Chapter 4 "Até Logo"
"Well, your shaking stopped." Katara said, pulling her water away from Connor's shoulder and back into her waist pouch. "Which I'm guessing is good."
"Ay." Connor said as he rubbed the palm of his hand with his uninjured thumb. "Though to be completely honest, I don't know of anyone who's been struck by lightning and lived to tell about it."
"We should get going. Azula's probably waiting for you at the train station." Katara said as Connor got out of the chair he'd occupied.
"I doubt that she'd just idle for me, they'll have all gone down to see your father off." Connor said, exiting the town hall, finding Azula, Kozato with helmet in hand, and his metal bending instructor walking down the road toward him, accompanied by an oddity Connor wasn't expecting. Connor and Sam near instantly locked eyes, and stared at each other in disbelief, the two coming to a halt, as their company continued moving.
Sam was the first to break their awkward stare, and sped over as his escorts gathered by the town hall door, Katara coming out behind Connor.
"Feeling better?" Azula asked though Connor was still momentarily stupefied.
"Uh, I… Yes, much." He quickly said, splitting his attention between Azula and Sam.
"Samuel…" Azula said, her accent muddling Samuel's name. "This is Connor."
"Sa Mu…" Connor repeated. "Wait, Samuel… Are you from-?"
"Europa?" Sam asked in Portuguese, filling out Connor's question.
"What was that, Spanish? Ah, Es-pañol?" Connor asked himself in English, then Sam in his limited and poorly pronounced Spanish.
"Close. Português." Sam said with a small smirk in his native tongue. "And I'm not from Europa."
"The Americas then?" Connor asked. "I mean, you are a little too tan for a Mediterranean man anyway, so I'm assuming you're an, uh… Well, at least part redskin… The Kingdom of Brazil?"
By this point, the others had settled into a routine of looking back and forth between the two as they partook in their, not only heavily accented, but loan word-filled conversation. Katara turned to Azula. "Are you getting any of this?"
"Contextually, most of it." Azula admitted. "But to put it into terms we can say in public." Azula said, glancing back at Kozato. "Sa Mu and Connor, are from the same part of the world… More or less."
Kozato looked down at Azula. "They appear nothing alike." He said.
Knowing that her cousin couldn't see her eyes narrow, Azula weighed how much Kozato truly knew of Connor, and what he should be allowed to know. "Well as everyone keeps saying, Connor is quite strange." Azula said.
"Strange even for Earth Kingdom barbarians and half-bloods it seems." Kozato remarked. "I've had my fill of savage gibberish. I'll be joining Lord Zuko at the docks." He said, before turning and walking down the road.
"Spot on, I am indeed Brazilian." Sam said with a nod, having continued his conversation with Conner, un-paused. "And you are Irish. Not very many places in the world where you'd belong."
"I was born in the United States." Connor said.
Sam looked confused for a moment. "The what? I know we are both speaking common, as our second languages, but I do not know of a country by that name."
Connor looked confused now, glancing at Kozato, just before the man turned to leave, the only one among them who didn't know of Connor, and likely Samuel's status as travelers from another world. "How long have you been in this world?... And you are aware the two of us are standing on another planet, yes?"
Sam chuckled. "Of course I'm aware, I've been here for more than twenty years, long enough to figure out how far from the cradle I am."
"Ah. You've been here a while then." Connor said. "That explains it. The United States has only existed for sixteen years. It used to be part of the British American Colonies."
"Oh, up north?" Sam asked. "I heard something about a rebellion up north before coming to the Earth Kingdom, but I was only seven at the time. It's ah, very fuzzy memory."
"Ay, yeah, we won the war, with a little help from the French, Spanish, and Dutch." Connor said.
Sam glanced at Connor's clothing and tied-up hair. "How long have you lived in the Fire Nation?"
"Oh, only about a year now." Connor shrugged.
Sam nodded, impressed. "Your Common speech is excellent for only a year of practice if I'm to be a judge."
"Ah, it only took me four months to learn." Connor said, rubbing his neck. "Course I was a little motivated." He said, smiling lightly as he looked at Azula.
"The Princess briefly spoke of her engagement." Sam said. He shrugged. "Of course, I didn't believe her at first, but here you are."
"Ahem." Katara said, catching the two's attention. "I hate to interrupt, but I'm pretty sure my dad is waiting for us to say goodbye." She pointed out that Hakoda's airship was still tethered to the port.
"We can walk and talk." Connor said, as he turned toward the lake, and held his right arm out for Azula. She had to reach up a little to take his arm, but still appreciated the sentiment.
