38
"…And then, Zuko's girlfriend comes in from out of nowhere, and helps us out!" Sokka said, reaching the end of his story, "After that, we stole Azula's zeppelin, and we rode it all the way here. The end."
"Zuko has a girlfriend?" Kotaro asked, looking over at the scarred prince in question.
"It's… Mai, isn't it?" Hoshiko asked, "That's her name, right?"
"You remember that?" Zuko asked.
"Well, it's all still a little bit fuzzy…" Hoshiko mumbled, reaching up and scratching her head, "I don't remember everything, but I remember that Kagemi didn't like her very much. Then again, she didn't like anyone very much."
"She liked Azula," Zuko said, before taking a sip from his drink.
"No, she hated Azula." Hoshiko said, "I think she was actually planning her assassination. Secretly, of course."
"Wouldn't surprise me." Zuko said.
"Who's Kagemi?" Hakoda asked.
"Someone never to be seen again." Hoshiko said, a darkness lying in her undertone, "Don't worry about it, Hakoda." Kotaro covered her hand with hers, giving it a comforting squeeze. Xana pointed at Suki.
"So… you're Sokka's girlfriend, or something," Xana said, she looked at Hakoda, "And you're Sokka and Katara's dad," She turned to Chit Sang, "So… what's your story?"
"I was a prisoner at the Boiling Rock." He said.
"What were you in for?" Xana asked.
"They singled me out as the one who started a riot in the Fire Nation capitol." Chit Sang said.
"That would explain how you knew how to start a prison riot so well." Hakoda said with a small grin. Chit Sang returned it with a grin of his own.
"Why do I not know about his girlfriend?" Kotaro asked, going off the subject of Chit Sang.
"Because she's really gloomy and depressing," Hoshiko said with a grin, she turned to Zuko, "No offense."
"None taken. She can be like that sometimes." Zuko said with a shrug.
"Sometimes?" Hoshiko repeated.
"Don't push it." Zuko warned, pointing at her. She raised her hands up in surrender, but still bore that grin on her face.
"Anything else I don't know about?" Kotaro asked.
"Nothing of significant importance." Zuko said.
"Whatever." He shrugged.
"Anything interesting happen on the ride back?" Toph asked, wondering if Sokka had anything more to add to his story.
"Other than getting to know each other and catching up, not really." Suki said with a shrug.
"Oh… well that's boring." Xana said with a pout.
"Not all stories can have the epic ending you like, Xana." Hoshiko said to her. Her pout got bigger.
"Couldn't hurt to fake one…" She muttered. Hoshiko only rolled her eyes.
"Anyway," Hoshiko put her now empty bowl down on the ground, "I'm done for tonight. I'm going to bed."
"I'll come with you." Kotaro said, quickly putting his own bowl down, the food only two-thirds gone.
"Why don't you guys sleep out here with us for once?" Katara asked, "It's a beautiful night." The Shinjun couple shared a glance, silently sharing a small conversation before looking back at the water bender.
"Well, we were kind of… hoping to…" Kotaro stopped when he heard Sokka groan.
"We don't need to hear about what you're planning to do in bed!" He whined.
"We're not planning on doing that!" Hoshiko exclaimed with a bright blush. "But, um…" She cleared her throat, "I don't think it would hurt to sleep outside tonight." Kotaro pouted a little.
"Are you sure?" He asked her quietly, his voice barely heard by the others, "In our room we have privacy and-"
"You can go without for one night." Hoshiko replied with a joking smile. She headed over to their room to get their sleeping bags.
Dinner didn't last much longer after that. Soon everyone was outside, sleeping on the platform. Well… almost everyone.
Hoshiko shifted, trying to get comfortable as sleep continued to evade her. She tried to occupy herself by looking around at the other sleeping forms around her. She couldn't help the smile on her face when she saw that Sokka and his father both slept the same way- with their faces stuffed facedown into their pillows. Chit Sang was sprawled out all over his sleeping bag, Xana sleeping in a similar position in her own, Haru lying next to her, with his fingers linked together over his chest. She looked at Kotaro, who slept next to her. His expression was tranquil and soft breathing escaped from his lips as he dreamed away. Hoshiko gently reached up, about to trace the small scar above his eyebrow and below his eye, but stopped and pulled back, not wanting to wake him. She didn't want to trouble him with what was troubling her.
