Chapter 3 – Reluctance and Understanding

Toph and Sokka were approaching the building that Sokka saw earlier when riding Appa

"I can't believe you are running your own school"

Toph in a proud manner said

"yea, barely 14 and I'm managing my own school. Professor Toph Bey-Fong, I like the ring to tha…"

but Toph stopped and Sokka looked ahead and saw three people approaching them, a large boy who was probably 14, a little girl who looked to be 10 years old, and a gangly guy who looked like he could be Mai's mopeyer cousin probably 16 and Toph looked less than pleased

"what are you lily livers doing out here!"

the big guy hid behind the girl who in turn hid behind the dark gangly guy, the big kid then shouted

"I knew we were DOOMED!"

the little girl cried

"its not my fault, we had to leave"

the Ganly guy in a huff said

"yea… that teacher guy told us get out of his dojo"

Toph upon hearing this rushed to the school, and Sokka looked to the students

"you better come"

they all rushed to the building. Toph kicked the door open

"GET OUT OF MY SCHOOL!"

she shouted Sokka came in not far behind and looked and could see three kids of a similar age as Toph's students in fire nation stile clothing and a middle-aged man (40ish) with a cane in hand all of whom looked at with confusion and the man asked

"who are you?"

Toph in a fury shouted

"I'm Toph Bey-Fong, this is the Bey-Fong metal bending academy!"

the man turned to her and took a couple of steps to her, Sokka noticed he had a distinct limp in his walk but the man replied with a proud tone

"well…I'm Yasuaki Yumoto, and this is my advanced fire bending dojo"

Toph in anger

"by what right!?"

Yumoto pulled out a document from his vest

"the fact that I bought it"

both Toph and Sokka shouted

"what!"

then Sokka turned to Toph

"do you have any documents?"

Toph still angered pulled a scroll out of her vest and handed it to Sokka with a frustrated tone

"here, Snoozles"

Sokka looked and saw a desk and put his detective hat with built in magnifying glass on and looked it over then he looked to Yumoto "can I…" and Yumoto handed him the scroll and Sokka read them over while toph pouted.

Sokka stood up

"So Yumoto's deed to this place proceeds Toph's by over a year"

then he looks at Yumoto and quickly put together what happened

"I guess, you had to leave because of…"

but then Yumoto interrupted

"the Harmony Restoration movement? Yes"

he said in a sour tone

"It took me 4 years of blood, sweat, and tears to accumulate the wealth needed to purchase this property, and it was taken from me without a warrant by your Harmony Restoration movement!"

Toph was listing to his hear beat to see if there was any lie but found none just anger and disappointment and Sokka looked at it "ok date of purchase, 10,000 silver fire pieces then he looks at Tophs, ok 25, 000 golden circle pieces"

then Toph

"see I paid more!"

the little girl blushed "see he's so smart!"

Sokka then corrected them

"no, she didn't"

Toph shouted

"what!"

but she could see he wasn't lying and he continued

"you paid in todays earth kingdom money, he paid in Fire nation money from a year ago"

he pulled out scroll and a counting frame (ancient calculator) and did some quick math

"by inflation, and currency exchange Toph paid… 10,000 silver fire pieces"

Toph sounding disappointed

"but, what am I… we supposed to do?"

Sokka looked questioning then asked the both of them

"do you know a good lawyer?"

Katara was walking threw the streets of Yu Dao, it did seem pretty nice, there were children from both Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom playing games, she went to a cutlery shop and picked up and looked at the knives and other kitchen tools and she could tell already they were some of the best quality she had ever seen in her life, and looking to the back smith part of the shop, she could see a Fire bender heating up a length of metal with his fire bending far hotter than normally done with a bellows, then he hands it to an Earth bender and he placed that length of metal still hot in a device made of finely cut stone with metal on the end and with his earth bending used it to hammer it harder than any normal hand and hammer, again and again folding it several times before handing it back to the fire bender to repeat the process. After placing the knife back down she continued to look around and of course there were many venders showing off their products, She looked and saw a earth bender cobbler working on a fire bender's shoes, but just on the far side of the of the street, she found what looked like spa, a earth bender woman placing a fine mud face mask on a lady, while a fire bender woman was using some sort of elbow length leather glove coated with fire on the palm and was using it to shave/incinerate the hairs off of that same lady's legs and arms. Katara then turned around and bumped into Zuko who was facing her causing her jump back causing her to trip and fall bum first in a tall basket

"sorry I startled you… need a hand?"

and he holds out a hand for her and Katara sighed

"yea, that would be nice"

she takes his hand, and he helps her to her feet, then he had to ask

"sorry to ask but why are you still here?"