On the move now, Sam spoke up to continue his line of thought. "I find it odd, of course, that the Fire Nation's princess would be due to marry outside of the Fire Nation… As I understand it, such an engagement is… Taboo among the more traditional Fire Nation Citizens? Unless there is more going on? Are there more of us here? Uh… Those of us from Earth I mean? Trade between the Fire Nation and your States?"
"Our marriage isn't political if that's what you're implying." Azula said, turning up her nose.
"My apologies." Sam said, putting his hands together. "I didn't mean to insinuate anything. I was just hopeful that by some chance your husband-to-be was not alone in his ventures as I am."
Connor sighed. "I was in a ship that washed ashore on the Fire Nation's west coast. The crew'd taken the row boats before I'd even woken up to the storm that'd wrecked it. Far as I knew I was the only man from our world who'd ever crossed over."
"Damn shame, being alone like that." Sam said.
"I made my peace with it" Connor looked down to Azula. "Course I was never really alone. Not since Azula picked me up, at least."
Sam looked between the two inquisitively. "How did you come together then?"
"Well…" Connor said, his smile becoming a grin. "I was in jail for murder, and Azula's father, who was Fire Lord at the time, sent her to interrogate me."
"He wanted to know how to make Connor's guns, and if he was a foreign infiltrator, or something similar." Azula said, filling in a gap in Connor's story.
"She helped me prove my innocence, and afterward pitched it to her dad that the army needed muskets." Connor shrugged.
"He had a bunch that he was trying to sell, and I employed him as a servant to speed things up." Azula ran her hand down Connor's arm.
"Wasn't all sunshine and roses, though." Connor chuckled. "We ended up pistol dueling with each other at one point, and she grazed me."
"Oh, I've made it up to you since." Azula said with a playful eye roll.
"Still stung." Connor said, glancing at Sam. "Point is we had a rocky start, but love won out in the end."
Sam nodded at the long-winded answer, then scrunched his face up. "Wait… You sold guns to the Fire Nation?" He asked.
"Well, I had to make money somehow." Connor shrugged.
"Does it not bother you, knowing that you share responsibility in the deaths of so many innocent people in the war?" Sam asked.
Azula and Connor shared a look. "More than you know." Connor said.
"But as I've said before, we also helped put an end to the war." Azula added.
"Forgive me if the past decade of my life spent fighting the Fire Army has made me cautious of your nation and royalty's intentions." Sam said with a scoff.
Azula rolled her eyes. It was hard enough for her to accept that she'd changed for the better, convincing everyone else was simply the next hurdle. "Our intentions are just. My brother and I are a far cry from our father and his ideals… The time that we spent away from home has changed us all for the better."
"You should have met her before Ba Sing Se fell. 'Bout the craziest bitch you'd have ever met." Connor jested.
Katara snickered. "She's still a bitch, but way less crazy."
"I think she's the other way around." Toph added, just to be contrary. In response, Azula stuck her tongue out at the two. Sam chuckled at the commentary, as they stepped onto the lakeside dock.
Kozato stood beside Zuko, paying only the briefest moment of attention to the rest of the group's approach. He'd informed his cousin that Sam had "calmed down," and seen reason. Fittingly, Zuko wished not to press the matter further, as Sam at least presented a challenge before his attack, and he had enough on his plate already. With a sigh, Zuko faced his older cousin. "I'm glad that you cleared up the misunderstanding, but if you do not consider Sa Mu a threat anymore, I ask that you have your men prepare to leave town, and ride back into Colonial territory before my train departs." Kozato opened his mouth to respond, but Zuko cut him off. "That is an order, captain… I want your mounted platoon gone before I leave."
Kozato put his hands together in a fire bender's salute, bowing. "As you wish, My lord. I will make haste." Kozato turned and left, aggressively brushing shoulders with Connor.
Hakoda turned to the approaching teens, accepting a hug from his daughter. "I hate that you're leaving again." Katara said, before releasing her father from her embrace.
"We'll still be in touch. I promise to send a messenger hawk once we get back home." Hakoda said as Arnook stepped up beside Hakoda.
"What about your leg? Are you sure you'll be ok without a healer around?" Katara asked.
Arnook held a hand up. "I've already taken your father's injury into account. One of our healers aboard will be accompanying him on the trip to the south."
"Thank you, Chief Arnook." Katara said, politely nodding her head.
"Now that the nations are moving towards peace, what are you kids going to get up to?" Hakoda asked his children.
