36
Hoshiko was woken up by the feeling of light fingers brushing her temple. She opened her eyes and blearily saw Kotaro's face turn into a guilty expression.
"Sorry." He whispered quietly, "I didn't mean to wake you." Hoshiko rubbed her eye.
"You're still awake?" She asked tiredly, "What time is it?" A pained expression came on Kotaro's face and she looked at him sadly. She reached up to his cheek and gently moved her thumb along his cheek, "Kota, I promise, nothing will happen. I'll still be here when you wake up." She leaned up and shared a soft kiss with him, "Please go to sleep." Kotaro leaned down and kissed her forehead, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her to him.
There was plenty of room for them on the double bed they had found, but they were happy being so close together in the room they shared. They hadn't done anything physically in the bed besides make out, since both of them believe that kind of stuff was suited until after marriage, but sleeping together in the same bed did make it very tempting. Kotaro closed his eyes and Hoshiko rested her head on his chest, waiting until she heard the soft rhythm of his breathing that told her he was asleep before she closed her own eyes and joined him.
The next morning, Kotaro's eyes shot open, and for a terrifying second, he thought that everything that had happened yesterday had been a dream, until he felt a weight on his chest. He looked to see it was Hoshiko's dark head resting against him, her hand resting against his abdomen as she slept. He let out a soundless breath of relief and brought his arm up to her shoulder, gently rubbing it. He didn't realize this action would wake her up until she lifted up her head to look at him.
"Morning." She greeted sleepily, moving to rest her head on the pillow beside his.
"Good morning." Kotaro returned. He moved forward and shared a kiss with her. He moved onto his side so he could look at her more comfortably, and she smiled at him.
"You went to sleep, right?" Hoshiko asked, concerned for him.
"Yeah, I did, don't worry." Kotaro said, he reached up and gently brushed back some hair from her face. She smiled at the gesture and linked her fingers with his once his hand came back. "I missed you."
"I missed you, too." Hoshiko said, she frowned, "I'm really sorry Kota. If I had known that Kagemi would have done that, I would have never-"
"It's fine." Kotaro said.
"It's not fine." Hoshiko said strongly, "Kotaro, I lost control of my body for a long time. If you hadn't struck her with lightning back at the invasion, I might not be here right now. And I was completely relying on the idea that you would be there, and I wasn't sure that you would be. Think of what might have happened if you didn't go with Aang. I wouldn't be here, and-" Kotaro shushed her ranting by putting his finger over her lips.
"I don't want to talk about that right now." He said, he pulled her closer to him, "All I want to focus on is you and me, right here, right now." He kissed her forehead, "Part of me is still afraid this is all a dream and that I'm going to wake up any second."
"Well, does this tell you it's real?" Hoshiko asked as she moved up and kissed him on the lips. She pulled away from him, and Kotaro smiled cheekily at her.
"A little bit." He said, "But I think I need more convincing." Hoshiko giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him again, a bit more slowly this time.
"How about now?" She asked him, smiling as she thought about what his answer might be.
"Almost." Kotaro replied, moving back in for another kiss. Hoshiko's shoulders shook with her laughter as he kissed her. When he pulled away, she still giggled, and he silenced her with another kiss. He moved so he would be on top of her, resting his forearms against the bed so as not to put too much weight on her as he still held her close, kissing her to his heart's content.
"You aren't coming with me."
"Oh, come on!"
"No, Kotaro. It's private."
"It's a bath."
"That's my point!"
Laughter carried down the hall as Hoshiko walked to where the baths were in the temple, Kotaro following her. Everyone looked up when they heard them coming, Hoshiko giggling as Kotaro tickled her sides playfully. She pushed his hands away and dashed down the stairs to where Katara was serving everyone minus Aang and Zuko breakfast.
"Kotaro, I'm warning you!" Hoshiko said as she went down, ignoring the fact that everyone's eyes were on them.
"I'm not done yet!" Kotaro said, Hoshiko squealed and ran down across the platform to hide from him as he ran down after her. She ran behind Appa, who watched the two of them with a lazy expression on his face as they moved around him. Sokka scrunched up his nose, and The Duke stuck out his tongue in disgust.
"She's here for less than a day, and they're all lovey-dovey like that!" Sokka said, watching as Kotaro caught Hoshiko around the waist, making her squeal in laughter.
"I think it's cute." Xana said with a smile as she ate some of her breakfast.
"I think it's cheesy." The Duke said, he put down his bowl, "I can't even eat anymore."
"Well then, I'll take that." Teo said, reaching for the bowl and beginning to eat the food inside. The Duke looked at him with wide eyes.
"Hey, that was my food!" The Duke said, snatching his bowl back.
"Oh, let them have their fun." Haru said, "They haven't seen each other in a while, let the soul mates be as cheesy as they want."
"Amen!" Xana said in agreement, holding up her spoon with a grin. Sokka looked at Haru oddly.
"How do you know about that soul-thingy?" Sokka asked, wondering just where he got that information.
"Xana told me." Haru replied, as if it were obvious. Xana grinned widely, showing her sharpened teeth and, without realizing it, scaring Sokka a little bit.
Hoshiko went over to Katara, smiling as she pulled Kotaro off her, "Katara, can you tell me where the baths are?"
"Sure." Katara said, Hoshiko waved goodbye to Kotaro as she followed her water bending friend to the baths the temple had that, surprisingly, still worked after being abandoned for a hundred years. Kotaro watched her leave, his eyes in a sort of dreamy state as he did. Sokka looked up at him, seeing the completely goofy, love-struck look on his face as he kept watching them.
"Dude, you're drooling." He said, Kotaro jumped slightly at his voice.
"What?" He looked to see everyone was staring at him, and he flushed in embarrassment. "Ah… sorry." He moved to sit down, serving himself some breakfast and joining the others.
"I can't believe how easily manipulated you are by a girl." Sokka said, sounding like he was scolding him.
"Oh, I bet if you found the right girl, Sokka, you wouldn't be any different." Xana said, pointing her chopsticks at him, "You would be just as dumb as Kotaro is now. By the way, I think the way you two act is very sweet." Kotaro's face flushed a little more red in embarrassment.
"Yeah, well…" He scratched behind his head. He focused his attention on his food as everyone continued to speak.
"Everyone has a different way of experiencing romance," Xana continued, sounding like a sage of wisdom, "Kotaro's way just happens to be similar to puppy love-no pun intended."
"So is that why Haru acts all normal around you even though you two make out like crazy?" Sokka asked slyly. The two teens' faces blushed brightly. Kotaro looked up at them with a sly smirk.
"Xana?" He asked in surprise, "You and Haru?"
"D-Don't be ridiculous!" Xana said quickly, stuffing her face with food to try and hide her embarrassment, "We're juth goo' fwendth!"
"What she said." Haru said, before focusing on his own breakfast to try and forget about his embarrassment.
Hoshiko let out a pleased sigh as she sank into the warm water of the bath. She looked up at her friend, "Thanks for heating up the water, Katara."
"No problem." She said, she turned to let Hoshiko bathe in peace and get back to the others. Hoshiko enjoyed the silence, being alone in the large bath of the air temple. It was about the size of a small pool, and the wall was lined with mirrors, old, dusty, and slightly broken and in disrepair mirrors, but still mirrors. As she bathed herself, she heard the murmur of voices and turned her head, trying to focus on where it was coming from as they spoke.