Katara patting any dust off of her clothes and looked at Zuko who looked like he was worn, like he hadn't slept for weeks and overly stressed

"I thought that I should… see how the common folk are fairing with all this… and figured you could use my help"

Zuko smiled, still exhausted but there was a sense of relief and the two of them walked down the street, then he asked

"so what did you see… find out?"

turning to him she thought for a minute then explained

"a lot of these business, establishments, seem to be run by both Fire Nation and Earth kingdom people. Evey thing they, build, produce, and practice needs the techniques of both bending types"

Zuko sigh as if relived

"I'm glad you see that"

then he looked ahead

"why don't your come with me to the Mayor's house, he has invited me for Dinner"

Katara thought it over

"it would be nice to get more insight into this…"

then she looked at herself

"should I get cleaned up a little?, politician's host dinner and all"

Zuko just shook his head "no, you look great"

causing Katara to blush a little.

They made their way to the Mayor's house and the guards let them in and they were greeted by mayor Morishita, his wife

"thanks for having us"

and he motioned to Katara

"this is my friend Katara, and I decided to bring her along… um is there enough"

Morishita chuckled

"of course my Lord Zuko"

he said with a bow, then Mrs. Morishita examined Katara who looked at Zuko with a look of 'why is she looking at me like this?' and Mrs. Morishita gently grabbed a sleeve of Katara's outfit, then her skirt/pants and then looked at her boots "no, no this just wont do" and Katara just asked

"what, what is it?"

Mrs. Morishita gently took her by the wrist

"its all right, just a simple clean up"

she took Katara to a side room "we won't be long, just get started on your meeting, Dinner will start in half an hour".

Katara was taken to a bath, and Mrs. Morishita had Katara's clothes taken to be washed, so Mrs. Morishita had brought a dress and clean shoes. After bathing she picked up the dress and examined it, the materials, and the way they were processed was very similar to the dress she wore in Ba Sing Se when she and Toph snuck into the Earth kingdom royal palace, even the colors were similar with light greens and beige but the craftsmanship was very Fire nation with a bit of earth kingdom stitching, having a to the floor skirt, waist hugging middle but not to tightly with the hip and torso section with the shoulders and upper chest and back exposed, and Kimono style sleeves, it was a interesting mixture of the two cultures, its was quite beautiful to say the least, she can see what Zuko was talking about with Yu Dao and it's uniqueness it being lost.

After putting it on she made her way to the Dinning hall where she found Morishita, his Wife, and Kori on one side and Zuko

"Yu Dao isn't they only place that is under threat my lord, there are other settlements and they don't have the luxury of city walls"

Katara took a seat next to Zuko and he spoke

"the 37 battle Corp is stationed in the center most part of these colonies"

Katara took a dumpling and asked

"how many of these colonies are there all together?"

Zuko turned to face her and noticed what she was wearing and thought to himself

"by Agni she is beautiful"

but then took a map that he and Morishita were looking at, and showed her "if going by settlements or towns… 37, but counted by actual colonies 13"

Katara looked around

"and all of them are in a similar… situation as here?"

Morishita nodded

"yes, some even worse"

then Mrs. Morishita then chimed in

"like here all the people of those colonies regardless of their elemental bending or ethnicity are descended of Fire nation and Earth Kingdom and if the Harmony Restoration Movement was enforced…"

but then Morishita's little 2 year old boy wondered in rubbing his eyes and Mrs. Morishita picked him up and cuddled him

"oh Han, you had a bad dream?"

and little Han nodded and sobbed a little, so she picked him up

"it's ok, mommy's got you"

and cradled him as she took her seat again

"anyway what was I talking about"

Kori answered

"you were talking about the Harmony Restoration Movement and the people"

Katara looked at Mrs. Morishita and her son then continued the sentence "we would be breaking up communities, and even separating family members from each other"

Zuko nodded

"yes, and as you can see I can't in good conscience allow that to happen"

Katara looked to Zuko who was kept a facade calm but could see he was thinking and stressing over this situation her was in then looked at Ba Sing Se on the map

"I hope Aang can convince the Earth King to renegotiate these terms"

Aang was flying for a good 10 hours strait after he initially left Yu Dao, this was the first time he had been alone since he initially left the southern air temple (apart from Appa and Momo being with him). He didn't know what to think of his current situation, he did know that the Harmony Restoration Movement wasn't very Harmonious, and he needed solutions. That wasn't the only thing on his mind, he was also thinking about that dream he had a couple of days ago, did it have anything to do with the Harmony Restoration Movement? Maybe even involve his and Katara's relationship? since his time with Madam Wuu, he knew that prophecies were more like guidelines rather than absolute destinies, but he also knew that Visions were things one shouldn't ignore. Every moment of it was concerning, and the end with Him, Zuko, and Katara was terrifying, was he going to fight her the girl of his dreams, was another war going to start? Then Appa made a moaning yawn and Aang's thought train was broken and he looked around and could see it was dusk, and he looked down and saw a clearing on the top of a cliff overlooking a road next to a river leading to a town not too far away and decided to land and set up camp.