Sokka smirked. "Aang said something about wanting to ride a flying fishopotamus in the waters off the east Earth Kingdom, and someone's gotta make sure he doesn't get himself eaten."
"I'm telling you Sokka, they don't eat people." Aang said. "And either way, we're going to meet Zuko in Ba Sing Se in like a month to see his uncle."
"And officially endorse Hei as the new leader of The Earth Kingdom, so it doesn't break apart." Katara added.
"Yup, good old Avatar stuff." Aang said with a smile.
Hakoda chuckled at Aang's words, before adjusting his crutch. "Well, I hate to say goodbye, but the tribe needs me back in Wolf Cove." Hakoda said, getting one last hug from both his kids. "I'm proud of you two for everything you've done up to now."
"Thanks dad." Sokka said, as his father turned, and made his way up the ramp of his airship, as the crew began untethering the aircraft from the dock.
"I should be going too." Arnook said, looking up to the sun. "It's a long trip north."
"Have a safe journey, Chief." Zuko said, politely bowing to the older man, the gesture being returned in kind before Arnook stepped off to join his countrymen on their boat. The two vessels pulled away from the small port, and as everyone waved to the departing ships, the airborne craft's fog horn bellowed out across the land.
As the Water Tribe representatives left town, and the untrustworthy ear among them had been ordered to leave, all eyes were drawn to the newest arrivals. "Sa Mu…" Zuko said, mispronouncing his name as many others did.
The tanned man smirked. "Fire Lord." He put his hands together and politely bowed. "I would like to apologize for causing a scene."
Zuko held his hand up. "It's not needed. Kozato explained that you accepted an honorable defeat."
"Did he now?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow, before Connor cut him off, and waved his left hand through the air.
"Ay, enough of the courtesy conversation." Connor said, putting his right hand on Sam's shoulder. "For those of you who haven't heard, this is Samuel. And he's from my world."
While Zuko's good eye went wide, Aang smiled at the man. Sokka was the first to speak. "He looks nothing like you."
"Ay, he shouldn't, he's half injin." Connor said.
"I… Don't know what that's supposed to mean." Zuko said.
Sam pulled away from Connor. "Your friend and I come from two different parts of our world, our people are different as you can see, not much unlike this world's people." Zuko nodded at Sam's explanation, having no other option but to accept it as fact.
"Wow, if I had a copper piece for every alien I've met, I'd have two copper pieces…" Sokka said. "That's not much, but it's weird that it's happened twice."
"I still find it strange that somewhere out there is a whole other world, with people like Connor." Suki said.
"That's amazing though, another man from beyond the stars." Aang said, looking at Sam with wonder now. "Hey, maybe someday we can all visit your world!"
Toph closed her eyes. "Not to be a party pooper, but I don't think that either of our worlds have any natural way to contact each other if Connor and Sam are the only two we've ever even heard of crossing over."
"Hold on." Jin said, crossing her arms. "What's all this talk about other worlds?"
Azula paled, as Mai put her hand to her face with a sigh. "Oh… Uh…" Zuko said, not sure if it would hurt for Jin to know.
"Connor and your associate Sam are not from this planet." Azula said.
Jin looked at Sam, baffled. Sam shrugged. "Well, you never really asked. Besides, I've spent more of my life as a citizen of the Earth Kingdom, than as a citizen of Brazil."
Ty Lee giggled, before wrapping her arm around Jin. "Well, now you know the most unimportant conspiracy there is. Aliens from another world are real."
"And they just so happen to look a lot like us." Mai deadpanned.
"Doesn't make it any less true." Azula said with a shrug.
"In either case, true or not." Zuko started. "We're beginning to overstay our welcome in this town." Zuko first turned to Sam. "It was… An experience meeting another man from so far afield." Zuko looked at Aang. "But I have to return to Caldera to sign the new accords into law at home."
"That's alright." Aang said, moving to hug his friend. Zuko accepted the gesture and patted Aang on his back twice. "We'll see you next month."
Mai sighed. "Time can't pass us by soon enough."
"Stay safe." Sokka said, grabbing Zuko's forearm, and shaking it.
As the members of Zuko's party left the dock, making their way to the train station, Sokka, Suki, and Toph started going east along the shore to the small meadow where Appa had made his temporary residence. Aang took Katara's wrist to stop her from following them. "You guys go on without us." Aang said, taking Momo off his shoulder, the winged lemur flying over to sit on Sokka's head. "I want to get some fresh fruit before we leave."
"No problem, Aang." Sokka said. "Oh, and, Katara, could you also grab some of those fish filets they had at the cookout?" He requested, still walking away.