"I know you're nervous," It sounded like Zuko, "But remember, fire bending, in it of itself, is not something to fear."
Someone else let out a relieved sigh, "Okay… Not something to fear." It must have been Aang. Hoshiko moved over to the side of the bath and saw that Zuko and Aang were about one story down from the floor where the outdoor bath was. It must have been time for Aang's first fire bending lesson.
"But if you don't respect it, it'll chew you up and spit you out like an angry komodo rhino!" Zuko said, his words sending Aang reeling for a moment. Hoshiko let out a small giggle and crossed her arms on the side of the bath, getting comfortable as she watched them practice. Neither of them seemed to notice her. "Now, show me what you've got. Any amount of fire you can make." Aang nodded and took in a deep breath before taking a stance, then shooting his hand out, only to send out a tiny puff of smoke.
Hoshiko probably shouldn't have been surprised, but she was. Aang did say that fire bending was difficult for him, and with the way the world treated fire benders, naturally, the bending was suppressed by all the time he hadn't spent using it. Her tail, which had yet to be put in the water, moved back and forth as she interestedly watched the two. Aang looked over at Zuko sheepishly.
"Maybe I need a little more instruction." He said, he looked at Zuko hopefully, "Perhaps a demonstration?"
"Good idea." Zuko said, he held out his hand, "You might want to take a couple steps back." Aang did so, remembering how great Zuko's fire bending power had been. Hoshiko wanted to see this, her tail began wagging a little faster as she anticipated Zuko's first fire bending move as Aang's instructor. She watched him take a deep breath, then, with an angry cry, shot out his fist to produce… barely enough fire to light a candle. Now Hoshiko was really surprised, what happened to Zuko's great ability in fire bending? Aang applauded him, while Zuko looked just as surprised and confused as Hoshiko felt.
"What was that?!" Zuko asked, standing up straight, "That was the worst fire bending I've ever seen!" Hoshiko had to disagree with him on that, Aang's tiny puff had been much worse compared to Zuko's little bit of fire.
"I thought it was…nice." Aang said, trying to cheer him up. She watched Zuko perform a few more moves, all producing the same amount, or less, of the fire he had produced a moment ago.
Zuko let out and angry groan and glared at his hands, "Why's this happening?!"
"Maybe it's the altitude." Aang suggested.
"Yeah… could be." Zuko said, although he sounded like he didn't believe it. He and Aang left the area to found somewhere else for Zuko to practice his bending so he could properly teach Aang.
Once they were gone, Hoshiko turned around, sitting back down in the bath, putting her hand to her chin in thought. Just what was that about? She was sure it wasn't the altitude, seeing as she and Zuko had both fought off 'Combustion Man' with their bending just yesterday. But if the altitude wasn't the problem, then what was? She didn't understand. She had never experienced repressed bending before because Kagemi had always been so anxious to show off her power. Then again, she hadn't tried bending since yesterday either. She wondered if she was the same as Zuko, and tested her theory by trying to manipulate the shadows around her. She only wanted to form a small shadow ball, and that's exactly what she did, but it came out much bigger than she expected, and she let out a yelp as it popped like a giant balloon, reverting back to its original state.
Apparently, she was the opposite of Zuko. Instead of her bending being repressed, it was overpowered. She looked at her hands, fearfully wondering if Kagemi was going to try and take over again. She quickly shook the thought from her mind. She would never let Kagemi be seen again. While she was the one inside, she knew that Kagemi had more power than her, and was able to keep her there. She knew for a fact that, unless she got some help from the outside, Kagemi wouldn't get a chance to take over unless she allowed her to, which she wouldn't. Perhaps it was because of her resolve to not let Kagemi return that her power had grown. Kagemi had always been the stronger bender, and maybe now she had access to all the power that Kagemi had, like removing a flood gate and letting the water spill out. Now she needed to learn to better control that power, otherwise she just might lose control, which was the last thing she wanted.
Later on that day, after the sun had set, everyone gathered around a fire pit and ate dinner. Hoshiko and Kotaro sat as close to each other as possible, which meant that Hoshiko was just one tiny scoot away from sitting in Kotaro's lap, and she really did want to, but Sokka had made a point to them to 'bring the cheesy love show down a few notches'. So that's why they were that way at the moment.
They were all chatting and enjoying their meal. Hoshiko looked around when she noticed someone missing, and saw Zuko standing off to the side of them, his arms crossed as he leaned against a pillar. She turned her attention back to her food. Zuko was probably worried about why his fire bending wasn't working, and she didn't want to upset him by telling him she saw.
She looked up when he started approaching them saying, "Listen everybody, I've got some pretty bad news." His shoulders slumped, "I've lost my stuff."
"Don't look at me!" Toph said quickly, holding up her hands, "I didn't touch your stuff."
"I'm talking about my fire bending." Zuko said, "It's gone."
Laughter broke through the silence and everyone looked to see that it was Katara. Zuko scowled, as well as a few others in the group, "I'm sorry." She said, "I'm just laughing at the irony. You know how it would have been nice for us if you'd lost your fire bending a long time ago?"
"Well, it's not lost." Zuko said, "It's just… weaker, for some reason."
"Maybe you're just not as good as you think you are." Katara said before eating some of her soup.
"Ouch." Toph said with a grin.
Zuko scowled again, and Hoshiko put her hand to her chin in thought. "I wonder…" She said quietly, she looked up at Zuko, "Do you think it might be because you changed sides?"
"That's ridiculous." Katara said.
"I don't know." Aang said, "Maybe it isn't. Maybe your fire bending comes from rage, and you just don't have enough anger to fuel it the way you used to."
"Considering how testy you were when we first met," Kotaro put in, "It's a decent theory."
"Soooo, all we need to do is make Zuko angry!" Sokka said, standing up, "Easy enough." He started poking Zuko with his sheathed sword, giggling like a child as he poked his side three times, his head twice, then his other side another three times.
Getting increasingly irritated, Zuko snapped, "Okay! Cut it out!" Sokka jumped, his sword flying out of his hands and landing on his head. Zuko reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to calm down, "Look, even if you're right, I don't want to rely on hate and anger anymore. There has to be another way."
"You're gonna need to learn to draw your fire bending from a different source." Toph said, "I recommend the original source." Sokka sat down next to her, rubbing the spot his sword had landed on.
"How's he supposed to do that? By jumping into a volcano?" Sokka asked eagerly.
"No." Toph said, making his expression fall, "Zuko needs to go back to whatever the original source of fire bending is."
"So… is it jumping into a volcano?" Sokka asked again.
"I don't know." Toph snapped, "For earth bending, the original earth benders were badger moles. One day, when I was little, I ran away and hid in a cave. That's where I met them. They were blind, just like me, so we understood each other. I was able to learn earth bending not just as a martial art, but as an extension of my senses. For them, the original earth benders, it wasn't just about fighting, it was their way of interacting with the world."
"That's amazing Toph." Aang said, "I learned from the monks, but the original air benders were the sky bison." He looked back at where Appa was eating hay for his dinner and said, "Maybe you can give me a lesson sometime, buddy!"
Appa only responded with a grunt.
"Well, this doesn't help me." Zuko said, "The original fire benders were the dragons, and they're extinct."
"What do you mean?" Aang asked, "Roku had a dragon, and there were plenty of dragons when I was a kid."
"Well they aren't around anymore, okay?!" Zuko snapped.
