XXIII: Dreaming Phoenix Lotus
Read closely, my friends.
Zuko walked on a volcanic island when he met up with a beautiful, white, kite-shaped spirit with blue markings that looked like an owl, and standing next to the spirit was a dragon that looked as if it was made out of pure gold with scales that emitted the golden light that shone in Zuko's eyes when he was in the Dragon State.
"Who are you?" Zuko asked.
"I am Raava, the Light Spirit."
"I am her son, Lux."
"Lux, I remember you, you where there when I opened my thought chakra!" Zuko declared.
"Yes, that was the moment that I've finally awakened."
"Forgive me, but why are we here? Is this a dream, or are we actually meeting?" Zuko asked.
"We are speaking to you, Prince Zuko, but you are dreaming. I came to tell you that something had called to me, something that has not been seen in a long time. When you wake up you will not be able to find the Avatar, but you must not be afraid, for we are safe. Instead, you must find the White Lotus, and you will receive a key to your destiny." Raava told him, and then she began to fade from sight.
'Wait, Raava! I have more questions! Who else holds one of your children?" Zuko called out, but she was gone before she could answer, and so Zuko turned to Lux and the dragon of light spoke: "You do not have to fear your sister, Azula, but we should be concerned for my sister, Kaimana."
"Who's Kaimana?" Zuko asked.
"She sleeps, but look behind you." Lux told him. Zuko turned and saw nothing more than the ocean and a horizon. When Zuko turned back to Lux, he found that the dragon had vanished.
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Azula sat on her throne, surrounded by her blue flames. A black dragon sat behind her. The room was empty, save for a figure that came in through the doors in front of her.
"What are you doing, disturbing the Fire Lord?" Azula asked. The figure stepped into the light, and she saw that it was her mother.
"So, you're back… WHY?" Azula demanded. The dragon behind her snarled.
"I didn't want to miss out on my child inheriting the throne."
"Hmm, and you've come to congratulate me, mother?" Azula questioned.
"I was hoping to see a you surrounded with loyal, happy, subjects. You're sick and alone Azula, and you've closed yourself off from your friends."
"What choice did I have!? Mai and Ty Lee were traitors!"
"Azula, my child, you're hurt, and your pain is making you ill. The further down this path you go, the sicker you'll get. Azula, this isn't your destiny, please some with me."
Azula got up from her throne and stepped towards her mother, she locked eyes with her, and she spoke: "I'LL decide what my destiny is! The throne is mine! Father's stepped up to be something greater, Zuko is a wanted traitor, and Uncle Iroh's being held in prison for his treachery! I must be the Fire Lord, and I'll not have YOU stand in my way! You think me a monster, you always have, now get out of my sight!"
The black dragon moved from its spot behind the throne and curled its body around the two women, and looked down at them with a low growl rumbling in the back of it's throat.
"Azula, one day your quest for power and control will consume you! Please, I love you, so turn away from this path!" Her mother pleaded.
"YOU fear MY power! One day, perhaps it will consume YOU!" Azula shouted.
Finally, the black dragon screeched, and both mother and daughter looked up and saw it's eyes glowing gold before they locked on Azula and it struck at her with its open jaws!
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Katara was back in her village, and as she entered her family's hut, she was welcomed with the joyous sight of her mother cooking chicken-fish stew! She didn't wait to meet her mother's eyes, she just lunged for her and clung to her in a mad embrace!
"Mom, I've missed you!"
"I've missed you too, my proud Waterbender."
"Y-You were gone…you are gone! Oh mother, I'm so sorry! I've met the man who took you from us, but I just couldn't avenge you."
"Katara, my dear child. I am so proud of you. I've had a hard time resting, for fear that you might go on a quest for revenge, but now I am finally at peace, I really am! You've grown so strong, Katara, you're sure to become one of the most remarkable Waterbenders of your generation, I'm sure of it."
"I've learned so much about my heritage, and Waterbending, not all of it was good though."
"Katara, without the bad things in life, how can we appreciate the good? You must appreciate both your heritage and Waterbending in their entirety. Believe me, you are strong, but holding on to me and denying your full knowledge of Waterbending is keeping you from realizing your full potential."
"What are you saying, mother?"
"Katara, take these beads, and you will learn."
Katara held a necklace of carved beads there were fourteen large beads in a pattern, one letter, and then one symbol: K * A * I * M * A * N * A *. The symbols reminded Katara of Aang's teaching of the opening of chakra's, she had a hard time letting her mother go, and she was terrified of some of the images she saw when she opened up her thought chakra. She looked back to her mother, and she pointed at a small pool of water in the hut, it was in a beautiful circle, and her mother spoke: "I filled it with the water of the ocean. Isn't it beautiful?"
