Author's Note: Thank you very much for the review, dear guest. I agree, Aang is a bit out of character for Book 2 in the 2nd chapter, but then again, I thought, not for the entire series, where he does have phases of being terribly excited over firebending as well. I would also imagine that he sees this not only as a way for him to learn firebending, but as a way to help Lu Ten as well, bringing a bit of sense back into his life. And to conclude this, I thought, well, I'm mixing up with the original storyline quite a bit, so why not? I hope this explains it a bit. Anyways, with this chapter we're going to close Book 2 finally and move on. Thanks to everyone who follows this, enjoy! And please review.
Ba Sing Se, 100 years after Sozin's comet
Lu Ten sighed. Every one of the group was out today, except for him. He was sitting in the courtyard, meditating for what seemed like ages. Aang had heard of a Guru named Pathik, who apparently offered to help him master the avatar state. Lu Ten found this a bit unreliable if he was honest to himself. The avatar state was something only experienced by said avatar. How could anyone else help him master it? But when he saw all the hope in the little monk's face, he had kept his doubts to himself.
Sokka and Katara had received a letter from a guy named Bato, apparently their father's second-in-command. Their father and his ship were closer than they thought, just outside of Ba Sing Se, helping the war efforts by sinking Fire Nation ships. Katara had left it to Sokka to visit their father. They hadn't seen him in two years. She on the other hand would go to a meeting of the council of five, basically the top-ranking Earth Kingdom generals, and work out a plan for an invasion of the Fire Nation on the day of the black sun,a solar eclipse Sokka had reluctantly explained to Lu Ten. He himself had mixed feelings about this. Nevertheless, he had offered her to accompany her and help with his knowledge of the nation and their defensive systems. But the waterbender had declined. She thought, if somebody was to find out about his identity, he would probably be thrown into prison again. Lu Ten recognized her argument.
Toph had received a letter from her mother. Apparently, Mrs. Beifong was currently in the city and desperately wanted to meet her daughter. She even offered some understanding for what Toph had done. It reminded him how young his companions were. Yes, Toph almost always seemed to be tougher than anyone, even the adults, but then again, she was only twelve years old and missed her parents after running away.
This and Sokka visiting his dad ripped on Lu Ten's own heart and soul. If he would only know where his wife and child were. He longed to see them, as he had been for the last seven years, but today it seemed even harder, almost every one of these children going to see their parents. I hope you're safe, I really hope you're safe, he thought.
After a brief moment he raised from his sitting position. He had to do something, so he went back to his room and quickly undressed from his robe and shirt, so he was just in his trousers and went to the courtyard again. Some training would be a good way to spend his time. His father always said that firebending came from the breath, not from the muscles, and Lu Ten agreed, but they won't hurt, he added in his thoughts. He walked by a mirror and stopped for a moment. His body got more and more like it was before his imprisonment. Yes, there were still the bandaged hands, that became more and more moveable by the day, and a few scars, on his face as well as on his upper body. Souvenirs not only from his imprisonment, but also from the war. But still, the marks of starvation were almost completely gone, and his muscles were now more pronounced. His face warmed up as he imagined Lian looking at him. She would like that, and therefore alone all the training was worth it.
Out in the courtyard he began with non-bending exercises. Dripping with sweat he ended them in the careful movements Katara had shown him for his hands. His ability to move them was improving, definitely. He would not take the bandages off though. The healer had warned him about it, so, he'd rather have his hands bandaged for longer than it actually took, instead of risking anything. But maybe, he could make some hand movements again in his bending exercises. Of course, he would need to be extra careful not to let any energy flow through his arms at that. He smiled at his moving fingers.
Afterwards he took a small break for lunch, before he started bending different forms. For the first time in years, he accompanied the leg movements with arms and hand gestures, always cautious not to firebend with his upper body. At some point he stopped, breathing heavily. Yes, he could feel his muscles protesting, but he had never felt this alive in years, even when he was freed it had been different. He decided to do one last set. It was a set of forms he had not shown any of the group members yet. Lu Ten thought, Aang was not ready for all the secrets now that he was only a beginner, and this form had to be accompanied by arm movements, so he hadn't been able to do it himself. Pity that his father was not there, he thought. Originally the set was composed for two benders, not one, and it had become a father-son thing for a variety of reasons.
He took a deep breath and took the first position, raising one of his legs. In his mind he could see the ancient architecture again, feel his heart beating with the drums of the sun warriors. Closing his eyes for a moment he opened them again, calmness overflowing him. Then he started the set. One stance after another, parted, yet flowing in movement. Lu Ten was careful to do everything correctly. He could feel his mind focus. The dancing dragons form always calmed him down, helped him to concentrate. It was like meditation in some ways, but the movement, the bending that came along with it increased the effect on him. Once he got to the ending stance, he remained there for a few moments. It was where the two benders' fists should connect. Someday, he promised to himself, someday he would do this with his father again.
