DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN, NOR HAVE I EVER OWNED ATLA. I DO NOT OWN, NOR HAVE I EVER OWNED THE CHARACTERS IN ATLA. I DO NOT OWN, NOR HAVE I EVER OWNED NICKELODEON. HAVE NO AFFILIATION, NOR HAVE I EVER HAD ANY AFFILIATION WITH THE WRITERS OR ANIMATORS OF ATLA. I HAVE NO AFFILIATION, NOR HAVE I EVER HAD ANY AFFILIATION WITH NICKELODEON.
I have written prequels to Together Again, they are part of what I call my TAU (Together Again Universe) here is a list of them along with its Summary
A Second First Date; Aang wants to take Katara out for the perfect date, their first date was so bad Aang want's this one to be perfect… Aang wants to take Katara out for the perfect date, their first date was so bad Aang want's this one to be perfect… You don't always get a second chance.
Nightmares; A One-Shot Prequel to Together Again. Aang saved the world, he faced Ozai on his own. Everyone kept saying that he was a great hero, that he was so brave. He wore a brave face and acted all the hero they thought he was. But at night in his sleep he was a scared boy, scared for his life as he tried to get away from a psycho Firebender. The Battle came back at night.
Anila's Story; She was ready to travel the world the moment she turned 16. Little did she know, life never goes as expected and that a young Airbending Master just starting out on her own is no exception. Will the winds of change bring her happiness and fulfillment? Or will she only to bed led to sorrow and regret?
I have a new collection of One-shots called Dear Diary: They are Katara's thoughts that take place during the time they traveled the world before the Hundred Year War ended.
Other stories I am currently working on (Together Again Universe are marked as TAU)
A Warrior's Path; Suki wants to be the best warrior she can be and follow in her mother's footsteps. Life comes with so many choices to make, will she always make the right choice? Will life teach her to be the best leader she can be or is there something else in store for her?
Across the Wastelands; (TAU) Aang is sent on a journey by King Bumi… One that only he can take… To search for something very important, except Bumi wouldn't tell him what he needed to find! What will he find?
…
Chapter 129
It had been exactly one month from the day Zuko and Ursa met Taryn, and Zuko had a wonderful day planned for them. Under his uncle's persistence Zuko took the day off so that he and Taryn could have they entire day together. Taryn told Zuko, once VERY firmly, that she would not go with him if he didn't have Ursa with him. No babysitting would do, Ursa was part of the package, and Taryn didn't want half the package, she wanted the whole thing, she loved Ursa as much as she loved him.
Zuko dressed himself in his 'best middle ring' attire; not for Taryn's mother but for Taryn, and he let Ursa pick out her prettiest dress. Once Zuko and Ursa were ready for the day he put Ursa on his shoulders and left his house. The streets were just starting to get people and carriages moving about on them so he decided he would just walk to Taryn's house. It wasn't a super long walk but his house was close to the palace. The walk to her house took him through the marketplace, where he spotted a strange little building that was decorated as if it were upside down, which reminded him of his time at the Western Air Temple. He noticed a girl dressed in Air Nomad attire come out and start sweeping the porch and street directly in front of the small building. "Air Acolytes." He smiled and said to himself.
Not too long after he nervously knocked on the front door to Taryn's family's home. The front door opened and to his surprise it was Taryn's father that was standing before him. "Good morning Sir." Zuko said with a nervous smile.
"Good morning Lee, It's wonderful to see you again." Taryn's father said. "So what do you have planned for the day?" He invited Zuko inside the house.
"Oh, uuummm…" Zuko said nervously as he sat on the couch, Ursa taking a seat next to her father. "We are going to go to the Zoo, then get some lunch, and then later there is a show in the upper ring that I'm going to take her to."
"I heard about that show, aren't the tickets expensive and hard to get?" The older gentleman asked. Zuko wasn't exactly sure how to answer that, the tickets were given to him because He's the Fire Lord.
"My boss, at the Jasmine Dragon, he's The Fire Lord's uncle. He gave me the tickets." Zuko answered.
"Oh, well that is very kind of him! Have you ever met The Fire Lord?" Taryn's father asked him.
"I've seen him before." Zuko told him, hoping he wouldn't have to elaborate.
"That must be exciting! My wife, Dyna, she's always trying to marry our daughters off to men of high stature in society. I took Taryn as my favorite, she is my special girl." Taryn's father Tuvock said.