A few nights ago, she had had a dream. It wasn't a nightmare, but it wasn't a happy dream either. She had a sinking feeling that it was a memory of something. Something important, but she just couldn't remember what. What she could remember about the dream was that it took place in the Fire Lord's war room. She was there… possibly. It could have been that she was seeing through Kagemi's eyes. The Fire Lord was there, too; as well as Zuko and Azula and unknown fire bending officials of various importance. What she could remember was that it was a meeting between them and the Fire Lord. She remembered that someone suggested… something. It was something horrible, something that made her stomach turn and her insides burn in fury, but she couldn't remember what.
She shifted again, and accidentally woke up Kotaro who was sleeping beside her.
"Hoshi…?" He murmured quietly, she looked over at him, her face contorting to one of guilt as she watched him rub his eyes, "You okay?"
"I'm fine." She whispered, turning so she could face him, "I just can't sleep."
"What's wrong?" Kotaro asked.
"There's… something on my mind." Hoshiko said, "I can't stop thinking about it."
"Well, think about it with your eyes closed." Kotaro mumbled, reaching over and rubbing her arm, "Go to sleep. It's the middle of the night."
"I'm sorry." Hoshiko said softly, Kotaro shook his head dismissively.
"Don't be sorry." He said, he leaned over and kissed her forehead, "Just get some sleep, we'll talk about whatever's on your mind in the morning, 'kay?" Hoshiko smiled at him, though he couldn't see it through the darkness of the night.
"Okay." She whispered, leaning over to kiss him softly as a way to say goodnight and to say thank you before cuddling up beside him, getting comfortable and closing her eyes, letting sleep take her.
The next morning, everyone was awoken by the sudden rumbling of an exploded Fire Nation bomb as it hit just outside the Air Temple. Hoshiko sat up to see a small war zeppelin armada was coming up towards them. She quickly stood up, as did everyone else, preparing for battle. Aang ran towards them and, with an impressive flurry of his staff, used his air bending to move some of the more flattened parts of the platform to make a barrier to temporarily protect them from the bombs, however, it didn't stop the bombs from being fired. The result was a caving roof.
Zuko saw that one particular piece was about to fall on top of Katara. "Watch out!" He yelled as he ran forward and dove into her, effectively pushing her out of the way of the debris.
"What are you doing?" Katara demanded angrily, clearly not happy about being touched by the fire bender.
"Keeping rocks from crushing you." Zuko growled.
"Okay, I'm not crushed. You can get off me now!" Katara snapped as she quickly stood back up and ran towards the others.
"I'll take that as a thank you." Zuko muttered to himself as he got up.
Toph and Haru went to the stone wall of the temple and used their earth bending to create a large tunnel that went through to the other side where Zuko had put the war zeppelin from their trip to the Boiling Rock.
"Come on!" Toph signaled the others, "We can get out through here!" Everyone began dashing towards the tunnel, Aang struggling to pull Appa along with them. He looked up in surprise when he saw Zuko was standing at the shelter wall, making no move to follow them.
"What are you doing?" He demanded.
"Go ahead! I'll hold them off!" Zuko called over his shoulder. He looked back at the wall with a glare, "I think this is a family visit." He ran at the wall, heading for the small openings that had been made by the bombs.
"Zuko, no!" Aang called to him. Sokka and Katara ran up to the air bender to stop him from going after Zuko.
"Come on! We've gotta get out of here!" Sokka said. Aang didn't look very happy about it, but he continued to pull Appa towards the tunnel as Zuko ran towards the zeppelins. Sokka and Katara helped him to get the bison near the tunnel, and Toph used her earth bending to make a shelter to protect him so he would at least be safe from debris as they escaped, but the bombs and explosions still happened outside, making the huge bison very afraid and anxious. Hoshiko and Kotaro were helping to try and pull him along, but he wouldn't move.
"I can't get him to go in there! Appa hates tunnels!" Aang said as he and the others kept trying to pull the bison inside.
"Well, we can't fly out of here!" Hoshiko said as she struggled to pull the bison forward.