Lu Ten returned to a standing position. He wiped the sweat away with a towel he had previously brought with him. Suddenly a memory shot through his brain. It had been a nice summer day in the Fire Nation. He was granted an audience with his grandfather. He remembered how he knelt down before the throne, his forehead touching the ground. "My dear grandson, please raise. To request an audience is so unusual for you, so tell me, what can I do for you?", he heard the deep voice of his grandfather. He had a friendly tone on him that was uncommon to most people, but Lu Ten knew, the old man was genuinely smitten by his teenage grandson. He often said, he couldn't wish for a better prince, a firebending prodigy, a war hero, yet calm, friendly and polite and imbued with a sharp mind. He remembered how he slowly raised his head. His father was standing at the side. He too did not know why his son was there and watched curiously. Lu Ten focused back on his grandfather, smiling at him a bit nervously and to his surprise he got a smile back. He took a deep breath and began to speak. His request was actually quite simple. He wanted his father's and more important his grandfather's blessing to marry Jeong Lian. He had to explain to Azulon who she was, his father had known her from visiting his friend Jeong Jeong. Azulon's expression changed suddenly. Lu Ten felt the explosion before it happened. His grandfather stood up, towering above him, "How dare you even suggest something so outrageous. The daughter of a lowborn admiral? She has no noble blood at all. She is no queen material. You end this relationship right now.", Lu Ten had opened his mouth to protest, but his grandfather cut him off, "I will not discuss this. My decision stands firm.", Lu Ten felt his own expression fall apart. Searching for help he turned to his father. Iroh just stood there, his head lowered, and his eyes closed in a regretful expression. He would not disobey his father. He swallowed and excused himself. Later that day he received a message from his grandfather. He wanted him to join him for a walk in the royal gardens. Lu Ten sighed, there had been no person he wanted to see less at this moment. Yet, he had to go. His grandfather was also the Fire Lord in the end. Azulon had a way more friendly look on him when his grandson joined him. He laid a hand on Lu Ten's back while they walked around the grass. "My dear grandson, I'm sorry how I reacted to your request earlier.", the elderly man began, "but you have to understand, we cannot let peasants marry into the royal family.", he saw in Lu Ten's eyes that the young prince wanted to protest, "I know, at your age, you fell for this girl and you're immediately sure she's the one for you. But let an old man tell you, once you don't see her for a few weeks, you'll forget about her. There are many beautiful girls out there, with a much better family tree. I'm sure one of them will win your young heart. I could invite some of them if you like.", Lu Ten frowned at the thought. Besides, he had been away from Lian for weeks and months over the course of their relationship. He had traveled with his father and also joined military campaigns. Yet his love for her got stronger. Suddenly he saw a white light from the corner of his eyes. He quickly turned around, shoving the Fire Lord a bit to the side. His body reacted almost automatically, and he redirected the lightning at the sky. Both men panted quite heavily, as well as the girl standing in the garden. Princess Azula looked as shocked as the men. The Fire Lord regained his composure first, "Princess Azula, you really are a prodigy, starting with lightning at such a young age. This was impressive, but you should not train this where people are walking around and,", he chuckled a bit, "work on your aiming.", then he turned to Lu Ten and patted him on the back, "Amazing technique my grandson, you will make a fine Fire Lord one day. I don't even know how you did this. Did you come up with this by your own?", Lu Ten straightened himself and bowed before his grandfather, "No, grandfather. Father and I developed this together, the most praise for it should go to him.", he shot a glance over to his cousin. Who taught a little girl how to shoot lightning?
A thought shot through Lu Ten's mind. He hadn't told anyone of his little meeting with Zuko. But knowing that Azula was behind them… He decided that Aang needed a defense technique not just for fire, but for lightning. Good thing he knew one. He would teach the avatar as soon as he returned.
But for now, he had at least a few hours at his free deposal before even Katara would return. What should he do with all that time? His thoughts wandered to his father again. The obvious answer would be to enjoy a cup of tea. The kids had told him of a new tea shop in the upper ring, the Jasmine Dragon. So, Lu Ten grabbed the rest of his clothing and went out of the door.
After wandering astray through the wide streets of the upper ring, his sense for orientation was quite limited in this city of green and brown walls, he finally found the tea shop. His father would've loved the name. Lu Ten walked up the stairs and was greeted by a waiter, "A table for one, please.", the waiter seemed surprised. Seemingly most people would not come here alone. He smiled and asked Lu Ten to wait for a moment. The prince stood in the entrance of the tea shop, taking in his surroundings. His father would definitely love this. The interior design, the name, if only the tea would raise up to the overall quality this could be straight out of one of his father's dreams.