"Okay, okay. I'm sorry." Aang said, surprised by his sudden outburst.
"Aang, dragons have been hunted to extinction." Hoshiko said gently. Aang frowned sadly at the mention of it.
"Maybe there's another way." Zuko said, getting everyone's attention, "The first people to learn from the dragons were the ancient Sun Warriors."
"Sun Warriors?" Aang repeated in confusion, "Well, I know they weren't around when I was a kid." He looked at Hoshiko to see if she had any information about them, and she just shrugged her shoulders.
"No, they died off thousands of years ago." Zuko said, "But, their civilization isn't too far from where we are now. Maybe we can learn something by poking around their ruins." Zuko turned and looked out at the other side of the cliff, looking in the direction of where the ruins were.
"It's like the monks used to tell me. Sometimes the shadows of the past can be felt by the present." Aang said.
"So… what? You're gonna pick up some freaky Sun Warrior energy just by standing where they stood a thousand years ago?" Kotaro asked doubtfully.
"More or less." Zuko said, "Either I find a new way to fire bend, or the avatar has to find a new teacher." Aang grimaced at the thought.
"Well, you two can set off for the ruins tomorrow." Hoshiko said, "Use Appa. Air travel is the fastest, after all." Zuko nodded in agreement, "In the meantime, why don't you sit and join us? We still have some dinner." Zuko smiled at the offer and took a seat on Hoshiko's other side. Katara handed him a bowl of soup for him to eat.
"You know, since we're talking about original sources of bending," Teo began, "What about you guys?" he looked at Xana, Kotaro, and Hoshiko.
"The sources of our bending?" Xana asked, her only visible golden eye wide, "Well, sand bending is just another form of earth bending when you get down to it." She shrugged.
Teo looked over at Kotaro, and he looked surprised at the question. "Um…" He reached up and scratched the back of his head, "I think my people were originally fire benders, but after watching thunder and lightning storms, we learned to put more power into our attacks, and just became so accustomed to lightning that it was all we knew." Teo looked at Hoshiko, who looked away unsurely.
"Uh… well…" She bit her lip, "Actually… the origins of shadow bending are pretty fuzzy at best. I really don't know who the original benders were. But, back when I was a kid, I heard this story, and this was back when I was too old for bedtime stories. It said that shadow benders were the children of pure darkness, and that they were born to unleash havoc and chaos on the world." Everyone looked at her oddly, and she smiled sheepishly and shrugged, "Of course, it's just an old bedtime story." She took another spoonful of soup into her mouth, trying to ignore the pointed stares at her.
After gathering up a few things and saying goodbye to everyone, Zuko and Aang set off on Appa to where the Sun Warrior ruins lay on an island near the mainland where the Western Air Temples were built. Originally, Zuko had been secretly thrilled at the idea of riding on the flying bison, but after the first hour, that thrill soon withered and died. He started to get impatient after the second hour, and after the third, he was just downright antsy. He suddenly wished he had brought something with him to help pass the time.
"We've been riding for hours." He said to Aang as he sat in the saddle, "I don't know why, but I thought this thing would be a lot faster." He looked down pointedly at the bison, who only let out a grunt at his words. Zuko knew why he thought Appa would be faster, of course. He had been chasing after the bison for the good portion of a year, he just naturally assumed it was faster than the ships he used. Apparently, he wasn't that much faster.
"Appa's right, Zuko." Aang said, looking back at him from where he sat at Appa's head, "In our group, typically we start out our missions with a more upbeat attitude."
Zuko let out a groan and slumped against the saddle, muttering, "I can't believe this…"
"Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it." Aang assured. Zuko didn't respond.
He didn't have to wait long, however. Because just a few minutes later, land came in sight, and they flew in, Zuko directing Aang as to where the ruins lay. They were quickly found, and they looked at the ruins in awe, amazed by the sheer mass and size of it all.
They landed Appa near the front of it, and Aang made sure to leave him near a large group of edible foliage in case he got hungry. Then, the two of them made their journey through the ruins.
Not long after they entered, Zuko spoke as he looked around at the buildings, "Even though these buildings are ancient," He began, "There's something eerily familiar about them. I can tell the Fire Sage's temples are somehow descended from these."
"Okay, we've learned something about architecture." Aang said with an optimistic smile, "Hopefully, we'll learn something about fire bending, too." He looked over his shoulder at Zuko as he continued to speak, "The past can be a great teacher-" he suddenly felt his ankle catch on something, making him trip over, and he saw the ground before him turn to huge, black spikes. He let out a startled yelp, and quickly shot air out of his lungs to push him over the spikes and safely onto the other side, although, he landed on the edge, and it took him a minute to regain his balance, but he soon did. He looked back at Zuko with wide, fearful eyes, "Zuko, I think the past is trying to kill me!"
Zuko knelt down to look at the tripwire Aang had activated, "I can't believe it." He said, "This booby trap must be centuries old, and it still works."
"There's probably a lot more." Aang said, looking around with wide eyes, "Maybe this means we shouldn't be here." Zuko took a few steps back, and then ran forward, taking a small turn to run along the wall where the spikes were hidden, and he safely landed on the other side, smirking at Aang.
"Where's that upbeat attitude you were talking about?" He asked playfully. "Besides," He looked up at the building in the distance, "People don't make traps unless they've got something worth protecting." Aang looked back at the building as well, unsure of what to make of their situation.
Hoshiko let out a sigh as she lay down on the stone floor of the platform of the temple. She looked up at the huge cliff that lay just across the way. She wondered just how many feet it was between the temples and the other cliff, and how long it would take to cross it if there was a bridge between the two. She looked up when a pair of bare feet came by her head and she looked up at Toph.
"Where's lover boy?" She asked, Hoshiko grinned.
"He's taking a nap." She said, "He said we had nothing to do today anyway, so he decided it would be good for us if we both rested up."
Toph raised an eyebrow, "And how'd that work out for you?"
"I said I wasn't tired, but I gave him a kiss." Hoshiko said with a shrug.
"You two are so mushy." Toph said, taking a seat beside Hoshiko's head. She let out a small chuckle.
"Yeah, we really are, aren't we?" She said, she looked over at Toph as she linked her fingers behind her head. "I would have thought you would have been disgusted by it."
"Oh, I am." Toph said, putting her elbow on her knee and resting her head on her fist as she turned her head to look in Hoshiko's general direction, but not really 'looking' at her, "But, I can also tell that what you're feeling is real, and I think it's… nice." Hoshiko raised an eyebrow in surprise at Toph's softness. She would have thought that Toph would have been begging her to stop the mushy stuff. "I can feel your heartbeats when you two are near each other. It's actually pretty freaky, but they almost match up perfectly. And when you're not together, but you see each other, your hearts just go crazy. I almost wish you could feel Kotaro's when he sees you. Half the time I think he's about to have a heart attack." Hoshiko chuckled.
"I think I'm glad I don't." She said, "If I thought he was going to have a heart attack when he sees me, I'd stay as far away from him as possible."
Toph was quiet for a moment, then said, "What's it feel like?"
"What? Being with him?" Hoshiko asked, Toph nodded.
"I wanna know about the love life." She said. Hoshiko blushed a little.
"Well, you already know how I feel." She said, "You can feel my heartbeat, can't you?"
"Yeah, but I want to know what else you feel." Toph said, "Not just the physical stuff."
