Before anything else, I own nothing but the original characters, and content therein related to them. Avatar: The Last Airbender is owned by Nickelodeon, and any mentioned creator's work belongs to them, and them alone.
Chapter 3 The Beach, Day One.
As the waves swelled, an elephant seal pulled a wooden ferry through the sea, carrying two royal passengers, and three lower nobility. Ty Lee leaned against the rail of the ship's quarterdeck, and sighed. "Ember Island, oh how I've dreamed of this place. It's going to be so fun, relaxing on the beach and doing nothing."
Zuko looked up from his seat in the corner with Mai. "Doing nothing is a waste of time. We're being sent away on a forced vacation."
"Tell me about it." Connor said with a chuckle as he looked out to the sea.
"I feel like a child." Zuko said, joining the pale giant.
"Oh lighten up you two. The Fire Lord wants to meet with his advisors alone, don't take it personally." Azula said.
Connor looked over his shoulder at Azula. "I have nothing to do with the palace proceedings."
"Yes, but your unyielding desire to work yourself to death had him concerned all the same." Azula lied.
"And I'm still upset you told him what I was doing." Connor said with a small pout.
"It would be a disaster for the Fire Nation to lose that mind of yours, wasting away in a dirty forge." Azula added. "You needed to take a break. Kick back, get a tan, maybe sleep in for once."
"Doesn't your family have a house on the island?" Ty Lee asked.
Azula crossed her arms. "Yes, we used to come every summer when we were younger."
"That was a long time ago." Zuko said, the wind whipping his hair past his face.
Ty Lee turned to the redhead of the group. "What about you Connor, did you used to go to the beach when you were a kid?"
"Oh sure, I grew up on the waterfront." Connor said.
"Yet somehow you never learned to swim?" Azula asked with a raised eyebrow.
Connor rolled his eyes. "On account of not wanting to be naked in the freezing cold ətˈlæntɪk ocean, no."
Azula rolled her eyes as well, Connor was going to be in for a shock once they got to the beach.
In a secluded cove far east of the Fire Nation mainland, the gang took a much needed dip in the cool water flowing through the stone valley.
Katara was washing her hair out, as Aang floated around in the river with Momo.
Sokka, in the middle of helping Toph learn to swim by holding her arms and pulling her through the water, looked over at Aang, then up at the walls of the cove around them. "Aang, I think you should cover up a little." He said.
"I'm wearing trunks." Aang said with a handwave.
"And I'm in a loincloth, but some of us have distinctly recognizable tattoos." Sokka said with an eye role.
"There's walls all around us Sokka, and besides, we're way out in the middle of nowhere." Katara said.
"Aang has tattoos?" Toph asked, as the boy in question went for a ride down a water slide at the end of the river.
The Fire Nation teens were greeted by Lo and Li at a small dock, and situated just behind it was a seaside bungalow. Once inside, Zuko sniffed. "It smells like old lady in here."
"Gee, I wonder why." Mai retorted flatly, as the four carried their bags up to the second floor.
Li looked at the teens. "This room here fits two, and the one across from it, three. Lo and I's room is just down the hall."
The five teens looked between each other. "Well, I think our sleeping arrangements are all sorted then." Azula said, throwing her bag into the room with three beds, before she and her fellow girls walked into the bedroom.
Ty Lee jumped into one of the cushioned mattresses and curled up on the pillow. "I love the seashell pattern bedspread."
"It looks like the beach barfed all over it." Mai said, lifting the comforter.
"We know you're upset that you were forced to come here this weekend." Li said, as Zuko and Connor peeked into the doorway to hear what the elders had to say.
Lo picked up where her sister left off. "But Ember Island is a magical place. Keep an open mind."
"Give it a chance." Lo said, before they both spoke in unison.
"And it can help yourselves and each other." They echoed.
"That's a little weird." Connor whispered to Zuko.
"They've been doing it since before I was born. It's the only thing I've ever seen my Father get creeped out over." Zuko whispered back.
Li picked up a stone from off the nearby table. "The beach has a special way…" She passed the stone to her sister. "… Of smoothing even the roughest of edges." Lo said, neither hearing Connor or Zuko. "Now."
"To the beach." Lo and Li said together.
Stepping out of the hall, Connor took his beach towel, and then started walking downstairs, only to realize the others had stayed in their rooms. Thinking nothing of it, Connor waited, as Lo and Li went outside without the youngsters.
Upstairs, as Mai and Ty Lee changed into their swimsuits, Azula hesitated as she laid out her own red two piece set on her bed. By the time the others had already started changing she was still debating whether or not to put it on. She ran her hand over her abdomen where the scar from her bullet wound sat. Her bikini and attached skirt wouldn't hide it.