"We'll have to find a way." Aang said, stopping the pull of the reigns, seeing that Appa was being too stubborn to move.
"We need to split up." Sokka said, he went over to where the others were, "Take the tunnel and get to the stolen air ship."
Katara's eyes widened at the mention, "No!" Sokka and Hakoda were surprised by her sudden outburst, "The Fire Nation can't separate our family again!"
"It'll be okay." Hakoda said, putting his hands on his daughter's shoulders, "It's not forever."
Katara wasn't happy about it, but she hugged her father goodbye. Sokka did the same and grabbed Suki's hand, taking her with him as they headed towards Appa. Xana frowned at the thought of leaving her friends again, but she shared a small embrace with both of them before they went to the bison. The two Shinjuns easily climbed up to the saddle as Appa turned around towards the other end of Toph's shelter. Katara pulled Suki and her brother up as Toph put her hand on the wall of her shelter, judging how she should earth bend it. It only took her a moment before she ran for the bison.
"I can clear that away and we can fly out through there!" She said, using earth bending to jump up onto the bison's saddle.
"Um, there's an awful lot of fire in that general direction." Suki said, everyone flinched when the shelter rumbled from another bomb.
"We'll get through." Aang assured her, "Let's go." He whipped Appa's reigns and the bison shot forward, Aang holding some of the shelter rocks together in front of him to provide something of a shield as they flew past one of the zeppelins, which was a good idea because Azula had fired at them, and they were protected. They flew over the air ship, and Hoshiko looked back at the princess, whose eyes widened when she saw the dark haired Shinjun on the bison's saddle. The fur on Hoshiko's tail prickled, her anger towards the princess showing through a fierce glare. She watched as another zeppelin rose up, Zuko standing on the top of it. Azula turned to face her brother, who ran across the zeppelin and jumped over to the one she stood on. Hoshiko would have paid more attention to their battle, if it weren't for the sudden incoming fire that came from the other zeppelins around them. She and Katara stood up, using their bending to fend off the fire from hitting anyone. They flew closer and closer to the zeppelin that carried the soldiers firing at them, all of them standing on an extended plank, they were all kept from falling off the zeppelin by a special harness with a cord that swung rapidly from the high winds. Aang yanked the reigns, making Appa fly straight up into the air and over the zeppelin.
The sound of a loud explosion caught their attention and they looked to see the battle between Zuko and Azula had caused them both to go toppling over the edge of the zeppelin. Aang quickly had Appa turn around and they flew towards the plummeting Zuko. Hoshiko held out her hand for the fire bender, who grabbed it and hung on tightly as they flew away from Azula, whose arms and legs were flailing around as she fell. Zuko looked back and watched her fall.
"She's…not gonna make it." Zuko said bleakly, his face blank.
Hoshiko said nothing as she watched her fall, her eyes not leaving the sight of the princess.
Azula seemed to recover her wits and she reached up, taking out her hairpiece and blasting herself towards the wall of the cliff that the Western Air Temple was built on. She stabbed her hairpiece into the cliff side and skidding to a halt along the wall.
"Of course she did." Zuko muttered.
Hoshiko narrowed her eyes as she looked at the continually shrinking form of the princess as they flew away, well out of range from the fire benders on the zeppelins.
They flew for a few hours before they found a small island. It was void of any signs of life other than a few animals, so they landed there and made camp. Everyone was given various duties to help out, Zuko and Hoshiko being given fire wood duty. They headed out to find some fire wood while Sokka took Kotaro on hunting duty so they could have something to cook. The area they went to was heavily forested, so it wasn't hard to find random fallen branches and various other sticks, as well as some leaves to help start up the fire.
As they worked, they were both pretty quiet, not that either of them minded. Hoshiko's mind, in the silence, kept going back to her rather fuzzy memory/dream. She looked over at Zuko, who was gathering a couple of sticks in his arms.
"Hey, Zuko?"
"Yeah?" He looked over at her.
"Was there ever a meeting at the Fire Nation palace while I was there?" She asked him, "I mean, not me, but… you know."
"…Yeah." Zuko said slowly, "Why do you ask? Do you remember it?"