"Well…" Hoshiko began to think, "It's… hm…. It's hard to describe. It's like," She brought up her hands to try and visualize what she was saying, "When I'm with him… It's… I feel like…" She sighed in frustration, "Well…" She looked over at Toph, "Do you remember the first time you ever started earth bending?"
"Sure." Toph said.
"And… do you remember the first time you ever ate your favorite food?" Hoshiko asked.
"That was a looong time ago. I don't remember that." Toph said.
"Okay, it's like those two things… sort of mixed together times ten." Hoshiko said, "It's a poor explanation to the stuff I actually feel, but it's the best I can manage in words."
"Huh." Toph said, "I'm guessing it's a lot more complicated than that?"
"So much more complicated." Hoshiko said.
The two of them were silent a moment longer, then Toph said, "Hey! You know what we should do?"
"What?"
"Battle!"
Hoshiko looked at her in surprise, then grinned, "Why not? I could use a refresher on battling." Toph grinned widely and they both stood up, heading off somewhere to start their battle.
Aang and Zuko climbed up the last of the stairs of the building they had seen earlier, at the top they saw an interesting mural at the top of two dragons breathing out fire onto one of the Sun Warriors, who held up his hands as the fire circled around him.
"Look, this seems promising." Aang said when he saw it, "Though, I'm not sure what this tells us about the original source of fire bending."
Zuko looked at the two dragons and their glaring eyes, "They look pretty angry to me."
"I thought the dragons were friends with the Sun Warriors." Aang said confusedly.
"Well, they had a funny way of showing it." Zuko replied. He looked at the mural a second longer, then turned to walk away, thinking he and Aang should move on.
"Zuko," Aang called to him, "Something happened to the dragons in the last hundred years. Something you're not telling me."
"My great-grandfather Sozin happened." Zuko said, then he walked on. Aang followed him as they headed down a path decorated with stone dragons, "He started the tradition of hunting dragons for glory. They were the ultimate fire benders, and if you could conquer one, your fire bending talents would become legendary and you'd earn the honorary title 'Dragon.'" He walked to the end of the path, where one of the largest stone dragons' head had come off the statue, and he looked at the glaring eye of the stone fire breather, "The last great dragon was conquered long before I was born… by my uncle." He reached up and touched the eye, as if he were shutting the dragon's eyelid as one would do with a dead friend.
"But, I thought your uncle was… I don't know, good?" Aang said, his confusion now growing.
"He had a complicated past." Zuko said, "Family tradition, I guess." He moved away from the stone dragon and up the stairs to the building ahead, "Let's just move on." Aang followed him up and when they reached the top, they saw a large tower with a big red sun stone at the top, ten feet away from a large stone gate. Aang went up to the stone gate and tried to yank it open, to no avail.
"It's locked up!" He said to Zuko. He looked at the door, and he looked at the ground, seeing a large circular carving on the ground, a small red light shining on part of it.
"Wait," He looked up at the tower, and then down at the light, "It's a celestial calendar. Just like the Fire Sages have in their temples." He could really see the similarities between the Sun Warrior buildings and the temples now. He looked up at the red sun stone at the top of the gate. "I bet that sun stone opens the door, but only when sunlight hits it at just the right angle. On the solstice."
"Monkey feathers!" Aang cursed, "The solstice again? We can't wait here that long!"
"No we can't." Zuko said, pulling out one of his dao blades, "But maybe we can speed time up." He knelt down and used the reflective surface of the blade to reflect the light that came from the tower's stone. "Let's see if we can outsmart the sun stone." He maneuvered the blade to make the reflection travel up the wall until it was directly on the sun stone on the gate. Aang looked up at it, and saw that the sun stone glowed with the light, but not much else.
"Nothing's happening." He said, thinking maybe they really would need to wait until the solstice to get inside.
"Come on…!" Zuko said, determined to get the gate open with the sun stone. Not too much longer, and the ground began to rumble, and the gate doors opened up wide. Aang smiled and Zuko put his blade away with a small smile, proud of his work.
"You know, Zuko," Aang began as the fire bender came up to him, "I don't care what everyone else says about you. You're pretty smart." He elbowed him good-naturedly before walking in. Zuko smiled at the compliment, then frowned when he realized what Aang was saying. Aang walked in and squinted to try and see in the dimness of the room, and gasped, jumping back when he saw the glaring eyes of a man.
"Relax, it's just a statue." Zuko said, he looked around the room to see there were actually a lot of statues there. They all seemed to be of the same man in different poses, and it was completely symmetrical, because for one statue on one side of the room, there was another in the same pose. It continued on in a circle and the two of them walked in, looking at the statues like one would look at artifacts in a museum. Aang went over behind the first statue he had seen and saw something had been written just behind its foot. The text was clearly very old, but there is some benefit from travelling around the world as a student of the air temples a hundred years ago. Better education in ancient text just like that one, so he was able to translate it perfectly.
"It says this is something called 'The Dancing Dragon.'" He said to Zuko, who didn't really seem to care what the name was. Aang, curious as to the statue's pose, put his staff down and stepped back to imitate it. He jumped when he felt the ground sink underneath his foot, and he looked down to see his stance had triggered something on the stone floor beneath him. He watched as the button moved back into place. He looked around at all the statues, and he smiled. He went over to Zuko and grabbed his arm. "Zuko, get over here! I want you to dance with me!"
"What?!" Zuko exclaimed in surprise, trying to yank his arm back, but Aang kept a firm grip on him.
"Just do it!" Aang pleaded, and he dragged Zuko to the place behind the second statue that was similar to the first, and Aang went to the other. Zuko groaned, but complied with Aang's request.
"Let's follow the steps of the statues." Aang said to him, Zuko said nothing as he did as Aang wanted, taking the first stance, then the one next to it at the same time Aang did. When he felt the earth beneath him sink, he realized it was a button on the floor, and his eyes flashed in surprise. "Don't you see? These aren't dance moves, these statues are giving us a lesson." He and Zuko began to finish out the rest of the steps. "I think this is some kind of Sun Warrior fire bending form."
"This better teach us some really good fire bending." Zuko said, because he felt like an idiot performing all these dance moves. They quickly finished the dance, and the ground rumbled again, and they looked behind them to see the center of the floor open up and a pedestal came out, holding a large, golden, egg-shaped… something on top.
"Hooray!" Aang cheered, but quickly stopped, "Wait. What exactly is that?"
"It's some kind of mystical gemstone." Zuko said as he went up to it.
"Well don't touch it!" Aang said quickly.
"Why not?" Zuko asked.
"Remember what happened out there with those spikes?" Aang asked, he looked at the golden egg warily, "I'm just very suspicious of giant, glowing gems sitting on pedestals." Zuko ignored him and went to pick it up. Aang's eyebrow twitched in irritation, but he didn't stop him as Zuko held it up.
"It feels… almost alive." He said, feeling the warmth the 'gemstone' had. After a moment, he moved to put it back, and shouted out when a huge fountain of green gloop shot out of the pedestal and shot him up to the ceiling, landing him on a grated hole on the top of the ceiling and sticking there.
Aang looked back at the doors and watched as they quickly closed. "Oh, no! It's another trap!" He jumped back as more of the dark green stuff began to pour out of the pedestal where Zuko had picked up the gemstone.