Glancing over her shoulder, Azula cleared her throat. "Mai…" Her friend looked over at her, as she wrapped her breasts with a dark red silk sash. "You wouldn't happen to… Have of packed a more conservative swimsuit would you?"
Mai raised an eyebrow, before looking at Azula's bikini, and realized why she was asking. "I brought my old one." Mai said simply. "It's in my bag."
"Thank you, Mai." Azula said.
Connor looked at all the trinkets and mementos in the beach house's sitting room, before he heard the others coming down the stairs. "Finally ready?" He asked, only to go wide eyed, as the girls came down the stairs, Zuko behind them.
While the prince wore a robe over his shoulders that ran to his shins, the dangerous ladies of the group were garbed in far less. Mai, being the least risque, wore a dark red skirt that nearly touched her ankles, but her midriff and everything above her chest was left bare. Ty Lee, the usual suspect, wore a white skirt that had splits in the sides, and only just reached her thigh, red undergarments being nearly visible. Her breasts were supported and covered by a matching white top cover made out of two triangular pieces of cloth joined by strips of fabric and a pin on the front, which displayed far more cleavage than he was comfortable with, but ironically did run over her shoulders. Finally Azula, though covering her midriff unlike the others, with a black one piece swimsuit, left her, legs, and the sides of her hips completely bare.
"Whoa whoa whoa." Connor said, before rubbing his eyes. "I know I'm going to sound like the weird one here, but… You three are going out dressed like that?"
"As opposed to swimming naked?" Azula asked.
"As opposed to swimming clothed." He deadpanned. "I mean, it's like each of you's wearing a part of a dress that would be suitable to be seen in, but you chose to divvy it up. Least Zuko's modest about it."
"Actually I just have trunks on under this." The prince said, pulling aside his robe.
Connor blinked slowly. "That is… So strange. Are you not worried guys will…" Connor's eyes wandered across the three from head to toe again. "You know, look." He averted his gaze elsewhere.
Azula flustered a little, feeling heat gathering in her cheeks. "Well, my apologies if our sense of fashion and the wartime need for textiles offends your sensibilities, but this is perfectly acceptable and economical beachwear." She crossed her arms. "And for the record, not even one hundred years ago, would prancing about in the buff be considered normal for a public beach."
Connor rubbed his eye again. "Oh heaven help me." He muttered to himself in english.
"Come on, we're burning perfectly good daylight." Azula said, as she and Ty Lee left the room.
"Try not to drool." Mai said to Connor with a small smirk as she left.
"Oh, believe me, I'll contain myself." Connor said with an eye roll. "Shameless vixens." He muttered. Zuko eyed Connor as he left the room, before the pale giant followed him out the door.
Once on the black sandy public shore to the west, the five teens went about setting their towels out on a plot of sand. Zuko stuck an umbrella down for him and Mai, while Ty Lee "recruited" a few boys to help her. Connor, having rolled his maroon pants up past his calves, half unbuttoned the white silk shirt he wore, then sat on his towel.
"Great, gonna burn to a crisp after today." Connor muttered, only for Azula to walk over and hold out a glass jar to him. "What's this?" He asked.
"Olive and cocoa oil." She said, as Connor uncapped the jar, sniffing the substance. He dipped a finger in, and nearly tasted the pleasant smelling oil. "Don't eat it!" Connor stopped moving, as Azula held a hand to the side of her head in frustration. "You rub it on your skin. It'll keep you from burning." She started walking away before a thought struck her. "Oh, and save some for me, would you?" She asked, glancing over her shoulder.
Connor watched Azula walk away and lay her towel out, before breaking his gaze. "Christ." He muttered to himself, realizing that he was staring.
As Ty Lee had an ever increasing army of boys tending to her with shade, fanning, and gifts, Zuko fumbled his two attempts to show affection towards Mai.
Connor had lathered his neck, legs, and arms in the olive and cocoa oil, before applying a light amount to his face, then wiping his hands on his pants. Capping the jar, Connor got up from his towel, and approached Azula, who was laying face down on her towel. Subconsciously taking a calming breath, Connor held the jar out. "Here, I'm done."
Azula glanced over her shoulder up at Connor, catching a glimpse of Ty Lee being tended to by all the boys around her. Pouting slightly, Azula wondered why she wasn't being given any real attention. A thought came to mind. Surely Connor would be willing to cater to her. "Oh, I'm not trying to get my hands dirty." She said, propping her head up in her hands, resting her elbows on the towel. "You wouldn't mind would you?" She asked innocently, curling one of her feet up off the towel at the knee, so her toes pointed to the sky.