The waiter came back, led him to a table and asked what tea he wanted. Lu Ten thought a bit about it, "I think, since your shop is named the Jasmine Dragon, I'll take some Jasmine please.", he said, smiling at the waiter.
"Yes, of course, sir. Although I have to beg for your forgiveness in advance. The owner of the shop usually brews the tea, but today he cannot do so, since the Earth King asked for his service. So, the quality of the tea will be slightly less high than usual.", the waiter looked at him with pleading eyes.
Lu Ten waved his hand in a nonchalant gesture, "Don't worry, I'm sure it'll do.", and when the waiter returned with his order, it really did. My father makes better tea, but not by much, he thought. Then he let his thoughts travel for the rest of the time he spent drinking tea.
When he left the tea shop it was already getting dark, he should head home now. As he approached the building, he could already hear them. Not that it was loud, but distinct. Dai Li agents. He hid behind a column quickly and really; their home was buzzing with green clothed agents. Lu Ten reminded himself to stay silent, then he heard two of them talk, "Nothing and no one is here. We searched thoroughly. But the big white animal was seen near the palace.", this was all he needed. Quietly he disappeared from his hiding place into the streets of Ba Sing Se.
To find the way to the palace was not as difficult as to find anything else in this city. He quickened his steps when he saw no guards at the gates. Something was going on, he could feel it, something bad was going to happen. He hurried towards the center of the palace when he saw Appa. He stopped and petted the bison's big head, "Hello my friend. Do you know where those meddling kids are?", the sky bison let out a groan and leaned into his touch. Then he heard fighting noise and ran in that direction.
Under the palace Zuko had sided with his sister and attacked the avatar. He shot fire at the monk, but the avatar dodged it easily. Zuko wondered, to his knowledge the avatar had a waterbending and an earthbending master, but it seemed now, he had found a firebending master too. Then the monk did a move he knew all too well. His cousin had showed it to him, back when he was a child. It was a move that Lu Ten had created himself. Not even Iroh had known of it. He remembered his cousin back in the streets of Ba Sing Se, "I will not tell you who freed me, it is not of your business. Just be sure, I'm in good company.", his cousin's voice echoed through his mind. It couldn't be. Lu Ten couldn't be a traitor. Yet, he also thought Lu Ten couldn't be alive.
Lu Ten ran inside the palace, towards the fighting he heard. This was the way to the throne room; he was sure of that. Though he had never been there, even the way there was much more decorated than the rest. He opened the door to the next long floor and was immediately aware of a group of Dai Li agents running towards a very high and massive green door. Maybe this was the final door to the throne room. He heard fighting from inside. The agents hadn't noticed him yet, so he attacked immediately. He ran up to them from behind and did not stop but slid the last meter towards them, knocking some of the agents from their feet. Energy flew through him, he still had something to clear out with them. The agents were shocked to be attacked from behind, so their reaction was slow and Lu Ten knocked about half of them out with pure hand to hand combat. Then he began firebending, causing some of the agents to flee. With the last agent standing between him and the door, he shot a fire blast at him with his foot, strong enough to throw the agent against the door, and open it in the process.
A few moments before Toph, Sokka and Kuei, the Earth King, stood in the middle of the throne room. They were surprised by the wrong Kyoshi warriors, who turned out to be Ty Lee and Mai, when they only wanted to get Bosco, the bear. It had been Kuei's idea. He wouldn't leave without his pet. Now they were surrounded by Dai Li agents. Sokka was thinking about a plan to get out of there, but they were clearly outnumbered. Each of them stood on one side of the apparently useless King. Suddenly Toph grinned. Slightly turning around Sokka asked, "Why are you grinning? This is really not the time to…"
He was silenced by a gesture by Toph, then she said, "I think, we're not as outnumbered anymore. Sifu Hotman has just arrived.", Sokka blinked twice at that, then he remembered that she had begun to call Lu Ten that, much to the firebender's discomfort. Then the massive door to the throne room swung open, first releasing an unconscious Dai Li agent and a burst of flames. Afterwards Lu Ten's figure appeared.
The firebender quickly analyzed the situation. Toph and Sokka were apparently protecting a fearful Earth King from a group of Dai Li agents and two Kyoshi warriors. And a bear sat on one side of the massive throne. Lu Ten decided not to give anyone the option to think and started attacking the Dai Li agents. Suddenly one of the Kyoshi warriors was behind him. She had a long braid and big, dark eyes. She tried to hit him, but wait, he once met someone fighting like that, she wanted to chi-block him. So, he put more effort in trying to block her. The bindings around his arms helped to do that, they were no forearm guards, but effective enough for now. He blocked her fists with them, then he kicked her arms downwards, causing her upper body to follow, spun around and kicked her with all his power in said upper body. Her armor would deflect most of the damage, but as the kick drove her into a column, she was knocked out.