Zuko tried to move away from the goop to help Aang, but found he couldn't. "I can't get free! It's like some kind of glue!" Aang ran back to where his staff was and grabbed it before the glue could swallow it up and used his air bending to try and get Zuko free, but only succeeded in flipping him over so instead of facing the floor, Zuko was facing the world outside the grate. The wave of air that surrounded Aang had managed to move some of the glue away, but now it was closing in on him, and it had managed to get a hold of his staff! Hurriedly, he tried to pull it out, but the glue stuck and did not release the staff. To avoid being sucked into the glue, Aang jumped up to the grate on the ceiling, which he only realized was covered in the glue after he had grabbed it. He tried to yank himself free, but he could not.
"I can't move!" He said, "Zuko, do something!"
"Me? I can't move either!" Zuko said. They remained stuck as the glue continued to fill up the room until it came up to them, and began pushing against them. They both groaned as they felt the sudden pressure on their bodies from it, but it stopped a moment later, the amount of glue that had come out had apparently emptied.
"It stopped." Aang said in surprise.
"At least we have air." Zuko said, now thankful that Aang had flipped him over with his air bending, at the time he just found it annoying, "Maybe if we stay calm, we can figure a way out of this." Aang nodded as best he could in agreement, and tried to think of how he could get them out and back to safety.
"Whew!" Hoshiko sighed in relief once she and Toph had finished their battle. Toph had various scratches on her where Hoshiko had managed to knick the earth bender, and Hoshiko was covered in dirt, with a few bruises forming here and there on her arms and legs. She and Toph both collapsed on their behinds to rest, because they were both incredibly exhausted. "I gotta hand it to you Toph, you're an amazing earth bender."
"You're just figuring that out now?" Toph asked with a grin. Hoshiko laughed and lay down on her back, "But you're pretty good, too. You really snuck up on me a few times back there."
"That's only because I suspended the shadows." Hoshiko said, "Unless you can feel shadows?"
Toph shook her head, "I can only feel them when someone's bending them. They seem to get a little more solid then, and I can feel the weight they carry."
"I wasn't aware shadows weighed anything." Hoshiko said.
"It's only when you're bending them." Toph said, "Nothing else." Hoshiko didn't say anything else, just trying to catch her breath as she lay there. After a moment, she got up and Toph did the same. They headed back to where they had been speaking earlier, and saw Katara was handing out some dinner, the sun was beginning to go down in the distance. She looked at the two of them and gasped.
"What happened to you two?" She asked.
"We had a fight." Hoshiko said with a smile.
"And it was awesome!" Toph said, pumping her fists in the air, "You got a pretty strong lady on your side, Wolfy, I gotta say." Kotaro smiled.
"Of course she is." Hoshiko smiled at him and moved to sit next to him. Katara handed her a bowl of stew to eat for dinner and handed Toph another and they both began to eat. Hoshiko looked around and noticed that Aang and Zuko were not among them.
"Are Aang and Zuko still at the ruins?" She asked.
Katara frowned worriedly, "I think so." She began to slowly stir the stew to keep it from burning, "I'm getting worried about them. I hope they get back soon."
"I'm sure they'll be fine." Kotaro assured, "Maybe Zuko underestimated the time they'd have to spend flying and it's a day-long trip." Katara didn't look assured, but she took his comfort anyway. Hoshiko looked out at the horizon, seeing it was getting very close to night time, and if Zuko and Aang didn't hurry, they might not be able to return until tomorrow.
Aang glared up at the night sky as he and Zuko were still trapped in the glue.
"You had to pick up the glowing egg, didn't you?" He said dryly to him.
"At least I made something happen!" Zuko snapped back, "If it were up to you, we'd have never had made it past the courtyard!"
"HELP!" Aang hollered.
"Who are you yelling to?" Zuko asked, trying to ignore the sudden ringing in his ears from Aang's shout, "Nobody's lived here for centuries!"
"Well, what do you think we should do?" Aang asked.
Zuko paused, then looked up at the stars and said, "Think about our place in the universe?"
Aang sighed, but realized if they thought about that, it could at least take up a good deal of their time, and philosophical discussions like that can sometimes take years to finish. Luckily, they didn't need to wait years, because someone came up to the grate.
"Who is down there?" A voice asked angrily, the two boys looked up in shock to see a large man with his face painted, and dressed in tribal-like clothing.
"Um… help?" Zuko asked. The man narrowed his eyes, and called out something in an old tongue that neither Zuko nor Aang understood. A few moments later a few more came up, an interesting mix of humans and coyote Shinjuns. They removed the grate, taking the two of them with them and bringing over two creatures. Their long snouts included long tongues that shot out from their mouths and the saliva somehow loosened their bodies from the grate. Aang noticed that the large man, and a Shinjun coyote woman who looked rather old, were watching them as they kept getting licked by the two creatures. They set them down on the outer side of the stone gate and let the creatures lick all of the remaining glue off their bodies.
"For trying to take our sun stone," The man said, "You must be severely punished!"
"We didn't come here to take your sun stone." Zuko said, "We came here to find the ancient origin of all fire bending." The Shinjun woman looked at them, an amused twinkle shining in her eyes, though her face didn't show it.
"Yeah, right." One of the warriors said sarcastically, holding the golden, glowing egg that Zuko had picked up earlier, "They are obviously thieves, here to steal Sun Warrior treasures." The woman held out her arm, her staff blocking him from the two.
"Be quiet." She said, "We will allow these two trespassers to make their case, thieves or no."
"But they tried to sneak in!" A younger Shinjun girl argued, her clothes were different from the other Sun Warriors, dressed in a darker shade of red, just as the older Shinjun woman was, who regarded her with an unreadable expression, "They set off the trap and everything! Everything that comes out of their mouths must be lies!"
"Quiet, Inuka!" The woman ordered, the girl flinched and stepped back, clearly not wanting to disrespect her.
"Please," Aang said, getting their attention, "I don't normally play this card, but…" He paused for dramatic effect, "I'm the avatar." The Sun Warrior who had spoken up before looked between Aang and the large man, who was clearly the chief, wondering what they should do as Aang and Zuko stood up. "Just hear us out."
"My name is Zuko. Crown Prince of the Fire Nation. Or, at least, I used to be." Zuko began, "I know my people have distorted the ways of fire bending, to be fueled by anger and rage. But now I want to learn the true way. The original way. When we came here, I never imagined that the Sun Warrior civilization was secretly alive! I am truly humbled to be in your presence." He bowed to them, and Aang did the same. "Please, teach us." The Shinjun girl who had spoken up before, Inuka, let out a 'tsk'. The Shinjun woman swiftly smacked her on the head with her staff.
"Ow!" She hissed, going up and rubbing the spot she had hit. She glared at the woman behind her back as she tried to keep her head covered with her hands, her ears drooping.
"If you wish to learn the ways of the sun," The woman began, "You must learn them from the masters: Ran and Sha."
"Ran and Sha?" Aang repeated, "There are two of them?"
"When you present yourselves to them," The chief continued, "They will examine you. They'll read your hearts, your souls, and your ancestry." He moved to Zuko, who grimaced in fear at the notion of having his dragon-killing, war-starting family history read before the two masters, "If they deem you worthy, they'll teach you. If they don't, you'll be destroyed on the spot."
Aang and Zuko shared a fearful glance, wondering just what these masters were like, and whether or not they would live.
Hoshiko slid into the bed, beside Kotaro, who smiled at her, his arm immediately going around her waist and bringing him closer to her. He kissed her forehead, her nose, and her lips. Hoshiko giggled as he did so.
