that's what I remember most. I didn't have much time to get a good look at them. They left as quickly as they as they arrived."
"Sea ravens, that's the sign of the Southern Raiders."
"Would you know how to find them?" Katara asked. Zuko nodded, and Katara added: "Then I'm ready to go off and find them as soon as you are. Aang, do you have any objections of confronting the man who killed my mother?"
Aang sighed and told them: "If this is something you need, Katara, then you may take Appa. Just promise me that you won't resort to extreme measures unless you absolutely have to, and don't pursue revenge, it isn't the answer."
"Then what is the right answer?" Zuko asked.
"Forgiveness," Aang replied.
"Aang, this is something that would be nearly impossible to forgive." Zuko spoke.
"Do whatever you need, Katara, but please don't corrupt yourself with vengeance!" Aang pleaded.
"I promise." Katara replied. She and Zuko got their supplies together and took off.
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After infiltrating a communications tower, they found the position of the Southern Raiders and sought out the ship. They arrived and just took the crew and pushed them out of the way as they made their way to the captain's position.
Katara broke down the door with her Waterbending and once Zuko had the captain distracted, Katara drew power from the moon, and bent the captain's blood!
"What's happening to me?" The captain asked as his body contorted as Katara bent him to get down to his knees. She was so angry that she didn't realize that he wasn't the man that they were looking for until she looked into his eyes, but he did prove to have some use, for he gave up the name and location of Yon Rha, their retired captain. Katara freed the captain from her grip and they stormed off the ship.
"Katara, what was that back there?" Zuko asked as they flew off into the night.
"Bloodbending." Katara said flatly.
"Sokka mentioned that to me in his letters. I didn't think that you'd use it after what happened when you learned that… At the same time, it looks like it's really useful in a dire situation."
"At the same time, it hurts people." Katara replied.'
"You know, your mother sounds like she was a brave woman, and it's obvious that you'll do anything to avenge her."
"We'll see about vengeance, but I want to keep my promise to Aang." Katara replied.
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Indeed they found Yon Rha as he was walking home from the market to bring some food back to his mother, an awful lady who treated him more like a horse-ostrich than a person, not that he deserved to be treated any better, for Katara confirmed that he was the man that killed her mother.
In the rain, they stalked him down the road until Yon Ra, sensed that he was being followed and threw a fireball at a bush, only to turn and trip over a wire allowing Zuko and Katara to jump him a moment later. Zuko held Yon Rha down and warned him against Firebending again.
"Take my money! Take whatever you want! I'll cooperate!" Yon Rha pleaded, believing the masked teens to be robbers. Katara stepped into his view and showed him her face.
"Do you know who I am?" Katara asked him with a glare.
"No." Yon Rha replied quietly. However with one threat, Katara made him take a closer look, and he recognized her as 'the little Water Tribe girl': "Now I remember, your mother was your tribe's last Waterbender." Then a shock of realization sparked in his eyes and he gulped.
"She lied to you, she was protecting the last Waterbender."
"What? Who?"
"ME!" Katara roared and she bent the rain surrounding them, forming a bubble, and then she brought it down in shards of ice, like spears, but they never pierced Yon Rha. Instead she let them collapse into water again, drenching her target.
Yon Rha was on his knees, pleading with Katara to spare him, and even resorted to offering up his mother for her to kill to make things even. However Katara just up and told him that he was an empty, pathetic, and sad waste, not even worth her time to even give him a scar to remind him of the crime he committed. So they left.
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Katara returned to Aang and told him that she didn't exact revenge on him, but she did confront him, but didn't forgive him. Rather, she got closure and saw that he was leading a miserable life.
"Well, Katara, I'm proud of you for not choosing vengeance. Perhaps just confrontation is enough. So did you get anything else out of your journey?" Aang replied.
"I can forgive Zuko, completely for his actions in the earlier parts of our journey, and for other matters that happened in Ba Sing Se… We did miss you while you were back in the Fire Nation." Katara spoke. She hugged him for a moment, and they sat down at a campfire.
"So, where do you think we should go next?" Sokka asked.
"I know of a place where no one would think to find us." Zuko stated as he sat down next to Sokka.
"Alright, where will that be?" Sokka asked.
"My family's summer home on Ember Island. No one's really been there since my family was actually a happy one. There'll be bedrooms for all and Ember Island has a great marketplace. Also no one in their right mind would think that we'd go to a house owned by the Fire Lord!" Zuko told them.
"Hey, I'm in." Suki chimed in.
"Alright, Zuko, it looks like we've got a destination in mind then!" Sokka stated, and so they settled in for the night and when the dawn rose, they headed for Ember Island!
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I'm so sorry that I didn't include the scene where Zuko walks in Sokka's tent when he was expecting Suki! Well hopefully you enjoyed that!
AUTHOR'S QUESTION: What are your opinions about Azula?
Please review.