"Well, sir, I think I know all about special daughters." Zuko said with a smile looking over at Ursa.
"I hope you don't mind me asking, but how old are you? What's the story with your daughter?" He asked Zuko.
"I'm twenty-six, sir. Back home in the Fire Nation our home was invaded. My wife, Ursa's mother was killed that night." Zuko's eyes held so much sadness that he dropped his gaze, looking at his shoes, he
"You must have really loved her." Tuvock said solemnly.
"Yeah… Yeah I did, but life's never perfect." Zuko said. "But Sir, I love your daughter very much too."
"I love Taryn too!" Ursa bubbled, earning a small chuckle from the man sitting across from them.
Taryn had reached the bottom of the stairs just in time to hear this. "Daddy, I love them both so much too."
"I already knew you did, baby girl." He smiled at his daughter, "You three, have a wonderful day together! One more thing Lee, I want to talk some more with you when you bring Taryn home."
"That sounds fine, Sir." Zuko told him. "I'll see you later."
Dyna entered the room just as they were leaving. "What did you and the tea server talk about?"
"That's rude Dyna!" Tuvock said. "The young man is taking Taryn out for a special day."
"At least his clothes look less outer ring-ish today." They heard Taryn's mother say as they closed the door behind them.
"I'm really sorry about how my mother treats you." Taryn said to Zuko
"It's okay, really, I've been called worse." Zuko chuckled shrugging off the woman's comments.
"So what are we going to do today?" Taryn asked him.
"Well, it has been exactly one month to the day that we first met at the Zoo, so we are off to the…" Zuko was cut off.
"ZOO!" Ursa called out excitedly, earning a laugh from the two adults.
They sauntered through the marketplace on their way to the train station that would be taking them to the Zoo. "Hello!" Taryn said as they passed the Ba Sing Se Air Acolytes. Several girls waved and called hello's back.
"You know them?" Zuko asked.
"Yeah, they are a little strange, kind sweet girls but most have major crushes on The Avatar." Taryn said as if it was all perfectly normal and fine.
"But… But The Avatar is married and has three children." Zuko hadn't realized there were still girls out there that liked his best friend like that.
"When the first started, I was like twelve, we had a house maid that was only a year older than me and one of my closest friends; she was one of the girls that started the Avatar Aang fan club."
Zuko knew all about the fan club from the Yu Dai incident. "Interesting, were you part of the club?"
"No, mother wouldn't allow it." Taryn told him.
"Are you still friends?" Zuko asked her.
"I would be, but I haven't seen her in years. When The Avatar changed their names to Air Acolytes she quit and moved to one of the air temples. I really miss her, her name is Jade." Taryn told him.
"Jade? Green eyes long black hair?" Zuko asked her.
"Yeah! How'd you know?" Taryn asked him.
"Oh, no… no reason, I think I briefly met her before." Zuko told her.
…
Zuko let Ursa run around the Zoo as he and Taryn followed closely behind. He had bought them all kinds of goodies to eat as they wandered around.
"Gyatso's Daddy made the Zoo!" Ursa said matter of fact-ly to Taryn before heading over to look at the animals in their habitats.
"Fruity Ice!" They heard a girl call out. "Fruity Ice!"
"Daddy!" Ursa said excitedly, "Can we please get some? Please?" She pleaded with him.
"I guess, my little Princess." He said with a laugh.
"Three please." Zuko told the girl. She scraped ice pieces off of a large block of ice into a cup, then poured fruit juice over the ice and handed it to then with a spoon repeating the proses two more times. Just before they walked away he saw the girl use waterbending to refreeze the block of ice.
They had walked the entire zoo at least twice when Ursa started to get sleepy. "Come here baby girl, I'll carry you." Zuko told the little girl. "Are you ready to leave yet?"
"No, Daddy! I want Taryn to carry me!" Ursa told them lifting her arms for Taryn to pick her up.
"Let me carry you." Zuko told his daughter.
"No, it's okay." Taryn smiled up at Zuko. "I'll carry her." She picked up the little girl supporting her on her hip as the little girl rested her head on Taryn's shoulder. Not too long after, the little girl completely fell asleep.
"I can take her for you." Zuko told her.
"No, it's fine. I don't mind her one bit… I love her." Taryn said. "I love you too."
"You have won both mine and my daughter's hearts! We both love you so much." Zuko told the young woman.