"You're just so full of affection lately." She said to him.
"I missed you." Kotaro said, kissing underneath her chin, "Is it so wrong to want to be near someone after you've been separated for so long?" He kissed her neck, and her breath hitched.
"It's not wrong." She said, "I'm just making an observation." She moved her hands underneath his chin and brought his face up to hers to share a kiss with him.
"What kind of observation?" Kotaro asked. Hoshiko smirked and kissed him again and again, slowly moving on top of him as they both lay under the covers.
"Just observations about you." Hoshiko said, kissing him again, feeling Kotaro's hands drop down to her hips, "Like the way you like to hold me." She kissed his nose, like he had done for her, "Or where you like to be teased." She reached up and scratched the area behind his wolf ears, and he let out a low growl in pleasure.
"You're treading in dangerous waters, doing that." He said with a mischievous little smirk on his face. Hoshiko mirrored it.
"Oh, am I?" She asked cheekily. Kotaro let out a growl and deftly flipped them over so he was on top, and he feign attacked her neck. Hoshiko let out laughter as he did so, but it quickly turned to deep sighs, and soft moans of pleasure. She held him close, and moved his face up to hers, and they shared deep kisses until their hunger for each other was sated and they moved to get ready for sleep.
"Do you think Aang and Zuko are alright?" She asked him as he settled down next to her.
"Hmm?" He closed his eyes as he got ready for sleep, "I'm sure they're fine. They're both pretty tough and pretty smart. Whatever's happening, I'm sure they'll make it out okay." Hoshiko wasn't completely assured, but she closed her eyes to try and fall asleep anyway.
The next morning, after getting served a very strange, but surprisingly delicious breakfast by the Sun Warriors, Zuko and Aang followed the tribe up to a place where a huge fire burned in a giant hearth. The chief and the tribe priestess, as the Shinjun woman said she was, stood in front of them along with a few other members of the tribe.
"If you're going to see the masters," The priestess said, "You must bring them a piece of the Eternal Flame."
The chief turned to the fire burning behind him, "This fire is the very first one." He turned back to Zuko and Aang, "It was given to man by the dragons. We have kept it going for thousands of years."
"I don't believe it…" Zuko breathed in awe.
"You will each take a piece of it to the masters." The chief instructed them, "To show your commitment to the sacred art of fire bending."
"Um… Mister Sun Chief, sir?" Aang began awkwardly, "Yeah… I'm not a fire bender yet. Couldn't my friend here carry my fire for me?"
"No." The chief and the priestess said at the same time. They both turned around, ignoring Aang's nervous expression as they used fire bending to take some of the fire and put it into their hands, holding it out to Zuko and Aang.
"This ritual illustrates the essence of Sun Warrior philosophy." The priestess began, she looked to Aang, "You must maintain a constant heat, the flame will go out if you make it too small."
"Make it too big," The chief said, looking at Zuko, "And you might lose control." Zuko reached out without hesitation and took the piece of the flame from the chief and held it. He looked over at Aang, who looked at the piece of fire anxiously.
"I'm sorry," He said to the priestess, "I'm just a little nervous." He reached out his hands around the fire, cringing in fear, and the priestess moved her hands away. Aang held the little flame, and his expression softened into a relieved and awed smile. "It's… like a little heartbeat."
"Fire is life," The priestess said, a gentle expression on her aged face, "Not just destruction. Without fire, man would not be here today. It gives us our food and keeps us warm, and lights our way into the darkness." Aang looked up at her, and she gave him a soft smile.
"You will take the flames up there." The chief pointed to a split mountain top, "The cave of the masters is beneath that rock."
"However, you do not know the pathway since neither of you have seen it." The priestess said, "And so, a guide will be assigned to you. Inuka!" The Shinjun girl in question jumped to attention. "You will lead the avatar and the Fire Nation prince to the masters." She looked at her with wide, disbelieving eyes.
"Why me?!" She demanded, her voice almost screeching. The human Sun Warrior who had spoken up the night before snickered into his hand. Inuka glared at him to get him to shut up, "You can't honestly expect me to-" The priestess glared at her, and she flinched back. With a reluctant sigh, she said, "Yes, grandmother." Aang and Zuko's eyes widened. She was the priestess's granddaughter?
Inuka led the way up the path to the split mountain, a scowl seeming to be permanently planted on her face as she easily moved through the pathway, Zuko and Aang trailing just behind her. She looked back over her shoulder at them, "Come on, I don't have all day! I'd like to get to the mountain top before the sun goes down!"
"Well, maybe if you were carrying a piece of the Eternal Flame, you'd understand why we're going so slowly!" Zuko hollered at her. Aang brought up the last of their group, carefully protecting his small flame with his hand.
"Oh, boo-hoo." Inuka snapped at him as he came up, her tail flicking back and forth, "Poor you." He glared at her as he came up to where she stood, she glared back, "You think I want to waste my time guiding a couple of ignorant outsiders to the masters? I have better ways to spend my mornings!"
"We're just trying to learn some fire bending." Aang said as he came up to her.
"You're the avatar." Inuka said with a scowl, "You were hidden for a hundred years. Don't you know fire bending by now?" Aang's expression fell to one of sadness.
"He was frozen in an iceberg," Zuko said, "He couldn't learn anything in an iceberg." Inuka rolled her eyes.
"Fine, whatever." She said, she grumbled as she started to walk past Zuko. There was mostly silence between the three of them as they continued to walk.
"So, why did the priestess choose you to guide us?" Aang asked, trying to make some conversation.
"Probably because she just wanted to give me something to do." Inuka said, she scowled, "Everyone thinks I'm a nuisance, so she probably just doesn't want me to cause trouble."
"Why do people think that?" Aang asked.
Inuka didn't answer and continued onwards.
They climbed up over a particularly steep part of the hill, and Inuka began to speak again.
"In our tribe, the priestess is the most valuable female," She began randomly, "Because Shinjuns have special connections to nature because of their animalistic qualities. The priestess's position is passed on to their grandchild, skipping one generation every time. And it's very important that the priestess is able to fire bend so they can have a better understanding of the masters and their great abilities." She paused, scowling at the ground, "I'm the first generation in over one thousand years that cannot fire bend." She looked back at Zuko and Aang, "That's why everyone sees me as a nuisance. I can't fire bend, and I can't take the proper lessons in order to become a priestess."
Zuko looked at her in pity, "That doesn't seem very fair." He said.
"That's how our people are." Inuka said as she began to trudge onwards, "In our world, fire bending is everything."
"But just because you can't fire bend doesn't mean that you don't still have potential." Zuko said. Inuka shrugged.
"It's just how we are. We can't change our ways." She said. She continued upwards, "I know I have potential. It's just going to take a lot for everyone to see it, especially Ham-Gao…" She muttered the last part to herself. "I can take on anything that's thrown at me. That's why I agreed to guide you to the masters' cave."
"You were against being our guide every step of the way." Zuko said dryly.
"I'm trying to make myself feel better, hush!" Inuka said quickly to him.
"Look," Zuko began, "Just because you can't fire bend doesn't mean you don't have the same strength, or wisdom, or whatever it is that you need to be a priestess." Inuka looked back at him in surprise as he spoke, "From what I've learned, all you really need to do something is the proper drive. If you have the right goal set in your mind, you can succeed and do whatever you have to. The ability to fire bend doesn't mean that you're useless. It just means that your mind will be more focused on the philosophy and the meaning behind that position, instead of just focusing your energy on your ability to bend." Inuka paused, standing in front of Zuko with wide, shining eyes. Her expression dropped, and she gave him a gratified smile.