Aang got up in the crack of dawn to a disturbance, he could hear people yelling

"GIT BACK HERE ASH SPAWN!"

Aang jumped off of Appa's tail and looked down and could see three men in armour chasing a teenaged girl. Aang jumped down and created an air scooter and pursued them. The men caught up to the girl, she tried to fight back but they tied her to a tree, she then cried

"what do you want from me?"

one of the men pulled out a one-handed battle hammer

"Gone!"

he was about to strike her but then Aang used a gust of wind to blow him into some bushes, then the other two turned around and Aang could see they had masks on looking at the one he blew into the bush who just got back up and he to had a mask as well then he looked at the girl who was tied to the tree and could see it was Tylee then he looked at the men

"what are you doing?"

after picking up his weapon

"just enforcing the Harmony Restoration movement!"

Aang quickly scooted to Tylee

"first of all that is being put on hold, and second it doesn't justify murder"

then the man with the hammer pointed at Tylee

"to fight the ash makers, we'll do anything"

then Tylee protested "I'm not a fire bender! Nobody in my family is"

but one of the men shouted

"doesn't matter!"

but then stomped on the ground

"that's enough!"

he stomped the ground and half submerged them into the ground but then they broke them selves out using their earth bending, and they charged them but then Appa dropped on top of them and all of them were pined down and Aang smile

"you are the Best Sky bison friend I have"

Appa gave him a look that said

"I'm the only Sky bison friend you have"

Aang then used a fire dagger to cut the rope that held Tylee to the tree, rubbing her wrists and she looked at Aang and Appa and she jumped at Aang and gave him a big hug

"thank you! Avatar Aung!"

Aang raised an eyebrow but with a friendly smile

"no problem, Tylee"

he looked at Appa still on top of the tugs then turned back to Tylee

"so what are you doing, out here…"

but then one of the tugs shouted

"can you talk to your ash spawn friend after you take us to jail!"

then Tylee jumped over Aang chi-blocked the tug's jaw

"first of all I'm talking to an old new friend, second that was just plain rude"

she turned to Aang

"well to answer your question, I'm on a spiritual journey"

she did a cartwheel to Appa and hugged his head

"and you, you are big fluffy, puffy, lovey, bubby!"

Appa just licked her face and Aang chuckled

"I see he likes yea"

Tylee just kissed Appa on the nose and turned to Aang

"I really have a harmonious…"

but then one of the other tugs just shouted

"can you flirt after you turn us in!"

Aang just huffed

"ok… fine"

after dropping off the thugs to the local authorities, picking up some supplies, Aang and now Tylee and Momo were riding Appa, they were heading for a field that Tylee was guiding them to as a reward for saving her, Aang could put together how she was so bubbly, and happy despite that just over an hour ago she was attacked and probably would have been killed by those earth benders then he had to ask

"so, Tylee why were those guys after you?"

Tylee practicing her splits answered

"I'm not sure, they seem to think I'm a fire bender or something, but I'm not"

then Aang added

"but aren't you a fire nation citizen?"

Tylee nodded

"yea…"

and she sat down, looking around at the mountains he then asked

"didn't you join the Kyoshi after the war?"

Tylee laid back with a sigh

"I did for a about 6 months, but I still didn't feel right, with a dozen or so women who are all dressed the same and same makeup…"

Aang remembered something that Zuko said when talking about the time he, Azula, Mia, and Tylee on Ember Island

"and you didn't want to be part of a matching set?"

Tylee looked at him and quietly said

"yes"

then Aang remembered

"oh you said you were on a spiritual journey?"

Tylee shot up

"yep! Zuko got a lot more clarity of his destiny by going on a solo journey"

Aang thought it over

"yea… for a bit, he still had his uncle and eventually us… erm Katara, Toph, Suki, Sokka and I"

Tylee just looked over in deep thought then she saw something

"there it is"

Aang looked at a field was honestly a perfect sanctuary for Appa, it had fields of tall thick grass and wildflowers way more than he could eat in ten lifetimes, flowing rivers of pure water and the wind had a strong but not an overbearing presence. After they landed, Appa started to graze in the field, and Momo started collecting flowers, and brought them to Tylee and they made some braids, head bands, and other things. Seeing that Appa was enjoying himself and Momo was happy, Aang just dropped and started to make a grass angel, after about a half an hour Tylee making her way through the grass and found Aang, she peeked over looking at him then dropped on the grass parallel to him and made her own grass angel

"so where are you going?"

