XXVIII: Union Meeting

Okay, I think it's time to tell all of you that I plan on going into the comic storylines; some of you guys are jumping the gun on the farewells!

Two months had passed since the coronation, and the Earth King still had yet to be found, to help pass the time, Zuko had gotten in contact with the mayor of the Fire Nation Colony of Yu Dao, to tell him that he was planning on paying a visit to the city to show the Avatar that people of the Earth Kingdom could live and prosper with Fire Nation citizens living with them; the mayor, Morishita, had responded in saying that it would be his honor to play host to the Avatar and Fire Lord as they learned about their way of life.

By now, Aang and Zuko's union of Children of Raava was doing well. With Appa's help Aang managed to collect members from the Earth and Water peoples. As of right now the union had thirty members, with ages ranging from ten to thirty, and before Aang taught them how to open their chakras he taught them some styles of bending from all the other elements that could translate into bending other elements and lectured to them about some Air Nomad philosophies and what he and Zuko had hoped for what would become of this union.

There was one lesson that Katara taught to the union to teach them that each and every bender must accept all aspects of their bending, what was both good and bad about their abilities, and so on the night of a full moon, she brought in a rat and practiced Bloodbending with it:

"When I first discovered this ability, I was horrified at what it can do, it's painful for those who experience it, but I suppose that it can be used to stop an advancing attacker from harming you, and I've recently discovered that this ability to control human bodies can be used to help heal others. I've used it when I had worked on helping Zuko to heal his arm. So with such a bad power, I've managed to find something good to do with it." Katara had told them.

On the day Aang was going to teach the Children of Raava Union how to open up their chakras, Aang had invited Zuko and Katara to witness the occasion.

"Alright everyone, when done just right, this is the moment that will prove whether or not you are true Children of Raava. Now don't get upset if you don't have the trait, you can still be in the union, and to hold a Child of Raava is a rare occurrence, you have to be a bending descendant of an Avatar that has fully realized their element, opened up all their chakras, and you also have to have the right gene." Aang explained, and then he directed the union through the exorcises to open up their chakras, and everything was going smoothly until Aang reached the Thought Chakra, and he told them: "Now if you are a true Child of Raava, then this chakra will help you to trigger your Dragon State, Tidal State, or Rumble State. Firebenders, you may want to isolate yourselves a bit more. When Fire Lord Zuko triggered his Dragon State for the first time, it was a bit of an explosive reaction."

He then guided them through the last chakra, and a mere three of them were able to trigger their ultimate state! One being a ten-year-old orphaned girl of the Fire Nation, a fifteen year-old boy from the Northern Water Tribe (but collected at the South Pole), and a seventeen year-old woman of the Earth Kingdom. At least there was one from each element, and the Firebender that triggered the Dragon State had a similar reaction as Zuko, and she had to be restrained until they helped to calm the young Firebender down, she was very apologetic when she'd gotten out of the Dragon State.

"Hey, it's alright, that was more or less what happened to me when we discovered that Children of Raava even existed." Zuko told her.

"Congratulations for the three of you who've proven yourselves to be among these unique benders, and congratulations to those of you who've managed to open up your chakras!" Aang told them, and as a special small present to the new Children of Raava, Aang handed out bracelets of wooden beads painted in the colors in representation of their element. It was enough to award those special benders while being subtle enough so as to not make the other members of the union feel as if they'd failed.

Zuko, Aang, and Katara shook hands with everyone for their accomplishments, and for a brief moment between shaking hands, Katara looked to Zuko and asked him: "May I check on that arm?" He allowed her, and he braced himself as she checked his injury through Bloodbending, and she told him: "It's still healing, but it should be better within a few weeks."

"Thanks." Zuko replied, and he headed back to the palace, it was a bit of a walk back there, seeing as that the union met at a quarry with a natural water pool. Along the way, he spotted three prison guards watching a man with chains on his legs as he was busy aiding a teashop clerk by sweeping her floors and replanting her window boxes. The man in chains was Ozai, and his eyes met Zuko's for a second, Ozai's held a level of hatred and misery while Zuko kept his eyes calm, they looked away from each other and carried on about their business.

Before Zuko had a chance to enter the palace courtyard, the General sent to track down the Earth King had arrived with news!

The General bowed to Zuko and declared: "Fire Lord Zuko, we have located Earth King Kuei and have told him of Ba Sing Se's liberation from Fire Nation control and he is currently on his way back to his place at the Earth Palace."

"That's excellent, General, and please send word to the King that I wish to discuss matters of the Fire Nation Colonies with him." Zuko replied.

"Of course Fire Lord Zuko."

When the General left to carry out his orders, Zuko ran back towards the quarry where Aang and Katara should still be with the Children of Raava. When he returned, he announced: "Earth King Kuei has been found and is on his way back to Ba Sing Se to reclaim his place on the throne."

Aang and Katara cheered for a moment before Zuko held his hand up to quiet them down and announced: "Before we join the King, I wish to take all of you to the Fire Nation's first colony, Yu Dao, where people of the Earth Kingdom have lived with the Fire Nation since the days of Sozin's reign!"