Connor's brain did a hard reset, and he blinked twice. "Yes, yes I do mind." He said, exercising restraint and dropping the jar beside her, as he went back to his towel.
"Ugh." Azula groaned. She should have expected that from Connor, the prude. Deciding to make her own fun, Azula looked over at another group of teenagers playing a game of volleyball. She stood and called out to her friends. "Hey beach bums, we're playing next. Ty Lee and Zuko, get over here."
Ty Lee, ever the acrobat, rolled forward onto her hands, and walked over to Azula upside down. Zuko cast off his robe, gaining the attention of several fire nation girls, who giggled in admiration. Mai shot the other girls a look that could kill. "You too Connor." Azula said. The tallest of the group sighed, before pulling his shirt off, and tying the sleeves around his waist, earning a couple of laughs from other beach goers at how blindingly pale he was.
Ignoring the ridicule as he joined his friends in a huddle. Azula looked around at her team. "That girl with the silly pigtails. When she goes to return the ball, there is the slightest hesitation on her left foot, likely she sustained a childhood injury that never healed properly. Keep serving it to her left, and we'll destroy her and her team…" Azula looked at Connor. "You've got a significant height advantage, I want you spiking that ball as much as possible."
Connor gave a nod, before they broke up, and found their positions. Keeping his post near the front of the court, Connor served first, and with good timing, hammer fisted the ball into the sand like a rocket. The four other teens went wide eyed, as Connor stood on his toes and smiled at them all, peeking over the top of the net. And it was all downhill from there. Between the acrobatic skill of Ty Lee, the martial prowess of Azula, Connor's power, and Zuko's speed, they'd won the game four to nill, with the last blow being dealt by Connor, who (showing off a little,) jumped into the air with only a minor assistance from his earth bending to push the sand below his feet up only an inch or so, spiked the ball once served by Azula into the sand between the opposing team so hard that it created a crater, kicking up black sand and creating a small dust cloud.
Azula was about to start a monologue to lord her and her team's victory over their foes, only for Connor to call out to them. "Oh, I am so sorry!" He said, approaching the others, before pulling the now deflated ball out of the sand. "I forget my own strength on occasion."
"No worries man, it probably happens all the time for a big guy like you." One of the boy's said as he sat down. "We can get another ball."
"Connor!" Azula said loudly, catching his attention. "Don't apologize. We won. They should feel humiliated." Connor rolled his eyes in amusement, before joining his friends again. "Well anyways, that was fun." She added.
Ty Lee tossed her braid over her shoulder, as two other boys approached from behind. "Hey, I'm having a party tonight. You should come by." One said, propping his fist against his hip.
"Sure." Ty Lee said with a warm smile. "I love parties."
"Your friend over there can come too." The other boy said, pointing over to Mai who observed from the sidelines.
Azula stepped forward. "Uh, what about the rest of us?" Azula asked, holding her hand out to Connor and Zuko. "Aren't you going to invite us too?" She reminded herself that father dearest wished for her to rub shoulders with other Fire Nation teens.
The two boys looked between each other, glancing at the three weirdos. The guy with the scar seemed like a moody loser, the girl was dressed like an uptight bitch who needed to live a little, and the third, being a weirdly tall, creepy coloured, freak, was… Well, a freak.
"You don't know who we are, do you?" Azula asked, coming to the conclusion that the royal family, (save the fire lord,) and present company were not recognizable faces outside of the capital.
"Don't you know who we are?" The boy with less hair asked. "We're Chan and Ruon-Jian."
"Why's that first one sound familiar?" Connor asked absently.
"Because it should. My dad's Admiral Chan, super important Fire Nation Military guy, and all." Chan said.
"Oh, that makes sense." Ty Lee said.
Chan looked at Ruon-Jian again, before shrugging. "Fine, you're all invited. But just so you know, some of the most important teenagers in the Fire Nation are going to be there, so… Try and act normal."
"We'll do our best." Azula said with a grin.
Back at the bungalow, the five teens ate on the deck with Lo and Li. Before long, Zuko raised a question to his sister. "Why didn't you tell those guys who we are?"
Azula took a second to collect her thoughts, before wiping her mouth with a napkin and setting her hashi down on the table. "I guess I was intrigued. I'm so used to people worshiping us."
"I mean, they should." Ty Lee added.
"I know, and I love it. But for once, I want to see how people will treat us if they don't know who we are." Azula said.
Connor, who'd never quite managed how to figure out eating with a pair of sticks, picked up a single piece of raw fish on a rice bed with his fingers, and plopped it in his mouth. "You haven't figured I've done that enough?"
Azula rolled her eyes. "You're a stranger to the world Connor. You don't count."