"Thank you." She said quietly.
They quickly noticed that it was only the two of them. They looked behind to see Aang was very far behind them.
"Hurry up." Zuko called to him.
"I can't." Aang said as he climbed up a rock, being careful to make sure his flame was safe, "If I walk too fast, my flame will go out."
"Your flame will go out because it's too small." Inuka called to him, "You're too timid. Give it a little more power."
"But what if I can't control it?" Aang asked worriedly.
"You can do it." Zuko said, "I know you can. You're a talented kid." Aang smiled at his words and he pushed himself up a little more, giving his flame a little more power so it would grow a little larger and last a little longer.
They reached the top of the mountain as the sun began to go down and when they walked to the caves, they saw that the other Sun Warriors, along with the chief and priestess had already arrived ahead of them. Inuka stood with them as they were approached by the chief, priestess, and two other Sun Warriors.
"Facing the judgment of the fire bending masters will be especially dangerous for you." The chief said, he looked to Zuko, "Your ancestors are directly responsible for the dragon's disappearance. The masters might not be so happy to see you."
"I know I wouldn't be." Ham-Gao said with a grin.
"But once they find out I'm the avatar-" Aang began, only to be cut off by the priestess.
"Have you forgotten that you vanished?" She asked, "Your disappearance allowed the Fire Nation to wreak havoc on the world. The decline of the dragons is your burden, too." She looked to Inuka, "You have fulfilled your purpose, Inuka. Join the others." She nodded.
"Yes, Grandmother." She said.
"Maybe your only purpose." Ham-Gao said quietly as she walked by. She glared at him and raised her foot back to kick him, "Ow!" The chief and priestess looked the other way.
The two leaders reached forward and took a small piece of the flames that both had brought, the chief taking a piece of Aang's and the priestess taking a piece of Zuko's. They passed them along to Ham-Gao and the other Sun Warrior, who passed it on to others so they could make rings of fire, others sitting on their knees in front of drums as the priestess and chief moved towards the stairs that connected a bridge to the cave of the two masters.
"We could turn back now." Aang whispered to Zuko, "We've already learned more about fire than we hoped." He held up the little flame with a smile.
"No. We're seeing this through to the end." Zuko said determinedly. "We're gonna meet these masters and find out what's so great about them." Aang didn't look very happy at the prospect.
"What if they judge us, and attack us?" Aang asked worriedly.
"Well, we're the Fire Prince and the avatar." Zuko said, he reached back and pulled out the hilt of his dao blades, "I think we can take these guys in a fight, whoever they are." Aang looked reluctant, but nodded in agreement. They looked back to see that all the Sun Warriors who were standing now held a ring of fire, and the chief and priestess stood at the bottom of the stairs, holding their respective staffs. Zuko turned to them, shouting, "Bring 'em out!"
The chief and priestess raised their staffs and shouted together, "Chanters!"
The drums began to beat loudly, and a chant in that same ancient language began to fill the air as Zuko and Aang went forward. The chief and priestess moved aside so that they could go up the large amount of stairs. They did so, the chants continuing until they reached the top. They both looked at the two caves, wondering what they needed to do.
A familiar voice boomed up to them from below, "Those who wish to meet the masters Ran and Sha will now present their fire!" Inuka shouted up at them from below.
The two of them shared a glance before they turned around, and presented their fires to each cave mouth.
"Sound the call!" The chief ordered, and one of the Sun Warriors blew into a huge horn, and it carried throughout the mountains and well across them. There was a loud rumbling in response from one of the caves, and Aang jumped. He turned around to Zuko.
"What's happening?" He asked fearfully. He looked over Zuko's shoulder to see what was happening, but saw nothing. Zuko glanced back at him as if to ask, 'What are you doing? Get back to your position!' Aang turned back to the cave he had been facing, and gasped when he realized that, in his hastiness to see what was happening, he had dropped his position and the piece of the Eternal Flame he had been holding had gone out! He turned and said in a harsh whisper, "Zuko! My fire went out!"
"What do you want me to do?" Zuko whispered in return, keeping his position.
"Give me some of yours!" Aang said, trying to reach for Zuko's fire. Zuko pushed him back.
"No, just make your own!" Zuko said.
"I can't!" Aang whispered, he tried to reach for the fire again, but Zuko kept him back with his arm.
"Get some from one of those warriors. Hurry!" Zuko said, nodding down to the Sun Warriors who held the rings of fire. Aang didn't listen and kept reaching for Zuko's. Angrily, he snapped, "Stop cheating off me!"
"Quit being stingy!" Aang shot back. Neither of them noticed the odd stares the Sun Warriors below gave them. Inuka groaned quietly and smacked her forehead.
"Outsiders…" She muttered.
Aang kept trying to reach for Zuko's fire while he kept it away from him. Aang kept trying and trying, and without meaning to, he made Zuko lose his position, making his fire go out. Zuko looked back at Aang, both glaring and giving him wide eyes. They looked back at the caves, a much louder rumbling coming from them, and the two of them went stiff.
"Uh-oh." Aang said, seeing two yellow glaring eyes from the cave. Out of the cave came two dragons, one red and one blue, and they both began to circle around Zuko and Aang, causing large and powerful winds.
"These are the masters…" Zuko realized quietly.
"Still think we can take 'em?" Aang asked him.
Zuko quickly shushed him, "I never said that!"
Down below, the Sun Warriors bowed to the two dragons, prostrating themselves on their knees to show their great respect for the masters.
"Oh, here it comes!" Ham-Gao said with a grin, "Any moment now…! Dinner for the masters."
"Silence, Ham-Gao." The priestess whispered to him.
"What? Everyone's thinking it." Ham-Gao muttered, but he remained quiet as the priestess wanted.
The dragons continued to circle around Aang and Zuko, their snake-like bodies moving in different patterns, completely in-sync to each other as they flew. Aang watched them carefully, noticing the similarities, and he thought of something.
"Zuko," He whispered, "I think we're supposed to do the Dragon Dance with them."
"What?" Zuko whispered back, "What about this situation made you think they'd want us to dance?"
"Well, I think they want us to do something." Aang said, "Let's just try it."
Zuko let out an annoyed groan, but he had to agree, it was better than doing nothing, "Fine." He and Aang began to perform the steps they had done earlier that day, performing the moves in perfect harmony, as well as moving with the dragons. They didn't realize it as they were dancing, but the dragons' flight patterns moved with their dancing as well, their long bodies following the arms of Aang and Zuko as they danced.
Finally, the dance came to an end, and the two noticed the dragons had stopped flying in circles, but were just hovering on either side of the podium where they stood, their sharp eyes frightening them with their intense stares.
"Judgment time." The priestess said, looking up when she saw the dragons had stopped. Aang and Zuko stood back to back, looking at the growling dragons in fear. Aang was terrified, shaking on the spot, fearing the dragon's judgment. Zuko was afraid as well, but he wasn't shaking as much as Aang was. He was terrified of what the dragons might do, but he was also in awe to be standing before one at the moment, even if it was practically threatening to eat him with its deep growl.