"Yes it is… I need to get going, but can we have some of that stew first? I'll tell you all about my adventures with the Avatar!" Katara told her.
"Of course, my dear, and I would love to hear your stories."
So, as they ate, they spent the day together as Katara told her stories.
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"Aang, AANG!"
Zuko woke up to hear Katara crying out the Avatar's name, he found her and she asked him: "Have you seen Aang anywhere?"
"No, but I do know that he's no longer on this island."
"How do you know?" Katara asked, by this point, Sokka, Toph, and Suki had gathered around.
"I had a dream last night, and through that dream I managed to meet two spirits: Raava and Lux…" Zuko spoke.
"Wait, isn't Raava the spirit within Aang?" Toph asked.
"Yes, and…"
"So who's this 'Lux'?" Sokka asked.
"I was about to answer when you interrupted me!" Zuko snapped, he took a deep breath and continued: "Lux is my Dragon State spirit, the son of Raava."
"Okay, and did they tell you anything else?" Sokka asked.
"Yes, first off, they told me that I didn't have to fear Azula, it appears that she doesn't have a child of Raava; Raava also told me that something called to her, something that hasn't been seen in a long time, and so when I woke up, I'd be unable to find the Avatar, and so we should find the White Lotus to get a key to our destiny… that last bit was a bit of a riddle for me. However, at the end of my dream, Lux told me that I had to worry about one thing, he told me of a spirit named 'Kaimana', told me to look behind my back, but all I saw was a sky and ocean."
Katara's eyes lit up and she was about to speak, but then Sokka asked them: "What do we know about white lotuses? Are there any that grow on the island? Are there any magic flowers?"
"Sokka, I don't believe that the lotus is an actual lotus. Are you familiar with the game, Pai Sho? There's a tile of the white lotus, and I've heard rumors of it being a part of a code or something of that sort." Suki stated.
"Well, I'm not too familiar with the game myself, but from what I've heard, Zuko's uncle is an avid player." Toph spoke.
"Zuko, do you know where your uncle is?" Sokka asked.
"No, I'm not sure… but I think I know a way to find him. Is Appa still here?" He replied.
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Aang woke up and found that he was on an uninhabited island covered with a lush forest, the only one there was Momo, and the lemur perched on his shoulder as he wandered the island.
He happened upon a hexagon as he made it to the peak, he tried to bend it, but it wasn't made of earth, he bent the air and figured that he wasn't in the Spirit World, and so he decided to meditate to see if any of his past lives could help him figure out where he was and what he should do when he faces the Fire Lord.
Well, Avatar Roku had no idea where he was, and his advice was that he had to be decisive when Aang faced Ozai. He stated that if had to do things over again, he would've killed Sozin, his former friend. Avatar Kiyoshi proved to be of little help too. She told Aang that she saw no difference between murdering a man, and a man being too stubborn to back away when a cliff was crumbling, and he ended up falling to his doom.
After talking to more Avatars, Aang lowered his head, believing that he really didn't have a choice to do anything other than killing Ozai.
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Ozai rode his palanquin to a grand set of stairs, and stepped out onto a stage, as Azula urged her palanquin bearers to move faster.
"I'm sorry I'm late, father, good palanquin bearers are so hard to come by. So, is everything ready for our departure?" Azula asked.
"There has been a change of plans, Azula."
"What?" She asked, snapping her head to face her father, her eyes wide with shock as her father continued to explain: "I've decided to lead the fleet of airships to Ba Sing Se alone. You will remain here in the Fire Nation."
"But I thought we were going to do this together."
"My decision is final." Ozai replied.
"You... you can't treat me like this. You can't treat me like Zuko!" Azula whined like a spoilt child.
"Azula, silence yourself." Ozai ordered, frowning slightly.
"But it was my idea to burn everything to the ground! I deserve to be by your side!"
"Azula!" Ozai snapped, she still wanted to fight, but this time she lowered her head obediently as her father continued: "Listen to me. I need you here to watch over the homeland, it's a very important job that I can only entrust to you."
"Really?" Azula asked, looking up in disbelief.
"And for your loyalty, I've decided to declare you the new Fire Lord."
"Fire Lord Azula? It does seem appropriate. But, what about you?" Azula asked, her mind racing in delight of the prospect of being the Fire Lord.
"Fire Lord Ozai is no more. Just as the world will be reborn in fire, I shall be reborn as the supreme ruler of the World. From this moment on, I will be known as... Phoenix King!" Ozai declared as her servants placed shoulder guards and a ceremonial helmet on him.