"Like waves washing away footprints on the shore." Li started.
"Ember Island gives everyone a clean slate." Lo said.
"It reveals the true you." Li finished.
"To the party!" Both of the elderly women said.
"They have to plan that." Connor muttered to Zuko.
"I swear they are psychic." Zuko said quietly.
After everyone had changed into more formal evening wear, with Azula tying a sash around her abdomen to hide her bullet wound, the five teens arrived at Chan's place at dusk. Azula slammed the brass knocker three times, and within seconds the door opened.
"Uh…" Chan said. "You're a little early, no one's here yet."
Azula just smiled. "Well, I overheard you telling someone you would be partying from dusk to dawn… It's dusk, so we're here."
"It's just an expression." Chan said.
"We are the perfect party guests. We arrive right on time, because we are very punctual." Azula said, chopping her left hand into her right palm.
Connor could be seen rubbing his right temple. "I told you we were going to look stupid being here first." He muttered. Azula pouted in irritation, and glanced over her shoulder at Connor.
Chan shrugged, and welcomed them all in. "Ok, so my dad has no idea I'm having this party, so don't mess anything up." Chan's cautionary words were stored in Azula's memory, and she resisted smirking.
As Chan started to walk away, Azula spoke up and caught his attention. "That's a sharp outfit Chan. Careful, you could pierce the hull of an Emperor class battleship, leaving thousands to drown at sea…" She pointed at his tunic. "Because, it's so sharp."
"Thaaaanks." Chan said, not knowing how to proceed.
Connor covered his face with both hands, and exhaled. "juː ɑːr ə dɒl, bʌt hæv nəʊ kluː haʊ ˈstjuːpɪd juː saʊnd ˈsʌmtaɪmz." Connor muttered.
"What?" Azula asked, catching only the word "stupid."
"Nothing." Connor shook his head, as he passed Azula. "Say, Chan, you bring any drinks to this party?" Connor asked, as he pulled a flask of liquor from his belt.
About twenty minutes later, most of the guests had arrived. As Zuko and Mai continued to be an awkwardly dysfunctional couple, a number of the boys had gathered around Ty Lee, as she had cornered herself. After chi blocking about five of them, she cartwheeled away, and found Azula. "Oh I'm glad I found you. Those boys wouldn't leave me alone." Ty Lee said, though Azula's attention was elsewhere. "I guess they just like me too much."
Azula glanced at her friend before speaking. "Oh, come on Ty Lee, you can't be that ignorant."
"What are you talking about?" Ty Lee asked.
"They only like you because you make it so easy for them." Azula answered as she turned her head to face her friend. "You're not a challenge, you're a flirt. They don't actually care who you are." Azula said, directing her attention back to what had originally enthralled her, only to turn back towards Ty Lee when she heard the girl start crying. "Ok, ok, calm down. I didn't mean what I said…" Azula thought for a moment. "It's just that I'm… I'm a little jealous." She whispered.
"What?" Ty Lee asked. "But, you're like the most beautiful, smartest, perfect girl in the world."
Azula turned away to look at the subject of her interest again. "Well, you're right… But for some reason when I meet boys, they act as if I'm going to do something horrible to them." She said, glancing around the room.
"Well you probably would." Ty Lee said with a giggle. "They're just intimidated…" Though Ty Lee could think of a boy who wasn't. "Look, if you want a boy to like you, there's a few things you have to do. Look at him, smile a lot, and laugh at everything he says, even if it's not funny."
"That sounds really shallow and stupid." Azula said. Then again, it would be a good idea to have a little experience. "Let's try it."
Ty Lee scanned the room, finding Connor to be entertaining a group of other teens, and Chan talking to another girl. "I know just the guy to practice on." She said.
"So there I was. Upstate in the backcountry with only my father, and one gun between us…" Connor said, beginning a tall tail before sipping on his alcohol infused drink. "We stalked a moose for two days, until we came to camp in a valley on the third day, and that night, the biggest angriest bear you ever did see came up on our tent. Scared the color right out of my skin. But my dad, he couldn't make a shot, so I drew my knife, and I stabbed the beast through it's heart. He was bleeding all over, so much my hair's been stained red to the roots ever since."
"No way. Bears aren't real. It must have been a platypus bear." One guy said.
"Oh it was just a bear all right. Big and ugly as I used to be." Connor lied with a grin, before spotting Azula walking off down the hall with Chan. Connor sighed. "Now or never." He thought. "Excuse me." Connor said, as he pushed through the crowd.
It took a grand total of twenty seconds for Connor to follow the two to the end of the house, and outside. Turning to the open door, Connor's mouth hung, and the glass in his hand fell to the deck.