As Lu Ten turned around he saw most of the Dai Li Agents leave the room hastily, together with the other Kyoshi warrior. Some agents were laying on the ground, apparently unconscious. The Earth King ran towards the bear, hugging him. Lu Ten raised an eyebrow and looked at his young companions, "Don't tell me you're here because of that."
Sokka shrugged his shoulders, "He didn't want to leave without him."
Then they heard a scream. It was Aang's voice. Their eyes widened in shock. Lu Ten was the first to regain his composure, "Okay, let's hurry and bring these two out of here, then we'll search for the rest.", he put a bandaged, firm hand on Kuei's shoulder, driving him forwards, while Toph and Sokka tried to get Bosco to move. After what seemed like three times Lu Ten needed to get there, they finally arrived and put the Earth King and his bear up on Appa's back. Just as they got down, they saw a blue clothed figure running towards them. It was a thoroughly exhausted Katara. She carried an unconscious Aang in her arms.
Lu Ten immediately got aware of how bad the monk had been wounded. He saw it not only on his form, but also in Katara's eyes. All hope was gone and refilled by fear. He hurried over to her and took the unconscious boy from her arms carefully. Sokka hugged his sister, "Katara, what happened?"
He was interrupted by a tensed firebender, "Sokka, we don't have time for that now. We need to get them out of here.", Sokka stared at him for a moment, then he helped Lu Ten get the unconscious Aang into Appa's saddle. They then helped the shocked Katara and Sokka took the reins.
In the saddle Lu Ten looked at Aang's wound, "How did this happen? Who did this?", he had an angry tone in his voice the teens had never heard and tears in his eyes. The waterbender cried silently, "No time for that, he needs healing first. Could you hold him like that?", then she took out the spirit water she had obtained from the North Pole. It completely vanished into the monk's back. For a moment everything went dark, then Lu Ten turned Aang around in his arms. Slowly the eyelids of the monk began to move, opening only slightly. He whispered, "Katara?", then he fell back into unconsciousness, but at least he lived.
Katara smiled slightly, but as the recent memories washed over her, she began crying again. Lu Ten laid Aang down carefully, before he pulled Katara into a hug. She cried into his shoulder for a while. He remembered Lian doing so as well, especially on one occasion, when her mother had died of an illness. Their relationship had still been fresh, but he felt this incredible helplessness, much like now. After a while Katara stopped crying and Lu Ten released her from his hug. She told everything that happened during the fight. This caused the emotions to rage inside of Lu Ten. His father had sacrificed himself so they could flee. Should he go back and free him? No, he had to stay with Aang. The avatar needed him. He couldn't endanger the boy that was already at the brink of death. He still felt an incredible amount of guilt wash over him. And his cousin? Only anger stayed in his mind when he thought of his Baby Cousin. Just a few days ago they had spoken. His cousin said he didn't want to hunt for the avatar, and more importantly, that he would take care of his father. And what did he do? He put a knife in his father's back, not literally of course, but still.
He did not ask where they were flying, but in the end, he was not surprised when they landed next to two water tribe ships. Sokka quickly got down from Appa's head and ran towards a camp. A group of water tribe warriors approached them, just as Lu Ten picked up the unconscious avatar with a stern expression on his face. They all demounted Appa, and Sokka would introduce everyone to his father. Hakoda was surprised to see an adult, not to mention a firebender among their group. But Katara told him of the fate Lu Ten had suffered, so Hakoda was fine with that.
They quickly tucked Aang in, before they all sat around a fire, discussing what to do next. The Fire Nation would probably come after them rather quickly, since the Dai Li had information about the water tribe ships. So, they needed to go, but the Fire Nation navy patrolled the only entrance to the bay. It was Lu Ten who spoke up, "Chief Hakoda, do you think, you and your men could capture a Fire Nation ship instead of sinking it?"
All of them looked at him in surprise. The royal had been completely silent up to that. Hakoda thought about it for a moment. "I think we could do that, yes. But I don't know how to maneuver such a ship properly, besides, what do we do with the original crew?"
"Don't worry, I know how to steer such ships. And with the crew, every ship has a prison tract.", a small smile played around Lu Ten's lips. The Gaang members stared at him in surprise.
Sokka asked, "But you said you were fighting in the army. How do you know about ships?"
Lu Ten smiled at him, in the shine of the fire, it almost seemed that his cheeks blushed a bit, "Well, my father-in-law was an admiral, and to get his approval to ask his daughter out for a date I wanted to flatter the man a bit by learning everything I could about these ships. Not that it had any effect on him.", he sighed as everyone around him chuckled.