"If there's any left at the meat market, I'll get you one." Katara said to her brother with a small eye roll and a smile. She started walking to the side street market with Aang and glanced down at him. For the moment she was outpacing him in their growth, but there was no doubt Aang was going to shoot up like a weed. "I'm guessing that you didn't drag me along just to get fruit?"
Aang rubbed the top of his head, feeling stubble beginning to form since he'd shaved it last. "Yeah." Aang tried not to cringe. He was making this awkward. "Do you remember in the theater on Ember Island, when you said that until the war was over we couldn't be together?"
"Of course I do, Aang." Katara said. "I also said…" She slightly bit her lip.
"That you loved me?" Aang asked rhetorically.
"And the war's over now…" Katara said, running one hand through her hair.
"So you'd be alright with-" Aang started.
"Being together together." Katara finished his sentence. "I've been expecting you to ask since Zuko's coronation."
"There hasn't ever really been a good time." Aang said, his hand coming down to the back of his neck.
Katara scolded herself. They'd been around their friends and family since the war had ended. Time for a conversation like this being rather limited, combined with the privacy non-southern tribe people would want to talk about the subject in, made moments like this sparse. "Well… We've got time now."
"So…?" Aang trailed off.
Katara smiled, then took Aang's hand from his neck, and squeezed it. Aang beamed at her before they continued on towards the market, side by side, and hand in hand.
Connor shook Sam's hand as they prepared to part company. "Are you sure you wouldn't be interested in coming with us to the Fire Nation? You'd be more than welcome as a fire bender, and one lost man of the Americas to another, I'd be willing to help you settle in."
Sam shook his head. "The Earth Kingdom is my home. I have a duty to it I've yet to fulfill."
"Damn shame…" Connor said. "If we ever cross paths again maybe we can swap notes about how we got here. I've been thinking about whether or not it's possible to go back, ya know, maybe visit the family and introduce them all to Azula."
"I doubt my side of things would provide you with much. It was so long ago." Sam said.
"I understand… Until next time." Connor said, bowing with one hand held erect over his fist, like a fire bender.
"Até logo." Sam said, bowing with one hand covering the other as an earth bender would.
Master Pakku stepped off of the colonial rail at the end of the line in Ba Sing Se's inner ring nearly three days after he'd left Baiyin. After a short carriage ride, Pakku crossed the threshold into the Jasmine Dragon, the White Lotus's current place of gathering, under the Grand Lotus's direction.
Iroh sat at one of the tables near the counter, facing the entrance, a fresh pot of tea on the table with him. "Master Pakku. I am glad to see you return. Please sit. Have a cup of tea. How was the peace conference?"
Pakku raised his eyebrows, as he walked to the cushioned chair nearest to Iroh. "It went about as anyone could have expected. Hei's representative was an obstacle to much of the talks, and Chief Hakoda of the Southern Water Tribe was wounded but recovered quickly. The other delegates were much more reasonable in their casting of votes and ideas."
"The Chief of the South was wounded?" Iroh asked as Pakku sat down beside him.
"Shot through the knee." Pakku nodded. "He was protecting Zuko from an assassin."
Iroh raised an eyebrow, as Pakku poured himself a cup of tea. "A convenient act of heroism, I'm sure."
"The Imperial guard tells a different story, but what's important is that his life was saved by young Master Katara, and the red-haired one you said might be there." Pakku shrugged.
Iroh hummed. "And my nephew?"
"Survived the attack unscathed. He was…" Pakku shook his head. "Distracted almost. Kozato was by his side for much of the conference after he'd showed up unannounced. Convinced Zuko to put a hold on withdrawing the Fire Army from the Colonies. Azula was also present as we suspected, but appeared to be working heavily towards peace rather than against it." Pakku sipped from his porcelain cup and quickly wiped away a drop of tea that had stayed on his lip.
Iroh stroked his beard as he thought to himself. "How did my niece appear? Was she in good health?" He asked, remembering how the last time he'd seen her the poor girl was distraught.
Pakku had to think for a moment. "She seemed to be in high spirits, and as I said, was providing support for her brother, and advocating for peace and fair treatment of all parties."
"Good." Iroh said, before taking a sip from his cup. "I look forward to the day we will meet again. I am so proud of them, for not making the same mistakes that I did in life. For standing on principle where I would have masked mine."