"Is this your first time on Ember Island?" Chan asked Azula, as the two stepped out onto the deck.
Responding naturally, she shrugged once they reached the deck and smiled, following Ty Lee's advice. "No, I used to come here years ago."
"It's a great place, if you like sand." Chan said, leaning his back against the deck.
Thinking quickly, Azula remembered what Ty Lee had told her. She laughed at his words though they weren't funny.
"Yeah, it's like, welcome to sandy land." Chan said, as he turned around to lean his arms on the deck and get closer to her.
Azula contained surprise that Ty Lee spoke the truth. It really was that easy to make a boy like her. How far could she take this? She laughed again, this time with him, as he slid up beside her. There was one fourth thing she remembered Ty Lee mentioned before introducing her to Chan. "Compliment a boy's muscles or his strength, even if he's a total weakling." She thought.
"Your arms look so strong." Azula said, lowering her voice a little, intentionally ensuring the sentence came out sounding sultry.
"Yeah I know." Chan said, flexing a little as he leaned in, preparing to kiss her.
Azula resisted her face's attempt to curl her smile into a smirk, as she understood how easy this was now. Chan was like a putty in her hands. "Might as well go for it. Wouldn't want to flirt and desert like Ty Lee." Azula leaned into the kiss, and raised an eyebrow. There wasn't any feeling of exhilaration like Ty Lee said there was supposed to be. Her heart wasn't aflutter… Not like when…
Glass shattered behind her, and Azula broke away from Chan's kiss to see Connor standing in the doorway that led to the deck, mouth closing tightly, and hands curling into fists, one at his side, the other bent at a ninety degree angle from when he was holding the now shattered glass that lay on the hardwood. Azula could see pain in his eyes. He exhaled and turned, leaving the two.
"Shit-Connor, wait." Azula said as she turned towards the red head. "I wasn't trying to…" What was she trying to do? Thumping herself in the forehead, Azula groaned. She'd been making so many mistakes recently it was becoming a nuisance.
"Was he like, your boyfriend or something?" Chan asked.
"No…" Azula said shortly, walking back inside, and leaving Chan on the deck.
Sitting on the front steps, Connor kicked the stone pathway every now and then to send rocks flying into the tree's with his bending. What did it matter if someone saw, he was a freak to everyone either way. Getting up and walking, Connor found Zuko approaching from behind him.
"You get kicked out too?" Zuko asked, in a huff.
"Left of my own accord." Connor said, as the two walked down to the beach.
"Don't follow me." Zuko said.
"I was about to say the same to you." Connor said, splitting away. Finding a sizable rock on the beach, Connor punched it twice to make a more comfortably sculpted seat, then faced the ocean, letting the tide tickle his ankles.
Over the sea to the south east, in the secluded cove, Team Avatar slept beside the water. Toph's hand left against the ground tensed, and she woke up. "Guy's you're going to think I'm crazy, but it feels like a metal man is coming."
As the team rose, everyone looked where Toph was pointing to see a tall man standing on the edge of the cliff above them, his figure cast in moon light, a third eye tattooed to his forehead.
"Oh, I have a bad feeling about this." Sokka said, grabbing his weapons, all of which horribly outraged by what was coming.
As the tall man above them sucked in a breath, Aang quickly jumped from the ground and bent a wall of earth out of the nearest slope of the cove. The tall man exhaled as he sucked in his gut, and there was a pronounced "pop-pop" before the stone wall Aang made violently exploded. The concussive wave of the blast knocked the gang off their feet as they stood, and many felt the pressure wave pass through them with an uncomfortable thump in their chest.
Toph was the first to ground herself and recover, sending a rock slide up the mountain, only for it to be blasted away after a "pop-pop." And again, "pop-pop." Before the next blast, Aang created a conical gust of wind from his palm that absorbed the explosion, though the pressure burst through, and sent everyone reeling back again.
Finally Katara pulled a massive wave of water from the river beside her, the attack flowing towards the tall man on the cliff, only for another "pop-pop" and an explosion to vaporise the water.
With concealment from all of the steam being thrown into the air, the team looked between each other, and hastily ran behind the nearest slope in the cove.
Azula found Connor sitting on his rock with a foot propped up, arm resting on his knee, and his chin in the crux of his arm. "Go away." Connor said, not bothering to turn and face her.
"It's me." Azula said.
"I know… Your footsteps are heavy." Connor turned to look at her. "I could feel you walking down here… Earth bending or something."
Azula paused. Unsure of how to respond to that. One thing was for certain though, she finally realized why Connor had been so willing to follow her. "You like me, don't you?"