"Well… I think I do." Hoshiko said, she rubbed her head, "I had a dream about it the other night… I don't remember what it was about, though. I just remember Kagemi got really pissed. Was there any meeting like that?" She noticed how Zuko couldn't meet her eyes all of a sudden.
"Yeah, it was a war meeting. Kagemi wasn't too happy about the plans." Zuko said, he quickly stood up, "I think we have enough fire wood for tonight." He hastily went back to the camp, and Hoshiko gave him an odd look.
"Um… okay." She gathered up the firewood she had and followed him.
"People!" Sokka's voice came from the wooded area and everyone looked back to see him holding up his prize from hunting, which was a large trout, "Worry no more, for we return… with dinner!" Kotaro let out a snort of laughter, carrying a few more fish with him.
"Very dramatic." He praised sarcastically, he went over to the others, "But we got a pretty good haul, nonetheless. And we found a moon peach tree with tons of fruit for you to chow down on, Aang." He tossed a peach to Aang, who eagerly caught it and took a bite.
They prepared the fish, and by the time the sun had gone down, the food was ready to eat. Everyone happily ate their ration of fish/peaches.
Aang smiled and looked around at the circle they had all made around the fire.
"Wow… camping." He said with a grin, "It really seems like old times again, doesn't it?"
A few nodded in agreement.
"If you really want it to feel like old times, I could, uh, chase you around a while and try to capture you." Zuko said with a humorous grin. Everyone got a good laugh out of it, except Katara.
"Ha ha." She muttered darkly, glaring at the ground.
Sokka was particularly amused and held up his cup to propose a toast, "To Zuko. Who knew after all those times he tried to snuff us out, today he'd be our hero?"
"Hear, hear!" Toph, Aang, Hoshiko, Kotaro, and Suki said, holding up their cups. Aang nudged the fire bender playfully, and Toph gave him a friendly punch to the shoulder.
"I'm touched." Zuko said humbly, "I don't deserve this."
"Yeah, no kidding." Katara growled, glaring at the fire prince before standing up and walking away.
"What's with her?" Sokka asked, raising an eyebrow at his sister's behavior.
"I wish I knew." Zuko said, keeping his eyes on Katara as she walked away from them. He stood up and followed her as they went to a different spot on the island.
"What's with him?" Sokka asked when Zuko left them.
"I bet he's going to talk to her." Kotaro said, "She's pretty… abrasive around him."
"Abrasive?" Sokka asked.
"It means she's mean to him." Hoshiko said, Sokka scowled.
"I know what it means." He said, "I'm not stupid."
"Could have fooled me~." Hoshiko sang with a grin, everyone laughed at her joke, the light and airy mood from before restored. Sokka only smiled.
"It's good to have you back, Hoshi." He said, patting her on the back. She smiled at him.
"So, how long are we going to be out here? Or is this going to be our base until Sozin's comet?" Hoshiko asked.
"It's not much of a base," Aang said, looking around their camp, "We'll stay here for a day, maybe two, and then we'll head out to find a better location." Hoshiko nodded.
"I like that." Hoshiko said, before taking a sip of her drink.
The next morning, Hoshiko was helping Aang to clean Appa's coat a little, getting out some burs and twigs and such that had gotten caught in his coat in their time out. Kotaro was doing his part as well. Sokka was off to the side, 'supervising' them as he made a ring of flowers for Suki. From what Kotaro could tell, they had had plans last night, and a certain fire bender interrupted them, but it wasn't anything that couldn't be rescheduled to that night (he hoped).
He looked up when he noticed his sister marching over to them with Zuko just behind her, carrying a bag of supplies.
"I need to borrow Appa." Katara said, a determined expression on her face as she came over to Aang, who handed Appa another handful of hay to keep him still while they cleaned out some of his coat.
"Why?" Aang asked, jokingly, he added, "Is it your turn to take a little field trip with Zuko?"
"Yes. It is." Katara replied. Aang looked up, surprised at her sudden, and clearly serious, answer. Hoshiko and Kotaro exchanged confused glances.
"Oh… What's going on?" Aang said, turning to Katara to give her his full attention.
"We're going to find the man that took my mother from me." Katara said. Sokka's head jerked up, and the two Shinjuns looked at Katara in surprise.