The dragons latched their claws onto the stairs that Zuko and Aang had come up and opened their mouths, huge waves of fire pouring out. They screamed in fear and held up their arms to protect themselves, but the fire didn't hit them. The two fiery breaths collided with each other and formed a whirlwind of fire around them. They watched in awe as it swirled over their heads, the fires changing colors before them, some blue, some red, even some green and purple. Colors of fire they had never seen before. It amazed them and they couldn't tear their eyes away from the amazing display, not that they wanted to.
"Whoa…" Aang breathed in awe.
"I understand…" Zuko murmured quietly, getting the message of what the two dragons were trying to tell him with this beautiful show of fire.
It only lasted a few moments, but a few moments was all that they needed. The dragons soon stopped and they pulled away, flying back up and into their caves, only to be disturbed when the Sun Warriors call on them again. Zuko and Aang were still, their minds still processing what they had just seen, and they tried to remember it, but found it difficult to do so. The display had been amazing and mind-blowing, but the details seemed to fail them as they tried to remember it.
Soon, the Sun Warriors all got up, Ham-Gao scowling when he saw the two of them hadn't been destroyed, but didn't complain. The rings of fire were put out, and everyone stood up to greet Aang and Zuko as they came down the large amount of stairs.
"Their fire was beautiful." Zuko said to Aang as they walked downwards. "I saw so many colors- colors I've never imagined!" He came down before the chief, priestess, Inuka, and Ham-Gao.
"Like fire bending harmony." Aang said in agreement.
"Yes, they judged you," The priestess said, "And they gave you visions of the meaning of fire bending."
"I can't believe there are still living dragons!" Zuko said to them, "My uncle Iroh said he faced the last dragon and killed it."
"So your uncle lied." Aang said.
"Actually, it wasn't a total lie." The chief said with a smile, "Iroh was the last outsider to face the masters. They deemed him worthy, and passed the secret onto him as well." Zuko's eyes widened.
"He must have lied to protect them." Zuko realized, "So no one else would hunt them."
"All this time," Aang began, "I thought fire bending was destruction. Since I hurt Katara, I've been too afraid and hesitant. But now I know what it really is. It's energy… and life."
"Yeah…" Zuko murmured in agreement, "It's like the sun, but inside of you. Do you guys realize this?" He turned to the chief and priestess.
"Well, our civilization is called the 'Sun' Warriors," The priestess said with a humorous grin, "So yes."
"That's why my fire bending was so weak before." Zuko began, "Because for so many years," He turned to Aang, "Hunting you was my drive. It was my purpose. So when I joined you, I lost sight of my inner fire. But now, I have a new drive. I have to help you defeat my father, and restore balance to the world." He turned and performed a couple of fire bending moves, a satisfied smile coming onto his face when he saw two huge waves of fire coming out, instead of the little candle flames like before. Aang performed a similar move, and a happy grin broke out on his face when he saw how powerful the fire was, instead of a little puff of smoke. He was no longer hesitant and timid. He was ready.
He and Zuko shared a happy glance, glad that they were able to understand the true meaning of fire bending.
"Now that you have learned the secrets," The chief said, coming up to them, "And you know about our tribe's existence, we have no choice but to imprison you here forever!"
Zuko and Aang flinched in fear.
The shocked silence of the two was broken when the priestess reached over with her staff and wacked the chief on the back of the head.
"Really now, is it so fair to tease them like that?" She scolded, although her smile showed that she was amused by his humor. She turned to Aang and Zuko, "He was just kidding." They both breathed a sigh of relief, "But remember!" They both flinched back when the priestess came closer to them, a sharp glare in her eyes, "You cannot tell a soul of what you have seen of our society. We have been 'dead' for over a thousand years, and we'd like to keep it that way. If we are found out, I will know it was you, and you will face punishment. Understand?" They both nodded silently and the glare disappeared as the priestess righted herself, "Now. The time has come when you both must leave. Inuka will guide you to the edge of our civilization and you may leave from there."
"Yes grandmother." Inuka said, she smiled at the two and began to lead the way down the mountain, taking a separate path than the one they had come up, which seemed much shorter than the other, but neither of them were complaining as Inuka walked them back.
The three of them moved through the ruins, heading all the way down to the courtyard, where Inuka stopped.
"This is where I leave you." She said to them, "I wish you both the best of luck in your quest."
Zuko nodded, and Aang said, "Thank you."
"I also need to thank you." Inuka said to Zuko, "The words you told me have given me great confidence, and when I am announced as priestess to the Sun Warrior people, your words will remain in my heart as I do my best to lead them and to follow our ancient philosophy."
"I'm glad." Zuko said, he held out his hand to her, and she looked at it oddly, "You're supposed to shake it."
"Oh." Inuka wrinkled her nose, "Why?"
"It's how us outsiders say goodbye to friends we'll probably never see again." Zuko explained. Inuka smiled and reached out, taking his hand with the wrong one and shaking it up and down with a smile.
"Well, then, goodbye fire prince Zuko." She went over to Aang and shook his hand the same way, shaking his right hand with her left, "And goodbye to you, avatar." Aang smiled nervously, feeling a little awkward about the strange handshake. She stepped back and made a traditional Fire Nation bow, "This is how Sun Warriors say goodbye to old friends." Zuko and Aang mimicked it perfectly and they both turned and walked on, Inuka waving goodbye to them as they went away before she began the trek back to her people.
Aang and Zuko were greeted with warm hugs and 'hello's when they returned to the Western Air Temple. Katara hugged Aang as soon as she saw him, telling him about how worried she was when he didn't return after nightfall on the day that they had left.
"So…" Hoshiko began as she walked up to them, Kotaro beside her, "Success?"
"Yes!" Aang exclaimed happily, jumping in the air and hovering for a minute with his air bending.
"Well, I should hope so." Kotaro said, "All that time spent for nothing would be… well, wasted effort."
"So, what happened?" Toph asked.
"Well, technically, we're not allowed to tell anyone about it," Zuko began, "But the gist of it is: we found the last two dragons in existence, and they helped us understand the real meaning behind fire bending."
"Did you learn any new moves?" Xana asked, excited by their short little secretive story.
"We did, actually!" Aang said happily, he looked to Zuko, "Let's show them." Everyone seated themselves as they watched Aang and Zuko perform the 'new move' they had learned from their trip. Which was improved with bits of fire shooting out instead of no fire at all, as it had been when they performed it before.
"With this new technique the dragons showed us," Aang said as their moves came to an end, "Zuko and I will be unstoppable!" Their fists met, signaling the end of it, and everyone applauded it appreciatively.
"Yeah, that's a great dance you two learned there." Sokka said.
"It's not a dance." Zuko said firmly, standing up straight, "It's a fire bending form!"
"We'll just tap dance our way to victory over the Fire Lord." Sokka continued, getting a few giggles from those around him.
"It's a sacred form that happens to be thousands of years old!" Zuko snapped, marching over to him.
"Oh yeah?" Katara asked, "What's your little form called?"
Zuko grimaced as he muttered out, "…The Dancing Dragon."
Everyone shared a few laughs at his expense when they saw his face.
"Well, in any case, we're just glad you two are back." Hoshiko said, "We were getting a little worried about you two."
"Are you sure you can't tell us what happened?" Xana asked, narrowing her eyes at them suspiciously, hoping it would get them to talk.
"Sworn to secrecy. Sorry." Aang said with a grin. Xana's face turned into a pouty one.
"Phooey!" She crossed her arms over her chest like an angry child.
Tada!
Inuka is an OC made by my friend, hope you liked her!