"What ever gave you that impression?" Connor asked sarcastically. "Was it all the times I put myself in danger to save you? The time I offered to cook you dinner? Or the fact I stormed off after seeing you open mouth kiss another man?…" Connor waved his hand at Azula. "You know where I'm from, that's an extremely lewd thing to do in public."
"That was…" Azula felt words fail her. "Look, I was just doing what Ty Lee said. It was practice." Connor rolled his eyes as he looked out at the sea again. "Besides…" Azula looked out at the ocean with him. "What reason do you even have for liking me in that way?" Azula said, thinking about every imperfection she now had. The ugly scar on her stomach, nerves, her apparent lack of social skills…
Connor glanced over at Azula. "Do I need to have a reason?" Connor asked. "You're cute, you're smart. A little crazy at times, and a right bitch when you're angry…" Azula turned and narrowed her eyes at Connor. "... But I'm ok with that… I just figured, you know, we've known each other for months now, and maybe you felt the same way about the way I am." Connor said, as he sat back in his rock chair.
Azula sighed remembering what her father had said about her future. "Connor…" She wasn't going to outright admit what she knew to be true. "It would never work… I'm second in line for the throne. I have duties, obligations to my country and family." She turned away from him. "It's expected that once I'm of a marrying age, I'll have suitors from the noble houses, be wed within a year, and produce potential heirs."
"So my title of Sir, is just superficial then?" Connor asked, standing up.
Azula shook her head. "It's nothing to do with your status, Connor, and everything to do with your… Your..."
"Go on, say it." Connor said. Azula didn't answer. "My race… It's because I'm a pale skinned freak in a land of coloured people, isn't it?" Azula said nothing still. Connor exhaled. "If I can look past you being yellow… You should be able to look past me being white."
Azula looked over her shoulder at Connor. Him and his stupid pitiful look. "I have, Connor. Believe me, I have. Everything that's happened in the past seven months has opened my eyes, far more than you will ever know…" She held her own arms, taking in every inconceivable feature of the white man that ought to have repulsed her. His unusually alluring hair color and it's waves, the darker spots of skin that peppered his high bony cheeks, that dumb overbite and jaw filled with jagged teeth he showed off whenever he gave an infectious smile or laugh, his infuriatingly good spirited nature, and irritating playful snarky attitude.
Connor looked down at her. "So… You like me too then?"
"I'm not the one who gets to make the decision on who I chose to "like…" The Fire Nation, my family… They would never accept us."
"You mean your father…" Connor said, cooling down. "That's why you kept the fact I was an earth bender out of the conversation."
"I thought it best to avoid any negative biases." Azula said.
"But why bother if you already knew he'd never let us be together?" Connor asked.
Azula turned and faced Connor again, searching for the right words, a single tear leaving her eye. "Because maybe I'm going soft…" Looking up at the cliff to her left, Azula sighed, recognizing where she was. "Come on. Let's go find my brother."
Spying Mai and Ty Lee approaching, Connor exhaled. "You go find him. I'm staying here… Tell him to bring something for a fire."
As the slope around them was blown to bits, Sokka clutched his musket to his chest. "This is crazy! How do we beat a guy who blows things up with his mind!?"
"Don't you have any regular balls you could shoot at him?" Katara asked her brother.
"With my aim, at this distance?" Sokka retorted.
Aang pulled away from the others. "He's after me. I'll distract him, you guys jump on Appa." And with that Aang ran off into the dissipating cloud of steam, and began leaping up the walls of the nearby cliff away from the fight. Another "pop-pop" sounded off above the others as the cliff Aang was on only a second ago exploded.
Sokka groaned, before he and the others climbed on top of the bison, taking off into the air. From above they could see the tall man chasing after Aang, as he led the stranger through a maze of volcanic rock formations.
There were several more explosions, as Aang ducked and dived out of the way, but after one final blast, the boy was sent flying, and only by the skin of his teeth did he manage to recover, punching his way through a stone pillar with his earth bending.
Sokka, having loaded loose lead and wadding into his short musket, looked over the side to see the dust cloud from the impact. "Alright, take us in close." He ordered, as Katara whipped Appa's reigns.
As the tall man closed in on where Aang had fallen, Appa landed with a thud, and Sokka peaked over the homemade saddle, musket at the ready. "Surprise!" He shouted pulling the trigger of his musket, as Aang burst free from the ground and jumped up onto Appa's back.
Eyes wide, the tall man shielded his face with his metal arm, as Sokka's gun went off with a boom. The spray of pellets impacted the metal claw and sparked, as a few dented the material. With their exit covered, and Aang onboard, Appa leapt into the air again, taking off over the hills to the south.