Hei sat in his private chambers within the palace of the former king. Reading over documents pulled from the library archives detailing the city's extensive history, searching for something that might provide an answer to a question he had not quite managed to fully form. Beside his archive papers, was a single refugee intake record describing the alias of Gong, whose true name Hei's perfect memory recalled as being Connor. The Fire Nation's strangely pigmented earth bending infiltrator was a lynchpin in the city's fall. "Where are you from?" He asked quietly.
There was a knock on his door, and without turning his attention away from his studies, Hei loudly said, "Come in."
Joo Dee opened the door and stepped inside. "I have returned from Baiyin." She said, then closed the bedroom door behind her.
"And?" Hei asked as Joo Dee locked the door behind her.
"Our adversaries, and temporary allies still believe that I'm brainwashed like the other girls." Joo Dee said, slowly walking over to Hei.
"Your deceptions have gotten better since your conditioning broke." Hei noted, pausing briefly to glance up slightly at the small fireplace in front of him, remembering the day he'd found Joo Dee on the streets after the rebellion first overthrew the king.
"It's a pity that none of the other girls have had such success even with it…" Joo Dee shrugged, smiling, as she placed her hands on the back of Hei's chair. "Still, it's better to be a brainless servant than a whore."
"I know for a fact that you're also a better whore than any of the other Joo Dees… What else have you gleaned from your trip?" Hei asked as Jin's hands found his shoulders.
"The new Fire Lord is soft. He's easily manipulated by those around him. He's emotional and far too compassionate, but all the same his advisors, or family, both if I'm right, have pressured him into obstinance." As Joo Dee spoke, she gently massaged Hei's shoulders. "There was also a slight complication. A citizen decided to take it upon himself to attempt an assassination of the Fire Lord. It didn't work, but they became worried you'd sent them."
Hei sighed. "The last thing we need right now is the war to restart. A year from now, sure, that would be fine, but it's things like that that make me hesitant to go to these public meetings in person."
"The criminal is being dealt with." Joo Dee said, allowing her hands to slide forward, down to Hei's chest. "In every other matter, we've come out better than expected. The notes taken by the stenographer should be written in full and arrive soon."
Hei rubbed the bridge of his nose and the inside of his eyes. "You've been up late while I've been gone." Joo Dee said, leaning down so her head was to his right. She reached up with her left hand and traced the scar on his right cheek, her right hand traveling towards his waist. "Come to bed, Secretariat, you need your beauty rest." She said as Hei flipped over one last page from the archives, detailing the assassination of the first Earth King almost nine hundred years ago. Three words describing the attacker caught Hei's attention. "Hair like gold." The question Hei had been forming finally appeared. "Where are you really from?" He muttered.
"Just one more question." Hei said as he took Joo Dee's right hand, stopping it short of reaching her goal. "You said his family was pressuring him? I would assume his sister, Azula was there?"
"She was." Joo Dee responded.
"And what of a man named Connor?" Hei asked.
"The strange red-haired one was with the Fire Lord as well." Joo Dee answered.
Hei smirked. "Then he should arrive with the Fire Lord next month…" Hei said, before turning his head to look at Joo Dee. "Thank you.." He said before gently kissing her on the lips.
Upon his return to the Fire Nation, Zuko dedicated his time to signing into law the expansion of the Avatar Szeto War Accords and starting a military education program so all commanders, present and future, could be held accountable for their actions in the field. After a week of wasting ink, Zuko finally found a day where he had nothing pressing upon his mind, and to that end, was burdened by a question he'd been asking himself for years.
Setting out from the palace alone, Zuko made his way to Caldera's Hari Bulkan tower prison and was granted entrance without escort. Traveling the halls to a windowless cell, Zuko opened the first door of two, letting light from the torch behind him flood the room.
He stepped into the chamber, and on the ground behind the bars separating the room, was his father. He'd lost weight in the time since his incarceration, more than he should have, given Zuko had ordered for his father to receive double rations. It was concerning, and Zuko had theorized that Aang taking away his bending was weakening him physically.
Ozai didn't bother to turn his head to the light but knew who had come to visit. "I should count myself lucky. The new Fire Lord has decided to grace me with his presence."
"You should count yourself lucky to be alive." Zuko retorted. "And so should I. Banishing me was the greatest mistake you could have ever made. It was the best thing that ever happened to me. It set me on the right path… And maybe your time in here will do the same for you, or at least that's what Aang thinks."
Ozai curiously turned his head just enough to look at Zuko from the corner of his eye. "Why are you here?"
"Because you're going to tell me something…" Zuko knelt so that he was at eye level with his father. "Where is my mother?"
From behind his mask of long and unkempt greasy hair, Ozai smirked.