"And how exactly are you planning on doing that?" Hoshiko asked slowly as she approached the pair.
"Sokka told me the story of what happened." Zuko said, "I know who did it, and I know how to find him."
"Um… and what exactly do you think this will accomplish?" Aang asked as slowly as Hoshiko had.
Katara scoffed, shaking her head, "I knew you wouldn't understand." She muttered as she turned and began to walk away.
"Wait, stop!" Aang said, "I do understand! You're feeling unbelievable pain and rage. How do you think I felt about the sand benders when they stole Appa? How do you think I felt about the Fire Nation when I found out what happened to my people?"
"She needs this, Aang." Zuko said, "This is about getting closure, and justice."
"This sounds more like getting revenge than getting closure." Hoshiko said.
"Fine! Maybe it is!" Katara snapped, "Maybe that's what I need. Maybe that's what he deserves."
"Katara, you sound like Jet." Aang said.
"It's not the same." Katara said, turning around to face him, "Jet attacked the innocent. This man… he's a monster!"
"Katara, she was my mother, too." Sokka said, walking closer to her, "But, I think Aang might be right."
"Then you didn't love her the way I did!" Katara bit out.
"Katara…!" Sokka exclaimed, hurt by his sister's words.
There was a beat of silence between them all before Aang spoke, "The monks used to say that revenge is like a two-headed rat viper. While you watch your enemy go down, you're being poisoned yourself."
"That's cute, but this isn't air temple pre-school." Zuko said, "It's the real world."
"Now that I know he's out there," Katara began, "Now that I know we can find him, I feel like I have no choice."
"Katara, you do have a choice: forgiveness." Aang said.
"That's the same as doing nothing!" Zuko replied.
"No it's not." Aang said, "It's easy to do nothing, but it's hard to forgive."
"It's not just hard." Katara said, "It's impossible." With that, she turned and walked away from the group, Zuko following her a moment later.
When they had gone, Kotaro turned to the others, "Anyone else get the feeling they're going to try something they shouldn't?"
Aang turned to him, "I'll keep an eye on Appa for today. Make sure they don't do anything."
"Why can't they?" Hoshiko asked, the others all looked at her with wide eyes. "I think she should go."
"But she's only doing this for revenge." Aang said.
"Maybe she is, but she has to take this trip." Hoshiko replied, "This man is a big part of her life, and with something so traumatic… She needs to face him."
"But what if she does end up killing him?" Sokka asked, "I don't want her to take someone's life."
"Katara's a smart girl." Hoshiko said, "She knows right from wrong, and when she sees him, she'll do the right thing."
"Or what she thinks is the right thing." Sokka said, "And she may think that's killing him."
"Do you trust your sister not to make stupid mistakes?" Hoshiko asked him.
"Of course I do." Sokka replied.
"Then you should trust her to make the right decision." Hoshiko said, "Katara isn't rash and thoughtless. She'll think about what she wants to do before she does anything." Sokka and Aang shared a glance, thinking over her words.
Nothing happened until that night, where Aang and Sokka had set up a watch on the bison. After a while, they saw Katara and Zuko, dressed in dark clothing, going over to Appa, Zuko checking over the supplies he had packed, and Katara stood, putting her hair back in a ponytail so it would be easier to move around stealthily. Aang and Sokka came out from behind the rock where they were hiding over to where the two of them were.
"So you were just gonna take Appa anyway?" Aang snapped as he came over to her.
Katara finished tying her hair back before she turned to him and said, "Yes."
"It's okay, because I forgive you." Aang said, he gave her a hopeful smile, "That give you any ideas?"
"Don't try to stop us." Katara said.
"I wasn't planning to." Aang replied, "This is a journey you need to take. You need to face this man." Katara's face turned to one of soft surprise at his words, but her expression became stoic again and nodded once before grabbing onto Appa's horn and using it to pull herself up onto his head, grabbing his reigns, "But when you do, please don't choose revenge. Let your anger out, and then let it go. Forgive him."
"Okay, we'll be sure to do that, Guru Goody-Goody." Zuko said in a mocking tone as he climbed up onto the saddle.
"Thanks for understanding." Katara said softly to him before turning back to her front and giving Appa's reigns a good flick, "Yip yip." The bison took off into the air, flying farther and farther away from where Sokka and Aang were standing.