The tall man looked down at his arm, finding it damaged, then wiped the side of his head with his organic hand, as he felt a single bead of blood dribble past his ear.
Walking over to the cliff wall, Connor dug his hands into the black rock, and pulled two sections away, before lifting them with his bending, and arranging them in an L shape near his stone chair. Pulling the chair closer, Connor sat in it, then swirled his hand twice to create a small pit in the sand for the soon to be made fire. Taking his seat, he held a hand out, implying Mai and Ty Lee should do the same.
Shortly after, Azula and Zuko returned to the beach, the two carrying what looked like bits of broken furniture and in Zuko's left hand, a portrait. As the two dumped the wood into the fire pit, Zuko used a short burst of fire to light the painting on fire first, allowing the kindling and the rest of the wood to burn.
"What are you doing?" Ty Lee asked.
"Starting a fire, what's it look like?" Zuko asked.
"But that's a painting of your family." She said.
Zuko crossed his arms. "Does it look like I care?"
"I think you do." Connor said from his seat.
"You don't know me. Mind your own business." Zuko snapped at him.
"I know you." Ty Lee muttered to herself.
"Neither of you do! I can count on two hands how many times I've talked to you." Zuko pointed at Connor. "And you're always stuck in your little Ty Lee world, where everything is great all the time!"
"Zuko, leave them alone." Mai said.
Choosing to ignore his former girlfriend, Zuko turned away from them all and walked a few paces, mocking Ty Lee's higher pitch of voice. "I'm so pretty, look at me, I can walk on my hands." The prince said, before executing a handstand, holding it for a second, only to fall flat on his back. "Circus freak."
Azula chuckled at that, though tried to keep it to herself. Ty Lee looked over at her friend and felt tears well in her eyes. "Yeah, I'm a circus freak, go on and laugh about it, but you know what? I joined the circus, because when I was growing up, I was always part of a matched set…" Ty Lee stood. "Six sisters who looked exactly like me. I hardly had my own name." Ty Lee fell to her knees. "Our parents just called all of us Ty… At least now I'm different. Circus freak is a complement."
Mai looked down at Ty Lee. "I guess that explains why you need ten boyfriends."
"I'm sorry what?" Ty Lee asked, sitting up on her knees.
"Attention issues?" Mai suggested. "You didn't get enough as a kid, so you're making up for it now."
"Well then, Mai, what's your excuse? You were an only child for fifteen years." Ty Lee snapped back. "But even then, your aura is this dingy, pasty, puddle of mud."
"I don't believe in auras." Mai said shortly.
"Yeah, you don't believe in anything." Zuko said, rolling over and getting up.
"Oh, well I'm sorry I can't be as high strung and crazy as the rest of you." Mai said blandly.
"I'm sorry too. I wish you would be high strung and crazy for once. Instead of keeping all your feelings bottled up inside." Zuko said, approaching the fire again. "I mean, she just called your aura dingy, are you going to take that?"
"What do you want from me? A teary confession about how hard my childhood was? Well it wasn't. I was a rich only child, who got anything I wanted…" Mai paused. "So long as I behaved. And sat still. Didn't speak unless spoken to… My mother said I needed to stay out of any trouble, because we had dad's political career to think about…"
Azula piped into the conversation. "Well that's it then. You had a controlling mother with higher than normal expectations. If you strayed from them, you were shut down. That's why you're afraid to care about anything, and why you can't express yourself. You never learned how to."
Mai stood up. "You want me to express myself? Leave me alone!" Her shout echoed into the night sky.
"I like it when you express yourself." Zuko approached Mai, only for her to back away.
"Don't touch me. I'm still mad at you." She said, swatting his hand.
"My life hasn't exactly been that easy either Mai." Zuko said, thumbing his own chest.
"Whatever, that doesn't excuse the way you've been acting." Mai said, crossing her arms.
Ty Lee spoke up. "Calm down guys, this much negative energy is bad for your skin."
"Bad skin?" Zuko asked incredulously. "Normal teenagers worry about bad skin. I don't have such a luxury. In case you haven't seen it, My father decided that to teach me a permanent lesson, he was going to leave it on my face!" Zuko said, as he turned his head and pointed at the angry red scar around his left eye.
Silent until now, Connor's mouth opened slightly, before he looked down at the campfire. "Christ." He muttered in English. He'd always wondered how Zuko got the scar, but never would he have thought the boy's own dad would do something like that.
"For three years, I thought that if my dad accepted me, that I'd be happy. I'm back home now, and dad talks to me." A mirthless laugh escaped Zuko. "He thinks I'm some kind of tactical genius for telling this dumb ogre…" Zuko pointed at Connor, who held his tongue at the insult. "When to kill The Avatar… Everything should be perfect. I should be happy now, but I'm not. I'm angrier than ever and I don't know why."