Aang got up

"Ba Sing se, I have to talk to the Earth King about the Harmony Restoration Movement"

Tylee just blinked a couple of times

"do you think that has anything to do with those masked tugs that attacked me, err us?"

Aang stood up

"no doubt yes"

then he called Appa and Momo over

"all right time to go"

Appa with a full belly landed next to them with Momo who was wearing all sorts of bling made from the flowers, Aang got on Appa's head

"you good?"

he looked and could see a small village not too far and Tylee looked at the same town then she got a quick thought

"can I go with you"

Aang looked at Momo then back to her

"sure"

she jumped up into Appa's and sat down and Momo instantly jumped off Aang's head and crawled on her lap then Aang patted Appa head the took the reins

"Yip, yip".

Katara after getting her every day cloths (nice and cleaned) on, and was about to leave Mayor Morishita's house when she came across little Han and she crouched down

"hello Han, feeling better?"

little Han nodded holding his green blanky up to his nose

"well you should know that you are just adorable"

Little Han walked up to her and took his blanky from his nose and touched Katara's nose with it and reached up to her as if asking to be picked up so she did, and Little Han put the blanky up to his nose then back to Katara's several times

"that means he trusts you"

Katara turned around and could see Kori smiling then continued

"oh, and sorry for attempting to assassinate Fire Lord Zuko, I promise it wont happen again"

Katara looking at this girl who just apologized for attempted murder like one apologizes for taking the last of the tiger-seal jerky, it was weird to say the least. so she replied

"Zuko seems to have forgiven you, so I shall as well"

she then looked around

"where is Zuko anyway?"

Kori took Han from Katara

"I believe he is at the court house with my father, something about a metal bending school"

Katara pushed the door open then was about to ask but Kori answered first

"down main street, across the street from town hall"

Katara thanked her then bolted.

Katara walked into the courthouse, she went to the receptionist

"um what room is Zu… Fire lord Zuko in?"

the receptionist flipped a page on her book

"court room 2, the trial is in session and no one is permitted to enter until the trial is over"

Katara looked around then reached in her bag and pulled out her badge

"will this get me in"

the receptionist took and examined it

"Oh, sorry"

and she led her to the door

"just keep quiet, ok"

a guard quietly opened it for her.

Walking in the room, there wasn't that many people in it. There was Mayor Morishita acting as the judge and his councillors, Toph and Sokka were sitting at one table, while a Fire Nation guy was at a table across from them, there were several children in the audience seats and Zuko on the other side from them, and she took a seat next to him. In a whisper she asked

"so, what's happening?"

Zuko also in a whisper answered

"the jury is about to pass the verdict, Toph and Yasuaki Yumoto are have a dispute over who owns that school property"

Mayor Morishita then spoke

"considering the circumstances of this, now both parties please stand"

both Toph with Sokka and Yasuaki and his Lawyer stood and Morishita with his council stood

"concerning the ownership of the property known as the Bay-Fong metal bending academy and Yasuaki Advanced Fire bending dojo, shall be joint owned by Toph Bay-Fong and Yasuaki Yumoto"

then the Mayor looked to everyone

"raise your hand to the square if you agree this is fair"

everyone raised their left hand including Zuko and Katara, Toph was reluctant but did the same

"and any opposed?"

no one raised their hand. Mayor Morishita spoke

"both parties will make their way to town hall, where I personally will overlook the creation of the new up to date deeds and other documents, 1 copy for each"

he pounds his gavel

"court adjourned"

Toph got up like a defeated soldier got up and headed for the door, when Yasuaki got close she just said with gritted teeth

"see you later Partner"

Yasuaki with a reluctant smirk

"look forward to it Partner".

Zuko and Katara got up and Katara went to Toph hoping to give words of comfort while Zuko also approached Toph to quietly comfort her.

after Toph, Yasuaki and their students left town hall for their school, Zuko talked to one of the soldiers

"tell the crew to have the ship ready to sail this within the hour"

the soldier bowed and went to do just that, then Zuko turns to Mayor Morishita

"you think you can handle the situation for the next few weeks?"

Morishita bowed

"yes, and I will send messages as often as posable"

he took one last bow and left. Katara looked at Morishita go up to his family, hugged his wife and daughter and picked up his son who did that blanket thing from earlier than she looked at Zuko and walked up to him

"can I go with you?"

Zuko faced her

"I don't see why not"

and the two of them went down to the Harbor.