"You know, you're pretty wise for a kid." Sokka said.
"Thanks Sokka." Aang replied.
"Usually it's annoying, but right now, I'm just impressed." Sokka continued. Aang let out a small, quiet breath of exasperation.
"I appreciate that." He said.
"So… can I borrow Momo for a week?" Sokka asked.
Aang turned to him, quirking an eyebrow, "Why do you need Momo?"
Sokka shrugged his shoulders.
Hoshiko lay down on her sleeping bag in her tent, and turned over to face Kotaro, who stared at her in a way that made him look deep in thought.
"What?" She asked him.
"I keep thinking about that thing you said earlier." Kotaro said, "All that stuff about revenge."
"What about it?" Hoshiko asked.
"Didn't you run into Mongke on this little journey of yours?" Kotaro asked.
Hoshiko froze at the mention of it. She paused, looking away from him. "Yeah… I did."
Kotaro reached up and moved some hair out of her face to get her to look at him, "And what happened?"
"Let's just say I know how Katara feels." Hoshiko said, "When you know that the person you hate the most is out there… when he's right in front of you…" She furrowed her eyebrows in anger as she thought of it, that smug look on his face, the way that he taunted her… "I just… I wanted to do it. I wanted to take his life. I really did."
"And why didn't you?" Kotaro asked her.
"It wasn't me that was in control at the time." Hoshiko said. "Mongke had said something… It just made me so angry… after that, I blacked out, and I assume Kagemi took over. Aang told me what happened. He said I went at Mongke like a wild animal. I managed to regain control after Kagemi lost consciousness."
"Do you think you would have gone after him, even if she didn't take over?" Kotaro asked.
Hoshiko sighed, "I don't know… And I don't really want to find out." She reached up and took his hand, entwining their fingers together, "Right now, I don't really want to focus on that. I just want to focus on this war. We can figure out my emotional problems later. Okay?"
Kotaro smiled, "Of course." They shared a kiss, and lay back down on the sleeping bags, "Goodnight, Hoshi."
"Goodnight, Kota." Hoshiko bid before closing her eyes.
The next morning, Hoshiko awoke before Kotaro. She smiled at the sight of his sleeping form, the way his hair messily went over some of his face, and most of the pillow. She gently reached up to brush one his locks away from his eyes, her finger lightly trailing down the scar across his eye. His skin twitched underneath her fingers and she smiled. She leaned in close and gently kissed him. She did so again and again, until she felt his lips moving into a smile and a small laugh bubbling up from his throat.
"Good morning…" He murmured, opening his eyes.
Hoshiko giggled, "Good morning." She kissed him again and he returned it, taking her face in his hands and holding it there as he kissed her again and again. Hoshiko giggled and turned onto her back and Kotaro moved on top of her. Hoshiko had to break away to laugh, and Kotaro smiled at the sound. "Well, that's one way to get you up."
"It's the way I want to get up." Kotaro said, "I want you to wake me up like that every morning from now on." Hoshiko giggled.
"Well, that all depends on whether I get up before you." She said.
"I'll sleep in." Kotaro said with a playful growl as he moved to kiss her again. Hoshiko giggled again and pushed him off of her. Before he could move back on top of her, she sat up to pick up her clothes. Kotaro groaned when he saw she was getting ready. "Do we have to get up?"
"You can do whatever you want," Hoshiko said, "But I am going to take a bath."
Kotaro perked up at that, "Can I come with?"
Hoshiko's face turned to a bright blush and looked back at him, "No! It's a bath!"
"I'm gonna marry you someday, so I'm gonna see it eventually." Kotaro said, "Why not now?"
"You little horn-dog!" Hoshiko said with a laugh, smacking him with her clothes. Kotaro laughed and she gathered up her things to clean up, "I swear, if you follow me, you're gonna get it!"
"Alright, alright!" Kotaro laughed as she walked out of the tent, closing the flap behind her.
Hoshiko walked over towards the coastline, walking past Toph, who was just waking up.
"Morning, Kitty Cat." She greeted.
"How'd you know it was me?" Hoshiko asked.