Finished with his rant, Azula stepped in. "Then there's a simple question you need to answer then. Who are you angry at?"
"No one." Zuko said. "I'm just angry."
"But who are you angry at Zuko?" Mai asked.
"I… I don't know." Zuko said, running his hands through his long hair.
"Is it dad?" Azula asked.
"He's angry at himself." Connor said, looking at Zuko, who locked eyes with him in a scowl. As the girl's attention snapped to him. "You rage because you don't know if the decisions you've made are right or wrong." Connor scratched where his hair met his face just before his ear, the beginnings of a beard beginning to grow in. "You've got a haunting guilty conscience."
Zuko turned away from them all, unsure of what to believe. "I'm just scared and confused... And nobody seems to care..."
Mai looked around at everyone, and stood up. "I care." She said, stepping over to Zuko, and kissing his cheek.
Azula clapped slowly. "Wonderful performances, all of you. You should try out for the Ember Island Players."
"I guess you wouldn't understand." Zuko said, facing his sister. "Would you, Azula? You're just so perfect."
Azula shrugged as she looked into the fire. "Well, yes, I guess you're right. I don't have sob stories like all of you. I could sit here and complain about how mother loved Zuko more than me, but I don't really care… My own mother thought I was a monster…" Before she could deflect her introspection with humor, Connor spoke up.
"That's a lie…" He said. "You're not a monster." Azula felt words fail her, as her throat began to lump. "You're not a monster, Azula… You've just been treated like one for too long, and I know what that's like."
Zuko looked between Azula and Connor. "How would you know anything about my sister?"
Connor looked into the fire, melancholic, before grunting. "Because, I've spent nearly the last half year by her side… For what that's worth." Connor let the words go unspoken, as he locked eyes with Azula.
Zuko understood, and laughed a little. "Wow… I guess it would take one to love one." Azula looked away from everyone else, holding her own shoulders, as a single tear fell from her face.
Connor puffed his wavy red locks off of his eyebrows, and picked up a handful of loose sand. "Yeah."
Zuko clapped his hands together. "So, that's what's got you all teary eyed then? Did Azula tell you that she doesn't love anything other than power?"
Connor sighed, as he bent the sand while releasing it. "Damn near…" He let it swirl in the air before settling with the rest of the black grains on the beach. "I'm a stranger to your world, and I don't think I can ever return to my own. I will never see my family again. I will never know what it is like to be accepted. I will die on this world alone…" Connor said calmly. "I might be remembered, sure, maybe as your country's merchant of death, who sold his soul for coin and a bed… But I will die, all the same, forgotten. Grieved by none… I accept that I am dead already." Connor wiped his eyes with his wrist, and stood up.
"And the only thing I can do now…" Connor looked at Azula. "Is hope." Suddenly feeling light headed, Connor rubbed his temples.
Ty Lee raised an eyebrow. "Wow, your air chakra opened up. You're aura's all green… Lo and Li were right. Ember Island did help us learn about ourselves… I feel all smooth." She said, picking up a beach rock. "I'm going to remember this forever."
Azula swallowed hard, then smirked as she stood up... The facade of a girl in control of her emotions being put back on. "You know what would make tonight really memorable?"
Chan opened the door to his dad's house, finding the group of freaks standing there. "We've got some bad news, Chan." Azula said with a smirk.
"Parties over." Zuko said before grinning.
Azula smashed vases, Zuko broke tables in two, Mai tore paintings and tapestries with her knives, Ty Lee pulled chandeliers free from the ceiling, and Connor, topping everything off, chucked the nearest couch out the second floor window, which crashed into the deck, and knocked over a torch.
The five teens gathered back in the main room, as the house started to catch fire, and shared a hug, as Chan cried like a baby. Connor, in the middle of it all, with either of the fire siblings by his side, Mai leaning into Zuko, and Ty Lee jumping up as she hugged Azula.
Author's note.
THERE. I did it. I've been dying to have Azula and Connor have this conversation. And that's on top of everything else this chapter had to offer, like everyone's own sorrows.
Next is Ember Island day 2.
"Nani" an original chapter? Why yes. Short as it might turn out.
If you've been paying attention any time Connor comes across new things, he smells them. (And taste them on occasion if it smells ok.) This is something that was quite common among men of science for his era. And most prominently doctors. It was relatively common practice one upon a time to taste test urin to see if a patient had diabetes. Because diabetic urine is loaded with extra sugar and tastes sweet. (And a diabetic off gassing sugar will have fruity smelling breath as well)
Connor picked up this "scientific" approach to testing new things from his dad.