"What are we going to do next?" Taryn asked him as they made their way back to the train station.
"Well, I have special tickets to a show in the upper ring." Zuko told her.
"For the play, Love among the Dragons?!" Taryn asked excitedly. "I've been wanting to see that ever since they started preforming it outside of the Fire Nation!"
"My mother use to take my sister and I to see it every year. ""My mother use to take my sister and I to see it every year. "I wanted to show you something from my culture, my home.
"I hope our seats aren't too far from the stage." Taryn said absentmindedly.
"No they're great seats! In a balcony right by the stage!" Zuko told her.
"Really?! Oh Lee!" She said excitedly. "How exciting!"
"I'm happy you're excited." He told her.
"How? How did you get such great tickets? I hope they didn't cost too much!" Taryn asked.
"No… My boss, Iroh… He's the new Fire Lord's uncle, I got the tickets from him." Zuko gave Taryn his best grin.
"Oh, I see… A man with connections!" Taryn giggled, making Zuko laugh too.
"I love your laugh!" He told her.
"Did… Did your wife laugh a lot?" Taryn asked him.
Zuko took a deep breath, he didn't want to think about her but Taryn's smile made him feel a little more comfortable, "No, not really."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Taryn felt bad for him.
"It's okay, Taryn, you make me laugh, you make me happy!" Zuko told her.
…
They got off the train near The Jasmine Dragon, the play didn't start for a few more hours so they decided to have tea and goodies from there.
"Z… Lee! It's nice to see you, but I thought you were taking today off?" Iroh asked him.
"The play doesn't start for a few hours so we decided to come here for a little while." Zuko told him.
"Can I have a cookie, please?" Ursa said just waking up from her nap on Taryn.
"Of course you can, little princess!" Iroh told Ursa.
"Thank you!" She said ever so sweetly.
They sat down and enjoyed their late lunch and tea, laughing tried to balance a spoon on the end of his nose like Taryn had. Every time it fell off they would all laugh more. Taryn took her napkin and leaned over the table; she wiped his nose dry then gently rested the curve of the spoon on the tip of his nose, when she released the handle the spoon stuck and they all applauded and laughed.
"My mother use to take my sister and I to see it every year. "I wanted to show you something from
…
"Taryn, could you help me with something, please?" Zuko asked when they got to the theater.
"Sure, anything." She beamed.
"Could you take Ursa to the restroom while I find our seats, then I'll meet you back right here?" Zuko asked
"Okay, no problem, Come on Princess." Taryn said.
Zuko quickly found his way to a door marked Fire Lord, and opened the door. "Excuse me Sir! That balcony is for the Fire Lord only!"
"Yeah, I know." Zuko pushed his hair back revealing his full face, making his scar visible.
"Oh my apologies, sir. Enjoy the show!" The usher quickly hurried off. He knew something like this would happen and he was nowhere near ready to tell Taryn who he really was.
Zuko went back to their agreed upon spot after ordering drinks and a food cart to the balcony.
"Ready?" Taryn said from behind him. As soon as he turned around he was grinning widely.
"Yes, very ready!" He told his two beautiful dates.
The performers preformed the play better than the ones he was use to watch as a kid. Taryn leaned on the railing as she watched the play. "It's so romantic Lee! I love it!"
"Yeah, Love among the Dragons is my mother's favorite play. When she was young, before she met my father, she used to be an actress. She played the red dragon." Zuko told her.
"That's the lead role right next to the blue dragon!" Taryn said as she watched.
…
After a long carriage ride back to the Taryn's home in the middle ring Ursa was already asleep on Zuko and Taryn drifted off a few times. Zuko walked her to her front door.
Taryn's father met then at the door. "Thank you for bringing her home and thank you for treating her to a great day. I approve of you if you ever have further intentions."
"Huh? Ummmm okay, thank you, I think." Zuko said trying to figure out what the older man meant.
If you ever want my blessing, son, you have it." Tuvock told him.
"Oh… OH!" Zuko started blushing. "Thank you. I need to go put my daughter to bed soon."
"Okay, one last thing… You look so familiar to me, I feel like I've seen you somewhere before." Tuvock told Zuko.
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe you saw me one time when I was here in Ba Sing Se before." Zuko laughed nervously.
"Oh, I'll figure it out sometime. Goodnight, son." He told Zuko.
"Goodnight Sir!" Zuko said then climbed back into the carriage ready to go to bed himself.
…
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