"I'd know your footsteps a mile away." Toph said, she pushed herself up and turned around, "Where's Princey Pants?"
"Zuko left with Katara to go on another journey to solve all our problems." Hoshiko said with a smile. Toph let out a snort of laughter.
"Funny. I call the next one." Hoshiko laughed as she headed down to the coast to find a place to bathe, and eventually found a small cove. The water was a little cold, but with the warmth of the summer sun, it felt pretty good. She picked up her soap and started cleaning herself. She looked up at the sky, which was completely clear of clouds, showing the incredible blue of the sky.
She jumped when she heard rustling and engulfed herself in the water. She looked back to see Kotaro coming by with some soap and a towel. He smiled at her and waved.
"Kotaro!" Hoshiko squealed, making sure she was up to her head in the water.
"Relax, I'm going somewhere else!" Kotaro shouted down to her as he continued on past the cove. Hoshiko made sure he was gone before she moved out of the water. She let out a squeal when she heard a wolf whistle and jumped back in.
"KOTA!!" Hoshiko shouted angrily. She heard laughing in the distance fading away as Kotaro moved. She waited a little bit, then went back to quickly cleaning herself up. She jumped back out and dressed herself and went back to the camp, pressing a towel to her wet hair as she headed to where Aang was playing with Momo. He looked up when she came towards him.
"Hey." He greeted.
"Hi." She returned, "Any contact from our little adventurers?"
"What?" Aang asked.
"Katara and Zuko." Hoshiko specified.
"Oh. No, I haven't heard from them." Aang said. He waved a small grass talk in front of the lemur, and he frantically pawed at it, trying to catch it. Aang was quiet as Hoshiko leaned back against where Appa was resting on the ground, munching on some hay. Hoshiko looked at Aang and saw that he looked a little worried. He let Momo catch the grass he was waving in front of him, and Momo quickly began to munch on it as Aang slumped back against Appa's leg. "Hoshiko?"
"Hm?"
"Do you think they'll be okay?" Aang asked.
Hoshiko continued to squeeze the water out of her hair onto the towel, thinking, "Well… Yeah. Katara's a strong girl, Zuko's a good bender. I think they can handle one man."
"No, I mean…" Aang looked up at her, "Do you think she'll do it?"
Hoshiko paused in thought, "…I don't know." She said honestly, "I've never pictured Katara as a person who would condone violence and revenge, but… She's got a lot of hate for this man. I would take his life if I hated him that much or I'd mean to, at least." Aang was quiet, Hoshiko turned her head to him, "Do you think she'll take his life?"
"Part of me wants to say no." Aang said, "Part of me wants to believe that Katara wouldn't even think of something like that. But… We weren't raised the same way, I was taught that violence was wrong, that peace was what the world needed. Katara was raised in the South Pole, which has known war for years. My mind knows that she could take his life if she really wanted to." Hoshiko nodded.
"It's a hard thing to think about." Hoshiko said, "But what happens will happen. We'll just have to wait." Aang nodded silently. Hoshiko looked up when she saw Kotaro coming towards them and got up and went over to him, smacking him with her towel, "You total jerk! I told you not to follow me!"
"I wasn't trying to." Kotaro said with a laugh. "I figured I could use a bath too, and just happened to come across you."
"You're a little liar!" Hoshiko said with a laugh of her own. She made a move to smack his shoulder again, and he grabbed her hand before she could.
"Come on, let's go get some breakfast." He said, pulling her along as they left Aang alone to his thoughts.
Aang looked up at the darkening sky, his brow furrowing worriedly. It was dusk already, and Zuko and Katara had yet to return. Kotaro looked over at where the young monk was sitting, waiting.
"Aang, they'll be here soon enough." He called to him, "Come over and eat with us." Aang looked at him, took one more glance at the sky and went over to join the others. He sat beside Toph, who was munching down on some fish that Sokka had caught for everyone but Aang to eat. Hoshiko handed him a moon peach, and he bit into it, eating it more for the sake of eating than wanting to eat it. Hoshiko noticed it.
"You don't need to be so worried." Hoshiko said, "I'm sure they're fine."
"I can't help it." Aang said, "I just don't want Katara to make the wrong decision."
Hoshiko didn't reply to his words.