Everyone had exchanged glances but they were ready to go once Zuko had readied a ship to take them to the Earth Kingdom, and Sokka, Appa, Momo, Suki, and Toph were ready to go too.

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The trip was relatively short, but then again this was the first colony the Fire Nation established.

Zuko had intended to walk to the city by himself with guards flanking him and his friends, but the guards insisted for respect and tradition's sake, that Zuko would take the palanquin into the city, and with his friends walking before him.

They arrived at Yu Dao and looking around they saw buildings with Fire Nation red accents and Earth Kingdom green roofs, and Zuko ordered his men to set him down so he could stroll the streets to lecture his friends what he knew about the colony, and sent the Children of Raava off to explore and see what they could learn about the city on their own and perhaps try to get some new members to join.

"As I've said, this colony is the Fire Nation's oldest, it's even older than you, Aang. Before it was founded as a colony, this place was just a small, quiet, village sitting at the bottom of a valley." Zuko explained and he started for the center of town.

"So where are you taking us?" Sokka asked.

"I've been in contact with Mayor Morishita, he will be our host during our stay here, and so we'll be going to his house." Zuko replied. As they walked through the city, they caught sight of an Earth Kingdom teen shining the shoes of a Fire Nation elder, a Fire Nation blacksmith apprenticing another young Earth Kingdom man, but also a Fire Nation woman purchasing produce from an Earth Kingdom woman.

"Things do seem peaceful around here with two nations living together. I'm not picking up any fighting vibrations and any conversations I hear seem to be either friendly or business-like." Toph stated.

Zuko showed them to the Mayor's house and knocked on the door, and the mayor opened up to promptly bow to his guests: "Avatar Aang, Fire Lord Zuko, it is an honor to have you here as my guests, and who're these three?" Mayor Morishita asked, gesturing to Katara, Sokka, Suki, and Toph.

"Mayor Morishita, these are my closest friends, forgive me for not telling you about them, but will you be willing to act as their host too?" Zuko replied.

"Of course, but if you plan on staying overnight, you'll have to rent out rooms at one of the inns, unless they'd rather do some camping."

"We'll be fine for housing, now would you mind taking us on a tour of your city?" Zuko asked.

"Actually, I'd like for you all to step inside first, and meet my wife and daughter." Morishita replied. He stepped aside to allow the kids inside, where they found that this Fire Nation mayor had an Earth Kingdom wife! Their beautiful daughter, announced as Kori, bore both of her parents' colors.

"Kori is an Earthbender, just like her mother, but through my bloodline, she is a proud Fire Nation citizen and she's just as proud to be an Earthbender." Mayor Morishita stated. Zuko stepped forward and spoke: "Kori, it is my pleasure to meet you."

"And it is an honor to meet my Fire Lord." Kori replied, and she bowed with the Fire Nation salute.

The Mayor and family invited the friends to lunch and what they served was a twist of traditional Earth Kingdom cuisine with Fire Nation spices, and in-between conversation with his family, Mayor Morishita explained how the Fire Nation helped the Earth Kingdom people turn Yu Dao into one of the most successful cities in the world, benefitting people of both nations.

"We had a good look at the people of this city, Mayor, but it doesn't seem that the people here don't have an equal share of this wealth." Suki stated.

"It's true that the majority of our wealthier citizens have Fire Nation roots, I think that I can persuade you that my people are much better off than they are now."

"Everyone's happy here, right Mayor?" Zuko asked.

"My city isn't perfect, Fire Lord Zuko, but we live peacefully, save for a few petty criminals, so I will say that the people here are happy. Why do you ask?"

"Politics between myself, the Earth King, and the Avatar. I'm one to believe that Fire Nation citizens such as yourself have every right to live here as much as the Earth Kingdom, even though I'm considering on removing Ozai's colonies and a few of the newer ones from Fire Lord Azulon's reign."

"Avatar Aang, certainly you don't think that our Fire Lord should pull families from their homes, do you?"

"Before I set out to learn how to master the elements, I've been taught that the four nations need to be separate to live in harmony and to maintain the balance. When two nations do come together like this, it upsets the balance and the stronger nation completely takes over the other."

"Forgive me, Avatar Aang, but if you're the last member of the Air Nomads and the four nations need to be apart, how're you to have a family?" Kori asked. Aang's eyes quickly glanced over to Katara before he replied: "I wasn't finished, during my travels across the world, I journeyed with members of every other nation, and we did it in harmony. Sure there were a few bumps in the road, but we all came out as friends. So I'm willing to welcome a new world."

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Team Avatar and the Children of Raava stayed for a few more days to learn the way of life for the people of Yu Dao, and they learned that it was something that was truly special, and they even found out that a few of the late Jet's Freedom Fighters were living in Yu Dao too: Sneers, Smellerbee, and Longshot, and Sneers was dating the Mayor's daughter! Sokka and Aang were quite impressed with him.

During their time there, Toph decided to take the opportunity to teach Kori how to bend metal, and Kori was astounded that it was even possible! She ran to her father right away and the Mayor insisted that she should start teaching the new technique right away, and even gave her a building for training purposes! So with Toph busy training her new swarm of students, she was unable to tag along with her friends as they took off to meet King Kuei in the city of Ba Sing Se.

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