A large, maroon phoenix motif banner rose up from behind him. The Fire Nation guard held up pennants of an identical motif, and let their fire burn through two columns and shoot out through spouts to resemble phoenix wings.
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Zuko led them to meet up with the bounty hunter named June, met earlier in their travels. She used her pet shirshu, Nyla, and presented himself to her along with a pouch of gold.
"Alright, I can help you, do you have anything with your uncle's scent on it?" June asked after she counted the gold. Zuko pulled out one of Iroh's old sandals. It stunk, but thanks to Nyla, she caught a scent and began to follow its trail, and the team followed them on Appa.
They've spent over a full day in pursuit of Iroh's scent until the shirshu led them to the face of a cliff not too far away from Ba Sing Se, Iroh was apparently somewhere at the top. So at the base of the cliff they decided to set up camp for the night and approach Iroh in the daytime.
At a late hour, their camp was ambushed! Toph sensed their vibrations before the intruders' initial attack, but was unable to do anything before the intruders' surrounded them with a ring of fire. Everyone woke up and were taken aback to see some friendly faces! There was Master Piandao, Sokka and Zuko's swordmaster; there was Jeong Jeong, Aang's first Firebending teacher, and King Bumi.
"Well look who's here!" King Bumi declared and then he chortled and snorted.
Jeong Jeong dissipated the flames as the old masters went down to greet them.
"What's going on? We're surrounded by old people!" Toph declared.
"They're not just any old people. They're great masters and friends of ours; Master Pakku!" Katara replied and she bowed to her Waterbending instructor.
"It is respectful to bow to an old master, but how about a hug for your new grandfather?"
Sokka and Katara's eyes lit up in realization that Master Pakku and their Gran-gran had reconciled, Pakku even told them that he carved their grandmother a new betrothal necklace and everything.
"Welcome to the family Gramp-gramp!"
"You can still call me Pakku." He told Sokka.
"How about: Grand-Pakku?" Sokka suggested.
"No."
Katara proceeded to introduce Jeong Jeong, to whom Zuko bowed to, and Sokka bowed to Master Piandao.
"So how do you all know each other?" Suki asked.
"All old people know each other, don't you know that?" Bumi replied with a chuckle. Then Master Piandao explained to them that they were all a part of a secret society, older than the four nations… The White Lotus.
"The White Lotus has always been about philosophy, and beauty and truth. About a month ago, a call went out that we were needed for something important." Jeong Jeong added.
"It came from a Grand Lotus, your Uncle, Iroh of the Fire Nation." Paku stated, pointing to a proud Zuko.
"That's who we're here for!" Toph declared.
"Then, we'll take you to him." Master Piandao told them.
"Wait, there's someone missing from your group! Where's Momo?" Bumi asked as he got in Sokka's face.
"We don't know where he is, or Aang for that matter." Sokka replied.
"Well so long as they have each other, I'm sure that we will have nothing to worry about." Bumi replied, and the White Lotus escorted them to their camp. Bumi launched himself back to the camp by shooting himself over the cliff by Earthbending a column.
On the journey to the camp, Sokka asked King Bumi how he managed to escape his imprisonment back in Omashu.
"Escape? I didn't escape; everyone else escaped! There I was waiting for the right moment to strike! I didn't know how or when, but I knew that I would know it when I knew it! Then, I saw the eclipse! That did the trick, as I knew it would take away the Firebenders' power! Using my face, I brought up rocks to bust my way out of that metal box and I took back my kingdom all by myself! I pulled buildings off the sides of the mountain and slid them down, wiping out their work in an instant! No one could touch me as I stood before that funny statue of Ozai and brought it down! I shot several earthen columns up, blowing several Fire Nation soldiers off to the sides and shot the columns into the statue's face, one in each eye, two up his nose, and three in his mouth, and I pulled the statue down and it crashed through the bridge into my city! Everyone escaped just in time! I had a good laugh and celebrated with a piece of geminite candy!" Bumi declared.
"Wow, I can't believe that you took back your home kingdom all by yourself!" Suki stated.
Finally they arrived at the camp where Master Piandao pointed to where Iroh's tent was, it turned out that his appeared to be the most lavish. Zuko approached the tent, alone, because that was how he wanted it, and stepped inside, only to find that his uncle was asleep!
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Ooh! I'M SO EXCITED! I can't wait for you guys to read what I have planned for you! This is going to be so EPIC!
(I'll try to make it so that you don't have to wait too long for updates! Also, you may want to reread the dreams!)
PLEASE REVIEW! Reviews motivate me to write faster!