Suddenly, Sokka pointed up to the sky, "There they are!" Everyone but Toph turned to see Appa flying in towards them. Aang jumped up and ran to meet them, and everyone followed suit, but not as quickly as Aang had. When Appa landed they saw only Zuko come off the bison, Katara was not there.
"Where's Katara?" Aang asked, eyes wide, fearing the worst.
"She's fine, she just wanted some time alone." Zuko assured him, "I dropped her off on an abandoned dock near the beach."
"What happened?" Aang demanded next.
"We found the man that killed her mother. Katara didn't kill him." Zuko said, Aang's expression cleared and he visibly relaxed, "She wanted to, and she could have, but she didn't. She just walked away."
"Good to hear she came out okay." Hoshiko said.
"I wouldn't call her 'okay' just yet." Zuko said.
"Can you show me where she is?" Aang asked as he hopped up behind Appa's shoulders.
"I'll come too." Hoshiko said, climbing up into Appa's saddle. Zuko followed her and the three of them took off into the air. It was a short ride to where Katara was, sitting on the dock Zuko had told them about, her feet hanging over the side. Aang landed Appa just behind the dock and he quickly jumped down, running over to Katara. Zuko followed him, and Hoshiko simply climbed down, staying beside the bison. She could hear the words that were exchanged between the three of them.
"Katara, are you okay?" Aang asked, concern filling his voice.
"I'm doing fine." Katara answered gently. She sounded a little tired, but she seemed okay.
"Zuko told me what you did," Aang began, "Or… what you didn't do, I guess. I'm proud of you."
"…I wanted to do it." Katara said, "I wanted to take out all my anger at him, but… I couldn't. I don't know if it's because I'm too weak to do it, or if it's because I'm strong enough not to."
"You did the right thing." Aang said, "Forgiveness is the first step you have to take to begin healing."
Katara got up and turned to face Aang for the first time since she had left, her expression hard, "But I didn't forgive him. I'll never forgive him." Her expression as she looked at Zuko, offering him a friendly smile, "But I am ready to forgive you." She walked up to him and gave him a quick embrace, which he returned. It only lasted a moment before she pulled away and walked over to where Hoshiko was. She could still hear the words spoken by Aang and Zuko as she made her way over to her.
"You were right about what Katara needed." Zuko said, "Violence wasn't the answer."
"It never is." Aang said with a small smile, happy that Katara came back safely and happy that she had forgiven Zuko. Hopefully, she wouldn't be making insults to hurl at him anymore.
"Then I have a question for you." Zuko said, turning to face the monk, "What are you going to do when you face my father?"
Hoshiko didn't hear his answer as her attention turned to Katara. The two girls shared a short embrace.
"You okay?" Hoshiko asked her.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Katara said. Hoshiko helped her up into the saddle and she followed suit.
"I heard what you said." Hoshiko said, Katara looked at her, wondering just how she had heard it, and Hoshiko pointed to her ears, wiggling them, "Super Shinjun hearing, remember?" Katara nodded, "I think you did the right thing, even if it may not seem like it right now."
"Really?" Katara asked, Hoshiko nodded.
"Do you remember back when we were in the town of Chin?" Hoshiko asked her.
"Ugh, how could I forget?" Katara rolled her eyes.
"Do you remember how I went up against Colonel Mongke?" Hoshiko asked, Katara nodded, "I wanted to take my revenge on him, and if I hadn't lost control, or if you guys hadn't come, I think I might have. And… that wasn't right. As much as I hate him, I have no right to take his life. If the universe wants me to have my revenge, then I'll get it in due time, if not, then he'll die on his own." Katara paused at her words.
"I never thought of it that way." Katara murmured quietly. Hoshiko smiled at her.
"It helps a little to think that way, huh?" Hoshiko asked. Katara nodded. They looked up when the boys came over to the bison, and they flew back to camp.
I'm sorry this took so long! Please don't be mad at me TT^TT
I'm trying to be quicker with my updates, but I have a lot of stories that need work, so I apologize for any huge lateness in the future...
Also, you can see I made a cover picture for this fic. You can view the full picture on my deviantart account.
popcorngamer. deviantart #/ d55dq20
Just take out the spaces.